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Lose-Lose

“The White House has taken the entire West in such a direction and speed of triumphalism, arrogance and “egregious” imbecility that there is no going back or reversal possible without a total defeat of the official narrative and the consequent eternal shame.” — Hugo Dionisio

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    The New York Times — indicted this week as a chronic purveyer of untruths by no less than their supposed ally, The Columbia Journalism Review — is lying to you again this morning.

        This whopper is an artful diversion from the reality on-the-ground that Ukraine is just about finished in this tragic and idiotic conflict staged by the geniuses behind their play-thing President “Joe Biden.” By the way, it’s not a coincidence that Ukraine and “JB” are going down at the same time. The two organisms are symbionts: a matched pair of mutual parasites feeding off each other, swapping each other’s toxic exudations, and growing delirious on their glide path to a late winter crash.

      The point of the war, you recall, is “to weaken Russia” (so said DoD Sec’y Lloyd Austin), even to bust it up into little geographic tatters to our country’s advantage — that is, to retain America’s dominance in global affairs, and especially the supremacy of the US dollar in global trade settlements.

     The result of the war so far has been the opposite of that objective. US sanctions made Russia stronger by shifting its oil exports to more reliable Asian customers. Kicking Russia out of the SWIFT global payments system prompted the BRIC countries to build their own alternative trade settlement system. Cutting off Russia from trade with Western Civ has stimulated the process of import replacement (i.e., Russia making more of the stuff it used to buy from Europe). Confiscating Russia’s off-shore dollar assets has alerted the rest of the world to dump their dollar assets (especially US Treasury bonds) before they, too, get mugged. Nice going, Victoria Nuland, Tony Blinken, and the rest of the gang at the Foggy Bottom genius factory.

      All of which raises the question: who is liable to bust up into tatters first, the USA or Russia? I commend to you Dmitry Orlov’s seminal work, Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Experience and American Prospects, Revised & Updated. For anyone out there not paying attention the past thirty-odd years, Russia, incorporated as the Soviet Union, collapsed in 1991. The USSR was a bold experiment based on the peculiar and novel ill-effects of industrialism, especially gross economic inequality. Alas, the putative remedy for that, advanced by Karl Marx, was a despotic system of pretending that individual humans had no personal aspirations of their own.

    The Soviet / Marxist business model was eventually reduced to the comic aphorism: We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us. It failed and the USSR gurgled down history’s drain. Russia reemerged from the dust, minus many of its Eurasian outlands. Remarkably little blood was shed in the process. Mr. Orlov’s book points to some very interesting set-ups that softened the landing. There was no private property in the USSR, so when it collapsed, nobody was evicted or foreclosed from where they lived. Very few people had cars in the USSR, so the city centers were still intact and people could get around on buses, trams, and trains. The food system had been botched for decades by low-incentive collectivism, but the Russian people were used to planting family gardens — even city dwellers, who had plots out-of-town — and it tided them over during the years of hardship before the country managed to reorganize.

      Compare that to America’s prospects. In an economic crisis, Americans will have their homes foreclosed out from under them, or will be subject to eviction from rentals. The USA has been tragically built-out on a suburban sprawl template that will be useless without cars and with little public transport. Cars, of course, are subject to repossession for non-payment of contracted loans. The American food system is based on manufactured microwavable cheese snacks, chicken nuggets, and frozen pizzas produced by giant companies. These items can’t be grown in home gardens. Many Americans don’t know the first thing about growing their own food, or what to do with it after it’s harvested.

      There’s another difference between the fall of the USSR and the collapse underway in the USA. Underneath all the economic perversities of Soviet life, Russia still had a national identity and a coherent culture. The USA has tossed its national identity on the garbage barge of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” which is actually just a hustle aimed at extracting what remains from the diminishing stock of productive activity and showering the plunder on a mob of “intersectional” complainers — e.g., the City of San Francisco’s preposterous new plan to award $5-million “reparation” payments to African-American denizens of the city, where slavery never existed.

      As for culture, consider that the two biggest cultural producers in this land are the pornography and video game industries. The drug business might be a close third, but most of that action is off-the-books, so it’s hard to tell. So much for the so-called “arts.” Our political culture verges on totally degenerate, but that is too self-evident to belabor, and the generalized management failures of our polity are a big part of what’s bringing us down — most particularly the failure to hold anyone in power accountable for their blunders and turpitudes.

      This unearned immunity  might change, at least a little bit, as the oppositional House of Representatives commences hearings on an array of disturbing matters. Meanwhile, be wary of claims in The New York Times and other propaganda organs that our Ukraine project is a coming up a big win, and that the racketeering operations of the Biden family amount to an extreme right-wing, white supremacist conspiracy theory. These two pieces of the conundrum known as Reality are blowing up in our country’s face. It will be hard not to notice.


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James Howard Kunstler is the author of many books including (non-fiction) The Geography of Nowhere, The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, Home from Nowhere, The Long Emergency and the four-book series of World Made By Hand novels, set in a post economic crash American future. His most recent book is Living in the Long Emergency; Global Crisis, the Failure of the Futurists, and the Early Adapters Who Are Showing Us the Way Forward. Jim lives on a homestead in Washington County, New. York, where he tends his garden and communes with his chickens.

901 Responses to “Lose-Lose”

  1. Hereward the Woke February 3, 2023 at 9:08 am #

    2023 already seems like the year when everything comes apart. Even the MSM is edging closer to the real truth about the death shots, and the Ukraine thang is dead in the water. The question is, what is the next little wheeze that the culture of death and distraction dream up to distract us?

    • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 9:19 am #

      I agree. And there is going to be a big push to get the digital chains on.

      I just read that Sunak in the UK is secretly planning to force the digital ID this year.

      The clot-shot narrative is crumbling, so we are going to see a hard push to force what they need to get us where they want us.

      • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 9:42 am #

        There is an online government consultation that ends on 1 March (and which only opened in early January). Practically nobody knows about it. I only found out about it yesterday. The White Rose site has someone going through the questions.

        The questions are presented in a confusing manner so a lot of people won’t know how best to answer them.

        gov.uk/government/consultations/draft-legislation-to-help-more-people-prove-their-identity-online/consultation-on-draft-legislation-to-support-identity-verification

        If there isn’t much opposition, it will become law by the end of the year.

        The walls are closing in. Once it’s here, I won’t even be able to log into my laptop without it. And all the rest that you know about.

        • Hereward the Woke February 3, 2023 at 10:20 am #

          Ah, yes, a government “consultation”. More like an “insultation”, GA! However, I’m optimistic about all this. Sure, the same sheep he went for the jabs will go for this too (“So convenient!”), but again like with the jabs, there will 20-30% who will say “No!” In fact, it might even be a good thing that it is happening: it will push us to create alternative societies.

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          • The Man They Call Zazelle February 3, 2023 at 6:08 pm #

            There’s this hypothetical graph with two measures over time…

            One measure is a large-scale centralized State government’s ability to distract, deceive, divide, distort and control (etc.), and the other measure is the general population’s ability to see through that…

            It’s possible that the first measure looks like, from left to right, a ramp going down and the second measure looks like, from left to right, a ramp going up…

            At some point the two measures converge/cross each other as they continue their trajectories down and up, respectively.

            Perhaps where they cross is some pivotal moment in history that we have yet to witness/experience.

          • Nigel Tufnel February 4, 2023 at 4:26 pm #

            jezzica- fuck you. go away. how come you can post a link when it takes ours several hours to get approved.

        • Woodchuck February 3, 2023 at 10:52 am #

          Kunstler writes about 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union. And you are writing about what’s happening online at the moment. And so I think about what I was doing online in 1988 or so. There was no commercial internet at the time, and my online activity was happening via a 2400 baud modem plugged into an early and primitive desktop computer compared to today’s machines. It was a big moment when I got a Compuserve account that broadened my online horizons. I had started out with different accounts on local bulletin board systems based in various people’s homes. Some of these bulletin board systems, or BBS’s were networked with and linked to other systems so you could get access to wider networks of linked machines. Back in the day, internet was only available for educational and government entities, In the beginning there was no internet available for the average person, and if you were running from a DOS platform, you had to do a lot of studying starting out just to learn how to tell your computer what you wanted it to do with typed commands.

          If we want privacy online and freedom from government control, the only way might be to go back to the old BBS system that was scattered about everywhere and based in people’s basements and bedrooms with no central authority in control of any of it. My two cents on the matter……

          • EdD February 4, 2023 at 8:57 am #

            I didn’t get online until ’95, but there were still networks of BBS around. A 56k modem was state of the art back then. Thanks for the blast from the past.

        • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 2:07 pm #

          Obama is always pushing that internet ID requirement.

          They want to know exactly who you are and what you think, so that they can proceed accordingly.

        • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 10:37 am #

          Slugoon, if you are around, you might want to complete this consultation and pass it on to any sane friends you have. 🙂

          It’s absolutely shocking that hardly anyone knows about it. You’re too young to remember, but when they were privatising Gas and Electricity and selling shares to the public, there were endless ads using the ‘Tell Sid’ meme. Now that they are preparing legislation to take away our freedoms they don’t want Sid to know.

      • gustafson.robert.22 February 3, 2023 at 10:06 am #

        A “hack” of the entire financial system kicks it off, maybe.

        • C.O.Jones February 3, 2023 at 10:35 am #

          The cyberattack that heir SchwabbenKlausser (siege heil) has promised us may include a massive financial hack designed to put us all in smart cities – pronounced k?ns?n?tre???n kæmps – until who made the mortgage payments and who didn’t can be sorted out.

          • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 11:14 am #

            Ahem,

            “Imaaagine ze fwightening szenariö ov a compwehensiv gloewbal cyber ahtahck!”

            Cyber Polygon.

          • Anthea February 3, 2023 at 10:24 pm #

            If the federal government were to collapse, every state should have a plan to become a sovereign nation.

            I think it has been stated that the BRIC’s intent to default on all debts held in dollars, euros, and other Western currencies, and also to nationalize foreign-owned assets.

            In a case where a state becomes a sovereign nation, mortgages would be both debts held in dollars and foreign-owned assets. So you tell the banks–at least the ones that are foreign-owned, which is all the big banks–to get out of your state (new nation) and pound sand.

            Since you would not want the majority of residences and most other real estate in your state to be nationalized and thus government-owned, the sensible thing to do would be to force the “foreign” banks to sell the notes to community banks for maybe ten cents on the dollar. E.g., if before you owed $200,000 to Bank of America, you would now owe $20,000 to (using community bank examples in my area) Concordia Bank or the Bank of Napoleon. (I would favor writing down the loans even more.)

            It would be a REALLY big help of state governments would build gold and silver reserves, so as to position themselves so that people could use silver and gold for the currency.

            States would doubtless need to nationalize all federally-owned land/assets, as well as land and other assets owned by, say, the Chinese.

            The ownership angle might be the biggest problem seceding states would face–an ever bigger problem than all the people who get their income from the federal government, and their feral urban populations.

        • elysianfield February 3, 2023 at 11:57 am #

          Gus,
          A financial system hack would be horrible, but denying you electrical service would be terminal.

          • gustafson.robert.22 February 3, 2023 at 1:02 pm #

            I don need no stinkin electric.

          • Pat Ormsby February 4, 2023 at 3:23 am #

            I know a guy in Japan whose only way of getting free from a smart meter that was killing him was to rip it off the wall and learn to live without electricity. He did okay. It’s going to be cold turkey for the rest of us some day not terribly distant. Best to be meditating upon that now.

          • Jimpa February 4, 2023 at 2:14 pm #

            Just pull the smart meter off and bypass it. I would think you could even put the meter back in place and have some current go thru it if you needed to. If “they” really did use the meters to cut people off en masse at that point there would probably be little downside to doing the above.

    • AlD666 February 3, 2023 at 9:57 am #

      Good grief. Jim, you’re preaching to the choir in this blog. How I admire your books and how I laugh reading this tripe. Good grief, man, get a hold of yourself. Is it ennui? Is it anger that universities don’t give you honorariums anymore to rant? Your basic insight about the coming long emergency is a good one, and your treatise on the geography of nowhere makes great good sense. And no, I don’t think JB is the cat’s nuts, either, but the idea that Kevin McCarthy and the loonies who control him are going to use investigations for anything but selfish political tomfoolery is an optimistic viewpoint, to put it as mildly as I can. I don’t envy your economic to crank out this stuff twice a week, and I enjoy reading it, but come on, man. Get a grip. Yes, the invasion of Ukraine and NATO intervention could lead to nuclear apocalypse. That thought doesn’t make me sleep well at night, but your tone seems to suggest that you’d welcome it because it would blow us up and require local remedies. So I’ll keep reading in hopes that you can calm down enough to give your followers something that doesn’t reinforce their conspiracy theories because that’s what they need, Jim, a father figure and not a Mr. Pillow type guy.

      • Islander February 3, 2023 at 10:33 am #

        “So I’ll keep reading”

        U R funny.

      • studejack February 3, 2023 at 10:46 am #

        So what is a “Mr. [sic] Pillow type guy,” exactly?

        • Jimpa February 3, 2023 at 5:24 pm #

          Oh, come on, you don’t know who the pillow guy is? Where do you live? Certainly not in thff e US.

        • Anthea February 3, 2023 at 10:31 pm #

          I’ve heard of My Pillow. I don’t think I’ve heard of Mr. Pillow. So, no, I don’t know what the guy is talking about.

          • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 11:35 pm #

            Neither does he Anthea, so that makes two of you.

      • Woodchuck February 3, 2023 at 11:00 am #

        666? Is this a new troll/sockpuppet? So you are complaining about Mr. Kunstler’s “tone”. And then you claim to know what we need – a father figure?

        At the end you leave us with a cryptic comment about a “Mr. Pillow type guy”.

        Hey dude. Go back to watching tv, mind your own business, and STFU. Maybe you need a mother figure……

        • cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 11:21 am #

          666 was probably raised in a commune where there are no mother or father figures, only a vague grouping of heterogenous people. Maybe he was raised by two mothers, who raised him in a satanic cult, and that really messed with his head. That turned him gay and now he has AIDS, hence his AIDS666 handle. Solved it!

          • elysianfield February 3, 2023 at 12:02 pm #

            …Sooo AID666 had two mommies?

            .

          • Alfred February 4, 2023 at 9:29 am #

            It’s a typical troll moniker.

            It sees JHK’s exhortations to get small, get local, to decentralize power and let ordinary people govern themselves as a threat the boundless grift machine.

            The crimes of the past 6 years require justice. I don’t care who delivers that justice, but we must have it. Who knows what that’ll bring, or playout?

            JHK’s compare and contrast between the coming US collapse and the previous Soviet collapse was thought provoking. But ‘thoughts’ are another anathema to those who are protecting the power elite.

            Someone above said the states should have a plan. I’d wager some already have plans. It would be a heck of a lot better in Mosby, Montana in the days of collapse, than it would be to be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Yes, plans would be nice.

            I’d also wager very, very few people are ready for when the trucks stop bringing the staples of life to the supermarket. So the clarion call to be ready must be heeded by the young and the strong. Will they?

            As for me, I’m old. I’ve lived in the sweet spot of American prosperity. Our progenitors worked hard to give us this, and a proper thank you would be to pass it on, but I think that’s not going to be possible. So I’m also an ingrate, I suppose, but the people steering this ship of state just don’t have the same stuff our forefathers had.

        • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 12:08 pm #

          The Mr Pillow reference is to Mike Lindell, who made his fortune selling “my pillow” on TV commercials, and is a big Trump supporter.

          Apparently, 666 is not bothered much by the lies, bullshit, and propaganda the ruling class/deep state continually feed us.

          Maybe 666 embraces all the bizarre “woke” dogmas, like naked, adult men in locker rooms with little girls. True Ohio case.

          Maybe 666 embraces Hunter Biden’s latest legal efforts seeking criminal prosecution for those horrible people who “weaponized” the contents of one laptop computer, which may or may not be his (that part was a little fuzzy).

          Maybe 666 is an idiot troll whose opinion on any topic is worthless garbage.

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 12:45 pm #

          Probably referring to Mike Lindell, a much loved/hated right wing entrepreneur and Trump supporter.

      • dale February 3, 2023 at 11:07 am #

        Too many back-handed compliments too bother highlighting. I’ve a roughly opposite perspective. I deeply appreciate these original, concise, poignant editorials. Much thanks Jim…

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 12:05 pm #

          Copy That.

      • SW February 3, 2023 at 11:15 am #

        “Yes, the invasion of Ukraine and NATO intervention could lead to nuclear apocalypse. That thought doesn’t make me sleep well at night, but your tone seems to suggest that you’d welcome it because it would blow us up and require local remedies.”

        Perhaps you haven’t considered, 666, if everything is blown up there won’t be too many “local remedies” b/c the people will be dead, the soil and water poisoned, and no electricity to charge all those new electric cars and stoves.

      • ozarks February 3, 2023 at 12:29 pm #

        Your 666 gives you away. The rest of us look forward to Mondays and Fridays……Kunstler is a light that is always on. What makes you think any of us need a “father figure”? Many of us were working against this satanic control system long before we had heard of JHK. His books and this blog confirm our theories.

      • Gonga Din February 3, 2023 at 12:51 pm #

        Sir, (or Siress), respectfully, get a real job.

      • pyrrhus February 3, 2023 at 3:06 pm #

        You can do better than that…how much are they paying you?

      • sonnyL February 3, 2023 at 5:04 pm #

        Maybe Kevin McCarthy will tear up or burn Bot Bidens speech Tuesday night. Or piss on Kamala Harris DURING the speech. Wouldnt THAT make a statement?
        The Repubs, as usual will do nothing, hold hearings, waste time, waste money and give crumbs to the Right. Nada, nothing, zilch, bupkas.
        Hunter will write a book, the NY Times will declare him officially innocent of even ‘thinking’ about breaking the law, Daddy Joe will return to running his China funded stink tank and bingo, all is well again at Waffle House, USA.

        • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 11:38 pm #

          Last warning Sonny – get out of my head, or I will be charging you rent.

    • Walter B February 3, 2023 at 11:23 am #

      The next wheeze is going to be more like a collapsed lung when the CBCD (Central Bank Digital Currency) is foisted upon us. Look up Catherine Austin Fitts on You Tube, she does a bang up job of shining a light on THAT financial cockroach.

      Get ready to be chipped or dipped.

    • hobnob February 4, 2023 at 11:54 am #

      For us American schmucks it’s always Groundhog Day on 9/10 or November 21. We never know what they’re going to hit us with come morn.

  2. cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 9:17 am #

    If the PTB think they can break up Russia into smaller states to manage and take advantage of, why doesn’t someone try accomplishing this same objective in the gool ol’ US of A already? Time to get rid of the liberal West coast and let them slide on into Gomorrah. Let the central breadbasket of the US do their own thing and prosper while the rest of the North American continent writhes in pain and starves.

    • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 9:27 am #

      They’re letting us stew in our own juices for tenderness first.

      • Hereward the Woke February 3, 2023 at 10:20 am #

        I’m not very digestible, Dis.

        • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 10:25 am #

          Yeah, us old cusses get kind of stringy and tough with old age. The young plump ones are much more desirable.

    • tresho February 3, 2023 at 10:22 am #

      “why doesn’t someone try accomplishing this same objective in the gool ol’ US of A already?”
      It’s a work already in progress…

      • wokethis February 3, 2023 at 8:07 pm #

        The popular theory is five regions, all nuclear powers…kinda like Ukraine was when the USSR dissolved…

    • zekesdad February 3, 2023 at 10:48 am #

      There are big problems with getting rid of the West coast, (or the East coast for that matter). They’d have to settle their share of our $32 trillion + national debt, to say nothing of their share of the additional unfunded liabilities attached to SS and Medicare, etc.. I don’t think they could ever come up with the money, which would place all that debt on the smaller remaining populace. At the same time, they’d be free from any additional debt, but what would happen to the West coast people receiving or about to receive all those promised payments they helped fund during their working years? The only benefit I can imagine would be that the resulting societal meltdown might finally be enough for Congress and president to start to fix our financial mess.

      • draupnir February 3, 2023 at 12:33 pm #

        Odious debt. That’s going to be repudiated.

        • Anthea February 3, 2023 at 10:43 pm #

          Yup. (I assume by “getting rid of the West Coast,” you mean secession.) That’s what the BRICs are planning on doing; just defaulting on the debts.

          As for SS and Medicare/Medicaid, it would cease to exist, as would welfare and food stamps. Also state and local pensions would be defaulted on.

          In California this would be a “We’re all gonna die!” scenario.” In other states it would be an “A lot us are going to die,” scenario.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 11:38 am #

            The BRICS are the ones who hold the debt. They can’t default. The borrower is the one who defaults when they can’t pay their debt.

            It is the US that will default.

    • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 12:47 pm #

      The South tried that and lost. But that doesn’t mean they were wrong, right?

    • thirdcoastlegend February 3, 2023 at 1:25 pm #

      What do you think the Chicoms have been up to for the past 30 years?

  3. Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 9:26 am #

    The American food system is based on manufactured microwavable cheese snacks, chicken nuggets, and frozen pizzas produced by giant companies. These items can’t be grown in home gardens. Many Americans don’t know the first thing about growing their own food, or what to do with it after it’s harvested.

    Young twenty something to garden center manager: “Hi there! The wife and I are “going green” and starting our first garden this year, and we’d like to put in a few rows of frozen pizzas and chicken nuggets to diversify our harvest and tide us over the winter. You wouldn’t happen to have seeds for those and any growing tip books or advice to offer, would you?”

    Manager: “Yes sir, but as you can probably guess, those are both high demand items and we’re all out of stock right now. I can take your order for delivery when they come in, but because they are in high demand and prices are rapidly escalating, we do require 100% pre-payment up front. Will that be check, cash, debit card, or your first born?”

    • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 10:21 am #

      Manager: “Oh, by the way sir, do you want to grow those pre-packaged in the box, or au natural? Sorry, but as you can imagine, the pre-packaged varieties sell for an even higher premium and the wait times are considerably longer, but they’re virtually pest-free during the growing cycle.”

    • beantownbill. February 3, 2023 at 12:07 pm #

      Lol.

    • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 12:19 pm #

      Just reach for those frozen pressed cricket burgers from the kitchens of KlausSchwab Foods. Delicious, nutritious, and microwavable. They’ve got our future planned.

    • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 12:48 pm #

      We need to grow pizzas with plastic in them, to last longer on the vine, the shelf, the fridge, etc. Twinkies of the soul…..

      • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 2:56 pm #

        I’m adding a wind break of sausage tree seedlings in the spring to provide some much needed shade and protection for my egg vines. They take 3-5 years to start bearing full sausages, so you have to plan ahead. They’re also a natural pest deterrent for the eggs, so it’s truly a win-win solution.

        The key to growing frozen foods is to time them to bear fruit just as winter comes on. That way you can leave them on the vine or in the ground until the first spring thaw and save on refrigeration costs.

        • Rulo Deschamps February 3, 2023 at 10:46 pm #

          Dis, that’s brilliant.

          “3-d printers are on sale. You may consider investing in one, and in pellets of flavored, vitamin-ed material, and print your dinner in minutes”

          “You tell your car AI to have your phone app send the desired menu and for the printer app to have it ready by 8 – IT WILL SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE, AND IT’S GREEN AND ENERGY EFFICIENT”

          • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 9:29 am #

            I’ve heard they have artificial, lab grown meat. Can that work with a 3D printer? Do I have to feed a dead raccoon into one end?

  4. RaymondR February 3, 2023 at 9:44 am #

    Western Civ is due for a really big lesson in natural selection. When the financial system collapses due to overwhelming dishonesty and subsequent inability to “mark to market”, those who survive will be those who plant gardens and useful skills.

    Plant a vegetable garden this spring. If your HOA takes you to task, tell them it’s a victory garden and that they are aiding evil Mr. Putin. Or better yet, take them to court, I bet that growing a garden is protected by your right to free expression.

    • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 10:18 am #

      I see more and more younger people planting container gardens.

      The thing with a lot of urban gardens is that if you have a lot of these things called “trees”, and not that big of a yard, you don’t have a space to plant in that gets enough hours of sunlight to grow much of anything.

      People don’t notice things like the shadow of their own house as much until they try growing food.

      • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 10:23 am #

        True that. Shade patterns and rain drainage are both major considerations that most people only learn the hard way.

        • Not_GeorgeT February 3, 2023 at 12:12 pm #

          Possibly those with real interest get one more growing season for learning. It’s possible but not guaranteed.

          • Rulo Deschamps February 3, 2023 at 10:51 pm #

            Not George, I take your point.

            But it takes more than a season to learn. You never really learn, never 100%. If anything, you learn to observe.

            And you have work very, very hard with your body, not just your mind.

            But yes, the right knowledge has a way to find a way to the right recipients.

      • Anthea February 4, 2023 at 10:36 pm #

        Beginning gardeners need to read several very good books on the subject. They don’t know how much they don’t know.

        One woman who had been gardening for several years once told me how frustrated she was with planting the seedlings she had started indoors. Most of them died. I asked her, “How are you hardening the off?” She wasn’t. She didn’t know you had to harden them off.

        My market gardener friend–who has probably been gardening for 40 years–has been on Facebook sharing her frustration with starting lisianthus from seed. She casually mentioned that she planted year-old pelleted seed. Now, year-old seed (or several-years-old seed) is often just fine–if it’s not pelleted. Pelleted seed, at least for lisianthus, is no longer viable after a year. I’ve been on Facebook griping about my peppers not germinating, and my market-gardener friend told me that they are notoriously slow.

        I think a good book for an overview of gardening is John Jeavons’ “How to Grow More Vegetables,” preferably the oldest edition you can find, because later editions get overwhelming. Plus you need to mostly disregard some of his more troublesome methods, like double-digging, unless you are really, really into very small-space, very labor-intensive gardening. This method would actually be great for a beginner, because it solves your main gardening problem, which is crappy soil. But you need to be physically able to do it.

        Jeavons also describes methods for starting seeds that assume you can’t just pick up a few Jiffy-7 seed trays at Walmart, but would rather build wooden boxes lined with oak leaves and filled with the compost you made, mixed with perlite and vermiculite. And he figures you’d rather mix the wood ashes you saved from cleaning out your wood stove with some blood meal and bone meal, instead of just buying a bag of organic fertilizer.

        But apart from making some things a lot harder than they need to be, his books are excellent. They tell you how to do literally everything.

        The J.L. Hudson catalog also has good basic directions for starting seeds. Almost everything in his catalog is listed by its scientific name, which will encourage you to learn your binomial nomenclature.

        Beginning gardeners also may not know that they need to grow open-pollinated varieties, if they want to save the seeds. And the longer you garden, the more loyal you are to particular varieties.

        The knowledge base involved in gardening is just staggering.

    • Gartenzwergsammler February 3, 2023 at 10:35 am #

      One way to get around the HOA rules is to combine the vegetables with flowers. I can warmly recommend Pamela Crawford’s Easy Container Combos: Vegetables & Flowers.

      • Amman February 5, 2023 at 2:33 am #

        What is… HOA?

        • MrMangoOnMyShoulder February 5, 2023 at 1:02 pm #

          Home Owners Association

    • badberries February 3, 2023 at 12:16 pm #

      I live in a “Village”. Some years ago a local res. put the idea of chickens (at the time not allowed) to a vote. 51% okayed 49% No.

      So what the apparatchiks on the Board did was require a minimum of 5 acres. Of the 4000 residents in the Village, 6 parcels were 5 acres or larger and two of those parcels belonged to Board members.

      If you had the 5 acres, you could have 5 birds at a fee of $5 per bird. The penalty for undeclared illegal Cacklers was $150 per bird, per day.

      I told the board that I considered the birds as part of my Garden and the Fee was a “Garden Tax”, they didn’t agree.

      • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 12:30 pm #

        Sorry. I have to sympathize with those people who don’t appreciate being awoken every day at dawn by crowing roosters. Are the females completely quiet? It would be a species rarity.

        Of course, if the shit totally hits the fan, and we have to go medieval and plow up every suburban lawn to grow food – I’ll change my opinion.

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 12:49 pm #

          No Roosters allowed by edict. But, you’re correct re; hens squawk too.

          It’s been my experience that the hens sound-off after they lay an egg. I don’t know if they do it because they’re proud or because it hurt like hell, lol.

          • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 1:20 pm #

            I think it’s pride. Have you ever heard Kamala get off a good zinger insult at conservatives? Same joyous cackling.

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 12:54 pm #

          I forgot to mention, I once heard that the difference btw Civilization and Chaos was something like 5 missed meals and 72 Hours.
          Chickens also provide a lot of Comedy, to keep ’em in the yard, I trimmed their wing feathers on one side. Flap, Flap, Flap.. Crash.

          • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 2:36 pm #

            72 hours = 3 days = 9 meals

          • Hereward the Woke February 3, 2023 at 6:47 pm #

            20 minutes without TikTok

        • TXRancher February 3, 2023 at 12:55 pm #

          Well you don’t need roosters to get fresh eggs and a barking dog is much louder than a chicken whose clucking is closer to a purring cat.

          • badberries February 3, 2023 at 1:04 pm #

            Yes but, in order to grow replacement birds you need the rooster. I’ve never been very adept at artificial insemination. The cloaca are still a mystery to me. (as are sooo many other things..).

          • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 1:16 pm #

            Keeping roosters and breeding baby chicks can be a specialty job for someone who lives far from others.

        • abbybwood February 3, 2023 at 2:04 pm #

          By then we won’t have electricity and when it gets dark everyone will be so exhausted from actually working all day that we will all crash.

          Thank God for the roosters awakening everyone at first light! Gotta get going to bake that bread and get chores started!

          • badberries February 3, 2023 at 6:32 pm #

            Yep, things are never so bad that they can’t get a whole lot worse.

        • Jimpa February 3, 2023 at 5:37 pm #

          Jeez, if you’re annoyed by the sound of chickens then…..what can I say? You must not be around any to make such a comment. They’re not noisy at all sans roosters. A dog is a heck of a lot noisier.

          • Anthea February 3, 2023 at 11:00 pm #

            There are many other noises in cities and small towns that are quite a bit more disturbing than a rooster crowing. There are police and ambulance sirens, noisy cars, garbage trucks, road graders, guys revving their engines or burning rubber to impress girls, etc.

            At my last house, I could often hear neighbors’ conversations three blocks away. (Sound carried well in certain conditions.)

            Here, we have frequent gunfire (target practice), dogs barking, and coyotes howling.

            I can’t imagine why a rooster would bother anyone.

          • Anthea February 3, 2023 at 11:05 pm #

            Of course, I’ve also always believed that most people’s pet peeves, dislike of certain foods, and even their allergies, are just stuff they like to talk about because they think these things make them interesting and unique individuals–and that these little peculiarities are stuff they invented so they can claim to have a personality.

          • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 12:28 pm #

            Like your well cherished hatred of the man who drove you home the “wrong” way. No doubt one of many such hatreds, eh?

          • Anthea February 4, 2023 at 10:41 pm #

            @ Jarek:

            You know you’re a bore, right? (That’s in addition to being a pathological liar.)

      • Rulo Deschamps February 3, 2023 at 10:52 pm #

        bb,

        Kafkian

    • ozarks February 3, 2023 at 12:39 pm #

      Nice idea but an HOA has more legal clout than the local city/county govt. and they can and will fine you into bankruptcy if a garden is against the rules. Brother in KC put up a 12′ tall board fence so he could grow tomatoes in private. Should have moved in my humble opinion.

      • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 12:53 pm #

        Private is always right. Ask John Az. Big Tech is private. That trumps the Bill of Rights. Ask Az.

        I don’t know why the British didn’t use this way back when. Just tell the printers not to let the Revolutionaries print anything with their paper or printing presses. Tell the cobble stone makers that the patriots can’t stand on their cobble stones and rant.

  5. lizharmon February 3, 2023 at 9:52 am #

    500,000 troops is not an invading army. It is an occupying army. Kind of feels like Ukraine is done. Bakhmut…whodathunkit, I mean, besides thinking people…the same ones who thought enough to hold strong in the face of medical tyranny and not get all shot up with poison. Lots of people are going to die. Gonna be hard for awhile. For some of us, the last few years have been an opportunity to see how tough we are. We’re gonna be fine. The gender confused and the average vaxxxed up suburbanite who believes the system is there to serve them, ehhh, not so much.

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    • Hereward the Woke February 3, 2023 at 10:23 am #

      Not sure it’s an just an occupying army, Liz. I’d say it’s more a You-Can-Try-Something-If-You-Want, NATO-But-It-Won’t-End-Well kind of army.

      • Not_GeorgeT February 3, 2023 at 12:41 pm #

        De-nazification and de-militarization, 2 goals stated upfront.

        My opinion, (I’m not alone) is the first few months attempt to salvage the territory and its infrastructure was a mistake. ‘Nice try’, so to speak.

        Now it going to be done by force since there is no reliable party to meet regarding negotiating a settlement.

        I don’t think the Russian Federation wants to occupy. They do want to be entirely done with Banderistan and the US/UK/NATO FOB.

        Until they divvy the place up (allowing annexation by the neighbors) a significant size force will be in place to keep, as you point out, the US/UK/NATO axis from making any moves to re-militarize the territory.

        • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 12:53 pm #

          It wouldn’t have been a mistake if the conflict was only between Russia and Ukraine.
          Ukraine was willing to negotiate and tried 3 times at the beginning.

          Each time their US/NATO masters told them to break it off and keep fighting.

          All that blood is on NATO’s hands.

          • Not_GeorgeT February 3, 2023 at 3:05 pm #

            If it were the case, yes. The overthrow of the government by the US in 2014 would be the indicator the Territory would not be allowed to act on its own.

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 3:54 pm #

            True. Russia should have known.

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 5:04 pm #

            Not George, did you see the report that the US offered Russia 20% of Ukraine in return for them stopping the further liberation of Donbass?

            Mighty big of the US to offer Ukraine to Russia.

            Oops! It proves Russia’s point that they are fighting NATO, not Ukraine.

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 12:57 pm #

          You can’t kill a great idea like National Socialism. Nor crush a people who want to be free like the Banderas.

          Of course the latter were and are fools and assholes who tried to take the whole place and tried to use International Criminals to do it. They got used instead.

          In any case, they will conduct an unending guerilla war in the homeland no matter how things turn out in the rest of Ukraine.

          • Rulo Deschamps February 3, 2023 at 11:02 pm #

            Fuck the Banderas. Lager camp sadistic guards, butcherers in the villages, knifing Poles, Jews, and Russians after marching them naked on Main St. and flogging them. Families, old women naked, flogged, murdered. Think of your grandmother.

            Fuck National Socialism. It’s a moral flaw to be one. A mortal sin, if the apologist of mass murder dies without confession, perhaps.

            God, if there’s a God, doesn’t approve of that ideology. But even without a God, basic human decency abhors and recoils at this manifestation of evil.

            Repent, so called Catholic Janos (a pagan god, the two sided one), for your own good.

          • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 12:30 pm #

            Tens of millions of German civilians died after the outbreak of your peace at the hands of people like you.

            You may fool these people, but you don’t fool me.

          • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 12:35 pm #

            You’re not Catholic. Your rendering of Thomas Aquinas’ name is Spanish was an exercise in the most grotesque schmaltz. Not your best effort.

            But in general, I have to hand it to you – you are a master of such things. I could not have written a post like yours in praise of women. Is it genetic I wonder – pass down on your Y gene? Hitler admitted the superiority of Allied propaganda. After he saw the movie, the Battleship Potemkin, he said, That was great. I want to go out and become a Russian communist now.

    • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 12:50 pm #

      What part of “We are going to weaken, sanction, and starve Russia into submission and then we are going to break it up into pieces so that we can exploit their resources” do you not understand?

      It seems quite obvious to me. It also is very clear to the Russians that they are under attack.

      I think the 500,000 is Russia saying “You want to destroy us? You and what army?”

    • thirdcoastlegend February 3, 2023 at 1:27 pm #

      Liz-

      The US is already prepping Poland to be the next proxy up against Russia.

      Poland has the added bonus of being in NATO, so a Russian reaction could be used to invoke Article V.

      • pyrrhus February 3, 2023 at 3:13 pm #

        After most of NATO’s weapons have been destroyed by Russia, or sold on the black market, NATO will be left with little ammo or equipment, so that war won’t last long…

  6. benr February 3, 2023 at 9:54 am #

    Heres another one folks!

    newsweek.com/yolk-defense-covid-chicken-egg-shortage-conspiracy-theory-1778612

    Yolk Defense Against COVID? Chicken Egg Shortage Fuels Conspiracy Theories

    As Americans continue to suffer from the reduced supply of chicken eggs, and the resulting spike in their price, many have subsequently turned to the world of conspiracy theories in search for simple answers to a complicated issue.

    The ongoing shortage—that in recent months has driven up egg prices across the U.S.—has seen the basic foodstuff price reach a record high in December, when the average cost for a dozen eggs in U.S. cities hit $4.25, up $1.78 from a year earlier.

    As market and industry experts explain, this rise is largely driven by a combination of factors, including a major bird flu outbreak that has killed millions of birds across the U.S. and wider inflationary pressures in the economy.

    Or they really are trying to kill as many people as possible.

    • benr February 3, 2023 at 9:57 am #

      Lest we forget chicken farms burning down with a couple of hundred thousand chickens getting roasted.
      Poor lil gals did not deserve to be housed and used so poorly then to be burned to death.
      They also murdered millions of chickens against the Avain flu.
      Murder must foul or is that fowl?
      Another farm lost power and the poor birds died from overheating.

      People should treat chickens and animals better they have personalities.

      • Vegan Shark February 3, 2023 at 5:19 pm #

        I heartily concur. “All creatures great and small.”

    • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 10:16 am #

      If eggs were being sold at $1.78 a dozen, the chickens must be kept in unfathomably disgraceful conditions.

      • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 10:18 am #

        I pay £3 for half a dozen eggs (although the supermarket would presumably be cheaper) and I think that’s cheap for what you get. Dirt cheap eggs = unacceptable standards.

        • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 10:27 am #

          Yes we buy ours from the local farms around here.

          The funny part is that the local places often have them cheaper than the chain grocery stores, and we can be relatively sure that they aren’t being fed some kind of chemical stew.

          • So many liars February 3, 2023 at 11:21 am #

            I have a little flock of poultry that includes eleven hens. They all have names. They are aging, so we get 2-4 eggs per day, depending on the time of year. If I didn’t have to worry about wild predators and loose dogs, I’d let them totally free to range about. They eat grain, grass, bugs, and kitchen scraps.

            Despite the prices in the grocery store, I GIVE THEIR EGGS AWAY. I guess I’m just old fashioned and out of sync.

        • mrs_saj February 3, 2023 at 11:37 am #

          Agreed, GA. I understand that each person makes their own choice. I buy organic, cage-free eggs. I think they taste better. But mainly I want to support companies that treat their birds well. Frankly, I think the product is healthier and brown eggs (or other off white colors) has never been an issue for me. I can’t always buy organic meat, but I do buy grass fed for largely the same reasons.

          Also, I try to stay out of the middle of the grocery store (processed food aisles). My grocery bill is higher than it could be, but I consider it an investment in my health and humane food companies.

        • elysianfield February 3, 2023 at 12:07 pm #

          “I pay £3”

          Alba,
          How much is that in real money…(referencing the “Ugly American) comment from the 50s)? Standards have no linkage to price.

          • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 12:47 pm #

            If I may interrupt. Today, one British Pound is worth $1.21. So $3.63 for 6 eggs is 60.5 cents per egg or $7.26 per dozen

            That’s pretty expensive by my standards. Yesterday, I bought a dozen large white eggs at WalMart for $4.10. They probably came from unhappy, oppressed chickens. It’s sad, but life sucks all over.

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 1:14 pm #

            I didn’t have to go to Walmart, hm. I walked 2 minutes to the corner shop. That’s why they cost a little more. Like I said, I could get them a little cheaper in a supermarket (but they might not be local eggs, as mine were). I saved some petrol for you to use, as I have for the last 20 years. 🙂

            Your views on animal cruelty are something I can’t do anything about. Chickens tend not to ‘feel oppressed’, they tend to feel pecked (or have their beaks removed), and to feel sick, because they get more diseases living in unnatural proximity to thousands of other birds.

            They will also be pumped full of prophylactic antibiotics to make up for said shit conditions. Those antibiotics will contribute to the possibility that one day, when you really need an antibiotic, it won’t work.

            Personally I’d rather pay a little more for what is a very cheap product, even in its most expensive incarnation.

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 1:17 pm #

            EF

            “Standards have no linkage to price.”

            It is possible to have low standards and a high price. iif you are particularly uninterested in business ethics – or indeed ethics in general. It is absolutely not possible to have high standards and be able to sell eggs profitably at $1.78/dozen.

          • elysianfield February 3, 2023 at 3:41 pm #

            Alba,
            I agree in essence. I can become violent when I see animals abused.

            HOWEVER, I am loathe to trust advertising copy…

            “The chickens are free-range, lovingly cared for by their farmer friends, who are paid a living wage while working in the shade…. The chickens, who are all named and respond to our kindness, WANT you to eat their eggs…they are freely offered daily….

            Etc.

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 5:14 pm #

            The majority of ‘free range’ chickens aren’t living in chicken paradise – certainly in the UK there are minimum standards which sometimes don’t mean much more than that there is an exit from their shed where they can get outside if they can find it. But I have even seen examples of non-free-range sheds where there was a reasonable number of chickens per square metre sufficient that they could move around and weren’t actually attacking each other.

            There is a happy medium, even where chickens are not kept like JHK’s happy chooks.

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:02 pm #

          Well said. Take what you want but pay the price – Emerson. The price in this case is moral.

          The early Quakers were very strong on this. They wanted to preach all over England but felt that the horses and stable boys were being abused. So they walked instead of taking coaches.

    • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 10:21 am #

      130 attacks on food processing plants in two years.

      Nothing to see here.

      • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 10:31 am #

        Scare tacttics are currently being employed re avian flu allegedly having ‘passed to mammals’ and ‘what will this mean for humans?’. Maybe they will fit in an avian flu scare before we get the SEERS ‘Catastrophic Contagion’ in 2025. We have to be made to forget that life wasn’t always about pandemics.

        • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 1:00 pm #

          They tried that shit with covid, remember?

          Supposedly your cats and dogs could give you a human disease. Kill them now!

          Also a tiger in a closed zoo in New York supposedly got covid from a zookeeper who was not sick. Because of course they spent time together in a closed room with no circulation, as zookeepers are wont to do with the tigers.

          That’s the kind of bullshit they throw out to see if it sticks.

          It didn’t fly 3 years ago. Most of the replies I saw on social media (which they monitor for our reactions) were “This is the hill I will die on”.
          Or: “This is the hill they will die on and then they will be dog food.”

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 1:28 pm #

            I believe some zoo animals were given mRNA covid injections and died. Don’t remember the details.

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 2:14 pm #

            Yes, later. I think they killed some endangered gorillas.

            But the “Omigod a tiger got the rona!!” was in early 2020, before the GMO product was rolled out.

    • Islander February 3, 2023 at 10:37 am #

      “when the average cost for a dozen eggs in U.S. cities hit $4.25, up $1.78 from a year earlier.”

      I always thought the price was too low for a dozen eggs, if they are good quality.

      Now it is too high . . .

      Going off to my local egg supplier with 8 greenbacks in hand to put into the “honesty” box for a week’s supply of eggs.
      Still seems to me like a good deal . . .

    • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 11:29 am #

      Now I am seeing headlines claiming that the bird flu has now spread to mammals.

      Wondering if that’s yet another attempt to rid us of our pets.

      • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 11:41 am #

        I mentioned that just above! I think it is to start another flu pandemic scare and allow them to kill off more poultry.

        Just been having a whatsapp exchange with my daughter. She thinks I am doing something reprehensible in discrediting science when there is such an attack on it already!

        • Lawfish February 3, 2023 at 12:48 pm #

          My wife and I have 5 hens. We get about 3 eggs per day, more than we can eat. So we eat a lot of eggs and use some for barter. Price of chicken feed hasn’t risen at all.

          • annettekimball February 3, 2023 at 9:21 pm #

            Rumors of chicken feed made by Purina is reason for poor egg production by hens! An egg/chicken farmer on Tucker show says his hens are producing much more after changing feed.

        • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 1:08 pm #

          GA, you are right to be suspicious of what the experts and scientists tell us. Look who pays their salaries. Big government and big corporations funding academia or employing them directly.

          The authorities had great success with the pandemic narrative. And those people are generally unimaginative, repeating what has worked well in the past.

          As always, the sheep embraced their servitude and ignorance, obeying Big Brother. I still see a few in masks – the true believers, the Branch Covidians. I’ll bet they long for the return of those good old days when they could be Nazi mask enforcers.

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 1:36 pm #

            My daughter would never want to force anyone to do anything – she’s not like that. But it terrifies me to see how easily she falls for all this stuff. I hadn’t sent her anything for ages, because she has told me she finds it really upsetting (the WEF agenda and so on) and considers there’s nothing she can do about it if it’s true, but she totally believes there was a scary pandemic and that the government and its scientists tell the truth. I think living in Singapore for 6 years has made her more compliant. Singaporeans have high levels of trust in their government, in a benevolent dictatorship kinda way.

          • SpeedyBB February 4, 2023 at 3:15 pm #

            GA, who was it who tossed off a description of Singapore as “Disneyland with the death penalty”?

            Nanny goes wild.

        • wokethis February 3, 2023 at 9:01 pm #

          “ I think living in Singapore for 6 years has made her more compliant.” That’s funny. I would suggest that your daughter is brainwashed; although perfectly compliant, of course…

        • tresho February 4, 2023 at 8:02 am #

          “She thinks I am doing something reprehensible in discrediting science ” This reminds me of a WWII adage among bomber crews: “The flak is heaviest when you’re over the target.”

        • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 8:25 pm #

          I missed yours, which was better. And Paula’s spot on, they have been floating this out for years to see what the reaction is.

    • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 12:56 pm #

      Americans turn to conspiracy theories because the media puts out pure bullshit like “a bird flu outbreak killed millions of birds”.

      That is a lie. Those birds were murdered under the excuse that they were being saved from a scary disease. They were not sick.

      Sound familiar?

      • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:05 pm #

        One is reminded of the Holodomor. The Capitalists are every bit as ruthless as the Communists.

        • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 2:16 pm #

          Yes, one is reminded of the Holodomor.

          People who fall for that will fall for anything the government tells them.

          • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:27 pm #

            You love Big Brother, Stalin.

            Putin condemns him.

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 3:11 pm #

            You love Timothy Snyer, who invented the Holodomor, supports the 1619 Project and is still pushing the Russiagate bullshit.

            You shouldn’t throw stones.

          • Suburban_elk February 4, 2023 at 9:17 am #

            The Holodomor is disputed to exist?

            Never heard that one before. What a whopper.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 11:47 am #

            Of course it is disputed and it is no surprise that you don’t know.

            We are surrounded by a sea of propaganda and “Everyone I know believes it so it must be true” is the result for the vast majority of easily bamboozled and gullible people.

            I am not impressed.

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 8:45 am #

            “Agenda history” is as useless as “agenda science.”

            There was a famine in the Ukraine.

            The jury among genuine historians is be out on the exact causes, and the exact extent (only Ukraine? rest of Russia? other areas of western Russia?). .

            The temptation to build on Holocaust history and to piggyback on the term itself is too great for some to resist.

            Bear in mind that the word “holocaust” to refer to the Jewish genocide of WW2 (does not encompass other genocides or mass starvation, expulsions, fire bombings of civilians populations, etc. that occurred in the context of WW2) was coined well after the fact.

            People use the word with great confidence. The convenient word lets them think they know what they are talking about.

            Same goes for “Holodomor.”

            Big new word! Whee!!

          • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 11:54 am #

            The famine was in Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. Many people starved in all three countries. Note that you don’t hear about the people in the other two countries. That should be a clue to the agenda.

            There was a horrible drought that year, same as in the US.

            Famines were common back in the old days. We will find out what it means when we return to ”local farming”. It’s all well and good until someone loses a crop.

            Anyway, the Soviets tried to buy grain on the open market to feed the people but the Brits had sanctions on them and no one was allowed to sell to them.

            But it wasn’t turned into a “Holodmor” until Timothy Snyder wrote a book in the 80s and the media started hyping it big time.

            And now we have a big portion of the population convinced that a Georgian tried to kill Ukrainians, (but only for that one year), and that is why Ukies hate Russians.
            Except that the big Russian haters weren’t even part of Ukraine at that time, they were part of Poland.

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 12:42 pm #

            Stalin said, he would just give the farmers enough food to remember what it tasted like. Not enough to keep them alive. A master of sadism, eh?

            Islander: Still clinging to the Neo-Marxism of your youth I see. Still refusing to do the inner work of uprooting things that have been proven to be untrue. It’s hard work and you cherish yourself too much it seems. As a reader of unz.com you have no excuse. None!

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 8:44 pm #

            Jarek:

            WTF is neo-Marxism?

            “my youth”??

            Take your meds and go to bed.

      • WadeWaters February 3, 2023 at 6:33 pm #

        It makes more sense to be a conspiracy theorist than to be a coincidence theorist.

        The subtext of labeling differing narratives as “conspiracy theory” is that somehow conspiracy doesn’t exist. And so the idea is a phantasm of the mind.

        But the American Revolution was a conspiracy. And the assassinations of Julius Caesar and JFK were conspiracies. And countless other examples from history.

        • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 11:49 am #

          To believe the word of known liars is to be gullible, but common.

          To be labeled a conspiracy theorist is a compliment in such a world.

      • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 4:54 pm #

        Total

        “Control the oil and you control entire nations; control the food and you control the people.” ~ Henry Kissinger

        ======

        Sound familiar?” ~ Paula D

        ——

        Ya, it does; like the ‘pandemic’.

        ======

        “Too much sorrow, too much pain
        Piss, death, decay
        Love is lost again, this never-caring rain
        Nothing ventured and nothing ever gained
        Blocking out the past, I’m spinning out again

        Total…

        Fast food junkies and sugar-laced delights
        Fat is beauty, and truth becomes the lie
        Bewildered following
        Savior to the One
        Merge into the One Totalitarian

        Total…

        There’s enough conflict within to wish for strife without
        Avoiding people who like the plague
        We blindly follow blind, conforming citizens

        Merge into the One
        Totalitarian

        Total…” ~ ‘Total’, by Killing Joke

        youtu . be/tof7-wn_1s0

        • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 4:56 pm #

          Totalitarian

    • thirdcoastlegend February 3, 2023 at 1:31 pm #

      There are several research papers that examined the effects of chicken egg yolks on spike proteins.

      They are easily found on PubMed.

      • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 1:45 pm #

        I’m enjoying my breakfast poached egg even more since I read one of these articles! Perhaps that’s why I’m still here, despite two jabs – I have a poached egg at least 2 days in three.

        But I’m sure they’ll find a way to poison our eggs as well, via injection of chickens or graphene in chicken feed, or whatever. There are things I know I just can’t do anything about, so I’ll just enjoy my eggs anyway.

        Bill Gates has some huge initiative over here ‘vaccinating’ farm animals.

        • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:00 pm #

          Or they will inject humans with the molecule you can get from tick bites, that triggers meat allergies in some people.

          They’ve already discussed the possibility of doing this. I wouldn’t get any new vaccines if you paid me.

          Bill thinks eggs cause high cholesterol.

          • Islander February 3, 2023 at 6:09 pm #

            I don’t give a flying eff what Bill Gates thinks.

            About anything.

            He obviously has a problem with estrogen mimicking.

            And vitamin D deficiency.

            Not to mention the autism.

            Are you listening, Bill?

          • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 5:13 pm #

            Even as a teenager, I used to wonder why oh why, on tv, they kept having the same talking-heads on who didn’t appear to have much, if anything, in the way of qualifications for what they were talking about.

            Fast forward to the present and there’s someone on Twitter, if recalled, who has ostensibly themed their channel/nickname on Bill Gate’s apparent ‘man-boobs’.
            It’s possible it’s the same one who may have gotten one of those artificial intelligent online art services to do a comic-book-style morph of that Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman character with Bill Gates. It’s quite effective/successful perhaps in part because there doesn’t seem like there’s much to morph between the two.

            Sometimes Gate’s looks like he got one of those old-fashioned bowl cuts.

            But enough about Gates. 😀

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 8:46 pm #

            Bill Gates and Alfred E. Neuman:

            Obviously separated at birth.

        • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 2:18 pm #

          I got an ad on Facebook the other day from Merck.

          They wanted to remind me that it is calving season and to vaccinate my calves to protect them from “tough weather”.

          Tough weather? I don’t have calves, but I’m pretty sure that I would not vaccinate them against tough weather.

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 3:10 pm #

            You have to wonder who would fall for that! Apart from Greta, obviously.

          • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 4:16 pm #

            Maybe Bill Gates is vaccinating the chickens against weasel attacks and stormy weather.

            Speaking of chickens. Did you know if you soak a recently deceased chicken in very hot water, the feathers are easier to remove?

            However, Talmudic Law requires that chickens be dry plucked. Don’t ask me why. So for generations Jewish wives and mothers have had to follow this difficult practice. They were known as ” the mother pluckers of Brooklyn”.

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 5:22 pm #

            hm – yes I knew about the hot water thing – factory chickens are dunked in boiling water before machine plucking.

            As for those Brooklyn ladies, hmmm … 🙂

          • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 5:20 pm #

            They were known as ‘the mother pluckers of Brooklyn’.” ~ hmuller

            ——

            And PILF’s for some, too, I guess.

    • Jimpa February 3, 2023 at 5:49 pm #

      I just watched a video by a farmer on YouTube saying the mass produced chicken feed has been reformulated with less protein, and hence the chickens aren’t laying as many eggs. Many other farmers concur on the video and also in the comments section. Many change the feed or start making their own, and the chickens start laying again. We supplement our feed with grubs, grains and such. Hens do slow down or stop laying in the winter time or when they are molting ( losing and replacing their feathers). I do ‘t understand why chickens molt in late fall/winter, you’d think they’d do it in the spring or summer.

      • thirdcoastlegend February 4, 2023 at 12:57 pm #

        Jimpa-

        Yes.

        There are tons of anecdotal reports from chicken keepers that switching from, “Producer’s Pride,” brand feed to locally produced stock has restored their hens to normal, healthy egg laying.

        With that volume of reports, it’s clear something is happening.

        The switch to local feed also ties in neatly with our host’s thoughts on the coming decentralization.

  7. MetalsGuy February 3, 2023 at 10:07 am #

    We are living in the days of Caligula but worse!

    • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 1:31 pm #

      Caligula had his horse elected to the high office of Consul. Our Caligula’s got Joe Biden elected to the Presidency. History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes.

      • Vegan Shark February 3, 2023 at 5:27 pm #

        One a horse, the other a horse’s hindmost component.

  8. docmartin February 3, 2023 at 10:12 am #

    As of this January, the average price of a new car is 50k and a new truck 60k.

    • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 10:28 am #

      Worse yet Doc is that everyone finances a depreciating asset.

      How many people would buy real estate for $100K, that they knew would be worth $20K in ten years? Answer: Not many to none.

      Soon there will be no more ICE vehicles, and consequently, substantially less personal car ownership, which is the goal anyway.

      • wokethis February 3, 2023 at 9:09 pm #

        We have thirty years of petroleum dependency remaining. The electric car is the true depreciating scrap heap.

        • Ron Anselmo February 4, 2023 at 1:10 am #

          Maybe. The Big Oil Boyz say the horizon is not that long.

          Dumbass Biden says build a $20B refinery- that won’t turn a profit for 10 years – but we’re phasing out fossil fuels.

          The Boyz say, yeah, um, no. We’re doing stock buybacks instead, GFY Joe. Good for them.

          Agreed 100% on EV’s – all cars (except the $200K limited edition exotics) depreciate to zero – people who buy anywhere near new, might be retards.

    • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 11:10 am #

      I drive a 21 yr. old toyota tacoma. I paid ten G’s for it 10 years ago. I could sell it for 10 G’s today. Of course inflation ate some of that but I also drive it every day.

      • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 11:15 am #

        Yeah Stelmo you have the skill, tools and resources to keep an older vehicle on the road; alot of people don’t.

        • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:03 pm #

          It’s hard where I live to keep an old car from rotting out.

          That’s why I need to replace my ’05 vehicle.

      • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 12:31 pm #

        Uh, oh. SEF, you got me beat on that vehicle, but here goes:

        At the tender age of 20, I decided I’d spend no more than $1K per year, on average, for the rest of my life, for a car/truck. Got keys at 15, will give them up at 75, so 60 years, or $60K — lifetime.

        1) Had a 1990 Ford Mustang, paid $900, drove it 5 years, sold it for $500, with a blown motor. Result: $60/year vs. $1K/year budget.

        2) Had a car in the shop & drove the shop loaner. Asked the mechanic what he’d take for the loaner. Give me $100 – gave him $50 and drove it away & all the next year. Result: $50/year.

        3) Had a small Chevy truck, paid $500, drove it for 5 years, sold it for $200. Result: $60/year.

        4) Currently drive a 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe, paid $7K (way too much) in 2012, so cost to date: $640/year – but she’s got plenty left in her.

        Starting with this long-term budget, the question for any dealer is, how much is that new car? Oh, $50K? Will I get 50 years out of it?

        Here’s an alternative scenario. A young couple buys 2 new cars. Payments are $300/mo/ea, conservatively, so $7200/annually. The $7200 x 60 years of driving is $432K over their lifetime. GTFO.

        They can’t send their kids to college but have spent $432K on near-zero value assets vs. my well-under $60K.

        Where do I spend my savings? I spare no expense – none – on the highest-end bedding & mattresses. Why not, I spend 56 hours a week enjoying them! A car, yeah, not so much.

        Nice job on the Tacoma! Ten years, driving for free baby!

        • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 12:38 pm #

          A ball-braking buddy of mine says I’m a genius – pioneering a new concept in disposable cars. Park them strategically around town and when one breaks down, fuck it, just leave it and walk to the next one.

          • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 12:51 pm #

            Ron this is my third Tacoma. Toyota was buying them back and crushing them. My first one was a 2000. I paid 12,000 drove it 4 years and sold it back to Toyota for 17,000. Four years driving,net cost -$5000. Ka-Ching! Next I bought a 96 for 6 G’s drove it 2 years , sold it back to Toyota for 9 large. Net cost -$3000. So I’m up 8 large. I buy the 2002 for 10, shit it has a new frame from Toyota so I still have it 10 years later.

          • Not_GeorgeT February 3, 2023 at 1:05 pm #

            Sounds like some of the neighborhoods where I’ve worked.

            If you scrounge some milk crates the tires and rims it would give you pocket money.

          • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 1:46 pm #

            SEF – That’s awesome! I hear the Tacoma’s have a long life anyhow. The smaller ones are hard to come by because of the Chicken Tax, going back to 1964.

            It imposed a 25% tariff on import of small trucks into the US. That’s why you saw the Taliban driving hundreds of Tacoma’s all over hell & creation – they weren’t coming to the US.

            The result of the 25% tariff was that the sticker price for a small truck went to maybe $15K vs. $17K for a full-size truck. So, it was a no-brainer. For the delta, everybody bought full-size trucks & small trucks gathered dust.

            Only one thing better than driving for free – driving for cash baby! A step ahead of the man the whole way! Keep it up!

          • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 2:36 pm #

            Tacoma’s are the No. 1 vehicle for holding resale value. Toyota Corp. repurchased thousands and crushed them all because of bad frames. My 96 was 17 years old and they bought it back at 150% full retail price. You would never see an American Company do that. I’ve had Fords and Jeeps with bad frames and it was tough luck pal your on your own. Most people went out and bought another Tacoma with the check. I did.

      • Islander February 3, 2023 at 12:34 pm #

        I drive a ’96 Outback.

        Paid $3,000 for it in 2010. Of course, I have paid for some biggish repairs. But she is still going fine. i see quite a lot of these around.

        The town values it at $2,000 plus for the excise tax . . .

        But I see some for sale at Carfax for $3,999.
        ????

        • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 12:46 pm #

          Nice, so if you’re under +/- $9K to $10K aggregate for repairs, you’re running under $1K/year.

          • Islander February 3, 2023 at 6:18 pm #

            My local mechanic says if I take care of her, she’ll go forever.

            Just 156,500 mi. on her now.

          • Ron Anselmo February 4, 2023 at 12:47 pm #

            Is it still shiny though? To a lot of people, that matters most.

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 8:48 pm #

            “Is it still shiny though? To a lot of people, that matters most.

            Whom are you talking to?

            (Hint: I do not consider myself “most.” )

          • Ron Anselmo February 5, 2023 at 9:43 pm #

            Islander – you took me completely wrong. A joke. You seem very utilitarian, a trait I admire. Certain you don’t give a rat’s ass about a car being “shiny”.

            Most people – not you – will make the poor decision of financing a new car because it is “shiny” vs. driving a dusty older car. Their priorities like most, are style over substance.

            Lighten up Francis.

    • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 11:12 am #

      Apparently, repo men are quite busy rounding up autos from people who cannot afford their $1000 per month car payments.

    • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 12:38 pm #

      Average price of an EV is about $60,000 now, and that’s factoring in the handful of sh#tbox, ‘affordable’ $45,000 golf cart models that will barely get you to the vegan and back once a day.

      • Not_GeorgeT February 3, 2023 at 1:08 pm #

        There’s a meme floating around with the gecko saying ‘saved $60K on a new battery by having a gas car’.

      • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 3:10 pm #

        And you have not even factored in the cost of outfitting your home with a charger.

  9. rudyspeaks February 3, 2023 at 10:14 am #

    My vote for the weekly money quote, “the failure to hold anyone in power accountable for their blunders and turpitudes.” Bank of America has been convicted 3 times now for illegal management of their customers (marks?) accounts, they’ve been fined (AKA, “cost of doing business”), but no one has gone to jail! WTF? A crime with no perpetrator? The 20,000 bankers who run this country are not simply criminals, they are (incredibly) incompetent. Anyone else notice the World Economic bloc forming in the Global “South” (BRI, SCO, EEAU, et al) that will NOT include America? JHK’s long-term vision of a “post oil” economy is chugging onward!

    • tresho February 3, 2023 at 10:31 am #

      “Bank of America has been convicted 3 times now for illegal…” Wells Fargo is even worse. WF should have been given the corporate death penalty long long ago.

      • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 10:48 am #

        A corporation has the same rights as an individual. Except we individuals have the right to go to jail for our crimes.

        • tresho February 4, 2023 at 8:15 am #

          “A corporation has the same rights as an individual.” The only rights corporations have ever had were those created out of thin air by the PTB: in our case, Congress and our deplorable court system. Our elected reps could just as well change the laws, but they of course never will. Don’t you find the fate of the Arthur Anderson accounting group interesting? I can’t at this moment tell if it was a corporation or a partnership. It / they were convicted of crimes in 2001 & as a result effectively went out of existence. The US Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the convictions in 2005 but to no avail. It is still dead, dead, dead.

    • Islander February 3, 2023 at 10:39 am #

      People should switch their accounts to community banks or local credit unions.

      This was discussed at length after the 2008 fiasco.

      Now the idea seems to have gone down the memory hole.

      • Rowdypiglet February 3, 2023 at 11:47 am #

        Islander, we did this years ago. I can’t understand why everyone else doesn’t do the same. It’s one of the few things that you can do to fight back against the big banks without any effort, loss, or inconvenience of any kind.And still – people keep going back to be cheated and abused when they have a clear and easy choice.

        • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:01 pm #

          I was surprised how many people were still using BoA. They are awful.

          I suspect they may offer people more gimmicks as to how you can use your phone to manage your account.

          Like to quickly track how much money just disappeared from your account without waiting for a statement.

          • beantownbill. February 3, 2023 at 12:25 pm #

            I agree. As a self-employed RE agent, I’ve dealt with BOA many times in the past. They were terrible, to the point I would recommend to the homeowner that they not accept an offer if BOA was the lender. I hated working with them.

          • Islander February 3, 2023 at 12:40 pm #

            Something else that a lot of people don’t know is that savings banks have a whole different insurance scheme, and accounts are insured much better than with FDIC.

            I think the additional (to the FDIC) scheme is called Depositors Insurance Fund.

            Here is info at the website of a local savings bank:

            “Watertown Savings Bank is proud to be a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Depositors Insurance Fund (DIF). This means that all WSB customers’ deposits are insured in full. Regardless of the number of accounts or the total funds, Watertown Savings Bank’s deposits are safe and secure. Enjoy an extra layer of security peace of mind knowing that all of your deposits are insured thanks to WSB’s membership in DIF.

            Not many banks qualify for DIF Insurance. In fact, many local banks recently acquired by larger banks are no longer eligible to offer DIF Insurance.

            All types of bank deposit accounts are covered, including savings accounts, checking accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), money market deposit accounts, and retirement deposit accounts. The first $250,000 per depositor is insured by FDIC. All deposits above the FDIC insurance limits are insured by DIF.
            . . . “

      • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 2:38 pm #

        So many of those really good ideas went down the memory hole.

        I did switch to a CU.

        And I did amass a lot of bags so I wouldn’t have to use paper or plastic.

        But then covid19 took care of that with the fake fomites scare.

        • Islander February 3, 2023 at 6:26 pm #

          I ignored the bag/fomite nonsense.
          German researchers showed very early on that it was nonsense and the Robert Koch Institute was blowing hot air.

          I still use the heavy-duty plastic bags I got about six years ago from a local retailer who was trying to beat the plastic bag ban.

          The banned bags were the standard one that are, I don’t know, 1 micrometer thick.

          This rogue retailer went ahead and offered customers very robust bags that were too heavy to come under the ban. I am against plastic bags (festooning trees, choking turtles, etc), but if they last six years, it’s hard to complain, plus you just fold them up and keep them in your purse.

          • SpeedyBB February 4, 2023 at 3:22 pm #

            Years ago I got into the habit of washing out plastic bags and hanging them out to dry. Although I’ve seen no one else do it, it seems to be accepted.

            If a bag has a tear in it I can still use it to wrap clothing or something else.

            I treasure the heavy-gauge ones (mostly 2~3 liters volume). You can use those for years.

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 11:30 am #

            I have a big supply amassed over the years of sturdy cloth Trader Joe’s bags, and then some of the reinforced plastic ones.

            The problem was, in CA during the fomite bullshit, they wouldn’t allow us to use our own bags.

            And then like a year later, they started allowing it if we bagged everything ourselves (which I don’t mind and sometimes do anyway).

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 8:52 pm #

            The fomite nonsense deep-sixed the results of the plastic bag bans that had taken years to institute and get written into local laws.

            A lot of that foot work had been done by idealistic high school students.

            So all of their “green” efforts were blow off because of “fomite fear.”

      • sonnyL February 3, 2023 at 5:56 pm #

        Keeeerect. Or gold or green cash which USED to be best.

    • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 1:08 pm #

      When I was in elementary school, BoA sponsored a “savings program” and the school went along with it, hoodwinking their pupils into handing over cash to BoA.

      Every week I brought a dime to school in a little cardboard envelope that had two of those round cardboard attachments and a string that fastened around them to keep it closed.

      Then we all handed over our little envelopes to the teacher, who wrote on the outside how much we had “saved” so far.

      I did that for two years. I asked my mom around 2010 what happened to that money? She said “I have no idea”.
      By then the interest should have made it a tidy sum, but somehow all that money handed over to BoA by the school (and I assume other schools were also involved) went right down the Memory Hole.

      At least, I’ve never heard of any lawsuits or anything about the program.

      • Rowdypiglet February 3, 2023 at 3:40 pm #

        Paula, you might try checking on your state government’s website for how to apply for unclaimed money. We did this a while back and discovered we had money left in checking accounts we’d closed years ago. The impetus is (of course!) on you to chase the money, to “claim” it. Otherwise, they just keep it. But state gov can institute a search and, when anything is located, they have to give it to you.

        • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 3:51 pm #

          Interesting. I wonder if it’s still on their books. Seems unlikely.

  10. JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 10:19 am #

    Just thinking. What exactly holds the USA together? What is the tie that binds? What will be the glue that keeps states together through the hard times coming?

    I think that glue is gone. It is a victim of the Deep State. Washington, DC no longer acts like a “glue” to bind the country together where interstate issues such as mutual defense matters. It has evolved into its own state, the fifty first, with its own agenda. The Dems actually attempted to make it a state.

    Its own agenda. The agenda of the East Coast Mob, infiltrated by the shenanigans of the globalist WEF. When a representative is elected to the Congress, they no longer belong to their constituenct, the belong to the Deep State. When is the last time that a Rep was on the news, representing their folks back home on an issue.

    Specifically, how many members of the Deep State from the Southwest have been hammering on CNN or Fox for a nation wide water supply resolution to move fresh water from where it floods to where the drought is that is threatening the entire country’s food supply. Nothing, Nada, Nein, Nix.

    Our foreign policy, Deep State centered is a joke. Ukraine, where the USA went to die. WE are going to weaken the Russians? Who believes this baloney. More than half the US population that are too stupid to realize how the DS is lying to them and how much of a lock the MSM has on their minds.

    The Constitution puts very little under Federal control as written. It is the power mongers elected to that Swamp that have accumulated power unto themselves over 250 years that have sought to guarantee their re-election and pensioning. We now have the situation that the executive branch controls the Deep State in all aspects. That is exactly what the FF were afraid of.

    The dissolution of the US is forthcoming. Common interests have disappeared, the Deep State no longer protects the country as a whole, like the border situation, but protects the Mobs East Coast and WEF interests. California is growing away from the East Coast Mob and may be the first to say, “No Mas”.

    A small yet unquenchable situation is brewing in Arizona. Kari Lake is refusing to kowtow to the Deep State. The most aggregious example of vote manipulation in a while occurred here in Maricopa County in 2022. The opposition, Kari Hobbs, the SOS, ran the election from her office. Surprise, 40 to 60% of the voting machines did not work on election day AM. As most same day voters are conservative, what an effective method of suppressing the Right side vote. It is still going on in the courts. I wonder if Krysten Sinema’s decision to leave the scoundrel party has something to do with the Lefty invasion of Arizona.

    By the way, the official reaction by the Arizona press, and the former governor Ducey was that every was on the up and up and all voters had the chance to vote in spite of the “glitches”. Uh huh, there were no disgruntled folks that after altering their plans to vote just walked away. If this miscarriage is allowed to stand, the validity of the vote is going to take a huge hit. Fully authorized by the state level Deep State. Ducey ended up being a RINO bum. He put up all those RR cars as a barrier and a breath of fresh air blew through Arizona. After the election, his true colors showed up, he endorsed Hobbs immediately instead of waiting for the courts and removed the barrier at the border with nary a whimper. No Abbott was this man. Kari Lake is starting to create real fear in the DC Deep State. I will guarantee she will be dealt with.

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    • Hereward the Woke February 3, 2023 at 10:25 am #

      Things will continue until they can’t, J. We are currently at “can’t”.

    • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 10:38 am #

      “We now have the situation that the executive branch controls the Deep State in all aspects.” ~ JAZ

      John – you have this backwards.

      • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 11:51 am #

        Chicken and the egg?

        • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 1:23 pm #

          Suppose it depends upon how you define Deep State. Personally, I see the Deep State as tentacles far & wide, much broader, wider & deeper, and made up of more interests than the Executive Branch of the US Gov. Could be wrong, but I see the Executive Branch operating under the Deep State thumb.

          • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 2:40 pm #

            You are correct, sir.

            They don’t like the head executive, his head gets blown off.

          • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 5:09 pm #

            Mary – you are the sweetest, but really, you don’t have to call me sir :-))

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 11:31 am #

            Should I call you Shirley?

            😉

          • Ron Anselmo February 5, 2023 at 9:47 pm #

            You can call me anything you want, just don’t call me late for dinner.

        • Islander February 3, 2023 at 6:28 pm #

          No. Use your noggin.

          The definition of Deep State is that it is not elected government.

          Jeez.

    • rudyspeaks February 3, 2023 at 10:39 am #

      You’re absolutely correct to mention voting “irregularities” (which appear to be rather “regular”), but aren’t dicey elections just what the Duopoly wants? The 2000 election had a clearly minority “winner”, even Florida was eventually called for Gore, 2004 had weird results, 2016 was, of course, obvious, and then 2020 was icing on the cake…you’d think ONE of the 2 (identical) parties would have begun to advocate for a more transparent process, yet, neither one has. Consider the # of electoral challenges could be eliminated with a simple Paper Ballot/Ink Marker solution. As long as a Deep State-approved candidate wins, no one cares how the people vote.

    • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 1:14 pm #

      You seriously think that it is in the “common interest” of the country to spend billions of dollars and confiscate thousands of people’s land in order to rip up the country with a pipeline bringing water from the east to the desert where you live?????

      There are millions of people who disagree with that, JohnAZ. Your gimme attitude towards other peoples’ water and land and money is duly noted.

      • crudgemudgeon February 3, 2023 at 3:56 pm #

        Duly noted that we build pipelines for oil.

      • Islander February 3, 2023 at 6:31 pm #

        If Colorado residents can’t collect water on their own land because the state of Colorado “owns” the water, I’d like to see Colorado up and make a claim on the water that falls on land of residents in totally different states.

        I’d almost like to see them try it . . .

    • Jimpa February 3, 2023 at 5:57 pm #

      When the US dollar becomes worthless, then the Feds reign will be over. The tax, borrow, and spend system is the glue that holds it all together.

    • Jimpa February 3, 2023 at 7:37 pm #

      When the value of the money runs out, so will the Feds. That’s how the central government will unravel.

  11. redrock February 3, 2023 at 10:24 am #

    Was there ever a time this country was not governed by a smirking shiftless class of degenerate politicians? At the age of 76 I look back on a time when we did not lock our doors, mothers didn’t worry till an hour after dark where we were and we were part of extended loving families. Time spent on a farm in Kansas where the stove in the kitchen was the size of a locomotive and required wood, water was fetched in a bucket from a pump in the yard and the outhouse was about to fall down. Climbing the windmill to sit and watch the landscape and the goldfish in the stock tank. There was a small building there with two front doors and full of cans and machine parts. Years later I found out a hobo had come during the depression looking for work, they took him in and later sent for his wife and daughters and from Chicago they came to live in that building till times got better. That is the stock that raised me. Happy to have what they had and not aspiring for material luxury. Long nights as a Marine in Vietnam, waiting for god knows what and sleeping on the ground while it shook from B52 raids I carried those qualities, proud to be descended from those people. We have let the halfwits loose and now will suffer the consequences. Stand up and tell these woke bastards what you think of them and never back down.

    • Hereward the Woke February 3, 2023 at 10:28 am #

      Hey, Redrock! I tutor kids for a living. Last week, on of my cherubs had a science assignment to test who has the fastest reactions to stimuli. The choices were between girls and “other gender types”. I told my student that there are no “other gender types”. In fact, there aren’t any genders outside of linguistics. There are two sexes, male and female. Convinced him to write his report using the words “boys” and “girls”. What a shitshow we live in! Each of us has to use the power of “No!”

      • Woodchuck February 3, 2023 at 11:47 am #

        When children grow up on farms they will observe how in farm animals there are two sexes and no genders. The process of makin’ more bacon will eventually be observed by farm children everywhere in the process of doing their daily chores at the pig pen. It won’t be too hard for them to figure out on their own that it might start with copulation and finish with the appearance of the cute and cuddly little piglets. Those piglets will be future bacon, pork chops, and chitlins.

        They will also find out that very big animals with big balls hanging down on on their hindquarters – animals like stud bulls or stallions – get treated with more fear and respect. They’ll notice that when big animals haven’t been neutered, that the males of whatever species of mammal it is are larger, more muscled, and possibly more aggressive and dangerous. They will notice that in a flock of chickens the roosters are more showy and colorful and a lot more likely to fight. If you have a bunch of peafowl running around loose and squawking, it will be obvious which ones are the pea “cocks”.

        But most children today grow up in a sort of teletubbie world. The only animals that ever show up in their existence might be a neutered golden retriever or a cat. All school children experience today is a totally artificial and climate controlled environment made possible by fossil fuel energy. So it’s possible for many of them to experience a lot of confusion with sexual/gender issues. The roles are all smudged up and confused, with women required to do what was formerly men’s work. The environment children are growing up in is extremely delusional and toxic.

        Sanity will return during the Long Emergency when home and small farm based animal husbandry will return. Men will have their chores and tasks that only they can do, tasks requiring a lot of physical strength and endurance. Tasks like logging and plowing. And women will have equally vital chores and tasks that fit their sex and their own unique abilities – like raising healthy and successful children. And that’s how it was before the industrial age and that’s how it will be after the industrial/fossil fuel age. There will be no “green” industrial age. fuggedaboudit

        • beantownbill. February 3, 2023 at 12:42 pm #

          Cats are alpha predators in their own sphere. They were made for hunting small mammals like rodents. For their size, they are nasty.

          However, there’s another side to them. If they make the decision to adopt you, they are sweet, cuddly and loving (yes, they make their own decisions, not you). A child could do a lot worse than having a cat – and learn a lot from them.

          • Bilejones February 4, 2023 at 5:02 am #

            Dogs have owners.
            Cats have staff.

          • aelpha February 4, 2023 at 12:21 pm #

            My two stray cats have three jobs: garden security, morning alarm service and purr therapy.

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:27 pm #

          That is the ancient ideal of Man – many things to many different people. A good husband, brother, friend and father – and a terror to his enemies and the enemies of his people.

          Christianity is a psychic castration of much of our psyche – as if the “bad” parts aren’t needed.

          • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 11:14 am #

            Confucianism recognizes 5 basic relationships.
            1) Man and his overlord
            2) Father and son
            3) Husband and wife
            4) Older and younger brother
            5) Friends, i.e. equals
            Relationship rights and obligations are spelled out.

            Notice there is no provision made for “the stranger”. There is no parable of the good Samaritan. Such a person would be condemned for wasting precious, limited resources on a stranger when there are relatives in need.

            I witnessed this philosophy in practice during five years in Korea. For example, someone who hired the most qualified person versus a relative to help in his business was considered selfish and cold hearted. Nepotism and taking care of family comes first.

            In many ways public courtesy and concern for the comfort of others was absent. “Hurray for me and to hell with you” was the guiding standard. You could see it in their driving. You could feel in the low intensity food riots which they call grocery shopping.

            I found all this odd because the Koreans are genetically one big family. (I won’t say a happy family.) Americans come from many diverse tribes, yet display more courtesy to strangers.

          • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 12:45 pm #

            Yes, at our best we are better. But as it is: Their streets are safe and ours are not.

            Confucius on the Mo Tzu doctrine of universal love: He would treat the bad the same as the good? That is not justice.

            The Golden rule (positive caring) should include the Silver rule: Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you. Add to that Confucius’ Justice and you have something very good.

            Such as combination is Us at our best, in our terms, the Old and New Testaments.

    • Ron Anselmo February 3, 2023 at 10:45 am #

      Redrock – thanks for your service. Semper Fi.

    • Socrates-Detroit February 3, 2023 at 10:49 am #

      Nice post redrock.

      I actually know someone very similar background, he was an Air Force pal of my father’s, he is from small-town Indiana, was in Vietnam as Air Rescue I think, your comments remind me of him. He did well in life after he retired.

      That America is before my time, as I was shortly before the Marines arrived in Da Nang in 1965, but I’m sure as a GI brat, several of my dad’s peers shared your background.

      I’m glad you made it back and you’re in this space.

      Be well!

    • Socrates-Detroit February 3, 2023 at 11:10 am #

      My sense is that the America of your formative years, especially small-town Kansas, or Indiana, but even densely packed Lower East Side Manhattan or Brooklyn had a pretty solid foundation.

      Americans survived the depression, and a society that still trusted the government mobilized to fight WW2.

      Big-city America was more diverse, but socially the foundation was much stronger. At some point, we got to a place where the US of A foundation became economic prosperity.

      (Immigration is good for the economy! THEY say. My parents are foreign born, but American had over one generation to digest the immigrants into Anglo America, 1925-65, immigration quotas limiting Eastern/Southern Europeans… like me!!)

      Money is always what enticed most immigration to America, but now that is the only thing that seems to pull Americans together.

      Dmitri Orlov’s writings are very interesting and thought-provoking, as he rationalizes how and why Russia survived the USSR implosion, and why America might not survive such a thing, should it happen.

      However, to add to JHK

      “…Underneath all the economic perversities of Soviet life, Russia still had a national identity and a coherent culture..”

      That culture, to large degree even among people who were, and remain, atheist communists (a sizeable minority of the Russians in Donbass, for example), is infused with the beliefs and traditions of Orthodox Christianity. And a sizeable proportion of Russian are observant, and even devout Christians who pray.

      To me, the fact that Russia survived and rebounded is a MIRACLE, right in front of us.

      But on a secular note, as Orlov would say (probably has said, and I got it from him), Russia’s common values gave them a foundation. And those values came from what–the Constitution? Free Enterprise? NO, the Church.

      America was always diverse, but the past thirty years, especially the past 15, the differences are pulling society apart.

      And in world, in a USA, where the economic pie is shrinking, that does NOT bode well for society and order.

      • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 1:28 pm #

        My dad was an immigrant from England and he told me that the immigration reform in 1925 limited all immigration.

        Because of social media I now know people who grew up in the Soviet Union and they tell me that they were raised with “We are all human and must live in peace with each other” official propaganda. That came from the state.

        Maybe the church also taught that, but we can see from Ukraine, who have had 30 years of US propaganda dividing them that church doesn’t do much good when you are learning in school to Hate and Fear other people.

        Yeah, the worst are the Catholics from the west, but I saw a video of a Russian in a liberated elementary school in the east (which had been dominated by the Kiev regime and taught official policy) showing books in the school library which were full of anti-Russian propaganda. And the east is Orthodox.

        This is why the CRT and the trans bs they are teaching little children in the US are so dangerous.

        Get them while they’re young and you can bring them up the way you want, whether it’s Kumbaya harmony or Kill em all and Let God sort them out hatred.

        For instance, when I grew up the official policy was integration and “We are all equal” propaganda. The schools, the TV, the movies and the radio all preached social harmony.

        What we have in America today is two generations of young people brought up to hate their fellow Americans. Hence: Antifa.

        This will not end well.

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:32 pm #

          Do you agree with Mr Kunstler and Mr Putin that Communism was a worthless ideology? An abject failure in practice?

        • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:17 pm #

          We were taught in school that Catholics and Protestants were fighting in Ireland.

          None of that was actually true. The fighting wasn’t in Ireland, and it wasn’t over doctrine.

          • Islander February 3, 2023 at 6:33 pm #

            No fighting in Ireland?

            Have you ever heard of the Easter Uprising?

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:29 pm #

          There was much fighting in Ireland, later only in Northern Ireland.

          You come up with some very strange ideas sometimes. It was about far more (or less!) than doctrine, true.

          • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:47 pm #

            When do you think I was in school, Jarek? Sheesh.

          • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 3:52 pm #

            I’m sure I have no idea. But there has been much fighting in Ireland – for centuries. Maybe they didn’t teach you very well?

    • Rowdypiglet February 3, 2023 at 12:39 pm #

      Redrock, I too had a rural and small town upbringing and remember with affection so much that is gone now. To quote Randy Newman:

      Now they’re gone, they’re gone, they’re really gone
      You’ve never seen anyone so gone
      Some bones hidden in the canyon
      Some paintings in a cave
      There’s no use trying to save them
      There’s nothing left to save

      I realize he was writing about another culture, but you get the picture nevertheless.

      We still had real hardiness and cohesion back then, whereas we’re now weak, debased, fearful, ignorant, and delusional in a way that no one would have believed possible. I blame the weaponizing of the internet by the Deep State for much of this. People, even those who represent minuscule portions of the population, make for themselves a “community” online. They feel no need to be part of or contribute in any way to the actual physical community of which they are a (useless) part, yet they expect that same community to provide for all their physical needs. They are essentially termites, eating away at the fabric of the house until it cannot stand any longer. They’re aided and abetted in this effort by the usual suspects.

    • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:30 pm #

      In Denmark, women used to leave their babies in their strollers parked outside supermarkets while they shopped inside. What incredibly peaceful societies we once created!

      Then our Leaders committed an act of treason and opened our borders to the 3rd World. What sane Danish mother would leave her baby unattended now after the Muslim invasion?

      • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 2:17 pm #

        When my first was a baby, I left her regularly sleeping in her pram outside Safeway for 15 or 20 minutes. Once she was in a ‘stroller’, which I’m assuming is a buggy, she was able to sit in the seat in the trolley.

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:32 pm #

          Old ways are best if they create such a society. Any reformers must be very careful not to do more harm than good. But Leftist reformers are notorious for not caring and condemning all “olds”.

        • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:49 pm #

          I can remember staying outside the store to “watch the baby”. I was probably 2 1/2 feet tall. What was I going to do?

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 3:13 pm #

            That is hilarious.

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 3:13 pm #

            That is hilarious.

          • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 12:47 pm #

            Thanks for “grounding” the discussion by making it about yourself and therefore meaningless.

            You are still two and half feet tall.

  12. Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 10:27 am #

    When the Fight For Fifteen started, people did not see it for what it was, an attack on the fast food industry.

    Idiots such as Andrew Cuomo couched it in terms of not being able to support a family on what mcDonald’s workers make, as if the teens working there a few hours after school were raising families or something.

    The government was using a false reason to go after the biggest purveyors of beef.

    They didn’t want us eating beef.

    BTW the foods mentioned above aren’t ‘healthier’ than McDonald’s, but McDonald’s is blamed for driving the obesity epidemic, even though its most frequent consumers are not obese.

    It’s about the beef, and it always has been.

    • K-Chien February 3, 2023 at 1:52 pm #

      What is wrong with making $15 an hour?

      I understand the green eyed monster, but go ahead and apply at Mickey-Ds. You won’t know if they will hire you unless you try!

      • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:23 pm #

        When other workers at more complex jobs only make 8, 9, and 10 dollars an hour, there is no valid reason for teenagers taking your order at a fast food place to be awarded 15 dollars by the government.

        Those are the kind of job minimum wage was meant for.

        I’ve know adults who worked there and made a decent income, because McDonald’s does offer a career path.

        There was no legitimate reason for government to get involved.

        As I said, it was about the beef.

        • K-Chien February 3, 2023 at 2:42 pm #

          When other workers at more complex jobs only make 8, 9, and 10 dollars an hour they all get bumped to 15 an hour when the government gets involved to raise the minimum wage.

          If a dumbass can’t offer more than 8, 9, or 10 dollars an hour they should not be in business.

          And that is my beef.

          • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:50 pm #

            Cuomo raised the wage for one industry. Capisce?

          • Mick February 3, 2023 at 10:33 pm #

            You’re a dumbass who isn’t worth ten cents an hour.

    • Islander February 3, 2023 at 6:41 pm #

      MacDonald’s used to use tallow—beef fat—to fry the French fries. They were really crisp (I hear—I was not allowed to eat any fast food, and there was not a McD’ where I live).

      Anyhow, along came some do-gooders and guilt-tripped McD’s into changing to plant-oils—I guess, maybe canola. The new axiom was that beef tallow would give you a heart attack and was not “heart healthy.”

      Now we find out that the plant-based oils are the bad oils, and they should have just stuck with beef tallow.

      Whenever I see the phrase “heart-healthy” I know there is a food/nutrition scam going on.

      .

  13. tresho February 3, 2023 at 10:29 am #

    Meanwhile high in the air over the western USA a China-owned & operated “weather balloon” is hovering (somehow). China has admitted this. The Biden regime has also admitted they intend to take no action against this. Regime spokesidiots are parroting a variety of BS excuses for the failure of the US military high command to take action.
    A new standard for bone-headed stupidity has been set.
    Apparently no one remembers the deliberate failure of the NASA high command to even consider remedial actions to attempt to save the space shuttle Columbia before it disintegrated upon re-entry. And almost no one remembers the Martin-Bellinger report which precisely predicted the nature of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor before it happened.

    • cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 10:43 am #

      They are probably sending the balloon over North Dakota so they are review their ChiCom land holdings out that way. Why do we agree to sell American lands to foreign nationals? This is the dumbest thing ever. Non-Mexican citizens cannot freely buy land in Mexico, so they are smart on that front.

      • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 11:28 am #

        Reports this AM say it has stopped over a top secret federal site in Montana. Malmstrom AFB. China has admitted it is theirs. Looking at it in close up, it sure looks like is has solar panels on it,

        Powering what?

        The government’s excuse for not taking it down is that it might hurt someone where it lands.

        A couple of bullet holes in it might let it float down gently so our techs can reverse engineer it.

        Can you imagine this? Float a balloon over the country with EMP devices on board. Or float a fleet?

        Or over our fleets? Biden is a coward.

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:36 pm #

          Do you agree that foreigners shouldn’t be able to buy land? That public interest must sometimes trump private gain?

        • Not_GeorgeT February 3, 2023 at 2:04 pm #

          There is a report a second one is over Canada.

          Apparently there is some debate within the ‘circle of leaders’ in the US regarding what to do.

          These are high-tech instruments, not hot air balloons.

          I find it more than a bit disturbing, though not really surprising, there is no plan to deal with such airspace incursions.

          No Southern border security, apparently no airspace security, so what is the most expensive military on the planet doing?

          One answer is running a laundry-of-sorts in the territory called Ukraine for the greater benefit of the MIC Ike warned us about.

          Another is stocking the arms bazaars of the Taliban and Ukro-Nazis,

          Open to the list growing…

        • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 4:38 pm #

          Who knows how many of those Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade balloons over the years have really been Chinese Communistic spyware?! They know nobody would suspect Mickey Mouse?

        • Islander February 3, 2023 at 6:43 pm #

          ” Looking at it in close up, it sure looks like ” it has slanted eyes looking down at the ground, spying . . .

          (:-))

    • C.O.Jones February 3, 2023 at 10:53 am #

      The most salient point in today’s excellent post is, to me: “…the failure to hold anyone in power accountable for their blunders and turpitudes.”

      There is footage today of speaker McCarthy saying the cop who murdered Ashli Babbitt on the capitol grounds was just doing his job.

      That murderer will never be held accountable. Neither will the orange imbecile who encouraged his followers to walk into an obvious trap. He should have bailed the J6 crew out and paid for their legal defense – ALL of it. Accountability? Naahhh, not gonna happen.

      I knew on September 12th that if the smirking son of a bush who facilitated 911 and his cronies got away it, our country would cease to exist. That is the case.

      Here lies the United States. Cause of death: stupidity.

      • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 11:30 am #

        Stupidification, in all ways possible.

        It is number one on the authoritarian agenda.

      • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:39 pm #

        Did you see that picture of the recently divorced Majorie Taylor Greene looking at McCarthy with open adoration?

        She’s gunning for him. Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac – or is it wealth? In any case, the two usually go together.

        • K-Chien February 3, 2023 at 1:54 pm #

          Majorie Taylor Greene is why grocery bags are big enough to put over heads.

          • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:25 pm #

            I know a number of men who think she is quite attractive.

          • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:35 pm #

            Marry a girl who looks at you like that. Or as the newlywed Mrs Trudeau looked at Fidel Castro as Mr Trudeau looked on, a perv and cuck.

            They went to see him on their honeymoon…..

          • K-Chien February 3, 2023 at 2:45 pm #

            I know a number of men who think she is quite attractive.

            Once her mouth moves she becomes disgusting and her mouth is always moving. In her case an insulated bag with lots of fiber padding to muffle the voice would be a fine idea.

        • Mick February 3, 2023 at 10:36 pm #

          Apparently, Margarine Tailored Gangrene likes kinky tantric.

    • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 11:03 am #

      Can rednecks, farmers & hunters shoot at the balloon with their rifles, or is it too high up, out of range?

      • C.O.Jones February 3, 2023 at 11:16 am #

        @BRH Any rednecks, farmers and or hunters who did shoot at that balloon would be held accountable.

        I’m wondering if a 308 win-mag would reach it….

        • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 11:31 am #

          The balloon is at 40000 feet or so. It has already been buzzed by jets.

          • Blackbird February 3, 2023 at 3:01 pm #

            Pretty much out of range for the average concerned citizen.

            Only way for us to pop China’s magic bubble is to fight weather balloon with weather balloon – or several… fastened to a parachute harness (one with a working parachute would be a bonus), worn over some really warm clothes, with a large electric fan fastened to the back. And don’t forget the oxygen bottles – or the rifle.

            It may take a few of us, but I think we can take it down.

          • Islander February 3, 2023 at 6:49 pm #

            Chinese spy balloon adrift over Montana . . .

            Blinken blinked—canceled his trip.

            Time for some lyrics to “Moon over Montana” or maybe “Slow Balloon to China”?

          • The Man They Call Zazelle February 3, 2023 at 11:26 pm #

            The USA Is Downwind From China ^u^

            “Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
            Would you like to glide in my beautiful balloon?
            We could float among the stars together, you and I
            For we can fly, we can fly

            Up, up and away
            My beautiful, my beautiful balloon

            The world’s a nicer place in my beautiful balloon
            It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon
            We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky
            For we can fly, we can fly

            Up, up and away
            My beautiful, my beautiful balloon

            Suspended under a twilight canopy
            We’ll search the clouds for a star to guide us
            If by some chance you find yourself loving me

            We’ll find a cloud to hid us, keep the moon beside us
            Love is waiting there in my beautiful balloon
            Way up in the air in my beautiful balloon
            If you’ll hold my hand we’ll chase your dream across the sky
            For we can fly, we can fly

            Up, up and away
            My beautiful, my beautiful balloon” ~ Up, Up And Away, by The 5th Dimension

            Wouldn’t that make a great first date?! A balloon ride!
            youtu . be/UKkNlwpajNk (official audio!)

          • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 11:23 am #

            Zazelle, thanks for the trip down Nostalga Melody Lane. I was just thinking of the German-English 1980’s hit by Nena “99 Luft Balloons”.

            Funny, the Chinese are using a spy technology that goes back 250 years.

          • The Man They Call Zazelle February 4, 2023 at 2:46 pm #

            On that You Tube version you can see the cover and on it, it says of course, ‘Go where you wanna go.” That’s China! Yaayy!

            After another YT version of that song that I almost posted instead, that Age Of Aquarius song by the same band automatically played, speaking of memory-lane. And I wondered, briefly, what age this would be and thought, the age of demise or something like that.

            But, yes, I’ve heard of 99 Luftballons too.

            I also hear China apparently has a balloon over South America, so maybe they’re working on 99 eventually.

            250 year old tech, ay? Maybe that’s why it hasn’t been taken down.

        • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 11:41 am #

          That airship is at 60,000 ft. That’s a 20,000 yard shot. Straight up. .300 win mag No way. 3000 fps muzzle velocity the bullet would not even reach it for 20 seconds. I call it an airship because balloons don’t hover. That thing is in the jet stream and would be in New England by now if not for some pretty good propulsion units installed. Props won’t work that high so has to be ?? the military knows what this thing is but lips are sealed.

          • C.O.Jones February 3, 2023 at 3:27 pm #

            ZeroHedge is reporting the balloon may be headed to east coast. I’ve seen reports that China has researched using balloons to trigger an EMP.

          • tresho February 4, 2023 at 8:27 am #

            “That thing is in the jet stream and would be in New England by now if not for some pretty good propulsion units installed.” Hot air balloonists regularly use the constantly varying winds at different altitudes to zig zag their non-propelled craft back & forth over the landscapes they fly over. This way they can often land very close to their starting points. No on-board lateral propulsion necessary since Mother Nature provides. So there is no reason the Red Chinese drone can’t do the same thing just by varying its altitude. If USAF jets can buzz the thing, they could easily have shot it down long long ago. But good US flyboys always follow their orders handed down from above….

      • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:36 pm #

        It’s UFO. It’s your duty to shoot all such things down. What have you got to lose at this point except the ball and chain?

        • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 4:47 pm #

          Jarek, if you have the hardware to hit something many miles up there, expect a visit from a three letter agency.

    • ViceGrip February 3, 2023 at 11:37 am #

      tresho . . .

      “Meanwhile high in the air over the western USA a China-owned & operated “weather balloon” is hovering (somehow). China has admitted this.”

      Ahem . . .

      We have been told this by the MSM. How is your Mandarin?

      Thought not !

      . . . also *told* it was at an altitude of 150,000 feet.

      “The Biden regime has also admitted they intend to take no action against this.”

      Well . . . of course not!!!

      Hello . . . ????

      Do the math.

      • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:00 am #

        ‘We have been told this by the MSM. How is your Mandarin?” Undoubtedly better than yours after 3 semesters at my nearest university. A decent troll, unlike you, would have posed the above question in Mandarin. Here is a link from those who don’t know Mandarin, MSM (supposedly) direct from the Chinese foreign ministry. Google is your friend if you care to look further into it: “Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s Remarks on the Unintended Entry of a?Chinese Unmanned Airship into US Airspace Due to Force Majeure
        2023-02-03 21:32
        Q:?According to media reports, a Chinese unmanned airship has?been?spotted in US airspace. Do you have any comment?

        A: The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure. The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure.” Source website ends in “.cn”

        • ViceGrip February 6, 2023 at 3:00 pm #

          Tresho . . .

          Your statement, “Google is your friend if you care to look further into it.”; unfortunately, precludes any further comment on my part, other than to say . . .

          Google is NOT my friend. No! Hell No!!

          Google is actually the Warden of the enantiodromic panopticon within which we have all been been imprisoned — including myself.

          FWIW . . . I haven’t used Google for 2 decades.

          Makes me a moron, doesn’t it!

          Moron! Moron! Moron!

  14. Gartenzwergsammler February 3, 2023 at 10:36 am #

    Hi Jim, I have not commented in a while, I’m one of your patreon people– just to say, your posts help me sane in this insane world. Thank you.

    • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 10:45 am #

      I like knowing there is someone with some reach, who gets it.

  15. Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 10:44 am #

    It’s funny porn should be mentioned, I’ve been meaning to post about that here, but it didn’t quite fit the topics of the day and I got tired.

    I was talking to a woman who was having to reenter the dating scene after a bad marriage.

    She was talking about the need to find a man who didn’t get vaxxed, as well as all the other considerations.

    One thing she said surprised me- she told me that the majority of men she knew in her age group and under (this would be about age 50 down) were all heavily into pornography, which disgusted her.

    A number of years back, I was talking with a woman in her early twenties, so I guess she’d be in her late thirties or early forties now, and she was talking about her circle of friends being into porn, and she almost felt like there was something wrong with her, because she was turned off by it.

    I told her that adults who didn’t outgrow an interest in that stuff were cases of stunted development.

    The woman I was talking to more recently told me she had seen a meme online that feminism ruins women, and porn ruins men.

    She said at first she was offended, because she considers herself a feminist, but when she thought about it more, she saw that there was an important point buried in that statement.

    After I started thinking about this more, I started with my conspiracy theorizing again, and I can see that the normalization and easier availability of pornography in America correlates exactly with the introduction of globalism and the undermining of our country.

    It was initially promoted as a free speech issue, if you’ll recall, when they started having ‘adult’ magazines like Hustler and Penthouse, with explicit covers, on display in places frequented by families with young children.

    I will be posting more on this as my theories develop.

    I think this is an issue we are going to be hearing more about.

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    • cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 11:26 am #

      I like your correlation that feminism ruins women, and porn ruins men. Very accurate. Also, the statement that adults still addicted to porn is akin to stunted growth and development is spot on. If someone cannot get past a porn addition, then what hope is there for that person to love, learn, and grow into a healthy, committed adult relationship with another person? So totally true.

      I would love to hear more on this topic from you, or anyone else here reading and willing to comment. This is an interesting area ripe for discussion. Thanks.

      • elysianfield February 3, 2023 at 12:18 pm #

        Bell,
        I’m ruined! RUINED, do you hear me?

      • K-Chien February 3, 2023 at 2:17 pm #

        Interesting,

        Cowbell, let me what you think of chapter 5.

        It sets up a pornographic chapter 6 which I have not written yet.

        Lola De’Tomaso could tell my explorer to keep it in his pants because there is not going to be any exploring down under.

        What do you think I should do?

        I don’t want to be ruining any men.

        • cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 3:06 pm #

          This world of the 47th Century keeps getting more and more interesting. I can just imagine that breath-taking beauty singing her song besides the antiquated piano. Very nice embedded link with the music. Looking forward to Chapter 6 this time next week.

          It would be an interesting concept to explore porn and sexuality between people that far into the future. There certainly will never be any way to completely eliminate desire men have for women, whether real or illusory.

        • elysianfield February 3, 2023 at 3:35 pm #

          “It sets up a pornographic chapter 6 which I have not written yet.”

          Dog,
          Your explorer, in his travels, finds a cave wherein he discovered…polaroids of naked farm animals.

          Hilarity ensues….he got some ‘splainin’ to do.

        • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 11:33 am #

          Rename her Lola Hot Tomato, restructure the book as a graphic novel with lots of fornicating fruits and vegetables.

          • SpeedyBB February 4, 2023 at 8:23 pm #

            Sorry, you’ll have to find an appropriate synonym for “fruits” as that one is already taken.

      • The Man They Call Zazelle February 4, 2023 at 12:21 am #

        The Job/Career As A Glorified Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

        Porn never did anything for me, but people are different.

        These days, too, like music, film and other art, people can entirely produce, upload and/or live webcam their own, so that’s all added to, and I guess replaces some, of the kind of fiction/pro porn that grandma and grandpa may have enjoyed outside of their own sex life.

        Insofar as some people are addicted to porn, well, others are addicted to something else, like gambling, alcohol, smoking…

        …or getting up every weekday at 7am to go into a workplace to do the same thing over and over again while their children are somewhere else, being raised by the relative strangers of pseudocommunities.

        I mean, take a look, too, at how all of us here are ‘communicating’ with each other. How does that affect us? How often are we on our digital devices? Is it healthy?

        • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 1:52 pm #

          “or getting up every weekday at 7am to go into a workplace”

          Working for a living is not a lifestyle choice.

          • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 3:04 pm #

            See response here:

            February 5, 2023 at 3:02 pm

    • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 11:47 am #

      It’s a very valid topic, and yes, porn is a huge problem in our society.

      It ties in also to the glorification nowadays of ‘sex work’ (e.g., prostitution and probably sex trafficking, as well).

      And that’s coming from the Woke Jacobins.

      If you want to see another’s comprehensive look at what porn does, a woman named Gale Dines is fantastic – she gives lectures and does all sorts of research and writing about it.

      Agree completely that porn addiction is a sign of stunted development. But also programming, as we’ve been programmed not to be ‘prudes’ and ‘uncool’ so to accept all sorts of nasty behavior as normal. Remember when gratuitous sex scenes started cropping up in movies? Yuck. One of the reasons I tend to watch old movies: Better scripts, polished actors, and no embarrassing sex scenes. The interesting thing about sex scenes is from what I have read, actors were traumatized by them, but performing in them was the price they paid to be able to be A-list actors.

      • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:08 pm #

        I used to wonder why certain actresses were in so many films, when the public didn’t seem to be clamoring to see them or they didn’t have all that much talent.

        A man who was a lot more worldly because he travelled the world as career military, told me the ones who got the featured roles were the ones willing to appear naked.

        • K-Chien February 3, 2023 at 2:18 pm #

          The public likes movies with ‘Happy Endings’ don’t you know.

          • The Man They Call Zazelle February 4, 2023 at 12:35 am #

            I took a college philosophy class once where a student’s or group of studen’t project included playing a film for the class called ‘I Spit On Your Grave’.
            A few students walked out while it was playing, but most stayed if recalled.
            I can’t imagine anyone left in the class if someone would have played the movie in today’s colleges.

      • The Man They Call Zazelle February 4, 2023 at 12:27 am #

        “…and yes, porn is a huge problem in our society.” ~ MaryQueen

        (shrug)…

        Our society, or perhaps more accurately their society that we play a role in that they script for us, is a huge problem.

      • tresho February 4, 2023 at 8:32 am #

        “It’s a very valid topic, and yes, porn is a huge problem in our society.

        It ties in also to the glorification nowadays of ‘sex work’ (e.g., prostitution and probably sex trafficking, as well).”

        It’s very little known that both Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas went on record as opposing making prostitution illegal. IIRC they both thought that ancient institution served as a method to somehow de-fuse lust among a portion of the population.

        • SpeedyBB February 4, 2023 at 8:41 pm #

          Rosie Palmer would like to have a word with you about that.

    • badberries February 3, 2023 at 11:52 am #

      And PMS (remember that meme from 20 years ago?)
      My own theory is PMS, is natures way of driving away infertile males. Mama Nature wants lots of babies and she wants them NOW!!

      Watching people copulate has always been the norm (for men anyway). Extended families have shared shelters forever.

      Maybe I’m wrong, maybe when Erk and Drk wanted to make Spark, they’d leave the warmth of the den and “have relations” outside in the blizzard so nobody got offended?

      • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:14 pm #

        Where did the term ‘undercover” originate?

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 12:18 pm #

          Good Question…haha

      • tresho February 4, 2023 at 8:36 am #

        “Watching people copulate has always been the norm (for men anyway). Extended families have shared shelters forever.” The 1991 movie “Black Robe” depicts this scene rather convincingly. No privacy, only one huge shared bedroom, in Ye Olden Tymes.

        • badberries February 4, 2023 at 10:09 am #

          A funny thing about western societies, we can sit in a movie theater amidst the company of hundreds of strangers and watch the most intimate scenes btw people portrayed.

          When the film ends, we get up and pretend that everything is as it was despite the graphic depictions we just witnessed together.

          I like to look around the theater during the ‘racy’ scenes to see how involved the audience is. Nobody will meet your eye.

      • SpeedyBB February 4, 2023 at 8:45 pm #

        All right, BB, you have only yourself to blame for inspiring this memory.

        ‘A preacher was telling his congregation that anything they could think of, old or new, was discussed somewhere in the Bible and that the entirety of the human experience could be found there.

        ‘After the service, he was approached by a woman who said, “Preacher, I don’t believe the Bible mentions PMS.”

        ‘The preacher replied that he was sure it must be there somewhere and that he would look for it.

        ‘The following week after the service, the preacher called the woman aside and showed her a passage which read,…

        ‘”…And Mary rode Joseph’s ass all the way to Bethlehem.”‘

        • badberries February 5, 2023 at 12:38 pm #

          Yee Haw!! Bareback!!

    • mrs_saj February 3, 2023 at 12:24 pm #

      Beryl,

      I know more about feminism than I do porn. But both seem to create unrealistic expectations, both for the adherent (for lack of a better word) as well as their potential romantic partners. Much of both porn and feminism aren’t based in reality and create shame and anger when our real world experiences don’t measure up.

      That’s my two cents anyway.

      • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:42 pm #

        That’s an interesting thought.

      • Woodchuck February 3, 2023 at 1:09 pm #

        Well, let’s take a look at the words porn, unrealistic expectations, and things not “measuring up”

        I saw an interview a while back with a female psychologist discussing penis size and porn. The average erect human penis is around 5 1/4 inches. The penises featured in porn are much longer, leading many male viewers to worry that they are inadequate and somehow got cheated. They watch porn and think that if they have a little wiener that not as many women will be interested in them. They think they are too small when they are simply normal. And the psychologist says this is maybe the reason there are so many penis enlargement scams, pills, and potions out there that gullible men purchase. Porn is making them feel inadequate and insecure about their bodies. This lady also insisted that penis size is a much greater issue to men than it is to women. Us guys are so concerned about “measuring up” that many of us have grabbed a ruler and just had to get a figure. A woman it seems would be far less likely to think of looking for a measuring tape when encountering the penis of her partner.

        • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 1:15 pm #

          So, watching porn could make some men shy away from relationships with women in real life, then.

          • badberries February 3, 2023 at 1:25 pm #

            Men are afraid that women will laugh at them, women are afraid that men will hurt them.

          • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:42 pm #

            Things like tinder, instagram, and only fans are the equivalent for women. Who needs and actual man when you can get validation and bucks from many virtual men.

            And actual man would have to be perfect, the summation of the best qualities of all her fans.

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 2:44 pm #

            Beryl

            Naomi Wolf wrote an interesting piece on just that about 20 years ago.

            nymag.com/nymetro/news/trends/n_9437/

            A friend of mine has a son with a friend in his 30s – probably late 30s now – who has never had a girlfriend (he’s very shy). My friend’s son said himself (to his mother) that his friend almost certainly could never relate to a flesh-and-blood girlfriend now, after decades of wall-to-wall pornography. No single woman can compete with the the sheer variety and level of boundary pushing that men have willingly embraced through online pornography. Not to mention that most of them are into teenagers. Their very brains have been changed and their gratification requires more and edgier all the time because of the tolerance effect.

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 2:49 pm #

            “And actual man would have to be perfect, the summation of the best qualities of all her fans.”

            I’ve never been on Instragram, although I’ve seen screenshots of some of the airheads that people follow, as part of some story or other. But you’re talking about a tiny percentage of hot young women, as the vast majority of them would never be judged Instagram-worthy.

            And attractive people of either sex have always got together with equally attractive people. Their market value is higher, whatever sex they are.

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 12:48 pm #

            Studies show that women (contrary to popular belief) are FAR more picky in this regard than men, finding only 20% of men attractive in the least.

            Of course like everything else, they project this on to men and then blame us for a having a score card – while theirs is far, far more strict.

          • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 10:01 pm #

            Studies show that…” ~ Jarek

            Some people can fall victim in various ways, such as through questionable or flawed studies and/or personal experiences, to self-reinforcing feedback loops that, over time, and as per the Butterfly Effect, can increasingly skew and distort their perspectives of reality, such as about women and so-called race, that can be hard to back out of.

        • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 3:01 pm #

          Jarek, women still read romance novels.

          As comedian Craig Ferguson said, the gossip tabloids are pornography for women.

          • mrs_saj February 3, 2023 at 3:47 pm #

            Beryl,

            Yes! Romance novels were my next best suggestion for what porn should be compared to. Talk about unrealistic expectations!

        • SpeedyBB February 4, 2023 at 8:49 pm #

          Response to Woodchuck:

          Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden. Wearing their Birthday Suits, naturally.

          Eve stares at Adam. “That’s it?”

          Adam (huffily): “Well it’s the biggest one in the world.”

          Eve (rolling her eyes): “Technically, it’s also the tiniest.”

          Adam (angry): “I want my rib back”.

    • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 1:36 pm #

      I was watching a James Corbett video, one of the ones he does with the other James, and they had a guest on who wondered how Pornhub could exist without some sort of big money backing.

      It is apparently free, and it has a bunch of videos on it that had to have cost money. And it isn’t just watching adults having normal sex. There are some really degenerate acts easily available to watch.

      All three of the men on that video agreed that watching porn is harmful to men and society so therefore the money spent on providing it free had to be deliberate.

      • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 2:34 pm #

        It was deliberate. It’s in some document (a table) that Alex Thomson on UKC has shown a couple of times. It’s from some Communist playbook on how to corrupt the West from within – it included free pornography (to corrode relationships between men and women), feminism, indoctrination in schools, attacks on religion and a whole bunch of other things. I can’t remember the exact source, but I think it features near the beginning of a book by Christopher Story, possibly the one on the European Union. CS did research into NWO/illuminati and was apparently poisoned in 2010.

      • Mick February 3, 2023 at 10:42 pm #

        Wealthy men of the Tribe funds porn. Always has, always will. And yes, there is an agenda behind this. And it has worked.

    • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:48 pm #

      I’ve been reading about an interesting phenomena: Very scantily clad women – sometime little more than underwear – working out while they film themselves for their followers in Instagram. If any man looks at them, they try to destroy the man online.

      Sometimes it backfires. One woman was shamed for doing this when the man just glanced at her and then came over to ask if she needed help with a weight. She ended up apologizing after being shamed.

      Men need their own gyms, free from distraction and harassment. Some of the women are quite impressive – and yes, sometimes men might actually be drawn into that. And sometimes it’s just the woman’s heated imagination and passive aggression. In any case, men need their own gyms – like women get to have.

      For gyms that choose to stay coed: Ban people from filming themselves perhaps. Let “influencers” or real fitness coaches rent out the gym or get their own.

      • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:28 pm #

        Bear in mind that the people who participate in internet fads tend not to be wrapped too tight.

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:38 pm #

          Social media is an internet fad? Or crack cocaine for the female mind? And yes, many men as well.

          • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:59 pm #

            No, the videos lying in wait for a man to look are a fad.

            The videos showing how to steal a Kia Rio started a fad too.

          • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 3:58 pm #

            Nice deflection. You can’t stand the idea of men having their own gyms – or their own anything.

      • Woodchuck February 3, 2023 at 3:19 pm #

        Will there be gyms during the long emergency? I doubt it. Bicycle riding will be providing excellent cardio workouts for everyone. With an unreliable electric grid and chunk coal very costly, upper body workouts will be the norm for many males who will be slinging heavy wood splitting mauls. They be a bustin’ next years stash for the wood heater. When most people everywhere are physically exhausted at the end of the day, say from doing a day of field stoop labor or field clearing, the gym will be the last place they’ll think about. A wood fired hot tub would be more likely. You prop up a heavy galvanized metal livestock watering tub and get some hot wood coals going under it. Do it outside in winter and enjoy watching the steam coming out of the really warm water.

        • tresho February 4, 2023 at 8:40 am #

          “A wood fired hot tub would be more likely. You prop up a heavy galvanized metal livestock watering tub” Finnish saunas and tiny indigenous wigwams with a pile of hot rocks within meant no tubs of water were required.

          • Woodchuck February 5, 2023 at 12:30 pm #

            I had an invitation once to experience a native american type sweat lodge or something, it was a simple and home made setup in someone’s big backyard. My understanding is saunas are one of the best ways for getting detoxed and rejuvenated. I’ve got plenty of wood and rocks around here but I’m lacking a wigwam.

    • Islander February 3, 2023 at 7:30 pm #

      Hi, Beryl,

      Pornography certainly seems to be getting “normalized.

      Last night I went to see the film “The Whale.”

      It opens with a morbidly—-impossibly—obese man watching gay porno on his laptop, supposedly jerking off. Then he has a heart attack. The whole thing is totally gross.

      We catch glimpses of a man sucking off another guy—. WTF:? We now have to be exposed to porn when we go to the ;movies to see an Oscar-nominated performance?

      The plot of this film is a poster child for intersectionality: gayness, obesity, minority, far-right=wing politics, fundamentalist religion —the American society shown resembles a freak show. Just watching these people act out their weirdness and the disgusting sight on screen of this ugly heap of flesh feels like a kind of pornographic setup.

      The thing is, in some respects US society is a freak show, but some films that home in on this aspect of the USA have done so with much more interesting characters, stories, settings, and plot lines.

      With this film the “plot” basically consists of looking at this monster. And a couple of other weirdos. Just looking at them being weird and mouthing cliches in the current woke “sensitivity” lexicon.

      The film makes a demand for our empathy but shows nothing to empathize with. Still, it dares one to refuse empathy, be disgusted, and walk out.

      Which is what I did. It was just too boring, contrived to push modern-day empathy buttons, with no redeeming qualities. Pornography as an idea can go beyond the depiction of sex acts.

      It is shocking to me that In this dreadful film has been nominated for some top awards. The “controversy” over whether it shames the obese or not is just another crazy twist in the cultural discourse.

      • SpeedyBB February 4, 2023 at 9:35 pm #

        Allied with this is the evident death-wish on the part of consumers for their celebrity stars to go down in flames.

        Rock musicians burning out and dying young, movie stars offing themselves by accident or otherwise (Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse, James Dean, Natalie Wood, Heath Ledger, John Denver) – this tends to stoke, or revive, their popularity. Who wants to look at the withered face of Kirk Douglas (notable for having raped the above-mentioned Natalie Wood) at 100?

        You can even argue that Ernest Hemingway’s decision to eat a shotgun blast revived his literary reputation, which had sagged near the end of his life.

    • Mick February 3, 2023 at 10:48 pm #

      “After I started thinking about this more, I started with my conspiracy theorizing again, and I can see that the normalization and easier availability of pornography in America correlates exactly with the introduction of globalism and the undermining of our country.”

      ————————————————-

      Henry Makow has been writing and speaking about this subject for decades.

      henrymakow.ca

  16. Pucker February 3, 2023 at 10:49 am #

    According the Matthias Desmet, you really don’t require an extensive organized “Conspiracy”. You can create a somewhat messy Conspiracy resulting in messy, confused numbers and data just by brainwashing people in a particular Ideology and then people will adopt biases and act so as to make Reality try to fit their Ideology in order to create a twisted totalitarian Utopia. One third of “totalitarized” people will buy the narrative hook-line-and-sinker. One third won’t buy the narrative, but will keep quiet and conform to the Herd, and 10% to 30% won’t buy it and will resist.

    The big new Utopia is to be created by Technology and Transhumanism to save the planet….

    Mattias Desmet
    The Psychology of Totalitarianism

    • Pucker February 3, 2023 at 12:02 pm #

      I think that Desmet says that if you Brain Fuck a society by socially isolating and atomizing the people while inducing an extremely highly level of ambient anxiety and then suddenly give them a narrative that resolves their anxiety and creates a new social bond and gives them meaning, then the people will subconsciously defend that narrative to the end even if it is absurd and doesn’t make sense.

      You want to create a bogeyman, like Trump, Putin, “anti-vaxxers”, etc. to be the lightning rod for their anxiety for them to attack.

      This analysis probably goes a long way to explaining RussiaGate, the Covid lockdowns, the vaccines, and Ukraine.

      • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:52 pm #

        Explains a lot about the climate hoax too. People are hanging on to that one for dear life, even though it has been exposed as false not only by science, but by the undeniable fact that this stuff didn’t happen.

        There are a lot of young women with a overdeveloped sense of personal responsibility, and a lot of free-floating anxiety.

        This can be a good trait in nature, as the ones who are always alert to trouble are the ones whose families survive.

        When we live in a relatively safe environment, and someone plays on those anxious feelings that have nowhere to go, you have women afraid they destroyed the planet if they threw away a piece of aluminum foil instead of recycling it.

        I can’t speak for the young men. I do know that a guy with anxiety is more likely to reach for a beer than make a doctor appointment.

        Maybe that’s what the games are all about. An escape from real-world anxieties.

        Boys used to play video games in the same room with their friends. Now they play with strangers.

        • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 3:21 pm #

          I have never understood why so many hold on to (often absurd on their face) beliefs that have virtually no meaning in their daily lives.

          Climate change, 9/11, etc.

          When contradicting information surfaces, it makes me curious, and I find the discovery process quite exciting, TBH .

          Others seem desperate to live in fear and stay in the comfort zone of being told what to do.

          • Anthea February 5, 2023 at 5:35 am #

            @ Night Owl:

            These belief systems really are an interesting pathology. There are probably several reasons for it.

            I think a lot of people like the idea of catastrophic climate change, or the Rapture, of some kind of apocalypse, for the simple reason that their lives as they are now living them are unbearable: without meaning or worth, or unbearably oppressive. They long for some kind of drastic change–and probably fantasize about being a person of some special importance in this changed world. Or, it could be that life is so unbearable to them that they really don’t want to live, and they view a cataclysmic situation as a kind of desirable form of assisted suicide.

            I also think that some people get fixated on some kind of goofy belief systems because they are idle, empty-headed people in need of something to think about.

            Also, imagining that the black helicopters are coming for you and the authorities are listening in on your conversations is a way of imagining that someone has some kind of interest in you–that you are important enough or dangerous enough that the PTB is paying attention to you.

            What this really means is that you are desperate for attention, and the reason you are desperate for attention is because nobody pays in attention to you.

            I have a friend like that. He engages in many elaborate rituals to secure is phone from…well, I’m not sure what. He has a hat to secure his head from…something. He thinks his neighbors are continually surveilling him. I guess he thinks EVERYONE is continually surveilling him. The truth is, he is not of the slightest interest to anyone. But it pleases him to think he is Secret Agent 007.

            A lot of these absurd belief systems are gateways to fantasy worlds.

            Fantasies are the mind’s defense against unbearable stress. Everyone engages in this to some extent. So–judging from the Western world’s descent into fantasy, you might conclude that modern life is a life that subjects people to unbearable stress. Maybe one of the worst stresses is anomie–being reduced to a non-person of no importance to anyone and no human connection with anyone, and of no interest to anyone.

            There are of course other stresses, and some of them are much more severe.

          • Woodchuck February 5, 2023 at 12:50 pm #

            @ Anthea and about the apocalypse…….

            In Israel during the general era of Jesus, Judaism consisted mainly of 4 different sects. The really interesting one was the Essenes, the Jewish apocalypticists. They were expecting the end of the age to be just around the corner. Men like John the Baptist lived simple, celibate, and holy lives, getting ready for the time God intervenes and destroys the forces of evil, setting up a new kingdom. Jesus was preaching an already familiar message that had been in circulation from other sources. Preaching that the kingdom of God was at hand, it was here! Repent and make way. I think the Essene’s were pacifists who wore white robes and went through frequent purification rituals involving water, thus the popular message and ceremony with John the Baptist. Essene’s had their own communes where they lived apart from the rest of urban Jerusalem. They were the opposite of the Zeolots, who were focused instead on rebellion, urban warfare, hidden daggers etc. They were really not that different from the Rapture enthusiasts, who believe the second coming and the end of the age is arriving at any moment.

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 8:51 pm #

            @Anthea, excellent comment.

      • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:52 pm #

        Yes, such women are typically terrified of men and their ambient anxiety makes them very hard (and dangerous) to work with.

        At the drop of a pin, they will try to get their husband (the State) to destroy men who have frightened them or crossed their huge boundaries. That why the State put women of the same ilk in HR – as a way to keep men down. And the birthrate as well…..

        • Anthea February 5, 2023 at 5:44 am #

          @ Jarek:

          No one is “terrified” of you. You are not that important. You are terrified of everyone else, though of women in particular. So much so that you fear to get a job or engage with other people at any level.

          So, being an idle fellow who is of no interest or value to anyone, you have woven a fantasy to fill your otherwise empty head.

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 12:50 pm #

            I’m of great interest to you. I’ve told you the truth about yourself after all. In a deep sense, I’m your best friend.

          • MaryQueen February 6, 2023 at 10:21 am #

            That’s also my take on him, as well. I’m guessing he sits around viewing OnlyFans sites and hanging out in the Manosphere.

            His hate seems to get more obsessive every week. Notice he can’t respond to anything, no matter the topic, without touting fascism or hating on women and blacks.

      • Islander February 3, 2023 at 7:31 pm #

        Desmet does not make sense.

  17. BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 10:59 am #

    Not too worry, German Panzers are rolling east once again, not Tigers this time but Leopards, which retired US Colonels & Generals on CNN & Fox assure us will be “Game Changers” in the war on the eastern front.

    Don’t think the Russians are ignoring the symbolism of confronting German tanks on the Dneiper in 2023; the specter of it figured prominently in Putins somber words yesterday at the commemoration of the end of the battle of Stalingrad 80 years ago. We may not think of Stalingrad much here, but when you lose 1.1 million soldiers in a single campaign, it looms rather large in the historical National Conscience. On an ominous note, Putin stated that he would defend Russia’s borders with all means at his disposal, an oblique reference to Russia’s nuclear arsenal. I hope policy makers in Brussels & DC heed Putin’s words and realize Russia is not a country to be trifled with.

    • badberries February 3, 2023 at 11:41 am #

      Those Panzers still bear the Eisen Kreuz.

      • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 11:56 am #

        An Abrams weighs about 140-150,000 lbs. In my town half the bridges are weight restricted. You can’t take a log or cement truck over them. Of course the bridges in Ukraine are in much better shape. The Abrams is an overweight pig. The Russian T-90 is quite a bit lighter at 90,000 lbs. and 1/2 the price.

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 12:00 pm #

          and Russian tanks run on plain old ubiquitous Diesel. Abrams need Jet Fuel.

      • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 12:44 pm #

        Yes they do bear the Iron Cross but my guess those symbols will be sandblasted off and replaced by LBGQT iconography (rainbow flag with plenty of bright colors)

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 1:00 pm #

          Yep, and instead of a name like ‘Fury’ on the barrel it’ll be Karen, Sally, Kitty and Jodi.

          • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 2:55 pm #

            Or they can just add 1 “r” and call it “Furry”

        • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 1:11 pm #

          Someone pointed out to me that ‘trans’ is not a sexuality.

          • badberries February 3, 2023 at 1:28 pm #

            Sex and Gender are not the same.

            Sex is biological,

            Gender is Cultural. ‘Trans’ is gender.

          • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 1:56 pm #

            Gender is linguistic. Trans is nothing.

          • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 2:56 pm #

            Trans doesn’t really exist except as a delusion.

            As a social construct, it is certainly not a sexuality.

          • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 3:02 pm #

            It certainly does not belong on a flag with other sexualities.

          • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 11:44 am #

            Why must we even have a flag celebrating alternative sexual proclivities? So some people have something to wave in our face without dropping their drawers?

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 11:33 am #

            Thank you, hmuller.

            Why is there a flag to start with, denoting sexuality?

            I preferred the days when people kept their sex lives to themselves. Why is it anyone’s business and why is it shoved in our faces?

          • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 12:03 pm #

            I agree, Mary. Don’t wave your freak flag in my face, oh young tattooed one.
            I am most certainly not interested in your sex life.

        • Socrates-Detroit February 3, 2023 at 1:27 pm #

          Yes, some one here educate me, what is the significance of the “Iron Cross”?

          Is it Prussian? German? I associate it with WW2 aircraft and tanks, and the SS symbol.

          How come the politically correct Germans didn’t just put three stripes, black/red/yellow and be done?

          • badberries February 3, 2023 at 1:32 pm #

            I think for the Germans, it links back to very early Christianity, I’ve seen vintage WWI and earlier uniforms where the buckles had “Gott Mitt Uns” – (God is with us).

          • Blackbird February 3, 2023 at 3:22 pm #

            Ironically, the “Iron Cross” (a form of tatzenkreuz) motif wasn’t used on WWII vehicles. It was used by the German Empire and the Weimar Republic before the WWII and by the post-war republic, but not by Nazi Germany. The Nazis used a Balkenkreuz on their vehicles.

            The Iron Cross has its roots in the cross of the Teutonic knights who conquered Prussia for Jesus. So yes, Prussia and Germany. No, WWII and SS.

          • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 3:35 pm #

            Blackbird, that is true for vehicles, but the Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz) was adopted by the Nazis. It was on flags and it was an award.

          • Blackbird February 3, 2023 at 8:24 pm #

            True. I was trying to correct the “tanks wearing the iron cross” meme that is so popular lately.

            I think Germany should have used the iron cross on their vehicles in WWII – it looks so… German.

      • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 3:24 pm #

        The Eisernes Kreuz goes back much farther than the Nazis.

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 4:20 pm #

          Some pretty knowledgeable peeps on the forum today. I always wanted 2 airplanes, P-51 Mustang and ME-109.

          I was working in Germany and a colleague invited me to his Family estate. My first evening there, he was showing me to my room, we walked down a hallway that had several photographs of the Family and the property. One of the photos was of a man standing by a Messerschmidt-109 but in the wrong livery. He was surprised to hear me name the plane. He pointed to the guy and said “my Father, in Spain fighting the with Franco”.

          After supper, he asked if I would like to see the plane? Whaaaa?..Yes!! We again walked the hallway with the photos, took a turn and we were suddenly in an enormous hanger and there she was, back in the livery of fascist Espana.

          When Spain ‘surplused’ the plane (1966?), his Father went to the auction, bought his old plane, dis-assembled it and brought it home on the train (minus armaments of course.). He overhauled it and continued to fly until his death.

          I kick myself for not getting a picture of my smiling mug in that cockpit. It was a tight squeeze.

          • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 6:12 pm #

            Nice story BB, I thought the coolest thing about the 109 was the upside down V-12 Daimler- Benz engine.

          • badberries February 3, 2023 at 6:50 pm #

            Stelmos,
            I was fascinated by the 20 mm “Tank Killer” Cannon that fired through the Engine Crank-shaft. Not all variants had that but, I tell you, the Germans are
            non-Pareil when it comes to thinking outta the box. Imagine trying to get THAT timing just right.

          • Blackbird February 3, 2023 at 8:47 pm #

            Actually, the cannon fired through the propeller shaft. The propeller was connected to the engine via a gearbox, and the cannon barrel slid through a tube between the two banks of cylinders.

            That was cool that you had the opportunity to sit in a 109, even if it was the Spanish version – the one you see in all the movies.

            The Messerschmidt I’d want parked in my garage would be the 262. With those four 30 mm cannons you can bust open any can thrown at you. And with those two turbojets, you can get out of trouble even more quickly than you got into it.

            Speaking of P-51s, surplus Mustangs were available for as little as $3,500 in the late forties.

          • badberries February 5, 2023 at 12:53 pm #

            @blackbird, Re; buying a Mustang for $3500.
            In the sixties I remember going w/ pops to the auctions at Fort Harrison (west of Helena Mt.). There were cases of M1 Garands, 1903 A3 Springers, .45ACP’s, mountains of ammo all going for pennies on the dollar, Unertl sniper scopes, survival gear, all surplus. For my dad it was an opportunity to visit / some old friends. (he was Quartermaster) For me it was a chance to really see all of the cool stuff on shows like; Combat, 12 O’clock High, McHales Navy.

    • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 11:49 am #

      I think the western leaders are greedy/stupid enough to push Putin to use the nuclear arsenal. But I’m especially cynical these days.

      • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:53 pm #

        A lot of people should be hanging for crimes against humanity. Nuclear war will blow all that away.

        • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 2:57 pm #

          Yep. I guess they suspect they may be caught, so they have to get ahead of it by blowing everyone up.

          This does make sense to the PTB.

          That “We have to destroy the city to save it” mentality (like they used on the Branch Davidians for example).

      • Blackbird February 3, 2023 at 3:24 pm #

        I think they all work for the same paymasters, and those investors do not want their investment flash-fried.

  18. BULLITT February 3, 2023 at 11:01 am #

    So here we go! The news this morning is a total train wreck! Kevin McCarthy says that Ashli Babbitt’s death was caused by an officer doing his job! The Chinese Ballon is keeping an eye on our missile sites, Biden and his son keeps making more money and they think we are all jerks. The Squad has shown its true colors. Too bad girls!
    We are losing in Ukraine although CNN is ready to have a victory parade in NYC. Jobs report is out. We employed a lot of waitresses! Our local stores have quit sale flyers since there’s nothing on sale. And bring your own bag, no more plastic bags.
    As I said before, we need a real house (and senate) cleaning. We can’t survive this with the people we now have in charge. They no longer fear the people. As Jim said recently, wait until all the free stuff comes to an end.

    • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 11:23 am #

      It will be interesting to see how CNN & the US State Dept. spin it when the Ukrainian army totally disintegrates, which by some accounts it’s pretty close to doing now.

    • redrock February 3, 2023 at 11:25 am #

      Does that balloon have Biden Industries printed on it????

    • Amman February 3, 2023 at 11:48 am #

      XXhttps://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/670a25da86aa2cf03007126eb974b1d3a84427892539101845505e1a435667d0.jpg?w=800&h=985

    • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:16 pm #

      Did Mister Babbitt have anything to say about McCathy’s remark?

  19. JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 11:01 am #

    I do not get it. The GOP side economists are all expounding about the need for Fed control with higher interest rates to control the heavy spending inflation that has occurred. We are heading into a recession.

    Uh, what happened in January. Inflation moderated to the 5% range and the jobs report shows 3.4% unemployment with new jobs up 517000 instead of 168000 predicted.

    ????????

    Having more man hours producing more goods will offset spending with inflation, IMHO.

    Numbers like this, pumped up by the MSM, sure does not help 2024 GOP chances.

    I do not understand, Biden was smirking this AM.

    • redrock February 3, 2023 at 11:21 am #

      I can make a report show anything I want. If you believe those figures welcome to hell.

      • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 11:36 am #

        I understand about data fixing, but I hear no counter data from the alternatives, and they do exist. Trends count, if the measuring technique stays constant.

        This allowed Biden to stand up and tell the US population,

        “See that”, I was right all along.

        Drives me crazy as I switch the channel.

        • Not_GeorgeT February 3, 2023 at 2:19 pm #

          Consider: If you keep watching the tv, the drive will be rather short.

        • Anthea February 4, 2023 at 7:55 am #

          @ JohnAZ:

          If you wanted to go to the trouble, you could figure out your personal inflation rate for yourself, just by keeping track of prices. As far as an increase in employment, I suspect this count arises from all the instances in which one person has two or three jobs and is counted two or three times.

          Even assuming BLS statistics were true, it takes quite a bit of analysis to unpack their meaning. For one thing, people continually enter and leave the labor force. Young people reach an employable age; old people die or retire; some people become disabled. And…uh…bazillions of undocumented immigrants flow across our southern border.

          In order for employment to even remain stable, jobs must increase at the same rate as the increase in the labor force. For employment numbers to actually improve, jobs have to increase at a rate that is greater than the increase in the labor force.

          Another thing, re your idea that, “Having more man hours producing more goods will offset spending with inflation, IMHO,”
          I assume you are talking about GDP.

          GDP doesn’t really measure actual production of goods and services. GDP includes government employment. By any kind of honest accounting system, government employment would go on the debit site of the ledger as an overhead expense.

          Also, about 20% of the US GDP is from health care. Karl Denninger frequently points out that health care work is not production; it is an overhead expense. It may indirectly contribute to productivity (by getting the sick back to work), but probably not, since it mainly disables and kills people.

          It’s very easy to look at economic data all wrong, even if you had hones data.

  20. Pucker February 3, 2023 at 11:05 am #

    When was the last time that “We”, as a coherent, unified society and culture, threw a young Virgin into the volcano?

    Support this blog on PatreonSupport this blog on Substack
    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
  21. Pucker February 3, 2023 at 11:20 am #

    Since the Chinese Comm…nudists still practice necromancy does this mean that “We” are at a strategic disadvantage in negotiating with the Chinese unless we also practice necromancy?

    Does the big negotiator and Hollywood “Swinger”Henry Kissinger still live in a spartan apartment that resembles a Holiday Inn hotel room with books and dirty laundry piled on top of the extra twin bed? Is Kissinger’s messy bedroom still bugged by Alexander Haig?

    • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:07 pm #

      Haig was demonized as a monster. Was he in reality a fine man, a patriot, an officer and a gentleman?

      • BackRowHeckler February 4, 2023 at 5:46 am #

        Haig lived in town here. We’d see him around. Once I saw him at the hardware store.

  22. toktomi February 3, 2023 at 11:23 am #

    @JHK

    …choreographed, of course, by the global ruling elite as but a single puzzle piece in the large picture of global depopulation and industrial downsizing, eh?

    Well, good luck to them, I say most disingenuously, bunch of genetic mutants with illusions, delusions of longer term survival.

    Henry Kissinger sounded the alarm about AI. If yer AI is as proficient as it needs to be in order to run the sims and flip the billions of switches that execute the step-down industrial transition, then it’s “smart” enough to realize that the busted empathy genes [psychopathy] and busted satiation genes [greed] of the ruling elite are not the human creature that belongs on this magnificent Earth. Algo has their number. So, guess who will be joining the rest of us in this “reset”.

    None of this is true, of course.

    ~toktomi~

    • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 11:41 am #

      JHK participated in a show, still available on You tube, called,

      “The Prophets of Doom”.

      One of the experts talked about AI and the singularity.

      JHK, peak oil, another peak fresh water and AI.

      A really good discussion of 12 years or so ago. Looking back at it shows how accurate the prophets were then.

      • mrs_saj February 3, 2023 at 1:13 pm #

        Speaking of fresh water, has anyone read about California dumping it’s fresh rain water (when it rains to excess) into the ocean? Forbes.com had a story on it, but there was other coverage as well. Sorry I don’t have a link.

        Dumping fresh water into the ocean turns it into salt water, thus rendering it obsolete for irrigation. These people can’t be this stupid. Maybe they can reroute their $5M per black resident to some sort of rain water reclamation project?

        • cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 1:24 pm #

          Doesn’t surprise me. All of California is high on dope and meth, they can’t think straight to save their lives. Look at London Breed, mayor of San Francisco. A total nut job! And let’s not even get started on Newscum!

        • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:10 pm #

          Yup. The crisis has been apparent for decade. On a fairly regular basis, at least every few years, California, is innundated by heavy rains – even Southern California. Yet nothing has ever been done to collect this resource.

        • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 2:47 pm #

          I know right. If they had any brains they would dam Yosemite Valley and fill it with water. Bunch of stupid rocks. Oh, wait a minute . They already did that with the Hetch Hetchy Valley. The problem with run-off is there really is no practical way to store it without flooding something.

          • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 3:06 pm #

            Indians used to use cisterns. How hard can it be if Indians could do it?

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 3:25 pm #

            A long time ago I read an article about the landscaper who planned NY Central and Golden Gate parks.

            They hired him to plan something for LA. He came up with a plan to turn the area around the San Gabriel and LA rivers into parks.

            Most of the time they would be parks available for the citizens to enjoy, but when the once-a-decade heavy rains came, the area would flood and the water would sink into the earth.

            The TPTB in LA decided to ignore that plan and build houses all over the place, turning the riverbeds into cement culverts.
            Which the idiots who moved to LA scream should be turned into freeways, because in their tiny little minds adding yet another freeway to LA would magically stop the traffic that the last 50 freeways did not alleviate.

            And then they bitch and moan when the occasional rains go into the ocean. You know, the water cycle. How dare they!

          • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 4:04 pm #

            Yes, California needs dams on all their rivers to store water.

            One huge problem is the river environmentalists who want to tear down dams. For 3x ample, they have been trying to tear down Glen Canyon dam on Lake Powell since it was built.

            Dammit people, don’t you realize that is you take a good part of the boomer generation and move them to the SW, you better take care of the fresh water situation. For Damn once, think proactive instead of reactive.

            If I was in charge, ha, one of the first things would be to stop snowbirds from migrating here. Until the water storage is back under control.

            Swimming pools, oh boy. If the choice was farmers versus swimming pools, which should happen.

            Couple of facts about pools here, unless you are willing to dip into 70s, you are limited in pool time to 3-4 months a year. The nighttime temps keep the pools low. In the summer, pools lose 2 inches from evaporation a day, a huge loss.
            Phoenix and Tucson are going to be hurting units, THIS YEAR. LA next year if trends continue.

            This SW situation is a very good indication of why the Federals cannot fix much of anything. Reaction instead of pro action. Having Doug Ducey and his denial crowd from the Deep State in office meant nothing was acknowledged.

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 6:05 pm #

            “because in their tiny little minds adding yet another freeway to LA would magically stop the traffic that the last 50 freeways did not alleviate.”

            Yep, the Jevons paradox so often foils environmentalists who don’t do their homework.

          • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 12:05 pm #

            A word for Hetch Hetchy. It was said to be even more beautiful than Yosemite, and the destruction of it broke John Muir’s heart.

            But the gimmes in California got water to make lawns, so……it all evens out.

          • stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 4:35 pm #

            Hey Junkies and illegals need water too. Have a heart.

      • toktomi February 3, 2023 at 3:27 pm #

        @JohnAZ

        yup, sounds like the James Howard of “The Long Emergency”.

        I’m not sure that this is the same James of yore.

        ~toktomi~

      • Islander February 3, 2023 at 7:37 pm #

        Well, rainwater flows into the ocean anyhow.

        The idea of “dumping fresh water into the ocean” sounds like someone misunderstood something.

        That’s where the ocean comes from—-fresh water flowing into it . . . .

        • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:08 am #

          “That’s where the ocean comes from—-fresh water flowing into it . . . .” The remainder of the conversion is done by the heat of the sun and the varying winds.

        • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 1:22 pm #

          And civilization means not letting nature take its course without serving us. The art is to not uproot it completely, to strike a balance.

          Once the fresh water goes into the ocean, it become salty and useless to us without a large expenditure of energy to desalinate it.

    • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 11:52 am #

      Coincidentally, I am seeing AI pushed heavily on LinkedIn right now, by people I follow there.

      The AI is supposed to do all the tasks now (if you use them) that lower-level workers do, even up to writing blogs and data crunching.

      But none of these people broach the subject of what happens to those replaced workers.

      • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 12:43 pm #

        Mary, 517000 new jobs this month, they are going somewhere?

        • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:54 pm #

          Those are the vacancies from people losing their jobs.

          • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:13 pm #

            Zing! Statistics don’t explain themselves, John. Often the explanations are an attempt to hide the truth. Technology takes jobs. The new ones it creates don’t equal the ones lost. That’s why they do it: To save money.

            Capitalism is your ideology, your love. You need defend her, not run from her hideous blemishes.

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 11:44 am #

            Yep.

            There is no job boom. There are a lot of desperate people posting on NextDoor begging for jobs and ways to keep the wolf from the door. People are really hurting.

      • toktomi February 3, 2023 at 5:00 pm #

        @MaryQueen

        A question more germane to the current state of the world might be this. What happens to the 7E9 dead bodies?

        • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 6:25 pm #

          seattletimes.com/seattle-news/washington-on-the-cusp-of-becoming-first-state-to-legalize-human-composting/

          • Islander February 3, 2023 at 7:38 pm #

            Hmm, composting humans, or their feces?

          • GreenAlba February 3, 2023 at 7:58 pm #

            Definitely ‘human remains’ according to the article.

          • Islander February 3, 2023 at 9:42 pm #

            Well, two birds with one stone and all that . . . why not?

            Returning humans to the cycles of nature is very appealing.

            Surely that explains the popularity of people reserving places in forest settings for the interment of their own remains.

          • Mick February 3, 2023 at 10:59 pm #

            Well, there are definitely plenty of human remains for composting these days. More every week.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 10:46 am #

            islander – re forest settings, an earlier iteration of my husband’s Will stated that he’d like to be ‘buried under a fruit tree, such as a hazel’. The wording always amused me as it sounded as if the tree was already there and they’d have to get him underneath it. 🙂

          • Islander February 4, 2023 at 11:31 am #

            GA:

            Yes, it is pretty hard to dig a hole near a tree because of the roots. But it should be possible to dig a few narrow holes and put the ashes into them. And the rain would soak them into the ground and nourish the tree. This the best we can aim for when it comes to “interment” which means “into the earth.” Works for me!

            I am having the same thoughts because I have to get my father’s ashes into the ground, and I know the tree where he would want them to be —but there is a little problem with the location of the tree . . . Have to sneak in there in the off-season, but after the ground has thawed . . . I’ll have to check into “concealed-carry” laws for shovels . . . . .

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 12:03 pm #

            Ah, yes, if you choose cremation, it is techinically possible, if not entirely legal! He was thinking of a normal burial, so a whole coffin.

        • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 11:52 am #

          It was inevitable along with the new “euth yourself” laws in Canada, I’m guessing that’ll be here in the US soon enough.

  23. badberries February 3, 2023 at 11:37 am #

    Right now the Harpies in DC are aflutter about a CCP Balloon over Montana.

    “A Spy Balloon” they squawk. “Shoot it Down!!!”.

    My Dad worked on the Silos and other underground constructions.

    I used to drive by them everyday, I’ve been inside LCF 1-M, ( launch control facility) Every LCF has a “wing” of 10 MM-III’s Each Minute-Man III has three independently targeted re-entry vehicles. This was during that fleeting moment of sanity known as Glasnost.

    Just like in the movies, there’re two guys wearing ascots, sitting 15 feet apart on office chairs mounted on tracks.

    My point is, there’s nothing to be gleaned via a Balloon that can’t be discovered via sitting in your comfortable automobubble.

    The LCF’s try to appear as a normal installation, -Basketball court, Volleyball court, chin-up bars etc. In the 11 million times I drove past them, not once did I ever see anybody above ground.

    • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 11:45 am #

      Years ago, a KLM flight wandered over Russian territory and was immediately shot down.

      If the government is not there to protect our borders and air space, what is it for. Again, Biden’s Mob does nothing.

      • badberries February 3, 2023 at 11:56 am #

        I’m thinking it was JAL007 flying over Sakhalin Island on Lang-ly business and had happened before. So, KaBlooie!

        • JohnAZ February 3, 2023 at 12:42 pm #

          Thanks for the correction? I thought I remembered that the one had passengers on board.

          Another situation , remember Gary Powers in 1960 in XB 70 spy plane over Russia. His getting shot down embarrassed the heck out of the Pentagon.

          Are the Chinese just floating surveillance over us, what a way to do it. Who needs satellites and high altitude aircraft. We are too afraid to deal with it.

          • badberries February 3, 2023 at 1:18 pm #

            Yes, JAL-007 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight (heavy) CIA wanted to know when the Rooskies were able to detect the overflight. It was done several times before, the USSR finally got tired of it and shot it down. I remember it well b/c I was in the air a lot in those days.

            I also remember Francis Gary Powers in the cockpit of a U-2 getting blown outta the sky and captured. They usta fly right over my house en route to North Pole and Commie land. Do you remember Sonic Booms? The SR-71 gave two booms, it was just a dinky little smudge waaaaay up high.

          • hmuller February 3, 2023 at 6:55 pm #

            Let’s get the facts straight. KAL007 – Korean
            Airlines Flight 007. September 01, 1983. New York to Seoul with a stopover in Anchorage.

            All 246 passengers and 23 crewmen dead after the Russians shot it down. Included on the list was Congressman Larry MacDonald.

            A 247th passenger decided at the last minute not to board the flight. His name – former President Richard Nixon – sheer luck, premonition, warned off? Makes you wonder.

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 7:20 pm #

            Facts? We don’t need no stinking facts. Our rulers tell us a story, we believe it, and that settles it.

            However……..

            “The place: Soviet airspace over Sakhalin Island.

            A Korean Air Boeing 747 carrying 269 passengers and crew from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seoul, South Korea, is 587 km off course – a world record in the history of civil aviation. For five hours and seven minutes the aircraft flies undetected over the most heavily defended airspace in the world, in a region that is a hotbed of superpower reconnaissance activity.

            When Soviet radar finally discovers the bogey, officers at the secret Sokol air base scramble a Sukhoi-15. The supersonic aircraft, piloted by Lt Col Gennadi Osipovich, approaches the 747 from the rear. He levels up alongside the 747 and fires three warning bursts – totalling 520 rounds – from his canon. Osipovich is hoping to force land the intruder, but he sees the Boeing trying to evade him.

            Having positively identified the intruder as a foreign aircraft, Soviet ground control officers order Osipovich to shoot it down. He fires two air to air missiles which explode 50 m from the 747. Minutes later the aircraft hits the ocean. There are no survivors.”

            Yep, there they were, flying along, minding their OWN business, 587 km off course. An innocent mistake, of course.

            Jeez. The bullshit people believe.

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 7:23 pm #

            An flight named 007. What is that about satanists and their fondness of signaling and numerology?

            rbth.com/blogs/2013/09/24/target_destroyed_the_hidden_secret_of_kal_007_29607

          • badberries February 4, 2023 at 10:58 am #

            Herr Muller, Thanks for hitting the ‘Refresh’ tab. You’re correct, it was KAL-007.

          • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 12:09 pm #

            Paula, the reason the plane was so far off course is a matter of debate.

            1) As you implied maybe it was aiding in some spy mission over Soviet territory.

            2) Someone typed the wrong numbers into the navigational settings. This raises a lot of questions about how the plane’s location went unnoticed by the pilots thereafter.

            3) My favorite explanation based on 5 years in Korea and getting to know how the people act and think. We know KAL awarded cash bonuses to pilots who saved on fuel. Maybe these pilots were willing to take a gamble with everyones’ lives to take a shortcut, save fuel, and collect some cash.

            I know it sounds ludicrous to us. But you’d be amazed at the the way they cut corners and jeopardize safety to save a little money.

            I was in Seoul in 1995 when a new five story supermarket collapsed during rush hour (5 pm) killing 500 people. Many load bearing pillars had been eliminated from the original blueprints, a swimming pool added to the roof, and building inspectors placated with bribes.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 1:54 pm #

            That could be how they got the pilots to go along with the plan, for sure, hmuller.

            No one wants to risk their lives, unless there is money involved.

    • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 1:42 pm #

      This sounds like a manufactured scare hype to me.

      A weather balloon? Seriously?
      The Chinese have satellites, just like we do. Why would they need a weather balloon?

      It sounds absurd. I think this is another bullshit story put out to see who falls for it.

      If you didn’t fall for covid you shouldn’t fall for “weather balloon”.

      • Jarek February 3, 2023 at 2:16 pm #

        Or swamp gas (methane?) UFO’s.

      • Mick February 3, 2023 at 11:01 pm #

        I think it is at the least a diversionary story.

      • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:12 am #

        Directly from the English language (Red) Chinese Foreign Ministry website (ends in ‘.cn’) “Foreign Ministry Spokesperson’s Remarks on the Unintended Entry of a?Chinese Unmanned Airship into US Airspace Due to Force Majeure
        2023-02-03 21:32
        Q:?According to media reports, a Chinese unmanned airship has?been?spotted in US airspace. Do you have any comment?

        A: The airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure. The Chinese side will continue communicating with the US side and properly handle this unexpected situation caused by force majeure.”

        • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:13 am #

          I expect even after the above, ” this is another bullshit story put out to see who falls for it.”

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 12:08 pm #

            It is quite common for them to rile up the masses on a Friday, as I observed earlier.

            But yeah, an off-course balloon causing mass hysteria because of media hype? The Washington Post had FIVE articles about this on their website yesterday. The story was hyped beyond belief on every possible media outlet.

            This is a test, it is only a test.

          • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 12:24 pm #

            Maybe the “weather balloon” is following a homing beacon from Hunter Biden’s laptop computer. Its mission : to collide with and blow up the device, destroying incriminating evidence.

            You may say, “Yeah, but it’s too late, there are copies.”

            But are they legally certified copies of the original data with a chain of custody recorded? You see, on a legal technicality the copies may not be admissible evidence. Destroy the original and that’s one less Biden problem.

            Now all they need is an unexplained garage fire.

    • toktomi February 3, 2023 at 5:17 pm #

      @bd

      agreed, full 3-d audio and visual [+ whatever other RF wavelengths might be in play] surveillance.

      Well, of course, fuck this shit! But waving bed sheets at the aurora borealis will do little to mitigate the effects of those lethal injections that so many volunteered for.

      ~toktomi~

  24. cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 12:18 pm #

    I recently purchased all 4 titles of Jim’s World Made By Hand series and received them in yesterday’s deliveries. I am looking forward to digging into these soon and enjoying the plot lines as they apply to our present lives.

    • mrs_saj February 3, 2023 at 1:26 pm #

      I gleaned everything I could about Union Grove, New York in all four books and used the information to guide my years long search for property that would be advantageously situated after a collapse. I’m not kidding.

  25. Kevvia Knack February 3, 2023 at 12:25 pm #

    SoCal auto club is promoting a new guide of some sort for EVs. The person interviewed on the radio this morning sputtered on and on about this exciting transition! Who can afford to buy an EV? I see social chaos and collapse

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  26. Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:29 pm #

    I’ve talked about this before at this site, the creeping authoritarianism in our society, and how some people just loved it.

    I used to call it ‘everybody wants to be a narc’.

    This man explains it pretty well.

    I’m thinking of how many issues in our society would just go away if people would just learn to mind their own damn business.

    They get trained to think everything everybody else chooses to do is their business, and that’s how we get totalitarian societies, biggest The Man is going to save them from the bad people doing the bad thing, like maybe eating at McDonald’s or eating at home but cooking on a gas stove.

    “”There’s something totalitarianism offers, which [some] people deeply enjoy…it takes away all control you have over your own life. But it gives you incredible power over the life of your neighbor…For some people, it’s a great substitute for freedom.”
    https://twitter.com/JanJekielek/status/1619702121427013634?cxt=HHwWhMDU2e6fq_osAAAA

    • Islander February 3, 2023 at 12:41 pm #

      The covid scam sure brought out the mini-totalitarians—the enforcers, the Karens—in force, didn’t it.

      • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 3:01 pm #

        Yes, it really did expose the authoritarian mindset types.

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 3:14 pm #

          A simple approach; “I will not Comply”!

        • Anthea February 4, 2023 at 8:40 am #

          I think a big part of the Karen mindset is that they don’t see other people as their friends, neighbors, and family, but rather as enemies and competitors. So anything that hurts or disadvantages other people is good for them.

          Public acceptance of drug-testing for employment is one example. The Karen type will think, “Since I don’t smoke weed, this will decimate my competition for the job. I will be able to get on at Home Depot.”

          Same with the covid measures. For one thing, it gives the Karens a long-frustrated opportunity to harass others–people whom they always viewed as enemies anyway. And if the unvaxxed lose their jobs, the Karen view is, “More for me!”

        • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 1:25 pm #

          Yes, there are more women like that than men. Thus “Karen” is utterly appropriate.

  27. Jigplate February 3, 2023 at 12:54 pm #

    As near as I can tell, the US government got tired of losing all of the 4th generation wars, and decided that it wanted to win one for a change. So they are waging a 5th generation war against us.

    • Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 12:55 pm #

      True dat.

    • Woodchuck February 3, 2023 at 1:19 pm #

      As near as I can tell, the US government hasn’t won a war since 1865 when we won a hard fought victory against ourselves.

      • cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 1:32 pm #

        One of my favorite sayings from a bumper sticker sold at a Southern Civil War battlefield museum, juxtaposed over the stars and bars:

        “Confederate States of America: Fighting Terrorists since 1861”

        • Cavepainter February 3, 2023 at 3:18 pm #

          Pardon me folks, I know this is not my site but I must add to cowbell81’s quote.

          My first philosophy professor was a PhD from the Sorbonne in Paris (also member of the French Underground fighting the occupying Germans). He never stopped inveighing against American’s self-exalting editing (re-writing essentially) of the issues that led to our Civil War, pointing out that Tolstoy in Russia — like all European noble folks who’d been “titled” land— was essentially no different from the US’s plantation owners in the period before our so called “War to End Slavery”.

          For all of us students who’d read Upton Sinclair’s 1905 published novel “The Jungle”, he had to lead us to connect how Harriot Beecher Stow’s 1852 published “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was really a virtue signal (not his label) of its time that gave cover to the fact that in the industrializing north the land-dispossessed poor and uneducated flood of immigrants out of Europe suffered conditions often worse than what Negros suffered in the south because in the South (as characterized by Margarette Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” and Samuel Clemens’s writings) the 3-4 generations relationship between owner/slave families was commonly more similar to kindred, explaining why “chattel” were often better clothed, housed and fed than poor White’s off the plantation.

          Tolstoy (who liked to dress up theatrically as proletariat to work in the fields with them), as with all of titled families in Europe, could expel commoners who’d occupied the acreage for centuries.

          A century without plague resulted in swelled European population crowding into cities like described by Dickens in his 1847 book “A Christmas Carol” (the last paragraph of the book describes the transformed Scrooge “….as good a master as one could want”). In the 1938 British movie of JB Shaw’s 1913 play “Pygmalion” (Hollywood’s 1956 “My Fair Lady”) Liza Dolittle’s father addresses Dr. Higgins and Colonel Pickering as “Governor’s both”, acknowledging that his commoner lot in 20th Century England remained less than “equal”, though legally a “freed man”.

          Sinclair’s book had more to do with actually ending conditions of slavery; eventuating legislation that ended child labor, legalization of labor unions, agencies to enforce workplace safety and, finally (not until the 1940s) enacting laws which criminalized companies hiring goons to brutalize striking workers. In other words, effecting legal balance against hegemonic economic, political and class power. The book’s public impact compelled President Teddy Roosevelt’s administration to nudge forward the four decades legal slog toward true worker class emancipation.

          Emphatically, a clarion rebuke to Lincoln’s meretricious excuse for invading and destroying the South’s agricultural culture, an atrocity carried out with an army of which a great proportion comprised newly arrived European poor who’d been lured {recruited} by issue of desperately needed clothes (uniform) and avoidance of starvation. If Lincoln hadn’t opted for war to prevent the South’s secession there’d likely be no Lincoln Memorial.

          Stowe’s book was written and first published in her hometown of Cincinnati, terminus of the “underground railroad”. A little understanding of how the owner/manager class of the industrializing North was using the flood of Negros from the South to break unionizing efforts awakens grasps of why two of the largest pre-Civil War riots against the “Road to Freedom” occurred in Cincinnati.

          The expression “Wage Slave” is credited to the American writer and associate of Sinclair, Jack London, but in actuality it was coined by Southern Plantation owners pre-Civil War, horrified in witness to the horrible working conditions that Sinclair was decrying in the next century.

          As history repeatedly shows, selective strands pulled from the dense fabric of history allow demagogues to build a “narrative” justifying authoritarian overreach w/concentration of power. The French and Russian revolutions most particularly illustrate how the wobble can stabilize to extreme of “left” or “right” — even alternatively if history’s lessons aren’t headed or get “Cancelled”.

          • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 3:45 pm #

            Interesting points, Cavepainter.

            Propaganda has been around for a lot longer than the internet, for sure.

          • badberries February 3, 2023 at 3:48 pm #

            The “first” slaves in the USA were Indentured Servants from Europe (mostly Ireland).

            Although there are some questions as to their status, these “Servants” who were supposedly “Indentured” for a specific period of time and were due for Freedom upon that times’ expiration.

            The reality is, they were “Free” to die homeless and hungry or stay working with Master and Mistress on the farm for no pay but room and board.

            I am astounded by the “Reparations” discussions going on in Ca. and other states. I think there is a small silent population namely, the Native (First Nation) peoples of the Americas. They have remained largely un-assimilated and ignored. If anyone has a claim to “Reparations” it is they.

          • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 5:42 pm #

            The first African slaves in NAmerica came off a Spanish ship, which the English had siezed in the Caribbean. The settlers in Jamestown didn’t quite know what to make of them. By 1619 the Spanish & Portugese had been running slaves into Brazil and Latin America for 100 years already.

          • Mick February 3, 2023 at 11:07 pm #

            Thanks Cavepainter. That was a post well worth the read. Very interesting.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 12:13 pm #

            Slavery was outlawed in Europe after that bad experience with the Roman slaves, many of whom were enslaved because of debt they were unable to pay. (Take note: that is coming again).

            So when the first Africans came to the US they were held under the existing indentured servant laws and freed at the end of their term. That is where the ”free black men” came from. They could even vote in some colonial states.

            It was a freed African slaveholder who first got the law to say that Africans could be held for life. He had an indentured servant he wouldn’t free. The slave sued. The court ruled for the black slaveholder.
            Eventually the legislators changed the laws for all.

            .smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/horrible-fate-john-casor-180962352/

          • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 1:28 pm #

            Underground railroad vs “rat line”. Two different phrases for the same thing except one being beautiful and positive, the other ugly and negative. The power of words. The power of the Tribe.

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 6:57 pm #

          I saw pretty much the same out west. Four Apaches holding Henry repeating rifles.

          Their Slogan?

          “Fighting Terrorism since 1492.”

          • Cavepainter February 3, 2023 at 10:01 pm #

            Even a casual reading of history, period epic literature or diary accounts allows recognizing how “victimology” is overplayed, preventing grasp that — to the contrary — history’s course is due more to inadvertency than deliberant intent.

            The tsunami of Europeans into North America was unmanageable, treaties not-with-standing. At best, nothing more than temporary pacifications.

            Accounts given by the likes of Cabesa De Vacca contrast with the glib “noble savage” characterization adopted by Eastern gentry a hundred plus years later while pioneer families were still being mercilessly slaughtered.

            Today, there are so called “Indian reservations”. For perspective consider if “the shoe was on the other foot”.

            That is to say, would there now be “European Reservations” if native tribes had united instead of continuing their age-old savaging of one another, had superiority in weaponry and adopted European strategic military planning?

            Well, maybe; if they’d also adopted Western Culture which they’ve yet to enjoin.

          • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 1:30 pm #

            We’re living on conquered land. The Liberals still aren’t willing to accept the implications of that. Because it they did, they’d have to leave.

            Poor idiots.

          • badberries February 5, 2023 at 1:01 pm #

            Paula,
            Last month I sold a Sterling Spoon on ebay, it commemorated 150th year abolishment of Slavery in Denmark. 1788-1938

          • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 6:58 pm #

            Did Denmark have slaves? Or did they traffic them? Or was it virtue signaling?

            I have never heard of slaves in Denmark.

  28. cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 12:59 pm #

    Is this a duplicate? My original post does not seem to be going through! Chalk this up to Chinese censorship.

    It’s a foreign object over our airspace, SHOOT IT DOWN ALREADY!!!!

    wwwXXX.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/chinese-spy-balloon-forecast-to-fly-over-these-states-in-the-next-few-hours/ar-AA1753dR?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b0b93f6c17cc428287c0265d1082b390

    To any readers here in the balloon’s flight path over the coming days, I would strongly suggest trying to take it down. Do we have any small aircraft private pilots on here? If so, do your best to protect us and take this thing down. I cannot believe the weak spine of our leaders on this, yet another example not to trust our government and think they are doing what is best for us.

    • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 4:46 pm #

      What do you think a balloon is going to do?

      • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 4:56 pm #

        Censor his comments to the Kunstler blog, apparently.

        It must be stopped!!!!

      • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:18 am #

        “What do you think a balloon is going to do?” I have no idea. All I know about it is what I can glean from the MSM and internet postings. As far as I can tell, I still have electrical power to my home, satellite radio is still working, and I am live on the internet.

    • RelativeGuise February 3, 2023 at 7:08 pm #

      A troll could do, right? Aren’t they like two miles tall. give em a groundhog to throw at it,

    • RelativeGuise February 3, 2023 at 7:19 pm #

      a giant a**hole ground hog mutated on steroids of course. Probably more like a whale. that’s what I think about that.

    • Woodchuck February 5, 2023 at 1:03 pm #

      China has no creativity or sense of humor. These giant balloons could be made in the shape of a human rear end, and function as “mooning” balloons. Something to add insult to injury and make the news far more interesting.

  29. elysianfield February 3, 2023 at 1:18 pm #

    Well, ladies and germs;

    An earlier topic was gas stoves. Below is a pic of the exact year and model of gas stove that I have in my kitchen…some would call it an assault stove, or perhaps a stove of mass destruction;

    https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/5735821353133610/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks

  30. cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 1:27 pm #

    Biden won’t even secure our southern border from a bunch of illegal Mexicans coming over. What makes anyone think he would be willing to secure our border and airspace from a Chinese spy balloon. No doubt, someone in a high-level government job was paid off to let this incident proceed.

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    • badberries February 3, 2023 at 1:39 pm #

      We wont do anything because we let our balloons fly randomly too.

      If the CCP wants to surveille our missile silos, all they have to do is drive the back roads of Great Falls Mt. They’re easy to spot, 10 ft. Chain link fence and a big slab of concrete in the middle of it, sensors on the corners. Don’t stop and stare b/c that will summon a Helicopter.

      • cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 3:16 pm #

        Boytoy Biden lovee China long time.

        • badberries February 3, 2023 at 3:24 pm #

          You sound like a woman I knew once in Las Vegas.

          “Knew” as in Adam “knew” Eve.

          • messianicdruid February 3, 2023 at 4:53 pm #

            “You pay me noooow.”

      • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 5:46 pm #

        Doesn’t China operate spy satellites? Why would they resort to hot air balloons. Besides, there are Chicom spies inside every University in the United States. Some comrades say the Bidens are on their payroll.

        • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 7:57 pm #

          F-Troop “It is BaLLooooooN!”

          youtube.com/watch?v=KlyERnu7zUw

  31. amb February 3, 2023 at 1:44 pm #

    The arrogant geniuses have united and basically kidnapped all major governments and countries, and we’re being held hostage. We’re on a runaway train doing 150mph, headed for a concrete wall. The collision will be heard around the world.

    • badberries February 3, 2023 at 3:17 pm #

      I recommend “Locomotive Breath” by Jethro Tull c.1970 as soundtrack. Turn it up!!

    • Blackbird February 3, 2023 at 3:37 pm #

      If the whole forest falls, is there anyone left to hear it?

      • cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 3:41 pm #

        We will all be rendered deaf and blind, bleeding from the eye sockets and ear drums.

  32. cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 2:13 pm #

    The Chinese spy balloon is probably chock full of bioweapons. Watch for it, COVID Part 2 will soon be underway, just in time for summer swimsuit weather.

  33. K-Chien February 3, 2023 at 2:35 pm #

    The American food system is based on manufactured microwavable cheese snacks, chicken nuggets, and frozen pizzas produced by giant companies. These items can’t be grown in home gardens.

    People forced to eat cheese snacks, chicken nuggets, and frozen pizzas produced by giant companies don’t have a place to put a garden.

    • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 3:41 pm #

      Most of Northern Virginia consumes these products, and most residents have enough space for 3 or 4 large gardens.

      As so often, your virtue signaling on behalf of the world’s downtrodden has exposed your cluelessness.

      • K-Chien February 3, 2023 at 6:51 pm #

        Forced to eat.

        Having to pay rent on a place with 3 or 4 large gardens does not leave a lot of time for gardening.

        The home repair dilemma. You have the job and no time, or you have the time but no job.

        • Night Owl February 4, 2023 at 9:06 am #

          When I lived there, I ate virtually none of it. No one with a yard the size of 3 or 4 large gardens is renting either.

        • Woodchuck February 5, 2023 at 1:31 pm #

          Get rid of tv and internet and you’ll free up a lot of time.

    • Rowdypiglet February 3, 2023 at 3:49 pm #

      While people aren’t forced to eat junk food, it’s hard for poor people to avoid it. The dollar stores where many people get the greater part of their food are absolutely full of this crap. There are a few relatively non-toxic things to be had there (beans, rice, a few frozen vegetables), but most of it is unimaginably bad.

      Having grown some veggies the past few years, I can attest that it isn’t particularly cheap to get a garden started. Seeds have become remarkably expensive, as has everything else that is at all related. We grow in containers, and even the once cheap plastic ones have become expensive.

      • Islander February 3, 2023 at 4:42 pm #

        P.S.

        Check out also local thrift shops at this time of year. Quite often people clear out basements, sheds, etc. and planters/pots of different sorts end up in the thrift shop. I just bought three 12-inch-diameter earthenware “saucers’ for two bucks each at the thrift shop. Normally these cost in the double digits. There were also a couple of window boxes, but I left those.

        In fact, a lot of stuff that people throw out can be used as planters. Such as storage boxes missing their tops. Just drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

        as I think Anthea mentioned, pumpkins are one of the easiest and most productive plants to grow—and the seeds are easy to save. They grown like mad on their own on a compost heap, if it in the sun.

      • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 4:49 pm #

        I don’t know if dollar stores vary much but when I lived in CA I went to a dollar store that had a LOT of produce and it was the same stuff that I paid $5 more for at Albertson’s. It was the best kept secret.

        • Anthea February 4, 2023 at 9:53 am #

          @ MaryQueen;

          Our Dollar General in Odessa, Missouri, has never carried any produce. They didn’t have much of a grocery section until the town’s only grocery store closed about five years ago, at which point they expanded their grocery section. However, the town’s only grocery store has recently closed again. This is the third time it’s gone out of business in the past ten years–in a town with a population of 5,000. Other towns in the area have thriving grocery stores with less than half the population.

          None of the Dollar General stores in this area carry any produce. To me, it doesn’t look like any of them have room to add a produce section.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 12:19 pm #

            There are two Dollar Generals in my town. The one by me doesn’t have produce but the other one does.

            My friend was the manager of the other one and she was quite proud of the produce section. I never actually went to hers, because the one by me is very close.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 12:21 pm #

            But the one by me has expanded its grocery section over the years, bit time.

      • badberries February 3, 2023 at 7:03 pm #

        Thank You for shoplifting at Walmart, we have all of your gardening needs.

        They made record profits during the great sickness.

        Time for payback…

    • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 5:20 pm #

      Organic bananas at Trader Joe’s: .25 cents each.

      People choose to eat crap. Sure, it’s addicting. But they still choose to eat it.

      • malthuss February 3, 2023 at 7:02 pm #

        if you need 2000 calories a day you need about 20 bananas.
        $5.

        • Blackbird February 3, 2023 at 8:53 pm #

          Sure, but think how many fruit flies you could feed with the bananas, and how many people you could feed with the fruit flies – with artificial banana flavoring of course.

          • Mick February 3, 2023 at 11:13 pm #

            Lol

          • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:21 am #

            Think about how many maggots you could feed with your unburied body…

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 12:22 pm #

            My chickens think maggots are primo food.

          • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 12:27 pm #

            Your chickens and Klaus Schwab think alike.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 1:57 pm #

            Bird brains unite!

        • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 10:59 am #

          A meal at McDonald’s cost more than that.

          So do Lay’s potato chips.

      • Rowdypiglet February 4, 2023 at 10:36 am #

        MaryQ, In rural New England and Pennsylvania, areas I’m familiar with, there are a few deals to be found like what you mention but you need time and mobility to take advantage of them. None of the dollar stores carry fresh produce and distances are daunting.

        Where I live, it’s much more expensive to shop at your small local store (especially for fresh produce, of which there is little). But everyone in town can walk there, whereas it’s 8 miles to a better stocked grocery store and that takes both money (gas) and time. Today, our little grocery has cabbage, potatoes, carrots, bagged lettuce, onions, green peppers. That’s it.

        • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 12:11 pm #

          That is weird. A bunch of stable produce and then green peppers out of season?
          I would expect in-season produce like maybe oranges, instead.

          • Woodchuck February 5, 2023 at 1:35 pm #

            I have fresh green peppers all year round. I grow a lot of them, chop ’em up, and then place in vacuum seal freezer bags, this process is very fast and easy. I’ve always got a small thawed bag of either hot peppers or sweet ones available in the fridge.

        • Islander February 5, 2023 at 9:00 pm #

          “cabbage, potatoes, carrots, bagged lettuce, onions, green peppers”

          That looks like a pretty good assortment.
          What do you expect?
          It’s winter. Eat root vegetables and cabbage.

  34. Beryl of Oyl February 3, 2023 at 2:38 pm #

    On the topic of Ukraine, here is a popular thread that’s been going around.

    No idea if any of this is true or not.

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1619121813258207233.html

    • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 3:38 pm #

      Victoria Nuland already admitted publicly that there were US bioweapons labs in Ukraine.

      Furthermore, Zelensky is busy destroying records from Metabiota — Joe and Hunter Biden’s cash cow that was doing gain-of-function work.

    • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 3:40 pm #

      Yes, in Russia’s initial move into Ukraine, they went past the Donbass and secured the bioweapons labs and 2 of the nuclear power plants.

      That was a wise move, imo.

  35. Paula D February 3, 2023 at 3:43 pm #

    Our overlords frequently present us with a new piece of “news” on a Friday, in order that we may chew it to bits over the weekend.

    I’m guessing that the “Omigod there is a Chinese weather balloon over Montana!!!” is this weekend’s diversion, meant to distract Americans from their upcoming defeat in Bakhmut and also provide our monitors with information on just how much bullshit people will swallow.

    A win/win project, as the saying goes.

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    • messianicdruid February 3, 2023 at 4:49 pm #

      The timing is pretty handy. If it is carrying an EMP we could be hours away from 75% of the Eastern Grid going away years.

      Why would China make a practice run on something like this?

      • cowbell81 February 3, 2023 at 4:58 pm #

        Well if an EMP is the case, I just want to say it has been real nice chatting with all of you here through the years. We may not be able to convene here on Monday to tell the tale, so good luck and God Speed!

      • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 7:46 pm #

        Last blog Thorshammer mentioned setting off nuclear bombs in order to set off an EMP blast.

        I asked him if there was any other way to do that besides nuclear bombs, but he never answered.

        And now the media is telling you that a weather balloon can do it?

        We need someone to come on this blog and let us know what is actually possible. Cause I’m doubting the balloon story.

        • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 9:38 pm #

          I thought EMPs occurred as a result of a nuclear blast?

          • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:23 am #

            “I thought EMPs occurred as a result of a nuclear blast?” There are other ways to produce EMPs but AFAICT the biggest EMPs are produced that way. US gubmint has EMP testing platforms they use to evaluate how military equipment can stand up to it.

          • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 11:00 am #

            Thanks, tresho.

        • K-Chien February 4, 2023 at 3:57 pm #

          K-Dog is an Electronic Engineer in another life.

          I doubt a significant EMP pulse generator can be put on a balloon.

          Too heavy, the balloon would have to be like something Richard Branson would fly in.

          httpx://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb3.htm

        • K-Chien February 4, 2023 at 3:58 pm #

          K-Dog is an Electronic Engineer in another life.

          I doubt a significant EMP pulse generator can be put on a balloon.

          Too heavy, the balloon would have to be like something Richard Branson would fly in.

          httpx://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb3.htm

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 8:06 pm #

            Thanks, Dog. I figured someone would know. It seemed unlikely to me, but what do I know?

            The bullshit was flying fast and thick though.

    • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 4:50 pm #

      Yes, we never stop falling for ’em.

    • Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 6:00 pm #

      TBH, the entire thing has a whiff of DOD psyop to it.

      Lots of crumbling narratives at the moment.

      • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 11:01 am #

        They are piloting CDBC.

  36. Jo-G February 3, 2023 at 3:46 pm #

    I heard a guy on the radio describe US foreign policy as a being based on a recognition that the US is deteriorating. He said he thought rather than fix our own problems we want to make sure all other countries in the world deteriorate much faster. In terms of the Mr. Kunstler’s view of the long emergency the strategy is to make sure that other countries suffer more than we do. The show was a discussion about Mr. Blinken’s visit to Asia and his attempts to get Asian countries to be more involved on our side in our war against Russia. Of course no one mentioned the root of the long emergency being the end of cheap energy, just that the US is in decline. This view makes sense of our goal to “Weaken Russia” by bombing the gas pipeline to Europe and now trying to get South Korea and China more involved in prolonging the war in a food exporting country.

    • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 5:34 pm #

      Discovering the bomb first made us crazy. Literally! Our decline can be directly traced to that single event. Make of it what you will.

      • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 5:44 pm #

        Oppenheimer warned the crazy bastards, and for that he got stripped of his clearance, his reputation ruined, and harassed by the FBI for the rest of his days. Exactly like they’re doing dissidents now. We almost certainly came closer to pre-emptively bombing the USSR immediately after WWII than anyone today knows. The Generals and the spooks were certainly down with it, right up through the Kennedy administration.

        • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 6:03 pm #

          It’s not widely known, but on April 24, 1945 there was a dogfight over Berlin between North American P-51 Mustangs & Russian YAK fighter planes; 5 YAKs were shot down. It caused an international incident but was quickly smoothed over & buried.

          • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 6:31 pm #

            As usual, you are quite the historian, brh!

          • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 8:08 pm #

            There’s a Tibetan restaurant up the road in Northampton. They serve Yak. It’s good. Leaner than beef. More like Bison. I’ve never had Mustang but years back there was a joint over in Chicopee that had horse burgers. I hear they were also pretty good.

          • badberries February 4, 2023 at 1:18 pm #

            About the same time Patton took a pellet at the base of his skull.

            I’ve always wanted a nice Pellet Rifle but I wasn’t going to drop $200+. On a whim I stopped at WM and took a stroll thru the clearance aisle. Lo and behold, there was a Crosman “Black Lightening” for $50, msrp was $280. It was rated @1400fps. Break-barrel.
            At Point Blank, it’ll punch a hole thru a 5/8s piece of plywood. Not bad for a bb gun!

          • Woodchuck February 5, 2023 at 1:40 pm #

            @ badberries – theoretically, a pellet rifle powerful enough to penetrate skin could be loaded with curare, the stuff pygmies use on their poison blowgun darts. Such a load would kill any mammal it hits regardless of where the point of entry was.

  37. edpell February 3, 2023 at 4:34 pm #

    An invisible hand wants to kill off white people. A nuclear war between white Russia and White NATO/US would be the fastest way to do that.

  38. edpell February 3, 2023 at 4:53 pm #

    Isn’t there an signed international agreement that allows over flight? The balloon counts as over flight.

    • Paula D February 3, 2023 at 7:39 pm #

      Maybe they are just trying to keep the flying lanes open.

      You know, in service to international law and all.

      • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 8:14 pm #

        Right now the restricted airspace over Russia must be costing the western air carriers a fortune. Russia covers 11 time zones. It really puts a damper in the great circle routes. China and all the Arab states still routinely fly over Russia giving them a great advantage. Once again the western agenda screws itself.

        • Islander February 4, 2023 at 11:34 am #

          TMTB (the morons that be) obviously didn’t game out the Sanctions game.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 12:24 pm #

            It’s like someone trying to harm someone else by kicking them ending up with a broken foot instead.

            And then they whine that the other person broke their foot.
            Wah!

  39. Roundball Shaman February 3, 2023 at 5:05 pm #

    “… Ukraine is just about finished in this tragic and idiotic conflict staged by the geniuses behind their play-thing President…”

    There will never be a better authority on the subject of War than… Edwin Starr. He told us everything we’ll ever need to know about the subject…

    ‘War, huh, yeah, What is it good for? Absolutely nothing
    Oh war, I despise… ‘Cause it means destruction of innocent lives
    War means tears to thousands of mothers’ eyes
    When their sons go off to fight and lose their lives
    War, it ain’t nothing but a heartbreak
    War, friend only to the undertaker

    Oh, war, is an enemy to all mankind
    The thought of war blows my mind
    War has shattered many a young man’s dreams
    Made him disabled, bitter and mean
    Life is too short and precious to spend fighting wars these days
    War can’t give life, it can only take it away
    War. What is it good for? Absolutely NOTHING…”

    However, you’ll never hear that song anywhere near any of the vast Global tentacles of the ubiquitous and vast and all-powerful MIC Deep Death State.

    “As for culture, consider that the two biggest cultural producers in this land are the pornography and video game industries.”

    Since each of us every day is ‘Getting Effed’ from one direction another… from various people and social and business institutions… it’s only fitting that we would escape from this endless abuse through video games and by pursuing a different form and way of getting effed. Sometimes, the problem just provides the solution.

  40. messianicdruid February 3, 2023 at 5:17 pm #

    Russia and China have accumulated enough gold to implement gold standards. It is now overwhelmingly in their interests to do so.

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  41. BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 5:24 pm #

    Weather service is saying up in Jim’s neck of the woods wind chill down to -60°F tonite. I’m about 150 miles south of that area, we’ll be at -35°F. Well, the wind certainly is howling out there, and its goddam cold, but I think -35°F is a bit hyperbolic. The coldest temp I’ve seen around here is -24°F in that wicked winter of 2014.

    • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 5:31 pm #

      Might have to let the bears come in tonight, brh! Keep in the garage if you can. My advice, just empty the refrigerator altogether and leave everything out for them. No point in making them tear the doors off and ruin a perfectly good fridge.

      • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 5:34 pm #

        DA, the bears are hibernating. We won’t be seeing any bears around until about late March. After that watch out!

        • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 5:39 pm #

          You know that bears don’t necessarily hibernate non-stop all winter, don’t you? I know around here they remain quite active, even though we’ve had snow on the ground for several weeks now. They slow down quite a bit, but they’re still up and around when they get hungry.

          • BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 5:51 pm #

            Really? It seems like they’re always hungry.

            What kind of bears do you have in New Mexico, Grizzly or Blacks?

            I have to say wildlife is taking a beating as suburbs expand — which KDog covers pretty well on his blog — but bears seem to be thriving and multiplying.

          • Disaffected February 3, 2023 at 6:02 pm #

            Little blacks only down here in NM. Grizzlies are well north of here. Might be some in the Colorado high country, but mostly north of there too in Montana and Idaho, I think.

            Bears do pretty well living off human leavings, and we leave A LOT. I’ve had several run ins with them in my time here, but none of them were threatening. The black bears are really shy unless directly threatened or REALLY hungry, but then again it only takes one close call to put the fear of god back in you.

          • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 8:20 pm #

            Bears don’t go into true hibernation but Woodchucks do. Seems we have a rather exceptional specimen in these environs.

      • badberries February 3, 2023 at 7:11 pm #

        I’m in mid central Wisc., the really cold spell that our host can expect tonight & tomorrow just departed. With wind chill we expect -11.

        Last week I had 40 robins in the BY, it was cold!! News Flash, not all Robins migrate. Per Audobon Soc. Robins have been seen in January in every state and lower Canadian Prov.

        • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 9:41 pm #

          Robins are acting weird this year. I didn’t see any the past 2 winters, but this year there are massive flocks everywhere, and they are getting drunk on fermented berries and flying into windows and cars.

          It’s really freakish.

          • badberries February 4, 2023 at 10:24 am #

            This is the first winter I’ve noticed them too.

            About mid-December I saw roughly 60, it was hard to count because they were all agitated, flying short distances and engaging each other constantly. They all disappeared only to re-emerge last week.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 12:28 pm #

            I had to look for images of American robins, as I knew they were different from ours, but had never seen one.

            Ours don’t flock – they are solitary, very territorial birds, which only live about 14 months, so not only do you only ever see one coming to your bird feeders, but you rarely see the same one two winters running.

            Ours beat yours for cuteness, though. 🙂

            birdspot.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/robin-4.jpg

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 12:18 pm #

            Wow that is cute alright, GA.

            Our robins aren’t cute at all, IMHO. They are more handsome.

            I didn’t know any birds lived for such a short time. That’s kind of sad.

            And as to the solitary thing, I always saw them alone or with maybe one other bird. That’s why these huge flocks are confusing to me.

        • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 12:26 pm #

          We had an ice storm on Monday. On Tuesday I slipped on the ice and fell.

          Now I have aches and pains, especially in my right thigh.

          I don’t like ice.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 12:30 pm #

            Ice is treacherous, especially black ice. I invested a year or two ago in a pair of Yaktrax. They are magic!

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 12:31 pm #

            Hope your aches and pains clear up soon. It’s a good excuse to be kind to yourself, though, whatever your view of a treat is. 🙂

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 2:00 pm #

            I skipped a dance class on Thursday night. Not sure if that’s a treat, but I wasn’t up to going.

  42. BackRowHeckler February 3, 2023 at 5:32 pm #

    Up until the past few days it’s been a warmer than normal winter. But our local TV meteorologist said the winters of 1913 & 1933 were warmer.

    1933 wasn’t a good year: the Dust Bowl was raging, the Great Depression was bottoming out, in Russia the Holodomor was in full force, and the National Socialists siezed power in Germany. (Events that still affect us to this day)

    • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:26 am #

      1934 started out really bad: When FDR was inaugurated 4 March, there was not a single bank open in the entire USA, and the population had no idea where their next greenback was coming from. All the $ they had was what was in their pockets at the moment (hint: it was very very little).

      • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:27 am #

        WHoops, should have said “1933 started out really bad”

      • Anthea February 4, 2023 at 10:58 am #

        I’m starting to think it might be a good idea to keep a reasonable stash of cash at home.

        • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 12:35 pm #

          I’ve been doing that for a while, but it will only serve until they outlaw cash altogether – I’m guessing a couple of years or so from now.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 2:01 pm #

            Enough people have to have cash to keep the stores open. They aren’t going to keep them open just for a few with cash.

          • Anthea February 5, 2023 at 6:10 pm #

            @ Paula D:

            Yes, and even barter will be problematic. How many people can produce something they can barter?

      • badberries February 4, 2023 at 1:22 pm #

        When FDR Confiscated Gold, my G-pa didn’t comply, we still have some of the “Buttons” that came outta the Cyanide plant.

  43. Night Owl February 3, 2023 at 5:59 pm #

    Project Veritas confronts YouTube “head of global trust and safety” for blocking public from seeing their video of the Pfizer directer bro.

    https://twitter.com/EricSpracklen/status/1621565450214596610

    I quite enjoy these videos, mostly because we can see the absolute cowardice of these people when exposed.

    “You touched me. I am going to call the police.”

    LOL.

    • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 6:54 pm #

      I absolutely love seeing these ghouls called out on their totalitarian bullshit.

      They look like deer in the headlights, or they smirk.

      You just know it wrecks their day, sometimes their entire week. I like that.

  44. Pucker February 3, 2023 at 7:11 pm #

    This is an excellent and very important book (both volumes); however, I wish that Whitney delved a bit more deeply into the linkages between organized crime, “Intelligence” and the Democratic National Committee.

    Whitney’s “Hot” and sexy, and she turns me on, notwithstanding that she’s “Caucasian”…..

    Whitney Webb
    One Nation Under Blackmail – Vol. 1: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein, VOL.1 and 2.

    • Pucker February 3, 2023 at 7:42 pm #

      Scene from the 1970’s classic movie “Mandingo”.

      Drunk plantation patriarch struggling in the sultry Louisiana heat and humidity drinking a glass of bourbon whiskey:

      “You need to git yourself a white woman, son.”

      “Why Paw, I wouldn’t know what to do with no white girl.”

      “You gotta make love to white women with their clothes on, son.”

      • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 4:05 am #

        Perhaps the patriarch wouldn’t struggle so much if he said no to bourbon whiskey in all that heat and humidity

      • badberries February 4, 2023 at 1:23 pm #

        I saw it at the Drive in. Pretty racy stuff for the times.

  45. Pucker February 3, 2023 at 7:21 pm #

    One pregnant question that I have for Putin (King Priam) of Russia (Ilium) is:

    “Is Putin ethnically a Nordic, Viking Aryan, or a lowly “Slav”? My understanding is that ever since the ancient time of the “Rus” in Ukraine that the Nordic Viking Aryan invaders of Russia have basically ruled-the-roost in Russia. Is this correct?

    So, if it is correct, and Putin is an “Aryan”, then why is he siding with the “Slavs” vis-a-vis the Ukrainian “Na…zi’s”?

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    • Blackbird February 3, 2023 at 11:47 pm #

      The Nordic creators of Rus were invited – per the Primary Chronicle – were few in number, and were quickly absorbed into the native Slavic population of the area.

      Longer lasting than their genetic contribution was their cultural contribution, which allowed the eastern Slavs to consolidate into the first organized polity in the area, Kievan Rus.

      Where the Scandinavian (primarily Swedish) genetic contribution from the viking days is most likely to be found, in the territory of the former Soviet Union, is in the Ukraine.

    • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 3:58 am #

      Lol wait, are you saying that Putin is indeed on the side of the Azovs? I had a theory at kinda the beginning of all of this that Putin was working with Zelensky to ultimately drain the West in a long drawn out war. I mean where is the war footage? You would think all of these bloodthirsty news channels would be showing scenes from the battlefields every day but no. It is another weird scenario in this crazy world.

    • tresho February 4, 2023 at 9:28 am #

      Putin looks very Oriental to me. So did Lenin for that matter.

      • badberries February 4, 2023 at 1:25 pm #

        I saw Lenin (what was left of him) We’d been drinking and were laughing when one of the Cyborgs standing watch hissed at us like a snake with red eyes.

      • farmgal February 4, 2023 at 3:47 pm #

        Perhaps he’s descended from the “radiant Alans”, who are now thought to have originated in central Asia. A very interesting read is “Russka” by Edward Rutherford. Although it is a work of fiction it gives an interesting perspective on the beginnings of culture and history of Russia. All of Rutherford’s books are enjoyable, with my very favorite being “Sarum” which is about Great Britain.

        • badberries February 4, 2023 at 6:18 pm #

          Thanks for the tip re: Rutherford, I’ll track it down. I miss my Rus friends, they can’t communicate with me. No news out, no news in. I have a brother in Bucharest, I worry this ‘dust-up’ will morph into something truly horrific.

      • SpeedyBB February 5, 2023 at 1:45 pm #

        tresho, you beat me to it. The first time I ever looked upon a photo of Putin I was impressed by the Mongol eyes and general caste of the face.

        You do see it frequently in Russians and we all know why. Brezhnev had that oriental look to him too, as I recall.

  46. benr February 3, 2023 at 8:15 pm #

    It is balloon!

    Them Chinaeers are up to no good.

    • stelmosfire February 3, 2023 at 8:25 pm #

      youtube.com/watch?v=KlyERnu7zUw

      • benr February 3, 2023 at 8:45 pm #

        Yes someone else knew the reference!

        I see you beat me to it by about 10 minutes or so.

    • JohnAZ February 4, 2023 at 10:16 am #

      It was hypothesized last night that the Chinese are just observing how we react to an invasion of our airspace.

      Well, Biden failed

      Again.

      BTW, the Pentagon reaction is utter BS. They saw this thing in the Arctic and did nothing. Montana is sparsely populated.

      Even more so, they could shoot a couple of holes in it and allow it to fall gently to earth.

      Nope, there is something more devious going on here. Remember the corrupt connection between the Biden Mob and Ukraine, the same thing exists between the Bidens and China.

      Biden’s Mob is the biggest enemy the USA has.

      • elysianfield February 4, 2023 at 11:29 am #

        John,
        We have 60’s era technology that would allow an aircraft to snag the balloon and recover it’s payload. The US used this system to recover film capsules ejected from low altitude spy satellites of that era.

        We could then chalk crude messages on the damn thing (Mao eat shit, etc.) and send it back to the Godless Commie’s.

        Verily, a blow against the empire….

        • stelmosfire February 4, 2023 at 12:21 pm #

          “Green Berets” with the Duke . The Fulton extraction System.
          I always wanted to try this ever since I saw the movie at the local theater.

          youtube.com/watch?v=Zh2ocefMTX4

  47. Jimpa February 3, 2023 at 8:20 pm #

    Just watched a PBS Frontline show about Putin and the US Presidents he’s dealt with. Had Sec of State Blinken and other current government officials making comments on it. It was total propaganda for the war mongers. It even had continuous semi-subliminal messaging in it. It was very disturbing that a supposedly mainline news show would be used this way. I think the vast majority of those watching the show will be programmed to its message to one extant or another. After that show, realizing US ” leaders” actually think this way, I think nuclear war is a major possibility. Quite frightening.

    • Islander February 3, 2023 at 9:47 pm #

      It is very disturbing that PBS, funded by all of the nation’s taxpayers, has become a propaganda outlet , pushing biased, nonobjective narratives.

      In fact, objectivity as a value of journalism is under attack, as shown clearly in a segment of the most recent program at UK News.

    • Blackbird February 4, 2023 at 12:02 am #

      Speaking of subliminal messaging, I watched New Year’s Eve fireworks around the world on TV with friends (their TV, not mine) a year ago – before the invasion.

      The displays from even the crappiest of US puppets were professionally filmed clips from the crescendo of the display.

      Then Moscow: grainy video (apparently shot from the balcony of a high rise hotel – for that “looking down” perspective) of some fireworks going off – your family could have done better, probably did.

      The message was clear – and readily devoured by my friends – “Russia sucks more than anything!” Which was rising as a chorus from all of them before I could even point out the obvious manipulation. I didn’t bother pointing out the obvious.

      • JohnAZ February 4, 2023 at 10:06 am #

        Russia, Russia, Russia.

        As a veteran of the fiasco war, I was “raised” to think of Russia as a mortal enemy that was going to blow us to kingdom come. That did not happen.

        Then I watched the failure of the USSR diversity-socialism experiment as saner heads in Moscow finally prevailed. The US made lots of promises to get the USSR to dissolve which we never kept.

        Now I watch Russia use private ownership to enrich itself as it pulls away from the NWO domination of the West and moves toward the East and China. They have discovered they do not need us. Pan-Europa is dead.

        The USA has acted like a bully boy since 1991, primarily using NATO as its excuse to push at Russia over and over. Like all the bullied boys in the movies, Russia has finally got its back up to whoop the bully.

        Summarizing, who is the bad guy here? I believe so many people are backing the Russia point of view is that they consider the current government of the US to be so evil in world affairs that Russia is now the good guy, the bullied hero that has finally said, “Enough is enough.”

        Russia is becoming, in conjunction with China and other members of BRICS+, unafraid of the USA. They also recognize the stupidification of the USA going on by its Deep State. Russia is acting like us last century and we are acting like them. They already know that socialism kills nations, sorry Jarek, so they will just wait until the US destroys itself. The USA will dissolve as surely as the USSR did. The king of the mountain’s lifespan is shrinking as international fear disappears.

        • JohnAZ February 4, 2023 at 10:09 am #

          One more,

          The bully element of the USA, the MIC, needs its enemy to play Wag the Dog with the American public. Who can that be?

          Ask the neocons.

          Russia, Russia, Russia!!!!!!!!

          • Disaffected February 4, 2023 at 1:47 pm #

            If Russia and China didn’t exist we’d have had to invent them. The terrorist state in DC has to have fictional terrorists to survive.

    • JohnAZ February 4, 2023 at 10:10 am #

      It will be the USA under some guise of the Neocons that lights the torch too.

  48. gustafson.robert.22 February 3, 2023 at 9:08 pm #

    Ready for the electric grid crash. Who needs electricity? Screw electricity.

  49. tom clark February 3, 2023 at 9:38 pm #

    Jimpa…I don’t see PBS as “mainline” but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

    • Islander February 3, 2023 at 9:48 pm #

      Of course PBS is now merely part of the mainstream.

      Sadly.

      • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 12:34 pm #

        Just listen at the beginning and end of every program on PBS – a list of globalist corporate and NGO sponsors who made this programming possible.

        Then they have the gall to ask the public for donations. Even slave ship captains didn’t have the chutzpah to ask the slaves to pay for their shackles.

    • MaryQueen February 3, 2023 at 9:50 pm #

      PBS = Propaganda Broadcasting System

      • K-Chien February 4, 2023 at 3:02 am #

        Petroleum Broadcasting Service

      • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 10:32 am #

        We have the British Brainwashing Corporation and, as I mentioned before, we have to pay for it whether we like it or not, if we have a TV at all. Great business model – you can fine people £1000 for not buying your product.

        • Islander February 4, 2023 at 11:44 am #

          Now that is totalitarian.

          The obvious solution: jettison the TV.

          That would cure “mass formation psychosis” on the spot.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 11:50 am #

            I would, but my husband watches the news religiously. 🙁

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 11:52 am #

            I’ve cancelled my licence anyway and told him if he wants to get one in his name, that’s up to him, but I’m not giving them any more money. So far, only threatening letters. I’ve heard on the grapevine that so many people have cancelled their licences that they couldn’t possibly send out debt collectors to all of them.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 11:53 am #

            Of course, under our coming new arrangements, digital ID and social credit will take care of it for them.

          • Woodchuck February 4, 2023 at 6:38 pm #

            People will never voluntarily give up tv. So to cure mass formation psychosis would require using explosives and heavy equipment to destroy all tv studios and *all* of the electronic equipment sending out video. The tv in my opinion is the image of the beast that’s been given life and spirit and that everyone worships with total focus and intention. Worshiping the beast is how the mass formation psychosis starts in early childhood.

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 9:05 pm #

            “People will never voluntarily give up tv. ”

            Wrong.

            A lot of people have done so.

        • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 12:33 pm #

          That is exactly what Obamacare did, fined people for not buying health insurance.

          It was forced tithing.

          That is one reason, never mentioned, that Trump won. He stopped the forced tithing.

          • Islander February 4, 2023 at 2:49 pm #

            Ultimately the Supreme Court struck that down.

            Someone ought to test this in the UK vis-a-vis the BBC.

    • Jimpa February 4, 2023 at 6:51 am #

      Please tell me why you don’t think the Frontline show is mainline. I think it most certainly is. It reaches a vast national audience, on a major broadcasting network, and appears to be very high budget.

  50. Mick February 3, 2023 at 11:25 pm #

    “It seems that the Thai Royal family had a Princess who was a good global citizen. She took three of the Pfizer shots. She went into a coma a while back.

    The Thai Royal family was/is very distressed. Investigations were ordered.

    The Thai king is finally making the connections that Pfizer’s mRNA “vaccine” is a slow kill bioweapon. He will be declaring the Pfizer contract null and void due to fraud, which will result in the stripping away of all immunity. Lawsuits and compensation payments just in Thailand will be greater than the billions in COVID profits that Pfizer stole on the backs of taxpayers (theft).”

    Above from Feb 3rd post on Henry Makow’s blog. henrymakow.ca

    Embedded link in the post….

    2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/the-narrative-is-collapsing-thailand?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

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    • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 3:48 am #

      I can’t get to that link but I did see that headline earlier today. I wonder what repercussions such an action would have in other countries. Could it start a wave of countries voiding out their contracts with Pfizer? Pfizer is not an American company.

      • Mick February 4, 2023 at 10:15 am #

        Let’s see if this works…..

        2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/the-narrative-is-collapsing-thailand

        • Mick February 4, 2023 at 10:18 am #

          Well, what I did was type www. in the navigation bar, and then copying what I provided after the www. and it worked.

          Or, you can just go to henrymakow.com and read his post on this story and you’ll find the link.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 10:33 am #

            There’s rather a lot of unpleasant antisemitic stuff on that site, which put me off reading anything else he puts out.

          • Islander February 4, 2023 at 12:11 pm #

            P.S.
            MUST-SEE!!
            Macow has a embedded video of Clayton Morris of Redacted. I think it was the Redacted broadcast of Feb. 2.

            It is about how Dr. Sujarit Bakhti has made contact with the Thai royal family to explain his research on the jabs and blood clots to the king. Recall that a Thai princess is lying in a coma after she collapsed following a booster shot.

            I won’t recap the whole things here.
            Just watch the vid. But the bottom line is that the Thais are threatening to cancel their contract with Pfizer and open the floodgates of litigation. So, this is big.

            I like Clayton Morris. The fact that he stumbles over Dr. Bakhti’s name and doesn’t seem to quite get who he is suggests to me that Morris has not really been following the covid controversy that closely. (But I still like him!)

            Dr. Bakhti is a very eminent Thai German researcher and academic who has been calling the alarm on the mRNA jabs for years now, publishing papers on the clotting mechanisms caused by the jabs, etc. He and his peer-reviewed papers have been completely suppressed by the MSM.

            So IMO it is just perfect poetic justice. This top researcher, being Thai, is perfectly placed to explain to the Thai royal family what might have happened to their princess.

          • Islander February 4, 2023 at 12:12 pm #

            GA: Lijke what?

            That Israel is an apartheid state? ?

          • Islander February 4, 2023 at 12:35 pm #

            GA:

            I just looked at a list of posts at 2ndsmartestguy and don’t see anything that looks like it would contain antisemitic material

            Mostly it is all about covid.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 12:40 pm #

            The henry makow site, not 2ndsmartest guy. I like 2ndsmartest guy.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 12:45 pm #

            And I love Sucharit Bhakdi. He’s on all the Doctors 4 Covid Ethics symposia on UK Column. He’s apparently the most cited microbiolgist in the world. It was shocking what they did, trying to prosecute him for antisemitism for comparing what’s happening to the Holocaust. There’s a lot of that going on – it happened to Andrew Bridgen MP too, for speaking out in Parliament, but a bunch of Jewish scientists have written to Rishi Sunak to demand that the accusation be retracted.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 12:47 pm #

            And all Andrew Bridgen did was to quote an Israeli doctor who said that what is happening now is the most serious crime since the Holocaust. But he was leapt on by former Health Secretary, Matt Hancock (Midazolam Matt, who has blood on his hands).

          • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 1:41 pm #

            “Antisemitic” – define. You mean anything “unpleasant’ about the Jews is automatically untrue?

            Explain. Show your reasoning. I understand that thinking about it will be unpleasant. It goes against your conditioning. Who conditioned you? They did.

            And then people wonder how we’ve come so close to being enslaved. The “mind forged manacles” (Blake) lead to actual physical ones on your door, your wrists, around you neck, or injected into your body or brain.

          • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 3:00 pm #

            ““Antisemitic” – define. You mean anything “unpleasant’ about the Jews is automatically untrue?”

            No. Don’t pretend to be stupid. It’s unworthy, even of you. And if you think I’m going to ‘reason’ with a Nazi, you can bog off.

          • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 4:15 pm #

            oh ok cool yeah, the www works real good. Thanks!!

          • Mick February 4, 2023 at 4:32 pm #

            Uhhh…..Green Alba, I hate to break it to you, but Henry Makow is a full blooded Jew. A European born Jew who at some point migrated to Canada. Yes, he is very critical of what high level Jews have done over the decades in politics, the culture, and economics. And he is critical of Israel. Gasp!

            Do a search on him if you don’t believe me.

          • Mick February 4, 2023 at 4:44 pm #

            The word “anti=semite” was created in the mid to late 1800s by a very early Zionist, which was also very new at the point. Why? They needed an epithet to hurl at anyone who even legitimately criticized what Zionists were and would be doing. Sort of like the CIA coined the term “Conspiricy theorists” in the 1960s to hurl at those who were questioning the Warren Commission’s report on the JFK assassination.

            Green Alba, I assume that you are very educated. May even have a degree or two. Did you know that Arabs are also technically “Semites”? Yep. Look it up. (It means descendants of Shem. The Jews are NOT the only descendants of Shem. Typical arrogance of them to hog the Shem label. Hell, the Jews aren’t even the only tribe of Israel).

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 12:59 pm #

            If she would take the effort to try and define it, then she would realize that there’s nothing there except a school yard taunt, a slander.

            But she won’t do the work. She’s ignorant: Doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know. And proud of it.

          • GreenAlba February 5, 2023 at 7:11 pm #

            “Green Alba, I assume that you are very educated. May even have a degree or two. Did you know that Arabs are also technically “Semites”? Yep. Look it up. ”

            Yes, as it happens I do have a degree. Joint Honours, one half of which is politics, so yes, I’ve known that Arabs are technically Semites since I was a teenager. Also because I went to Sunday School.

            Patronising wally.

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 9:10 pm #

            GA:

            Don’t you just hate the combo of patronizing mansplaining from the conceited half educated?

        • Islander February 4, 2023 at 11:45 am #

          Mick: That works. Thanks.

        • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 4:13 pm #

          I actually still got a 404 error message

          • Mick February 4, 2023 at 4:55 pm #

            Well, you’re just shit outta luck. Go find a six year old to help you.

          • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 9:17 pm #

            Oh wow look at what a grump you are being. You could have just provided a good link the first time you know. But I appreciate you thinking of me.

  51. Mick February 3, 2023 at 11:39 pm #

    “A new update to the popular “Sims” video game, where the player controls communities of simulated characters, now features transgender characters replete with chest binders and scars from having their breasts surgically removed.

    The game, which is aimed at children from age 12, also enables players to place ‘packing’ or ‘tucking’ underwear’ on their sims, garments that give or hide the appearance of male genitalia.”

    summit.news/2023/02/03/update-to-sims-video-game-features-teen-trans-characters-with-chestbinders-breast-removal-scars/

  52. Blackbird February 4, 2023 at 12:17 am #

    ChatGPT is asked to compose a poem about Hunter Biden:

    “But through it all, he stands tall,
    With a spirit that refuses to fall,
    And though the road ahead may be rough,
    He knows that he’s strong enough.”

    “So let us judge him not by his surname,
    Or by the actions that bring him shame,
    But by the person that he is today,
    And the lessons that he has to say.”

    ChatGPT is asked to compose a poem about Majorie Taylor Greene:

    “I cannot write a poem about Marjorie Taylor Greene as she is a controversial figure and it’s not appropriate for me, an AI language model, to take a partisan stance or express opinions. My role is to provide neutral and factual information.”

    You can find the full article here: zerohedge.com/technology/chatgpt-writes-poem-praising-hunter-biden

    • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 3:33 am #

      The AI is still a dumb dumb then is what you’re saying. A human would have been more devious and if they didn’t like MTG they would make up a nasty or crude poem to display that dislike. It just goes to show too that when someone says to you that you are not objective you can just let them know not to patronize you. Even computers and robots are not objective so there.

      • BackRowHeckler February 4, 2023 at 6:12 am #

        Somebody school me here. MSM sites in the US & WEurope are still going on about Leopard & Abrams tanks going to Ukraine “Hold on Ukes the tanks are coming”, which they insist will change the face of the battlefield. To me, it seems like an act of desperation; I won’t say the final act because Z has been asking for F-16s and nuclear submarines, which will be the final act. I’m not an ‘Armor’ guy, but how long does it take to train competent tank crews? More importantly, how long does it take to train officers in ‘Combined Arms’, that is, the ability to deploy tanks, artillery, infantry and air power so they are most effective? In Dec. 1944 a Division of German panzers attacked the allies from the east, and they were making headway until the skies cleared and every single tank was destroyed from above by North American P-51 Mustangs. Thus ended the German advance in the Battle of the Bulge. More recently, in the Azerbaijan – Armenian War, Armenian tanks were routinely knocked out by Israeli drones sold to Azerbaijan. My question is, ‘What good are these battlefield tanks without any air cover? I’m waiting for CNN hosts to ask that simple question to the retired US Generals & Colonels who show up every night and explain how Ukraine would be winning the war if only they had more tanks, like its 1941.

        • Blackbird February 4, 2023 at 10:00 am #

          You make a good point Heck, a point made by few others – a notable exception being Douglas McGregor (Lt.Col., USA, ret.), who has something worthwhile to say about what is going on in the Ukraine almost daily.

          Tanks and other advanced weapons systems are useless without proper – and generally extensive – training. It will take time for the tanks (from the US, Portugal, etc.) to reach Ukraine. Then it will take time to train the crews. Time the Ukraine doesn’t have. Therefore, I suspect that whatever advanced weapons systems do arrive in the Ukraine, will be operated by NATO soldiers.

          • JohnAZ February 4, 2023 at 11:15 am #

            Tanks need infantry and vice versa. WW2 mentality.

            The advancement of drone technology and long range artillery and missile technology are obsoleting the tank. Sorta the same effect the machine gun had in WW1, putting everyone into trenches. Tanks were developed to offset the machine gun. Today Javelins make it possible for a single man to knock out multiple tanks. The balance of fire power has shifted.

            Look at trenches for example. Drones fly over and drop bombs into trenches, artillery and missiles are so accurate that sitting in a trench just makes folks more of a target.

            Ukraine is a picture of ground warfare of the future. Just sit back and pound the hell out of the other side.

            Hmmm, when in history was this the modus operandi of the military powers. Think the seige mentality of the Middle Ages where every strongman had his castle for seige defense. Today, the winner is going to be the guys who figure out how to put walls up against the offensive weaponry. We are going medieval even in warfare.

          • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 1:44 pm #

            McGregor never advanced too far because he’s been shooting his mouth off all of his life.

            He is as a man should be. The Truth first, last, and always. Damn the consequences.

        • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 12:39 pm #

          Brian Berletic talks a lot about how long it takes to train a crew and about combined arms warfare.

          I didn’t listen, but this one might cover that subject.

          .youtube.com/watch?v=Tsu35R7n0XM

        • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 4:11 pm #

          Oh i dunno, we were discussing ai

  53. GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 10:29 am #

    Don’t know if anyone is watching the Vera Shavaz documentary series on CHD (Children’s Health Defense). You have to sign up to watch it, but it’s free. Five part series: Never Again is now Global.

    Parallels between the Holocaust then and now, and the elites behind both. Dr Zelenko features quite a lot in parts of it (it’s dedicated to him) and Mike Yeadon is in Part Four.

    • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 11:09 am #

      Thanks for the reminder, I am interested in watching it. Just haven’t made the time.

      • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 1:41 pm #

        There is a harrowing story at the start of the fifth part, where a happy, much loved Down’s teenager was murdered in a hospital. They slapped a DNR on her without consulting her parents. Then, when the parents tried to override it (which you can, legally, at any point), they refused them. They injected her with lethal medications and the parents begged a whole bunch of nurses outside her room (they were between shifts) – and I think at least one doctor – to go in and give her an antidote to the meds. They all refused AND there was an armed police officer there too to prevent anyone from helping her. This is concentration-camp-level barbarism.

        • elysianfield February 4, 2023 at 3:44 pm #

          Alba,

          …They were only following orders….

        • Woodchuck February 4, 2023 at 6:25 pm #

          Hopefully, post collapse our “health care” industry will disintegrate and the sort of people who murdered this young lady will be unemployed or even in hiding because there might be some friends and family of their dead victims searching for them in order to even some scores.

        • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 12:28 pm #

          Good lord. Add that to how they treated homeless who had the misfortune to wander into NYC hospitals at the start of the plandemic, and it’s so widespread, I wonder how many people perished by having a “covid19 positive” put on their chart, then drugged and killed on a ventilator?

          Enough nurses exposed it.

          Yes, concentration camp-level barbarism.

  54. MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 11:11 am #

    Some very interesting points made in here re: AI and displacement of the elite professional class.

    Can Chat GPT3 Make Pennsylvania a Red State?

    “In the past three weeks, policymakers had their worlds rocked by generative artificial intelligence. The problem is that they don’t know it – yet.

    First, a team of researchers demonstrated that Open AI’s Chat GPT3 can pass the stringent United States Medical Licensing Exam. Days later, Chat GPT 3 passed a bar exam. Finally, Chat GPT3 passed the prestigious Wharton Business School’s rigorous core examination.”

    https://www.realclearwire.com/articles/2023/01/30/can_chat_gpt3_make_pennsylvania_a_red_state_878709.html

    • Blackbird February 4, 2023 at 1:34 pm #

      And here I was getting offended at those Grammerly ads.

      Americans love cheating just as Americans love war.

      • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 12:29 pm #

        Imagine all the reports being “written” by lazy high school and college students…

        And now serious teachers will have to be able to spot the Chat-generated content.

        The mind boggles.

        • Islander February 5, 2023 at 9:18 pm #

          Hand written essays might help separate the wheat from the chaff.

          The wheat will be the students who can actually write cursive script.

  55. elysianfield February 4, 2023 at 11:21 am #

    This is an ode to our friend Hunter,
    The Brits would call him a wanking punter,
    The Big Guy loves him,
    So does his Ma,
    Loves hookers, crack pipes and the balls Ben Wa,
    (And the dough keeps comin’ to his Pa).
    He has friends in high places,
    His hookers are white, but he loves all races,
    A prolific painter, a writer of note, His habits are bad,
    …And that’s all she wrote….

    Support this blog on PatreonSupport this blog on Substack
    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • BackRowHeckler February 4, 2023 at 11:29 am #

      Well done E.

      Those limericks need to be put to music.

      • Blackbird February 4, 2023 at 1:48 pm #

        Step aside, ChatGPT will do that.

        I once knew a guy, hydrogeologist with the USGS, poor damn soulless bastard, who looked forward to computer-generated music (this was ca.1996).

        Hillary Hahn gave us a glimpse of that future at about that time, as she reduced Bach to a series of technical drawings.

        • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:01 pm #

          Or Wendy Carlos and her Switched On Bach.

  56. BackRowHeckler February 4, 2023 at 12:01 pm #

    Phew! Atop Mt. Washington in northern New Hampshire this morning —

    -108°F

    Now that’s some Climate Change, CFNers!

    • Islander February 4, 2023 at 12:15 pm #

      The harbor is “steaming.”

      Climate change is a bitch!

    • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 12:58 pm #

      That is pretty amazing! I hope we aren’t going to get part of that freeze out here, we’ve already had a couple (but nowhere near -108!).

      • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 1:51 pm #

        The Northeast has a far more severe climate than the Northwest, west of the Rockies. Much of Idaho is influenced by the a Southwesterly flow from the deserts. The Panhandle down to Lewiston or so, by a temperate flow from the Pacific. Eastern Idaho get more of the flow from the Rockies. Rexburg was 34 below the other night. Actual temperature, not wind chill. I assume the number BRH gives is a wind chill. Mt Washington is the windiest place on Earth.

    • stelmosfire February 4, 2023 at 1:03 pm #

      BRH, A fellow FF was into ice climbing. Him and his pals would go up to Mt Washington and also Mt. Katahdin in the winter climbing and camping. I was invited but declined. Just boots for the trip were gonna cost me 4-500 bucks. – 108 pfffft, balmy. A good book is “Minus 148 Degrees” about the first winter ascent of Denali in 1967. That was with gear from 55 years ago. With modern equipment Denali in January is a slightly chilly walk-up! Also Hunter Biden is the smartest man I know!.

      • BackRowHeckler February 4, 2023 at 1:29 pm #

        Denali? Mt. Mckinley?

        There’s a whole genre of YouTube videos out there about mountain climbers who neve came back. Mt. Everest is full of climbers who are still on the mountain, frozen solid.

        It seems like a pretty stupid activity to me.

        • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 1:56 pm #

          During the winter, no less! How about the Grand Canyon during the summer, temps above 100 every day? You couldn’t carry all the water you would need, yet people think they can do it.

          The people most acclimatized, say local Indians or old miner types, are exactly the ones who would never play around with it.

          A lot of utter foolishness goes on in regards to Nature.

        • WadeWaters February 4, 2023 at 2:34 pm #

          I would love to circumambulate Everest. I’ve heard that’s a spectacular hike. To climb it sounds dreadful. Krakauer’s book ‘Into Thin Air’ documents the madness of doing Everest. A great read.

          • hmuller February 4, 2023 at 3:30 pm #

            I imagine even hiking around Everest puts you at an uncomfortably high altitude.

            I once saw a program about mountain climbers in Antarctica. Talk about gluttons for punishment! Who needs all their toes and fingers, anyway?

          • WadeWaters February 4, 2023 at 5:24 pm #

            Some of the passes on the Everest circuit are over 17,000 ft, so that’s very high. But you would experience amazing solitude. On Everest there are often traffic jams where you are in the death zone above 25,000 ft. and no one can move up or down.

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:03 pm #

            Yes, Lake Mansrovar is the Abode of the Gods or one of them.

        • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 12:31 pm #

          I agree, it’s stupid or crazy.

          I don’t get why people do that stuff. Adrenalin junkies?

    • Blackbird February 4, 2023 at 1:56 pm #

      Mt. Washington is a crazy place. Held the world windspeed record – 231 mph! – from 1934 until 1996.

      A summit to which all leopards should aspire.

      • Jarek February 4, 2023 at 1:58 pm #

        “Who” has it now?

    • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 4:10 pm #

      I heard it was -110 but i guess that is not too far off

    • K-Chien February 4, 2023 at 4:35 pm #

      Be careful with this one BackRow.

      New Hampshire’s Mount Washington felt more like Mars than planet Earth on Friday as wind chills dipped below an unfathomable minus 110 degrees, a new record for the coldest wind chill ever recorded in the US.

      Known for having some of the world’s worst weather, Mount Washington saw air temperatures plummet to minus 46 degrees with wind speeds averaging over 100 miles per hour with gusts over 125 miles per hour as the arctic air mass wreaked havoc Friday,

      The polar vortex is unstable and has moved to Greenland. This mixes air giving us cold snaps and the north warm temps.

      The temp at the north pole is minus 19 degrees right now.

      Why does the vortex become unstable and move?

      Daily extent of Arctic sea ice for December 2022 remained well below average for the entire month; at the end of the month, extent stood at fourth lowest in the satellite record.

      I doubt January has been published.

      • stelmosfire February 4, 2023 at 6:31 pm #

        Dog, wind chill temps are to scare people. It was -46 Factual temp Friday night on Washington. Wow? -110F windchill . Who cares. Cover up fool. Years ago you never heard much about the wind chill. Just like you never heard about the wind index. I worked pipeline outside of Savageton, WY in ’78. Actual temp -32. with a pretty stiff wind. “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes”.

        • stelmosfire February 4, 2023 at 6:36 pm #

          Dog

          “as wind chills dipped below an unfathomable minus 110 degrees, a new record for the coldest wind chill ever recorded in the US.”

          Total bullshit, Your a smart guy , how can you swallow this crap?

          • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 1:58 pm #

            Mount Washington is famous for being cold. Years ago I saw video of someone throwing a bucket of water into the air at the weather station there. It froze instantly. If any liquid made it to the ground it was hidden by a cloud of fog that was made.

        • BackRowHeckler February 4, 2023 at 8:20 pm #

          I figured -108°F was windchill, which, you are correct, is hyperbole designed to impress the rubes watching the local TV weather broadcast. People like me, in fact. You have to admit, when you hear the figure -108°F, you take note. It sounds a lot more impressive than -46°F. But -46°F is pretty cold, too.

          • stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 11:12 am #

            -46F is damn cold, It’s all relative. In Siberia ( Yakutsk) that’s nothing to fret about. They really don’t have much for wind though. I’ll take -35 F with no wind over 5 F with a strong wind anyday. Just like I’ll take 110 dry heat over 85 degrees with 95% humidity. I hate to sweat.

          • stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 11:32 am #

            I’ve been a room over 450 degrees,flash over trailer, super hot but dry heat. Not bad. Hit it with water and flash it to steam , drop the temp to 212 and you’ll be cooking like a lobster.Burns your ears off. Put your hand in a pizza oven. 550 degrees , no big deal, touch the pizza and get a 2nd degree burn. It’s all about heat conduction.

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:06 pm #

            Cats have an amazing ability to take cold. And they often love the wind. But they don’t play around with wind chills. They immediately get under cover to get out of a cold wind that will take even their body heat away.

        • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 12:33 pm #

          I grew up knowing about wind chill, and I am 59 so it’s been around a long time.

          IMHO, it makes all the diff in the world. A still cold 32 degrees is comfy to me. Add a biting wind and that is no longer the case.

  57. Mick February 4, 2023 at 12:20 pm #

    I’m surprised that there has been so much hand wringing and angst on this blog over the Chinese balloon. Why suprised? Because most of you are intelligence to know that this is really nothing.

    Folks….it’s a weather balloon. All advanced nations have them. Occasionally they get caught in high level air currents and go way off course. There is absolutely no way to control the navigation of these balloons.

    As for the reason why this has been blown out of proportion in the media has a lot to do with a trip that Anthony Blinken was going to make to China soon, which is now called off indefinitely. We are being primed for the coming war with China. And even Tucker Carlson took the bait and his acting like some of you up thread. Calm down.

    For in-depth analysis on this check out Gonzalo Lira’s video early this morning….

    youtube.com/watch?v=14_0r6TZc5Q&t=628s

    (Just under 12 minutes)

    • Disaffected February 4, 2023 at 1:43 pm #

      It makes for great hyperbole, though.

    • Islander February 4, 2023 at 2:54 pm #

      With all due respect, I don’t think Lira is capable of “in-depth analysis.”

      (;-))

      • Mick February 4, 2023 at 4:47 pm #

        He’s a helluva lot more capable than you. I know he doesn’t look the part right now given that he’s living in a war zone. (Ukraine). But he’s very well spoken and educated.

        You…..I read lots of pablum from you.

        • Islander February 4, 2023 at 6:28 pm #

          You may be more gullible than you think.
          (Hmmmm)

    • K-Chien February 4, 2023 at 4:40 pm #

      We are being primed for the coming war with China. No shit!

      But,

      The only reason Gonzalo Lira was in Ukraine when Russian Shock and Awe started is the same reason Andrew Tate is in Romania. Young pussy.

      • Mick February 4, 2023 at 4:48 pm #

        He’s married to a Ukrainian woman he met in Paris. He’s been living in Ukraine since 2016 and has 2 kids with her.

        You are a fucking idiot. As usual. Go fuck yourself.

        • Islander February 4, 2023 at 6:30 pm #

          Lira is so smart he doesn’t speak a word of either Ukrainian or Russian after having lived there for 10 years with a Ukrainian partner (Hmmm).

          I guess the SBU guys who detained him for a week spoke English or maybe Spanish.
          (Hmmmm)

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 12:35 pm #

            Yeah I don’t buy that he was abducted for a week and then miraculously let go. At all.

            It sure grew his circulation, though.

        • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 2:06 pm #

          Right Mick, and he Lira not Coach Red Pill either.

          httpx://incels.wiki/w/Coach_Redpill

          So about fucking yourself.

          Be my guest.

    • BackRowHeckler February 4, 2023 at 8:29 pm #

      Maybe somebody in charge remembered the balloons the Japanese released in the Pacific during WW2; they had bombs attached to them and drifted over the NW coast of the US. Most of them dropped into the wilderness and did no damage, but one of them fell on a farmhouse in Washington State and wiped out a family.

  58. Islander February 4, 2023 at 12:26 pm #

    This is really funny!

    httpX://www.armstrongeconomics.com/humor/covid-the-vacation-like-a-cruise/

  59. messianicdruid February 4, 2023 at 1:01 pm #

    GA said, “There’s rather a lot of unpleasant antisemitic stuff on that site, which put me off reading anything else he puts out.”

    The area in Palestine *called* Israel is NOT a “land of unwalled villages”.

    httpX://biblehub.com/ezekiel/38-11.htm

    Where else could shemetic villages be found?

    • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 1:21 pm #

      I’m not clear what point you are making, MD, but I wasn’t referring to Israel at all. Criticising Israeli actions is not antisemitic.

      • messianicdruid February 4, 2023 at 2:42 pm #

        I am a victim of multiple definitions.

        Makow criticises Israeli actions and links to others that do.

        httpX://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/how-jewish-is-the-war-against-russia/

        Someone should tell ADL and SPLC.

        • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 3:11 pm #

          He aso blames the Black Plague on the Jews. He is quite obsessively antisemitic.

          Not to mention that The Rothschilds, for example, are not synonymous with The Jews, any more than The Rockefellers are synonymous with German-American Christians.

          • K-Chien February 4, 2023 at 4:44 pm #

            Maligning Jews to a nutter is like adding spice to a meal.

            It makes the irrational hate taste a bit better.

          • messianicdruid February 4, 2023 at 5:38 pm #

            Obsessive attention results from misidentification, and misidentification is caused by multitudinous irrational definitions.

            Sounds a bit like gender confusion:

            httpX://helpfulprofessor.com/types-of-genders-list/

      • Mick February 4, 2023 at 4:50 pm #

        Be sure and go up and read my reply to you regarding the anti-semite label you hung on Henry Makow. (Pssst…..He’s a full-blooded Jew from Europe).

        And then I posted something on the history of the bogus term “anti-semite”. It’s time that well educated people, allegedly, get more educated.

        • GreenAlba February 4, 2023 at 5:50 pm #

          Being instructed to ‘be sure and go’ etc. does not incline me particularly to follow your instructions.

          Zelensky is also a Jew, from Europe. Israeli Jews are also complicit in the current democide of their fellow Israelis. No-one said Jews can’t be antisemitic.

          • Islander February 4, 2023 at 6:36 pm #

            The term “antisemitic” has very little useful value.

            Time to retire it altogether.

            “Racism” does the same job, only better. There is no need for a special word for one group.

            If Israelis want to kill each other that’s one thing—not racism, I would suppose, but who knows. .

            Killing Palestinians while stealing their land and homes, that’s racism. Or, as the UN has clearly labeled it, apartheid.

          • messianicdruid February 5, 2023 at 2:40 am #

            Which brings it back to the fact that Palestine cannot be the scene of a fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 because is the opposite of unwalled villages and people living in peace.

            “Thus says the Lord God: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan: You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’— to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations [ E Pluribus Unum ] who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.”

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:10 pm #

            In other words, they are a very, very troublesome people – even to themselves at this point.

            So can Whites be racist against Whites, then? If Jews can be anti-semitic against other Jews?

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:14 pm #

            Yes, there can be no accord. The passages in the Old Testament about the Israel raking in the Wealth of the Nations? Christians take them metaphorically, as in preaching the Gospel to the entire world. Orthodox Jews take them literally – as in conquering the world and sacking it.

            And liberal Jews are often amazingly orthodox in this regard, whatever their beliefs about God and Judaism.

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:18 pm #

            Islander immediately grounds the topic onto a safe (distant and alien) topic: the rights of Palestinians.

            What about what they are doing to the United States and the West?

            Last time I talked about White Sovereignty and our right to have nations (just like other races), she started talking about Indian mill workers.

          • GreenAlba February 5, 2023 at 7:21 pm #

            islander

            I would happy retire ‘antisemitic’ on the grounds that the purists who never tire of pointing out the rather obvious truth that the term technically also relates to other Semites pretend that they don’t understand that it is used in practice to refer primarily to Jewish people. Which is a bit like getting all purist about homophobia not meaning being afraid of gay people. We all know what it means

            But ‘racist’ is a term that may mean someone who doesn’t like a whole variety of races or someone who just has a gripe about one particular race. Hence, if you have to say ‘racist against Jews’ or ‘racist against Russians’, you might as well say ‘anti-Jewish’ or ‘anti-Russian’. Some people refer to Scots who don’t like the English as ‘racist’, even though they are both clearly the same race.

            Purists need to get over themselves. I have been purist on occasion myself, and also needed to get over myself. 🙂

          • GreenAlba February 5, 2023 at 7:22 pm #

            *happily* retire …

          • messianicdruid February 5, 2023 at 8:31 pm #

            So, you [ as reformed purist ] are okay with “anti-zionist” [ as a label ] which in my understanding is a political thing rather than racial?

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 9:26 pm #

            Jarek:

            “Islander immediately grounds the topic onto a safe (distant and alien) topic: the rights of Palestinians.”

            You effin’ IDJIT

            My post was a response to GA’s “Israeli Jews are also complicit in the current democide of their fellow Israelis.”

            Jeezus.

  60. Why_weren't_we_asked_about_Degrowth February 4, 2023 at 1:06 pm #

    New theory on the reason the US is gunning to take Russia offline. All wars are oil wars.

    The US and the West have told their citizens that global warming is forcing them to junk fossil fuels. They paint the transition to EVs as a blissful walk in the park, but they know that living standards will crumble and that they’ll be required to institute a totalitarian state to keep people from rioting over shortages.

    All of the usual cronies of the US are onboard with this full speed crash, but there’s a big problem. Russia refuses to go along with this suicide. They have abundant energy and abundant buyers, mainly China. If Russia influences other countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia to continue the lots of oil story then the West will have a much harder time making its citizens swallow depreciating living standards.

    The US and its allies have spent enormous debt trying to prolong the charade of the high life, but now they have to go to war to make sure everyone is on same doom narrative.

    Russia should prolong this war until a few more pieces of the puzzle of Western lies are revealed.

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    • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 3:45 pm #

      It sounds realistic and reasonable. Though it is concerning. Industrial development is really increasing in extraordinarily pristine areas of especially Far East Russia and this is troubling because of what it may mean for endangered species and critical old growth forests habitat. Primorye has one of the world’s largest temperate rainforest but it is unique because it is sort of blended with taiga forest too. And it is home to wild tigers. Sakhalin island and Kamchatka also have huge taiga forests and bears and just so much wildlife. All of these areas are being developed for fossil fuel resources. Not saying that humans should use nothing but this industrial scale stuff is just really very scary when you think about it.

      • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:23 pm #

        Yes, nuclear war may be the only thing to save the wild animals. The area around Chernobyl is a paradise. Even bears and boars have returned. Such natural wild life is almost extinct in the rest of Europe, even in Russia west of the Urals.

        In Korea, the DMZ is a similar refuge for the wildlife of eastern Asia.

    • K-Chien February 4, 2023 at 4:47 pm #

      prolong this war

      Really, this is your advice?

      I won’t even bother with an insult.

  61. Night Owl February 4, 2023 at 1:10 pm #

    RE: The balloon. This further confirms what I said eariler. It’s probably ours.

    From globocap mouthpiece The Guardian in 2019:

    “The US military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons, documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reveal.
    Up to 25 unmanned solar-powered balloons are being launched from rural South Dakota and drifting 250 miles through an area spanning portions of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri, before concluding in central Illinois.

    Travelling in the stratosphere at altitudes of up to 65,000ft, the balloons are intended to “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats”, according to a filing made on behalf of the Sierra Nevada Corporation, an aerospace and defence company.”

    https://archive.is/IRolD#selection-1281.0-1297.311

    • Disaffected February 4, 2023 at 1:42 pm #

      Yeah, the media’s hyperventilation about this today is a dead giveaway. This is just another false flag event to stir up the rubes.

      In the first place, with spy satellites being ubiquitous now for all sides, why would the Chinese or anyone else even bother with something as easily detectable as a balloon?

      • Night Owl February 4, 2023 at 1:47 pm #

        Yes. A few basic questions raise many red flags, as well:

        How did it get over the border undetected? It would have likely just been taken out if it were foreign.

        Why would China send a giant balloon in? The idea is ridiculous, unless they want us to see it, but then go back to question one.

        Lastly, never forget that ANY official version of an important story that gets traction in the mainstream news is always suspect.

        The archived Guardian article is describing a balloon that is more or less a 1:1 description of the balloon in question.

        • Why_weren't_we_asked_about_Degrowth February 4, 2023 at 2:00 pm #

          You heard our military we are scheduled for a war with China by 2025. It’s time to ratchet up the fear and suspicion.
          Hmm 2025 is just around the predicted peak of the Permian Basin shale play or when the debt cycle skyrockets out of control.

          • benr February 4, 2023 at 2:34 pm #

            Or when the yuan becomes the DeFacto trading currency for oil.

          • Islander February 4, 2023 at 2:56 pm #

            Yeah, and balloons are really scary!!!

    • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 3:38 pm #

      Make it make sense!!

    • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 3:42 pm #

      Oh, so they shot it down:

      https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-plan-chinese-balloon-atlantic-96896144

      Act of war?

      This all seems beyond contrived.

      • Night Owl February 4, 2023 at 4:34 pm #

        Definitely for the latter.

      • Islander February 4, 2023 at 7:06 pm #

        Yeah, you could say, “Like a hot air balloon”

        Har de har har . . .

      • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 12:21 pm #

        Shot it in the back as it left the country. Sounds legit.

    • K-Chien February 4, 2023 at 4:54 pm #

      “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats”, according to a filing made on behalf of the Sierra Nevada Corporation, an aerospace and defense company.”

      Big Brother has big money.

      And no oversight. Ill, see you at the Spreading Chestnut Tree.

      • K-Chien February 4, 2023 at 4:58 pm #

        I will see you at the Spreading Chestnut Tree.

        These lines appears in the first part and seventh chapter of George Orwell’s novel, 1984.

        “Under the spreading chestnut tree
        I sold you and you sold me:
        There lie they, and here lie we
        Under the spreading chestnut tree.”

        Winston sits in the Chestnut Tree Café, after his release from the Ministry of Love waiting to be shot in the back of the head at some future time.

  62. MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 1:23 pm #

    So the guy is overheard hating on YT while stabbing him to death after first hitting him with his car, but that’s not a hate crime. I’m also guessing this crime was probably not widely reported, violent and bizarre as it is.

    “Smith can be seen smashing his white Lexus into a cycling Mammone in the Crown Valley Parkway intersection on the Pacific Coast Highway. Smith then ran out of the car wielding a knife and allegedly stabbed Mammone several times.

    Bystanders said they heard Smith muttering about “white privilege” before he pounced on Mammone, but police did not confirm it was a racially motivated attack.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/vanroy-evan-smith-s-ex-wife-feared-for-her-safety-before-he-allegedly-mowed-down-stabbed-michael-mammone-dad/ar-AA175Koa

    • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 2:11 pm #

      It can’t be racially motivated if it’s black on white, we all know that.

      This is the result of CRT and the 1619 Project that Timothy Snyder is so fond of, among others.

      • Amman February 4, 2023 at 2:39 pm #

        It’s a white accountant hitting a black doctor where the latter dies and the former tosses the remainder of his life into a jail. There is no point in the racial aspects in this case as it is all “LOSE-LOSE.”

        • gustafson.robert.22 February 4, 2023 at 3:06 pm #

          You’ve confused who got hit and who hit, because the articles keep it confusing who’s who.

          • Amman February 4, 2023 at 5:26 pm #

            Usually I’m not at a loss for words.

        • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 3:43 pm #

          The black accountant hit & stabbed & killed the white doctor.

          • Amman February 4, 2023 at 5:29 pm #

            Yes, I got it now.

          • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 7:20 pm #

            I probably only got it right away, because I saw the story the day it happened, so already knew.

            The way they write stuff to obfuscate any black-on-white crime means reading a fucked up word-salad that you have to pick through to figure out what the hell they are actually reporting.

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:48 pm #

            Do you Am, do you? Do you also get that Blacks assault, rape, and murder at seven to ten TIMES the White rate?

            You don’t like to think about such things. That’s why you didn’t go see “The Woman King” even though it was a Black movie. You don’t want to know about Blacks enslaving and killing other Blacks. You want to keep your narrative “pure”: Slavery means Whites enslaving Blacks, right?

      • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:51 pm #

        Yes, the fruition of a long range Communist plot to use race to bring down the United States.

        The Dark Forces never allowed them to be returned to Africa as was Jefferson’s wish. They knew that they would come in handy, one way or another.

    • gustafson.robert.22 February 4, 2023 at 2:28 pm #

      In that article, there are two pics of the white guy, Mammone, with caption “Vanroy Evan Smith assaulted Mammone, dad, with his vehicle,” so that, if you’re reading it, you’d logically assume that the white victim is actually the perpetrator. No picture of the perp.

      Wild.

      • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 3:36 pm #

        It’s actually maybe even sinister in a way if it was knowingly sort of twisted in that way in an intentional manner. The way I took it from the headline is that Smith killed Mammone because Smith’s ex wife feared for her safety. Because it is left open you could presume she feared for her safety because of Mammone.

        • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 3:45 pm #

          Yes, it’s a very convoluted headline as so many are now.

          And why the :dad at the end of it?

          Really nutty.

          • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 4:22 pm #

            Well sometimes i think the powers that be actually like to sow conspiracy theories and rumors because it just generally dampens peoples abilities to get at what actually occurred in any given situation. So with this imo they are trying to skew the view toward making the white man the aggressor because that is within prescribed narrative themes. Plus it sorta could be construed if you take it real far without much input you might actually think that Smith’s ex had a child with Mammone and there was some sort of custody where she began to fear for her safety because and so Smith took action into his own hands.

          • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 4:23 pm #

            custody battle..

          • gustafson.robert.22 February 4, 2023 at 6:58 pm #

            Yes, right? So vague it can’t be anything but intentional.

      • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 3:44 pm #

        Yep. I had to go elsewhere to even see the color of the murderer.

        Reminds me of when Darryl Brooks’ SUV killed all those Christmas paraders.

        • BackRowHeckler February 4, 2023 at 4:16 pm #

          I think this was more of a case of mental illness than any kind of racist intent, Mary. Vanroy’s own family was afraid of him, he was a danger to everybody. Unfortunately, this doctor was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

          • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 4:28 pm #

            So him muttering about white privilege in the midst of the attack is not racist intent but rather mental illness?

          • BackRowHeckler February 4, 2023 at 5:08 pm #

            I still think that incident is questionable, SSL. But on the same day a little 9 year old White girl on a Miami school bus beaten to a pulp by a gang of joggers, and the bus driver & monitor watch it happen without interfering or helping her — that’s not so questionable.

          • tucsonspur February 4, 2023 at 6:01 pm #

            What a beating Brh, thought they were going to kill her. One of the worst I saw.

          • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 7:22 pm #

            Could be, but I don’t know why the witnesses would make up what they did. Also got a gander at his political positions from his posts on FB, and he was very into the 5 tribes stuff, and if you know who the black Israelites cult is, they are extremely violent towards women and whites.

          • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 7:23 pm #

            Yeah, BRH, I saw that beating of the little girl.

            The parents are outraged, and suing, but hell, apparently at that school, this is a normal occurrence. I would not have a kid in that situation. I’d home school.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 9:10 pm #

            The dude that ran over 62 white people at a Christmas parade was also mentally ill.

            The thing is that when the Establishment pushes an agenda, like the 1619 Project, people who are already mentally imbalanced can be pushed into acting out their crazy in the way they are imprinted.

            It’s like the teenaged boys who are put on SSRIs and programmed to kill in ways that suits the agenda.

          • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 9:12 pm #

            And when the media spins it to fit the agenda, like “the red SUV” and the ”wife was afraid of him” that is so confusing that the vast majority of people don’t understand the basic facts, you know it is fitting the agenda.

            Like when we had a year of propaganda against Kyle Rittenhouse, and one liberal that watched the trial was shocked to learn that he had killed white men.

            A year of propaganda and that was never mentioned.

            This is not accidental.

          • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 9:28 pm #

            Thanks, yeah that is what I am getting to. The racial hatred being incited against white people is simply very real. And BRH I do agree with you that with the Dr. being killed. The perp appears to have had mental illness issues and was in the midst of a custody dispute. So he was/is definitely unstable. But as Paula is saying, the anti white racist rhetoric you can be exposed to in so many places each day isn’t going to necessarily go well with mentally ill people. Some people will act on what they are being indoctrinated within. And the girl getting beaten on the bus is very horrific. Public school is not a good place for white kids these days unless they are lucky enough to attend a school that is majority white. And even then its a big maybe since there are so many other factors to consider.

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 8:57 am #

            SSL:

            And that’s why “white flight.”

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 1:57 pm #

            The question of where morality ends and mental illness begins is a deep one. How many murderers are all together sane? Some are cold bloodedly intent on their actions and clear headed enough to try and hide them. So sane, right? Well we have to assume so. But if they are born psychopaths who have no conscience, are they really responsible?

            In any case, they have to be locked up for our protection.

            How many Black criminals are sane from a White pov? How many Blacks in general?

            The ladies (and their male eunuchs) just assume that all peoples are the same. The Myth of the 21st Century.

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:01 pm #

            The Black teenager – a grown man (they mature earlier than we do btw) – beating that little White (appearing – her mother is part Black) girl: Do you think his peers think any less of him for that? Or his parents?

            They simply aren’t like us. End of story. Sorry ladies, you’re wrong.

          • elysianfield February 5, 2023 at 6:25 pm #

            “The Black teenager – a grown man (they mature earlier than we do btw) – beating that little White (appearing – her mother is part Black) girl: Do you think his peers think any less of him for that? Or his parents?

            Jarek,
            The black man was not being violent without purpose. He is a doctoral candidate at the local POC University. His doctoral thesis explored the premise; “White girl bleed a lot”. You could consider it field work (extra credit).

            Follow the science. It is settled.

  63. tucsonspur February 4, 2023 at 6:05 pm #

    It’s almost a year now, and the war in Ukraine rages on. The actual death toll numbers on either side are hard to come by, but 200,000 Russian dead seems way too high, since that would mean about 16-17 000 Russians killed per month on average.

    Russia certainly has the superior military by far, and yet the Ukrainians, with the assistance of the US and others, are still putting up a good fight. But how long can it last? How long can the prolongation go on? Looks like the Russkies will soon take Bakhmut. In the end it seems that the Russians must win and that the Ukrainians will lose their sovereignty. Will we get to DEFCON 1?

    • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 9:18 pm #

      The Ukrainians lost their sovereignty in 2014, when the US sponsored a coup and put their hand placed picks into the coup government.

      Also when the Ukrainian Constitution, which forbids selling Ukrainian land to foreigners, was ignored and the best farmland in Europe was sold off to foreign corporations like Cargill and Bayer/Monsanto.

      It’s a bit late to talk about ”Ukrainian sovereignty” unless you are talking about the brave citizens of eastern Ukraine, who have fought for 9 years against the coup government and for self determination. Props to them.

      • tucsonspur February 5, 2023 at 4:11 am #

        The US supported the coup, they did not start it. Again, Ukrainians wanted the West, but backstabber Yanukovych was going to give them Russia. The following is from Polygraph.info:

        ‘In fact, what occurred in Ukraine in February 2014 was not an armed coup, and there is no credible evidence that protesters were “agents” of the United States or any other country.’

        ‘Putin, like other Russian politicians and media figures, has repeatedly implied that the U.S. somehow exercised control over the protesters, who ignored the agreement and supposedly led an all-out assault to seize power. This is not how events played out.’

        The following is from the Cato Institute:

        ‘Neither the domestic opposition nor Washington and its European Union allies behaved in that fashion. Instead, Western leaders made it clear that they supported the efforts of demonstrators to force Yanukovych to reverse course and approve the EU agreement or, if he would not do so, to remove the president before his term expired. Sen. John McCain (R?AZ), the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, went to Kiev to show solidarity with the Euromaidan activists.’

        Key words above are ‘supported’ and ‘show solidarity with’. Here’s more:

        ‘But McCain’s actions were a model of diplomatic restraint compared to the conduct of Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs. As Ukraine’s political crisis deepened, Nuland and her subordinates became more brazen in favoring the anti??Yanukovych demonstrators.’

        Key words, ‘more brazen in favoring’.

        I believe that McCain got to Ukraine about mid-December, 2013.

        ‘Nuland noted in a speech to the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation on December 13, 2013, that she had traveled to Ukraine three times in the weeks following the start of the demonstrations. Visiting the Maidan on December 5, she handed out cookies to demonstrators and expressed support for their cause.’

        ‘Expressed support for their cause’.

        Nuland’s famous call to Geoffrey Pyatt, the US ambassador to Ukraine was at the end of January, 2014.

        The Maidan protests began on NOVEMBER 21st, 2013.

        Analysis similar to the above is abundant, if you don’t like these sources.

        If you have reliable information that shows that the US, on its own, initiated a coup in November I’d like to see it.

        Eastern Ukraine is a different story. Maybe it will come down to Zelensky giving it up. Ukrainians are not, repeat not, Russians. Most in Western Ukraine want the West, not Putin. They’ve had more than enough of Russian domination. Never too late to talk about sovereignty.

        And again, if you have information showing that most Ukrainians want to live under Putin’s rule, I’d be glad to see it.

        • Night Owl February 5, 2023 at 6:21 am #

          “The US supported the coup, they did not start it.”

          LOL.

          Nuland admitted to starting it.

          Another TS classic.

          BTW, are we still “winning”?

        • Islander February 5, 2023 at 8:59 am #

          No, the US sponsored and led the coup.

          The evidence is very clear in the phone conversations of Victoria Nuland.

          And there is plenty of other evidence of who was behind the coup and who actually carried it out.

          Jeez.

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 9:01 am #

            Regarding Ukrainians and “Putin’s rule,” millions of “Ukrainians” have fled to Russia. Also before 2014.

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 11:07 am #

            Look what I just came across!

            A “must watch” exclusive video:
            November 2013, days before the EuroMaidan protests started. A deputy denounces in the Ukrainian Parliament that the United States is preparing a civil war in Ukraine, and that alleged “NGOs” are organising a coup from inside the US Embassy in Kiev.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoa2Mgnz_8o

          • JohnAZ February 5, 2023 at 11:52 am #

            The whole Ukrainian thing is a black eye for America. We supported the protestors, MC Cain had no business being 6000 miles from Ukraine, we have supported Ukraine, militarily, since 2014. As far as Russia and Putin is concerned, we pushed, and pushed and pushed the expansion of NATO since 1991. We violated the agreement to not expand NATO. Putin stated in 2014 that NATO attempt in Ukraine would result in Russian intervention. So we pushed again. There was no way the Obama, Biden Mob was going to let their corruption be exposed in Ukraine.

            I note that all the cast of characters in Ukraine came out against Trump in the second impeachment. The second impeachment, the first attempt at shutting up Trump, who wanted to stop the fiasco of Ukraine. He directly asked Z to investigate the Biden and Obama corruption in Ukraine. Again, there was no way the Biden Mob and the Deep State MIC were going to allow Trump to expose their shenanigans.

            TS, how would you feel if Russia reversed the roles? What if KGB folks corrupted Mexico and the Cartels, or China? What do you think the MIC would do if the contest point was Nogales instead of Kharkov?

            Before you judge, walk in your opponents moccasins for a mile.

            IMO, the USA deserves a huge slap in the face for what they have done to Ukraine and its Lackey, Z, should be disposed of with a legitimate heir that stays neutral.

            BTW, your observation about East Ukraine is wrong, it is mostly Russian and has voted pro Russian for all the disputed elections. The refugees are going to Russia, not West Ukraine. This is a divided country that, like VietNam we have no business being involved in.

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 12:12 pm #

            “we have supported Ukraine, militarily, since 2014.”

            Since well before 2014.

            Actually, the CIA has been active in the Ukraine since the end of WW2.

          • Islander February 5, 2023 at 9:33 pm #

            Very interesting video.

            The active and often violent persecution of “Moskals,” Russian-speaking Ukrainians, was well under way in November 2013.

            My Moscow friend wrote to me at that time that the brother of his daughter’s physics teacher had been shot and killed in the Ukraine when he drove down there to bring some money to a relative because Moskals were being harassed, fired from jobs, etc.

            Ukie toughs spotted the Moscow license plate, blocked the car, dragged the fellow out of the car, robbed him, and beat him up and left him on the side of the road.

        • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 12:32 pm #

          The Americans literally paid the protesters to sit on the Maidan for 2 months
          .
          The Nuland/Pyatt call was near the end, when the plan was being finalized and the snipers were in place.
          They literally were heard picking out who was going to be in the coup government, but TS claims that the US had nothing to do with the coup, even though those very people were put into the coup government, including an American citizen, which was illegal under the Ukie constitution.

          Eastern Ukraine was, indeed, a different story. They rejected the coup government and swore that they would not live under Nazi rule after their grandfathers had fought and died to beat the German Nazis.

          10,000,000 citizens of Donbass were not allowed to vote in 2019, but over 70% of the rest of Ukraine voted for Zelensky, who ran on a Peace-with-Donbass platform. That doesn’t mean they want to live under Putin’s rule, it means they wanted to stop the war on the people of Donbass and fulfill the Minsk Accords.

          Western Ukraine, the part that used to be Poland, voted against Zelensky. They are the Banderists, they ones that allied with Nazi Germany, produce the Right Sector and terrorize the other citizens of Ukraine.
          You support them, TS. You ally yourself with your war mongering ruling overlords.
          Shame on you.

    • Amman February 5, 2023 at 9:10 am #

      The Ukies are putting up a good fight. I fear you are deeply under-informed.

      • JohnAZ February 5, 2023 at 11:58 am #

        Wrong, the Russians have taken most of the cities of East Ukraine and half of the countryside and are controlling it. They have taken the southern oil country except Odessa.

        The Ukes have thrown everything into retaking two cities. After the Russians decided they were not worth defending.

        Would you have thought the Germans were going to win the war after the start of the Battle of the Bulge?

      • Islander February 5, 2023 at 12:19 pm #

        Amman,for a different perspective—more realistic than anything on the US MSM, see, for instance, Andrei Matrtyanov

        httpX://thesaker.is/when-numbers-lie/

        The Ukrainians may be “putting up a good fight” but that can mean a number of things. The poor Ukies will be obliged to fight to the last man,

        FOR NOTHING.

        Old folks and teens are now being shanghaied to the front, where they are stuck into tanks that they have no idea how to operate. They are basically sitting ducks.

        If you are OK with this scenario engineered by US psycho neocons who thought they could bring Russia down with sanctions, . . . I don’t know what to say.

        • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 12:38 pm #

          They are kidnapping men off the streets and going into workplaces to hand out summons. Men from 16 to 60 are being shanghaied into the military, as Islander points out.

          They are being WELDED into the tanks! I saw a video of one smart dude who turned the turret backwards and drove over to the Russian lines to surrender. The Russians had to chisel him out of the tank.

          But the Ukies send the Nazi brigades to the back of the frontlines to shoot any Ukie soldier who tries to escape.

          The whole thing is a tragedy. It would have been over last March if it were up to the Ukrainians, who tried 3 times to negotiate with the Russians.
          It was the UK and the US who stopped the peace talks and forced the Ukies to keep fighting.

          They want to depopulate Ukraine, so that they can move in without any men left to oppose them.

        • Amman February 6, 2023 at 8:51 am #

          Let me re-Phrase.

          You say “The Ukies are putting up a good fight??”

          I fear you are deeply under-informed.

    • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:07 pm #

      The guerilla war after the defeat will be unending. The Bandaras have the right to have their own country too. The assholes got involved with International Tribal Criminals in order to get the whole place. The assholes are now going to get nothing, but they will make the winners pay and pay and pay.

      And if they had won, they wouldn’t have gotten anything either. Because the Tribe would have double crossed them and was already doing so with CRT, Trannyism, Gay Pride, and mass African immigration.

  64. tucsonspur February 4, 2023 at 6:25 pm #

    The war in Ukraine, vaccines, digital currencies, all the political intrigue, the massive debt, all of these things among others pale in comparison to what the future holds for us.

    There is no exit before the Die-Centennial, no means to escape what’s coming. We have chosen the way, a way that seems to have been inevitable. Hasn’t it been grand though, in many ways, up until now? I’m reminded of Sartre’s play ‘No Exit’, set in a kind of hell, where three characters are doomed by the undeniable reality of their previous actions. They have chosen, as we have chosen. But did we really have a choice, or were we simply impelled by fate? No matter, in half a century or so, the Die-Centennial will be the consequence.

    One might do well to read some Albert Camus, something like “The Myth of Sisyphus”, to help cope with these absurd and confusing times, and one must steel oneself against those villainous ‘others’ in “No Exit”, and against the endless injustice, corruption, and violence that permeates our daily lives. But, no matter, in 2076 (or before), we cross the river Styx.

    • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 10:00 pm #

      And go to the underworld. It is a very scary idea. Hell being something you might not think of right away like burning in a pit but some other bizarre situation. Maybe we’re already in hell? I guess its a blasphemous idea but sometimes it seems like it has some merit you know. Like you’re always floating down the river and it so violent that you can’t quite make it to the shore. And then too what you said reminds me of the saying you can’t stop what’s coming.

      • tucsonspur February 5, 2023 at 4:19 am #

        ‘Hell is empty and all the devils are here.’

    • Amman February 5, 2023 at 2:08 am #

      Speaking of coping mechanisms, I watched the movie VALHALLA RISING last night. It’s a must watch movie, you know.

    • Night Owl February 5, 2023 at 6:19 am #

      Or one could pay attention to obvious patterns and signs of deceit and engage one’s critical faculties to understand what kinds of strategies are being employed against Western citizens these days.

      Or continue to be wrong about everything and attempt to save face
      later.

      I prefer you do the latter, ofc, as it is very entertaining.

    • JohnAZ February 5, 2023 at 10:44 am #

      “We”?

      No, them!

      This entire fiasco called the 21st century USA was conceived and executed by an increasingly powerful Deep State in DC, period. Yes, the current crop of Gimmes in this country have swerved the American way sharply to the Left, but examine where they came from. I know this is beating a dead horse, but the Deep State has created the population miasma we have today. The border, and education has turned the USA into the 21st century edition of the USSR. The Deep State are the most successful transformational group in history.

      What motivated these Leftist cretins to set the target at overthrowing the liberty of this country? To undo a final attempt to upset God’s plan for human self-determination started by Jesus?

      It is definitely an argument that Evil does exist in the world and it is present in droves in Washington, DC.

      Oh, yeah, the balloon. Hahahahahahaha! What a fricking joke! We are going to pay for this though, NOKO is laughing its ass off. I wonder what is going to be hung from the next one?

      BRICS+. 1, WEF (USA) 0

  65. Islander February 4, 2023 at 7:27 pm #

    Here is some interesting background on Princess Bha and her role in the government of Thailand:

    httpX://vietnam.postsen.com/trends/216344/All-over-Thailand-are-praying-for-Princess-Bha.html

    All over Thailand people are praying for her.

    Maybe we should do the same, if we are the praying kind.

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    • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 9:28 pm #

      I don’t pray, but if I did, I’d pray that the Thais lead the successful takedown of this agenda.

      Props to Dr. Bakhti, who has been a brave warrior in this fight. Hopefully he can reach the royal family, the media and the population and we can see a country rebel against the agenda.

      • Islander February 5, 2023 at 9:03 am #

        My intended implication was that praying for Princess Bha—and letting it be known that one was doing so—might further the agenda of taking down Pfizer by showing empathy with the Thai people.

        • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:12 pm #

          In other words, say that you are praying while not actually doing so since you don’t believe in anything except matter.

          Neo-Marxists are if anything even more convoluted than Marxists. It jibes well with the natural hypocrisy of women.

    • SoftStarLight February 4, 2023 at 10:08 pm #

      It’s very sad and hopefully Pfizer is taken down because of it if nothing else. Thank you, the link worked perfectly!!

  66. stelmosfire February 4, 2023 at 7:49 pm #

    It is Balloooooon!!!. WTF is up with this unbelievable media blitz about a helium gas bag at 60,000 ft. ? Talking head asshole warmonger General Keane? says cograts to the brave men of the USAF for shooting it down. An F22 Raptor at $200,000,000.00 per plane and already 25 years old shoots down a huge nylon bag with a 2 million dollar missile as the 150 ft. dia. target is drifting slowly over the South Carolina coast. Good got damn shootin! Well done. I can hit a quarter at 100 yards with a 22-250 for a buck a shot.

    • Paula D February 4, 2023 at 9:23 pm #

      Brave fighter lands after completing his mission.

      //twitter.com/Xnerdz/status/1621966986476412937?s=20&t=cqZYF95xDz7VCm58WvyedA&fbclid=IwAR0cXRoj2BNoAHaPLwdPaHdjdeukkpjbfDRlkYWFKv8SvbGxmLQ93pOfxWM

      • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 10:16 pm #

        Hahahahahaha!

      • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:17 pm #

        Why not? It got and sent all the data that was required. I assume they asked the Chinese for permission to shoot it down before doing so.

        If we get into a war with China, which side will our military be on?

      • The Man They Call Zazelle February 6, 2023 at 2:04 am #

        LOL…

        Seeing as China’s upwind from the USA, perhaps WW3 will be fought in large part with balloons.

    • Q. Shtik February 5, 2023 at 12:21 am #

      ^This^ is the hardest I’ve laughed all day.

      • stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 11:46 am #

        Careful Q, don’t laugh too hard. At your age you might get a rupture.

    • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:14 pm #

      What was the name of the Killer Balloon in the cult show, The Prisoner.

      I’m watching the first episode on youtube. I love the way the balloon growls.

  67. hustled enough February 4, 2023 at 9:01 pm #

    Dear JHKAdmin,
    “This whopper is an artful diversion from the reality on-the-ground that Ukraine is just about finished in this tragic and idiotic conflict staged by the geniuses behind their play-thing President “Joe Biden.””

    Given that you offer zero evidence as to why you believe this to be a whopper, since Russians are using their troops in human wave attacks and are tight-lipped about where the logic of those attacks lead against well-entrenched enemy forces, you won’t mind if I treat your claim with a healthy dose of skepticism.

    The question I offer is this: If the Russian offensive in the next 4 – 6 weeks does not achieve its aims and Ukraine’s counter-offensive actually throws Russians back … again, will you concede that your model of the conflict is flawed? You have predicted–relentlessly–from the first days of the war–that Ukraine is doomed and would fall in days; then weeks; then months… that its counter-offensive last year was doomed to end in a boiling ocean of fire in the East as the Ukrainians over-stretched themselves in a Russian trap; Kherson? that …. well, you get the picture. It has not worked out the way you have predicted–same as for Covid; same as for energy use; same as for the US economy (remember, you have been predicting the imminent end of the US economy since the early 2000s.. fumbling forward but it is still here. One day you are likely to be right, but only in the sense that a broken watch is right twice a day…)

    So, what would it take to change your mind and get you to update your mental model?

    • Why_weren't_we_asked_about_Degrowth February 4, 2023 at 9:34 pm #

      hustled enough.

      Ukraine’s corrupt government is losing this war. Ukraine’s economy contracted by over 30%. 14 million of its population has been forced to flee both inside and outside the country. It requires $3 billion a day of Western money to stay float. The reasons I have listed are non military, but based on Russia’s military advantage things are much worse.

      Russia has the most advanced artillery in the world. It can shoot up to 60,000 artillery rounds a day at Ukraine,; 10 times the rate Ukraine can barely sustain. Russia is proving out new drone technology that is allowing it to keep its own military casualties low. Ukraine has lost the majority of its most battle hardened troops and it is relying on newly trained conscripts to continue the fight.

      The West has been selling that Russia has been losing this War from the start. Russia is fighting a different War. They realize they need to live next to Ukraine after the war ends. The western part of Ukraine is majority Russian speaking. They are not going to use Shock and Awe or white phosphorus munitions.

      If Bakmut falls will you accept that Russia has the momentum.

      • BackRowHeckler February 5, 2023 at 7:00 am #

        Well said.

        Just yesterday I began to detect a sense of doom & hopelessness in western broadcasts — DW, CNN, and the Telegraph. The facade that Ukraine is winning and Russia is inept can no longer be kept up in the face of reality on the battlefield. I haven’t heard “Slava Ukraine” in awhile now.

        • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:18 pm #

          It’s Trump’s election night all over again. Poor Joe is snarling and Mika is crying.

        • hustled enough February 5, 2023 at 9:29 pm #

          Not me, BackRowHeckler. This is a long struggle. It will ebb and flow. You might be right, but if the Russian offensive stalls, it could get very ugly VERY fast….

      • hustled enough February 5, 2023 at 9:28 pm #

        Hi WWWAAD, (–It is a long handle; I hope this shortening is OK with you. Please let me know if you have a preference for how you wish to be referred to in my replies.)
        Question for you: Russia continues to use the same grinding process against Ukraine that it employed last year. Though it can shoot 60K rounds a day, does it do so? My understanding is that it is facing serious supply constraints so it is not going to maintain the capacity you assert for very long, if at all–I am guessing that is why they are stockpiling shells–some places are not getting many rounds–all of this is consistent with a story different to the one you paint. Is that so from your information?
        Second, evidence concerning drone technology for the Russians? The use of human wave attacks around Bakhmut does not support the contention of “low” Russian casualty rates. And losing “a majority of its battle hardened troops”? Wouldn’t that also apply to Russia being on the offensive? Have Russians have been using pyro ammunition in direct contravention of international law in Ukraine. Inquiring minds want to know. I wont assert they are (apart from noting the Ukrainians say they are) but I have no basis for accepting your claim that they are not doing so. Do you?

        As for Bakhmut falling? For some reason, Bakhmut is important to the Russians. What is its strategic value? It has symbolic and some political value as a victory that Putin could point to, given the lack of any since the late Summer. It only has a strategic value if the Ukrainians stupidly stay if the danger of encirclement becomes of high probability–losing those soldiers would be bad. As it is, if Russians continue their forces get ground down as well. A war of attrition. Who will sustain? I don’t know. We should have a clearer sense by Summer of this year. If the Russians recaptured Kherson, for example, THAT would be a big deal. That had strategic value. If the Ukrainians take back a big chunk of Crimea, that has strategic value.

    • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 10:17 pm #

      HE is baaaaaaaaaaaaack

      • MaryQueen February 4, 2023 at 10:18 pm #

        Another $.20 in the bank account.

    • stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 8:29 am #

      “Russians are using their troops in human wave attacks ”

      Um, OK. Talk about hustled, you take the cake.

      I just watched a documentary about the battle at the Chosin Reservoir, Korea 1950.The Chinese used Human waves. 1st wave well armed, 2nd wave no weapons( they were to pick up the guns of the slaughtered first wave), 3rd wave were the Commissars with submachine guns to shoot any Chinese retreating troops. The show of course focused on the suffering of the Americans as they were over run. I thought about the Chinese forces , slaughtered by the thousands in desperation. They drove the Yanks back but at what cost. The Z man feeds the meat grinder with his countrymen and the West cheers them on.” We’ll Fight to the last Ukrainian!”

      • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:21 pm #

        Chinese girl comrade soldiers were chaste, crossing the Yalu river with their clothes on, even at the risk of drowning. North Korean girls were whores by comparison, taking off their clothes. Or was it the other way around?

      • hustled enough February 5, 2023 at 9:34 pm #

        And what is your point, stelmosfire?
        That human wave attacks can be successful? Sure. They cost a lot of resources. We will see how Russian society stands up to that reality as the bodies continue to come back. It really depends how long this goes on.
        As for the Ukrainian sacrifice? I agree; the Europeans and Americans main aim I think is to basically bleed the Russians–economically and societally. If the Ukrainians don’t do well, look for the advanced Western air craft and missiles to come their way in the Summer of 2023.

    • Anthea February 5, 2023 at 5:05 pm #

      @ hustled enough”

      You are claiming that JHK’s assessment of the situation in Ukraine is faulty. You are also claiming that JHK’s assessment of covid, the US economy, and the energy-use picture is faulty. Re these latter issues, your claim is laughable.

      Anyone can be mistaken. Even an honest person can be mistaken due to faulty information. I would suggest that you evaluate your information sources. Are you informed by people who have a track record for honesty and integrity? Do the people who are informing you stand to gain monetarily by misinforming you? Do they have a track record of success or failure in their enterprises? Are their objectives good or evil?

      You also might want to have a look at your own motivations for choosing to believe a collection of liars and criminals, who have a history of turning whole nations into abattoirs for personal gain. Why do you choose to ally yourself with such people?

      • hustled enough February 5, 2023 at 10:24 pm #

        Hi Anthea, The way that JHK Admin argues often confuses correlation with causation. At some point, JHK Admin quotes a source that he likes and that becomes part of a narrative he supports, whether the actual or subsequent data supports it or not. If I support “liars and criminals” why are you so sure that you and he are not? The fact is that when we look at the evidence and apply rules of rational argument (as noted above), the claims of conspiracy minded folks fall apart–just as they do when people think there is a pedo ring in the bottom of pizza restaurant or that the 2020 election was stolen–even though no actual evidence of mass vote theft was ever produced in a court of law. I remember JHK Admin talking about: “Yes! The Kracken Awakes!” Remember that one? Well, maybe not…. “Look, 50000 ballots… ” and then dropped for lack of corroborating evidence without so much as a “Well, I got that wrong!” So, yes, count me out–make the causative argument with evidence. I find JHK Admin fun to read–and please understand–I think he is right about us being in a bad place BUT, the manner in which he refuses to acknowledge that the time bounded predictions he has made have turned out wrong time and again means that I can’t take what he says as seriously as I would like to do. I believe that we cannot predict “the end” with the confidence that he offers, that this year, this is it! ESPECIALLY when he has been wrong about “this year” year in and out. I think he is right… “in the end.” It is just that “the end” is not yet and super difficult to predict until after the fact. It is not weakness to accept that we get things wrong–folks here just won’t do it; JHK Admin just leads in this behaviour.

  68. malthuss February 4, 2023 at 10:58 pm #

    The dude that ran over 62 white people at a Christmas parade was also mentally ill.

    /allowing the insanity plea was the beginning of the end.

    • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 10:58 am #

      Darryl Brooks was not allowed to use an insanity plea, even though it wasn’t for lack of trying. He’s never getting out of prison.

      • Amman February 6, 2023 at 8:57 am #

        You sure called that with assurance. I wouldn’t know nowadays.

    • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:22 pm #

      He’s both guilty and insane. Many criminals are.

    • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:26 pm #

      Blacks get into the psychology of magic words. Brooks thought that as long as he said, “respectfully” first, he could interrupt the Judge or keep saying things that had already been put to rest. The Judge told him that saying “respectfully” didn’t make his words or action respectful. I doubt he understood since he only knows what he wants. Other people don’t really exist for him as people.

      But that’s not to say their strategy never works. Look at what the word “racist” does to Whites!

  69. MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 10:59 am #

    For Night Owl: I found another channel on Telegram which documents stuff on the ground in Ukraine: https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses

    FYI

  70. MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 11:09 am #

    This is how they work (the US infiltrators) – I posted this above in response to Islander, but thought it should stand on its own, given that there are a few commenters here in denial that the US engineered the entire Ukraine fiasco.

    It didn’t start in 2022. It started in 2013 or even before.

    A “must watch” exclusive video:
    November 2013, days before the EuroMaidan protests started. A deputy denounces in the Ukrainian Parliament that the United States is preparing a civil war in Ukraine, and that alleged “NGOs” are organising a coup from inside the US Embassy in Kiev.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoa2Mgnz_8o

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    • JohnAZ February 5, 2023 at 12:08 pm #

      No, Mary, it started in 1991. Bush finally got Gorbachev to agree to disband the USSR after we gave them assurances that NATO would not expand and the West would help Russia set up a legitimate capitalistic economy.

      We reneged on both, before the ink dried.

      Did anyone even think for a second the Neocon led MIC would allow the pact to be executed? WTF, you think that Russia would be allowed into the NATO group and possibly the EU as a legitimate member of Europe, supplying resources to a legitimate economic bloc, as Putin requested?

      When pig’s fly.

      • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 12:46 pm #

        Why are you ranting?

        • JohnAZ February 5, 2023 at 12:52 pm #

          Mary

          I gave 6 years of my life in the Navy for this country.

          I have believed in its Constitution and the liberty for which it was created.

          How about allowing me a little latitude to be angry and rant at the aholes that have destroyed it!

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:27 pm #

            Well said. Mary’s not an American. Her nation is one without borders, namely radical feminism.

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 5:48 pm #

            Why are you ranting at me, specifically? Sheesh.

          • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 5:55 pm #

            A-Jerk is desperate for attention (again).

    • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 12:46 pm #

      Don’t forget 2004, the “Orange Revolution”. The US paid for that one, also.

      That one really pissed me off, because we had just been told that our 2004 election hadn’t been stolen, because “the exit polls are unreliable”.

      And then they turned around two weeks later and sponsored an overthrow of the election in Ukraine because “the exit polls showed a different result”.

      I couldn’t believe that they would turn the propaganda around so 180. Surely Americans would notice and rebel!!

      Nope.

      • MaryQueen February 5, 2023 at 12:47 pm #

        Thanks for that reminder. The messing about in Ukraine no doubt goes back decades as you & JAZ have mentioned.

        • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 1:05 pm #

          Yes, after WW2 was over the US continued to support the OUN terrorists in western Ukraine.

          They continued to kill ethnic Russians, Poles and anti-Bandera Ukrainians until the Soviets finally managed to put a stop to the terrorism in 1956.

          But the US never gave up the alliance, and a lot of the Banderists were transferred to the US and Canada, where they festered until they were allowed to move back to Ukraine after 2014.

          Chrysta Freeland in Canada is one of them. Her grandfather ran a propaganda newspaper for the OUN and allied with the Germans.

  71. Amman February 5, 2023 at 12:48 pm #

    The COVID crisis has revealed a modern battleground in which MOLDING, CONTROLLING, and CAPTURING your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs are the objective.

    Your mind is the new battleground. This is not hyperbole.
    This is standard military strategy.

    – MALONE
    PsyWars: Fifth Generation Warfare and (NATIONAL) Sovereignty

  72. Paula D February 5, 2023 at 1:08 pm #

    Meanwhile, Hungary is getting pretty pissed off at the treatment of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine.
    They also have not been allowed to speak their own language, and now they are being targeted to fuel the cannon fodder sent to the front.

    The Transcarpathia Hungarians are being forced into conscription into the 128th mountain brigade which has suffered heavy casualties and been put into the worst situations.

    Hungary is taking note. That is part of the reason the propaganda in the US is so anti-Orban.

    • stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 1:18 pm #

      Hungarians? I don’t know any Hungarians i. Deplorable cannon fodder.
      Who cares? The west is the best. 50 years old but “This is the End”

      There’s danger on the edge of town
      Ride the King’s Highway, baby
      Weird scenes inside the gold mine
      Ride the highway west, baby
      Ride the snake, ride the snake
      To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
      The snake, he’s long, seven miles
      Ride the snake
      He’s old and his skin is cold
      The west is the best
      The west is the best
      Get here and we’ll do the rest
      The blue bus is calling us
      The blue bus is calling us

      • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 2:23 pm #

        That song is a constant ear worm for me when I listen to the propaganda spewed at me 24/7.
        It always pops into my mind.

    • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 1:39 pm #

      Once someone here was involved with a San Francisco Hungarian folk dance group. In Berkley I think. They used many different avatars.

  73. SoftStarLight February 5, 2023 at 1:18 pm #

    Have you lost faith in basically everything?

    • stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 1:36 pm #

      Quite the contrary SSl. No loss of faith. I have seen my fellow man rise to extraordinary feats. Thing is most of my fellow men are dopes. I can’t count on but maybe 10% of them until proven otherwise. My word is a bond. If I say something I will honor that. I wish our politicians would honor their oaths. They are in the majority liars. I’ve had people steal from me. I was immensely more pissed that they denied stealing rather then say yea I did it. Liars are the lowest of the low as far as I am concerned. When you get down to it what does a person actually own besides their life or their word.

      • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 1:40 pm #

        I still don’t have any Jews in my basement.

        • stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 1:42 pm #

          You want to buy some?

          • stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 1:43 pm #

            Cheaper then eggs.

        • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 1:50 pm #

          I don’t have a basement.

        • elysianfield February 5, 2023 at 6:17 pm #

          “I still don’t have any Jews in my basement.”

          Dog,
          Check your oven?

        • SpeedyBB February 6, 2023 at 9:42 am #

          [1970s echo]:

          “Save Soviet Jews – Win Valuable Prizes”

  74. SoftStarLight February 5, 2023 at 1:26 pm #

    The human world is a cruel and awful place in many ways. Maybe the current destruction is a good thing and needs to just reach its full unspooling. Being nice gets you nothing.

    • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 1:33 pm #

      “Maybe the current destruction is a good thing.”

      Sometimes cultivated nihilism pisses me off.

      • SoftStarLight February 5, 2023 at 1:37 pm #

        Or maybe that is your privilege talking

        • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 1:48 pm #

          No, privilege does cultivated nihilism. Nihilists don’t have the cultivated self discipline that working people do.

          • SoftStarLight February 5, 2023 at 1:52 pm #

            I love how you always pretend like you know me. How are you’re doxxing efforts going. Want my number?

          • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 2:08 pm #

            Wat are you babbling about. I don’t know you.

          • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:44 pm #

            How can you know anybody? Since you don’t know yourself?

  75. Jarek February 5, 2023 at 2:42 pm #

    Concerning the Policy of Eliminating of the Kulaks as a Class
    First Published: Itrasnaya Zveda, No. 18, January 21, 1930;
    Source: J. V. Stalin, Works, Volume 12, pages 184-189. Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1953
    Transcription/HTML: Mike B. for MIA, November 2007
    Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2005). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.

    The article, “The Elimination of the Kulaks as Class,” in No. 16 of Krasnaya Zvezda1 is undeniably correct in the main, but it contains two inaccuracies of formulation. It seems to me that these inaccuracies must be corrected.

    1. The article says:

    “In the restoration period, we conducted a policy of restricting the capitalist elements of town and country. With the inauguration of the reconstruction period, we passed from the policy restricting to the policy of ousting them.”

    This statement is incorrect. The policy of restrict ing the capitalist elements and the policy of ousting them are not two different policies. They are one and the same policy. Ousting the capitalist elements in the countryside is an inevitable result and component part of the policy of restricting the capitalist elements, the policy of restricting the kulaks’ exploiting tendencies. Ousting the capitalist elements in the countryside must not be regarded as equivalent to ousting the kulaks as a class. Ousting the capitalist elements in the countryside means ousting and overcoming individual sections of the kulaks, those unable to bear the burden of taxation and the Soviet government’s system of restrictive measures.

    Naturally, the policy of restricting the kulaks’ exploiting tendencies, the policy of restricting the capitalist elements in the countryside, cannot but lead to the ousting of individual sections of the kulaks. Consequently, ousting individual sections of the kulaks cannot be regarded otherwise than as an inevitable result and a component part of the policy of restricting the capitalist elements in the countryside.

    We pursued this policy not only in the restoration period, but also in the period of reconstruction, and in the period following the Fifteenth Congress (December 1927), and in the period of the Sixteenth Conference of our Party (April 1929), as well as after that conference right down to the summer of 1929, when the phase of complete collectivisation set in, and when the change to the policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class began.

    If one examines the most important documents of our Party from, say, the Fourteenth Congress in December 1925 (see the resolution on the report of the Central Committee2 ) to the Sixteenth Conference in April 1929 (see the resolution on “Ways and Means of Promoting Agriculture”3 ), one cannot fail to notice that the thesis about “restricting the exploiting tendencies of the kulaks,” or about “restricting the growth of capitalism in the countryside” always goes side by side with the thesis about “ousting the capitalist elements in the countryside,” about “overcoming the capitalist elements in the countryside.”

    What does that mean?

    It means that the Party does not separate the ousting of the capitalist elements in the countryside from the policy of restricting the exploiting tendencies of the kulaks, from the policy of restricting the capitalist elements in the countryside.

    Both the Fifteenth Party Congress and the Sixteenth Conference stood wholeheartedly for the policy of “restricting the exploiting proclivities of the agricultural bourgeoisie” (Fifteenth Congress resolution on “Work in the Countryside”4 ), for the policy of “adopting new measures to restrict the development of capitalism in the countryside” (ibid.), for the policy of “resolutely restricting the exploiting tendencies of the kulaks” (see Fifteenth Congress resolution on the five-year plan5 ), for the policy of “an offensive against the kulaks” in the sense of “passing to further, more systematic and persistent restriction of the kulak and private trader” (ibid.), for the policy of “still more resolute economic ousting” of the “elements of private-capitalist economy” in town and country (see Fifteenth Congress resolution on the report of the Central Committee6 ).

    Consequently, a) the author of the above-mentioned article is wrong in depicting the policy of restricting the capitalist elements and the policy of ousting them as two different policies. The facts show that what we have here is one general policy of restricting capitalism, a component part and result of which is the ousting of individual sections of the kulaks.

    Consequently, b) the author of the above-mentioned article is wrong in asserting that the ousting of the capitalist elements in the countryside began only in the period of reconstruction, in the period of the Fifteenth Congress. In point of fact, the ousting took place both before the Fifteenth Congress, in the restoration period, and after the Fifteenth Congress, in the reconstruction period. In the period of the Fifteenth Congress the policy of restricting the kulaks’ exploiting tendencies was only intensified by new and additional measures, as a result of which the ousting of individual sections of the kulaks was also bound to be intensified.

    2. The article says:

    “The policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class entirely follows from the policy of ousting the capitalist elements, being a continuation of this policy in a new stage.”

    This statement is inaccurate and, therefore, untrue. Naturally, the policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class could not have fallen from the skies. The way for it was prepared by the entire preceding period of restricting, and hence of ousting, the capitalist elements in the countryside. But this does not mean that it does not differ radically from the policy of restricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the countryside, that it is a continuation of the restriction policy. To say what our author says is to deny that there has been a change in the development of the countryside since the summer of 1929. To say what he does is to, deny that during this period we have executed a turn in our Party’s policy in the countryside. To say what he does is to create a certain ideological refuge for the Right elements in our Party, who are now clinging to the Fifteenth Congress decisions in opposition to the Party’s new policy, just as at one time Frumkin clung to the Fourteenth Congress decisions in opposition to the policy of promoting collective farms and state farms.

    What was the point of departure of the Fifteenth Congress in proclaiming an intensification of the policy of restricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the countryside? Its point of departure was that, despite this restricting of the kulaks, they, as a class, nevertheless were bound to remain for the time being. On those grounds, the Fifteenth Congress left in force the law on renting land, although it knew very well that it was mostly kulaks who rented land. On those grounds, the Fifteenth Congress left in force the law on hiring labour in the countryside, and demanded that it should be strictly observed. On those grounds, it was again proclaimed that dekulakisation was impermissible. Do these laws and decisions contradict the policy of restricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the countryside? Certainly not. Do these laws and decisions contradict the policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class? Certainly, they do! Consequently, these laws and decisions must now be set aside in the areas of complete collectivisation, which is spreading by leaps and bounds. Incidentally, they have already been set aside by the very progress of the collective-farm movement in the areas of complete collectivisation.

    Can it, then, be affirmed that the policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class is a continuation of the policy of restricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the countryside? Obviously, it cannot.

    The author of the above-mentioned article forgets that the kulak class, as a class, cannot be ousted by taxation measures or any other restrictions, if this class is allowed to retain instruments of production and the right to free use of land, and if in our practical activity we preserve in the countryside the law on hiring labour, the law on renting land, and the ban on dekulakisation. The of restricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the countryside? Its point of departure was that, despite this restricting of the kulaks, they, as a class, nevertheless were bound to remain for the time being. On those grounds, the Fifteenth Congress left in force the law on renting land, although it knew very well that it was mostly kulaks who rented land. On those grounds, the Fifteenth Congress left in force the law on hiring labour in the countryside, and demanded that it should be strictly observed. On those grounds, it was again proclaimed that dekulakisation was impermissible. Do these laws and decisions contradict the policy of restricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the countryside? Certainly not. Do these laws and decisions contradict the policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class? Certainly, they do! Consequently, these laws and decisions must now be set aside in the areas of complete collectivisation, which is spreading by leaps and bounds. Incidentally, they have already been set aside by the very progress of the collective-farm movement in the areas of complete collectivisation.

    Can it, then, be affirmed that the policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class is a continuation of the policy of restricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the countryside? Obviously, it cannot.

    The author of the above-mentioned article forgets that the kulak class, as a class, cannot be ousted by taxation measures or any other restrictions, if this class is allowed to retain instruments of production and the right to free use of land, and if in our practical activity we preserve in the countryside the law on hiring labour, the law on renting land, and the ban on dekulakisation. The author forgets that the policy of restricting the exploiting tendencies of the kulaks enables us to count only on ousting individual sections of the kulaks, which does not contradict, but, on the contrary, presumes the preservation for the time being of the kulaks as a class. As a means of ousting the kulaks as a class, the policy of restricting and ousting individual sections of the kulaks is inadequate. In order to oust the kulaks as a class, the resistance of this class must be smashed in open battle and it must be deprived of the productive sources of its existence and development (free use of land, instruments of production, land-renting, right to hire labour, etc.).

    That is a turn towards the policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class. Without it, talk about ousting the kulaks as a class is empty prattle, acceptable and profitable only to the Right deviators. Without it, no substantial, let alone complete, collectivisation of the countryside is conceivable. That is well understood by our poor and middle peasants, who are smashing the kulaks and introducing complete collectivisation. That, evidently, is not yet understood by some of our comrades.

    Hence, the Party’s present policy in the countryside is not a continuation of the old policy, but a turn away from the old policy of restricting (and ousting) the capitalist elements in the countryside towards the new policy of eliminating the kulaks as a class.

    J. Stalin

    Jarek: Thank you, Josef. As I’m sure you know, there is nothing more obstinate than a woman who has made up her mind to believe something, facts be damned. And evil SOB that you were, you used such useful idiots to overthrow the old order and maintain the new one.

    Paula is just such a woman. Thus I use her master’s own words to disprove her. She thinks just because you persecuted Russians and Khazaks that you didn’t persecute Ukrainian kulaks. I never said you hated Ukraininans per se. You hated kulaks (private farmers) wherever you found them. And any remaining nomadic peoples of the steppes – as at least some of the Khazaks still were.

    Bertrand Russell himself, an ardent Socialist, asked Stalin personally why the Khazaks had to die. Stalin was shameless and just smiled, saying something to the effect that they didn’t fit in. Of course not. No more than the kulaks.

    There is only matter. Economics determines morality. At the stage of Industrialism, collectivism is the will of the dialectic (the rationality starts to get mystical here). No place for private farmers or nomadic herdsmen. The same thing was done in Tanzania or the other T country right next to it. Farmers were driven of their land at the point of bayonets and onto huge collective farms. Another Marxist famine ensued.

    The most efficient way to eliminate kulaks as a class is just to kill them. Starving them is good since you can blame the famine on natural causes. The true believers and useful idiots will “eat it up”. Get it? Eat it up?

    If you don’t, just ask Beryl, when she’s two feet tall.

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    • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 2:56 pm #

      They took the whole Cherokee nation

      put us on this reservation

      took away our way of life

      Tomahawk and bow and knife

      Took away our native tongue

      taught their English to our young

      • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 3:21 pm #

        Yes, the Kulaks as Indians? Now it’s the whole White race, almost everywhere. Nothing stands between us and that except the Russian army.

      • elysianfield February 5, 2023 at 6:14 pm #

        Dog,

        We gave them reservations, a place of their own

        We gave them blankets…they STILL bitch and moan.

        We gave ’em casinos for the white man to skin;

        Apologists say they are devoid of sin,

        We gave them Whisky, they gave us weaving,

        They should have fought harder…cause now we ain’t leavin’

    • Paula D February 5, 2023 at 7:10 pm #

      City boy proves yet again that he doesn’t understand that when the rains don’t come the crops fail.

      No, city boys believe in Magic Food that always appears if you have money.
      Unless some mean man decides one year to deprive peasants of food, just for shits and giggles.

      OK city boy. You will find out when the magic trucks stop bringing the magic food to the stores how easy it is to feed yourself when the rains don’t come.

  76. The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 3:02 pm #

    Continued from comment at; February 5, 2023 at 1:52 pm…

    The Job/Career As A Glorified Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

    …Insofar as some people are addicted to porn, well, others are addicted to something else, like gambling, alcohol, smoking…

    …or getting up every weekday at 7am to go into a workplace to do the same thing over and over again while their children are somewhere else, being raised by the relative strangers of pseudocommunities.

    I mean, take a look, too, at how all of us here are ‘communicating’ with each other. How does that affect us? How often are we on our digital devices? Is it healthy?” ~ The Man They Call Zazelle, February 4, 2023 at 12:21 am

    ——

    “…’or getting up every weekday at 7am to go into a workplace…’ ~ The Man They Call Zazelle

    Working for a living is not a lifestyle choice.‘ ” ~ K-Chien

    ——

    Of course it isn’t (at least for the most part and/or as we may currently understand it), but it also depends on how we define work, what that work is, how it is structured, and how it affects us. (What happens, say, to our brains over time, such as in an aforementioned OCD context?)

    What we call work nowadays is a lot different than what our ancestors– close and distant– called work, right? (Hunting-and-gathering, say, vs the office cubicle staring at a computer screen for ~7 hours a day, 5 days a week?)

    In decline and/or collapse modes, we may be backtracking on some forms of work and bailing on others, yes? Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

    Consider, compare and contrast, too, such concepts as specialization and hyperspecialization; ants/termites in a colony or bees in a hive; and an individual’s autonomy in these myriad contexts. (With a tip-o’-th’-hat to MaryQueen for my apparently-correct use of the word, myriad.)

    ======

    What is wrong with making $15 an hour?” ~ K-Chien February 3, 2023 at 1:52 pm

    ——

    What’s wrong with some ‘elite set’ deciding that the Earth/nature/(labour?), as finite ‘pies’ (Extraterrestrial mining, etc., notwithstanding), shall be sliced up and monetized/commodified and sold more to the highest bidders?

    Some say this is like a game of musical chairs. If so, I wonder how it ends. Maybe like the game? Increasing wealth, economic, etc., disparities?

    • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 3:30 pm #

      15/hr is just minimum wage now – if that. Below that is just a Stalinist slow starving of the workers.

      The Chinese did similar. In their “iron drives” in order to meet five year plan quotas, they would confiscate plowshares that had been in families for generations.

      • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 3:48 pm #

        For the first three decades after the minimum wage was established in 1938, it roughly kept pace with average wage and with productivity growth, rising from 25 cents at the outset to $1.60 in 1968. That buoyed workers at the bottom of the income scale along with the rest of the labor force.

        The federal minimum wage hit its peak in inflation-adjusted terms in 1968 at just over $12. It has been set at $7.25 since 2009. The federal minimum wage would have been $21.45 in 2020 if it rose in step with productivity.

        Below 15/hr is just a Stalinist slow starving of the workers, if that.

        • Jarek February 5, 2023 at 4:02 pm #

          Yet above you said, What is wrong with making 15/hr? Go check if you don’t remember.

          Why did you say it and then reverse it? Do you perhaps know more than you are able to integrate, or bring to bear at any moment on any question?

          Because of National Socialism and White Nationalism, I don’t have that problem. Your Idols have failed you. Mine have not failed me.

          • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 4:14 pm #

            Now why did you have to go do that. This is like having to explain a joke.

            The question mark at the end means I asked a question.

            As I was not making a statement I have nothing to explain.

            But,

            I was being sarcastic and Night Owl did not give full context if you really want to know. Night Owl mentioned Cuomo after the fact, and then the thread died as it should.

            Seriously Jarek, don’t fuck it up when people agree with you. It does not happen every day.

          • messianicdruid February 5, 2023 at 7:53 pm #

            In 1964 it was $1.25. That’s 5 90% silver quarters.

            According to

            httpX://www.silverrecyclers.com/coins/1964-quarter.aspx

            they are worth $4.02 each.

          • K-Chien February 6, 2023 at 4:48 am #

            5 x $4.02 = $20.10

            The silver quarters kept up with inflation but did not keep up with gains in productivity.

            Productivity went trickle up ever since everybody decided they were temporarily embarrassed millionaires and did not need unions.

      • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 6:08 pm #

        ‘Don’t Feed The Animals’: The Disempowerment And Dangers Of Self-Domestication

        I’d likely survive, maybe even comfortably with some help from a kind of tribe, if government (and/or assorted) shits pulled fast ones like those, because I have enough knowledge and skills that take back my self-empowerment and, as such, transcend the status-quo.

        How about you?

        ======

        Artificiality and work have steadily increased since its inception and are known as culture: in domesticating animals and plants man necessarily domesticated himself.” ~ ‘Agriculture’, by John Zerzan at ‘The Anarchist Library‘ (online)

    • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 3:33 pm #

      People can take a lot, but there is a breaking point. Nobody knows what trivial event sparks the powder keg.

      As the rentier class takes ever more each time the music stops. There will be a point where shit hits the fan. Every time the music stops rentiers take more.

      It won’t be this year, people can take a lot. Critical mass for a trivial trigger event will not be reached. But the signs are there. Mass shootings seem to be climbing with the CO2 in the air. I am not saying there is cause and effect. Correlation for sure.

      Now:

      “What’s wrong with some ‘elite set’ deciding that the Earth/nature/(labour?), as finite ‘pies’

      Plenty.

      Everybody’s in a bubble, people are shaped by who they see. The pain of people they don’t see, people give not two shits about. An elite set loses compassion in a generation, corrupted by the bubble of privilege.

      We pay lip service to meritocracy but history makes that reality a lie.

      Who should be rentiers? Retired people who saved enough money in their working life to rent out a second home. That’s it. That’s all.

      I don’t anticipate being made boss anytime soon. I can let my thoughts play in my own bubble, but I live in the real world.

      • K-Chien February 5, 2023 at 3:37 pm #

        Life after the trigger event will not be good.

        • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 5:44 pm #

          I seem to recall K-Dog in the Nature Bats Last comment section before it was pulled. We get around.

          • K-Chien February 6, 2023 at 4:41 am #

            Not so much there, but yes. Nothing recent.

            I saw Guy McPherson at the Royal Room in Seattle a few years ago. Only three people showed up. A pair of young hostile butch lesbians who think all men are pervs. And me.

            Guy was not fond of meeting someone who might know as much about his subject as he. Guy expected me to be hostile. I was not.

            At the time I thought Guy’s message was good to get out. I did not and do not agree the world is going to broil withing a few years, but if Guy gets people to ‘think’ I thought getting his message out was fine.

            I no longer feel that pushing Guy’s extreme form of doom brings people any closer to understanding reality. The problem is not so much with Guy, though there is a power trip going on there.

            Rather I understand trying to make people think is a fools errand. People are copycats. On hearing extreme views people embrace them or reject them. But think about ideas to evaluate them on their merits? Examine where ideas come from?

            Oh hell no. Snake oil sells.

            For that reason I would not do Guy McPherson dinner theater a second time.

      • Woodchuck February 5, 2023 at 6:22 pm #

        Mass shootings occur because our society by and large is mentally ill and delusional. CO2 is irrelevant. And while I’m on that subject, here’s some climate news. According to NASA satellites, we are cooling, not warming. That’s why we’re seeing record cold and snow mass in many different places. The AGW narrative is failing rapidly:

        “The Version 6.0 global average lower tropospheric temperature reading for January 2022 is in. It shows a negative anomaly of -0.04 deg. C vs the multidecadal average.

        Despite the ever-loudening cries of ‘Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming’ and the mindless prosperity-wrecking policies that accompany them, this is the fourth sharp global temperature drop in as many months, drops that continue the overall downward trend observed since 2016’s peak (now down 0.75C deg. C since then).

        In simpler terms, it’s getting harder and harder for the establishment’s anti-human narrative to be maintained.

        A continuation of Earth’s cooling trend is highly probable over the coming months –with the odd bump along the way: climate is cyclic, after all– as low solar activity, La Nina, and the aftereffects of Hunga Tonga’s record-setting mesospheric eruption continue to have an infinitely-larger influence over our climate than a natural byproduct of human existence (see how that works).”

        hxxttps://electroverse.co/temps-fall-below-30-year-baseline-now-down-0-75c-from-2016/

      • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 6:43 pm #

        A Strip Of Shredded Reality: The Money Symbol/Map

        It also helps to back up from the pointillist painting to see if one can glean a larger and/or more tightly-conceptual picture beyond the fragments or trees in the forest.

        As such, money, by the way, is yet another ‘map/symbol’ as per my 2 quotes in the threads under another article (but see same copies below).

        But of course money doesn’t really represent reality or value and can be hugely massaged by the ‘middlemen/handlers’.

        Governments don’t represent us, either.
        But according to many people’s socially-contrived ‘neurological’ ‘map’, they do (as depicted by the allegories of The Matrix and Plato’s Cave’s prisoners and slaves).

        ======

        Philosophy and the Matrix – Baudrillard:

        youtu . be/e3tr0gSNBx4

        ======

        Animals don’t do what humans do via speech, namely, make a symbol stand in for the thing. As Tim Ingold puts it, ‘they do not impose a conceptual grid on the flow of experience and hence do not encode that experience in symbolic forms.’ ” ~ John Zerzan

        “…The map is a simulacrum that, as a model, loses all reference to reality… reality exists only as rotting shreds that are attached to the map, and this is the state of our age according to Baudrillard; that the model, itself, has primacy for us; the real has become irrelevant…” ~ Frances Flannery-Dailey

        ======

        ‘Thin Strips Of You’, by Vim!

        youtu . be/3aNFjoae-6w

  77. stelmosfire February 5, 2023 at 4:50 pm #

    A person can never know what goes on in the mind of a their fellow humans. The good or evil will be held in check hopefully. I believe that most folk have a rather tenuous grip on morality and when things become sketchy all bets are off.

    • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 5:42 pm #

      Moral Exceptions Of Conscience

      I bold-face lied to assorted store personnel when they asked me about my lack of covid mask. For essential businesses, I always got in. (In a hypothetical other reality, that may not always be the case.)

      Even though I resented it, my consolation was that I was/am fairly sure it’s one symptom of a society in decline– a society I dislike– and also that, in war, one has to lie to protect oneself and one’s people/community.

      You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight even if you’re against guns, unless you’re not interested in surviving, or can throw a mean knife and move very quickly.

      • KesaAnna February 5, 2023 at 10:14 pm #

        Since I was a little girl I have always taken it as a rock solid article of faith that ;

        I am NOT morally obligated to tell the truth to someone who is pointing a gun at me.

        They can have transparency and sincerity ,

        OR,

        they can have coercion and the whip hand .

        But they cannot have BOTH.

        — But then I was a little girl in East Germany.

        — But then I never so despised the United States as much as I did when I actually came here and learned that your typical American Republican hates the above principle ,

        just as much , and for the same reason ,

        as would an East German true – believing Communist Stasi officer.

        • The Man They Call Zazelle February 6, 2023 at 1:43 am #

          I am NOT morally obligated to tell the truth to someone who is pointing a gun at me.” ~ KesaAnna

          ——

          Yup.

          But ya, wow, East Germany…

  78. The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 6:52 pm #

    I’m going to the store for some ice cream. Anyone want anything?

    • GreenAlba February 5, 2023 at 7:27 pm #

      🙂

    • Islander February 5, 2023 at 9:43 pm #

      Mint chocolate chip.

      • The Man They Call Zazelle February 5, 2023 at 11:56 pm #

        You’re way too late, sweetie, I got back some time ago.

        I got one yuzu citrus and one salted caramel tub.
        The latter was on a curious whim as I don’t get that flavor, but it was 2 for a better deal than just one.
        It’s ok in my tea– I just tried it– but yuzu is still the preferred I’ll save the salted caramel for my post-chilled hot-milk-brewed coffee, for a kind of iced caramel latte.

        I am unsure what I’d do with mint chocolate chip, except have it straight-up in a bowl.

        Normally, the yuzu citrus ice cream is added to a cold-milk-brewed loose-leaf green tea with about a fourth of my garden-grown lemongrass. Citruses tend to go well with teas of course.

        But I’ll keep that in mind for next time… But do you find that the chips have a hard time melting in your ice-cream chilled mouth? I guess now they have higher-temperature-melting chocolate chips, like those Moritz Icy Squares.That might be nice. My gardens also grow mint. Maybe I should get an ice-cream machine.

  79. Mike G February 5, 2023 at 7:58 pm #

    FJB

  80. KesaAnna February 5, 2023 at 10:03 pm #

    ” Maybe the current destruction is a good thing … ”

    — Softstarlight

    A favorite song of mine is Patsy Kline’s , ” Walking after Midnight “.

    One reason I love the song is because of the sociological , cultural , and contextural contrasts , and to an even bizarre degree , in the time the song was written and was popular , versus at the current time , in the current context.

    Consider , the plot of the song basically goes like this ;

    A woman blithely assumes that she can go for a walk , alone , after midnight no less , and this is , if not entirely normal and typical , not outrageously deviant ,

    and it is not to be automatically assumed that by engaging in such behavior she is certain to wind up in a dumpster somewhere.

    Now consider , too , that Patsy Kline never lived to see cheap home security systems , cell phones , facial recognition software , DNA evidence , pee tests , even local police budgets that are in the millions ,

    and all that myriad other stuff that presumably keeps us soo much safer than the Dark Ages Patsy Kline lived in.

    ( By the way , Patsy Kline was also famous for a song entitled , ” Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray ”

    But as things turned out , she did NOT die of heart disease , emphysema , or lung cancer .

    You have to survive air plane crashes to die of heart disease , emphysema , or lung cancer .

    Go figure.

    — And by the way , she died in an airplane crash at a time when far fewer people than now had ever even once used an airplane.

    And why was she in an airplane ? Air travel was the quickest and easiest way to pay a visit to all her fans — or as many of her fans as possible at any rate.

    How many deserving people have no fans at all ?

    So you could , sort of , say her cause of death was good fortune.

    Go figure. )

    One thing that commonly irks me about CFN is the apparent common assumption that an end to air conditioning , phone apps , and the Plan B pill will almost certainly be Mad Max.

    As I have said before , the basic assumptions that Americans are making about other Americans that that assumption seems to imply ,

    seems to indicate to me that they actually have a much worse opinion of their own country than I , an avowed enemy of the United States , have of it.

    I reckon that sometimes ” destruction ” is more a point of view , than a tangible fact.

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    • The Man They Call Zazelle February 6, 2023 at 1:34 am #

      Not Your Pappy’s Country?

      So you’re not in the States then?

      ======

      “A favorite song of mine is Patsy Kline’s , ‘Walking after Midnight’.” ~ KesaAnna

      ——

      That sounds like what I might be tempted to think of as ‘old school country music’. Maybe it’s called something else or, one might say, ‘what does it matter what genre it is?’…

      In any case, my ignorance of what I might think of as country music prompted me to find out what it might be, and if I could find something in there that I might like.

      So far, after hardly a look, I caught one (based on an online recommendation):

      Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator)

      youtu . be/jdYG-Nh_AxU

      I have to be in a certain mood for that, which, after some tea and ice cream I am.

      But, ya, you have a point about the mad max destruction and whatnot. I hear that decline, collapse or whatever is going to be different in different locales, as it always has been I guess, and that there may be some refugee influxes and outfluxes as a result too.

      Word of the week: Myriad.

    • SoftStarLight February 6, 2023 at 3:29 am #

      Well i’m envisioning of an end to much more than just that. Consider a complete meltdown of the grid and the water system. The end of irrigation as we know it. The end of really every facet of what we might consider in some sense modern civilization. That is very much possible in some scenarios. Perhaps not all likely but still possible. People will do crazy things when their hungry. So it’s not necessarily a judgement on other Americans but people generally. At least within my perspective.

      I’m not a big believer in the inherent righteousness of lowered expectations. If one doesn’t demand everything how will they get anything? But one additional caveat is that in my original thought I was in anguish over the destruction of the natural world by industrial scale people. So a failure of the system would be a reprieve for nature. Though in retrospect that is theoretical. Think of unattended nuclear power stations. So there are many things that make one wish to walk at night.

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