On May 11, 2022, the government of Ukraine stopped all gas supplies to Europe through the Sohranivka station. This station is located in the Luhansk region. (The GTS Operator of Ukraine did not offer additional transit capacity for April through the gas distribution stations Sudzha and Sokhranivka, that action was cancelled.) Thus, in the move, Ukraine declared that Europe needs to seriously think about where it will get gas during the current condition where Nord  Stream-2 is blocked for Europe until 2028. Keep in mind that the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline does not pump gas to Germany through Poland, and Ukraine has now begin to blackmail Europe by cutting off gas supplies through its pipelines.
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The problem is not that unexpected, it was strange that Ukraine did not immediately take up this, in the conditions of military operations, continuing to ensure the pumping of gas to Europe.
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They could have raised the question long ago – if you won’t help us, you’ll lose your gas. Force majeure, gentlemen, we have a war, we cannot help you live in warmth and prosperity. War is war for everyone, Ukraine is Europe! Therefore, let’s share not only goodies, but also it’s problems.
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Not reported in the “West”. Very interesting.

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Transforming Subway Passengers Into Renaissance Paintings

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2 89

Beautiful Life Of Florida In The 1950s

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How to Reduce Food Costs and Save Money

If you’re an avid cook or baker, you’ve probably noticed how much scrap and waste you produce when crafting your next dinner masterpiece.

The average American family throws away $1,600 worth of produce each year, leaving a large area for improvement. Not only is there a financial impact of this extreme wastefulness, but an environmental impact as well.

Plan, Plan, Plan

The best way to reduce food costs and save money is by planning. By creating a plan for every meal for the week, you’ll know exactly what and how much of each ingredient you need.

The best way to plan your meals is by [1] using a calendar for the week mapping out your meals each day. If there are certain nights you plan to eat out at a restaurant, you can opt to remove these days from your meal plan strategy.

Once you’ve planned your meals, you’ll want to create a grocery list detailing every ingredient needed. To maximize your trip to the grocery, try to find meals that utilize some of the same ingredients.

Create a Shopping List – And Stick to It!

Whenever you visit the grocery store, you are subliminally bombarded with marketing messages encouraging you to spend more money and make unnecessary purchases.

Have you ever noticed that many “essential” items like milk and butter are placed towards the rear of the store? This encourages you to walk through the store, increasing the chances of you grabbing other items like chips, fruit snacks, etc.

By [2] creating a shopping list and only purchasing foods you need, you can cut food waste and save money.

Keep it Simple

Some dishes will require many more ingredients than others. Aim to [3] find meals that are easy to cook and use just a few common ingredients to save money.

For example, a pasta dish that contains chicken and some form of pasta will only require a few ingredients. However, a dish that uses a rare type of produce and seasonings will often lead to more waste.

There is a common misconception that meals requiring fewer ingredients have less flavor than their complex counterparts. This is not always the case. Simple meals can have great flavor and nutrition when prepared the right way.  For example, using a smoker griller combo can help you to save space and money!

Buy and Cook in Bulk

[5] Buying ingredients in bulk can help you to save an additional 15% to 20% on your food costs. But you’ll want to consider the ingredients before buying.

Perishable items should be avoided when purchasing in bulk as many times they will spoil before use. Some perishable items can be frozen to extend their life.

Some common ingredients and foods that you’ll want to consider purchasing in bulk include:

      • Rice
      • Beans
      • Canned goods
      • Oats
      • Pasta
      • Some Oils
      • Frozen fruits or vegetables

When cooking in bulk, it will also help to reduce the costs to run your appliances. For example, you can reduce the costs to run an air fryer by filling it up instead of using it for just one item.

Make Frequent Trips to the Grocery

Provided that it is nearby and within walking distance.

When buying fresh produce or meats, making frequent trips to the grocery or butcher is an easy way to save money by avoiding throwing away spoiled foods.

Plan to go to the grocery a couple of times per week to purchase fresh produce and meats. You’ll want to plan your cooking around your trips to the grocery so you can cook with the freshest ingredients.

It’s common to visit the grocery once on the weekends and once mid week.

Find Other Ways to Use Scraps

If you have leftover scraps when cooking, see if there are other ways you can use them other than throwing them in the trash.

This might mean using them as food for your pets, other dishes, or a variety of other ways.

If you don’t have any other use for your waste, consider starting a compost pile to reduce the environmental impacts of food waste.

Grind Your Own Meats

[6] Grinding your own meat not only can save you money but it also provides superior taste over meat ground days ago. You’ll need to have a meat grinder to get started, but these can be purchased for less than $100.

Use the Freezer

[7] Freezing leftovers and bulk ingredients is an excellent way to save money when cooking and reducing food waste.

Most foods can be frozen to preserve their life. Meats, vegetables, and fruits are the most common foods that get frozen, but there are other options including bread, bananas, tomato paste, and even coconut milk that freeze well. Check out these other uncommon foods that freeze well.

[8] By purchasing a vacuum sealer, you can extend the life of your frozen goods even longer while simultaneously preserving its flavor. You can find a vacuum sealer for less than $50.

There are many cheap foods that you can store in the freezer to last.

Start a Garden for Fresh and Cheap Vegetables

If you live in an area with a moderate climate, [9] starting a vegetable garden can be a fun idea to grow your own ingredients. Not only will this help to lower your food costs, but it has a positive environmental impact and it allows you to cook with the freshest ingredients.

You’ll need to consider the types of vegetables you plan to grow when determining the size of your garden.

To get started, you’ll need to have soil that works for your plants. Depending on where you live, you might consider getting your soil tested to ensure it will allow your plants to grow properly.

Next, you’ll need to decide which plants to grow. For moderate climates, here are some ideas on vegetables, fruits, and spices you might consider growing:

      • Tomatoes
      • Strawberries
      • Peppers
      • Cumin
      • Mint
      • Dill
      • Arugula
      • Sage
      • Cucumbers
      • Onions or garlic

Don’t want to start your own garden at home? Consider using a local community garden. These gardens are shared by several members and give you many of the same benefits.

Utilize Local Farmers Markets

If you want to reduce food costs, [10] finding a local farmers market can be a fun way to do so.

You’ll have your chance to purchase local eggs, honey, and other common ingredients from local farmers at a discount.

This has many benefits other than saving you money! You’ll also reduce the negative environmental impacts of shopping at a nation grocery chain as well as helping boost your local economy.

Store Foods Appropriately

[11] Knowing how to store foods the right way is critical to reducing food waste and saving money.

Some foods might require airtight storage containers, while others might be capable of being left out in the open air. Research how to store your foods to extend their life and save you money.

Final Thoughts on Reducing Food Waste at Home

There’s a good chance you end up throwing away a nice portion of leftover ingredients when cooking.

By utilizing some of the tips above, you’re sure to reduce your food waste and start saving money in no time.

Between cooking in bulk, visiting the grocery more frequently, planning meals ahead of time, and storing foods the right way, you can easily cut your food waste, save money, and do good for the environment.

Now it’s your turn. Starting avoiding food waste and saving money today!

Forgotten Architectural Beauty

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Star Trek seems to believe that World War III started with Trump

From HERE.

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2022 05 10 19 29

Greek Classic Moussaka

Moussaka has so many delicious layers of flavor in one dish that you’ll want to make an extra for the freezer!
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WEB Close Side plate 1024×683 1

Moussaka is classic Greek comfort food. It’s one of the most popular dishes in Greece and one of my all-time favorites. You can make it ahead for easy serving at a dinner party or to be frozen for a delicious meal any day you choose.

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WEB Pan 1 1 1024×683 1

The eggplant

Japanese eggplant is perfect for this dish because of its size and shape, but regular eggplant is traditional and the one I can find most often. Make sure the eggplant is soft, not squishy, and the skin is shiny.

Cut into ½ inch thick round slices and layer in a colander. As you layer, generously salt each layer to help draw out the bitter water that’s inside the eggplant. Set aside for 20-30 mintues.

The Potatoes

Traditionally, the potatoes in Greek moussaka are deep-fried, but I like the taste of oven-roasted potatoes much better. Plus, while they’re roasting, I can make the meat sauce. So, cut the potatoes into ¼ – ½ inch thick round slices. Place them all on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Season on both sides with salt, pepper, and oregano, then bake for 20-25 minutes or until fork-tender.

The Meat Sauce

  • Finely chopped onions
  • Grated garlic cloves
  • Olive oil
  • Lean ground beef –lean ground meat works best, and you can sub any ground meat
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Crushed tomatoes
  • Water
  • Dried crushed oregano

I make this meat sauce at least once a week, and I usually have a batch or two in the freezer. It freezes for months and can be used in a lot of the dishes on my site.

Traditionally, the meat mixture in Greek moussaka has cinnamon, nutmeg, and sometimes even allspice. I don’t add these to my moussaka because my kids won’t eat it that way. If you’d like to try the traditional meat sauce, add ¼ teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg when you add salt and pepper.

Use a big enough pot to hold all of the meat and onions. Place the onion in a large skillet with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cook the onions over medium heat for 10 minutes or until soft and golden. Add the garlic and warm through for a few seconds, then add the ground beef, salt, pepper, and crushed tomatoes. Rinse the can with a cup of water and add it to the skillet. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until the sauce is very thick. When it looks ready, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Add the oregano and set it aside.

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WEB Top Table 3 683×1024 1

Why will this become a favorite in your house?

  • Melt in your mouth eggplant
  • Hearty Meat sauce
  • Creamy Cheese sauce
  • It can be made ahead for easy entertaining!

Back to the Eggplant

While the meat sauce is simmering, it’s time to pan-fry the eggplant. The eggplant should have released the bitter water, so pat the slices with a paper towel to dry them as much as possible. I prefer the pan fry method over roasted eggplant because there are a few issues with the roasted method.

First, it may be a little healthier, but you will have to use so many trays that there’s a lot of clean up. Secondly, the eggplant never gets as soft ad tender as it does when you fry. So make an effort to pan-fry your eggplant.

Make sure your oil is nice and hot so your eggplant doesn’t absorb too much. Cook the eggplant rounds until golden brown on both sides and soft in the center. Then, place them on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

The Béchamel sauce:

  • Whole milk –whole milk works best, but you can use what you have on hand
  • Olive oil –you can also use the exact same amount of butter
  • All-purpose flour
  • Salt and pepper
  • Nutmeg
  • Grated parmesan cheese
  • Whole eggs
  • Egg yolks

Bechamel sauce is basically a creamy custard, also known as a white cheese sauce that’s so delicious.

Make the béchamel sauce by combining the flour and oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk well while cooking a few minutes until the flour smells toasted. Try not to add the milk all at once because doing so will create lumps. Instead, slowly add the milk in a few batches, whisking to incorporate so that the mixture is smooth and creamy. Cook until it comes to a boil and thickens, then season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Remove from heat.

Whisk the eggs together in a bowl, then add a small amount of the hot cream sauce into the eggs while whisking to temper them. Tempering will prevent the eggs from scrambling when added to the cream sauce.

After the eggs have tempered, add them to the cream sauce and whisk well. Then, add the parmesan cheese and stir to combine.

What is Greek moussaka?

Moussaka is a layered Greek casserole-style dish made with layers of vegetables and meat. There are variations of this classic, but my version of moussaka is made with delicious layers of potato, eggplant, cheese, hearty meat sauce, and creamy béchamel sauce.

Moussaka takes a little more work but is absolutely worth every minute. And since it freezes well, you can make two at a time… one to eat and one to freeze.

There are several steps, so let’s break it all down into simple steps for a delicious Moussaka!

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Web Wide table 1 1024×683 1

Pulling your Greek moussaka together

Using a 9×13 casserole dish, I like to start by adding a thin layer of unseasoned bread crumbs. It’s a trick I learned to soak up any extra moisture that may make your moussaka watery. Here’s how to layer the dish:

  1. Bread crumbs
  2. Roasted potato slices
  3. Grated cheese
  4. Roasted eggplant slices
  5. Grated cheese
  6. Meat sauce spread evenly
  7. Roasted eggplant slices
  8. Top with béchamel sauce

Sprinkle any remaining cheese over the béchamel sauce if you’d like. ​Adjust the oven temperature to 400 °F, 200 °C, and bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour. The bechamel sauce will be golden brown on top.

You can let the moussaka cool a bit and scoop it out, but it’s messy. So, allow it to rest for about 45 minutes before slicing. It will be hard to wait, but you’ll be able to cut pieces, and they’ll hold their shape.

Freezing your Greek moussaka

If you’ve made a double batch or want to freeze the one you made for later, the best way is to freeze it before you bake it. It will freeze for up to two months, and you can thaw it the night before you want to serve it. Then bake as usual.

I’m not a fan of freezing the béchamel sauce, so I freeze my moussaka without béchamel. I make a fresh béchamel the day I bake it, and I think it’s the best way to serve it. However, my aunt in Greece freezes the whole thing, so it works! Let me know what you like best.

Serving

Since Greek moussaka can be made ahead, it’s perfect for dinner parties. You can make it earlier in the day, then pre-slice it for the party. It will stay warm for a couple of hours, so you can enjoy your guests as they arrive. Serve it with a nice side salad that you’ve also made ahead, and you’ll have a delicious meal ready whenever your guests are.

Ingredients

  • ​3 eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch slices
  • 3 potatoes, peeled and sliced
  • 2 cups parmesan cheese or kefalotiri
  • olive oil, for brushing on vegetables
  • salt and black pepper to taste
  • ​dried oregano

For the Béchamel sauce:

  • 5 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 2 egg yolks

For the Meat Sauce:

  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 5-6 garlic cloves, grated
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 (15-ounces) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon dried crushed oregano

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F, 220 °C.
  2. Place the potato slices on a baking tray. Drizzle 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil over them and season both sides with salt, pepper, and oregano.
  3. ​Bake 20-25 minutes or until fork-tender and golden.
  4. Slice the eggplants and layer them in a colander or on a tray. Sprinkle salt on top of each of the layers of eggplant and set aside for 20-30 minutes.
  5. Prepare the meat sauce: Place the onion in a large skillet along with the olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until soft and golden. Add the garlic and warm through for a few seconds. Add the ground beef, salt, pepper, and crushed tomatoes. Rinse the can with a cup of water and add it to the skillet. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until the sauce is very thick. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add the oregano and set aside.
  6. Cook the eggplant: Pat the eggplant dry with. a paper towel. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add a layer of olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Pan-fry the eggplant slices until soft and golden on all sides. Drain them on a tray that has been lined with paper towels.
  7. Make the béchamel sauce by combining the flour and oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk well while cooking a few minutes until toasted.
  8. ​Slowly add the milk in a few batches, whisking to incorporate so that it is smooth and creamy. Adding the milk all at once will create lumps.
  9. ​Cook until it comes to a boil and thickens. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove from heat.
  10. ​Whisk the eggs together in a bowl. Add some of the hot milk mixture into the eggs and whisk to temper them so that they don’t scramble when added to the cream sauce.
  11. ​Add the eggs to the sauce and whisk well.
  12. Add the parmesan cheese and mix to combine.
  13. ​Place the roasted potato slices on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Use a deep pan. Sprinkle grated cheese over the potatoes.
  14. Top with a layer of roasted eggplant slices and sprinkle grated cheese over them.
  15. ​Top with the meat sauce and spread.
  16. ​Make a final layer of roasted eggplant over the meat sauce and top with the béchamel sauce.
  17. Sprinkle any remaining cheese over the sauce if desired.
  18. ​Adjust oven temperature to 400 °F, 200 °C.
  19. ​Bake 45 minutes – 1 hour until the cream is golden brown on top.
  20. ​Allow to rest for about 45 minutes before slicing so that the pieces hold their shape.
  21. Serve with a nice salad and enjoy!

Forgotten Architectural Beauty

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POPA CHUBBY – “LITTLE WING”

I love his rendition of the Jimi Hendrix song. One of the best blues guitarists alive.

My Sister’s Boss Passed Away Several Months Ago, But Before She Did, She Arranged To Have This Sent To Her Staff

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good best bosses 202 625025d731f7c 700

Transforming Subway Passengers Into Renaissance Paintings

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3 88

The Aggressors Accuse Russia of ‘Blackmail’ for Defending its Currency, Energy Wealth, and Even Its Existential Security

April 29, 2022
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Our enemy is the Western system of U.S.-led imperialism, its capitalist elite, and their political flunkies like Joe Biden and Ursula von der Leyen. 

The United States and its NATO and European Union allies have imposed unprecedented economic sanctions on Russia that amount to economic warfare. This warfare has been going on, discernibly, since the CIA-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014 on the back of allegations of Russian wrongdoing, for example, the alleged annexation of Crimea. It’s the logic of a poacher posing as the gamekeeper.

For eight years, the U.S.-led economic war against Russia has been pursued without relent. The self-professed “exceptional nation” presumes the privileged, exclusive use of economic terrorism against others who do not bend the knee. In hock to its Washington master, the European Union has imposed round after round of restrictions on trade with Russia in full compliance with American orders. The European compliance to self-inflict damage is astounding especially given that the U.S. economy is not as reliant on Russia as the EU’s and therefore has not been impacted as badly, at least not directly. But the presumed American “free lunch” is beginning to change, as our columnist Declan Hayes cogently surveyed this week.

Now that the proxy war against Russia has escalated into “Total War” – the historically sinister phrase used by France’s economy minister Bruno Le Maire – the full nefarious scope of the Western objective has become even more explicit. The U.S. and its NATO partners want to achieve the complete collapse of the Russian economy leading to regime change in Moscow. The eruption of violence in Ukraine following Russia’s military intervention on February 24 is but the opportunity to ramp up the U.S.-led war campaign against Russia.

The explicitly stated objective of cutting off Russia’s vital energy trade and the theft of the country’s foreign monetary reserves can only be interpreted as part of a wider imperial plan to crush the Russian nation, subjugate it and conquer its vast natural wealth.

Eight years of NATO-backed military aggression by the Neo-fascist Kiev regime against Russian-speaking populations has gone hand-in-hand with the installation of U.S. strategic weapons across Europe, including Dark Eagle hypersonic missiles in Germany and biological weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine. The military threat to Russia has been in tandem with the relentless economic warfare from sanctions. In addition, there is the intransigence by the U.S. and its NATO partners to engage with Moscow in resolving security concerns through diplomacy. All of this culminated in the present war in Ukraine. The concerted and rapid imposition of further draconian sanctions on the Russian economy from the blockade on virtually its entire banking system as well as the extreme censorship of Russian international media – all of that indicates that the U.S. and its partners were already on a war footing and ready to escalate hostilities.

In this context, ominously, Ukraine is resembling Bosnia-Herzegovina and the pre-World War One assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as a fatal flashpoint.

The reckless flooding of weapons into Ukraine over recent weeks by the United States, NATO, and the European Union is also proof of a premeditated pent-up war agenda. This week, U.S. President Joe Biden is calling for his Congress to release $33 billion in “emergency aid” for Ukraine to “defend against Russian aggression”. This represents a tenfold increase in the record military support that the Biden administration has already plowed into the Kiev regime. This is tantamount to stoking a powder-keg.

The ludicrous, bitter laugh about this is that when Russia seeks to defend itself and Russian-speaking people, then Moscow is accused of “aggression”.

The latest twist in this Western duplicity and rank hypocrisy comes with the accusations that Russia is using “blackmail” by warning it will cut off its prodigious gas supplies to Europe. Moscow has simply and reasonably demanded that all European importers must henceforth pay for their gas supplies in the Russian currency, the ruble, as opposed to dollars or euros. The move was prompted in part because the Western countries had seized Russia’s foreign reserves and have banned most Russian banks from the international payment system. In other words, it is they who have politicized their currencies as weapons. So what is Russia supposed to do? Give away its vast natural gas wealth for free? To countries that are waging an economic war and increasingly a military proxy war against it?

This week, Russia’s state-owned energy industry Gazprom announced it was suspending the supply of gas to Poland and Bulgaria. The two EU and NATO member states had bluntly refused to pay for their vital energy needs in Russian currency. In that case, Russia has the right to withhold the selling of its commodity.

The move to mandate payment for gas in ruble was an essential counter-measure that has succeeded in defending the Russian currency and economy from collapse. That collapse was being deliberately orchestrated by Western sanctions aimed at strangling Russia. And yet when Russia acts to defend its vital existential interests it is accused of using “blackmail”. One of the shrill voices was that of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The former German defense minister is a rabid Russophobe. Her logic of accusing Russia of wrongdoing is like a Third Reich minister lambasting the Warsaw Ghetto uprising as an insolent insurrection.

Von der Leyen and her elite, unelected Brussels bureaucracy are calling for all EU members to refuse payments to Russia. They are effectively endorsing the theft of Russia’s wealth. Their arrogance is not surprising. But that arrogance is leading to rebellion across Europe from the economic damage and unbearable cost-of-living crisis hitting the majority of the EU’s 500 million population. Bulgarian and Polish workers are demanding their governments resume trade with Russia to prevent a crash to their livelihoods.

A further mockery in this absurd scenario is that anti-Russia hawks in the United States and Europe have been vociferously jeering for all energy and other trade with Russia to be cancelled. Of course, this mania is all about propping up U.S. capitalism, hegemony over Europe, the weapons industry, and the transatlantic feeding trough for effete European lackeys.

Then, when Russia cuts off the energy supplies because of non-payment, there is an uproar about Moscow “weaponizing trade”.

The Western accusations of economic blackmail are analogous to perverse claims of military blackmail. The criminally reckless aggression that the United States and its NATO partners have pursued against Russia has escalated into war in Ukraine. As a British government minister demonstrated this week, the NATO powers are now directing their proxy Kiev regime to launch attacks on Russian territory. Yet when Russia warns of the dangerous risks of world war veering into a nuclear conflagration, the Western powers and their dutiful media turn around and accuse Russia of using “nuclear blackmail”.

America and Europe’s dubious political “leadership” is exposing itself as delusional, duplicitous, and criminally insane. They are insanely willing to push the world into a catastrophic war. And when Russia stands up to their madness, it is accused of being a reprobate.

In a funny sort of way, such farcical Western leadership is good. For it only further exposes how utterly unhinged and corrupt the Western elite rulers are in the eyes of their increasingly restive, angry populations.

It is Western callous, sociopathic leaders who are the ones blackmailing their own citizens and indeed the rest of the world. Their ultimatum is: destroy Russia or we will destroy everything. This is the mindset of totalitarianism.

The Western public’s enemy is not Russia, and it’s not China nor Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, or some other designated foreign foe. All our enemy is the Western system of U.S.-led imperialism, its capitalist elite, and their political flunkies like Joe Biden and Ursula von der Leyen.

Jacksonville Mother: I “Cannot Feed My Son” Due To Baby Formula Shortages

Food shortages are starting. Here is baby formula. It’s a breakdown in supply line management, and engineered shortages. here in China, there are no shortages.

Meanwhile in Russia

"Real men and women here teaching kids about pride in country, nothing wrong with that, at least they are not grooming the kids in mental illness to believe they are what they are not or have drag queen clowns bouncing kids on their boners, or teaching the boys to think they have a period or to get B-hole pap-smears."
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2022 05 10 19 56

Transforming Subway Passengers Into Renaissance Paintings

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4 84 1

Rory Gallagher – Tattoo’d Lady (Live At Montreux)

This has to be one of the best “jams” between a lead guitarist and a fella on keyboard that I have ever seen. Outstanding.

Wholesome

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1105110156310925313 png 700

Spinach & Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast

This dish tastes like juicy chicken stuffed with spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) and is ready in under an hour. I love recipes like this one that are quick and easy, can be made ahead, and are good for a busy weeknight yet, elegant enough for a dinner party. What could be better?

This recipe is a great one for your Thanksgiving table. Maybe for a dinner for 2 or if you’re just not a fan of turkey. When I was recipe testing, I couldn’t decide between the tomato sauce or the lemon caper sauce so, I made both. They were both flavorful yet different. The tomato sauce added a hint of sweetness and the lemon caper sauce brightened everything up and added another layer of flavor. Both of the sauces are listed. Enjoy!

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2022 05 10 21 18

Ingredients

  • 5 chicken breasts, boneless skinless
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Cumin
  • Dried oregano

For the filling:

  • 1-pound baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 4-5 scallions, finely chopped
  • 2-3 garlic cloves, grated
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 6 ounces feta cheese
  • 4 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped mint

For the tomato sauce:

  • 1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce

For Homemade Marinara Sauce:

  • 1 small onion
  • 2 garlic cloves, grated
  • 28 ounces canned tomatoes, pureed
  • ½ teaspoon sugar or honey
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

For the Lemon-Caper Sauce:

  • Pan drippings
  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 garlic cloves, grated
  • 2-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2-3 cups chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons capers, or less

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 475 °F, 250 °C.
  2. Cut a pocket into each chicken breast. Season the chicken all around and inside the pocket with salt, pepper, a dusting of cumin, and oregano. Set aside in a baking tray.
  3. Place the scallions with the olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat and cook until they soften. About 3 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic and warm through about 30 seconds.
  5. Add the spinach and cook until wilted and the liquid is mostly evaporated. About 8 minutes.
  6. Place the feta in a large mixing bowl and mash it with a fork. Add the ricotta cheese and mix together. Season with some black pepper and add the mint along with the spinach mixture and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed.
  7. Stuff each breast with about a half cup of the filling.
  8. To make your own homemade marinara sauce heat the olive oil with the onions over medium heat and cook until soft and golden. Add the garlic and warm through. Add all of the remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
  9. Place the chicken in an ovenproof pan such as a cast-iron skillet and cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Flip the chicken over and remove from the heat.
  10. If you are making this dish with the tomato sauce, pour as much of the marinara sauce as desired into the pan. It should cover the chicken 1/3-1/2 of the way up from the bottom of the pan.
  11. Bake in the preheated oven until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 °F. Time depends on the thickness of the chicken cutlets. Thicker chicken takes about 18 minutes to bake.
  12. Remove from the oven and allow to rest 5 minutes before serving.
  13. If you are serving these with the lemon-caper sauce, just bake them in the oven without any sauce and as soon as they are ready, take them out of the oven, transfer the chicken to a plate and cover with foil.
  14. Make the lemon caper sauce: Place the skillet that the chicken baked in over medium heat and add the butter. Once it melts add the garlic and immediately add the lemon juice. Pour the chicken broth into the skillet and bring to a boil. Add the capers and simmer for 3-5 minutes until the sauce reduces a bit. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.
  15. To make this ahead:
  16. Assemble and fill the chicken and place the tray in the refrigerator covered in plastic wrap. This can be done a day ahead.
  17. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature before cooking. About 1-2 hours.
  18. If you’re making a big batch (8-12, or more) you may skip the step of pan-frying one side of the chicken and just bake it in a large pan (or 2) until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 °F.
  19. Serve this with some toasted bread, pasta, or roasted vegetables. Enjoy!
2022 05 10 21 1d8
2022 05 10 21 1d8

Luigi, The Boss Of Bosses

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good best bosses 09 626668fe408a9 700

Squeeze * Last Time Forever

Takes me back to the 1980s. I had this album. I love the transitions and that jazzy keyboard work is just precious. This is a real treat. I am so very glad that I rediscovered this tune…

I Didnt Have Thanksgiving With My Family This Year So My Boss Made Me A Plate And Said That I’m Part Of Her Family

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good best bosses 08 6266675baa942 700

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: Premier Dan Andrews is passing a bill that prohibits people from growing their own food.

From HERE

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2022 05 11 14 31
Unbelievable. But Australia seems to be the cutting edge of the totalitarian thrust threatening to engulf us all. This thrust is the big story right now, far bigger than what's happening in Ukraine. I still can't shake off the suspicion that Russia and China are on board with this thrust somehow. Or maybe the rest of the multipolar world will be relatively free and open but the wicked West will be a gulag archipelago for a while until we've learned our collective lesson?

-Scorpion
Transforming Subway Passengers Into Renaissance Paintings
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Beautiful Life Of Florida In The 1950s
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The War in Ukraine Is Really About U.S. Pursuing Regime Change in Russia – Bruce Gagnon

Finian Cunningham
April 14, 2022
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The corporate-dominated media (that lied us into the 2003 “shock and awe” attack on Iraq over non-existent WMD) is trotting out the same strategy again to sell war and deceive the public

American peace activist, documentary filmmaker and author Bruce Gagnon analyses the current war in Ukraine with a critical bigger picture of political and strategic context that is so woefully – and deliberately – missing in Western media.

In the following interview, Gagnon points out that the Russian military intervention in Ukraine that began on February 24 can only be properly understood by viewing it as a response to eight years of relentless military assault by the NATO-backed Kiev regime against the ethnic Russian population of the Donbass region. Nearly 14,000 people were killed by the NATO-backed Kiev regime and its Russian-hating Nazi regiments. Where were Western government and media condemnations?

The current expansion of the war, he contends, is really just the front line in a bigger war that the United States and its NATO-European allies are waging against Russia. The ultimate objective is regime change in Moscow. This objective is to satisfy Western corporate interests and includes the eventual targeting of China. In this way, the U.S. and its imperialist allies are trying to thwart the emergence of a multipolar world and to offset the historic decline of Western corporate power. As he says: “China is also on the regime-change list of the West, and due to the new economic and military pact between Russia and China, it becomes essential to take out Russia first before going after China. The United States is currently using Taiwan in a similar way to how it has used Ukraine as a tool of destabilization.”

Therefore, the stakes are profoundly vested in the outcome of the war in Ukraine. The U.S. and NATO want this war to continue in order to sap, destroy and subjugate Russia. Hence the reckless, criminal flow of weaponry from the NATO bloc into Ukraine to derail any political settlement. Gagnon also points out that the U.S.-NATO-Kiev axis is likely to resort to more false-flag atrocities in order to win the information war against Russia – a war that the Western so-called news media are openly waging under the conceited and deceptive guise of “journalism”.

Bruce Gagnon is based in Maine, United States of America. He is founder and coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He also publishes incisive commentaries on international developments in his Organizing Notes blog. Gagnon is a Vietnam War-era veteran, has worked as a labor rights activist, and has traveled to dozens of countries to give public speeches and seminars to peace, anti-war, and justice organizations.

 

Interview

Question: The U.S. Congress is set to pass a Lend-Lease Act that will greatly increase the supply of weapons to Ukraine purportedly to help defend that country from “Russian aggression”. This is while negotiations are underway between Ukraine and Russia to find a peace settlement to the conflict. Is Washington trying to strengthen Kiev’s negotiating hand or is the United States aiming to prolong the war?

Bruce Gagnon: Using the 2019 Rand Corp study called ‘Overextending and Unbalancing Russia’ as a guide, the U.S.-NATO obviously do not want negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to flourish. Their interest is in creating a festering sore along Russia’s border forcing Moscow to spend more of its national treasury on the military and on rebuilding the massively destroyed Russian-ethnic Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. The Donbass destruction was largely due to Ukrainian army shelling for over eight years since the U.S.-orchestrated coup in Kiev in 2014.

Question: In passing the Lend-Lease Act, the U.S. Senate cited allegations of genocide and the massacre of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha by Russian troops as justification for the legislative go-ahead for more American weapons to Ukraine. Russia categorically denies the allegations while several independent analysts have pointed to evidence that the gruesome killings were a false-flag provocation carried out by Ukrainian forces in order to incriminate Russia. What is your view of the Western media reports on the Bucha massacre?

Bruce Gagnon: I have studied the Bucha story quite closely and it is more than obvious that this was one more false flag by the U.S.-NATO-Ukrainian axis. The timelines point to this being such. Russian troops left Bucha on March 30. On March 31, the mayor of Bucha put out a video where he excitedly and proudly proclaimed that Russian troops had left. On April 1, a woman who serves as a Bucha City Council Deputy made a similar video proclaiming victory over the Russians. Neither of those two city leaders made any reference to a massacre or bodies in the streets which would have been more than obvious at that point. On April 2, Ukrainian forces retook control of Bucha. On April 3, Western media began reporting on the alleged massacre.

There have been repeated attempts by the U.S.-NATO-Ukrainian side to claim that Russia was killing civilians but each story has turned out to be lacking a factual basis. The latest attempt was the Ukrainian army shelling Kramatorsk using a Tochka-U missile on April 8. Dozens of civilians were killed and up to 100 wounded. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was quick to blame Russia although the Tochka-U missile is an outdated technology that is no longer used by Russia and ample evidence shows that it has been a favorite weapon used by the Nazi-led Kiev regime’s army to repeatedly shell the Donbass region.

Additionally, Kramatorsk is in the Russian-ethnic region of eastern Ukraine that Russia is trying to liberate from the Nazi-led army of Kiev. It makes no sense that Russia would kill their own people.

It is said that every criminal has a Modus Operandi (MO) – a way of repeating their bad behavior. I think it is safe to say that Ukraine is losing this war and has resorted to an MO to create false flags in order to turn public opinion against Russia with hopes that U.S.-NATO will then fully enter the war on the Kiev regime’s side. So Ukraine has replaced actual offensive military operations (which they are no longer really capable of) with false-flag events as their primary strategy to vilify and defeat Russia.

Question: You have said that the war in Ukraine is not merely about Ukraine and Russia in isolation, but rather represents a front line in a bigger confrontation between the U.S.-led NATO bloc on one hand and Russia and China on the other. Are you saying this is a proxy war?

Bruce Gagnon: There can be no doubt that this war is being waged on behalf of a larger mission – regime change in Russia that the West hopes would allow for the breaking up of Russia into smaller nations similar to what U.S.-NATO did to Yugoslavia following the 1999 American-led attack on Belgrade. The goal is for Western resource extraction corporations to take control of Russia’s vast landmass and most importantly its huge resource base that includes natural gas, oil, timber, agricultural lands and vital mineral deposits. With the melting of the Arctic ice, it will increasingly become possible to “drill-baby-drill” for offshore resources under the sea that has long been covered in thick layers of ice. It’s no coincidence that at the same time this war started, the U.S.-NATO began holding a war game called ‘Cold Response’ in the north of Norway which borders Russia’s Arctic region.

U.S. President Joe Biden, in one of his confused moments, blurted out in a recent speech in Warsaw that “Putin had to go”. I am more than certain that during many of the National Security Council meetings in Washington this has long been a key agenda item.

In the past 500 years, Russia has been invaded several times from the West. The Poles came across the European Plain in 1605, followed by the Swedes under Charles XII in 1707, the French under Napoleon in 1812, and the Germans twice, in both world wars, in 1914 and 1941. Every 100 years, the West makes its move and fails.

China is also on the regime-change list of the West, and due to the new economic and military pact between Russia and China, it becomes essential to take out Russia first before going after China. The United States is currently using Taiwan in a similar way to how it has used Ukraine as a tool of destabilization.

Question: Russia has said it hopes that the war in Ukraine will be finished soon. But from what you are saying, there is a real danger that the conflict could be spun out for much longer due to U.S., British and NATO arms being supplied to Ukraine. Is this prolongation of the war what galvanizes Washington and London’s calculus and policies?

Bruce Gagnon: The vested interests inside the U.S.-EU military-industrial complex stand to make massive profits if this war can be extended for months, or even years. I believe that this is the intent of Washington-Brussels. By getting NATO members to ship outdated military hardware to Ukraine, the Western military manufacturers are salivating as they imagine replacing those stocks of weapons with the latest technologies that must be “interoperable” with Pentagon space-directed war-fighting capabilities. What this translates to over time is a vast high-tech global war machine. Don’t forget that NATO is also going international as they sign up “partners” in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and others in the Asia-Pacific. In this “mission vision”, the U.S. would be in charge of the “tip of the spear” and will have had NATO members and partners help pay for it all. NATO’s job is to ultimately force submission to Western corporate demands. They declare they are a “peace alliance” yet their history is nothing but endless war.

Question: Do you think there is an even bigger picture to the U.S.-led NATO confrontation with Russia? That is, the bigger battle is to stave off the historic decline in the American-dominated Western economic system? Russia and China have consistently hailed the advent of a multipolar world based on cooperation and partnership. The United States seems deeply opposed to this vision, claiming that Moscow and Beijing undermine a so-called “rules-based global order”. Why does Washington object to a multipolar vision? What is it about American power that demands unipolar dominance, fealty, or war?

Bruce Gagnon: The U.S. and NATO are an insecure and desperate military war machine. They are the muscle for the Western-run corporate globalization syndicate. They know their days are numbered as the dominant Western imperial powers that have ruled most of the world for hundreds of years.

It reminds me of a drunken riverboat gambler rolling the dice – knowing that he has lost everything but still going for broke one last time. Washington and the EU clearly understand that the rising multipolar world is unstoppable – when you add up the population numbers this rising tide is the vast majority of the world’s population. So the U.S.-NATO know this is their last-ditch chance to try to remain in control of the planet. Washington-London-Paris-Berlin-Brussels want total power and control and are willing to burn any nations to the ground that stand in their way.

Obviously, China, Russia, Iran, India, and others across the global South understand all of this. They have suffered at the hands of the U.S.-Europe long enough. They are moving to help create this multipolar world – what one Russian leader recently called a “Fair World Order” not run by Wall Street, the Bank of England, the IMF and World Bank. The question for all of us is: will the U.S.-NATO be willing to take this drive to remain in control to World World III that could then quite possibly turn nuclear? Those so-called “peaceniks” out in the streets waving Ukrainian flags ought to ask themselves if they are in fact inadvertently helping to push things in that horrific direction.

Question: In the reporting on the Ukraine war and the prelude to it, would you agree that Western news media seem to have more openly embraced the function of a propaganda system, peddling intelligence disinformation to distort the nature of the conflict with Russia?

Bruce Gagnon: The Western media is all in when it comes to demonizing Russia and helping to escalate this war. Just days ago while driving, I turned on NPR (National Public Radio) and heard one “correspondent” claim that Russian troops had raped young girls in Bucha.

Have we forgotten the groundbreaking U.S. Senate committee hearings in 1975 on the CIA’s control of the media? Those hearings were led by Senator Frank Church (D-ID). At the time, it was disclosed that 400 journalists worldwide were submitting news stories on behalf of the CIA. Operation Mockingbird it was called. Look it up on the internet. I don’t think the videos from those congressional hearings have been removed yet on YouTube. I’d bet my life that the so-called “Bucha rape story” was produced by the agency.

Just last week we learned from an NBC-TV report that U.S. intelligence agencies were putting out false stories about Russia in order to “preempt” Moscow “from doing something bad”. The corporate-dominated media (that lied us into the 2003 “shock and awe” attack on Iraq over non-existent WMD) is trotting out the same strategy again to sell war and deceive the public. And when you factor in all the efforts of corporate-owned social media outlets to take down alternative views on the Ukraine war it becomes clear that the Number One goal is the brainwashing of the public. Modus Operandi – every criminal syndicate has one.

My Old Boss Has Been 3D-Printing Reusable Masks And Delivering Them To Medical Facilities Amidst A Shortage
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Forgotten Architectural Beauty

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UKRAINE SHUTS-OFF 1/3rd of **ALL* EUROPEAN NATURAL GAS

UKRAINE IS SHUTTING OFF THE FLOW OF ALL NATURAL GAS TO EUROPE, claiming a “force majeure” due to the presence of “Russian Occupiers.”

Russian gas conglomerate Gazprom has received no confirmation of force majeure or any obstacles to continued transit of gas through a junction in Lugansk Region, the company said on Tuesday, after Ukraine’s operator OGTSU announced it would halt further deliveries starting May 11, due to the presence of “Russian occupiers.”

Gas Transit Services of Ukraine (OGTSU) declared force majeure on Tuesday, saying that it was impossible to continue the transit of gas through a connection point and compressor station located in the Lugansk area. As OGTSU personnel “cannot carry out operational and technological control” over the Sokhranovka connector point and Novopskov compressor station, the company cannot continue to fulfill its contract obligations, it said.

Gas from this connection will not be accepted into the transit system of Ukraine starting at 7 am on Wednesday, OGTSU said. Sokhrankovka accounts for almost a third of the Russian gas that transits through Ukraine to Europe – up to 32.6 million cubic meters per day – according to the operators.

Gazprom has received no confirmation of force majeure or disruption of operations at Sokhranovka or Novopskov, company spokesman Sergey Kupriyanov said on Tuesday. He added that Ukrainian specialists have had full access to both facilities all along, and there had been no complaints about it previously.

Kupriyanov also said that Gazprom has been notified by Ukraine’s gas company Naftogaz that if Russia continues to supply gas through Sokhranovka, Kiev will reduce the volume at the point of exit by the same amount, effectively confiscating the gas.

While OGTSU has proposed to reroute the gas to Sudzha, a connector located in the Sumy region and controlled by the Ukrainian government, Kupriyanov said this was “technologically impossible.” 

“The distribution of volumes is clearly spelled out in the cooperation agreement dated December 30, 2019, and the Ukrainian side is well aware of this,” he said.

Gazprom is fulfilling all of its obligations to its European customers, with all the transit services in accordance with the terms of the contract and paid in full, Kupriyanov pointed out. Moscow has continued gas deliveries to Europe, including transit through Ukraine, regardless of the ongoing military operation and the embargoes against Russia imposed by the US and its allies in the EU.

HAL TURNER COMMENTARY

Why Ukraine is doing this is beyond my understanding. On its face, it doesn’t seem to make any sense at all.  In fact, it’s literally ABSURD! You can’t even make up shit like this!

The Ukrainians are cutting their own throats; shutting off gas to the very countries keeping them afloat.

But one thing appears instantly clear: Any support Ukraine has from Europe, will likely dry-up as fast as the gas flow.

Europe will collapse economically without Russian gas, and the fact that Ukraine is the reason the gas flow is being halted will not be well received by its European “partners.”

If Europe is smart, they will tell Ukraine, no more weapons, no more money, no more military intel.  Europe and the USA should then tell Russia “We’re very sorry that this whole thing happened, we had no idea Ukrainians were so crazy.   We’re ending all sanctions immediately, returning all seized funds and property, turning back on your access to SWIFT.  As for Ukraine, go ahead and have-at them,  it’s not our concern anymore.   Oh, and by the way, can you start turning on the Nordstream 2 pipeline, we need to get that up and running as fast a s possible.”

Russia will grind the Ukraine into dust within days.

The Ukrainian government won’t exist anymore.

This whole debacle will be over and the grown-ups in the room can start to rebuild relations that have been so soured over this thing.

This is a gigantic development for Europe, and very bad, too.

Could Ukraine being twisting European arms for more money and more weapons?   Could Ukraine actually be blackmailing Europe, maybe withholding gas flows until Ukraine gets the money and weapons they want?  Only time will tell.

Strange Happenings in North Korea – Immediate National Lockdown!

Something is going on in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Multiple sources are reporting that people have been ordered indoors IMMEDIATELY due to a “national problem.”

Large lines of people seen suddenly rushing home at around 2pm local time this afternoon.

It is not yet known what this “national problem” might be which would require the whole country to go home and remain inside.

Nonprofit Watchdog Uncovers $350 Million In Secret Payments To Fauci, Collins, Others At NIH

An estimated $350 million in undisclosed royalties were paid to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and hundreds of its scientists, including the agency’s recently departed director, Dr. Francis Collins, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, according to a nonprofit government watchdog.

“We estimate that up to $350 million in royalties from third parties were paid to NIH scientists during the fiscal years between 2010 and 2020,” Open the Books CEO Adam Andrzejewski told reporters in a telephone news conference on May 9.

“We draw that conclusion because, in the first five years, there has been $134 million that we have been able to quantify of top-line numbers that flowed from third-party payers, meaning pharmaceutical companies or other payers, to NIH scientists.”

The first five years, from 2010 to 2014, constitute 40 percent of the total, he said.

“We now know that there are 1,675 scientists that received payments during that period, at least one payment. In fiscal year 2014, for instance, $36 million was paid out and that is on average $21,100 per scientist,” Andrzejewski said.

“We also find that during this period, leadership at NIH was involved in receiving third-party payments. For instance, Francis Collins, the immediate past director of NIH, received 14 payments. Dr. Anthony Fauci received 23 payments and his deputy, Clifford Lane, received eight payments.”

Collins resigned as NIH director in December 2021 after 12 years of leading the world’s largest public health agency. Fauci is the longtime head of NIH’s National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as well as chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. Lane is the deputy director of NIAID, under Fauci.

(HT Remark:  So Fauci and company PUSHING the "COVID vaccines" now seems to have a very real profit motive for Fauci personally!  Isn't THAT interesting?)

GATES: “Low Fatality Rate”

On May 5, no less than Bill Gates, was interviewed about COVID Vaccines and made this utterly shocking admission: “We didn’t understand that it’s a fairly low fatality rate & that it’s a disease mainly in the elderly, kind of like flu is, although a bit different than that.”

WHOA!   “Low fatality rate?”   Wasn’t it people like Bill Gates telling the whole world they HAD to get the COVID Vax or they would get sick and die?   Wasn’t the world repeatedly told this was like the 1918 Spanish FLu Pandemic and that “Millions will die” unless they vaccinated everyone?

Beautiful Life Of Florida In The 1950s

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Transforming Subway Passengers Into Renaissance Paintings

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My Boss Is Unreal. He Knows I’ve Been Trying To Get A 3080 And We’ve Had Them In Stocks For Systems We Build

Today he walked up to me and said, “it’s yours, Merry Christmas”.

good best bosses 207 62502fdd78108 700
good best bosses 207 62502fdd78108 700

The Letterheads on Lemonman -“It’s a Shame About Ray”

A classic. This WAS the 1990s. Ah, it takes me back.

Beautiful Life Of Florida In The 1950s

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Buchanan: Is Ukraine’s War Now America’s War?

Wednesday, May 11, 2022 – 04:25 AM

Authored by Pat Buchanan,

Last week, sources leaked to The New York Times that, in Ukraine’s targeting and killing of Russian generals and the sinking of Russia’s Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, U.S. intelligence played an indispensable role.

Apparently, our intel people identified and located for the Ukrainian forces what became the targets of their deadly attacks.

Why U.S. intelligence would do this seems inexplicable.

By claiming credit for Ukraine’s most visible military successes, we diminish the achievements of that country’s own forces.

By bragging publicly that we helped engineer the killing of Russian generals and the sinking of the cruiser Moskva, we taunt Russian President Vladimir Putin. We provoke him into retaliating in kind against us, thereby raising the possibility of a wider U.S.-Russia war that could escalate into World War III.

Moreover, U.S. boasting like this plays right into Putin’s narrative that Russia is facing and fighting in Ukraine a U.S.-led alliance that is out to crush Russia.

Indeed, why are we going beyond assistance to the Ukrainians in defending themselves, into making this American’s war?

When Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Poland following her visit to Kyiv, she virtually embraced the idea of the Ukraine-Russia war as now being America’s war, declaring, “America stands with Ukraine. We stand with Ukraine until victory is won.”

Accompanying Pelosi to Kyiv was a delegation of House Democrats, one of whom, Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, echoed Pelosi in Poland:

“The United States of America is in this to win.”

Their visit followed that of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who came out of Kyiv and declared the U.S. strategic goals in Ukraine’s war:

“We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kind of things it has done in invading Ukraine.”

These statements by U.S. leaders reinforce Putin’s line that Russia is besieged by a U.S.-led Western alliance that fears and detests Mother Russia and wishes to see her defeated and diminished.

Our enemies in the West who seek to destroy Russia are like those we fought in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Putin now claims. And intervention in Ukraine was necessary to prevent today’s neo-Nazis from dragging Ukraine into their larger conspiracy to destroy Russia.

Consider Putin’s words of a week ago:

“The forces that have always pursued a policy of containing Russia … do not want such a huge and independent country that is too big for their ideas … They believe it endangers them simply by the fact of its existence, although this is far from reality. It is they who endanger the world.”

We are hated for who and what we are, says Putin. And our military operation is an act of legitimate self-defense against the same kind of “Nazi filth” we fought in the Great Patriotic War.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov describes the recent surge in heavy Western weapons shipments to Ukraine as “NATO … going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy.”

By cutting Republicans out of her delegation to Kyiv, Pelosi appears to want to make the war not only America’s war, but her party’s cause.

That seems to be a motive as well behind Biden’s consciously exceeding any Western leader in the language he uses on Putin, calling him a “killer,” a “murderous dictator,” a “pure thug,” a “butcher,” a “war criminal,” guilty of “genocide,” who “for God’s sake … cannot remain in power.”

Such language is designed to showcase Biden as the world’s leading anti-Putinist and the most morally outraged of all the world’s leaders at what Russia is doing in Ukraine.

But, again, like the public boasting of U.S. intel agents over our role in the sinking of the Moskva and killing of the Russian generals, the effect is to disqualify the U.S. president from any role in negotiating a truce or an end to this war.

How do we benefit from having no leader-to-leader communication with the Kremlin, which President John F. Kennedy retained in the Cuban missile crisis to end it?

NATO Europe, which is supporting the Ukrainian resistance, is not on board with the U.S. plans to cripple Russia permanently.

America needs to recognize that our objectives in this war are not the same as Ukraine’s.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would like to have the U.S. plunge in and fight alongside Kyiv, devastate and defeat the Russian army, and expel Russia not only from the regions invaded this year but also from Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014 .

America’s vital interests in this war, however, are to prevent it from becoming a U.S.-Russia war or a third world war or a nuclear war.

The U.S. goal of imposing a crushing defeat of Russian aggression is secondary to our far more vital interest in avoiding a U.S.-Russia war.

America’s interests are best served by an early and negotiated peace. Such a goal rules out imposing humiliating terms on Russia, which cause Moscow and Putin to escalate militarily — to survive politically.

…

But that is not going to happen. – MM

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Taco Bell Goes Woke: Launches ‘Drag Brunch’ Events At US Locations

Wednesday, May 11, 2022 – 07:05 AM

Taco Bell is the latest company to embrace woke activism by rolling out “Taco Bell Drag Brunch” at select Taco Bell Cantinas across the US.

"Each show will be hosted by the fabulous drag performer and taco extraordinaire, Kay Sedia, and feature performances from local queens and kings that will transform any morning from Mild to Fire!" according to a recent press release from the largest fast-food Tex-Mex restaurant chain. 

"As a brand that brings people together, the Taco Bell Drag Brunch experience is rooted in celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community and creating safe and welcoming spaces for all," the press release continued. 
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2022 05 11 14 10

The first drag event was held at a Taco Bell Cantinas in Las Vegas on May 1. Here are the upcoming events:

  • Chicago, Wrigleyville Cantina: Sunday, May 22
  • Nashville Cantina: Sunday, May 29
  • New York, Times Square Cantina: Sunday, June 12
  • Fort Lauderdale Cantina: Sunday, June 26

“We understand the importance of creating safe spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community and are thrilled to provide a unique experience that spotlights and celebrates the wonderful artform of drag and its influence in culture with their chosen families,” Taco Bell global chief brand officer Sean Tresvant said in a statement.

"Taco Bell Drag Brunch was concepted by Live Más Pride, Taco Bell's LGBTQIA+ Employee Resource Group, which has played a major role in driving awareness of and meaningfully supporting LGBTQIA+ communities both within Taco Bell and the communities we serve and operate in," Tresvant added. 

Taco Bell’s drive to create “spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community” is another example of woke corporations meddling in divisive political issues and risk sparking a backlash.

If CEOs learned anything so far in 2022, it’s that woke corporate America is  getting push-back for the promotion of this narrative. The latest example was Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) signed a bill that strips Disney of its special tax status in Florida after defaming the governor’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Corporations diving into woke activism can result in severe consequences — if that’s losing special tax status or even a customer base.

Some Taco Bell customers lost their appetite over the announcement of taco drag brunches.

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