Little beatnik MM goes a bongoing

When I was a teenager I lived with my mom and dad (before they divorced). Times got hard and for a while we stayed in a trailer that had no electricity or hot water. We lived in a swampy forest in Mississippi, no neighbors, lots of mud and trees. My dad worked about an hour away at an airport, so he was gone most of the time, leaving me home alone with my mother. She was extremely mentally ill- in and out of institutions, she had vivid hallucinations and delusions, and the darkness didn’t help. We never got along, and I was often the subject of her abuse and frustration. One night I was sitting in the living room with her waiting for my dad to come home from work. He called to see how we were doing and to tell us that he would be bringing home food, and then asked if I was home because sometimes I would go for walks (the room was so silent I could actually hear him on the other end). Instead of telling him that, yes, I was home and I was sitting right in front of her, she told him “No, she’s not home. The back gate is open. She must have run off somewhere.” It was like some scene from a horror film- she was sitting in a dark corner and all I could see of her was the reflection of her eyes staring at me darkly. I had the immediate sense that I was in danger, and thoughts of being actually murdered by my own mother raced through my mind. I got up and walked slowly to my room, shut the door, and called my dad to tell him what had just happened. He said “She’s really dangerous. You need to lock the door and hide under your blankets until I get home. I’ll be there soon.” He got home less than an hour later. Everything turned out fine and we never mentioned it again.

That is a “Red Line”.

Direct placement is a “Red Line”, as is funding the placement, actively preparing for the placement, or making treaties involving the placement. This was all clearly specified in the Biden Xi talks in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia.

It would be a terrible move initiated by the United States and would result in horrific consequence.

This would result in the well and clearly specified consequences that China has repeatedly stated over and over again.

To the credit of the United States, the talk between President Biden and Xi Peng reiterated this stance, and additionally, the USA said that it will not do this. This was repeated by President Biden and Anthony Blinken in the “five Nos” statement repeatedly reiterated by President Biden.

However…

The United States has a reputation of lying, telling untruths, doing one thing and saying another, all the time while fomenting wars and breaking treaties. Truthfully, China welcomes the dialog, but has no illusions as to what a monster the United States has become, and what a real threat it actually is.

Now THIS TIME, if the USA (yet again) breaks it’s promises, it’s treaties, and it’s contract with China then the result will be clear… It’s already been explained to the American “leadership”. Quite clearly. Very clearly. So clear than a mentally retarded three year old can understand it.

There would be a very large and massive war between the United States and China.

Ah.

But maybe you heard that before. But you really don’t have any idea what it means. For if you are an American you think of war as being police actions in far-away distant places. Like Yemen, Syria, Cambodia, Somalia, Ukraine, Iraq, Angola, Iran, etc.

Well, this time it won’t.

Of course, everything being said so far sounds like screeching chalk on a blackboard to Americans. It makes no sense at all. America is gifted by God with Democracy (TM) and is formidable nuclear power; a shining city on a huge white hill.

That’s great Hollywood.

Makes great sound bytes.

But has zero effect on actual reality.

For starters, consider Taiwan; a province of China. Much like Texas is a state of America. China would of course, take care of this “matter”. Those of you who have zero experience in actual real China, but instead watch movies, and play first-person shooters, and read neocon journals would think that this is some kind of a fantasy.

It’s not. China is DEAD SERIOUS.

For starters, all of the placed missiles would be destroyed, with no concern for collateral damage or civilian causalities. China doesn’t give a fuck.

China would then take over Taiwan with hours. China is ready, well trained, and doesn’t give a fuck.

Though “mop up” operation might last as long as a week. Taiwan’s “soy soldiers” will not die for American democracy (TM). Of course. The idea and hope in the Pentagon is for a long drawn-out Vietnam, Afghanistan or Ukraine. Not. Going. To. Happen. China will be ruthless. Lethal. Dirty and the result will be nasty.

Spill-over? You bet-ya.

Simultaneous to this would be the destruction of ALL of the USN military presence in the Pacific. No carriers would remain. Guam would be gone. Hawaii would be in rubble as would be San Francisco. Australia want’s to join in the cluster-fuck. Good bye Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide. Anyone else wants to join in the fray? Any takers?

Which would ALONE probably trigger an American nuclear counter-response.

Then of course, you would see (again) what China has done to the pitiful attempts that the United States in trying to suppress it. Freak Geomagnetic storms will mysterious suddenly cause constellations of satellites to tumble out of orbit. There will be massive submarine accidents accidentally ramming undersea mountains. American VTOL carriers will catch fire by Navy personnel burning trash in the munitions lockers, and so on and so forth.

Even if things did not get HOT, things will be very uncomfortable for the United States and it’s proxy nations. What ever happens; hot war, or cold war, lit it be well understood that all trade would stop…

  • The few remaining American factories would stop, and close.
  • American medicines will be all gone. Fully 98% are made inside of China.
  • Shelves would be empty. All consumer goods would become a rare commodity. Including socks, shoes, pantyhose, toothbrushes, and cellphones.
  • The US dollar, already worthless, would suffer from astounding inflation.
  • No diesel. No batteries. No electricity. A war would EMP the living shit out of the USA. This is a reality, and whatever potential that the Untied States has for oil, gas, resources will need to start from scratch with a massive handicap.

Then things will get really bad. Because you all have no idea how powerful and formidable China is today.

Anyone who thinks that violating Chinese “Red Lines” is a good idea is a suicidal idiot.

The EU Is Already Begging China For Mercy

Here’s a photo from the 1990s of a man called Josef Fritzl, vacationing in Thailand without a care in the world. Fritzl was a businessman, married, father of seven, from Austria. He’d frequently travel the world. One year he’d be in Thailand. Another year he’d go to Africa. At times his friends would join him, they would drink, swim, lounge around resorts and float in the swimming pools of resorts…

Frans
Frans

Fritzl was a doting grandfather of twenty. Three of his grandchildren lived with him and his wife — his youngest daughter Elizabeth, their mother, had ran away from home and joined a cult. So Fritzl and his wife raised their grandchildren. By all means, Josef had a charmed life. What no one knew? The three grandchildren he was raising were also his own biological children… their mother Elizabeth hadn’t joined a “cult”, she lived in a dungeon Fritzl had built inside his own basement. With three other children Fritzl also fathered there by his own daughter.

Fritzl was arrested in 2008, at the age of 73. Because he had brought one of the “dungeon kids” to the hospital along with Elizabeth, his captive daughter, who then alerted authorities. Josef Fritzl remains in prison in Austria of this writing. He believes he should be freed, famously telling a judge: “I am just one man. But look inside the basements of other people… you would be surprised what you find!”

Glazed Ham with Dried Cherry Caramelized Onions

Perfect for a late lunch or dinner. This cooked, boneless ham is glazed with a mixture of honey, mustard and cider vinegar. Serve with sugar snap peas and roasted new potatoes.

spiced cherry bourbon glazed ham 98719 1
spiced cherry bourbon glazed ham 98719 1

Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds cooked boneless ham
  • 4 tablespoons honey, divided use
  • 1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
  • 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
  • 5 medium onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup dried tart cherries
  • 1/3 cup cider vinegar
  • 5 medium onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/4 cup almonds, sliced or slivered and toasted

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Place ham on rack in shallow baking pan and roast 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a meat thermometer registers 140 degrees F, about 15 to 18 minutes per pound.
  2. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon cider vinegar and mustard. Brush ham with glaze during the last 5 minutes of baking.
  3. Sauté onions over medium heat in a Dutch oven in butter for 12 to 15 minutes or until onions are just tender, stirring occasionally.
  4. Stir in dried cherries, 1/3 cup cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons honey and 1/2 teaspoon cardamom. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir in toasted almonds.
  5. Serve ham slices with onion mixture.
  1. Psychopaths say “um” more frequently in order to appear like a normal person.
  2. It is incredibly easy to pass a Polygraph Test if you trick yourself into thinking that everything is fine and that everything you say is the truth, no matter what.
  3. When you lie, you may shake your head. This is your body saying that it doesn’t believe you.
  4. If someone accuses you and threatens you about a wrongdoing relentlessly, you will eventually find that it is in your best interest to fess up to the crime, making you guilty of something you never did. This is a minor form of brainwashing.
  5. The closer you are in a relationship, the more you can read the other’s mind.
  6. We disregard our morals if a person of higher power takes responsibility for your actions. Essentially just obeying authority.
  7. 1/5 people in France have depression, making it the saddest country in the world.
  8. It is impossible to stay angry at a loved one. If you are able to do so for more than 3 days, then you may not love them.
  9. You never truly value a moment before it becomes a distant memory.
  10. Crying reduces stress and causes you to feel better.
  11. The people you most often think about are the ones you love or the ones who cause you pain.
  12. Music can bend and shape the way you see the world, or life in general.
  13. Your favorite songs are decided by the emotional events you attach to it.
  14. Narcissists think they’re brilliant while most have a below-average IQ.
  15. Long periods of isolation may cause you to hallucinate, but they consist of mostly auditory hallucinations.
  16. Ignorance of your feelings causes them to swell and essentially just take over your thoughts.
  17. Fast-thinkers tend to have sloppy handwriting. Thoughts are fleeting, so they must be written down almost immediately.
  18. When choosing a romantic partner, look for how they treat their inferiors or pets. That says a lot about their nature.
  19. Speaking other languages may cause someone to shift their personality as well. (I am more secluded when speaking Spanish and more confident when I speak Italian.)
  20. We care more about the death of one than the death of many. It feels more personal when one human dies, yet when multiple perish, we feel as we don’t know any of them.
  21. Some people just love to see you angry. The solution? Relax the muscles in your face and watch as theirs visibly deflates.
  22. We believe what we WANT to believe.
  23. Extensive loneliness is just as bad as smoking 15 cigars.
  24. The human brain is always searching for a problem or a flaw. Perfection is always key for many, and some just can’t let it go.
  25. The more power you gain, the more empathy you lose.

My First Week in China

My husband took me to Silver Spring to buy a 2 door Ford Explorer back in the 90s.

It was really late at night (11 pm) and we barely got the title to the car given to us before they had to close.

We were told to come by the next day after work to finish up some of the other paperwork.

When we arrived the next day, the salesman told us he had made a mistake.

He had forgotten to add taxes to the price of the car he sold us. So we owed them an additional $1000.

We were tapped out and couldn’t afford another $1000. I told him to take the car back.

The salesman lost his cool and started screaming at my husband.

He insisted we pay this extra $1000 or he would call the police on us.

My husband stood up and they went nose to nose. Hubby called his bluff and invited him to call the police. We already had the pink slip (title). There was nothing he could do about it.

The salesman turned beet red and started hurling personal insults.

We were in a private room but I’m positive the entire showroom floor heard the commotion. It was that loud.

I plastered myself against the wall, as I feared their proximity would escalate to either physical violence or a stroke.

The salesman finally stepped back, adjusted his tie and became silent.

He realized he wasn’t getting any more money from us.

He announced, “Never mind. I’ll just get it from some other customer later on.”

His callousness in thrusting his mistake onto the next unsuspecting customer took me aback.

No wonder car salesmen have such a bad reputation.

Prof. Mearsheimer REVEALS: the FATE of Humanity May Hang on the 2024 US and European Elections

In this video, Prof. John Mearsheimer discusses the results of recent European elections, public vs. elite opinion on Ukraine, the divided European Parliament, country-specific analysis of France and Germany, the importance of the US election perspectives, Biden vs. Trump foreign policy approach, Russian strategy, and internal NATO divisions. 

During the Depression, my grandfather took one of the very few jobs that paid well – because it was so hard to find someone to do it. He drove a gravel truck up the side of the mountain, every morning, to take the day’s allotment of dynamite and nitro to the quarry. It was a one lane track with a lot of curves but not enough switchbacks, so it was very steep. It was barely a road and almost not quite wide enough for the truck.

There were two trucks, and the way the system worked, every morning a truck went up the mountain, and was sent back down in the evening full of gravel. Once the day truck was at the bottom of the mountain, the night truck went up with their load of dynamite for the night shift. In the morning, it came down before the day truck went up.

One day, signals got crossed. A truck that looked like the night truck pulled into the lot, and my grandfather saw it, so he started up the mountain track. About halfway up, he heard a horn blasting and realized it was the night truck, signaling that his brakes had failed. That happened at times, and was dangerous, but usually the truck would make it to the bottom and roll to a stop. Only THIS time, my grandfather’s truck was on the road. There was nowhere to pull off or turn around … so he laid on the horn of HIS truck, to tell the other driver he was there.

He tried backing down the mountain, but that wasn’t really going to be fast enough. Realizing there was no hope for it – and not wanting to be near the truck when the impact came (and the dynamite blew) he jumped out of the truck and started running down the mountain.

He had been a track star when in college, and before the Depression hit, had been a track coach for the local college and high school, so he was in shape and known to be a fast runner.

According to the story, my (atheist) grandfather learned to pray on his way down the mountain. He loudly promised the Lord that if he was not killed that day, that he would attend church faithfully for the rest of his life. As he came off the mountain and was on flat land, he realized he had not heard the expected explosion, but was still running hard. So he changed his prayer to say he would attend church once a week for the rest of his life. Then as he got closer to town, it was to attend church for ten years. By the time he reached the church in the center of town, he “bargined down” to attending church for the rest of the year.

He was praying so loud to the Lord that everyone he passed heard his promises. Finally, he reached the church and collapsed. (Still no explosion). By some stroke of luck (or as the townspeople would say – by the Grace of God) the driver of the other truck had been able to use the gearshifts and emergency brakes and managed to stop his truck before it could ram the day truck.

Granddad reverted to being an atheist almost immediately, however my grandmother was a formidable woman. He had made his promise to the Lord in public and it was witnessed by the community. She would not allow him to back out of the promise.

So, every Sunday, for the rest of the year, as soon as services were done, my grandfather would round up the oldest sons, and they worked on the church. They replaced the roof, repaired the stairs in the back, painted the church and school, and basically did all kinds of maintenance work. Every Sunday. The last thing they did was carve new end pieces for all the pews, and installed a prayer rail so that elderly or infirm members could hold it when then knelt for communion.

After it was done, he still did not attend church, but any time something needed to be repaired, the pastor would call and remind him of his promise to the Lord.

The cost of living is unbearable in the USA. There is no reason at all why you should stay there.

This is a MUST watch video. This is really good. He talks about FAMILY and lifestyle. Loving and caring families.

This was a flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. For those of you unfamiliar with the geography of that area, that place is entirely void of any bodies of water (or at least our flight path was). The pilot was a pretty hilarious guy.

During the safety presentation:

“In the highly likely event of a water landing during our trip over the Mojave Desert, you can use the seat cushion as a flotation device.”

“Okay, I know most of you have got your seatbelts on already, take them off again so I can feel like my safety presentation actually did something.”

“If you are traveling with a child or someone who acts like one, please secure your mask first before assisting others.”

And after that:

“Hey people in the front, would you please sit down for a moment? I’m trying to back up here.”

“The policy on this flight is no smoking indoors. We have plenty space on the two wings if you would like to smoke.”

Mediterranean Chopped Salad

Try packing this salad into a Mason jar, and take your salad to go. Add dressing immediately before eating.

Easy Mediterranean Chopped Salad 3
Easy Mediterranean Chopped Salad 3

TIPS

Use a mixture of red and yellow cherry tomatoes for added interest. Prepare with canned red or white kidney beans instead of the chickpeas if desired.

Substitute fresh basil for the parsley, or skip the fresh herbs and make dressing using 1 to 2 tablespoons prepared basil pesto. Dressing can be made with fresh lemon juice instead of the red wine vinegar, or with a combination of both ingredients.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups packed chopped romaine lettuce hearts
  • 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
  • 1 cup chopped cucumber
  • 1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup pitted quartered Kalamata olives
  • 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon each finely chopped fresh parsley and chives
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 4 hard-boiled large eggs, cooled to room temperature, peeled and quartered
Easy Mediterranean Chopped Salad
Easy Mediterranean Chopped Salad

Instructions

  1. Combine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas and olives in large bowl. Top with feta cheese.
  2. Whisk together vinegar, parsley, chives and mustard in small bowl. Add olive oil slowly, whisking until combined.
  3. Toss salad lightly with dressing and DIVIDE evenly among 4 dinner plates. Top with eggs.

Prep: 20 min | Yield: 4 servings

Easy 12-Minute Method for Hard-Boiled Eggs: Place eggs in saucepan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add enough cold water to cover eggs by 1 inch. Heat over high heat just to boiling. Remove from heat. Cover pan. Let eggs stand in hot water for 12 minutes for large eggs. Drain. Cool completely under cold running water or shock eggs in a bowl of ice water.

You can refrigerate unpeeled eggs for several days if not using immediately. Hard-boiled eggs are easiest to peel right after cooling.

Easy Mediterranean Chopped Salad 4
Easy Mediterranean Chopped Salad 4

They have managed decline to unacceptable levels to average citizens

  1. The smarter you become, the crazier you’ll seem to “dumb” people.
  2. Nobody literally wants you to tell them the truth. Rather, we all want you to reaffirm our beliefs.
  3. Today’s saint was yesterday’s sinner.
  4. Most people spend a lifetime trying to be like someone who is trying to be like someone else.
  5. “Reality is for people who can’t face drugs and drugs are for people who can’t face reality!” —Genius Turner
  6. You know a man is really smart when you forget to notice how cheap his clothes are.
  7. “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” —Albert Einstein
  8. Your own siblings will “sell you out” if the price is right.
  9. You might as well stop caring what others think about you because they seldom do! After all, everybody is knee-deep in their own troubles.
  10. A wise person knows: if you think you can, you can; if you think you can’t, you can’t! Either way—you’re right.
  11. Being normal has become abnormal.
  12. If by chance you browse the Law Book, notice the fine print that states: Here lies one law for the rich and another for the poor!
  13. “Genius is 1% talent and 99% hard work…” —Albert Einstein
  14. Few people are wise enough to recognize when the price of money costs too much! Be wise, then.
  15. A heterosexual telling a homosexual that being gay is “wrong” is no different from someone born right-handed telling a left-handed person to write with the “right” hand.
  16. How can you ever declare to “know someone” when most of us have yet to Know Thyself?
  17. If you become too successful, your own friends will succumb to jealousy and envy.
  18. Because a billionaire is, by definition, equivalent to 1,000 millionaires—in light of world hunger—every billionaire is by definition selfish.
  19. The only thing separating the dreamer from the dream is a bridge called WORK!
  20. Last but not least: you might as well be yourself, dahling, because everyone else is already taken!

If you think that the USA is the “best” then you really need to step outside and see just how ridiculous the USA actually is.

Spending just to live. It’s the American way.

I once went to a property sellout auction, when a three ton truck came up for sale, the auctioneer wanted to start the bidding off at $5000, he couldn’t get a bid, so kept reducing the starting price by $100 at a time, still no bids so I sang out $100 dollars, he ignored me at first I sang out again so he started at $100, another bloke thought it was to cheap so he also started bidding, he gave up when it got to $1000, so I bought three a ton truck for $1000, a bit later I felt a tap on my shoulder and a chap asked me if I was the one that bought the truck I said yes I was, and he asked me if I would take $3000 for it? BLOODY OATH! so I made $2000 profit without doing a thing,

one other thing, at the same auction, the auctioneer, held up a jar of pebbles’ I recognised them as sapphires, Because I used to dig for them as a hobby, also no bid, I got it for 5 dollars, I took it with me the next time I went to the gem fields, and took them to an Indian buyer, they were only small stones but he still gave 500 dollars for them, so that was also a good profit margin, from 5 to 500, not bad at all.

This occurred while I was still married to my second husband in New Hampshire. We lived on top of a hill we called “Heck’s Hill” and for many years, ours was the only house within several miles.

A builder in town, known for his arrogance, bought a huge parcel of land behind and beside us on the right. His intention was to build a road around us, ending in a cul de sac to the right of our hill, where he would build eight homes.

Since the road would go up the left side and wind around behind our property before continuing on to the cul de sac, the builder claimed an easement for some of our property for a cut through the hill to make it level enough for his road. Otherwise, he would have to curve his road much more to go further out away from our hill for level ground and it would cost him more.

We were told by the Planning Board this would take about 150′ from the back of our property to allow for the slope. Then his road would be cut into our hill with a 25′ drop. It seemed like a lot, but we had to agree according to the Planning Board.

Our home was totally surrounded by woods, including the trees to be removed for the road. Most of the trees were old, huge, and established. Just inside the tree line on top of our hill in back, was a rock/stone wall, which went almost entirely around our home. The stone wall was only a couple of feet from our in ground pool. In the photo, you can see the concrete deck that goes around the pool and under the slide, and just outside of the deck, you see the dark rock/stone wall. You can also see the wall to the left in the photo behind the cabana and house.

“In the State of New Hampshire, it is against the law to destroy, or remove, an existing stone or rock wall as they are deemed to be historical.”

On the day the bulldozer and other machinery arrived to make the cut into our property, the bulldozer operator came to the house to let me know he would start cutting trees in an hour and if we had a pet, to make sure it was kept indoors.

When they left, curious me went out to the back of our property where they had placed orange ribbons around the trees to be bulldozed. Two of the largest trees were within a foot of the rock/stone wall and only a few feet from the pool. The dozers had already taken three trees down they weren’t approved to remove which used to be beside the white birch in the photo.

Horrified, I called the builder on his cell phone and told him that was NOT what we had agreed to when we met with the Planning Board —it was not even close. I told him, per our agreement, okayed by the Planning Board, he would have to move his road further out, because he was NOT approved to make his cut that close to the existing stone/rock wall.

(By already taking out the three wrongly marked trees, and more that were planned, it was obvious he would take part of the stone wall, too). His plans would make the 25′ cut down to his road within a foot of the rock/stone wall —we would have a 25′ drop off (a cliff) there? I had eleven grandchildren that also swam in our pool!

He said, “Plans change. The additional feet of moving the road further out would make it cost prohibitive. Get over it, lady. The road is going in where I say it’s going in.”

I told the builder we were going back in front of the Town Planning Board and let them decide. We would leave it to them to make the determination, because there was no way my husband and I would allow the builder to take even more than the 150′ easement just on his say-so.

He said the Planning Board wasn’t going to be meeting for another three weeks and he didn’t have time to take shit like this from me —he had a job to do and the equipment was already there. Then he hung up on me.

Now I was pissed. I went inside, got a rifle, loaded it, and planted myself on the rock/stone wall behind our pool and I waited with the rifle laying across my lap.

When the drivers came back, I told them to get off our property or I would shoot. They complained and I told them to go call their arrogant employer and tell him I was going to sit right where I was until the Planning Board met and I didn’t care how long it took.

I’m normally an introvert, but I said it with all the bravado I could muster. (Oh boy, I was thinking. The police will be here any minute and I’m going to be in so much trouble …)

No police ever came and when the builder called the Planning Board to complain, they put an immediate hold on the whole project. They decided to convene and review both sides of the agreement again in two days’ time.

The Planning Board heard both sides and the arrogant bully was forced to move his road further out.

Satisfying … oh yes, it was very satisfying.

The defendant was guilty. The mountain of evidence against him was the size of Everest. He was a white-collar criminal — an educated professional with a high six-figure income who apparently believed the criminal laws only applied to the “little people.”

He refused to hire a lawyer to conduct his defense, although he had been charged with a major felony, and insisted on representing himself. He expected to succeed. From what I saw of the guy, it looked like he was so accustomed to always having people kowtow to him and getting his own way, it never occurred to him that his experience in a federal courthouse might be different.

The guy adopted a defense strategy of trying to bully the judge into dismissing the case.

For more than a month, he was the most belligerent, obnoxious, uncooperative defendant imaginable. The only reason he didn’t get thrown into jail for contempt of court was because his case had been assigned to the nicest, most patient judge in the courthouse.

The defendant had also made several requests to have his case transferred to a different judge.

Although judges rarely reward obnoxious defendants by granting their motions to have the case transferred to a different judge, the nice judge decided to make an exception in this defendant’s case. She “rewarded” the defendant’s bad behavior by granting his motion and intentionally transferring the case to the toughest judge in the courthouse.

Shortly thereafter, the defendant received a lesson in some of the strategies no-nonsense judges use to deal with defendants who try to turn the courtroom into a three-ring circus. The guy sat like a statue through most of his first hearing with the tough judge and then decided to hire a lawyer.

Moral of the story: Be careful what you ask for. You may get it.

My parents did not have a good marriage. My father was cold, distant and absent. My mother was a stereotypical 90s Indian wife who served food to him and picked up after him. They didn’t communicate, didn’t understand each other. My father outbursts would often result in throwing plates across the room while my mother cleaned every bit of food off the floor without saying a word. Later, she confided in me that she was scared. She didn’t want him to cross boundaries and hit her. Keeping silence was her plea. Needless to say, I grew up with very distorted sense of marriage.

I jumped from one relationship to another all my life. When things got tough I moved to another until I met my husband. My husband is an American and grew up in Texas. We were in a long distance relationship for 4–5 years until we decided to get married. In the beginning of our relationship, I was skeptical. When I realized I had feelings for him, I did what I know best. I started to push him away but he stayed. Regardless of being in a long distance relationship I never had to second guess his feelings. He was always there, emotionally if not physically.

Once we got married, I kept waiting for the marriage to crash and burn, kept waiting for the pain to return which I’m so used to, but it never happened. He made sure of it. My husband did everything he could to make me feel comfortable in the new country. He even learnt to cook Indian food so I don’t feel home sick. Being in a new country where I knew no one, isolated and away from friends and family took a toll on me. I have been dealing with depression and severe anxiety for years but he stood by me through it all. He accepted me for who I am without trying to change anything about me. Every time we had an argument, I waited to see glimpse of my father in him but he proved me wrong each time.

I always thought that marriage makes one miserable. I once found a poem written by my father dedicated to my mother. I couldn’t believe it. I had to ask my mother several times to be sure because they were never happy, never in love, as long as I could remember. That was the perception of marriage I grew up with until this beautiful man walked in my life and changed it forever. I’m still haunted by the dysfunctional marriage my parents had but then I look at him and know everything will be okay.

Great stuff. Enjoy this one.

The world today is surreal. It sucks, but let’s enjoy the ride.

However, we also cannot deny that the protests in some areas, such as Shanghai, have deviated from their purpose, showing very classic and traditional color revolution routines. In Hong Kong, in Ukraine, wherever there is turmoil and disaster, similar patterns of behavior are constantly being played out. NGOs, CIA, and the media used social incidents as an entry point, hired gunmen or instigators at the protest site to quickly intensify the situation, and even resorted to direct murder to promote confrontation.

For example, during the protests on Middle Urumqi road, traditional Chinese characters, which are basically not used in mainland China, were written on the banners hanging; those who first started chanting political slogans had obvious Hong Kong or Taiwanese accents. It is almost impossible to obtain explosives or guns in mainland China, so by elevating a social issue to a political issue is a common tactic used by American conspiracy agencies to incite color revolutions. As a native of Sichuan, I have witnessed similar tactics in the suicide incident of student in Chengdu 49 Middle School. Protesters from southern China, armed with symbols (flowers, like carnations), chanted slogans in unison. Their behavior constitutes all the necessary elements in a political upheaval.

The simultaneous protests in many places in China are essentially a farce of young and fearless students being manipulated and instigated by malicious foreign political forces. It took advantage of the public's dissatisfaction with the current epidemic prevention policy, induced student groups who did not have a deep understanding of national security to take to the streets to protest, and then tried to detonate social incidents into political incidents through extreme means at the scene. Another attempt at a color revolution.

However, there is nothing to worry about.

During major policy adjustments, instability or errors in implementation are quite normal. If you believed US propaganda that this was the standard for China's imminent collapse, then I'm sorry - as we've apologized to you many times - that but was your pipe dream.

Well, apparently not only is China collapsing, but it has already collapsed! Who would have thunk it?

2022 11 29 09 34
2022 11 29 09 34

Well, that’s what you might think if the ONLY news you read is from the United States.

2022 11 29 14 51
2022 11 29 14 51

I ask you all, does this look familiar to you? Does this maybe jog your memories, eh?

2022 11 29 14 57
2022 11 29 14 57

Yeah.

It’s called “projection”. You place what you know about yourself upon your enemies. Then you hype up the “weaknesses” of your enemies relentlessly.

2022 11 29 14 59
2022 11 29 14 59

Hey! It’s entering “Loony Town”. Now. Here’s Hal Turner…

2022 11 29 15 03
2022 11 29 15 03

LOL.

If China actually fired on protestors it would be all over everywhere; CNN, BBC and all the rest.

Keep in mind that Chinese police do not carry guns. Don’t you know. Those that do, well, they are lethal marksmen. If six shots were fired, then six people would be dead. Where are they?

I am very skeptical…

Let’s take and place bets.

I’ll bet you that Xi Peng is still running China, and Putin is still running Russia this time next Christmas. Any takers?

together
together

I’m going to do something new and unique in this post. I have a full movie. But it is in eight (x8)  small 15 minute portions. This is from you-tube, and it lends itself nicely to this experiment of mine for today.

I hope you enjoy it.

It’s a weird and wacky comedy from the 1980’s titled “Water”. It’s got a lot of Monty Python based jokes and sketches, major actors, and takes place on a tiny, backwater island in the Caribbean sea. It’s a fit for this strange period of time that we find ourselves in.

First up…

This is a forgotten comedy classic.

Those of you from the Caribbean islands would really appreciate this wonderful movie. It shows the strange world of a small island living.

This entire movie is presented in this post in 15 minute blocks. Here’s the first one.

https://youtu.be/Gmu80-AXrRs

A Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 16fwe 20
2022 11 29 16fwe 20

CANCELLED! Nuclear Arms Treaty Talks Between U.S. and Russia

Meetings of the bilateral advisory commissions on the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty between Russia and the US, scheduled for November 29 trough December 6 in Cairo, have been cancelled.

No word yet on who cancelled the talks, or why.

Just formal acknowledgement the talks will not take place.

Another Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 16 20
2022 11 29 16 20

Gambas Pil-Pil — Chili Shrimp (Spain)

This recipe was found in the 2002 cookbook, Mediterranean Street Food.

2022 11 29 15 24
2022 11 29 15 24

Ingredients

Directions

  • In a large skillet, combine oil, garlic & crushed red pepper.
  • When oil is hot & starts to sizzle around the garlic, add the shrimp & fry for 1 minute on each side.
  • Remove pan from the heat & squeeze lemon juice over shrimp & sprinkle with salt, to taste.
  • Serve very hot!

China extends tariff exemptions on some US goods in ‘reciprocal’ move

Published: Nov 28, 2022 07:39 PM Updated: Nov 28, 2022 07:35 PM
.

China will extend tariff exemptions for six months on some US goods subject to countermeasures against US Section 301 measures, according to an official announcement on Monday, in what analysts call a standard and reciprocal move after the US also announced similar exemptions.

Days after the US announced a tariff exemption extension on some Chinese goods, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced an extension of tariff exemptions on the ninth batch of US goods from December 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023, read a statement on the website of the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

According to a product list published by the MOF, the tariff exemptions are being extended on timber, agricultural products, lubricating oil, machine tools, forging machines, laser products and healthcare products.

On Thursday, the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced tariff exemption extensions for an additional three months for 81 Chinese healthcare products, including blood pressure monitors and X-ray tables, in order to continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement by the USTR.

China and the US are waiving tariffs on some products that are urgently needed from the other side, Hu Qimu, deputy secretary general of the digital-real economies integration Forum 50, told the Global Times on Monday.

“The trade attitude and policies of the US toward China are unstable and change often. I believe that as long as the US offers to stop imposing additional tariffs on China, China will in return stop imposing additional tariffs on the US. But the US always goes back and forth,” said Hu.

What China shows is its reciprocal countermeasures against the US, Hu noted. “If you sanction me, I will definitely sanction you back. If the US relaxes its policies, China will do the same.”

Since September 2019, China has extended several exemptions for US goods subject to retaliatory tariffs, following extensions by the US of tariff exemptions.

The US-initiated additional tariffs on more than $350 billion worth of Chinese goods went into effect in July 2018 as part of former US president Donald Trump’s tariff war against China.

But China-US trade increased by 8.3 percent on a yearly basis in 2020 and expanded by 28.7 percent in 2021. In the first 10 months of 2022, trade between China and the US rose 5.1 percent year-on-year to $639.83 billion.

Meanwhile, US companies have not stopped investment in China even after the US launched a trade war. Cargill announced increased investment in China. ExxonMobil began construction of a major petrochemical project in Huizhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, which is the first major petrochemical project wholly owned by a US company in China.

The trade figures and investment decisions show that economic and trade ties between the world’s two biggest economies are impossible to halt, analysts said, noting that the next step is to find a specific path to solve problems based on the understanding that decoupling cannot be achieved.

China-US economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial in nature. Starting a trade war or a technology war, building walls and barriers, or pushing for decoupling and severing supply chains run counter to the principles of the market economy and undermine international trade rules, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said last week.

The USTR also said in the Thursday statement that it “may continue to consider further extensions and/or additional modifications as appropriate.”

.
43a9a3b6 a804 4f2f 9ede 059aa993ff89
43a9a3b6 a804 4f2f 9ede 059aa993ff89

https://youtu.be/oy6OcJ9bZn0

Another Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 1fqw6 19
2022 11 29 1fqw6 19

Look at this protest leader…

main qimg 07c1c91593b7be181c53f0f8caefb3bf lq
main qimg 07c1c91593b7be181c53f0f8caefb3bf lq

It says “ Pay attention to the conductor/commander when in the protest area.”

We know that the protest leaders are not Chinese.

Another Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 16 1w9
2022 11 29 16 1w9

Water is a 1985 British comedy film directed by Dick Clement and starring Michael Caine.

It was scripted by Clement and Ian La Frenais.

The plot spoofs elements of the comedies Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1958) and Passport to Pimlico (1948) and the then-recent invasions of the Falkland Islands and Grenada.

Caine plays Baxter Thwaites, a Governor who has ‘gone native’ (similar to his role in The Honorary Consul), and Billy Connolly as local biracial activist Delgado, supported by the last performance of Leonard Rossiter, as Sir Malcolm Leveridge, and one of the last performances of Fulton Mackay.

The Singing Rebel’s Band consists of Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Ray Cooper, Jon Lord, Mike Moran, Chris Stainton and Ringo Starr, with backing singers Jenny Bogle and Anastasia Rodriguez. It spoofs The Concert for Bangladesh organised by Harrison in 1971.

The story is set in the fictional Caribbean island and British colony of Cascara. Widely ignored by the British Government, media, and general public, local Governor Baxter Thwaites is having an easy life in his small and peaceful colony. 

That peace is disturbed when an abandoned oil rig starts delivering water - at the standard of the finest table water brands (and laxative companies, as it contains a substance that makes you "shit like clockwork"). 

Different parties, including Downing Street, the Cascara Liberation Front, the White House, French bottled water producers, and Cuban guerrillas take interest in the future of the island and threaten to destroy the cosy way of life enjoyed by the island's inhabitants.

https://youtu.be/Fev6U7XOROY

Another Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 16 1r9
2022 11 29 16 1r9

How organized is the NED in the protests inside of China?

Check out this…

main qimg 4c95cf3cc18de34bf554b5aa4627c324 pjlq
main qimg 4c95cf3cc18de34bf554b5aa4627c324 pjlq

If you mean the “protests” in various cities recently hyped up by the western media, I can tell you that in Beijing, people participating in the protests can get $140, in Chengdu it is $70, in Wuhan it is $40, and in Guangzhou it is poor $27.

We have laughed at Guangzhou for this all day.

Look, the "Voice of Democracy and Freedom" of the US has a price, and that price is $27.

In Beijing, people changed the slogan of the parade to “We need to do nucleic acid testing” and “We need to scan health codes”. In Chengdu, the accent of outsiders shouted “we want freedom”, while the locals laughed “you want your motherf**ker freedom”. In Shanghai, the leaflet even wrote traditional characters, and the writer could not write one of these characters.

Do you know what the people who really marched in Xinjiang did? They said they did not oppose the government, but only to express their condolences. At the end of the parade, they sang the Chinese national anthem, and three times of it.

Can you imagine that happening in the US or UK or any other country?

So if you’re daydreaming about China collapsing, you can stop now.

EXCLUSIVE: Official Documents prove Anthony Fauci & Bill Gates are responsible for developing the COVID Virus in a Biolab

The US government funded Peter Daszak’s ECO Health Alliance to the tune of $61,491,183 to make new coronaviruses that are infectious to humans.

It also directly or indirectly funds the Wuhan Institute of Virology to the tune of $7.4 million dollars to make new coronaviruses that are infectious to humans.

Meanwhile, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded Ralph Baric to the tune of $46,958,414 to make new coronaviruses that are infectious to humans.

This totals more than $114 million in the period from 2000 to 2020 to make new coronaviruses which are infectious to humans.

There is no question that SARS-CoV 2 (causing Covid-19) is man-made. Here’s the evidence…

From HERE.

Yes.

I could cite some dry statistics and display some graphs but plenty of other people have done that. I am going to give the perspective of a 52-year-old who has seen a great deal of change, some of it for the better, most of it for the worse. I am going to share what has led to my misanthropic nihilism and negativity concerning the current “state of affairs.”

  1. When I was growing up I literally never heard of mass shootings. This does not mean they did not happen. It means they were very rare. Now, they are so commonplace as to be discussed with barely a nod. “Ten people dead; sixteen injured. Pass the potatoes, please.” We must get to the root of this epedemic, and there are multiple causes. A solution is not easy. The non-glorification of violence would be a good start. Unfortunately, Americans are not only desensitized to the horror of violence and death; we are entertained by it. We have cultivated a culture of violence appreciation. I am further alarmed that so many people completely dismiss this phenomena because it hasn’t happened to them or someone they know. We have dismissed and accepted this with a shrug.
  2. Republicans: Beginning in the middle part of the 20th century, GOP conservatives went so far to the right that they no longer resembled their former somewhat progressive selves.They became increasingly less liberal and more racist. Dixiecrats saw this and were incensed. Going forward, more and more conservatives and racists joined the Republican Party. Ideologies flipped. Republicans became the party who swung to a racist extreme, enshrined guns to a bizarre extent, and demanded their religion be legislated into law. In addition, their every effort has been to take from the poor and give to the wealthy. This became abundantly clear during the absolutely ridiculous “trickle-down-economics” era of Ronald Reagan. The rich can never be rich enough. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social security are all in danger. The gulf between the poor and the rich widens every day. The time grows nearer when the 95% will not be able to put roofs over their heads, even as the very rich, who should be paying more, lounge on their sun-drenched pool decks contemplating their wealth. I do not advocate “taking their money away,” as so many people suggest. I advocate a fairer playing field where the poor and the wealthy pay a more equal percentage in taxes rather than allowing the wealthy unfair advantages that have them paying less. And, big news flash here; we need to tax everyone fairly across the board and bring down our overall spending to decrease the deficit, rather than cut social security, and Medicare. Why are the poor the first people we think of when we consider cutting costs? Even the legendary investing guru Warren Buffet once said that his secretary’s tax rate is higher than his own, and Buffet is a multi-billionaire. We are an oligarchy, folks. Republicans have now become the number 1 problem, as they have enabled and backed Donald Trump and begun destroying voting rights in the wake of his lost bid for reelection. Republicans have become a much bigger threat than Democrats ever since they refused to allow Dems to seat Supreme Court justices and proceeded to stack that and other federal courts with super-majorities. The Supreme Court has now become nothing more than a partisan tool. Many progressive rulings will be overturned in time. This is a terrible development.
  3. Democrats: ( I am just left of center myself) have swung so far out into fantasy land that we have to be careful of everything we say and do. Literally everything is offensive. We have taken equal treatment and turned it into some kind of weird Frankenstein’s monster. Everyone deserves equal rights but political correctness has run amok. I am on the liberal side, but we need to tone down the anger. SJWs care about the welfare of all but are often so angry they can’t even be engaged in a polite debate without wanting to call in a firing squad. Wokeness, cancel culture, and censoring free speech needs to stop. Fight bigotry and hate where it exists, but don’t see it in every corner, jumping to identifying it as such until you know for sure what it is. Treat everyone equally. Use common sense and learn to identify some extreme left ideas from fringe groups as the bizarre notions they are. Up to 100 different genders? Seriously? I am also very unhappy with my party’s new tendency to try to destroy individuals by digging up comments they made 35 years ago. All of us have said something risque’ or controversial at some point. Doing this is plain ridiculous. Even with all this said, at least the Democrats mostly shed their past racism (even as it was embraced by many conservatives) and have been the leaders in advancing minority rights for decades. They have made mistakes, but I fault them far less in current times than Republicans.
  4. Politicians are bought and paid for. They should be forced to wear the names of their contributors on their suits, like those ads that are printed on the sides of racing cars. I saw this suggestion on Facebook and it is so true. How can politicians properly serve the people when they are beholden to the wealthy benefactors and corporations who donate money to them? Capitalism isn’t necessarily bad but it must be overseen and regulated. Unchecked, it produces tremendous wealth inequality and political corruption, as noted above. We need strict limits on political donations and a restructuring of how they are made, perhaps with a government supplied stipend distributed equally.
  5. Religion still rules the masses, much more so than other highly developed countries of the world, allowing bigotry and anti-science to flourish on into the 21st century. Politicians (especially conservatives) pander to this because it is one way to ensure continued support. Give your voters a couple of the things they want most and they will overlook the crooked bigger things (like tax cuts favoring the super rich.) I am not against religion: I am against having it in politics. Separation of church and state has always been a nifty idea in America but has never been a real thing. That is sad.
  6. Housing costs are out of control. One must mortgage away many decades of one’s life to buy a house that is too large and too expensive. It’s ridiculous. Small, modest homes could be purchased for much less money, but that would meet with the dissatisfaction of city ordinances and neighbors. It’s a big, fancy house in many cases or nothing. The alternative is sky-high rent on an apartment. Gone are the days when renting was cheaper than owning. Now, even modest apartments are so expensive they leave little money left for food. No one seems to advocate rent control anymore because greed is master. A livable wage is not high on the agenda either. Meanwhile, more and more people are pushed out onto the streets and homelessness increases. We find it easy to put the blame on the victims. Yes, many homeless have made mistakes but not all of the onus is on them. We have a system that is, by its very nature, generating more and more of this problem.
  7. A college education has gone completely into the stratosphere with its exorbitant cost. It’s unbelievable. A text book can cost several hundred dollars and full-time tuition for a single semester well into the thousands. Small non-traditional for-profit “colleges” didn’t help the situation any either. Though some are at least somewhat legit, many are not, and nearly all are far too expensive, thereby producing many graduates with overpriced degrees that are not likely to be valued at what they cost. And what about the large percentage of dropouts who aren’t likely to benefit at all from what they have spent? In the 1980’s college was still affordable. I signed promisory notes and managed to pay the 4 or 5 hundred dollar costs by the time the term ended. I could not afford to go to college today. It would not be possible. People are exiting universities (not necessarily graduating) many thousands of dollars in debt. Even upon graduating, most students have depressingly low chances of landing jobs in their chosen fields. Competition is greater than ever. Young people are depressed. They are sarcastic and prematurely cynical; and they have every right to be. This generation is yet another that promises to perform more poorly, save less money, have less opportunity, and be more dysfunctional than their parents and grandparents; yet, the bulk of our politicians do not appear to care. A country that wants to offer hope to all people, grant a good standard of living, and preserve this standard for the future, understands the value of turning out well-educated citizens. Yet, we make it ridiculously expensive to become educated. Why are we doing this? We must take greed out of higher education. Should profit be the top priority? * I would also add that we need to stop housing students in luxury apartments while they attend college. Living in an efficiency or a dormitory is good for you. It builds character to live simply and humbly while going through school.*
  8. Infrastructure has begun to suffer. Our city roads aren’t built to withstand the burgeoning population. Roads most everywhere are in terrible shape, and bridges are a nightmare, old and deteriorated as they are, and in need of expensive care. I am amazed, after having traveled a fair amount, that many of our states have some of the worst roads in the developed world. The power grid as well is old and crumbling in many areas. This is embarrassing and we can do better. At least in 2022 we have a president willing to put a trillion or two into tackling infrastructure. Sounds expensive, but it’s grossly overdue. * as of April 2022, money has finally been allocated for this. Perhaps that will be one step in the right direction.*
  9. My newest edit in this piece is to mention the problem we have with illegal drugs in this country (and I do not refer to pot, which I consider less dangerous than alcohol). The illegal use of powerful, lab-created drugs has reached wide-scale pervasiveness both in cities and rural communities. It is a huge problem that ruins lives, costs a great deal of money, creates crime, violence, and too often results in death. Elderly folk lose their life savings (and sometimes their lives) to some charismatic stranger who cons them for drug money. Many addicted people will stop at nothing to get their fix. Drugs become these people’s lives. Only the lucky few benefit from some sort of intervention/rehab, while the majority do not. On top of this, it has now become harder for people who desperately need pain medications to be prescribed them because of the violence and crime that people are willing to commit in order to obtain, sell, and use them. One of our mistakes (in less violent cases) has been to over-incarcerate. With the exception of violent and murderous offenders, this hasn’t helped much, if any. Drug-users also enter the work force and cause constant problems. I have had the displeasure of working with them. In some industries this is dangerous. One thing we need to do is stop romanticizing drugs and to stop treating those of us who recognize the problem as being uncool nerds. Many of the other items on this list, such as cost of living and the political divide, cause depression and hopelessness, and these things make drugs more appealing. Reduce the pain caused by many of our other problems and you do, to some extent, reduce the desire to take drugs. We must examine the pharmaceutical industry as well and look into its marketing practices to determine the extent to which it has contributed to the problem.
  10. U.S. companies relocate to other corners of the world in order to pay their employees very little and government encourages this. Good employment opportunities domestically are shrinking and I am not talking about the many low pay service jobs. Many people who would have formerly held these higher paying skilled jobs are forced into the only careers available; retail, restaurants, and other service jobs where the pay does not meet one’s needs. While unions were desperately needed at one time, their demands grew out of control, demanding ever-higher pay and benefits even in sectors that were no longer profitable. They are partly to blame. We also need officer salary caps, especially on publicly traded companies. More profits need to be handed down to shareholders and lower tier employees rather than having officers make 100 million or more salaries. To the fat-cats of corporate America, this is a big grown-up game of Monopoly where they horde as much wealth as possible while everyone else suffers. I am not against capitalism, but (like any system) it has to be monitored and governed; otherwise, it becomes capitalism out of control, and that is what we have now. The operative word is GREED.
  11. Our health care is still unaffordable. The Health Care Act is a start but is flawed, largely due to the concessions that had to be made to pass it. Greed is absolutely rampant in this industry in which a simple pill can cost hundreds of dollars. The very sick must worry about medical bankruptcy while trying to battle their illnesses. Some of the most broadly advertised physician-prescribed medications are the most expensive ones still under patent. When was the last time you saw a commercial for an older unpatented inexpensive medication? Any minor move made on a patient’s behalf in the hospital is ridiculous in its cost. Greed is master above all else. Now, it is quite likely that Republicans will remove protections for people with pre-existing conditions as well as other features of the health care act. Additionally, a little-known consequence of the health care act is that it forces people who might otherwise retire early to remain in the work force into their late 60s in order to receive health care. Medicare and Medicaid will not kick in yet (in most cases) if you retire at 58 or 60. This is one item that tells me that the government is worried about the lack of enough workers in the next few decades.
  12. By the 2030s or early 2040s things will be gravely worse, with an ageing population and fewer people paying into social security than drawing from it. Thanks to government’s redistribution to the wealthy, the problem is exacerbated. We will initially lose a chunk of those payments and will eventually lose this and other programs completely. This initiates our entry into third-world status.
  13. I think what disturbs me most is the complete unwillingness of our two major parties to work together for the good of the nation. And yes, (due to individuals like the hateful obstructionist Mitch McConnell), I fault the conservative party more for this than the other, although fault lies on both sides. A few decades ago, we had some caring politicians who went to the table with honest intentions of compromising and reaching a solution, even when they strongly disagreed. Even with this disagreement, we often respected eachother. Now, we have a complete unwillingness to cooperate, even going so far as to refuse to allow the opposing party to put judges on the supreme court. This hateful divide hurts everyone. The parties have opposing views, but they should not be enemies. Their goal should be to unite in promoting as good a life as possible for all citizens. Additionally, we have tactics and tricks like gerrymandering and voter-suppression as well as the grossly outdated electoral college that suppress the will of the actual majority of people.

Even with our greater technology, I-Phones, computers, medical advances, and other luxuries, these problems lessen us every day, and not enough people care to do a damn thing about it. Obsessive greed is one of the things we most need to tackle, from big corporations to medicine and higher education. Money is important but we have allowed that obsession to get in the way of the higher interest of caring for all our citizens. Making all their needs more affordable and obtainable is a good start. I am thankful I do not have kids. I would grieve incessantly now to think of the world I have brought them into. I only hope that younger people are observing this disaster and that they will take the reigns and make some needed changes. It may be too late.

* To the few folks (including a lady who was so rude I deleted her comment) who think we should love the country as it is or “get out,” I say this. Such reactions are naive and juvenile. I love my country and I wish to see it become better. Civilizations do not progress through complacency. They advance when folks sound alarms and encourage change. That is why women and minority groups now have rights they would never have enjoyed had they just “loved it or got out.”

  • In response to people both in this thread and in their own answers who keep pointing out that the U.S. is a world leader, has a great military might, has abundant freedom and influence, etc.. this is my reply. I am largely talking about internal conflict here. I am discussing problems that are dividing us from within, and this includes the aforementioned two-party system of hatred and divide. There is more to being a success than having a great military or a high GNP or world influence. I am talking about the hate that has nearly taken us over, and of the increasing unaffordability of the cost of living. We are disintegrating. We still lead the world in many ways, perhaps, but even the rest of the world sees the problems we are experiencing that are collapsing us from within and are appalled. We lose the world’s respect more every day. Some of the horrendous politicians and presidential administrations of recent years (including Trump in particular) have greatly contributed to the problem. What one administration accomplishes, the other tears down with the next election. We can’t even be trusted to remain in a peace agreement or environmental agreement anymore. The two-party hate is palpable.
  • *Years later, I now look upon the blatant attempt by one narcissist and his legion of worshipers AND legislative enablers to overthrow our government to install a backward dictatorship and I am more pessimistic than before. Our representative democracy is in dire trouble and the unpleasant marriage of government and religion threatens to roll back decades of progress. What happened to us?

Another Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 16 19
2022 11 29 16 19

https://youtu.be/_mOZUp4A6oI

Another Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 16 1eqavs8
2022 11 29 16 1eqavs8
2022 11 29 14 14
2022 11 29 14 14

https://youtu.be/0Mx2pM0JhTE

Another Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 16 1s8
2022 11 29 16 1s8

Manaquis Bil-Za’tar — Thyme Bread (Lebanon — Middle East)

This recipe combo was found more or less intact in the 2002 cookbook, Mediterranean Street Food. Preparation time does not include time needed for dough to rise.

2022 11 29 15 27
2022 11 29 15 27

Ingredients

Directions

  • FOR THE DOUGH: In a small container stir together yeast & 1/4 cup warm water, then set asde for 5-10 minutes.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour & salt, then make a well in the center & pour in the oil.
  • Work in the oil with your fingertips until completely absorbed, then add the yeast water & knead with your hands for several minutes.
  • Gradually add another 1/4 cup warm water & knead until dough is smooth & elastic, then form into a ball, cover with a damp cloth & leave in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

 

  • FOR THE TOPPING: In a skillet over medium heat, combine thyme, sumac & sesame seeds, stirring continuously until the aroma rises & the mixture is slightly toasted. Salt to taste & set aside to cool slightly.
  • In a small bowl, mix together all the topping ingredients.
  • Divide the dough into 4 equal portions & roll each into a ball.
  • Dip the first ball of dough in flour on all sides, then shake off the excess before rolling it into a thin disk about 1/8-inch thick.
  • Make a few dimples across the flat dough, pressing hard with the tips of your fingers (done to stop oil in the topping from running out during cooking), then spread a quarter of the topping over the disk of dough.
  • Place a nonstick skillet over medium heat & cook the dough in the skillet, topping side up, for 3-5 minutes or until bottom is crisp & lightly golden.
  • Repeat the procedure to make the rest of the breads.
  • Serve hot or warm, either plain or with some yogurt or . . .

Another Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 16 18
2022 11 29 16 18

https://youtu.be/5mdSsQvSRxQ

Shawarma Djaj — Chicken Shawarma (Lebanon — Middle East)

This recipe comes from the 2002 cookbook, Mediterranean Street Food. Preparation time does not include the 3 hours needed for the chicken breasts to marinate.

2022 11 29 15 31
2022 11 29 15 31

Ingredients

Directions

  • In a mixing bowl, combine chicken breasts with 1/2 cup of onion, lemon juice, olive oil & spices, then add the thyme before adding the salt to taste.
  • Stir well & then let marinate, covered, in the refrigerator for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, then place chicken breasts in a roasting pan & bake for 25-30 minutes or until done.
  • Remove from the oven & shred the chicken into slivers.
  • Open oval pitas at the seam to create a large pocket, then spread a tablespoon of garlic sauce on the bottom half before filling each pits with equal amounts of sandwich ingredients (i.e. chicken, tomato, onion, gherkins, mint & parsley).
  • Wrap the bottom of the ‘sandwiches’ with a napkin & serve immediately.

I think you are a fake!

I think you think we in QUORA are fools.

I think you are a white Caucasian Anglo Saxon who thinks your system is the best in the world.

I think you don’t know after stealing from the rest of the world for a century yet today you are highly indebted yet thinks others must be like you!

I think you just like to tell everyone that China is authoritarian to make your broken system good.

I think you don’t know how to think.

Good try but 97% Chinese thinks their system is far superior.

They think you don’t know how to think.

100 Million Dead Birds Are Just The Beginning, Because This Pestilence Is Far From Over…

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Did you know that an extremely vicious virus that is currently sweeping across the globe has already killed more than 100 million birds?  If you haven’t heard about this yet, don’t feel bad, because most people in the general population don’t know about this either.  Like so many of the other nightmares that we are facing right now, the mainstream media continues to downplay the bird flu crisis and continues to insist that authorities have everything under control.  But of course the truth is that they don’t have this outbreak under control.  Flocks are being steadily wiped out all over the planet, and prices for turkey, chicken and eggs just keep going higher and higher.  If the bird flu spreads even faster in 2023 than it did in 2022, it won’t be too long before we have some pretty serious shortages on our hands.

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, it was being reported that the official death toll in the U.S. has now reached 50.54 million.  That makes this “the worst animal-health disaster in U.S. history”

More than 50.54 million U.S. birds have died in what is the worst Avian flu outbreak in U.S. history, according to data from the Department of Agriculture, Reuters reports. It also marks the worst animal-health disaster in U.S. history.

But it is perfectly “normal” for tens of millions of our turkeys and chickens to be wiped out, right?

Unfortunately, this pestilence is not just limited to the United States.  In fact, the UK and the European Union “are also suffering their worst avian-flu crises”

Losses of poultry flocks sent prices for eggs and turkey meat to record highs, worsening economic pain for consumers facing red-hot inflation and making Thursday’s Thanksgiving celebrations more expensive in the United States. Europe and Britain are also suffering their worst avian-flu crises, and some British supermarkets rationed customers’ egg purchases after the outbreak disrupted supplies.

We have never seen anything like this before.

According to CNBC, the number of dead birds in the EU alone has reached “nearly 50 million”…

Governments across Europe have culled bird populations to limit the spread of avian flu. Almost six million birds have been killed in the Netherlands since October 2021, while Spain, Bulgaria, Denmark and France have also been badly affected.

Nearly 50 million birds have been killed in Europe this year as countries try to contain the disease, according to the EU’s Food Safety Agency.

Actually, that figure is a bit old, but I was not able to find an updated one.

But if you take that number and add 50 million from the United States, that gives us a grand total of approximately 100 million dead birds, and that doesn’t even account for the remainder of the globe.

For example, nearly 3 million birds have already been wiped out in Japan, and at this point the bird flu is beginning to spread like wildfire in that country…

Cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, are spreading at an unusual pace in Japan, with 18 outbreaks confirmed this season through Saturday at poultry farms in 12 of the country’s 47 prefectures.

But that number is expected to rise further, in line with global trends.

This has truly become a worldwide crisis.

Past outbreaks have either greatly subsided or completely gone away during the hot summer months, but that did not happen this year.

In 2022, the virus “continued to fester” during the warmer months, and now authorities are concerned that things could get much worse during the cold months that are in front of us

“The virus has mostly impacted turkey and egg operations, sending prices to all-time highs and contributing to soaring food inflation. While the spread slowed during the warmer months, it continued to fester and now risks further spread as cooling temperatures prompt more birds to migrate,” Bloomberg said.

Of course this comes at a really bad time, because if you follow my work on a regular basis you already know that global food production is being hit hard from countless directions right now.

The UN has already been warning us that 2023 will be a year of famine in many areas of the planet, and so it would be very helpful if the bird flu were to disappear.

Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen any time soon.

And actually we have been extremely fortunate so far.

If the bird flu were to mutate into a form that humans can catch and spread easily, we would rapidly be facing a global health scare of epic proportions.

Up to this point, it has been rare for humans to catch the bird flu, but when it does happen the death rate can be as high as 60 percent

But when the bird flu does infect people, it can be quite severe, with a mortality rate estimated to be at approximately 60 percent, according to the CDC.

Can you imagine how frightened people would be if such a virus started spreading among humans in our major population centers?

The panic would be far beyond anything that we have experienced over the past few years.

So this is a story that we will want to keep a close eye on.

For years, I warned my readers that we were moving into an era of great pestilences.

Sadly, the times that I warned about have now arrived.

Of course what we have been through so far is just the beginning.

The pestilences that we are currently dealing with will continue to spread, and more are coming.

Millions upon millions of people have died up to this point, and tens of millions more will eventually die.

A lot of you have been waiting for life to “return to normal”, but that isn’t going to happen.

Global events have begun to spiral out of control, and things are only going to get more intense as we roll into 2023.

Another Christmas movie suggestion

2022 11 29 16 17
2022 11 29 16 17

Merry Christmas

christmas tree ornament8
christmas tree ornament8

PLA Southern Theater Command troops warn away trespassing US warship near Nansha Islands

Published: Nov 29, 2022 11:09 AM
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The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command on Tuesday morning discovered that the vessel USS Chancellorsville had trespassed into waters around the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea without China’s authorization, and followed and warned away the guided-missile cruiser.

USS Chancellorsville
USS Chancellorsville

The US military’s actions are a serious violation of China’s sovereignty and security, and irrefutable proof of its hegemony in navigation and militarization of the South China Sea, Tian Junli, a spokesperson from the PLA Southern Theater Command, said on Tuesday, noting that such behavior fully reveals that the US is the provocateur against peace in the region.

China holds indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their nearby waters, and the PLA Southern Theater Command maintains a high state of readiness at all times to resolutely defend the country’s sovereignty, security and peace and stability in the South China Sea region.

In July, the destroyer USS Benfold sailed near the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea only a few days after it was driven away by the PLA from Chinese territorial waters off the Xisha Islands.

Consecutive provocations by the US expose not only its navigational hegemony, but also its anxiety in the face of the growing capabilities of the PLA, experts said.

https://youtu.be/oVBZR__BlPE

Merry Christmas…

christmas tree ornament12
christmas tree ornament12

It Is Beginning: 41 Percent Of All Small Business Owners Could Not Pay Rent In November

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Many experts are now warning that we could see the housing market and the commercial real estate market simultaneously crash in 2023.  If that were to happen, it would put an extreme amount of stress on our financial system.  The only way we will avoid such a fate is if the Federal Reserve starts reducing interest rates.  Unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen.  In fact, officials at the Federal Reserve keep telling us that interest rates are going to keep going up.  This is literally a suicidal course of action, because higher rates are going to absolutely crush the economy.

If you doubt this, just consider what is already happening.

According to a new Alignable survey that was just released, 41 percent of all small business owners in the United States could not pay rent in November…

Due to high inflation, reduced consumer spending, higher rents and other economic pressures, U.S.-based small business owners’ rent problems just escalated to new heights nationally this month, based on Alignable’s November Rent Poll of 6,326 small business owners taken from 11/19/22 to 11/22/22.

Unfortunately, 41% of U.S.-based small business owners report that they could not pay their rent in full and on time in November, a new record for 2022. Making matters worse, this occurred during a quarter when more money should be coming in and rent delinquency rates should be decreasing. But so far this quarter, the opposite has been true.

In September, that same survey found that 30 percent of all small business owners could not pay rent.

Many were deeply alarmed by that figure, and then it jumped up to 37 percent in October.

Now we are at 41 percent, and if there is any time when small business owners should be able to pay rent it is during the holiday season.

When commercial real estate tenants cannot pay rent, it inevitably has a domino effect.

It appears that we will soon have millions of empty commercial spaces all over the nation, and many owners will soon be unable to make loan payments because sufficient rent money is not coming in.

If the Federal Reserve insists on raising rates even higher, I anticipate that we will eventually be facing a commercial real estate crash of unprecedented size and scope.

Meanwhile, the implosion of the housing market continues to pick up speed.

Existing home sales have now declined for nine months in a row, and the median price of a home in the U.S. has now fallen by about 7 percent.

Sadly, many experts are now warning that things will only get worse in the months ahead.  Here is one example

“In one line: Collapse in prices is coming,” wrote Kieran Clancy, senior U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

I told my readers that this would happen if the Federal Reserve aggressively hiked interest rates.

Of course home prices could soon fall a lot more.  In fact, Pantheon is projecting that they could ultimately fall by a total of 20 percent from the peak…

Pantheon estimates that existing home prices will keep falling, ultimately dropping by about 20% from their June peak of around $414,000.

If you are planning to sell a home, I would try to do it as quickly as possible before prices go way down.

Meanwhile, another troubled cryptocurrency firm has just filed for bankruptcy

Distressed crypto firm BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey following the implosion of putative acquirer FTX.

So why is BlockFi in so much trouble?

Well, the truth is that there are a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest is the fact that they loaned 275 million dollars to FTX that will never be repaid…

In the filing, the company listed an outstanding $275 million loan to FTX US, the American arm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-bankrupt empire.

I warned my readers that FTX would not be the last domino to fall.

And now another one has tumbled over.

Needless to say, there will be many more, because FTX “has more than 1 million creditors”

In a matter of days, FTX went from a $32 billion valuation to bankruptcy as liquidity dried up, customers demanded withdrawals and rival exchange Binance ripped up its nonbinding agreement to buy the company. Gross negligence has since been exposed. Ray added that a “substantial portion” of assets held with FTX may be “missing or stolen.”

FTX has more than 1 million creditors, according to updated bankruptcy filings, hinting at the huge impact of its collapse on crypto traders and other counterparties with ties to Bankman-Fried’s empire.

FTX was just one giant Ponzi scheme, but of course the entire system is just one giant Ponzi scheme.

The entire thing is eventually coming down, and a lot of prominent voices are trying to sound the alarm about this.

For instance, author Robert Kiyosaki tweeted the following just a few days ago

Many of you know I do not invest in equities, bonds, ETS or MFs. Please DO NOT listen to what I’m going to say next: “I would get out of paper assets.” The world economy is not a “Market.” I believe economy is the biggest bubble in world history.

Of course he is quite correct.

We have been living in the largest bubble in all of human history.

And once it finally shatters into billions of pieces nobody is going to be able to put it back together again.

So get ready for a massive adjustment in your standard of living.

With very hard times looming, the Washington Post is encouraging their readers to reduce food costs by eating bugs…

The Washington Post advised Americans Sunday that instead of a traditional season dinner, which now is unaffordable for a quarter of families, they should instead look to eating bugs.

Yes really.

In an article headlined Salted ants. Ground crickets. Why you should try edible insects, the Post stated “Consumers can already find foods like salted ants on Amazon and cricket powder protein bars in Swiss grocery stores.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on ever eating bugs.

No matter how bad things get, I just couldn’t eat ants or crickets or beetles.

Unfortunately, most people are completely and utterly unprepared for the times that we will soon be facing.

A tremendous amount of economic chaos is on the way.

The Federal Reserve could help matters a great deal if they would just stop raising interest rates.

But that isn’t going to happen, and so it appears that 2023 will be a year of severe economic pain all over the nation.

Merry Christmas Early

I hope you all have your movies sorted out.

christmas tree ornament11
christmas tree ornament11

US Quietly Announces New Ukraine Command With 3-Star General

https://youtu.be/DoA8ViXedb4

China Keeps Aggressively Surrounding Itself With US Bases: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

Caitlin Johnstone

Nov 29

Listen to a reading of this article:

Facts:

  • There are Chinese people with real grievances against their government.
  • The US empire’s propaganda machine will spin current protests in China to advance imperial agendas.
  • Western intelligence agencies will become more and more involved in these protests the longer they go on.

It still amazes me how many people who fancy themselves anti-establishment critical thinkers will spend all day mindlessly regurgitating mainstream media lines about China.

I cannot emphasize enough how little respect I have for anyone who parrots US empire narratives about China and how completely dismissive I am of all their attempts to explain to me that it’s actually right and good to do this.

Literally all of our major problems are because of the people who rule over us; if you’re buying into the narrative that who we should really be mad at right now is a government on the other side of the planet with no power over us, you’re a fucking loser. You’re a bootlicking empire simp. You’re worthless, bleating human livestock.

Why does China keep aggressively surrounding itself with US military bases?

US Military Set to Return to Subic Bay, Philippines to Counter China
The US closed its military base in Subic Bay 30 years ago
by Dave DeCamp@DecampDave here

— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) November 25, 2022

Everyone knows the US has invaded countries completely unprovoked very recently and will definitely do so again, but we still have to pretend that Putin is the worst thing since Hitler.

It’s disturbing how many people I encounter who claim Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is worse than America’s invasion of Iraq because Ukraine is a “democracy”. How fucked up do you have to be inside to believe human lives are worth less because of their nation’s political system?

Leaving aside the fact that a nation which bans political parties, shuts down opposition media, imprisons opposition leaders, and is vastly more accountable to Washington than to its own people is in no way a “democracy”, that’s just a profoundly disturbed way of looking at life. A mother holding the remains of a child whose body has been ripped apart by military explosives does not care whether her country is considered a “democracy” by the western governments who are invested in that country’s military outcomes.

 

Rightists correctly believe that liberals subscribe to an artificially constructed worldview designed by the powerful in the service of the powerful, but incorrectly believe that they themselves do not.

Common debates:

  • Which status quo party is best
  • Which side of the culture war is correct
  • How the western empire should act
  • What capitalism should look like

Uncommon debates:

  • Should status quo politics exist
  • Should the western empire exist
  • Should capitalism exist
  • Should class war replace culture war

And it is of course entirely by design that the former are common and the latter are uncommon. Keeping everyone debating how establishment power structures should exist, rather than if they should, ensures the survival of those power structures.

It’s actually a really big problem that the most visible “left” in the US is completely worthless on war and militarism. When Americans who are critical of those things look right and see people like Rand Paul and Tucker Carlson doing something then look left and see AOC and Bernie doing nothing, which side do you think they’ll choose?

And of course this is because the so-called progressive Democrats are not “left” in any meaningful way, but your average mainstream American doesn’t know that, and perception is reality. The US is the nation where antiwar sentiment is most important and the most urgently needed, and it’s been buried on the left. Americans are trained that Clintonites are “center-left” and AOC/Bernie are “far left”, and anyone further to the left than them on foreign policy is demonized by these progressives as a Russian agent. This creates the very understandable impression that the entire left is pro-war.

When you’ve got Ilhan Omar and AOC calling people who protest US proxy warfare at their rallies Russian operatives and antiwar leftists like Jill Stein branded as Kremlin agents, the message mainstream Americans come away with is that antiwar sentiment is only welcome on the right.

Again, I get this isn’t true and there’s lots of antiwar sentiment on the true left in the US, but nobody sees that left. It’s denied any media presence or political validity; mainstream Americans don’t know the difference between an anti-imperialist socialist and a Berner. This causes antiwar Americans to drift to the right; I’ve watched it happen in real time with some of my US followers. I do my best to make the case for the left, but I’m just one voice amid a surging deluge of messaging they’re getting that the real opposition is on the right.

Naming your war machinery after the Indigenous tribes your government genocided is the modern-day equivalent of wearing the skulls of your enemies on your war horse.

A lot of acceptance of the status quo worldview boils down to a failure of imagination. People literally can’t imagine the possibility that reality is as different as it is from what they’ve been told by their teachers, parents, pundits and politicians. It’s actually unfathomable to them, and that is because it’s so different. The world we’re trained to see by establishment perception managers is as different from the real world as any fictional world is.

The incremental normalization of police murderbots is probably nothing to worry about. HERE

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) November 26, 2022

The claim that capitalism is the best system for generating profits is basically correct; it’s hard to beat greed and starvation as a carrot and stick to get the gears of industry whirring. The issue here is that merely generating profits won’t solve most of the world’s problems, and in fact many of our problems come from the fact that capitalism is too effective at turning the gears of industry. Our biosphere is dying largely because capitalism values making lots of things but not un-making things; we’re choking our ecosystem to death because it’s profitable.

Capitalism has no real answers for problems like ecocide, inequality, exploitation and caring for the needful. Yes “let the markets decide” will generate lots of profits for those set up to harvest them, but profit-seeking cannot address those very serious problems. The “invisible hand of the market” gets treated as an actual deity that actually exists, with all the wisdom necessary to solve the world’s problems, but in reality the pursuit of money lacks any wisdom. It can’t solve our major problems, it can only make more stuff and generate more profit.

Find me a capitalist business plan for leaving a forest untouched. Find me a capitalist business plan for keeping someone free of illness, for ensuring that someone with nothing gets what they need, for giving resources to a struggling parent. You can’t. Capitalism can’t do this. These are the most important things in the world, and no possible iteration of capitalism has any solutions for any of them whatsoever, apart from “Well hopefully rich people will feel very charitable and fix those problems.” And how is that solution working out? It’s a joke.

The “Maybe the very rich will feel charitable and fix our problems for us” solution assumes that the very same people who are wired to do whatever it takes to claw their way to the top of the ladder will suddenly start caring deeply about everyone they stepped on to get there. Capitalism elevates sociopaths, because profit-seeking competition-based systems reward those who are willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead. That’s why we are ruled by sociopaths, and it’s why looking to “philanthropy” as a solution to our problems is a ridiculous joke.

When capitalism proponents tell socialists and communists “You don’t understand economics,” what they really mean is “You don’t understand that capitalism is the best system for generating profits.” But socialists and communists do understand this; it’s just that generating profits, in and of itself, is not sufficient.

If lack of wealth is your major problem, then capitalism can be a tool to address it; that’s what China is temporarily doing to keep up economically with the western forces who wish to enslave it. But such measures won’t solve ecocide, inequality, exploitation, and caring for the needful. For that other measures are needed.

If you want to make more of something (money, material goods), then capitalism can be a good way to do that. But if you need to make less of something (pollution, inequality, exploitation, sickness, homelessness, etc) it’s worthless, and other systems must be looked to.

You can say “But communist regimes are authoritarian blah blah” all you want, but that doesn’t change the fact that capitalism has zero answers for the most important problems facing our species. This still needs to be addressed, and moaning about Mao and Stalin isn’t an answer. Don’t like the iterations of socialism we’ve seen so far? Okay. Then find another answer, and remember we’ve already established that capitalism is not an answer; it cannot address the problems we’ve discussed here. So we need to find an actual answer that does actually work.

Dismantling capitalism, if we ever achieve it, will be the most difficult thing that humanity has ever accomplished. As hard as everyone becoming a buddha, and essentially not much different. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is existentially necessary for us to do so.

We’ll either move from competition-based systems to collaboration-based ones, eliminating all the obstacles necessary for us to do so, or we will go extinct. We are at our adapt-or-die juncture as a species.

Merry Christmas.

christmas tree ornament13
christmas tree ornament13

Death by a zillion paper cuts, with holes in your wallet. A look at life back in the 1970’s.

I’m not going rehash what has happened since the late 1960’s to the present. It’s pretty obvious. Everyone in America started to monetize everything. Nothing was off limits, and now today, you have to pay for everything. Everything in America comes with a price and nothing is free any longer. It happened in America and the other Western “democracies” followed America’s lead. The UK, Canada, Australia all became enraptured towards money… money… money. All with zero thought going towards how the society would change in the process.

Here, I am just going to remind everyone about some things about everyday life before Americans were turned into “cash cows” for others to profit from.

Introduction

I am minding my own business when I came across this comment…

It wasn't all that long ago that you could come out of High School, get a job, start a family, and the two of you could raise the kids with one staying home to do so while the other went off to work. It might not be glamorous but you could make it work in a decent little 3br, 1ba house. Four people, three bedrooms, a couple sharing one and one for each kid. Television was free over the air, not $100 a month for a "package" from DISH or a cable company. I grew up in one of those houses; there was no A/C, the phone was on a desk with a cord going into the wall and long-distance calls were $2/minute -- and that was when $2 would buy you a pound of high-quality steak!

Well, I have been musing about this for some time.

I have mentioned this to others, and they just laugh at me.

  • My conservative friends tell me that it’s simply because of inflation. But that is a good thing because look at all the cool things we have today. Like ATM’s, computers, cell phones, and the Internet. Inflation is a sign of progress.
  • My liberal friends tell that this is a sign of change. Change is good. We don’t want women to be oppressed and toiling alone in the kitchen all day, being barefoot and pregnant. We need things to be higher cost to make the world a better place.

Um.

I think that are both rationalizing everything.

But it did get me to thinking. And I started to think about my boyhood days growing up in Western Pennsylvania. Ah. It’s certainly a beautiful place. let me tell you.

Typical Pennsylvania with hills and meandering rivers and streams, with old railroad lines that followed the rivers through the large wooded lands.

Here’s some of the many things that we pay for without even thinking about it…

Water was free!

When I was young, water was free. No shit! It came out of the tap in these mechanisms known as “drinking fountains”. You would be able to walk up to one and press the lever and a nice stream of ice-cold, refrigerated, water would come out for you to have.

Public drinking fountain in Dallas Texas. It is quite popular and creates quite the sensation.

When I was young, these drinking fountains were everywhere, and contrary to the contemporaneous narrative about “racism”, I never saw a “white” only drinking fountain. That was something reserved for the Southern States like Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama. I grew up in the mid-West. Our water fountains were either white ceramic or sheet metal affairs.

There weren’t any signs about color.

It was very common to grab a quick drink from one of these contraptions. It wasn’t until I was in High School that the school district allowed vending machines to be installed in the school. The Senior Class would be able to make money from these vending machines to collect money for various school activities. This would be supplemented by such things as school dances, parades, bake sales, and candy bar drives.

Drinking from a school water fountain.

When growing up, we would drink from the water hose. It was always very warm from the sun, and tasted like plastic. It had a bronze contraption at the end like a miniature fireman’s hose. You could twist the mechanism by turning it. It would change the water from a spray into a tight laser-beam that you could use to water distant parts of the yard with (and clean away tough debris).

When I was in sixth grade or so, my father hooked up this micro mini water fountain to the water faucet at the side of the house. It was identical to that of drinking water from the lawn hose. Except that it didn’t taste like like plastic. It was just room temperature water that came straight from the tap. It was nearly identical to that of drinking from the kitchen sink.

It was identical to this…

The house side water fountain.

Boyhood adventures

When we were out hiking or riding our bikes, we would drink from our canteens, or from a hand-pump well. These hand pumps were large metal contraptions that were placed all over the rural covered wells. This happened sometime around the 1940’s I guess. As children and folk had a tendency to fall down the sides of these wells. Not a good thing, don’t you know.

Most of the time the hand-pump would be a cast steel mechanism that sat on top of a cement platform. We would, as kids, pump the handle furiously, and after about five to eight pumps water would start gushing out. One person would pump the water while the other person would try to drink from the fountain. We would either use cupped hands or put our open mouth under the spigot. We would also use this fountain to fill up our army surplus canteens, or boy scout canteens.

Cast iron, or cast steel, hand water pump.

Now, along side the rural roads of Western Pennsylvania were all sorts of natural mountain springs. Here, you really didn’t need a pump at all. You would just dip your hands into the cool water and take a drink, or a gulp of ice cool refreshing water. The water came from a multitude of artesian wells. Some of which had access in the back yards of many a home and farm, but many were also right there along side the roads.

In almost every case, these wells came from a rusty pipe that was shoved into the side of a hill. It would pour out a continuous flow of water and would empty into an old galvanized tub or other such arrangement. Sometimes it would be an old massive kitchen sink, while other times it would be something else. At all times the tub would be murky with moss and other plants associated with it. It would also be mostly overgrown with the typical shrubbery of back road Pennsylvania, such as blackberry bushes, and elderberry vines.

Pennsylvania roadside spring.

Many rural folk, who lived far away from the towns would make weekly trips to these springs and fill up as many buckets and bottles that they could fit in their truck. They claimed that the water tasted much better than the purified tap water. I would tend to agree with them. The minerals in the water certainly made the water taste nice.

The only problem of course, was thirty years later when I ended up with kidney stones from drinking all that hard water. But, as you can guess, that’s another story for another time. And no, it’s not directly traced back to the Pennsylvania springs.

Coke-Cola

Oh, and yes…

There were coke machines. A bottle of coke ran you ten cents, but you needed to drink it right there, and put the bottle back in the wooden box besides the machine. But, I’ll tell you that the glass bottle was really thick and heavy. It felt good in your hand. It fit it well.

Coke machine that dispensed in bottles. The cost was ten cents per bottle, and you had to replaced the used bottle in a wooden crate next to the machine.

Also, it was cold. Ohhh man! So very cold. No, I’m not talking about a refrigerator temperature, I am talking about frosty cold, like borderline freezer temperatures. These were fine memories when you would be able to drink a frosty ice-cold coke for a dime, and relax a spell.

When I got my first job, we had a soda dispensing machine. In it were cans of soda. But none of them had pull up tabs until the mid 1970’s. Instead you needed to use this pointed can opener that hung by the side to punch a triangular hole in the top of the can to drink from.

It would hang on the side of the soda machine by a dirty white string. No one ever took it, or stole it or anything like that. No one even thought about doing so. It was a different time, and people thought differently.

The opener had a sharp pointy side for opening cans, and a blunt rounded end for opening bottles and popping the tops off…

Vintage Vaughn USA 58 Bottle Opener Can Opener, 3.5″ Long

This was used for sodas and just about everything else. This was true with beer as well. When those pull up tabs were introduced, it revolutionized everything! Let me tell you!

A special Event

But really, and quite seriously, drinking soda (or pop) was really a “special” occurrence. For the most part we drank water, milk or Kool-Aide. This was a powder that our mothers would mix with water and put in the refrigerator for us to drink. It came in different flavors like cherry, strawberry and orange. You heat up some water, add the powder, and then add a ton load of white sugar. Stir. Place in the refrigerator.

Easy peasy. Lemon squeezy.

At Supper, we would have a big glass of milk or water. Both would be very cold. Winter or Summer. Cold beverages was considered a good thing. In fact, if we had water at the table, you can guarantee that it was served with ice cubes. Frosty. Oh, so very frosty.

But the soda, well that was for visits to our grandparents.

Typical Pittsburgh basement. Our grandparents would store cases of beer and soda on the stairs leading down to the basement.

Prior to every visit, our grandparents would go to the “State Store” and buy some cases of beer and soda for us kids. These cases would sit in the cool basement, and while we were visiting, we would be able to drink all the soda that we were capable of.

Now, in Pennsylvania the only place your could buy alcohol is though a “State Store”. These are government stores that enable you to buy booze. They had the distinction of being open during government hours, and tended to be inconvenient. So what we all would do is make a “beer run” prior to the weekend to stock up on the libations for the weekend.

Pennsylvania State Liquor Store.

Now of course, things are different.

You can buy beer in convenience stores, and other places that are so authorized. But in those days the government had a complete monopoly on the distribution of alcohol. Why? Well, it was for the children, don’t you know.

Today…

I would say that most people who drink soda would probably get it as part of a fast food meal. My guess is that this would be the greatest revenue generation source. Aside from that they would purchase these huge… HUGE… bottles of mega-cola from Walmart or some other retailer.

Judging from the appearance of most Americans, I would guess that they drink a lot of sugary drinks.

They also might like to buy a bottled water from a 7-11 or some other convenience store. They come in all sizes and shapes. They are pretty cheap.

But…

But…

Not as cheap as in “free”. Don’t you know.

Which is where I will make this important point. Most expensive bottled water is nothing more than plain tap water put in a nice bottle and assigned a heavy price. Just like this picture so clearly indicates…

Students at Humboldt State University created this display to educate peers on the perceived ills of bottled water, ahead of a campus-wide ban.

And we know that most bottled water is simply repackaged tap water. Because we have tested the water and that is exactly what it is…

So… when?

So why am I ranting on so? What is the point that I am trying to make? Why does this matter? And what is the point of all of this?

  • When did we reach this point where we all thought it was fine to start paying for things that were free? When did we start tearing out the water fountains, and buying plastic bottles of water?

Not only that…

  • When did we stop getting free packs of stick matches at the restaurant counters everywhere, to buying disposable lighters? At what point in time did we think that paying for a disposable lighter was a more attractive option than a free package of matches?

Or…

  • When did the transformation from a blue plate meal in a unique family restaurant be replaced with a fast food pre-packaged burger in a styrofoam package? What ever happened to the heavy white plates? The thick (bang on the counter) mug of coffee, and the sprig of parsley at the side of the plate?

Or…

  • At what point in time were washable linen tablecloths replaced with plastic tabletops, cloth napkins with paper tissue, and silverware replaced with disposable plastic cutlery? Why did everyone switch from reusable linens, to disposable plastic? Why are only the establishments that cater to the wealthy retaining the old ways?

Or even worse…

  • When did buying a tea, or a decaffeinated coffee at a fast food restaurant equate a hot paper cup of water and a package of mix? What’s the point?

Ah. But no one asks these questions. No one does.

But they should. You should.

  • Why do we line up to the “self service” pump to pump our own gas? Why not have the Gas Station Attendant take care of it for us? Is it really about saving money like we have been led to believe…?
  • Why do Americans still pay using paper checks instead of QR code?
  • If cigarettes, cigars, beer, and alcohol can be banned from the workplace “for the children”, then why not unhealthy food, candy, and coffee? And why the workplace, I thought that children couldn’t work until they were of age?

Which makes you wonder…

At what point in time did we allow someone to place the dividing line between what is allowable and what is illegal and give up our own personal decision making process? Since when are there others who can decide what is best for us? Who assigned them to be better than us…

Who?

  • In 1913, a group of oligarchs decided that everyone must pay taxes and report all their financial transactions to the federal government.

Well, it is 2020. How did it all work out?

  • In the 1970’s glass fibers were banned from use. This resulted in most buildings (above the first floor) in the small cities and towns of America being empty and uninhabitable. This in turn, contributed to people moving outside and away from these community centers. Thus creating sprawling suburbs and a decay of down-town community life.

Who was the genius that thought this all up?

Everything is interconnected

Everything is interconnected. You change one thing, and other things will change. Often the smallest change might result in a great deal of massive changes. Changes that might alter the fabric of society.

You make a law that trash can only be collect on Thursday, and the trash from the weekends will pile up in big heaps on the sidewalks.

Thus making children walk on the streets to avoid the refuse.

Thus creating a dangerous situation for the children and the drivers of the cars.

Eventually, someone will get hit.

All because someone made a law by proclamation.

Now, it’s very difficult to pin-point singular changes.

There were other contributing factors.

In the case of the banning of asbestos glass fibers, there were studies that pointed to dangers. And yes, there were other changes going on at the same time. Such as changes in the work-place, and others all within society. And yes, all of these contributed to the end results. And, to be honest, no one could actually predict what the long term consequences would be of their decision making.

But no one cared. All they cared about was the short term impacts. Or, as we like to say in the USA, “the bottom line for the fiscal quarter”.

The United States might officially pretend to work in one way. However, the United States functionally operates pretty much like this;

  • Someone wants a change.
  • Money exchanges hands.
  • One person gets very rich.
  • The public accepts the changes.

Time passes…

  • Consequences of these changes are felt.
  • More money exchanges between different hands.
  • New laws and rules are made.
  • The public accepts the new changes on top of the old changes.

After over two centuries of this, America is [1] a nation of rules, and laws, on top of [2] rules and laws, on top of [3] rules and laws, on top of [4] rules and laws…

It’s a mess.

And the people are upset. And they are starting to lash out.

This is not how to run anything. Not a business. Not a sports team. Not a game. Not a town. Not a factory. Not a school. Not a train. Not an airplane. You cannot run ANYTHING in this way. Things cannot operate in a sustainable manner if you conduct business this way.

Just imagine operating a business like this. Just imagine. 

You run a restaurant. A customer comes in give you $1000 to stop serving bacon. You stop serving bacon. Half of the customers stop coming in.

Another gives you $500 to play advertisements at rock-concert levels.

Another gives you $750 to house livestock in the kitchen.

Two years of this, and the restaurant would be a complete and total wreck.

You just cannot.

Which is why the United States is in such a mess right now.

China used to be like this

Yup. China used to be like this.

The Beijing leadership would act like autocratic king, and make proclamations. Much like is being done in America today. This is America today…

  • You MUST have permission to fish.
  • Tiktok is banned. No American is permitted to own, use or have it on their phones.
  • WeChat is banned. Don’t even think about having anything to do with it.
  • Chinese students are banned from Attending American universities.
  • You are forbidden to eat sunny-side-up eggs.
  • You are forbidden to drink jumbo-sized cokes and soft drinks.

China was like this too.

Then, after a great deal of turmoil, China changed. This received scant reports in the American media, but it was earth-shattering in China. It was called “The Cultural Revolution”, and it forced the government to come up with new ways of doing things. Maybe you heard about it, eh?

Here, a proposal is made…

  • A trial run is conducted.
  • Results are weighed in pros and cons.
  • A pilot run is conducted with the improvements.
  • Results are again weighed in pros and cons.
  • Implementation phase on a local / state level.
  • Again results are monitored over set period of time.
  • A go / no go decision is reached. To either scrap the process, or improve it, or leave as is.

Since this has been implemented in just about every level within China, the implementation of changes has become rapid and successful. Bad ideas are quickly discarded, while good ones are retained.

Of course, no one in the West knows any of this. To them, China is a “regime” run by the evil communist party who makes rules and laws and squashes the helpless citizenry yearning for “freedom” and “democracy”. Ah. All so that America can gin up support for world war III.

Nonsense.

America needs to step up to the plate and up it’s game.

It’s probably too late to do so in any meaningful way.

But…

It’s better late than never.

Oh where was I…

Oh, yeah.

Water.

Water is your most essential consumable. If you do not have fresh potable water, you will die. We have become accustomed to getting water at will. Whether it is from a water fountain, or from a bottle that you pay for in a store, it is something that we take for granted.

Were I to be an evil person, I would secure access to water. So that only those whom I wanted could drink and use it. The rest of the water would be of questionable quality. For all it takes is to drink some bad water and you get a bacterial or viral infection. And if you don’t have antibiotics…

…you will die.

Water is something that we take for granted. We see shelves and shelves of bottled water. We assume that they are good and potable. We see water run out of the tap and take long luxurious showers in it. We never stop to think what it would be like were we to be forced to collect water from a nearby muddy stream or from catch basins.

Conclusion

Water is good, and a valuable part of life. We, in our comfort, have taken it’s availability for granted. We really shouldn’t. back one hundred years ago baths were once a month activity. Water, potable water was a treasure, and all farms and communities husbanded their water supplies.

While I greatly lament the monetization of nearly everything in the United States, we must realize that that this is an artificial reality. Water, like air, and shelter are necessary to life. Those that try to profit from these basics are those that do not care about your life, your family or your well being.

And any government that allows this, should be replaced with one that does.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Happiness Index here…

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The Mystery of the Lapulapu Ridge

The mystery of the Lapulapu Ridge is a very interesting subject. Indeed, our world is filled with all kinds of interesting things going on. Some can even possibly be considered an extraterrestrial riddle. Even if it is wholly terrestrial in nature. All we need to do is take a good look at what surrounds us. Because, if we look at things with open eyes, and with an open mind, we will see new things, and come to new understandings on our world, and what is just going on within it.

With the advent of new technology, we are able to peer into regions and places that used to be denied us. Today, using such technologies as Google Earth, we are able to peer into the shroud and explore all kinds of things that we didn’t even know existed. Some of it is amazing. Some of it is frightening. Some of what we see can be curious, while others can tell us just a little bit more about ourselves. All we need do is listen to what we find.

Today I would like to discuss a very odd thing that is going on at the Lapulapu Ridge.

For those of you who don’t know, the Lapulapu Ridge is an undersea formation that lies outside of Saipan. Saipan is a small group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is terribly isolated and remote. It’s also part of the United States. (I’ll bet that you all didn’t know that.) The point of interest here is not the abundance of coconuts on the Saipan island, or the history of the island during World War II. What is so interesting about this place is that someone, or something, has been busily mining that area for some time. Most certainly for years, probably for decades, and maybe even for a century or longer!  What is so odd about this is that it is impossible to do so. At least, using known conventional technologies, that we humans possess.

Let’s have a look at this curious situation…

Introduction

"We still haven't explored the deep oceans or the inner crusts of Earth."

-Dr. Wolf statement in regards to the extraterrestrial presence on the earth and their activities.

Let’s take a moment to look at what is going on in our planet.  We humans like to believe that we are the “owners” of the planet, and that we are in full control and knowledge of “our” planet.  We like to believe that we are at the top of the food chain. We like to believe that we are in full control of technology and have the power and dominion over this planet.

That is wrong.  We have no power, we know very little, and we know “jack shit” about the history of this planet. In fact, we actually know very little of the planets past and whom actually “owns” the planet that we reside upon.  Yet the evidence of the real “owners” of the planet are everywhere, we need just search for the evidence and study it with an open mind.

I would like to take a look at some such “object” or area of evidence.  It can be considered a terrestrial or even an extraterrestrial mystery. I would like to look at the Lapulapu Ridge Mining efforts near and around Saipan.  I refer to it as a “mining” effort only because the tracks suggest displacement of soil. The only reason for the displacement of soil that I am aware of is part of either mining or construction efforts. (Constructions that are suggestive of long linear lines are more akin to roads then they are for buildings.)

Therefore, let’s look at what is hidden deep under the ocean under the waves.  Let’s look at evidence of large-scale (possibly) robotic automated mining operations under the surface of “our” oceans.

The Lapulapu Ridge Formations

The following are filtered images from Google Earth.

The filters remove the reflective waveform obfuscation layer characteristics of the oceans from the Google images.  I want to give Google the benefit of doubt and attribute the reflective quality of the ocean surface to be a truly natural obfuscation.

However, once the images are filtered to remove this sort of waveform obfuscation layer a series of patterns emerge.  This is truly puzzling, as one would expect to see resolved undersea details.  You would expect natural features to parallel that of the native landmasses.  Such things as mountains, rivers and other natural geologic structures would be expected to be shown, or more accurately, their undersea equivalents.  But instead, one can clearly see enormous scaled undersea (apparent) surface mining evidence.  Once removed, one can clearly see the presence of unusual tracks and movement.

There is absolutely no way that this can be considered to be natural geologic evidence at all.

There are secrets that lie hidden from human eyes and observation. an
The Mystery of the Lapulapu Ridge is one of a city-sized mining operation under the ocean. A 388 mile long underwater site showing extensive geologic mining activity by large (huge) vehicles on the Lapulapu ridge near the Saipan islands.

Undersea mining operations NE of Saipan. (Image Source.)

These features shown are near the Saipan islands.  Of which the specific coordinates are 16°27’31.55”N 147°14’19.51”E.  I provide just a mere handful of images to illustrate my point here.  The reader is encouraged to pursue their own investigative activity to whatever conclusion it leads to.

These are NOT natural geologic formations.  Nature does not follow straight lines unless they go through fissures or regions of internal stress.  Nor do they make 90° bends, and 180° bends.  Nor do they repeatedly follow parallel paths of operation.  There is absolutely no way that these features are natural.

Non-Natural Features

I was never briefed on these features, nor was I introduced to them through any kind of program or manual. These constructions were discovered as a natural bout of investigative journalism. Indeed, it is characteristic of obtaining supportive documentation for my own contentions.  All that one needs to do is look around themselves to the world about us.  In so doing, one can see the hidden secrets that lie submerged and hidden.

I do not who or what formed these features.

They might, remotely, be naturally made.  They could be constructed by some surreptitious government project of great secrecy and complexity.  They could be all that remains of some great underwater public works project.  I don’t know at all.  But to me, these structures are clearly intelligent driven.  They seem to suggest large-scale underwater mining efforts.  That is the basis of my discussion here.  That these apparent features are but part of large-scale construction made by a race with the capability to do so.

These features are not limited to the Saipan region, but exist in other undersea locations.  For instance, they can be found at 47°47’46.16”S 107°15’00.93”E as well.  Of course, the form and shape is different.  But whom would expect large scale mining west of southern Tasmania?

If human, then we really need to take a good hard look at what our fabrication abilities are. Because if we can mine or perform these kinds of undersea activities, then we can most certainly create a facility on another planet. If these formations are not human, then we need to reconsider who is making them and why. Remember, boys and girls, extraterrestrial activity, of huge extent, can be found throughout our solar system.  We only need look below the surface and take a hard look at what is presented to us.

Statists say these features are just normal

After the initial discovery by a poorly named group known as “SecureTeam10”, the scientific statists came out with their pronouncements and statements.

“Large parallel lines = tectonic fissures, naturally occurring sorry. The curvy line is likely the pathway of a underwater current and deposition field of said current.”

- YouTube Mikitan Fox

Now of course, the Scientific Statists have to crawl out from under a rock and “explain” to us that all of this is of no concern.  They hurriedly hopped up upon their great white horses and began to beat the drums loudly.  They shout, “This is just an ordinary fault line. Anything else is incorrect. Everything else is nonsense.”

My definition of scientific statism;

A concentration of a set scientific theory in the hands of a closed elite group of people. Often they have direct ties to a highly centralized government. To alter or change that theory to revise it to meet new discoveries or data often requires government derived politics and peer-group approvals.

Tectonic Fissures

Well, it’s just like those pesky statists to make a pronouncement and run away to hide in their mother’s basement.

The fracture mechanics model of the tectonic fissures do not permit the kinds of fractures and behaviors that are clearly observed in this instance. I suggest anyone interested in the formation of faults and their behaviors read “Formation and Development of Fissures at the East Pacific Rise: Implications for Faulting and Magmatism at Mid-Ocean Ridges“. It can be read on line at Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA.

By understanding the fracture mechanics involved in geothermal processes (especially those in the Pacific rim) one can clearly see that these “tracks” are absolutely not tectonic fissures. Tectonic fissures? What a laugh! Compare these images with the fault lines found in California here.

From the paper;

"The Griffith theory assumes that crack initiation occurs from the points of highest tensile stress on the surfaces of these microscopic flaws or "Griffith's cracks" in brittle material (in a biaxial stress field), and this has since been elucidated by the theoretical and laboratory studies of Bieniawski [1967] and Huang et al. [1993]. Joints, lava flow contacts, and tension cracks may be regarded as the macroscopic analogy to "Griffith's cracks" [Gudmundsson and Bäckström, 1991]."

Our understanding of crack formulation in brittle and ductile materials is quite mature. In fact it is one of the most common mechanical and civil engineering undergraduate courses that engineering students take. Oh, I surely remember the days during my classes in the”Mechanics of Deformable Bodies” class. LOL. In the case of the formation of cracks in the Pacific rim, it is obvious that the formation is absolutely straight forward for compressive fissure formulation.

Now, stress lines and their associated fractures for geologic features in the Pacific Rim are influenced by the elastic moduli, tensile stress and  tensile strength of the host rock. As such, we know that hosted stresses, are in turn, a function of the grain structure of the materials.

Stress lines follow straight or angular paths.
Lattice structures on steel showing the relationship of the various phases of state as a function of impurity composition / percentage for alloyed iron.

I well remember the days as a young engineering student. We studied the material properties of various materials and how the grain and lattice structures influenced the lines of stress inherent in them. One day we went to the lab and we observed the clean and cut fractures of sample steels.

The professor took numerous samples of SAE 1045 and SAE 1018 and placed them in a machine that pulled them apart. The deformation of the parts were at a nice clean 45 degree angle. This was quite along the lines of the crystal grain structure of the materials themselves. No matter what material, and no matter how fast or how slow, the fracture was always identical. It ALWAYS followed the lines of stress inherent inside the material.

We can see this everywhere. We can see this on the earth, and we can see this on other planets such as the moons of Jupiter. Here is a NASA slide showing the tectonic stress lines on Europia.

tectonic lines of stress on the moon of jupiter do not match those of the lines found under the sea near saipan.
Tectonic activity on Europia, one of the moons of Jupiter. Notice how the lines match the lattice formation of the grains of the material that is under stress.

Fractures form along the principle lines of stress inherent in the material grain composition of the materials that make up the undersea mountain ranges of the Pacific Rim. This, in turn, is a function of the grain structure of the surrounding rocks. Thus the reason for straight lines,and precise angles of exact (and repeatable) angular measurement.

fault lines in metals take on the same behaviors as the fault lines in geology.
When a material undergoes stress, especially tensile stress, the fracture is along a line of least resistance; or stress line. This line follows the grain pattern of the material. This is also known as the direction of slip, or slip direction. Prior to fracture, there is a period when the base rock goes through a period of plastic behavior. During this time the twinning direction also follows the slip direction as a function of crystal structure.

However, while many of the track lines observed in and around the undersea formation known as the Lapulapu ridge are straight, they do NOT follow material stress lines. Just having straight lines, and angular fractures alone does not qualify an observation to be that of a tectonic stress line. As NOWHERE in the world do tectonic lines of stress manifest as 90 degree bends, followed by another 90 degree bend. No do they manifest as pure radii that rounds a straight 90 degree bend at tangential points. These are clear VIOLATIONS of the laws of deformable bodies.

The tails under the sea do not match stress lines.
Tectonic plates follow the lines of stress. They do not make nice round circular features that follow an inner radius to correct to a 90 degree bend. That is something a tractor trailer rig does, not what a stress line does. Note also the displacement of material during the bend; it overlaps previous material. In fact, through a study of the overlap we can easily see that the object make a turn left to displace previous material as opposed to a turn right.

Ha, that pretty much rules out the kinds of behaviors observed in these tracks now doesn’t it?

About the Environment

These features and the corresponding events are taking place at a mind-boggling depth. At that depth the water is pitch black and the pressure is devastating. At the depth of 11,300 feet the water pressure would be a crushing 5000 psi.

To put this into perspective, most unclassified information place “safe” submarine depths at under 800 feet. We do know that submarines can dive deeper. However there is a difference between maximum dive depth and crush depth. World War II German U-boats generally had collapse depths in the range of 200 to 280 meters (660 to 920 feet). While modern nuclear attack submarines like the American Seawolf class are estimated to have a test depth of 490 m (1,600 ft.), which would imply a collapse depth of 730 m (2,400 ft.).

The depth of these tracks are at twice that depth.

It is as if it was on the surface of another planet. For instance, the crushing atmosphere of Venus is at 93 bar or around 1350 psi. Good golly, this is four times that!

Mysteries are all around us. Many of which lie deep down in the depths of the ocean.
German U-Boat washed ashore and amusing those enjoying the beach.

Anyone or anything that can manufacture such a structure and place it where it is, can do so in just about any rocky planet in our solar system. (Of course, gas giants are another animal all together, so let’s not consider them.) The technology to make such a device is far advanced, and beyond anything that we humans can construct.

Track Behaviors

One of the first things that you can note from these images is the paths or trails that are constructed. The tracks go up entire sides of undersea mountains.. When the mountain is steep, the device that creates these tracks continues to try to go upwards, even if the vehicle slides down the hill sideways. It tries to jockey up the side.

The trails indicate complete U-turns that make a 180-degree turn, and then follows alongside the initial path or track.

The trails indicate intelligent decision. Ninety-degree turns are made, seemingly at random points. Obviously there was some sort of decision tree and direction that was provided to the engine that creates these tracks.

A study of the tracks clearly shows inteliigent guided movement vectors.
Mining evidence of the mining of the Lapulapu undersea ridge near the Saipan islands. Here one can clearly see the movement of the object creating these tracks had trouble going up and down steep underwater cliff faces. The device or vehicle that made the tracks had to jocky back and forth .

Southern end of the Saipan evidence site.(Image Source.)

Track Characteristics

The tracks are all the same. Aside from areas where they seem to go through mountains, the tracks are a uniform width. They create a line of debris that runs perpendicular to the track direction, and that line of debris is uniform with other lines with it. In the center of the track are a set of “inner tracks” that follow the main track line.

Goes Through Mountains

Apparently it, whatever it is, has the ability to go through mountains. This is very interesting.

Does it actually go through the mountain, or does it dematerialize before it, and rematerialize after it? It seems that it actually went through the mountain and the tunnel has since collapsed leaving a shallows and separation of one island into two.

Note that the tracks are also different. The tracks start to narrow down like an arrow. This is suggestive of a process that is unknown to us.

The movement and behaviors of the undersea tracks around the Lapulapu ridge are very interesting.
A study of the tracks and the paths lead some interesting findings. For instance the tracks as they relate to the Saipan and Tinian islands is very interesting. It suggests that perhaps the engine went under the island, created a kind of tunnel, that eventually collapsed. Thus forming a shallow area and two separate islands instead of one large island.

Going through mountains and islands. (Image Source.)

Intelligent Control

It is obvious that there is some degree of intelligent control over the vehicle or thing that creates these tracks. It makes 45-degree turns, 90-degree turns, and 180 degree U-turns. It is as if it is searching for something.

The track behavior is suggestive of mining efforts of one type rather than natural large-scale geologic processes.
Closeup of the southern evidence of tacks on the Lapulapu ridge near the Saipan island chain. The tracks make 45 degree turns, 180 degree turns and 120 degree turns. These are not natural processes.

Intelligent Control over the undersea vehicle. (Image Source.)

The undersea tracks show evidence of search efforts and collection and gathering behaviors.
Tracks show clear evidence of turns and reversals, as well as search efforts that comprise 90 degree bends and turns.

Evidence of exact 90° turns. (Image Source.)

Large Scale Formations and Paths

The device operates over enormous regions. Here is the overall general appearance of the most visible tracks around Saipan.

The tracks show obvious patterns of intelligent effort.
The tracks involved in the mining of the Lapulapu ridge show a pattern of obvious mining efforts. In fact, they almost look a map of the type of tunnels that one would make in an underground mining operation.

Obvious mining of the Lapulapu Ridge around Saipan.

Whomever or whatever is mining this area, they most certainly are focusing on the Lapulapu Ridge. The tracks clearly indicate an interest on the top of the ridge. While there are forays off the ridge, the tracks indicate an abrupt series of ninety-degree bends to return back to the ridge. I wonder what is so valuable on the ridge that requires such extensive mining at such a deep depth.

The tracks clearly show measured and direct angles. THere are slight variance of only a few degrees which again show that the features are not natural, as natural features always show pure geometric angular relationships.
A study of the angular relationships of the tracks and the associated features of the tracks.

The angles associated with the large undersea tracks along the Lapulapu Ridge near the Saipan islands. They are certainly curious Large-scale formations. With accurate and exact 90 degree bends. The spent debris mounds are formed at a curious angle. The angles are similar but differ. The image above indicates a 76-degree and a 79-degree debris mound.

Evidence of Mining in a Grid-Like Formation

There is evidence that seems to point to the idea that the device operates following a grid or similar map.

The exploration patterns of the undersea tracks are suggestive of search and collect behaviors.
Undersea mining operation near the Saipan islands showing rectangular exploratory behaviors.

Rectangular features forming perfect squares. (Image Source.)

A study of the undersea tracks is very interesting as it indicates intention and intelligent navigation.
As the mining vehicle moved away from the Lapulapu ridge, it discovered fewer minerals of interest and thus was forced to make a 360 degree turn and followed a parallel path back toward the ridge.

Large scale, large distance, grid-like mining.(Image Source.)

Possible vehicle

It’s pretty difficult to track down a vehicle actually making these tracks. However, if you are careful you can find one. I like to call it the roving orb under the ocean.

A large object has been observed crawling along the undersea surface at a depth of over 3000 feet off the California coast.  Unlike the “official” explanation for the Lapulapu Ridge Mining operations, this movement is more “organic” and seemingly random. The object, which observers say looks man-made rather than natural, is estimated to measure more than 2.86 miles in diameter. It is a dome shaped structure (as it must be to sustain the enormous pressures on the ocean floor). It moves along the floor and displaces dirt and debris as it moves.

The object was brought to the attention of (UFO, strange event, and alien) investigators known as “SecureTeam10”. Tyler, who helps run the internet investigations site, said:

“There are certain areas of the ocean that are obviously blurred out. But what better place would there be for another race or another group of beings to hide than in the deep of our own oceans? … While we are up staring at the sky all day and worrying about what’s up there we have 90 per cent of our oceans unchartered.”

-Tyler at SecureTeam10

Other comments include;

“We see a large circular object and an obvious path or trail created by it – and it disappears into a blurred out area – how convenient.”
There are huge undersea domes that migrate along and associated with the undersea tracks.
Large undersea object that is ambulatory that seems to be associated with the undersea tracks.

What is this object?(Image Source.)

The orb under the sea can be found off the coast of California and near the Saipan islands.
Diagram of the mysterious roving orb that tracks the mysterious mining tracks at enormous depths in the ocean.

It is pretty big. At 4.61 Km.

To put this into perspective, imagine that an American football field is 100 yards long (roughly 100 meters). You could fit 46 football fields end to end inside this object. It is huge. In fact, it is the size of a small city. It is around 66.5 square kilometers in surface area. It is one half the size of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (151.1 square kilometers.)

What we can learn from this orb is rather simple. It is associated with the linear tracks, but does not follow the tracks. It makes its own tracks, which seemingly appear to be of random movements. It is also smaller than the width of the linear tracks.

The movement of the orb is unusual and does not match the undersea movement near the Lapulapu ridge near Saipan.
The mystery orb creates it’s own tracks which differ from the more linear and wide tracks found alongside it. This movement is odd and apparently directionless.

There is no question that it is moving about and leaving tracks.(Image Source.)

Abandoned Orb at the base of Lapulapu Ridge

THis orb seems to be abandoned and damaged.
An abandoned orb at the base of an undersea mountain near the Lapulapu ridge.

Another orb “parked” on one of the Lapulapu mining lines? This one looks like it is collapsed somehow. (Image Source.)

Close up of an abandoned orb that seems to be parked next to an undersea mountain. It looks like it has been there for a while. Notice that the top of the orb is open and suggests an interior with some type of complex layout. It is too bad that it is so deep, it would be really interesting to go and visit. I wonder what stories it could tell us.

Closeup of the abandoned orb suggesting a complex interior inside.
The abandoned orb. The top appears to be open and there is something inside.

Uh oh. The Orb frustratingly disappears into an obscured area.

These orbs are tricky things to find as they move about and come and go at will.
The orb disappears into deep darkness.

Curses! Foiled Again! (Image Source.)

Conclusions

There are features under the ocean that defy known geologic processes. They are suggestive of undersea mining by an enormous undersea orb. Attempts to describe this away as a natural process are laughable. I don’t know what it is, nor do I know why it is there.

The only thing that I know is that the reality that we think of, is just an illusion.

It is entirely possible that this observed structure is something piloted by an intelligence for purposes that have no bearing or relationship to humans at all. As such, it is offered to the reader as nothing more, nor nothing less, than an intelligently piloted object that apparently defies the limits of human engineering.

Take Aways

What can we learn from this;

  • There are mysteries that exist under the ocean.
  • Not everything can be explained away as normal geologic processes.
  • There are huge mobile constructions that can move about under intense water pressure.
  • They create paths that appear to be searching or looking for something.

Other Opinions

I received this comment off-line by an influencer.

I think those “machines tracks” are an artifact of the SONAR scan, it’s called Phase Shadowing in the RADAR world. Check out Google Earth ocean bottom off the east coast of the US, say between NYC and Bermuda, it’s all over the place. I’d bet money it’s just an artifact of the signal processing but I’m only 95% sure.

I think that this is a valid observation. However…

  • It wouldn’t explain the roving orb phenomenon.
  • It wouldn’t explain why the sonar doesn’t influence the orb.
  • It wouldn’t explain the jockeying back and forth on the sides of the undersea cliffs.
  • It wouldn’t explain how some right angles are crisp, while others have a radius.
  • It wouldn’t explain how the tracks go under the Saipan islands and then collapse them into the sea.
  • It wouldn’t explain how dust and debris can obscure the tracks in certain areas.

This type of searching for answers is an important part of our role in understanding the world around us. While I have mentioned numerous “objections” to this solution, my ignorance in the way the sonar scan works should be obvious.

That being said, in my mind, it could very well be very possible that these are somehow associated with a sonar scan. I just do not know.

RFH

How about a Request For Help? I tire of busybodies and statists who poke fun at the ideas and theories of others. They offer no constructive dialog. Rather they just make fun, ridicule, and then scurry under a rock.

I use this forum as a way to disseminate some of the things that I learned though my thirty years of involvement in MAJestic. However, I am forbidden to posit my knowledge directly. I cannot tell the interested, the “secrets of the universe”. The best that I can do is share my opinions about things that interest me, and flavor it indirectly with my forbidden understandings.

To help put this in perspective, put yourself in my shoes…

Imagine that you are working at a company with a brutal NDR. You cannot divulge anything about what you are involved in for any reason.

Now, let’s suppose that for thirty years you were involved in training unicorns to dance with bigfoot. To help with your training, the Lock Ness Monster would gather “magical beans” that you would award the unicorns when they did a particularly impressive dance move; like the cha cha or a nice rendition of the samba.

Now, there is no way that you can talk about unicorns, bigfoot, or the Lock Ness Monster. But, the NDR doesn’t cover “magic beans”. So in the best interests of society, you might want to posit your thoughts about growing “magic beans” and how they might be of interest to imaginary creatures.

That is the situation that I find myself in.

So, if you, the reader, were so interested, I would welcome your thoughts on this matter. What do you think about the plausibility that the orb and the tracks are natural geologic events? What are your thoughts about the idea that the US Navy already studied the orb with the open top? What are your thoughts on the levels of technology that must be achieved to perform these kinds of operations? Please, you are welcome to contribute.

This is my callout, to you the reader, to assist all of us in solving these mysteries. After all, this is a far better use of the internet than for looking at Justin Bieber videos.

FAQ

Q: What is causing the lines or “tracks” under the sea?
A: I do not know. There are geologic processes that can create lines around stress faults, however these lines do not look like any that we know if. If they are part of a geologic process then it would be a new and interesting geologic process. One that deserves study and investigation. To me, as a layman, they appear to be tracks with nice linear debris trails. However, human technology has not advanced to the stage where we can mine at such deep depths. We just do not have that ability. Thus we have ourselves a mystery that perplexes us.

Q: What is the orb?
A: No one knows, of if they do know, they are keeping it secret. It is a large, no huge, structure that is roving about on the ocean floor. It seemingly follow or retraces the linear tracks made earlier, but instead of following the path already made, it just seemingly moves randomly.

Q: What can we learn about this odd event?
A: Someone or something thinks that the Lapulapu Ridge holds some valuable items or minerals. They have devoted time (obviously), and effort (certainly) to mine these elements. It is unlikely that they are human, because known human technology cannot reach the working environment that the objects operate in.

Q: Why isn’t someone investigating this?
A: What makes you think that no one is investigating this? Just because CNN, WaPo, Salon and the Huffington Puffington Post thinks that there is nothing here, doesn’t mean that is actually the case. From a technical point of view, the suggestion of technologies that would enable us to mine the ocean deeps, as well as to provide military advantage for naval submarines is reason alone to investigate this mystery. Remember, boys and girls, real investigations are never publicized. They are kept secret and the work is collected and accomplished in silence.

MAJestic Related Posts – Training

These are posts and articles that revolve around how I was recruited for MAJestic and my training. Also discussed is the nature of secret programs. I really do not know why the organization was kept so secret. It really wasn’t because of any kind of military concern, and the technologies were way too involved for any kind of information transfer. The only conclusion that I can come to is that we were obligated to maintain secrecy at the behalf of our extraterrestrial benefactors.

How to tell...
How to tell -2
Top Secrets
Sales Pitch
Feducial Training
Implantation
Probe Calibration - 1
Probe Calibration - 2
Leaving the USA

MAJestic Related Posts – Our Universe

These particular posts are concerned about the universe that we are all part of. Being entangled as I was, and involved in the crazy things that I was, I was given some insight. This insight wasn’t anything super special. Rather it offered me perception along with advantage. Here, I try to impart some of that knowledge through discussion.

Enjoy.

Secrets of the universe
Alpha Centauri
Our Galaxy the Milky Way
Sirius solar system
Alpha Centauri
The fuselage embedded within the rocks of Victoria Falls.
The Hammer inside the rock.
The Hollow Moon
The Mystery of the Lapulapu Ridge.
The Mystery of the Baltic UFO.
Mystery of the bronze bell.
Mystery of the oil lamp found inside a block of coal.
Did extraterrestrials set up a colony in Pennsylvania?
The Oxia Palus Facility
Brown Dwarfs
Apollo Space Exploration
CARET
The Nature of the Universe
Type-1 Grey Extraterrestrial
The mysterious flying contraptions.

MAJestic Related Posts – World-Line Travel

These posts are related to “reality slides”. Other more common terms are “world-line travel”, or the MWI. What people fail to grasp is that when a person has the ability to slide into a different reality (pass into a different world-line), they are able to “touch” Heaven to some extent. Here are posts that  cover this topic.

Cat Heaven
MWI
Things I miss
How MWI allows world-line travel.
An Observed World-Line switch.
Vehicular world-line travel
Soul is not consciousness.

John Titor Related Posts

Another person, collectively known by the identity of “John Titor” claimed to utilize world-line (MWI egress) travel to collect artifacts from the past. He is an interesting subject to discuss. Here we have multiple posts in this regard.

They are;

Articles & Links

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