From Joshua Rogers, blogger:
Creativity doesn’t come from glancing quickly at your Twitter feed while in line at Starbucks. It comes from deep thought. It comes from voraciously reading books—long books that require focused attention. It comes from meaningful discourse with other intellectually curious people. It comes from listening and asking good questions.
The Northman Trader has many reasons not to be bullish on the stock market. From the Northman Trader at northmantrader.com:
A bull market requiem:
Following the financial crisis the world needed coordinated structural solutions (and those would be hard requiring tough choices). Instead what the world got was coordinated central bank intervention which shrunk the middle class, made the rich richer and provided the rest with the illusion that things were getting better as pro forma unemployment rates shrunk and housing prices rose again and stock markets jumped from record to record. In the meantime politicians (of both parties) used the easy money illusion to do precisely nothing on the structural front. Instead they added debt and more debt and recent tax cuts just added to the combination of both: Wealth inequality and debt.
The data is very clear. Things are better for the few:
The greatest bull market ever (?) and 90% of income earners have less net worth than before the financial crisis? Given what it took on the intervention and debt fronts this is intellectual bankruptcy. Policy makers have failed the larger population. Full stop.
Income growth? Forget it:
Debt? A disaster zone with no end in sight:
And only getting worse. Much, much worse. Here’s the CBO projecting the coming explosion in debt which doesn’t even presume a coming recession:
This is what policy makers have produced ahead of the next recession:
Unfathomable. Since 2007:
The US government more than doubled the debt ($8.8T to $20.5T) & is now accelerating deficits
The Fed expanded its balance sheet to $4.5T and is now reducing.
And 90% of income earners have less net worth than before.
This is a structural disaster.— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) March 28, 2018
The construct was ready to fall apart in early 2016. Earnings recession they called it. Bullshit. It was a recession in the making and central bankers knew it and hence we saw the cumulative insanity of over $5 trillion in additional intervention between 2016 and now. People forget: In this short period we witnessed the most aggressive global central bank intervention ever:
To continue reading: Bull Market Requiem
Posted in Business, Capitalism, Debt, Economy, Financial markets, Governments, Investing
Tagged central bank policies
Jordon Peterson has emerged as a superhero for many on the right. From James Varney at washingtontimes.com:
For someone who’s become rich and famous for his speech, Jordan Peterson spends a lot of time saying, “that’s not what I said.”
A clinical psychologist and scholar, Mr. Peterson has taken the Internet, along with the publishing and speaking-tour worlds, by storm. His lectures and books now command enthralled audiences worldwide. Fresh off sold-out appearances in Australia, a 12-city North American tour to promote his latest book started Sunday in Manhattan.
But away from the crowds, his point of view isn’t always welcome. Whether it’s a confrontational interview with the BBC, a haughty dismissal in The New York Review of Books, or an inability to get listed on The New York Times’ best-seller list, the media gatekeepers seem to want Mr. Peterson kept outside.
“That’s because he’s a massive threat to them,” said television news host Tucker Carlson, who added he’s enjoyed every appearance Mr. Peterson made on the host’s Fox News Channel program. “That’s all an effort to make him be quiet.”
Thus far, the effort earns an “F.” Mr. Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Chaos,” is a runaway global best-seller. Months after its publication, the book sits at No. 2 on Publishers’ Weekly nonfiction list, and on Amazon it still holds the No. 2 spot in all books, while ranking as No. 1 in three categories. On YouTube, the 225 lectures Mr. Petersonhas posted have attracted more than 460,000 subscribers and 30 million views.
Exactly what Mr. Peterson imparts in his speeches and prose isn’t easily classified. His website proclaims his new book, “shattered the modern commonplaces of science, faith, and human nature while transforming and ennobling the mind and spirit of its readers.”
He jumps nimbly among multiple sources, from mythology to history, and from literature to psychoanalysis. There’s talk of “archetypes,” and a resurrection of themes that last held sway when disciples of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung ruled the academy. His books are nonfiction, yet they are also self-help with more than a dash of philosophy.
Mr. Peterson’s public relations team said it could not arrange an interview with him as he embarked on his speaking tour. But his rise is easily tracked on YouTube: from the young Peterson at Harvard, talking about Alexander Solzhenitsyn with minimal production values, to a more assertive and confident professor teaching mid-level classes at the University of Toronto, to a kind of new-age guru appearing solo on stage before a rapt audience.
Mr. Peterson’s philosophy boils down to what he describes as a mature attitude and concomitant “competence.” While much of what Mr. Peterson dissects is universal, he often addresses himself to younger men and what he calls “a crisis in masculinity.”
To continue reading: Jordan Peterson’s refusal to kowtow to modern liberal pieties makes him a star — and a marked man
Garbage in, garbage out, as the old saying goes. Consistently eat garbage and you may be putting yourself on the path towards Alzheimer’s disease. From Dr. Lisa Mosconi at qz.com:
Dementia haunts the United States. There’s no one without a personal story about how dementia has touched someone they care for. But beyond personal stories, the broader narrative is staggering: By 2050, we are on track to have almost 15 million Alzheimer’s patients in the US alone. That’s roughly the population of NYC, Los Angeles, and Chicago combined. Now add a few more cities to take care of them.
It’s an epidemic that’s already underway—but we don’t recognize it as such. The popular conception of Alzheimer’s is as an inevitable outcome of aging, bad genes, or both.
From a scientist’s perspective, it’s important to remind everyone that we all once believed the same thing about cancer. But just a few days ago, doctors around the world have been considerably shaken up by the breaking news linking cancer to processed foods. In a large-scale study, researchers found that a 10% increase in consumption of ultra-processed foods led to a 12% increase in overall cancer events.
At the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical, this latest cancer research had our full attention. The findings line up so closely with research in the field, including our own work, linking diet and risk of Alzheimer’s—and underscore how important lifestyle changes can be to delaying or even avoiding the onset of the disease.
In an age of inexpensive personal genomics, there’s a general and persistent sense that as with cancer, Alzheimer’s is an essentially genetic outcome. But in reality, less than 1% of the population develops the disease due to genetic mutations in their DNA. To be clear, the vast majority of Alzheimer’s patients is simply not born of those mutations.
For Alzheimer’s, as with cancer—but also as with other conditions like heart disease and diabetes—much of the risk is related to behavioral and lifestyle factors. The consensus among scientists is that over one third of all Alzheimer’s cases could be prevented by improving our lifestyle. This includes ameliorating cardiovascular fitness, keeping our brains intellectually stimulated, and perhaps most of all: eating better.
“Eating better” means addressing the American ultra-processed diet. Ultra-processed is a technical term, and exists in a spectrum of food processing. An apple straight from the tree is wholly unprocessed. Dry the apple, and store it away with common preservatives like sulphur dioxide, and it becomes a processed food.
Whatever was used on the Skripals did not kill them, which casts doubt that it was Novichok. From Moon of Alabama at ronpaulinstitute.org:
It seems that the ‘Novichok’ fairy-tale the British government plays to us provides for a happy ending – the astonishing and mysterious resurrection of the victims of a “military grade” “five to eight times more deadly than VX gas” “nerve agent” “of a type developed by” Hollywood.
Happy Easter!
Yulia Skripal no longer in critical condition, say Salisbury doctors
The condition of Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury along with her father, is improving rapidly, doctors have said.
Salisbury NHS foundation trust said on Thursday the 33-year-old was no longer in a critical condition, describing her medical state as stable.
Christine Blanshard, medical director for Salisbury district hospital, said: “I’m pleased to be able to report an improvement in the condition of Yulia Skripal. She has responded well to treatment but continues to receive expert clinical care 24 hours a day.”
…
Her father’s condition is still described by the hospital as critical but stable.
Only yesterday the Skripals chances to survive was claimed to be 1 out of 99. Nerve agents are deadly weapons. A dose of ten milligram of the U.S. developed VX nerve agent will kill 50% of those exposed to it. The ‘Novichok’ agents are said to be several times more deadly than VX.
It seems less and less likely that the British government claim about ‘Novichok’ poisoning is actually true. Way more likely are other explanations, for example food poisoning or an allergic shock soon after eating out at a fish restaurant.
The claims of a nerve agent and ‘Novichok’ seem to have been taken from the script of the British-American spy drama Strike Back (clip) which recently ran on British and U.S. TV. The sole purpose of the ‘Novichok’ drama is to implicate and damage Russia.
To continue reading: Last Act Of ‘Novichok’ Drama Revealed – ‘The Skripals’ Resurrection’
Posted in Crime, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, Imperialism
Tagged Novichok, Skripal poisoning
Jesus Christ was a pain in the ass to the reigning police state—the Roman Empire—of his time. That’s why they nailed him to the cross. From John W. Whitehead at rutherford.org:
“In that dramatic scene on Calvary’s hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime — the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps …the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
Just as police states have arisen throughout history, there have also been individuals or groups of individuals who have risen up to challenge the injustices of their age.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer risked his life to undermine the tyranny at the heart of Nazi Germany.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn challenged the soul-destroying gulags of the Soviet Union.
Martin Luther King Jr. called America on the carpet for its color-coded system of racial segregation and warmongering.
And then there was Jesus Christ, an itinerant preacher and revolutionary activist, who not only died challenging the police state of his day—namely, the Roman Empire—but provided a blueprint for standing up to tyranny that would be followed by those, religious and otherwise, who came after him.
A radical nonconformist who challenged authority at every turn, Jesus was a far cry from the watered-down, corporatized, simplified, gentrified, sissified vision of a meek creature holding a lamb that most modern churches peddle. In fact, he spent his adult life speaking truth to power, challenging the status quo of his day, and pushing back against the abuses of the Roman Empire.
Those living through this present age of militarized police, SWAT team raids, police shootings of unarmed citizens, roadside strip searches, and invasive surveillance might feel as if these events are unprecedented, the characteristics of a police state and its reasons for being are no different today than they were in Jesus’ lifetime: control, power and money.
Much like the American Empire today, the Roman Empire of Jesus’ day was characterized by secrecy, surveillance, a widespread police presence, a citizenry treated like suspects with little recourse against the police state, perpetual wars, a military empire, martial law, and political retribution against those who dared to challenge the power of the state.
As I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, a police state extends far beyond the actions of law enforcement. In fact, a police state “is characterized by bureaucracy, secrecy, perpetual wars, a nation of suspects, militarization, surveillance, widespread police presence, and a citizenry with little recourse against police actions.”
Indeed, the police state in which Jesus lived and its striking similarities to modern-day America are beyond troubling.
To continue reading: A Blueprint for Resistance: Jesus Christ vs. the Police State
Governments are by far the deadliest institution on the planet. So why does nobody label them terrorists? from L. Reichard White at lewrockwell.com:
Newspapers and other publications keep what they call “stylebooks” to let the folks who write for them know what’s acceptable to the publication and what isn’t. Many factors determine the rules that are included in a stylebook, many, but not all of them, economic.
What these stylebooks reveal, however, is much more than just preferences and economics. What is a “terrorist” for example – – –
For the record, here’s the [Minnesota] Star Tribune style entry, word for word: “The Star Tribune permits the use of the word ‘terrorist’ to describe nongovernmental groups that carry out attacks on civilians. Other words –‘gunmen,’ ‘separatist,’ ‘rebel’ and ‘suicide bomber,’ for example –usually are more precise and therefore are generally preferred. In the case of Al-Qaida, the use of ‘terrorist network’ or similar terms is permitted. Also, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks as ‘terrorist attacks’ is permitted.” –from Minnesota startribune
So, “In the case of Al-Qaida, the use of ‘terrorist network’ or similar terms is permitted.” But, in the case of governments, apparently, the use of “terrorist,” etc. isn’t permitted.
It seems that if a “governmental group/network” does exactly what a non-governmental “terrorist group/network” does — “carrying out attacks on civilians,” etc. — it isn’t called “terrorist.”
Can you think of any “governmental group/network” currently carrying out attacks on civilians?
Thought so. Me too.
So, we know that governments attack civilians – – – regularly. And the results are predictable and the magnitude horrendous. Just to start with – – –
New York, NY – An early July column in the Wall Street Journal by R.J. Rummel confirmed what most libertarians already know: that government is the biggest scourge of mankind. According to Rummel’s research, governments of all kinds … have killed 119 million people in the twentieth century. The second runner up, war (also sponsored by governments, usually) has killed “only” 35.7 million. –AMERICAN LIBERTARIAN Aug. 1986
This record (154.7 million) has been substantially “improved” since Rummel’s 1986 research —- in Afghanistan (by Russian Government), Nicaragua, Bosnia, Iraq 1991 (200,000+ by U.S. Coalition), Guatemala, Chechnya (100,000+), Somalia (by U.S. Government), Rowanda, Grenada (by U.S. Government), East Timor, Panama (by U.S. Government), Kosovo 1999 (by U.S-NATO Coalition & Yugoslav Government), Yugoslavia 1999 (7000+ by U.S.-NATO Coalition), Waco, Texas (60+ including 23 children by U.S. Government), Afghanistan 2002 (4000+ by American Government), Palestine (Israeli Government), Iraq 2003-05 (100,000+ by U.S. led “Coalition”), etc.
To continue reading: A Terrorist by Any Other Name
Posted in Civil Liberties, Crime, Governments, Media
Too bad college kids in favor of socialized medicine can’t be given a one-way ticket to a country with socialized medicine when they’re sick. From Ileana Johnson at thegatestoneinstitute.org:
According to a recent Pew poll, support for universal health care, provided and paid for by the federal government, is higher among American millennials than among older generations. Young Americans seem to believe that socialized medicine is a “cure-all” for health-care ills in the United States, as it ostensibly is elsewhere, such as Canada and Britain.
Unfortunately, there are facts that would appear to put this fantasy to rest by the facts — for instance, the tragic and untimely death of a 20-year-old British woman in her dorm room last March. Victoria Hills, a first-year student, died of an ear infection, after “postpon[ing] visiting her campus general practitioner because her student loan had not come through and she couldn’t afford the prescription.”
There seems to be a myth that all medical care, procedures and drugs are free under a socialized system. Although Britons do have affordable access to primary-care doctors, and everyone in the UK is covered through high taxes, they are subjected to extensive waiting periods for specialists, surgeries and hospitalization. The fact is that in the West, as the ability of physicians to provide services becomes stretched, many patients die waiting for treatment.
To continue reading: Socialized Medicine: A Dose of Reality
Best guess is that at least some of the people in the headlines lately for allegedly trying to undermine President Trump’s election are cooperating with Department of Justice investigators. From sundance at theconservativetreehouse.com:
It was Friday December 1st, 2017, when the media first hit the headlines announcing the guilty plea for former National Security Adviser General Mike Flynn. It was less than 24 hours later, Saturday December 2nd, when ‘a group’ within the DOJ hit back with announcements revealing the political bias of FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
Despite the transparency of timing the media ignored the relationship between the two events. However, people who were following the granular details -within the intelligence community conflict- accepted the IG releases would be used as fuel for congressional review and inquiry….. and that’s exactly what happened.
Unfortunately, the focus was so intense on what later became ‘dueling memos’ no-one paused to look at the granules against the bigger picture. Despite the media story pointing out Strzok and Page were removed from duties on the Special Counsel (Mueller) team in July and August 2017, no-one questioned what was happening between July/August 2017 and the December 2nd media release announcing their dispatch.
If anyone in January had begun cross referencing the Nunes, Goodlatte, Grassley discoveries and their volumes of investigative interviews; against the backdrop of the IG information to Mueller in July ’17; they would have possibly connected the dots that outlined the appearance of a criminal review – and a transparent need for an authorized DOJ entity to construct rules for cooperation within the ongoing IG investigation.
We now know Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DAG Rod Rosenstein assigned federal prosecutor John W. Huber to that task. However, even without knowing his name, we always knew the existence of the parallel prosecutor because the fingerprints of his tasks were evident.
The IG couldn’t simultaneously report on his discovery of criminal conduct and yet construct the parameters for cooperation and compliance with his investigation. IG Horowitz doesn’t have that authority, that’s a federal prosecutors job.
So if people within the FBI and DOJ were cooperating with an internal investigation that was discovering criminal conduct, someone from within the DOJ had to be cutting the deals. Jeff Sessions told us yesterday that person is John Huber.
To continue reading: Deal or No Deal – There’s a Transparency Within Two Factions of DOJ and FBI Political “Small Group”…
Posted in Crime, Cronyism, Government, Investigations
From Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) ,American writer, A Man Without a Country (2005):
If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don’t have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.
 | Anonymous on Great Insight on Iran Situatio… |
| Outlook 2026: Chaos… on AI is a Crock, by Robert Gore | |
 | fourth world turd on Great Insight on Iran Situatio… |
 | Not Sure on Great Insight on Iran Situatio… |
 | zrpradyer on Great Insight on Iran Situatio… |
 | Robert Gore on Mom |
| Anonymous on Mom |
 | Paddy O'Furniture on Back to work, by Robert Gore |
