Yah. The West is in collapse. It is obvious to everyone (except the deluded). And everyone is now “hunkering down”. Everyone has their “heads down”, and watching their actions, internet footprint, and activity. It’s the calm before the storm. It’s gathering. It’s gonna be nasty.
Watch out!
Uh Oh! Medvedev: “The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are galloping ahead”
In a TV interview with Al Jazeera Television, Dimitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, said “This is not a forecast, but what’s already in play. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are galloping ahead, and we can only look towards God.”
Here is the video:
Medvedev was elected president of Russia in the 2008 election. He was regarded as more liberal than his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, who was also appointed prime minister during Medvedev’s presidency.
Medvedev’s top agenda as president was a wide-ranging modernization program, aiming at modernizing Russia’s economy and society, and lessening the country’s reliance on oil and gas.
During Medvedev’s tenure, the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty was signed by Russia and the United States, Russia emerged victorious in the Russo-Georgian War, and recovered from the Great Recession. Medvedev also launched an anti-corruption campaign, despite later being accused of corruption himself.
He served a single term in office and was succeeded by Putin following the 2012 presidential election. Medvedev was then appointed by Putin as prime minister. He resigned along with the rest of the government on 15 January 2020 to allow Putin to make sweeping constitutional changes; he was succeeded by Mikhail Mishustin on 16 January 2020. On the same day, Putin appointed Medvedev to the new office of deputy chairman of the Security Council.
The fact that Medvedev made direct reference to the “Horsemen of the Apocalypse” is utterly stunning to may observers because it signals how the leadership of Russia sees actual developments in the world. Medvedev made clear “This is not a forecast, but what’s already in play.”
The Horsemen of the Apocalypse
(From Wikipedia) The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (often referred to as the Four Horsemen) are figures in the Christian religion, first appearing in the Old Testament's prophetic Book of Zechariah and in the Book of Ezekiel, where they are named as punishments from God. They later appear in the New Testament's final book, Revelation, an apocalypse written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals. The Lamb of God/Lion of Judah opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. Zechariah describes them as "the ones whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth," causing it to rest quietly. Ezekiel lists them as "sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague". In John's revelation, the first horseman rides on a white horse, carries a bow, and is given a crown – he rides forward as a figure of Conquest,[1][2] perhaps invoking Pestilence, Christ, or the Antichrist. The second horseman carries a sword and rides a red horse and is the creator of (civil) War.[3] The third horseman, a food-merchant riding upon a black horse, symbolizes Famine. He carries The Scales.[4] The fourth and final horse is pale, and upon it rides Death.[5] "They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and plague, and by means of the beasts of the earth."[6] Apocalyptic Christianity sometimes interprets the Four Horsemen as a vision of harbingers of the Last Judgment, setting a divine end-time upon the world.[7][8]
HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION
Given the “wars and rumors of war from the east” as well as the ongoing pestilence of COVID and now, Monkeypox, as well as “signs in the Heavens and upon the earth” in the form of earthquakes, entire bodies of water turning blood red without explanation, and similar strange events, it is not hard to see why Medvedev said what he said.
While the U.S. and its NATO vasal partners view things as mere “strategy” and “political positioning,” the leaders of Russia are viewing things from the perspective of the literal end of the world. This variance in the approach of national leadership may explain why the sides aren’t stopping the craziness going on over the special military operation to de-Nazify and de-militarize Ukraine. Instead of de-escalating, pausing, or even taking a step back to reconsider, mankind is moving ahead toward the frightening reality of Armageddon.
Circumstances seem to keep pushing the United States and Russia closer and closer to a horrifying showdown.
If I was in the White House, I would be doing all that I could to try to find a way out of this mess.
Unfortunately, the guy currently leading our nation is a hothead in an advanced state of mental decline, and he is surrounded by the worst foreign policy team in U.S. history. That is a recipe for disaster, but most Americans seem to be entirely convinced that a full-blown war with Russia is extremely unlikely. Most of us seem to think that we can keep escalating the conflict in Ukraine without ever suffering any serious consequences.
Unfortunately, the Russians see things very differently.
On Russian television, there is constant discussion about how the conflict in Ukraine is really a proxy war between the United States and Russia.
On the state TV show 60 Minutes, host Olga Skabeeva announced: “I have some unpleasant news… Even though we are methodically destroying the weapons that are being delivered [to Ukraine], but the quantities in which the United States are sending them force us to come up with some global conclusions. Perhaps it’s time to acknowledge that maybe Russia’s special operation in Ukraine has come to an end, in a sense that a real war had started: WWIII. We’re forced to conduct the demilitarization not only of Ukraine, but of the entire NATO alliance.”
Sadly, she is quite correct that World War III has now begun.
Let us hope that a way to stop it can be found before it goes nuclear.
Nuclear war is NOT a topic that is brought up much on American news channels, but in Russia it is regularly proposed as a potential option…
Vladimir Avatkov, from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “You mentioned WWIII and the way Americans and Poles are acting on the territory of Ukraine—indeed, we need to remember the words of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who said that anyone who tries to interfere in the special military operation will pay a heavy price.” Skabeeva interrupted: “We never forget about these words of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, but a great number of people are already standing in line, trying to interfere in Russia’s special operation on the territory of Ukraine. Turns out, we have to act—but we’re yet to figure out how we can act without conducting a nuclear strike.”
Reading something like that should chill you to the core.
When Russian journalists and politicians say stuff like this, why won’t we take them seriously?
Just the other day, one prominent Russian politician openly talked about destroying both coasts of the United States with Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles…
The politician, Alexie Zhuravlev, was joined on the talk show by fellow MP and Russian-state mouthpiece Yevgeny Popov, the host of the Rossiya 1 channel show. The lawmaker claimed that two of Russia’s Sarmat missiles would destroy the entirety of America’s east coast – before adding it would take just “two missiles for the west coast” as well. “Four missiles and there’ll be nothing left.”
Russia’s Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles are far superior to anything that we have, and we have no defense against them.
If push comes to shove, I believe that the Russians will not hesitate to use their nuclear weapons.
Our leaders should be trying to find a peaceful way out of this crisis, but instead both sides just continue to escalate matters.
In fact, for the very first time Joe Biden has just promised to give long-range rocket systems that are capable of hitting targets inside Russia to Ukraine…
U.S. President Joe Biden has agreed to provide Ukraine with advanced rocket systems that can strike with precision at long-range Russian targets as part of a $700 million weapons package expected to be unveiled on Wednesday. The United States is providing Ukraine with high mobility artillery rocket systems that can accurately hit targets as far away as 80 km (50 miles) after Ukraine gave “assurances” they will not use the missiles to strike inside Russia, senior administration officials said.
What an incredibly foolish move.
Has Biden gone completely insane?
In response, the Russians are holding missile drills…
The nuclear forces of Russia are holding drills in a region just northeast of Moscow. The decision to begin these drills comes just one day after President Joe Biden announced his decision to send advanced missile system to Ukraine, the New York Post reported. According to an independent news agency in Russia, around 1,000 Russian soldiers are taking part in intense maneuvers using more than 100 military vehicles, including Yars intercontinental missile launchers.
Yikes!
At this point, the U.S. is providing most of the new military equipment for the war in Ukraine, most of the intelligence for the war in Ukraine, and U.S. Secretary of State Lloyd Austin has publicly admitted that we are actually bringing Ukrainians into the United States to train them to go back and fight in the war.
And now we have learned that the U.S. has actually been conducting “offensive hacking operations” against Russia…
General Nakasone confirmed for the first time that the US was conducting offensive hacking operations in support of Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion.
He told Sky News: “We’ve conducted a series of operations across the full spectrum; offensive, defensive, [and] information operations.”
What are we thinking?
Have our leaders really become this reckless?
Once a full-blown war with Russia starts, there will be no going back.
But right now many Americans are so self-obsessed that they don’t even realize that our leaders in Washington have brought us to the brink of the unthinkable.
We have become a country full of self-destructive degenerates that are so out of it that we don’t even realize what we are doing to ourselves.
There is a small minority of the population that is awake, but most Americans are in a deep state of sleep. I am doing my best to try to wake them up, but most of the population simply does not want to listen.
The corporate media is telling them to hate Russia, and so most of them are going to keep cheering for more escalation until it is far too late to reverse course.
If we keep escalating the conflict in Ukraine, the Russians could eventually be put into a position where they feel like they are forced to make a very difficult decision.
And when that day finally arrives, you better hope that they don’t decide to pull the trigger.
…
Economic fiasco, nuclear fiasco, societal fiasco, the truth is clear…
The American (and western) societies have collapsed. Their governments are on “zombie autopilot”, and those in (functional) control are hard-line religious technocrat zealots. You all should be in your “life boat” right now. The fight for life-preservers will be on-going over the next few months. -MM
We start with what will happen on a day to day basis…
Pay for play for the rest of us
You know how “pay-to-play” works: contribute a couple of million dollars to key political players, and then get your tax break, subsidy, no-bid contract, etc., slipped into some nook or cranny of the legislative process that few (if any) will notice because the legislation is hundreds of pages long or a “gut and replace” magic wand was wielded at the last minute.
As the essential systems of everyday life break down and become increasingly dysfunctional, I predict the rise of what I’m calling “pay-to-play” for the rest of us: if you pay for expedited service, concierge service, etc., you will get the kind of service everyone used to get, i.e. functional, prompt and efficient.
As I detailed in Who’s Going to Fix What’s Broken?, systems such as vehicle registration and tax collection are becoming kafkaesque quagmires where the expected (or promised) services are not provided or are botched.
Waiting for services at the DMV, IRS, et al. and the county welfare office are identical experiences. Poor people have no choice but to put up with long waits and bureaucratic quagmires, but the top 10% who earn almost half of all income and are responsible for roughly half the consumer spending are not amused by services that are equivalent to what the bottom 10% must tolerate out of necessity.
Since nobody in power is truly interested in fixing these large-scale, complex systems, then it’s easy to predict the rise of “pay-to-play” for the rest of us: pay an extra fee, get much better service.
There are already examples of this trend. For example, if you want expedited processing of your U.S. passport renewal, that will cost you $60. Given my previous experience with passport renewals, I was happy to pay the extra $60 just to have some additional assurance I was actually going to receive the new passport in a timely manner.
Would I have paid an extra $100 for “expedited processing” of my DMV registration to avoid a 7-month descent into bureaucratic Heck? Yes, with no hesitation whatsoever. Would I have paid $200 for “expedited processing” of my federal tax return to bypass that 7-month kafkaesque quagmire? Gladly, without hesitation.
How about a $500 “expedited processing” of your building permit? Given that those long months of slogging through the quagmire cost real money, a $500 “concierge service” fee to get your permit in 8 weeks rather than 8 months would be a bargain.
“Pay-to-play” is inherently unfair: the wealthy get their interests served, the rest of us tax donkeys and debt-serfs slog through kafkaesque quagmires. “Pay-to-play” for the rest of us will also be inherently unfair, but at least it will democratize “pay-to-play” to the degree that a couple hundred bucks will actually buy better service, and that’s within reach of many more households than the million dollars required to access political “pay-to-play.”
If systems can’t or won’t be fixed, then having access to the 10% which still functions is worth a great deal. The more kafkaesque quagmires you’ve slogged through, the more you hope “pay-to-play” for the rest of us becomes ubiquitous.
How much would you pay for expedited emergency services?
…
Ponder that thought as you check out some funny cartoons…
What Would Animals Say If They Could Speak?
All of us have already wondered what animals think and what they would say to us if they could talk. Jimmy Craig tried to answer this question with these amusing comics which are part of a series called “They Can Talk.”
Top-Paid LA Lifeguards Earned Up To $510,283 In 2022
By Adam Andrzejewski of Open The Books substack
Who knew that LA lifeguards – who work in the sun, ocean surf, and golden sands of California – could reap such unbelievable financial rewards?
It’s time we put Baywatch on pay watch. In 2019, we found top-paid lifeguards made up to $392,000.
Unfortunately, today, the pay and benefits are even more lucrative.
Daniel Douglas was the most highly paid and earned $510,283, an increase from $442,712 in 2020. As the “lifeguard captain,” he out-earned 1,000 of his peers: salary ($150,054), perks ($28,661), benefits ($85,508), and a whopping $246,060 in overtime pay.
The second highest paid, lifeguard chief Fernando Boiteux, pulled down $463,517 – up from $393,137 last year.
Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found 98 LA lifeguards earned at least $200,000 including benefits last year, and 20 made between $300,000 and $510,283. Thirty-seven lifeguards made between $50,000 and $247,000 in overtime alone.
And it’s not only about the cash compensation. After 30 years of service, LA lifeguards can retire as young as 55 on 79-percent of their pay.
Furthermore, we found that most of the top-paid lifeguards were men. In fact, only two of the top 20 high-earners were women: Virginia Rupe ($307,664; 16th highest paid), a lifeguard captain, and Lauren Dale ($303,518; 19th highest paid), an ocean lifeguard specialist.
Overtime pay drove earnings into the corporate executive range.
Last year alone, 37 lifeguards made overtime in amounts between $50,000 and $247,000. For example, Daniel Douglas (overtime: $246,060); James Orr (overtime: 146,506); Patrick O’Neil (overtime: $133,235); and five others each made six-figures plus.
However, in a six-year period, between 2016 and 2021, the LA lifeguard corps made a fortune in overtime. The top three high earners made between $505,579 and $980,007 in overtime alone: Daniel Douglas ($980,007); Jaro Spopek ($513,365); and James Orr ($505,579).
Some high-earning lifeguards also win awards for heroism. However, we found many lifeguards winning Valor Awards failed to crack the top of the payroll.
In 2020, the Medal of Valor winner, Edward “Nick” Macko (salary: $134,144), an ocean lifeguard, jumped into the rough waters in a remote Palos Verdes gorge and pulled a man to safety through potentially skull-crushing swells and over razor-sharp rocks.
In 2021, the Exemplary Service Award for EMS went to lifeguards Todd Ribera (comp: $184,676); Stephen Leon Jr. (comp: $36,597); Max Malamed (comp: $130,952); and Blake Hubbell (comp: $170,956).
Also winning Exemplary Service Awards were high-earners: ocean lifeguard specialist Lauren Dale ($303,518), the 19th highest paid lifeguard, and lifeguard captain Roque Roque ($319,566), the sixth highest paid in 2020.
Beach lifeguard pay dwarfs that of their colleagues at the pools. The highest paid “pool lifeguard” made $45,030, including pay and benefits.
During the pandemic, lifeguards continued to work and took additional precautions doing water rescues. Many traded their trunks and sunscreen for masks and scrubs at Covid testing sites. In some cases, lifeguards acted as police, enforcing stay-at-home orders, keeping people off the beaches and out of the water.
Why beach lifeguards earn so much money is an open question the L.A. taxpayer might start asking.
A lifeguard’s job can be dangerous, but it’s unclear why they are now paid up to a half million dollars a year.
…
Really?
Consider the payment rates of “diversity officers”.
How much does a Director, Diversity & Inclusion make in the United States? The average Director, Diversity & Inclusion salary in the United States is $106,958 as of , but the salary range typically falls between $91,540 and $123,411. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors, including education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years you have spent in your profession. With more online, real-time compensation data than any other website, Salary.com helps you determine your exact pay target.
Ugh. Makes me sick.
Here, enjoy a nice unique burger flavor…
Grilled Italian Sausage Burgers
Inject come spice into your next barbecue with quick and easy Italian sausage burgers, fresh off the grill. Thick slices of mozzarella and sun-dried tomato mayo make simple, savory finishing touches.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 pound bulk mild or hot Italian sausage
- 2 tablespoons Progresso™ Italian-style bread crumbs
- 6 slices (3/4 ounce each) mozzarella cheese
- 12 slices Italian bread, 1/2 inch thick
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomato mayonnaise
- 1 cup shredded lettuce
- 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
Why America Decays: The Tyranny Of Self-Interest
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
Only those societies which still have a functional public interest / common good will survive; those ruled by the tyranny of self-interest will fall.
I’ve discussed the moral rot consuming the American Project in blog posts and my books. This moral rot–perhaps better described as civic decay–is so pervasive and ubiquitous that we are forgiven for assuming “this is the way it’s always been.”
This inability to discern the rot is the result of the gradualness of the decay. There are many analogies: the slowly boiled frog, the way in which weight gain creeps up on us, and so on. This is the result of humanity’s finely tuned knack to habituate to any new environment and normalize what would have been intolerable in the recent past.
We adapt to changing expectations, incentives, values and realities over time and forget the way our world functioned in previous eras.
There are many examples of this. Many of the changes in our society, politics and economy can be traced back to the early 1980s, when financialization (and its offspring, regulatory capture and pay-to-play) began its rise to supremacy.
Forty years ago, student loans were unknown and healthcare costs did not bankrupt households. Forty years ago, relatively few Americans were obese. Go back a decade further, prior to the explosion of fast-food outlets, and a small percentage of the money Americans spent on food went to eating out / away from home, i.e. fast-food and restaurants. Eating out was a treat reserved for special occasions, not a daily ritual / birthright.
In the post-Vietnam era, Americans were wary of foreign entanglements. The Presidency wasn’t quite as Imperial as it is today. Congress still held some modest power over foreign entanglements. This is no longer the case.
The most insightful way to grasp the pervasive moral rot is to examine the tyranny of self-interest: in the past, the public interest / common good still had a foothold in the nation’s values, incentives and expectations. Now the public interest / common good are nothing but paper-thin PR cover for maximizing private gains by any means available, i.e. the supremacy of self-interest.
Our ability to discern the difference between serving the public interest / common good and making a modest profit doing so and harming the common good to maximize private gains has been lost. There are many such examples. The financialized self-interest behind student loans, healthcare, national defense, Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Everything–i.e. cartels and monopolies–is visible in every nook and cranny of the U.S. economy, political structure and economy.
Synthetic opioids offer a good example. Under the preposterously false guise of “serving the common good” with painkillers, Big Pharma caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans and ruined the lives of hundreds of thousands more via the devastation of addiction– addiction which Big Pharma was pleased to promote as non-addictive because this served to maximize profits.
As is now the norm, no one is held personally responsible for this completely needless public health catastrophe. A few wrist-slap fines are administered and life in America goes back to the relentless urgency to maximize private gains by any means available: fraud, deception, overbilling, embezzlement, regulatory capture, pay-to-play, and so on.
The phony PR cover for the the tyranny of self-interest is that the pursuit of maximizing profits by any means available magically benefits the public. The apologists trot out various example of planned obsolescence as “proof” that the supremacy of self-interest is the golden road to a glorious society, but all this careful cherry-picking doesn’t make the moral rot and civic decay go away.
America is doomed to decay as long as we can’t tell the difference between the public interest / common good and self-interest. The two are not the same, but we’ve lost the ability to discern the difference. Only those societies which still have a functional public interest / common good will survive; those ruled by the tyranny of self-interest will fall.
China’s J-20, Russia’s Su-57 Stealth Fighters Ready For Joint ‘Combat Patrols’ To Challenge US Hegemony – State Media
At a time when Russia is facing isolation from the West, its Iron Brother’ China, has been cementing closer ties with Moscow. In the latest revelation, the Chinese PLA Air Force (PLAAF) has said that its J-20 and Russia’s Su-57, both stealth fighter jets, could participate in a joint combat patrol.
Helpless Against Hypersonic Missile! US To Boost Its Military Base That China Is ‘Practicing To Obliterate’ With Deadly Missiles
Last week, China’s Ministry of National Defense announced that the Air Forces of China and Russia conducted a joint strategic patrol above the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, and the West Pacific Ocean as part of their annual military cooperation plan.
While the Chinese PLA Air Force sent its advanced H-6K strategic bombers, the Russian Aerospace Forces dispatched its Tu-95MS strategic missile carriers for the joint strategic patrol.
However, in a startling development, Chinese military experts have indicated that the stealth fighters of the two Air Forces, the J-20 and the Su-57, could soon be leading these joint patrols.
The development gains significance in the light of unhindered Chinese-Russian cooperation, which has been perceived as a security threat by the US.
Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times recently that to deal with the constantly changing battlefield environment and to improve combat capability, China needs enough fighter jets to ensure that strategic aerial patrols can be carried out reliably, effectively, and safely.
He indicated that more advanced equipment, such as China’s J-20 stealth fighter jet and Russia’s Su-57 stealth fighter jet, could participate in the next joint patrol. According to Song, this would result in a significant increase in the fleet’s overall combat capability.
Though heavy bombers are formidable assets, fighter jets are often required to escort these bombers as they are not designed for air to air combat. However, on the other hand, a stealth fighter jet could effectively engage in air combat with far great success due to its ability to evade radars.
The threat of J-20 patrolling with Su-57 becomes even more perilous as the PLAAF J-20 stealth fighter was already deployed for training patrols in the East China Sea and the South China Sea in April.
The move was aimed at countering the presence of American stealth fighters making an appearance in the contested region, as previously reported by the EurAsian Times.
Geopolitical commentary by the Indian-based journalist... The presence of stealth fighters in the same region where the Chinese and Russian bombers flew last week could lead to an escalation in tensions especially as both Beijing and Moscow remain locked in a tussle with Japan. China’s consistent belligerence against Taiwan and a spate of military drills that took place in April also paint a rather dangerous picture. President Joe Biden had recently stated that the US would intervene militarily in case China was to launch an invasion of Taiwan. The stealth fighters of the adversarial Air Force patrolling the region inhabited by staunch US allies could escalate tensions manifold at a time when the region has become a major flashpoint.
Additionally, the Global Times report also revealed that the Chinese bombers on their recent joint patrol were not alone in their voyage. The PLAAF J-16 fighter jet, which is the most frequent visitor to Taiwan’s ADIZ, escorted the H-6K bombers.
China should give up ‘illusion’ of avoiding US rivalry, Beijing think tank says
The US behavior against China, after the Chinese helped get the US out of the 2008 GFC, has reminded the Chinese people what the USA is; and what it represents.
It has no appreciative culture, and can NEVER be trusted.
So, since Xi took over China leadership, he has been active preparing the PLA for war, as well as, seeking bilateral cooperation to avoid war.
Ukraine war fallout has heightened risks of all out US-China military confrontation, Renmin University think tank warns. China should prepare for the worst, but seek bilateral cooperation to avoid it, institute urges in recent report.
J-16 Cover For Bombers
China’s J-16 fighter jets were observed participating in a China-Russia joint patrol for the first time on Sunday, according to China Central Television (CCTV), which showed a photo of two J-16s flying alongside a Chinese H-6K bomber and a Russian Tu-95MS bomber.
According to Chinese military experts, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it dispatched Su-30SM fighter jets as an escort, implying that China’s J-16 deployment was deployed as a reciprocal arrangement.
Since the strategic bombers are not designed to participate in air-to-air combat, observers stated that having fighter jets as escorts is also battle-oriented, noting that both China’s J-16 and Russia’s Su-30 are heavy fighter jets that may contribute to the joint patrol’s overall combat readiness.
As seen in the photo, each J-16 was equipped with two PL-10 close-range combat missiles; however, the J-16 can also carry long-range air-to-air missiles, as the unnamed expert pointed out.
The J-16’s high range, dual engines, twin seats, enormous fuel capacity, and in-flight refueling capability make it ideal for long-range escort operations, according to the expert.
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force had been monitoring the China-Russia joint patrol, according to the Ministry of Defense Joint Staff, although the presence of the J-16s and Su-30s was not mentioned in the press statement.
Analysts speculated that the Chinese and Russian fighter jets may have only partially escorted the bombers and did not reach close enough to Japan’s identification zone or that Japan simply missed them.
More pictures from the past…
Russia imposed retaliatory sanctions. It’ll be a knockout right from the first pack
From HERE
Many of our fellow citizens, in a thirst for universal justice, asked Putin to impose retaliatory sanctions against the West. Are you Vladimir Putin or Leo Tolstoy? How long can one or the other cheek be turned under the sixth package of sanctions already in a row? When will we finally bang something – so much so that the whole West is in dust? And finally, our answer followed.
No, Russia did not launch Sarmats in the US, as some recommended – apparently those who have a personal bunker in their dacha. And she did not turn off the gas valve to Europe, as others loudly demanded, probably very rich people who are not dependent on social obligations from the state and have a lot of currency to buy everything for themselves.
You don’t know Putin well if you thought that he would become like Western leaders, shooting himself in the foot and attacking the interests of Russian citizens, just to harm the West, and still achieve nothing.
This is how Western sanctions can be characterized. They have already introduced six packages, but they did not achieve the desired effect, they only disgraced themselves, dispersed record inflation and ruined the lives of their own fellow citizens.
And Russia continues to go its own way, the sanctions did not stop us. Which means one thing – European politicians have publicly got into a puddle with their sanctions packages. Of course, it is foolish to deny that these sanctions hit us. Nobody denies. The irony here is that these sanctions hit them no less. And the big question is who suffered more.
I don’t know what kind of style of martial art it is when the enemy hits his head so hard that your ears start to ring, but our president is engaged in more traditional and effective martial arts.
Our authorities quietly and calmly, without unnecessary pathos and PR, decided to knock out the Western economy with just one sanctions package – they banned the export of inert gases from Russia. What are these gases and why is it deadly for the West – now I will try to explain everything.
Inert gases include neon, xenon, krypton, argon and others. Neon is used for the production of microcircuits, xenon in headlights, and krypton is used to fill double-glazed windows. And this is only a part of the scope of these gases. But even this small part is enough to understand that without these gases it is impossible to produce modern technological goods.
Whether it’s at least a whole car or just an ordinary electric kettle. Because almost every modern household appliance has microcircuits. And in fact, almost the entire Western economy is based on the production of electronics. And a shortage of one component is enough to stop huge production there.
For us, the price of the issue of these sanctions is a penny. The revenue of our companies from the sale of these gases amounted to literally tens of millions of dollars. This is not even close to the billions from the sale of oil and gas. That is why I said at the beginning that Putin did not shoot the Russian economy in the foot, but dealt a more measured blow.
Let’s say the West will be able to produce a conditional car – the body itself and the seats. But he can’t sell it if it doesn’t have the necessary chips or headlights to make it work. And they will not be, because in their production inert gases are used, the export of which has been banned by Russia.
Yes, Russia does not have a complete monopoly on these gases. For example, in neon we have a market share of approximately 50%. However, the Chinese have about 30% more, and they will not share with the West, they themselves will not have enough. By the way, that is why there is such a comment in the text of the decree:
Russia decided to remind unfriendly countries of their import dependence. Now the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade will determine who will have access to neon, krypton, xenon – key and critical gases for the production of semiconductors.
We’re talking about the Chinese here. We will sell to them, and to the West – shish. And this is not out of love for the Chinese, but simply so that when production crashes in the West, we ourselves will not be left without goods. China will supply them to us, receiving from us the supplies of these gases necessary for production.
And the Western economy, meanwhile, will really crash. About 75% of our neon went to Taiwan – to TSMC and South Korean Samsung, i.e. in companies producing products for Western brands. And without neon and other important components from Russia, they will soon be unable to produce it. And it is important here that all gases go “in one package”.
If we were talking about one more gas, then it would be possible to replace it, and even then not immediately. For example, in the USA, the terms for replacing neon are estimated to be anywhere from a year to two. And then, if someone invests in it. But for this you need to be sure that Russia will not return to the world market, otherwise the new capacities will simply be superfluous.
And our authorities acted quite cunningly, saying that the ban is valid until “the end of 2022”, and then it is not known, maybe we will resume it, maybe not. This creates a sense of insecurity among potential investors and a reluctance to risk money by investing it in a potentially losing business.
How this uncertainty works in practice, we saw in 2020, when Russia and Saudi Arabia discouraged investors from investing in shale oil production in the United States, because at prices in the region of $20 per barrel, many shale companies then went bankrupt.
And now the risk that we will repeat this number is scaring off investors. But the problem isn’t just finding replacement investors.
Given that we banned all types of inert gases at once, the situation for the West is even more difficult – to replace such a large number of industries at once, it will take not one or two years, but about ten years. But the Western economy simply does not have this time. On the account of months at most.
There are certainly some stocks of components necessary for the production in warehouses. They will last for several months. But what’s next? During this time, it is impossible to build your own production of such gases. And no one will buy “semi-finished” products – do you need a non-working iPhone or a car that will stand in the garage waiting for the chip?
And people at the enterprises need to pay salaries. You also have to pay for the energy consumed by this enterprise. And how to pay if the products are not fully assembled, which means they cannot be sold? And where to store such “semi-finished products”? All warehouses will quickly fill up.
Let me put the question even a little broader: what money can we use to buy gas and oil from Russia if the West has nothing to sell in return? Putin warned in advance that there would be no free gas, and all kinds of joke bank tickets – euros and dollars – we will no longer accept this.
So it turns out such an interesting situation, when a conditional European, to whom the enterprise will stop paying wages, will not even have anything to pay for gas in an apartment, not to mention refueling a car and other excesses. No one has rubles hidden under a mattress.
Therefore, the further development of the situation is something like this – the West spends the last components in warehouses over the coming months and sells off the remnants of finished products. And then, if he wants to eat, warm up and fill up the car, he will have to pay in kind – various kinds of machine tools and other valuable equipment.
It’s time for us to raise the national economy. And the Western machine tools of Russia will come in handy in this matter. We will gladly exchange them for rubles. And in Gazprombank, Chancellor Scholz will be able to hand these rubles to the cashier with his trembling hand from the cold so that Gazprom will supply gas to the Germans.
Massive Fire Breaks Out At Poultry Farm That Supplies Eggs To Major Supermarkets
A poultry farm in Howard Lake, Minnesota, that supplies the nation’s largest supermarkets with three million eggs per day experienced a devastating fire over the weekend.
Forsman Farms spokesperson Jon Austin told local media outlet KARE that estimates aren’t firm yet, but anywhere between “tens of thousands of chickens were killed, up to a couple hundreds of thousands.” The spokesperson continued and said chickens in adjacent barns were affected by smoke inhalation.
Video posted on YouTube by Eddie Olson shows massive flames lighting up the night sky on Saturday.
“It’s a lot of chickens. It’s a hit to the egg market, it’s people’s jobs, it’s a local community. So any time anything big like that happens, it’s not good,” Olson said.
It’s unclear exactly how the fire started though impacts could be felt at supermarkets. This year alone, retail egg prices have soared 41% because of the deadly bird flu wreaking havoc on the country’s egg-laying hen flock.
Since January, the outbreak has spread to 32 states, killing more than 37 million chickens and turkeys. Of that, 29 million egg-laying hens have died, or about 10% of the U.S.’ total flock of 300 million. Bloomberg recently reported the bird flu is “shaping up to be the worst outbreak of its kind.”
The blaze at the commercial egg farm in Minnesota comes as dozens of food processing facilities across Canada and the U.S. have experienced mystery fires and explosions over the past year, helping to strain the North American food supply chain.
A Black Cat Interrupted A Football Match And Unsurprisingly Refused To Leave
Over the weekend, the Premier League match between Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers had a short delay as a black cat had wandered onto the pitch – and refused to leave.
The game, which took place at Goodison Park in Liverpool, saw the four-legged spectator wandering around the goal and sidelines. The crowd looked on in delight as none of the players or officials even tried to chase away the feline. Perhaps they all forgot their laser pointers and balls of yarn?
Thankfully, the cat eventually got bored and scampered to the sideline. Everton, however, eventually lost the match, going down 3-1, to the visiting team.
Sorry lads, better luck next time.
Putin’s war on the West is only just beginning
By unleashing brutal force against Kyiv, the Russian president essentially announced a de facto divorce from Western civilization. And as many divorces tend to go it is likely to be a messy, costly and drawn-out affair... Two assumptions keep driving the debate since the start of the invasion back in late February 2022. First, Vladimir Putin's army is technologically backward, comprising poorly trained and lowly-motivated deserters who are only capable of pillaging and drinking. As a result, Russia's detractors say it is about to run out of capacity to fight and has no chance of winning the war. Second, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is gravely ill, has no sense of reality or the capacity to lead, and will transit into a different world in due course. Both of these assumptions continue to dominate the Western information media space. (note: like US funded NGOs and individuals unrelenting smeared campaign against China, and decades of Golden Chiang prediction of the collapsed of China economy, the Russia's money driven western funded traitors also did a good job in helping to hide the real strength of Russia till the day, when the west realised, it is too late for the crusaders to do anything.) They also resonate well across the West and beyond as the majority of the free world look at Russia now as a shameless aggressor and an immediate threat to Western liberal values and freedoms. As a result, we tend to treat the Russia-Ukraine war as our war, in which we naturally want the aggressor to lose. However, our expectations of the outcome of this war should not be based on just hopes and wishes but on the detailed analysis of the cold-hearted battlefield reality, which should not give the Western allies sufficient grounds for unconditional optimism. Being a different kind of Dr, I cannot comment on Putin’s state of health. But the battlefield analysis comes to a similar conclusion. After a vital strategic win over the battle for Mariupol, which resulted in the unconditional surrender of the elite Ukrainian units, the Russian forces have systematically stepped up their offensive across the Donbass region. What seemed initially to be a slow advance was in reality the reflection of two key factors. Firstly, the continuous ferocious resistance of the Ukrainian defenders. Their will to push the Russian invaders back despite taking very heavy losses deserves full recognition. There was also a vast and sophisticated fortifications network - which has been gradually extended by the Ukrainian military along the lines of confrontation in eastern Ukraine since 2015. Breaking through these layered defensive barriers was a massive challenge for the Russians, even with their overwhelming firepower and tactical air dominance. Still, the Russian military is slowly gaining pace. Since the launch of their proper offensive in Donbass on 19 April, they have seized control of some of the most important military nerve centres that make up that massive defensive barrier... Read more...
Now Even The Elite Are Openly Admitting That America Is Facing An Absolutely Enormous Economic Crisis
Not too long ago, the elite were trying to put a happy face on our growing economic problems. It was obvious that things were trending in a very alarming direction, but they kept assuring us that any bumps in the road were just temporary and that a new golden age of prosperity was just around the corner. Needless to say, there were dead wrong, and now some of them are publicly admitting the truth. For example, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon just publicly stated that an economic “hurricane” is rapidly approaching…
Jamie Dimon is no meteorologist, but the JPMorgan Chase CEO is predicting an economic “hurricane” caused by the war in Ukraine, rising inflation pressures and interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. “Right now it’s kind of sunny, things are doing fine. Everyone thinks the Fed can handle this,” Dimon said at a Bernstein conference. “That hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way.”
JPMorgan Chase is one of the most important financial institutions in the entire world.
So it is a really big thing for Dimon to make a statement like this.
Of course he is right on target. An economic hurricane is coming, and it is going to be far more horrible than most Americans could possibly imagine right now.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also just said something that is making a lot of headlines.
Last year she insisted that high inflation would just be “transitory”, but now she is openly admitting that she “was wrong”…
“I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take. As I mentioned, there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy […] that I, at the time, didn’t fully understand.”
It isn’t exactly a surprise that she turned out to be completely wrong about high inflation being transitory.
We knew that she was wrong when she said it.
But I will give her credit for publicly admitting a mistake. Many in Washington will never do such a thing under any circumstances.
At this point, it should be obvious to everyone that we are in the midst of an absolutely horrifying inflation crisis.
On Wednesday, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States jumped another nickel to $4.67. But the real story is the crazy prices that we are starting to see out on the west coast. For instance, one gas station in Los Angeles is now charging more than 8 dollars a gallon for regular gasoline…
A Chevron station in downtown Los Angeles on the corner of Alameda Street and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue is charging customers over $8 for regular gasoline causing some locals to complain about price gouging, KTTV Los Angeles reported on Tuesday. In a statement to KTTV, Chevron pointed out that the majority of its California branded stations are independently owned and that “unique” factors are contributing to gas prices in the Golden State.
How soon will we see someone break the 10 dollar a gallon threshold?
Will it be by the end of the summer?
In some cities, the price of a gallon of gasoline is already higher than the hourly minimum wage.
That is nuts!
Of course diesel prices have been rising even faster, and this is putting a tremendous amount of financial strain on America’s farmers. If you doubt this, just check out what Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller just told Maria Bartiromo…
When Bartiromo noted “filling a tractor daily now costs farmers $1,000 – twice what it was a year ago,” Miller responded, “it’s through the roof, but it’s not just diesel.” “It’s fertilizer prices. It’s parts. We can’t get new tractors, new combines. We can’t get new tillage equipment,” he stressed. “So we have to keep running our older equipment, which we can’t get parts for. And so it’s just a whole comedy of errors, and it just multiplies on top of itself.”
When costs go up for farmers, they inevitably get passed on to consumers.
And we have already been seeing food prices spike dramatically. Just check out these numbers from April…
Food grains—including corn and wheat—were up 2.8 percent for the month and 45 percent compared with a year ago. Feed grain prices increased 7.8 percent from the prior month and 33 percent from a year ago. The poultry and egg index jumped 22 percent from March and 94 percent from a year earlier. The April market egg price, at $2.21 per dozen, is 81.0 cents higher than March and $1.64 higher than April 2021. The price of chickens raised for meat, at $1.05 per pound, is 15.3 cents higher than March and 49.7 cents higher than a year ago. At 95.3 cents per pound, the April turkey price is 2.5 cents higher than the previous month and 18.5 cents higher than April 2021. Milk prices climbed 4.12 percent in April and are up 47 percent compared with a year earlier.
In the entire history of our nation, we have never seen anything like this.
But as I keep warning my readers, this is just the beginning.
In fact, one prominent Texas farmer is warning that food prices “are going to double”…
“People don’t realize what’s fixing to hit them,” said Texas farmer Lynn “Bugsy” Allen. “They think it’s tough right now, you give it until October. Food prices are going to double.”
Can you imagine that?
Can you imagine what it will do to our country if food prices double from their already extremely inflated levels?
People will go absolutely bananas.
But this is exactly the type of scenario that I have been warning about for years.
Eventually, food will become such a prime target for thieves that we will actually see armed guards escorting grocery store delivery trucks.
And civil unrest will erupt all over the planet as millions upon millions of poor people get hungrier and hungrier.
Unfortunately, even though so many are now sounding the alarm, the vast majority of the population still has no idea what is coming our way.
Lemon-Garlic Shrimp Orzo Skillet
You know that phrase, “a little goes a long way?” Well, that absolutely applies to this dish, which tastes rich and buttery but actually only includes 2 tablespoons of butter!
The trick is waiting until the end to add the butter when it can enrich the orzo, which has already been flavored by cooking in broth, and the zucchini, which has a naturally buttery taste when sautéed.
The shrimp, also added at the end, gets infused with all the flavors already in the pan, so the whole dish is redolent of garlic and butter and only needs a squeeze of lemon and sprinkle of fresh herbs for contrast. Garnishing with a bit of nutty Parmesan takes it all over the top.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 large zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and into 1/4-inch slices (about 2 cups)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped (about 4 teaspoons)
- 3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta (about 5 oz)
- 1 1/2 cups Progresso™ reduced sodium chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)
- 1 lb uncooked large shrimp (21 to 30 ct), peeled, deveined, tail shells removed
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
The Algonquin Hotel In NYC Has A Kitty Concierge Named Matilda
The Algonquin Hotel in New York City offers a unique amenity in the form of Matilda, a cat concierge whose main outpost is laying above the luxury hotel’s welcome desk. The experience is aimed at replicating the comforts of home and the Algonquin Hotel is one of many incorporating such mascots or concierges.
For those looking to spend a bit more time with Matilda than a hangout in the lobby, guests have the option of booking the ‘Friends of Matilda’ package. The ‘Friends of Matilda’ package includes a plush toy replica of Matilda, a personalized welcome letter from the feline herself and a book containing health and beauty secrets for the pampered kitty.
Why separations between humans and guardian angels are necessary
This following video is one of the early Patrion videos. Subscription has been necessary to watch it. However, it is presented here for all MM “followers” to watch for free.I hope that you gain some insight, as well as to see the benefits on contributing to MM via the Patrion page.
Please check it out…
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You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
New Beginnings 4.
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