I often remember the embarrassing events in my life. I suppose that all of us have these memories. Mine are deep scars. The memories are just painful. Sorry. And though from time to time, I feel a need to tell my story (s) I find it difficult to do so. The embarrasment is just too severe.
But you know… I learned form them. As we all have.
We are going to continue on our mish mash of articles here today to describe a world in turmoil and one on fire with hidden wars, secretive plans, mind control, bioweapons, and a total luntic-ruled Western society.
We start with Truth
Mistakes in judgement part 1
Chinese media: 2 British fighting for Ukraine captured by Russia
One is widely available on the Saker Website, and Graham Phillips Youtube channel. The other is at the RT.com website, posted as “interview”.
I’ve seen both. The critical question was not asked: Did you kill anyone? As mercenaries, both know that they could be subject to the death penalty and aren’t protected by international prisoner of war law….a bit of an oversight when looking for employment…
They don’t seem to be Azov Nazi types, just soldier of fortune types who didn’t think hard enough about what they were doing in Ukraine. But they don’t seem much stupider than most Western supporters of the coup regime.
两名在乌克兰被俘英国人出镜向英首相求“人员交换”|乌克兰|英国人|俄罗斯_新浪军事_新浪网
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Article
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The entire interview, learn from the horse’s mouth.
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The ‘messy middle’
https://bdnews24.com/world/2022/04/20/the-messy-middle
Mistakes in judgement part 2
The Russian military says it has successfully performed the first test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile.
(note: Sunzi: the art of war 不战而屈人之兵，crippled the enemy war intention without war is the highest form of war strategy. China often opening released new weapons whenever she perceived a possible US aggression, apparently, putin is doing the same thing. )
The RS-28 Sarmat, colloquially known to the West as the “Satan II”, is a Russian liquid-fueled, MIRV-equipped super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) under development by the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau since 2009. It is intended to replace the R-36M ICBM (SS-18 ‘Satan’) in Russia’s arsenal.
The Sarmat is one of the six new Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 1 March 2018. The RS-28 Sarmat was expected to make its first test flight in 2022, and enter service later this year.
The RS-28 Sarmat is capable of carrying about 10 tons of payload for either up to 10 heavy, or 15 light, MIRV warheads, as well as an unspecified number of Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) or a combination of warheads. It also carries several countermeasures against anti-ballistic missile systems. The Russian ministry of Defense said that the missile is Russia’s response to the U.S. Prompt Global Strike system.
Sarmat has a short boost phase, which shortens the interval when it can be tracked by satellites with infrared sensors, such as the U.S. Space-Based Infrared System, making it more difficult to intercept. It is speculated that the Sarmat could fly a trajectory over the South Pole, completely immune to any current missile defense system, and that it has the Fractional Orbital Bombardment (FOBS) capability.
According to various sources, RS-28’s launch sites are to be equipped with the “Mozyr” active protection system, designed to negate potential adversary’s first strike advantage by kinetically destroying incoming bombs, cruise missiles and ICBM warheads at altitudes of up to 6 km.
Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked today “The missile will provide food for thought for those who try to threaten Russia.”
UPDATE:
Russia SAYS THE TEST WAS SUCCESSFUL.
“All calculated characteristics are confirmed. Training warheads arrived in a given area in Kamchatka” according to the Ministry of Defense.
The agency recalls that the Sarmat is the most powerful missile in the world with the longest range of targets. It will greatly enhance the military power of the country.
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Japan approves ban on luxury car exports to Russia
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Quick Pepper Steak
Do you want something good, quick and tasty for your family? Try this.
Directions
- In a bowl, combine the cornstarch, brown sugar, ginger and garlic powder. Stir in broth until smooth. Add soy sauce and molasses; set aside.
- In a nonstick skillet or wok, stir-fry steak in oil for 4-5 minutes; remove and keep warm. Stir-fry peppers, celery and onions until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Stir broth mixture and add to the vegetables. Return meat to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Serve over noodles if desired.
Germany says Serbia should align with EU policies if it wants to join bloc | Reuters
It’s from Reuters. It’s hard to tell if this is actual reporting or just another narrative out of the West.
Article.
Chinese media: 2 British fighting for Ukraine captured by Russia
两名在乌克兰被俘英国人出镜向英首相求“人员交换”|乌克兰|英国人|俄罗斯_新浪军事_新浪网
Article.
Mistakes in judgement part 3
Ukraine Claims Russian Phase 2 Has Begun
18 April 2022 by Larry Johnson From HERE
It looks like Ukrainian officials are not blowing smoke on this. During the past 24 hours Russian military operations in the Donbas and in Western Ukraine have increased markedly.
I want to share with you some videos from the Intel Slava Z channel on Telegram. While there always is the possibility these are staged propaganda pieces, they appear legitimate.
First up is the shootdown of a Ukrainian combat jet. Thermal footage shows Ukrainian Su-25 attack jet firing flares, in vain, trying to escape an incoming Russian missile. The jet was shot down on 15th of April by Russian Air Defense units.
The second video shows a Chechen in Mariupol inside one of the buildings at Ilyich plant where elements of the Azov battalion hid. This is probably from Saturday, 16 April. It did not turn out well for the Azov thugs:
Chechens Inspect bodies of AZOV battalion in Ilyich Plant in Mariupol
The Russians are busy on several fronts. Let’s start on the southern coast of Ukraine:
- Mariupol is under the control of Russia, only a small element of the AZOV battalion is holed up in the Avostol steel plant with their backs to the sea.
- The Russians have secured Berdyansk, which is 60 miles west of Mariupol.
- There are explosions in Kherson, which is 220 miles west of Berdyansk.
- The night sky over Nikolaev (aka Mykolaiv) is on fire with a barrage of airborne explosives. From Nikolaev it is only 80 miles to Odesa.
At present, Russia is controlling the southern coast of Ukraine with a combination of naval and ground forces. Once Odesa falls (and it will fall), Russia will have completely cut off Ukraine from its southern ports. (There is no commercial activity now because it is a war zone.)
Then there is the action in the west along the border with Poland. Russia is destroying the military equipment that the United States and NATO are sending to Ukraine. Here is a remarkable video showing three weapon collection sites being hit in Lviv (I do not think this is from a video game because even Fox News reported the strikes). According to Intel Slava Z:
Aviation strikes with high-precision missiles at the 124th Joint Logistics Support Center of the Logistics Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Lviv, – Defense Ministry
The logistics center and the large consignments of foreign weapons that were delivered to Ukraine over the past 6 days from the United States and European countries were destroyed.
But center stage for Russian military operations is to the east in Donbas. Popasnaya sits halfway between Luhansk and Kramatorsk (the site of the missile that killed civilians at the train station a week ago). Russian tanks reportedly are bombarding Ukrainian positions:
If the Ukrainian Army still had intact artillery it would be firing counter-battery rounds at the Russian tanks. That is not happening. When you are fighting a comparable force, doctrine dictates that the tanks fire and then move. (Counter battery fire means that the unit being shelled can fire back and hit the position where the shell originated.) I add the caveat that this video could be an elaborate propaganda production, but comments from Zelensky and his toadies indicate the offensive is underway.
There also are press reports that Russian artillery is firing on Ukrainian units around Kharkov (which is a 160 miles northwest of Popasnaya). The limited ability of the Ukrainian forces to respond in kind means the units are hunkered down and taking a brutal beating. If they poke their heads out of their bunkers they are likely to lose their noggin.
Besides physically killing the Ukrainian soldiers, the Russian sustained bombardments are also killing the will to fight among some of the units. Significant numbers are surrendering to Russian units. The first video shows more than 80 Ukrainians who are now under Russian control:
Here is another group of more than 300 Ukrainian soldiers who gave up:
If Ukraine was succeeding on the ground I am sure we would be seeing daily briefings from the Ukrainian generals touting their latest triumph over Russian forces. The absence of such reports is not the product of some clever Ukrainian plot to deceive the Russians into complacency. The inability to maintain robust lines of communication with the front line units and ensure they are fully supplied with ammunition, weapons and food is a death spiral for any military organization.
Recent new reports in the west state that there are limitations on what the United States and NATO can supply. Here is Bloombergs “rosy” picture:
America is following an “arsenal of democracy” strategy in Ukraine: It has avoided direct intervention against the Russian invaders, while working with allies and partners to provide the Kyiv government with money and guns. . . . Yet as the war reaches a critical stage, with the Russians preparing to consolidate their grip on eastern Ukraine, the arsenal of democracy is being depleted. . . . General Mark Milley, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress that the West has delivered 60,000 antitank weapons and 25,000 anti-aircraft weapons to Kyiv. The Pentagon is now laying plans to rush additional artillery, coastal defense drones and other materiel to Ukraine. The White House on Wednesday announced a new $800 million package including helicopters and armored personnel carriers. . . . Pentagon officials say that Kyiv is blowing through a week’s worth of deliveries of antitank munitions every day. It is also running short of usable aircraft as Russian airstrikes and combat losses take their toll. Ammunition has become scarce in Mariupol and other areas. This is presenting Western countries with a stark choice between pouring more supplies into Ukraine or husbanding finite capabilities they may need for their own defense.
What the Bloomberg reporter forgot to mention is that Russia is blowing up many of those munitions in western Ukraine even before they can be sent to the front.
In writing this hard truth I am frequently accused of simply passing on Russian propaganda. Not true. If you have the videos of the Ukrainians wreaking havoc on the Russians please let me know. I have not seen it.
And as I noted above, I do not doubt for a minute that U.S. news media would be showing these videos if they existed. This may be a decisive week for the continued existence of organized Ukrainian military operations. The Russian military appears to be following Putin’s directive–demilitarize Ukraine.
Australia among biggest new Cold War economic losers
By Rod Tyers and Yixiao Zhou
If tensions between the Western world and China and Russia led to a split into two separate financial and trading systems, Australia would be among the countries most hurt. Proportionately, the hypothetical negative effect on Australia would be larger than on the world as a whole, due to Australia’s relative affluence and dependence on trade
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What To Do When China And Russia Jam GPS?
From American neocon publication “Forbes”…
China’s Orbital Nuclear Bombs Are A Bluff Covid-19 Gives China And Russia A Strategic Advantage, Says U.S. Army
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Ukraine: Greece’s military has seized Russian oil tanker
Article.
Zone B exists, thus there is hope, I promise you!
Dear friends,
Today it appears that the triumph of our adversaries is total. I want to post this column saying that I don’t believe for one second that this is true. All I want to do today is explain why. Thus, just to make clear to those alternatively gifted, this is not a comprehensive analysis and I will be leaving many things out.
So, here we go:
First, notice how totally paranoid our adversaries are! Depending on how you count and whom you ask, they had 25k to 65k folks in arms “defending” them. Of course, the primary goal of this nonsense is to make it appear as if there was a terrible domestic terrorist force out there, ready to take over DC and open Gulags for minorities. This, in turn, will make it easier to sell a massive crackdown on civil liberties under the guise of “protecting” the (supposed but, in reality, already defunct) “democracy”. But the fact that they had to engage into a witch hunt even to carefully vet every national guardsman (and probably even more people) shows that they are truly afraid. I think that they are wrong, there is no credible domestic terrorist threat in the USA, other than the government itself, of course. But what matters here is not what I think, but what they think, and they seem to have developed a serious case of paranoia.
Second, while I don’t believe in the existence of US domestic terrorists, I do believe that millions of US citizens are convinced that the vote was stolen. These people are understandably disgusted and angry. Many might be desperate or even despondent. Let’s call them the “deplorables” and consider it a badge of honor. Well, these deporables won’t take DC by force, but they will never trust a Dem or GOP politician again, and neither will they ever trust the corporate media. One of the blessings in disguise of this stolen election is that the GOP and Fox News have shown their true faces, and their faces are evil, stupid and ugly. 4 years ago millions of US citizens did not so much vote for Trump as much as they voted against Hillary whom they (correctly) saw as a symbol and metaphor for the entire “deep state”, or “swamp” or “ZOG” or whatever other expression you prefer. These deplorables first trusted Obama (“change we can believe in”) and, later, Trump (MAGA). Now they know that both sides are equally evil and false.
In the past, both factions of the Big Money Party had safety valves (Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, Rand Paul, Tulsi Gabbard, Bernie Sanders, etc.). I think that now the two parties are literally standing naked and boy is that an ugly sight!
Third, and this point I primarily address to my readers in the USA and that will force me to make a sidebar primarily directed at them:
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[Sidebar: the planet can be divided into 2 rough parts: ZONE A full controlled by the AngloZionist Empire (Unipolar United States led and it’s proxy naitons) and, ZONE B, which includes everybody else. The vast majority of US Americans are only really aware of Zone A.- Zone A = The West – USA and it’s proxy nations.
- Zone B = The East – Russia / China / India / Africa, South America, Middle East
Why? For the following reasons:
- Most US Americans have never traveled outside Zone A.
- Those US Americans who have traveled outside Zone A typically did so without speaking the local language, thus cutting themselves off the locals and the local media.
- Most US Americans get their news from US-based outlets, often combined with a few from elsewhere in the Anglosphere (UK, AUS).
- US media outlets lie even more about what happens in Zone B than they lie about Zone A.
- US schools have pretty much stopped teaching history, and when they do, it is all propaganda about the “city on the hill” and all the rest of the imperialist claptrap about how exceptional the US is. As a result, when most US Americans are exposed to factoids about Zone B they are not equipped to understand their meaning or importance.
- Most US Americans simply assume that people in Zone B are very similar to those in Zone A. Most US Americans also assume that most governments in Zone B are even more evil than Uncle Shmuel.
- Most US Americans also believe in what I call the “immigration fallacy”: the belief that people come to the USA from all over the planet because they prefer the USA to their home country and people. Anybody living in the USA and speaking Spanish knows that totally false this belief is, of course. But few non-Hispanic US Americans ever speak in Spanish to the Hispanics in the USA (FYI – I do). Anglos generally seem to have a hard time with languages…
- Sadly, most US Americans are not educated by their parents, their religious leaders, their communities, or their schools. Most US Americans get most of their education from watching TV. Since all the US TV channels offer almost the exact same mix of vulgar entertainment, propaganda and commercials, this “education” resulted in a huge amount of massively dysfunctional families and communities. This addiction to a flickering screen (be it the Idiot Tube or You Tube – same difference) gives them a very short attention span and a limited ability to process large amounts of written information, which is what is needed to be able to analyze a situation]
As a direct consequence of these factors, most US Americans live in a “mental space” where Zone B simply does not exist, and when it is mentioned, it is invariable in the “same old clichés” mode.
Finally, considering all of the above, it is truly a miracle that the deplorables completely ignored a massive brainwashing campaign (waaaay worse than anything the Commies or the Nazis ever came up with!) against “Trump the New Hitler” and still voted for him twice, both in 2016 and 2020! It really goes to show that most US Americans quietly but passionately hate the regime in DC and that they use every opportunity they get to at least to try to change their country and their lives by means of voting. Makes you wonder what these “disobedient” deplorables will do the next time around now that voting became clearly a waste of time, don’t it?]
Now here is the good news: Zone B does exist! In fact, it is huge, rich, truly diverse and it has long figured out that both the AngloZionist Empire and even the USA as we knew them have basically died, all that’s left from it is some residual momentum and many bad habits by ignorant, arrogant and delusional US politicians.
Why is that so important?
Because if we allow the Great Satan (actually a very good and exact expression, I think that it fits the new regime perfectly, I will use it more often) to convince us that reality is all contained in Zone A, we could really fall into despair. Yeah, the USA is screwed, and so is all of the EU.
As for US colonies like AUS or NZ, not only are they screwed (say by siding with the USA against a much, MUCH more powerful China), they also seem to have a morbid desire to outstupid even the USA in terms of crazy laws and insane ideological positions (say on COVID, for example).
But all this in ONLY true inside Zone A. Very few people in Zone B still believe that the USA matters a great deal. Most of them already know otherwise, even if this is never reported by Zone A media.
There is even more good news: neither the (rump) AngloZionist Empire nor the (rump) USA represent any credible threat to most countries in Zone B.
Oh sure, US politicians can call Russia a “gas station masquerading as a country” or a “regional power”, the truth is that the united West has completely failed to break, or even meaningfully hurt Russia, despite 46 sanction packages (that’s just by Trump, not counting the “change we can believe in” crook).
Heck, even COVID only marginally hurt Russia (which, unlike the flag-waving pseudo-patriotic crap spewed by western politicians took COVID seriously, very seriously in fact, as early as March and prepared the country for no less than two major outbreaks, both which happened, and both which Russia successfully dealt with; this is why the EU is now in full COVID-hysteria mode, while Russia does not bother to impose any lockdowns at all!).
Now let’s place two US propaganda items side by side and take a look, ok?
- The USA has the most powerful economy on the planet.
- Russia is the #1 adversary of the USA (at least according to the Dems, the GOP places China as #1 and Russia only as #2)
Do you see the problem?
If the USA is so powerful, how is it that it failed to crush Russia? What about Iran? Or, in extremis, Venezuela? Yet, even the the last case, the “best” this supposed World Hegemon did was send a few clueless ex-special ops to get caught and give case of hysterical laughter to the entire Latin American continent!
And these folks want to take on China or Russia?!
Peuhleeze!
So here is the other very good news: Zone A presents no real threat to Zone B!!!
Yes, of course, the USA can still nuke China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela or some other country. But let’s look at the consequences of such a strike:
- Against Russia: the USA simply vanishes as a country. Completely and forever.
- Against China: the USA as a society completely collapses for a very, very, VERY long time.
And then we have…
- Against Iran: the USA gets stuck in a major regional war it can only lose with massive geostrategic consequences (still, the new regime might try to pull this one off, never say never, no matter how stupid this idea can seem to you – always remember that the ignoramuses in DC are as delusional as they are ignorant!)
- Against North Korea: the USA gets stuck in a major regional war it can only lose with massive geostrategic consequences.
- Against Venezuela: the USA gets stuck in a counter-insurgency war it can only lose. The comprador regime in Bogota will not survive such a war and Colombia will also “fall”.
- Against any other Zone B country: the US successfully nukes this/these country/countries only to find itself being treated like a pariah by the entire planet (including quite a few US colonies), including the real military powers. NATO and the EU will also collapse is that happens (the US being their cornerstone).
The bottom line is that while the US triad is still fully functional and capable of waging a full-scale nuclear war against any adversary (including Russia and, even more so, China), the truth is that all this triad really achieves is making it impossible for another nuclear power to use nukes against the USA.
Which is not minor or irrelevant, the problem here being that the US nuclear triad provides with exactly zero help when trying to deal with any adversary not using nukes (either because this adversary choose not to use nukes due to the effective deterrence of the US nuclear triad or simply because it has no nukes in the first place).
As I have mentioned in the past, the US submarine force is, along with the nuclear triad, the other truly effective and powerful force which the US can count on in case of war.
However, other than launching large numbers of outdated and, therefore, easily countered cruise missiles there is little this force can do to assist a US ground (or, for that matter) air operation against anything but a very weak adversary.
The problem with so-called “sub-peer” adversaries is that they have relatively few lucrative targets to strike with cruise missiles (think Venezuela here). Most of these subpeer adversaries do not have the air defenses needed to deal with any halfway determined US missile and bomb attack and the US can quickly destroy whatever air defenses such “sub-peer” countries have.
So yes, I admit it.
If tomorrow the USA wants a “short and triumphant war”, say to boost morale or distract from internal problems, they could still attack countries like, say, Antigua and Barbuda or Santa Lucia, but such a farce will hardly would qualify as “brilliant victory” of the “best armed forces in the galaxy”, now would it?
Or maybe would, who knows?
If the united propaganda machine wants to present that as a triumph for US forces, like they did with the Grenada invasion (one of the worst military operation in history!) they can do that, of course.
But that would only serve to further ridicule that propaganda machine since 2021 is not 1983, there are now millions of deplorables out there who will never buy this kind of silly nonsense.
Besides, considering how the joint efforts of the USA, Israel and Saudi Arabia (the “Axis of Kindness”) completely failed to deal with the Houthis, my money would not be on any US invasion force in the Caribbean (with the possible exception of a re-invasion of Haiti or the Dominican Republic, but these are already US protectorates, what would be the point?!).
Why does all that matter so much?
Because the Democrats are clearly up to no good.
Next, not only will we see a wave of repression against free speech internally, but the Dems are already making noises about, you guessed it, China and Russia (again!) and, when that inevitably yield exactly zero results, they will turn to “hate on” Iran and Venezuela again.
But even these comparatively weaker countries are now very much capable of making Uncle Shmuel pay an immense price in blood and hell to pay in terms of political blowback on too many fronts to count.
The “power” of a nation (or a coalition of nations) can be measured using very many different type of metrics, but the three most common ones would probably be: economic power, military power and political power. If we use those three to compare Zone A to Zone B, it would be reasonable to posit the following:
- Economic power: more more or less equal, with Zone A quickly going down and Zone B quickly rising. Zone A still has A LOT of comprador regimes willing to defend it not only at the UN, but in most international bodies (including non-government ones like the IOC for example, or WADA).
- Military power: Zone A very much weaker than Zone B (just think RU+CN+IN for starters!)
- Political power: Zone A still stronger, but that is also changing fast. You can say that most world rulers are still serfs for Zone A, but most people worldwide have long switched their support for Zone B countries. The recent triumph of the people of Bolivia over their oppressors is a very telling sign of this trend.
And here is the key factor to keep in mind: there is nothing, absolutely nothing, the Biden/Harris Admin can do to change these trends. It is simply too late and when the initiation of the internal collapse of the USA, these trends will only accelerate.
===>In other words, there is hope!<===
Yes, the bad guys did win, but only over Trump and his clueless pseudo-allies (did they betray him faster than he betrayed them, or was it the other way around?), but they only won one a battle against the deplorables and they have won exactly nothing against Zone B.
The Dems are now busy with vengeance in all its forms.
They also relish in humiliating Trump and those who dared to support him. This is the political equivalent of torturing people in basements, not winning glorious battles. But they don’t realize that, they are too vain, too ideologically hateful, and too cowardly to understand that.
Still, brainwashing, like torture (including mental torture!), is real.
In this case, this is a battle for the minds of the deplorables who now have to be beaten down into a catatonic state of total submission and compliance. The Dems are using lies, their favorite weapon, but their assault is real, nonetheless. And this is the battle which we, those who opposed imperialism, have to fight – the battle for the minds of the people in Zone A: we need to show them that the pseudo-reality of Zone A has no real existence outside the Idiot Box and the vapid rhetoric of US decision makers.
We have to mentally prepare for a sharp increase in the amount and scope of the lies the US propaganda machine will be telling us (if you thought the last 4 years were bad, prepare for much, much worse; good example here).
And, of course, expect LOTS of false flags, especially to demonstrate the reality of the alleged danger coming from the “domestic terrorists”. That will all go down against a background of a full-spectrum attack on free speech, dissent and any form of actual (as opposed to pretend) thought, really.
The irony is, of course, that the coming witch hunt (it will be way worse than Salem or McCarthy) will be waged in the name of diversity and ostensibly against “hate”. In reality, of course, what the regime wants is to crush real diversity because the leaders of the US Nomenklatura absolutely hate everything besides their sorry selves.
Like all ideologues, what these folks want is 1) total power and 2) total uniformity. All those rejecting these modern dogmas will be branded as criminals, terrorists, heretics, racist and, of course, Russian and Chinese agents.
And that is why this regime will also fail.
Conclusion: diversity WILL win. The REAL diversity, of course!
Our planet is wonderfully diverse, especially outside the uniformity sector of Zone A. There IS a Zone B out there, and the leaders of Zone A will be defeated by our real common and shared humanity (and their hatred for us!).
Somewhere between Obama and Trump, the world has moved on, and it is now very busy dealing with the immense challenges and opportunities facing it in Zone B.
And no, neither Russia nor China is busy trying to sabotage or undermine the USA – US leaders are doing that much better job of that than any Russian or Chinese ever could. So why even bother (and nevermind the risks!)?
We cannot predict what will happen next, there are simply too many variables to do that. But what we can do is predict with a great degree of confidence that the new regime in power in DC will do no better than all the other regimes which came to power by means of color revolutions in the past couple of decades.
There is no hope left for the Empire.
As for the USA people, there will be plenty of hope left for them, but only after a long and painful process of collapse and rebirth (both of which are inevitable by now).
The truth is that US is not that unique as empires go.
Sorry, it is just your typical arrogant and narcissistic empire. An empire which will collapse just as all the other arrogant and narcissistic empires in history have collapsed. That being, mostly under their own obscene weight.
And those poor souls who sincerely believe that China (or Russia) want to replace the USA simply don’t understand that these two countries already have been empires, it was a disaster, thank you very much, and they have no desire to repeat their past mistakes.
This desire for non-exceptionalism and normalcy will, with time, also become the object of a large social consensus in the USA.
And, with time, the USA will finally be welcomed into a truly free Zone B or, should I say, a Zone-free world.
The Saker
Mistakes in judgement part 4
Britain’s elite SAS reported back “on the ground” in Kyiv
British Special Air Service (SAS) troops have reportedly been on the ground in Kyiv for the first time since the war with Russia began, Ukrainian commanders have told The Times.
Officers from two Ukrainian battalions stationed in and around the capital said they had undergone military training from serving British special forces, one last week and the other the week before.
Captain Yuriy Myronenko, whose battalion is stationed in Obolon on the northern outskirts of Kyiv, said that military trainers had come to instruct new and returning military recruits to use Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapons( NLAWs) British-supplied anti-tank missiles that were delivered in February as the invasion was beginning.
Since February, the United Kingdom has delivered more than 3,600 NLAWs to Ukraine, with Kyiv requesting more following reports that they had proven highly effective against Russian armour.
The United States announced this week that it would also resume training by American troops, however the Pentagon said explicitly that the training would not be conducted on Ukrainian territory.
Article.
German Industry Fears Immediate Russian Gas Ban | OilPrice.com
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COVID Moneytrail
This landed on my desk from <redacted> sources. Content is detailed and extensive. I’d suggest downloading it and keeping it in a safe place. It’s heavy with names, dates and activity.
Full PDF.
Solomon Islands and China sign security pact, despite Australia and US efforts to intervene
A leader of a tiny nation, stepping out with leadership and bravery.
Article.
Expectations and reality
Be the Rufus
Hawaiian Pork Roast with Pineapple
How about a nice and special meal for the family this Sunday. Try this…
Mistakes in judgement part 5
Americans; Things Are Bad Now, But You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
At this moment, food prices all over America are at incredibly low levels. I know what many of you must be thinking. You must be thinking that I have lost my mind, because food prices have been rising at a very rapid rate all over the country. But when I say that food prices are at “incredibly low levels”, I am not comparing them to where they were in the past. Rather, I am comparing current prices to where they will be in the future. Yes, things are bad now, but food prices will be much higher a year or two from now.
The global fertilizer crisis certainly isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it is only going to intensify.
The same thing could be said about the war in Ukraine. Peace talks are absolutely dead, and so it looks like fighting between two of the most critical breadbaskets in the world will continue for months to come.
Meanwhile, the bird flu pandemic continues to wipe out millions of chickens and turkeys all over the globe all over the United States.
We have never seen a “perfect storm” quite like this, but of course some of the factors that will be driving up food prices are entirely self-inflicted.
For example, the Chinese government didn’t need to lock down nearly 400 million people in a desperate attempt to prevent the spread of COVID. The past two years have provided ample evidence that such lockdowns are quite foolish, but the Chinese went ahead anyway.
China is participating in the decoupling from the United States, and that includes food, and farming materials.
As a result, there are now hundreds of commercial ships waiting impatiently off the coast of Shanghai.
MAP: Commercial ships waiting offshore after Shanghai strict lockdown pic.twitter.com/m0qST4v92Y
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) April 19, 2022
Those are giant cargo ships that bring stuff across the Pacific Ocean to us.
If the Chinese don’t loosen up, many of our store shelves will become quite empty in the months ahead.
And it isn’t just commercial ships that are sitting idle…
Shanghai is one of the largest manufacturing centers in China, with heavy concentrations of automotive and electronics suppliers. It is home to the largest container port in the world and a major airport that serves inbound and outbound air cargo. Exports produced in Shanghai account for 7.2% of China’s total volume and about 20% of China’s export container throughput moves through the port there, according to the BBVA report. Most warehouses and plants are closed, nine out of 10 trucks are sidelined, the port and airport have limited function, shipping units are stranded in the wrong places, and freight is piling up.
Needless to say, many of our major retailers simply could not operate without the goods that they import from China.
So we better hope that this potential nightmare gets resolved very soon.
Here in the United States, food prices have been moving higher for months. Just check out these numbers… The average price of butter grew 11.9% in the last year. Meat has been especially affected by supply chain issues, with 100% meat frankfurters jumping 35.2% since March of 2021 to an average price of $5.18 per pound. Ground chuck, pork chops, and whole chicken showed year-over-year price increases of 11.3%, 15%, and 11.7%, respectively.
Those figures may look bad to you, but the truth is that they only represent the very early chapters of this crisis.
Things are going to get much worse, and here in April anecdotal reports seem to indicate that food price increases seem to be accelerating.
Earlier today, my attention was drawn to a thread on a popular Internet forum where people were discussing recent price increases that they had seen at their local stores. The following are a few examples that I pulled out of that thread…
-“$10. for 1 lb. Bacon”
-“5.19 for one pound of land o lakes butter”
-“a 34 oz can of coffee was $6.99 now is $9.99”
-“$1.09 for a single avocado”
-“$2.31 for a head of iceberg lettuce”
-“I shop for my elderly parents they buy Butterscotch Krimpets every week. Were 2.49 a box now 4.49.”
-“I saw 15.99 per pound for ribeye steak at a grocery store in northeast Tennessee.”
-“Paid $12.95 for a pack of raw chicken thighs a few days ago. Normally they are $3.00 – $4.00”
And thanks to the horrifying bird flu pandemic which is sweeping the nation, the price of eggs is going completely nuts…
The losses to egg-laying flocks have led to producers desperately racing to meet market demands for eggs and egg products, with egg prices increasing as a result. The average price of a dozen eggs is now close to $3.00, up from $1.60 at the beginning of the year, according to the USDA’s national egg report.
If you think that these prices are wild, just wait until they double from their current levels.
All over the world the United States, a great battle for food resources has begun. The Chinese saw this coming in advance, and so they have been engaged in the largest stockpiling program that any of us have ever seen. I wrote about this back in December, but back then most people didn’t understand the true significance of that article.
At that time, the amount of food that the Chinese had already accumulated was already extremely impressive…
Less than 20% of the world’s population has managed to stockpile more than half of the globe’s maize and other grains, leading to steep price increases across the planet and dropping more countries into famine. The hoarding is taking place in China.
Has the U.S. been doing something similar?
Of course not.
When things get really bad in this country, you will be on your own.
So I hope that you have been preparing for that.
Since the war in Ukraine started, nation after nation has started to implement export restrictions, and a global scramble for agricultural commodities has steadily pushed up prices.
Nobody wants to be caught empty-handed when the music stops, and so there is a race to secure precious supplies while it is still possible to do so.
Sadly, the poorest parts of the world will end up suffering the most as the wealthy countries grab what they can. The dramatic spike that we will soon see in global hunger will be absolutely heartbreaking.
But nobody can say that we weren’t warned in advance. This sort of collapse has been coming for a long time, and now it has arrived.
I would encourage you to stockpile food at these “relatively low prices” while you have the opportunity to do so, because they are only going to go higher from here.
Build a Woodworker’s Toolbox
Be the Rufus
Mistakes in judgement part 6
Russia says Kiev regime employed 6,824 foreign mercenaries since special operation started – Military & Defense – TASS
MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov on Sunday said Kiev employed more than 6,800 foreign mercenaries from 63 countries since Russia started its special operation. "The Kiev nationalist regime has employed a total of 6,824 foreign mercenaries from 63 countries since the start of the special military operation," he said. Most mercenaries - 1,717 people - came from Poland, about 1,500 from the US, Canada and Romania, the spokesman said. Up to 300 people arrived from the UK and Georgia each while 193 people came from the areas of Syria that are controlled by Turkey, Konashenkov said.
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Santa Fe Skillet
As a mother who works full-time, I’m always looking for quick, easy meals to prepare. This is a timeless recipe. —Lorie VanHorn, Waddell, Arizona
Directions
- In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; crumble meat; drain. Stir in the pasta, contents of seasoning packet, salsa, water, chili powder, salt and cayenne.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Stir in tomatoes; sprinkle with olives and cheese. Cover and simmer until heated through, 3-4 minutes. Serve with sour cream if desired.
Duck Duck Go gone with the wind..
“Can we not just have ONE thing that isn’t actively working against us?”
Article.
Old Door into Headboard
Restore your old doors into a beautiful DIY headboard. Recondition your old door, like remove the hardware from it, gunk and ugly scratches, and simply add it up with a top mantle. Paint it in your favorite color and install the hardware to fix it as the decorative head of your bed. Full guide and tutorial here infarrantlycreative.
How to decorate your cubicle
Russia’s military is on full display in Google Maps satellite view
The satellite images may be a boon to open source intelligence analysts.
Article.
The ex-deputy of the Rada showed Zelensky’s Russian passport. Screen
Former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ilya Kiva showed the Russian passport of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Kiva believes that this should help in initiating a criminal case against him.
“The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation should prosecute and put on the wanted list a citizen of Russia – Zelensky V.A. For his terrorist activities and as a suspect in committing terrorist attacks and killing thousands of citizens of Russia and Ukraine,” he said in his telegram channel.
Kiva also mentioned the possible dual citizenship of the Ukrainian leader. “Zelensky had no right to be admitted to the presidential elections with dual citizenship and his tenure as president is illegal,” the ex-deputy added.
The Investigative Committee of Russia has already begun checking against the Ukrainian president . The reason was the words of the latter about preparing for a war with Russia. Zelensky himself gave the interview to the American television channel CNN. During the conversation, he made a number of controversial statements. thus, Zelensky abandoned his promises about the status of Donbass. Kiev does not want to recognize the DPR and LPR as independent territories in the eastern part of the country in order to put an end to disputes with Russia, Nation News notes . In his opinion, the chances of successful negotiations with Russia are declining “every day,” the Federal News Agency adds .
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special operation on the territory of Ukraine on February 24 . The actions of the Russian troops are aimed at the demilitarization and denazification of the territory, as well as the protection of the civilian population, including those living in the DPR and LPR. The military hit the objects of the military infrastructure, equipment and weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the national battalions with high-precision means.
Article.
Why doesn’t this ever happen to me?
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White House sells Historic Moments Coin, Honoring President Volodymyr Zelenskyy #31 in series
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Greens say China isn’t a threat | Sky News Australia
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Google shutdown Pro beijing Hong Kong chief executive election candidate 李家超 YouTube election campaign account.
If you are pro-China, just about EVERY American-based social media account will ban you. Read the English at the bottom of the page.
Article.
Be the Rufus
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Pretty Chinese girl
Nice video. video 2MB
China’s space station first to be open to all UN member states
China is implementing its first batch of international cooperation programs on board the Tiangong space station, and will hopefully upload those experiments by the end of the year. Foreign astronauts are welcome to Tiangong to make greater contributions to the shared future of mankind, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday.
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Be the Rufus
The Dam Is Finally Cracking
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via The Daily Reckoning,
We all sense the global order has cracked. The existing order is breaking down on multiple fronts.
Those who have benefited from this arrangement are doing everything in their power to patch the cracks, while those who chafed under the old order’s chains seek a new order that suits their interests.
The task now is to make sense of this complex inflection point in history. Two statements summarize the transition from the existing global order to the next iteration:
1. Finance dominated resources in the old order. Now the roles will reverse and real-world resources will dominate finance. We can’t “print our way” out of scarcities. 2. Reshuffling currencies and credit will not stop the breakdown of the global order’s “waste is growth” Landfill Economy Model.
Playing financial tricks has extended the life of an unsustainable economic model that glorified “growth” from wasting resources. By expanding credit “money,” the current global order fueled unsustainable consumption driven by unsustainable speculation.
Stop expanding “money” and credit and the global order of “growth” implodes.
Pretty Chinese girl
She is. video 4MB
The Dam Is Finally Cracking
Unfortunately for all those who benefited from soaring wealth and income inequality, the trick of expanding “money” and credit has reached systemic limits. The dam holding all the toxic debt, leverage and fraud is finally cracking.
The dominance of resources over finance leads to a multipolar global order, an order that has the potential to be far more stable and sustainable than the unsustainable, destabilizing “waste is growth” model that depends on financial fraud to maintain the illusion of “growth.”
As I explain in my book Global Crisis, National Renewal, scarcity leads to either social disorder or rationing. This article explains how government’s role will shift from boosting demand (the Keynesian Cargo Cult) to limiting demand in ways that maintain the social contract.
Nations that fail to adapt to the end of financialization and globalization will unravel. Every nation has a choice which path it takes:
Cling on to the doomed existing order of financialization, globalization and the “waste is growth” Landfill Economy or embrace a multipolar world and a degrowth model of doing more with less and incentivizing efficiency and durability rather than the shoddy planned obsolescence of the debt-dependent Landfill Economy.
Free Money Is the Solution
Under various guises, labels and rationalizations, “free money” has now been established as the default policy fix for any problem. Stock market falters? The solution: free money! Economy falters? The solution: free money! Bankers face collapse from ruinously risky bets? The solution: free money! Infrastructure crumbling?
The solution: free money!
Inflation raging? The solution: free money! Ruh-roh. We have a problem free money won’t fix. Instead, free money accelerates the conflagration. Dang, this is inconvenient; the solution to every problem makes this problem worse. Now what do we do?
Despite the apparent surprise of the policy-makers, pundits and apologists, this was common sense. Create trillions of dollars out of thin air and spread the money around indiscriminately (fraudsters and scammers getting more than the honest, of course) after global supply chains were disrupted and shelves were bare, then open the floodgates of speculative gambling in stocks, cryptos, housing, used cars, bat guano, quatloos, etc., and what do you think will happen?
Supply can’t catch up with free-money-boosted demand, prices rise, people instinctively over-order and over-buy, and “don’t fight the Fed” speculative betting begets more betting: the inflation rocket booster ignites, wages soar as workers try to keep pace with rising expenses, speculative bubbles inflate to unprecedented extremes, and all this “wealth without work or productivity” gooses spending and gross domestic product (GDP).
“Once the Bubbles Pop, GDP Crashes and the Ratio Blows Out”
Forty years ago, the total debt-to-GDP ratio was 1.6: debt was $4.8 trillion and GDP was $3 trillion. Then the policy solutions of fiscal “borrow and spend” and Federal Reserve “balance sheet expansion.” a.k.a. free money, became the policy default.
The ratio rose to 2.76 in 2000 and has wobbled around 3.7 for the past decade, a decade that just so happened to see the stock market quadruple and the housing bubble reinflate to new heights as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates near zero as part of the “free money” policy:
If we’re going to borrow tens of trillions of dollars to squander, we need near-zero interest rates to keep costs of borrowing down.
Though no one in a position of power or influence dares admit it, the ratio of debt to GDP hasn’t blown out for one reason: speculative bubbles have pushed GDP higher in a massive, sustained distortion of “wealth effect” and winner take most gains for those who knew how to extract the majority of gains from the bubbles.
Once the bubbles pop, GDP crashes and the ratio blows out. The belief that adding trillions in debt magically adds GDP will be revealed as delusional fantasy.
Two Paths
Completely forgotten in the era of Free money as the solution to all problems is the discipline of frugality, which can best be defined as discipline over spending as a means of building long-term financial stability and general well-being.
Financial discipline (frugality) has been set aside as a needless discomfort: why make difficult tradeoffs and sacrifices when the solution is just to borrow/create more free money? Indeed. Along the same lines, why bother with all the hassles of healthy food and fitness? Just pig out and swallow a couple handfuls of “free” (heh) meds.
Discipline isn’t just about limiting waste. It’s about investing capital and labor wisely to secure future gains in productivity which is the only real source of income and wealth. Creating “money” out of thin air and spreading it around to satisfy every constituency doesn’t increase productivity. It destroys productivity by incentivizing waste – the waste is growth Landfill Economy – and speculative bets on bubbles never popping.
Alas, all bubbles pop, and now that creating free money only makes costs rise faster, there is no solution other than – oh, dear, dear, dear – the unforgiving discipline of frugality and investing for productivity gains rather than for speculative bubble “wealth.”
Which path leads to doom? Free money. Which path leads to revival? Frugality and discipline.
That’s not what everyone wants to hear, but clinging to delusional fantasies of “free wealth” won’t lead to positive outcomes, any more than swallowing handfuls of meds leads to “free health.”
Be the Rufus
Document reveals $14 billion backlog of US defense transfers to Taiwan
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Mistakes in judgement part 7
Mistake or intentional lie?
Good news can actually happen
Russia says it will no longer disclose the names of organizations that use its alternative to the SWIFT payment system
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Article.
A Pretty Chinese girl
Very nice. video 3MB
Dogs and cats
Biden Having An Increasingly Difficult Time With G-20 Fissures
Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Biden made sanction demands on G-20 nations. He hit a BRIC+ wall.
Map of G-20 countries.
G-20 Pressure Failing
The G-20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Spain is also invited as a permanent guest.
The Biden administration wants to increase pressure on Russia, but finds increasing resistance to do more.
Brazil, Russia, India, and China widely known as BRICs have not bowed to US pressure. Nor have Mexico, Saudi Arabia, or South Africa.
The 2022 G-20 meets in November but those nations are also at an IMF summit right now.
Treasury secretary Janet Yellen plans to avoid Russian officials at meetings this week, while engaging with countries that haven’t joined in sanctions.
Janet Yellen Faces Challenge to Keep Pressure on Russia, While Addressing Global Consequences
The Wall Street Journal reports Janet Yellen Faces Challenge to Keep Pressure on Russia, While Addressing Global Consequences
Hanging over gatherings of finance ministers from around the world at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington this week will be Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as the sanctions campaign the U.S. and its allies have waged in response. As those sanctions efforts have brought the U.S. and its allies closer together, they are also laying bare deep differences in the broader Group of 20 major economies, which includes Russia, China and India, as well as European allies. Ms. Yellen is expected to boycott some G-20 meetings this week that include Russian officials, and she last week warned countries against deepening their economic ties with Russia after the sanctions, singling out China. In addition, Ms Yellen’s attempts to build support for an international tax agreement that was the focus of international economic diplomacy last year may not gain traction. Agreement on the deal still faces hurdles both in Congress and among European countries.
US Boycott
Yellen will IMF boycott meetings this week that include Russia. But what does that say about the G-20 summit in November. Will the US even go?
On March 22, Biden proposed booting Russia from the G-20. Reuters comments on the difficulty.
"It's impossible to remove Russia from G20" unless Moscow makes such a decision on its own, said an official of a G20 member country in Asia. "There's simply no procedure to deprive Russia of G20 membership."
With Spain there are 21 G-20 nations so a US boycott would get the group size correct.
Pretty Chinese girl
I guess that I am offending people by posting attractive ladies of China. Tough titties. If you don’t like it … LEAVE.
G-Whatever Meetings Are Useless
These G-7, G-20, G-Whatever meetings have always been useless.
G-Whatever meetings typically fail over agriculture, but with little fanfare.
Failure is again a given, but usually there is no spotlight on that failure. Now there is.
Seven G-20 nations, Brazil, Russia India, China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa, refuse to salute US demands.
Sanction Limits
We are at the limits of sanctions and they have failed. There is little else to do.
The sanctions did nothing to deter Russia, they have only increased costs and added to inflation across the board.
Another cute girl of China
She’s young. My guess is 16 years old. I’m sure that when she grows up she’ll be a fine beautiful lady. video
Russian Invasion Pushes Oil Prices to 10-Year High
Brent crude, the international benchmark for crude oil prices, rose to $130 a barrel on Tuesday, after the U.S. and U.K. announced a ban on Russian oil imports and the EU said it would cut its dependency on Russian gas by two-thirds this year. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. marker, rose to around $125 a barrel.
Global oil prices have risen 58% since the beginning of the year, initially amid concerns about inflation. Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer, supplying about 7% of global demand. Europe is Russia’s main market for oil and natural gas and bought roughly 25% of its oil from Russia in 2021. Gas prices in the EU have already risen by more than 70% since the last week of February. About 8% of U.S. oil imports came from Russia last year.
The International Energy Agency agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from its members’ strategic reserves, which is equal to the amount of oil the U.S. consumes in three days. Large Western oil companies like BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell have halted operations in Russia. European refiners are also looking elsewhere for supply, in places like Saudi Arabia. To compensate, Russia is trying to sell crude oil to refineries in China and other Asian countries at a discount.
Chinese girl
She has a very beautiful face. I love how the eyes complement her hair. This would be a wonderful face to paint, as the proportions are all there, and the color contrasts are stark. video
Half of US Taxpayers Pay 97% of Income Taxes
This week is the deadline for millions of U.S. taxpayers to pay their taxes. According to IRS data on income taxes in 2019, U.S. taxpayers paid $1.6 trillion in income taxes — and 96.9% of the taxes were paid by half of American taxpayers. The top one percent — Americans who earn $546,434 or more — earned one-fifth of all total adjusted gross income and paid 38.8% of all federal income taxes.
The share of income taxes paid by the high-income earners (the 1%) has increased over time. From 2001 to 2019, the 1% share rose from 33% to 38.8%. Over the same time period, their share of adjusted gross income also increased, from 17.4% to 20.1%.
The top 50% of taxpayers paid 97% of all income taxes, while the bottom 50% paid the remaining 3%. The bottom half of taxpayers — who earn below $44,269 a year — paid 3%, or slightly over $48 billion, of all federal individual income taxes. Their share of reported income decreased from 2001 to 2019, from 14.4% to 11.5%.
Sixty-eight percent of Americans approve of labor unions, the highest level of approval in over 57 years, according to Gallup’s annual Work and Education poll. Americans’ approval of unions has been increasing over the last few years and is now at its highest point in more than half a century.
Gallup has been conducting surveys on labor unions since 1936; this year, Gallup measured the highest level of support since 1965 (71%). On average, more Americans approve of unions than disapprove — 2009 was the only year that approval for unions fell below majority level (48%).
Support for unions is highest among Democrats (90%), union members (86%), younger Americans between the ages of 18-34 (77%), and people with incomes under $40,000 a year (72%). Over half of Independents favor unions (66%), and Republicans are least likely to approve of them (47%).
Despite this approval rating, only 9% of U.S. adults report they are part of a union. Another 8% of U.S. adults say they live with a union member. Union members are more likely to have higher incomes than non-union workers: one in 10 adults with household incomes of $40,000 or more are union members.
Like night and day
Some people argue that wearing makeup is deceptive and a big lie. But I do not. I think that it is like having two different women. One is warm and loving, and the other is cool and tough. video
Ukraine Asks Germany to Stop Importing Russian Gas
Ukrainian officials took Germany to task this week for not leveling an energy embargo on Russia, six weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The EU has leveled sanctions against Russia in response to the conflict, but it has yet to sanction Russian oil and gas, which comprised 45% of the EU’s gas imports last year. Since the start of the conflict, the EU has paid Russia about 20 billion euros ($22 billion) for gas, according to German economic adviser Veronika Grimm.
Germany is one of Russia’s main energy consumers; last year, one-third of its gas imports came from Russia. Other sources estimate that 55% of the country’s gas came from Russia in 2021. Russia also supplied Germany with 34% of its crude oil and 53% of its hard coal last year.
The German government has already implemented a national gas emergency plan that could lead to the rationing of natural gas. Gas is primarily used in industry (36%), by households (31%), and by trade and commerce (13%). Industry will be the first to feel rationing, followed by households, and lastly, hospitals and other public sector institutions.
France’s sitting president Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential elections, with 28% of the vote. However, right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen came in a close second with 23%. Left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon came in third with a surprisingly strong 22% of the vote, but not enough to qualify for the runoff. Since no candidate won the majority of the vote in the first round, the elections will head to a runoff on April 24.
The results from Sunday night set up a repeat of the 2017 runoff between Macron and Le Pen, when Macron won the presidency. But opinion polls show that Le Pen is closer to Macron in this election, with only a few percentage points difference between the two candidates. The two traditional French political parties, the Socialists and the Republicans, got less than 10% of the vote, showing the continuing rise in the popularity of more extreme parties on the left and the right.
The French presidential election results will have a significant impact on European politics, as EU leaders respond to Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine. Macron has backed sanctions against Russia, while Le Pen has raised the impact they have on the rising cost of living.
Pathetic Chinese Apparently Cannot Even THINK, Nevermind Question What’s Being Done to their kids
This is what happens when American writers believe the narrative that Covid is a hoax, and are completely unaware that China is under bioweapon assault. Read this article to see, how ignorance, plus distortions fuel a narrative. - MM
We here in the West have finally come to the realization that the whole “COVID” thing was a gigantic scam. Much ado was made of a virus that turned out to be not much worse than a nasty Flu. COVID has a 99.7% survival rate. It was not and is not a “Pandemic.”
Entire countries were shut down over the fuss about this illness. People were literally locked in their homes. Some businesses were deemed “non-essential” and forced to close on the mere speculation that someone, somewhere, MIGHT spread COVID by visiting those businesses.
The economic destruction from such government over-reach has destroyed countless businesses and ruined the income of many families.
People were encouraged to wear masks when out in public, even though masks are completely, totally, unable to prevent the spread of a virus. The pores on even the finest masks are four microns wide for air to get through the mask. The novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19, is only 0.04 microns in size; one hundred times smaller than the pores on the masks. As such, they are totally incapable of reducing or halting the spread of this virus.
Did those facts matter? No.
Government told people to do it anyway, and most obeyed, like good little drones.
Citizens in western nations, still slightly anchored to the reality of individual liberty, started questioning what was being demanded by government. They started suing in court. Worse for the government, people started ignoring the ridiculous demands by so-called public health officials. Lo and behold, COVID went away.
Not in China.
Look at what the Communist Party government is requiring of school children in that slave-state-nation, and observe how parents do not even question the absurdity:
The people in China, appear to be insane.
…
So says Hal Turner.
Obviously he is unaware of the bioweapon carpetbombing of China because the USA warned China; “You WILL sanction Russia, or face the consequences!”
China said no.
Two days later, all up and down China were major outbreaks of COVID. The worst hit areas were those with the highest percentages of expats. Curious fact.
Jack!
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Ah, that’s it for now. I hope that you enjoyed this little mix of contemporaneous life. Now go back to what you all have been doing, and remember… always be the Rufus.
Do you want more?
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 3.
Articles & Links
Master Index.
- You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
- You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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- You can find out more about the author HERE.
- If you have concerns or complaints, you can go HERE.
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Both Gene and Paul of KISS have made comments about that review. And they are on tour this year. Even Ace still does shows with his band.
I only own “The Best Of Kiss” or whatever it’s called, but on that album is Calling Dr. Love. That track, on that album has the most fantastic intro… absolute gold.
Good Morning to you,
Another amazing article. Congratulations.
I love the beautiful girls. They remind me of myself
at a young age. Proportionally large bobbies for my size,
round butt, but quite thin. People called me “tiny” and I am.
At about 100# all along and now. I don’t care for fat blobs
on/in my body, so along with a great metabolism, and
relative strength, I remain fit. Please keep showing the lovely
young women.
The A and B metaphor suits me. Say we have A, B, and C.
House B is getting unfairly egged by C. Enemy behavior.
Then house A piles on and throws eggs at house B also.
A and C buy and share eggs to throw at house B. Now A
and C are enemies of B. How is B supposed to react? Maybe
get goose eggs and drown A and C in them?
Multi-polar/cooperation for win-win/is my motto. On the micro
level everyday Rufus behavior is invaluable to a society.
Imagine how that can be applied to nations? Peace and prosperity
available to all that wish to participate. I guess shunning and
shaming and ignoring are for the uncooperative and mentally
ill that are also present.
Thank you also for the great recipes. I always value those quite
highly. I love the Rufus examples as well. Regardless one’s
religion, or no religion…treating others with the kindness one
hopes to find…Golden Rule/Rufus is top shelf and the best ever.
The world political scene? Your analysis supported by articles
and evidence from others? Priceless. Thank you.
Suzanna
A big thank you for that!!!!!