An American vet, long living down under, told me, "I have heard everything about America since I lived here from: 'I hate America to I love America', now it is: 'I feel sorry for America'..."

The world is changing. Here’s a collection of videos, articles, and stuff for you all to check out and chill-out with. I hope that you enjoy this particular article.

A thought about Japan and the QUAD

Japan is an American attack dog. It's not wise to lay all the blame on the dog. When someone sets his dog on you, what will you do? You can kick the shit out of the dog, but you will suffer bites. Or you can feed the dog with its favorite food and beat the shit out of its owner. After a while, the stupid dogs will get killed and the smart dogs will stay out of the fray. 

PM

Interesting quote

Sociopaths are very concerned with maintaining control over their "inferiors" in the present moment. They don't have the cognitive ability to make long term plans. They just "go with the flow".

They will keep going with this attitude until a bigger gangster comes along and tells them to lay off, or else.

This general atmosphere of sociopathy propagates through western society, as the fish rots from the head down.

School dance in the 1950s

As Things Fall Apart Biden May Want To Escalate

Is reality setting in? Is that why a Washington Post reporter, who has been on the frontline in Ukraine, was allowed to write this?

Ukrainian volunteer fighters in the east feel abandoned

[A]fter three months of war, this company of 120 men is down to 54 because of deaths, injuries and desertions.

The volunteers were civilians before Russia invaded on Feb. 24, and they never expected to be dispatched to one of the most dangerous front lines in eastern Ukraine. They quickly found themselves in the crosshairs of war, feeling abandoned by their military superiors and struggling to survive.

In mid February these people were still civilians in some town in west Ukraine. They then ‘volunteered’, to avoid a draft into the army, for the territorial defense forces with the hope to serve near their homes:

Lapko, built like a wrestler, was made a company commander in the 5th Separate Rifle Battalion, in charge of 120 men. The similarly burly Khrus became a platoon commander under Lapko. All of their comrades were from western Ukraine. They were handed AK-47 rifles and given training that lasted less than a half-hour.

“We shot 30 bullets and then they said, ‘You can’t get more; too expensive,’ ” Lapko said.

They were given orders to head to the western city of Lviv. When they got there, they were ordered to go south and then east into Luhansk province in Donbas, portions of which were already under the control of Moscow-backed separatists and are now occupied by Russian forces.

The men were put into a frontline ditch and have since been shelled again and again without any ability to respond. They then disregarded the orders from above and left. They have now be arrested.

The military value of such units was zero to begin with. Untrained men under command of an inexperienced civilian and with no real weapons have no chance to hold out against a professional military force like the Russian army.

That 60 or so of them got killed or wounded for no good reason is the responsibility of the servant of the corrupt (recommended), President Vlodomir Zelenski, and those ‘western’ politicians, like Boris Johnson, who egg him on.

But the biggest part of the responsibility for the life of those men falls to the Biden administration. It tried to push Zelensky to invade Donbas in early 2021.

Back then Russia started large scale maneuvers and made clear that they would intervene. Zelensky got cold feet and pulled back. As the Carnegie Endowment’s Dmitri Tretin reported at that time:

In February [2021], Zelensky ordered troops (as part of the rotation process) and heavy weapons (as a show of force) to go near to the conflict zone in Donbas. 

He did not venture out as far as Poroshenko, who dispatched small Ukrainian naval vessels through the Russian-controlled waters near the Kerch Strait in late 2018, but it was enough to get him noticed in Moscow. 

The fact of the matter is that even if Ukraine cannot seriously hope to win the war in Donbas, it can successfully provoke Russia into action. 

This, in turn, would produce a knee-jerk reaction from Ukraine’s Western supporters and further aggravate Moscow’s relations, particularly with Europe. 

One way or another, the fate of Nord Stream II will directly affect Ukraine’s interests. Being seen as a victim of Russian aggression and presenting itself as a frontline state checking Russia’s further advance toward Europe is a major asset of Kyiv’s foreign policy.

When the 2021 attempt had failed the Biden administration did not change its general plan as it is part of a larger strategy to push the ‘west’ into a new cold war with Russia and China.

After the 2021 attempt on Donbas had failed the U.S. immediately prepared for a new attempt to provoke Russia in Ukraine in spring 2022.

The first instruction that Secretary of State Antony Blinken got from President Biden was to “reset” America’s alliances and partnerships abroad so that the United States could deal with the challenges ahead. That strategy would prove decisive in combating Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Blinken and other officials gave me new details this week, describing a series of behind-the-scenes meetings over the past year that helped forge the U.S.-led coalition to support Ukraine.
 
...

The Biden administration’s secret planning began in April 2021 when Russia massed about 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border. The buildup turned out to be a feint, but Blinken and other officials discussed U.S. intelligence about Russia’s actions with leaders of Britain, France and Germany at a NATO meeting in Brussels that month. Their message was, “We need to get ourselves prepared,” a senior State Department official said. 

...

The Ukraine threat got red-hot in October, when the United States gathered intelligence about a renewed Russian buildup on the border, along with “some detail about what Russian plans for those forces actually were,” Blinken said. This operational detail “was really the eye opener.” The Group of 20 nations were meeting at the end of October in Rome, and Biden pulled aside the leaders of Britain, France and Germany and gave them a detailed readout on the top-secret evidence.

“It was galvanizing enough that there was an agreement … to fleshing out the consequences for Russia if it went ahead with the aggression,” Blinken said. 

...

Threatening sanctions can be an empty diplomatic ritual. But in December, Blinken and his colleagues began seriously discussing with allies what steps they would take. The initial venue was a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Liverpool, England, on Dec. 11. The attendees publicly committed that there would be “massive consequences and severe costs,” Blinken remembered. As a result, he said, “when the aggression actually happened, we were able to move immediately.”

NATO military planning accelerated along with the diplomacy. Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, the NATO commander, told me that his colleagues began preparing in December and January the “ground lines of communication” that would allow rapid shipment of arms into Ukraine. They studied entry points for supplies and other practical details. This weapons pipeline delivered Stinger and Javelin missiles before the invasion began Feb. 24 and has transferred huge numbers of heavier weapons since then.

That narrative is of course deeply misleading. The U.S. did not know of a ‘Russian invasion’. What it knew was that Zelensky, pushed by the U.S., would make another attempt to invade the Donbas republics with overwhelming force and that Russia’s leadership would have to react to such an assault on its compatriots.

The Ukrainian assault began on February 16 when over several days Ukrainian artillery increased its bombardment of Donbas by a factor of 40. Russia reacted to that and on February 24 preempted the planned ground assault.

The above part of Biden’s plan to provoke Russia into a war as a means to strengthen the U.S. position in Europe has worked well.

But how long will the coalition of the ‘west’ hold when inflation, energy scarcity and hunger set in? European unity is already falling apart with each country scrambling to fulfill its own energy needs.

Everyone can now see that the Ukraine, and with it the U.S., is losing the war. Meanwhile Russia is doing much better than anyone had expected.

What is Biden’s plan now as things fall apart? Escalating towards a wider war is an option but the risk of it is much higher than potential gains.

Still, for Biden it may be the only way he is willing to go.

Posted by b on May 27, 2022 at 15:36 UTC | Permalink

Huevos Rancheros Hash Brown Skillet

Crispy hash browns take center stage in this skillet breakfast topped with eggs, salsa and plenty of cheese. Who wouldn’t love this tasty take on a favorite Mexican breakfast?

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes (from 30-oz bag)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)

Make it FRESH toppings, as desired

• Sour cream
• Sliced avocado
• Chopped red onion
• Cilantro leaves
• Salsa

Pending home sales slipped in April, as contract activity decreased for the sixth consecutive month, the National Association of Realtors® reported. Only the Midwest region saw signings increase month-over-month, while the other three major regions reported declines. Each of the four regions registered a drop in year-over-year contract activity.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI),* www.nar.realtor/pending-home-sales, a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, slid 3.9% to 99.3 in April. Year-over-year, transactions fell 9.1%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.

Earlier in the week, I discussed the fact that new home sales were 26.9 percent lower this April than they were last April.

First-quarter gross domestic product declined at a 1.5% annual pace, according to the second estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That was worse than the 1.3% Dow Jones estimate and a write-down from the initially reported 1.4%.

Downward revisions for both private inventory and residential investment offset an upward change in consumer spending. A swelling trade deficit also subtracted from the GDP total.

At this time last year, the Fortune 500 CEOs we surveyed were breathing a collective sigh of relief as profits and revenues came roaring back from the ravages of the pandemic. This spring, that roar sounds uncomfortably loud, as companies cope with soaring inflation and the growing likelihood that sky-high prices and labor shortages will help tip the economy into recession. In all, 75% said they expected the next recession to begin by the end of 2023, though only 32% believed it would start in this calendar year.

Gas prices have increased by over 47 cents in the last month alone as the U.S. continues to smash gas price records day by day under President Joe Biden’s leadership.

On Wednesday, May 25, the U.S. recorded yet another all-time high, as the average price of gas stands at $4.599 for regular gas. This reflects an over 47 cent rise in the last month alone. One month ago, the gas price average stood at $4.123.

U.S. natural gas prices have skyrocketed nearly 150% this year while inventory levels have shrunk, signaling more consumer pain ahead of the summer season.

The Henry Hub natural gas spot price, an indicator of nationwide prices, stormed past $9.30 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) Thursday, up from its early January price of $3.74 per MMBtu and the highest level since 2008, according to government data.

Over the past two years, $4.6 trillion has been provided by Congress in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact on inflation, particularly the timing of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act in March 2021, is subject to some debate, but what cannot be denied is the impact this spending has had on the interest paid on the national debt. 

Between 2011-2018, interest on debt held by the public averaged $272 billion annually. Between 2019-2021, annual interest on the debt averaged $389 billion, an increase of $117 billion, or 43 percent. 

The president’s fiscal 2022 budget, which is the first to project deficits of more than $1 trillion for 10 consecutive years, estimates that FY 2022 interest on debt of $26.3 trillion will be $305 billion and reach $941 billion in FY 2031, or more than triple the amount for the current fiscal year. 

By that time, interest payments will account for 59 percent of the projected $1.6 trillion deficit.

Getting a facial from an ice machine, the 1950s

Richard Says…

The US is a kleptocracy run by the kleptomaniacal. The sum total of their activity is called GDP. 

The government has to keep things churning while simultaneously inflating the currency on a compound basis in order to finance the dollar printing presses. This is known as economics. 

Ordinary people are in a daily cat fight for survival with government always posed to seize their homes for non-payment of taxes. Economic crime is epidemic. 

What a country. The Ukraine war, with stammering Brandon at the helm, is the latest kleptocratic scam. 

Can anyone tell me I am exaggerating?

- Richard

Grace Jones – I’m Not Perfect But I’m Perfect For You

Please enjoy this bit of crazy 1990’s America…

Another valuable quote…

"The various talking heads--Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, Yellen, etc.--should be ignored...

... as the actual policy aim ...

... is to reduce Russia so severely...

... so that China can then also be reduced.

This is what remains the United States genuine policy goal."


-vetinLA

Nonresident alien border ID, 1943

.

The head of the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) recently said that its Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) program, designed to eliminate Hypersonic missiles, may not be ready even in the next decade.

“We’re just getting started,” said Vice Adm. Jon Hill at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The MDA is working on a wide array of missile tracking sensors and defeat capabilities to build a “layered” defense against incoming ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

The GPI is one of them which is supposed to target hypersonic missiles during the glide phase of flight (once a missile has re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and is heading toward its target), which is challenging to forecast, as the missiles travel at five times the speed of sound while making rapid evasive maneuvers.

The interceptors will be integrated into the current Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense destroyers in the US Navy which would involve the interceptor being launched from its regular Vertical Launch System (VLS), connected with the Baseline 9 Aegis Weapon System that detects, tracks, controls, and engages hypersonic threats.

Last year in November, the MDA-selected Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon to design Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI). Raytheon Missiles and Defense was granted $20.97 million, Lockheed Martin $20.94 million, and Northrop Grumman $18.95 million respectively. Each vendor is supposed to provide concept designs for prototypes by September 2022.

“We’ve got three great proposals, and we may decide to stay on three, may drop to two, may drop to one. So it just really kind of depends,” said Hill.

Chinese, Russian Hypersonic Missile

In recent times, the US is increasingly becoming worried about the threat posed by hypersonic weapons from China and Russia.

In July of last year, China tested its hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), sparking widespread concern and panic among the US military’s brass. The glide vehicle traveled around 24,800 miles (39,911 km) in space before re-entering the atmosphere and striking the ground target, according to a report by US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

The DIA report reads that the flight test lasted more than 100 minutes, making it “the greatest distance flew and longest flight time of any Chinese land-attack weapons system to date.”

China is known to have a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM), known as Dong Feng-17 (DF-17) which is capable of carrying the DF-ZF HGV. The missile itself can travel at a speed of Mach 5-10 and carry conventional or nuclear weapons. It has a range of 1,800-2,500km and a launch weight of 15,000kgs.

The DF-ZF HGV can travel at speeds between Mach 5-10 and is said to be capable of performing evasive maneuvers to tackle the enemy defenses. The DF-17 is a ground-launched missile; an air-launched version may be developed that can be deployed on the Xian H-6N bomber – the latest variant of the H-6 series bombers based on the Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 twin-engine jet bombers.

The H-6N has a range of 8,000 km and if armed with DF-17, its range can extend up to 10,000 – 11,000 km bringing the key enemy installations across the entire Indo-Pacific within its range.

A video surfaced in 2020 showing the H-6N bomber landing at an unknown airfield carrying a missile with a warhead and booster section on the bottom of its fuselage, which appeared to be similar to the DF-17 hypersonic missile.

Meanwhile, Russia has also developed the Avangard HGV with a range of over 6,000 km, capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional payloads. According to a TASS report, the HGV’s nuclear warhead is “more than two megatons in TNT equivalent.”

Currently, the Avangard is carried by the SS-19 “Stiletto” (UR-100NUTTH) ballistic missile but it is slated to be replaced by the R-28 Sarmat that has just been successfully tested and planned to be deployed later this year.

Also, MDA and the Space Development Agency are currently working on the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) that would assist the current missile warning/tracking satellites that could lose hypersonic missiles after their boost phase.

The HBTSS is supposed to be able to detect a missile launch, as well as the first, second, and third-stage separation. Once the GPI is fired by the Aegis BMD system on a Navy destroyer, it would be connected to HBTSS for updated tracking data and the interceptor would kill the threat before it got too close to its intended target.

The HBTSS is planned to be launched into orbit next year for a demonstration.

The ‘Mysterious’ Tully Monster Fossil Just Got More Mysterious

By Chris Rogers / The Conversation

Every now and again, scientists discover fossils that are so bizarre they defy classification, their body make-up is unlike any other living animals or plants. Tullimonstrum (also known as the Tully Monster), a 300 year-old fossil discovered in the Mazon Creek fossil beds in Illinois, US, is one such creature.

At first glance, Tully looks superficially slug-like. But where you would expect its mouth to be, the creature has a long thin appendage ending in what looks like a pair of grasping claws. Then there are its eyes, which protrude outward from its body on stalks.

Tully is so strange that scientists have never been unable to agree on whether it is a vertebrate (with a backbone, like mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish) or an invertebrate (without a backbone, like insects, crustaceans, octopuses, and all other animals). In 2016, a group of scientists claimed to have solved the mystery of Tully, providing the strongest evidence yet that it was a vertebrate. But my colleagues and I have conducted a new study that calls this conclusion into question, meaning this monster is as mysterious as ever.

When Was the Tully Monster Discovered?

The Tully Monster was originally discovered in the 1950s by a fossil collector named Francis Tully. Ever since its discovery scientists have puzzled over which group of modern animals Tully belongs to. The enigma of Tully’s true evolutionary relationships has added to its popularity, ultimately leading it to become the state fossil of Illinois.

There have been many attempts to classify the Tully Monster . The majority of these studies have focused on the appearance of some of its more prominent features. These include a linear feature in the fossil interpreted as evidence of a gut, the light and dark banding of the fossil, and the peculiar grasping claws of its mouth. The body plan of the Tully Monster is so unusual in its entirety that it will greatly expand the diversity of whatever group it ultimately belongs to, changing the way we think about that group of animals.

The 2016 research argued the animal should be grouped with vertebrates because its eyes contain pigment granules called melanosomes, which are arranged by shape and size in the same way as those in vertebrate eyes . But our research shows that the eyes of some invertebrates such as octopus and squid also contain melanosomes partitioned by shape and size in a similar way to Tully’s eyes, and that these can also be preserved in fossils.

Particle Accelerator Research on the Tully Monster Fossil

To do this, we used a type of particle accelerator called a synchrotron radiation lightsource located at Stanford University in California. This allowed us to explore the chemical makeup of samples from fossils and from animals living today.

The synchrotron bombards specimens with intense bursts of radiation to ‘excite’ the elements within them. When excited, each element releases X-rays with a specific signature. By detecting the emitted X-ray signatures, we can tell what elements were excited and ultimately what the specimen we are studying is made of.

First we found that melanosomes from the eyes of modern vertebrates have a higher ratio of zinc to copper than the modern invertebrates we studied. To our surprise, we then found the same pattern could be seen in fossilized vertebrates and invertebrates found at Mazon Creek.

We then analyzed the chemistry of Tully’s eyes and the ratio of zinc to copper was more similar to that of invertebrates than vertebrates. This suggests the animal may not have been a vertebrate, contradicting previous efforts to classify it.

We also found that Tully’s eyes contain different type of copper to that found in vertebrate eyes. But the copper also wasn’t identical to that in the invertebrates we studied. So, while our work adds weight to the idea that Tully is not a vertebrate, it doesn’t clearly identify it as an invertebrate either.

The Tully Monster Remains Unclassified

Where do we go from here? A broader analysis of the chemistry of melanosomes and other pigments in the eyes of a wider range of invertebrates would be a good next step. This may help to further narrow down the group of animals to which Tully belongs.

Futuristic car design by Bob Riley

The truth about American weapons in Ukraine you won’t believe | Redacted with Clayton Morris

Interesting. Check it out.

Breakfast in Bed: Extraordinary Color Photographs Revealed the First Class of Air France in the 1950s

Air France, in full Compagnie Nationale Air France, French international airline originally formed in 1933 and today serving all parts of the globe. With British Airways, it was the first to fly the supersonic Concorde. Headquarters are in Paris.

By 1948 Air France operated 130 aircraft, one of the largest fleets in the world. Between 1947 and 1965 the airline operated Lockheed Constellations on passenger and cargo services worldwide.

During the mid-1950s it also operated the Vickers Viscount turboprop, with twelve entering services between May 1953 and August 1954 on the European routes. On September 26, 1953, the government instructed Air France to share long-distance routes with new private airlines. This was followed by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport’s imposition of an accord on Air France, Aigle Azur, TAI and UAT, under which some routes to Africa, Asia and the Pacific region were transferred to private carriers.

In 1957, Eugene Louis Kammerman (1920–1961) took a series of photographs for an advertising campaign for Air France. Photographer for the United States Army, he married a French woman and decided to stay in France. A reporter for the Saturday Evening Post, he collaborated to the young newspaper L’Express, then too “poor” to pay him. He started to work on advertising campaigns and did reportages on the major fashion houses, his images were published in magazines such as Elle, Paris Match and Life…

After China, the U.S. is the next largest exporter of goods in the world, shipping out $1.8 trillion worth of goods in 2021 – an increase of 23% over the previous year.

Of course, as Visual Capitalist’s Raul Amoros and Jennifer West detail below, that massive number doesn’t tell the whole story. The U.S. economy is multifaceted, with varying levels of trade activity taking place all across the nation.

Using the latest data on international trade from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, we’ve visualized the value of America’s goods exports by state.

Top 10 Exporter States

Here are the top 10 American states that exported the highest dollar value worth of goods during 2021. Combined, these export-leading states represent 59.4% of the nation’s total exports.

Texas has been the top exporting state in the U.S. for an incredible 20 years in a row.

Last year, Texas exported $375 billion worth of goods, which is more than California ($175 billion), New York ($85 billion), and Louisiana ($77 billion) combined. The state’s largest manufacturing export category is petroleum and coal products, but it’s also important to mention that Texas led the nation in tech exports for the ninth straight year.

California was the second highest exporter of goods in 2021 with a total value of $175 billion, an increase of 12% from the previous year. The state’s main export by value was computer and electronic product manufacturing, representing 17.8% of the total U.S. exports of that industry. California was also second among all states in exports of machinery manufacturing, accounting for 13.9% of the U.S. total.

What Type of Goods are Exported?

Here is a breakdown of the biggest U.S. export categories by value in 2021.

These top 10 export categories alone represent almost 70% of America’s total exports.

The biggest grower among this list is mineral fuels, up by 59% from last year. Pharmaceuticals saw the second biggest one-year increase (45%).

Top 10 U.S. Exports by Country of Destination

So who is buying “Made in America” products?

Unsurprisingly, neighboring countries Canada (17.5%) and Mexico (15.8%) are the two biggest buyers of American goods. Together, they purchase one-third of American exports.

Three Asian countries round out the top five list: China (8.6%), Japan (4.3%), and South Korea (3.7%). Together, the top five countries account for around half of all goods exports.

Atlas space station in 1958

Gravitas: China retaliates after Biden’s Taiwan comment

Very serious.

NASA scientists pose with their board of calculations

Is Yoon prepared for the consequences of cold-shouldering China?

South Korea elected a new President. Apparently, hearsay has it that many of the younger people were stunned that such a Pro-America "dinosaur" would be elected. 

Promptly after taking the reigns of power, he started "pulling a Ukraine" and embracing a pro-USA, and hate-China stance. Here is an editorial on this subject. -MM

From HERE

As South Korea formalizes its economic security alliance with the US and participates in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), its trade policy stance is coming to a major turning point.

The presidential office explains this as a ramping up of the change from the existing framework of the US being Korea’s main security ally and China being its strongest economic partner to a framework of relying on the US for security and working with the world on economic matters. However, this is misleading. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Yoon administration perceives the US as Korea’s most important partner in both the fields of security and the economy.

It goes without saying that the Korean economy is highly dependent on China and market diversification is necessary. However, sudden changes without the necessary preparation will inevitably come with costs.

China accounts for about one-quarter of Korea’s total imports and exports. In particular, an interdependent division of labor structure is currently held tightly in place with intermediate goods. Intermediate goods account for 64% of Korea’s imports from China and 80% of exports.

In addition, of the items Korea considers vulnerable to supply chain disruptions — which account for more than 70% of imports from specific countries among all imported items in Korea — 2,434 are sourced from China, 601 from the US, and 565 from Japan. China’s share is overwhelmingly larger than that of other countries.

As was seen with the urea crisis late last year, Korean industries can end up paralyzed without China. The same goes for high-tech industries. Lest we forget 60% of Korea’s semiconductor exports go to China.

The IPEF is a grand plan by the US to artificially reorganize the division of labor in high-tech industries mainly in Northeast Asian countries such as Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan. The goal is to have Southeast Asian countries and India take over the role of China. If the US’ plan becomes a reality, it’s only a matter of time before Korean industry and trade are dealt a big shock.

Companies that seize opportunities in the transition process can reap the benefits, but those that do not adapt properly will suffer damage.

Regarding Korea’s involvement in the IPEF, President Yoon Suk-yeol told CNN in an interview on Monday, “Even if we strengthen our alliances with the United States in security and technology, it does not mean that we think our economic cooperation with China is unimportant.”

Yoon also said that, since both South Korea and China depend on their mutual cooperation, he does “not believe it is reasonable for China to be overly sensitive about this matter,” revealing the very easy-going way of thinking of the president.

The IPEF is based on the US intention to exclude China from the global supply chain.

A plan is needed that puts the characteristics of the Korean industry and the ecosystem into perspective. For Korea, which heavily depends on trade to keep its economy strong, fully excluding either the US or China is far too risky.

First selfie, 1900

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Senator Rand Paul appeared on Fox News Thursday and discussed the ongoing World Economic Forum gathering in Davos Switzerland, remarking that it is not a conspiracy theory to suggest the organisation is seeking a one world government, rather it is “in their mission statement.”

Paul urged that “The real danger here that’s even more dangerous than all their phony caring about carbon footprint, the real danger is this; look how bad your government is in a country where you get to vote for these people.”

“This would be a government, a world government where you don’t get to vote on anybody. This is everybody’s worst nightmare,” Paul asserted, referring to the ‘penetration’ of the WEF, to quote its head Klaus Schwab, into national governments.

“The bureaucracy that we have trouble in our United States because we don’t get to vote on them, we vote indirectly,” Paul said, adding “Can you imagine the one-world bureaucracy of all these elitists and their private jets that would rule our country and we wouldn’t get to vote?”

The Senator continued, “So I’m dead set against this and they used to call people that talked about one-world government used to say it’s a conspiracy. We would always say no, it’s in their mission statement.”

“They say it at every meeting. That’s what they’re for,” Paul proclaimed, adding “lack of sovereignty means lack of freedom, it means lack of responsiveness and it’s completely antithetical to everything our country stands for.”

Watch:

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Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/

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The Best Photos Of The Spectacular One-Off 1965 Dodge Deora Pickup Truck

The Deora is a 1965 Dodge A100 pickup truck that was heavily customized by Mike and Larry Alexander in Detroit for the 1967 Detroit Autorama, also known as “America’s Greatest Hot Rod Show.” Believe it or not, after winning many awards, including the Ridler in 1967, it became the prototype for a Hot Wheels car, and plastic model kit.

Based on a 1965 Dodge A100 compact pickup truck, the Deora was heavily modified by a Detroit-based custom house run by two brothers. The A100’s roofline was chopped, while the body was sectioned and channeled. One of the neat features of the Deora was the front windshield that would lift up and the lower gate would swivel, allowing the driver/passenger access into the car through the front of the cab. The result was a futuristic-looking pickup that looked like it came out of a scene from the Jetsons.

Despite its 21st century looks, which would’ve been considered light years away in 1967, it was powered with a basically stock slant-six engine and a three-speed manual transmission, which were moved rearward 15 inches to allow for the severely customized cab. The bed was covered with a hard tonneau cover and the truck was emblazoned in gold paint complemented by chrome wheels while the interior featured some pretty trick modifications for the era.

Because of its outrageous design, a major plastic model car company and a diecast toy manufacturer offered scaled-down versions for sale to the growing youth market. To help promote the launch of the model version, the model car company ran a naming contest, and it was a 13-year-old who came up with the name “Deora.” Loosely translated, it’s Spanish for “golden.” Other toy manufacturers quickly offered miniature versions of the Deora in plastic and metal, and soon it was one of the hottest-selling toy cars of the late 1960s.

The Deora made its public debut at the 1967 Detroit Autorama and won the prestigious Ridler award that recognizes the skill and creativity of custom cars and their builders within the industry. It also caught the attention of the Chrysler marketing folks who really loved the look of the Deora. They leased it for two years and put it on tour going around the United States with other factory concept cars to complement the Dodge displays at the new car shows during the late 1960s.

After its tour of duty on the show circuit, the Deora was sold and put in storage for more than 30 years. Finally, after a light restoration, the Deora reappeared and made its “second debut” at the 50th anniversary Detroit Autorama in 2002.

In 2009 the Deora was put up for auction in California and was sold for $324,500. It was described as featuring a 101 bhp (75 kW; 102 PS) 6-cylinder 170 cu in (2,800 cc) engine.

Twitter user @jchovernut, a pilot for U.S.-based airline Allegiant Air and a veteran of the U.S. Navy's submarine community, posted the video, seen below, online on Tuesday. "They were over the South China Sea & were issued a last-minute hectic call from ATC: 'turn left 90 degrees immediately!!,'" according to one Tweet accompanying the video.

Permanent Wave Machine, 1935

Sponge – Wax Ecstatic (To Sell Angelina)

A great rock video, and some fish oil promise for a wonderful life, eh?

A comment…

“…today I encountered a discouraging comment from a foreign visitor (to the United States) which is really an accurate view of of a terribly faulty government …

My 50 days road trip in America is almost over (today is my last day)
It was pure fun and it was great seeing all these places, going to events and having such experience, meeting people.

It was 98% enjoyment.

I want to share some other thoughts though. Thoughts that bugged my mind for some time now. I don’t want it sound like a rant, because it isn’t.

But I think your country and people should address that ASAP.

Most of my trip went through the country, visiting nature and wild life.

But driving 7000 miles and walking 400 made me see also another picture.

What have you done to your cities people?

LA, San Francisco downtown looked like where Mad Max went to buy his water in the movies. Junkies, homeless, crazy people living on the streets. Endless tents, trash, misery, smell of urine and shit. It’s I don’t know … unbelievable. 

My friends in Europe had totally different image about LA, SF, Portland…any major west coast city I visit was like that. 

I don’t want to go to the politic side of things, because I am not local...but let me tell you. Misery on such level in the center of the cities it’s just not normal. 

It ruins business, tourism, everything.

Talking about business …every place I went, bar, eatery, restaurants, hotels …are short staffed and have “we are hiring” sign. Like almost every freaking place.

So reason for this people to be on the streets is not unemployment…

...there is work literally on every corner. 

So what is it? What’s wrong? 

These people should be like moved out of the Center of the city, crisis shelter should be build in the perimeter where this people can get like a cheap hot meal, maybe some help, shower, haircut and send to find a job…and judging by the above it should NOT be hard. 

Even if you are not qualified, those places look just for people with will you work, they will provide training.

I don’t know what’s your opinion on this…but as a foreigner visiting your country I can tell you are already on a slippery slope. If you don’t fix that somehow …it maybe not able to be reverted.

Just my 2 cents.

And because I don’t want to be off topic and to finish on a positive note, posting my top selection pictures from my travel in USA. Some of them I already posted but yeah. Enjoy. And thank you for the adventure your country unveiled for me.

Why Asia Pacific Chose China (You Won’t Believe What America Did)

A very good video…

"Instead of running from the threat, she engaged with the threat and saved several lives last night," Charleston Police Department Chief of Detectives Tony Hazelett told local news WCHSTV. 

"There was a graduation party, a party with kids," Hazelett said at a press conference. "So obviously somebody just graduated high school and another birthday party. We could have had a casualty shooting there." He estimated between 30 to 40 people attended the parties.

Gibson Girls: The Sexiest Women Of All Time

The Gibson Girl began appearing in the 1890s and was the personification of the feminine ideal of physical attractiveness portrayed by the satirical pen-and-ink illustrations of illustrator Charles Dana Gibson during a 20-year period that spanned the late 19th and early 20th century in the United States and Canada. The artist saw his creation as representing the composite of “thousands of American girls.” The Gibson girl’s neck was thin and her hair piled high upon her head in the contemporary bouffant, pompadour, and chignon fashions.

China is not in good mood…

China will take no crap from NATO’s Stoltenberg:

"Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg has been making groundless accusations and smearing attacks against China, making reckless comments on China's political system and domestic and foreign policies, and promoting a 'China-threat' theory, which China firmly opposes and strongly condemns, declared the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

"Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, made the remarks during a routine press conference on Thursday, responding to inquiries on the NATO chief's recent remarks calling China an 'authoritarian regime' and a threat to the alliance security during an interview on Tuesday....

"Wang also questioned that China does not use force to threaten other countries like some NATO countries do, it does not engage in military alliances, does not export ideologies, and is never the one to take the initiative in initiating trade wars, has never meddled with other country's internal affairs and has never unreasonably suppressed other countries' enterprises. So how can China threaten NATO security in any way?"

China then showed it can also diplomatically tell NATO’s chief propagandist to shut the fuck up:

"Wang urged Stoltenberg to immediately stop spreading unfounded rumors against China, and abandon the practice of drawing imaginary ideological lines. 'NATO has already messed up Europe, and it must not be allowed to do the same to Asia and the rest of the world.'"

That’s the most direct truth told to NATO that will certainly be heeded by the Global South.

Sophie B. Hawkins – Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover

Do you all remember this tune?

Make-Ahead Breakfast Burritos

This best breakfast burrito is ready to go when you are! Prepare the night before, bake them in the morning, and start your family’s day the right way—with hearty, filling ingredients that come to life with a touch of salsa.

Ingredients

• 1 lb bulk pork sausage
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 8 eggs
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 package (11 oz) Old El Paso™ flour tortillas for burritos (8 tortillas; 8 inch)
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
• Old El Paso™ Thick ‘n Chunky salsa
• Sour cream

Here Are 11 Statistics That Show How U.S. Consumers Are Faring In This Rapidly Deteriorating Economy

May 25, 2022 by Michael

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Prices are soaring, there are widespread shortages of certain items such as baby formula all over the nation, and at the same time U.S. economic activity appears to be really slowing down.

Considering all of that, it makes perfect sense why the American people are feeling so negative about the economy right now.

In fact, a whopping 85 percent of all Americans believe that there will be a recession within the next year.  These days, it is virtually impossible to get Americans to overwhelmingly agree about anything, and so the fact that 85 percent of us are anticipating a recession is a really big deal.

Just about everyone realizes that economic conditions are going to get worse, but for those of you that still doubt where we are headed here are 11 statistics that show how U.S. consumers are faring in this rapidly deteriorating economy…

#1 According to a Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll that was recently conducted, 56 percent of Americans say that their financial situations are getting worse, and only 20 percent of Americans say that their financial situations are improving.

#2 Another new survey has just discovered that 66 percent of Americans “have avoided social events because they’ve felt embarrassed or uncomfortable” about their financial situations.

#3 The housing bubble appears to be bursting.  At this point, sales of new single family homes are falling at a very frightening pace…

Sales of new single-family houses in April plunged by 16.6% from March and by 26.9% from a year ago, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000 houses, the lowest since lockdown April 2020, according to the Census Bureau today. Sales of new houses are registered when contracts are signed, not when deals close, and can serve as an early indicator of the overall housing market.

#4 After breaking the all-time national record in March, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has gone 42 cents above the old record and is now sitting at $4.59.

#5 The average age of a car on U.S. roads has reached an all-time record high of 12.2 years.  Many Americans continue to delay replacing their current vehicles because new vehicles have become so unaffordable.

#6 Millions of American families are struggling with rapidly rising food prices…

The index for food away from home increased 7.2% over the last year, the Labor Department reported earlier this month. Food prices were up 9.4% in April from the same time last year — the biggest jump since April 1981, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported. And grocery store prices increased 10.8% for the year ended in April.

#7 U.S. natural gas futures just crossed the nine dollar threshold – the highest level that we have seen since the financial crisis of 2008.  That means that much higher energy costs are on the way for U.S. consumers.

#8 Multiple Fed surveys are showing that manufacturing activity in the U.S. is really slowing down…

The slowdown in manufacturing activity on display in reports from the Federal Reserve banks of New York and Philadelphia was confirmed by a survey from the Richmond Fed indicating that factory activity contracted in the mid-Atlantic region in May.

The Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity index dropped 23 points from a positive reading of 14 in April to a minus nine, the lowest reading since May 2020, when much of the economy was still reeling from the onset of the pandemic and lockdowns.

#9 Zero Hedge is reporting extremely depressing news about U.S. macro data: “Other than April 2020 – when the entire economy was closed – May’s serial disappointment in US Macro data is the worst since Lehman”

#10 Thanks to plunging stock prices, approximately 20 trillion dollars in household net worth has been “wiped out” so far this year.

#11 A new CBS News/YouGov survey has found that 74 percent of Americans believe that things are going badly in this country and that 51 percent of Americans actually believe that Joe Biden is “incompetent”.

Right now, conditions are so similar to what we witnessed just before the financial crisis of 2008.

If we had addressed our long-term problems back then, perhaps we would be in a much different place at the moment.

But instead, we appear to be poised to repeat history in a lot of ways.

In fact, many experts believe that the crisis that is staring us in the face will be even worse than what we went through more than a decade ago.  For example, just check out what Peter Schiff is saying…

This one is going to be even bigger because the economy has a lot more debt now than it did in 2008. And Americans are less able to pay it when interest rates rise because the balances are much greater. So, we’re in much worse shape as a result of all the bailouts and all the stimulus that papered over the last crisis. So, now the one we’re dealing with is going to be much worse because we kicked the can down the road instead of solving the problem when we had a chance.”

He makes some really great points.

Every time there has been some sort of a crisis in our society, our leaders responded by showering the system with even more money.

In 2008, the U.S. national debt crossed the 10 trillion dollar threshold.

In 2022, the U.S. national debt has crossed the 30 trillion dollar threshold.

Our politicians have been systematically destroying our future, and most Americans didn’t seem to care.

Now a day of reckoning has arrived, and it is going to be immensely painful.

There is no silver bullet that is going to cure inflation.

The Federal Reserve is going to try to tame inflation by hiking interest rates, but that will just destroy the housing bubble and dramatically slow down the economy.

And there is no silver bullet that is going to end the shortages that we are currently facing.

We are now experiencing some of the consequences of decades of mismanagement, and a lot more pain is on the way.

Sponge – Giants (Lyrics On Screen)

This song played over and over in my mind when I was serving time in the ADC Brickeys.

Putin says ‘Thank God’ some foreign companies have left Russia

From HERE

LONDON (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was glad some foreign companies had left Russia because home-grown businesses could take their place, and he warned the West that Moscow would still find ways to acquire advanced technology and luxury goods.

Putin has cast the invasion of Ukraine as a turning point in Russian history: a revolt by Moscow against the United States, which he says has humiliated Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. Ukraine says it is fighting for its survival.

Besides the death and horror of war, the conflict and the West’s attempt to isolate Russia as punishment have crimped global economic growth and triggered a wave of inflation as the prices of grain, cooking oil, fertiliser and energy soar.

Since the war, a host of major foreign investors – ranging from BP to McDonald’s Corp – have exited just as the Russian economy faces its worst contraction since the years following the turmoil of the Soviet collapse.

“Sometimes when you look at those who leave – thank God, perhaps? We will occupy their niches: our business, our production – it has already grown, and it will safely sit on the ground prepared by our partners,” Putin said.

Speaking by video link to leaders of ex-Soviet states, Putin quipped that luxuries such as the Mercedes favoured by bandits in the chaos of post-Soviet Russia would still be available, though he admitted they might be a little more expensive.

“It will be a little more expensive for them but these are people who already drove Mercedes 600s and they will still do so. I can assure you they will bring them in from wherever, from whichever country.”

Putin said Russia still needed access to the advanced technologies of developed economies.

“We are not going to cut ourselves off from this – they want to squeeze us out a bit, but in the modern world this is simply unrealistic, impossible.”

He did not elaborate on how Russia would find ways to maintain access to western components and software.

Putin promised that Western attempts to isolate Russia would fail, saying developed economies were grappling with an inflationary spiral, broken supply chains and a food crisis just as the centre of global economic power had moved to Asia.

Western sanctions have stoked Russian inflation while snarling supply chains, though Putin said the country is coping well and that Russia is turning away from the West in favour of China, India and other powers.

“Representatives of our businesses face problems, of course, especially in the field of supply chains and transport. But nevertheless, everything can be adjusted, everything can be built in a new way,” Putin said.

“Not without losses at a certain stage, but it helps us in a way to become stronger. In any case, we are definitely acquiring new competencies, we are starting to concentrate our economic, financial and administrative resources on breakthrough areas

Russia’s central bank slashed its key interest rate to 11% on Thursday and said it saw room for more cuts this year, as inflation slows from more than 20-year highs and the economy heads towards a contraction.

Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more and raised fears of the most serious confrontation between Russia and the United States since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Putin says the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia through NATO enlargement and Moscow had to defend against the persecution of Russian-speaking people.

Ukraine and its Western allies reject these as baseless pretexts to invade a sovereign country.

The Prisoner S1E11 It’s Your Funeral

The latest installment of the 1960s television show The Prisoner.

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