The Great Degrowth

Considering Decay,

  Thanks Christine. Yes, the Gamma Radiation can be from DU, because the breakdown products of uranium fission break down further, emitting gamma rays.

​  ​Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev warned on Friday that a radioactive cloud was heading towards Western Europe following the destruction of a Ukrainian warehouse storing British-supplied depleted uranium ammunition.
​  ​Sputnik News spoke with Dr. Chris Busby, physical chemist and scientific secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, about how the West’s decision to provide depleted uranium (DU) ammunition to Ukraine has potentially caused a continent-wide ecological disaster. Below is his answer in full. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230519/ukraines-depleted-uranium-blast-europe-on-brink-of-environmental-disaster-1110462939.html

   ​Fade To Black In Ukraine: Jim Kunstler​

​   ​After two-plus years of “Joe Biden” — well, our country is bypassing the banana republic stage of dissolution and depravity and steaming quickly into a Hieronymus Bosch dystopia of financial, social, psychological and moral ruin. Every official utterance is a lie. Everything’s broken or breaking. And seemingly, on-purpose. The nagging question, of course, is on whose purposes?
     And why is Mr. Zelensky flitting from one country to another the past month? Because the game of Let’s You and Him Fight is drawing to a close and Mr. Z may find himself fatally unpopular back on the home-front. He has managed to send upward of a hundred-thousand young Ukrainian men to their deaths in the meat-grinder, and perhaps a million more have hightailed it for other countries. https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/fade-to-black-in-ukraine/

​  C.J. Hopkins , The War On Reality (Revisited)

​  The War on Reality is a civil war, but it is much more than just a civil war. It is an asymmetrical, polymorphous, metastatic, multiplicitous war. An ontological free-for-all. It has no conventions or rules of engagement. There are no battle lines. The battle is everywhere. Alliances shift from day to day. It is chaos, unrelenting, inescapable chaos. An omnipresent, immaterial, omnipotent organism attacking itself. It is continual, and completely unwinnable. It is unwinnable because it has already been won. It ended in victory the moment it began, and now we’re doomed to go on fighting it forever, or until some less ethereal leviathan is born, or reborn, out of its ashes...

​..​Historically, we humans have not done very well in such psychotic ontological environments. When “reality” is shattered into a thousand little shards, and things fall apart, and the center does not hold, we tend to get rather scared, and confused, and agitated. We start to panic. We try to put “reality” back together again. This does not work. This worsens our panic. We start looking around for a new “reality.” We start looking for a savior, a leader, a Führer, someone with a vision, and the will, and the power, to impose a new “reality” on the ontological chaos that is making us so confused and agitated, and scared, and angry, and restore some sense of ideological cohesion so that we don’t have to think about “reality” on a moment-by-moment basis anymore.
​  ​This is the time of dime-store messiahs, tinpot tyrants, zealots, gurus, hustlers, hosers, scam artists, quacks, snake oil salesmen of every variety, fanatical revolutionary movements, new religions and political parties, and so on. Typically, eventually, once the hapless masses have been repeatedly duped, and bilked, and betrayed, and gaslighted and humiliated to the point where they can’t even think anymore, literally cannot think because their brains are broken, and they just want someone to make it all stop … well, to rephrase an old Buddhist platitude, “when the masses are ready, the despot will appear.”​ ...

​..Capitalism, though it can adapt to anything, has never been inherently inclined toward fascism or any other form of totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is a value-coding machine. Its objective is to completely code society with its values, its official ideology (i.e., “reality”). Every aspect of society, not just politics, culture, and so on, but the most intimate aspects of people’s lives.
​  ​Capitalism is a value-decoding machine. Its objective is to completely decode society of any values that impede the free flows of capital, rendering everything and everyone a de facto commodity, transforming societies into markets. It can adapt to totalitarianism and other varieties of despotism when necessary, but left to its own devices, or … you know, granted dominion over the entire Earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon it, it sets about decoding and destabilizing values, destabilizing value and meaning itself, until, ultimately, everything means anything, or nothing, or whatever the market determines it means or is worth at any given moment.
​  ​The point is, the ongoing War on Reality is not a means to an end. It is the end. The official ideology (i.e., “reality”) that GloboCap, Inc. is implementing is not a set of official values or beliefs. It is the absence of any values or beliefs, any non-commodifiable values and beliefs. Values and beliefs are fine, as long as they’re just empty signs, logos, meaningless identity statements, and not principles and beliefs you are trying to live by, and that you are crazy enough to fight to preserve.​..

​..And, if that doesn’t sound like your kind of future, or reality, the “everything is a floating signifier” reality … no worries, you can always drop out of the “mainstream” and join the carnival of “conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, Covid deniers, Russiagate deniers, climate change deniers, disinformationists, malinformationists, transphobes, white supremacists, violent domestic extremists,” and assorted other freaks and curiosities of nature that are actively being quarantined, or are quarantining themselves, in ideological ghettos where normal consumers never have to see them and they (i.e., we, the deviants and freaks) are preyed upon by legions of charlatans, demagogues, agents provocateurs, and other such spiritual and emotional parasites, until the day comes when we find ourselves spastically tweeting about an 86-year-old Chomsky chasing naked sex slaves around Epstein’s island, ripped to the gills on Viagra and Ecstasy, and probably freshly harvested adrenochrome!
​  ​That, or you could withdraw from society completely, and go live in a Kaczynski cabin in Montana, or Idaho, or wherever folks are doing that these days, as several of my readers advised me recently, and forage for berries, and barbecue squirrels, and, well, you know, defecate in a hole in the ground.

The War on Reality (Revisited)

​ Congress must wait 72 hours for further debate after agreeing on a debt-ceiling increase. The Treasury is required to pay, but won't talk about selling assets, such as gold/silver. The funds appear to run out about June 15. Which side has more to lose or gain while the federal government sits in default. Who are the "sides"?

​  ​GOP, White House Remain 'Far Apart' On Debt Deal, Treasury Asks Agencies About Delayed Payments

​  ​According to Punchbowl News, McCarthy says he told Biden that there would be no agreement to a 'clean' debt limit deal which wouldn't include spending cuts, and that he won't agree to raise taxes. The government needs to 'spend less money,' he said, telling Republican lawmakers that 'we are nowhere near a debt ceiling deal yet.' https://www.zerohedge.com/political/gop-white-house-remain-far-apart-debt-deal-treasury-asks-agencies-about-delayed-payments

  [If inflation from supply-contraction, on top of a huge asset-bubble, can't be beaten, then government paying high interest rates assures eventual default on the Federal debt. Nobody really expects default now, but wouldn't it make more sense strategically?​ How about making gold run up to $10k/oz, then switching to a gold-standard?​]  

​  The Fed Is Losing The Inflation Fight​, Peter Schiff  

​  ​Household debt is now above $17 trillion for the first time ever. Even more concerning is the fact that credit card debt was flat in Q1. Credit card balances typically fall in the first quarter.
​  ​Americans are using their credit cards as a lifeline. That’s how they’re dealing with higher prices. They’re charging stuff.”
​  ​In March alone, revolving credit, which included credit card debt, was up 17.3% on an annual basis. Meanwhile, interest rates on credit card debt have spiked to over 20%. Peter said this indicates that the Fed really isn’t making any progress on inflation.
​  ​The consumer keeps spending. Where are they getting the money? They’re borrowing it. Credit continues to expand. That’s part of the inflationary dynamic. ​  ​  Inflation is an expansion of the money supply, which includes credit. So, consumers are not cutting back on their spending because of higher prices. They’re not even cutting back on their spending because of higher interest rates. They just keep on spending. So, prices are going to keep on rising, and this next quarter-point rate hike isn’t going to be any more effective than the previous rate hikes, which means they’re going to have to do it again.”
​  ​But Peter said no matter how much they hike, it’s not going to matter. That’s what the markets fail to understand. Everybody is thinking that since the central bank is going to fight even harder to fight inflation, it’s a good sign and the Fed is on course to slay the inflation dragon.
​  ​No. The Fed is losing its fight with inflation. That’s why it’s going to try harder. But it’s going to be ineffective. If they couldn’t beat inflation with 5%, they’re not going to beat it with 5.25%.”
​  ​It’s not just household debt that’s a problem. The federal government has a debt problem of its own. Federal revenues have collapsed even as the Biden administration keeps right on spending. And why are tax receipts going down? Because the economy is weakening. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/peter-schiff-fed-losing-inflation-fight

​  The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Destroyed, Michael Snyder​

​  ​If you wanted to destroy the middle class, one way that you could accomplish that goal would be to flood the system with money.  Of course that is precisely what we have witnessed over the past few years.  Our leaders have pumped trillions of new dollars into ​(the top of)​ the system, and the wealthy have gotten much, much wealthier.  But meanwhile, the rest of us have seen the cost of living rise much faster than our paychecks have.  As a result, we are getting poorer and the middle class is shrinking.
​  ​Over time, our capitalist economy has steadily evolved into a system where almost all of the wealth and almost all of the power are concentrated in the hands of giant institutions.
​  ​Collectively, big government and big corporations run virtually everything, and this system of “corporate socialism” funnels tremendous amount of wealth into the pockets of a very small minority of the population.
​  ​If you are in that club, life is good.
​  ​But if you are not in that club, life can be a struggle.
​  ​The gap between the rich and the poor has steadily grown, and now it is larger than it has ever been before. http://themostimportantnews.com/archives/the-middle-class-is-being-systematically-destroyed

​  Charles Hugh Smith​ ,  2023: Echoes of 1973  

  2023 is echoing 1973 in potentially consequential ways.. It's not just one year, of course; the entire era from 2019 echoes the era that started in 1969, when the second-order effects of postwar policies finally started kicking in.

Consider these similarities / echoes:
1. Major shifts in global capital and trade flows that attracted little notice start to matter in terms of currency valuations, inflation, monetary and fiscal policy and geopolitics: check.
2. After decades of modest inflation, inflation not only rises but is sticky rather than transitory: check.
3. Major shifts in the power structure of global oil markets: check.
4. Cultural and social shifts become divisive, reaching destructive extremes: check.
5. A global superpower is ensnared in a hot war in which the other side is supplied by a superpower rival: check.
6. Political scandals upend the cozy arrangements of political elites: check.
7. A new wave of geopolitical rivalries arise between allies and rivals alike: check.
8. Stock and bond markets keep rallying like nothing's changed, but since things have changed, each rally fails: check.
​  ​Let's focus on #8: market participants continue assuming that the past 15 years are an accurate guide to the next 15 years, unable or unwilling to face the enormity of the changes that have already occurred in the fundamental structures of state and private-sector finance and the economy. (I discuss these in my book Global Crisis, National Renewal.)
​  ​These shifts guarantee the next 15 years will not follow the low-risk scripts of the past 15 years. I've explained here many times that systems have their own dynamics, and so they don't respond to our desires or opinions or our policy tweaks. No matter how many policy tweaks you throw at diminishing returns, for example, returns still diminish--though you can mask this reality temporarily behind extremes of stimulus and other financial sleight of hand.
​  ​Tightly bound systems, i.e. highly centralized systems, unravel far more abruptly than loosely bound systems, no matter how many fiscal or monetary policy tweaks you throw at the system. http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2023/05/2023-echoes-of-1973.html

  John Campbell explains "International Health Regulations" under WHO treaty in 15 minutes, and well, crossing out the old words and showing the new words.  Thanks to Meryl Nass MD for posting this.

​

  ​Many Pregnant Women Were Forced to Get COVID Shots. Here’s What Happened to Them.​  Joseph Mercola DO​

​   ​COVID-19 shot contents are biodistributed into the bloodstream within hours and cross “all physiologic barriers including the maternal-placental-fetal barrier and the blood brain barriers in both the mother and the fetus,” according to maternal-fetal medicine expert Dr. James Thorp.

​  ​Compared to the flu vaccine, COVID-19 shots are associated with a significant increase in adverse events among women of reproductive age.
​  ​Data revealed a 27-fold higher risk of miscarriage and a more than two-fold increased risk of adverse fetal outcomes across six different categories following COVID-19 shots.
​  ​Birth rates in multiple European countries fell significantly at the end of 2021, months after COVID-19 shots became widely utilized.
Researchers have called for the immediate suspension of COVID-19 vaccination for all persons of childbearing and reproductive age. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/pregnant-women-forced-covid-shots-cola/

Key Differences of Innate & Adaptive Immunity for Handling Pandemics​ , Dr Marian Laderoute​ 

[Take vitamin-D. Don't take vaccines. Exercise outdoors. Sleep. Eat fresh vegetables. Enjoy "a good immune system".]

Key Differences of Innate & Adaptive Immunity for Handling Pandemics

  Steve Kirsch has a vaccine questionnaire for those of us who are parents. I entered data on our four young adult "children".

 The most important survey I've ever done
Are you a parent of a child 40 and younger? Please take my survey now. It's REALLY important. I'll explain why soon. Just take my word for it right now.

The most important survey I've ever done

​  ​How solar farms took over the California desert: ‘An oasis has become a dead sea’​  [Fossil-fuels are exquisite​;​​marvelous. Cherish and spare them.]

​  ​Residents feel trapped and choked by dust, while experts warn environmental damage is ‘solving one problem by creating others’

​  ​“There are so many other places we should be putting solar,” says Clarke, of the National Parks Conservation Association, from homes to warehouses to parking lots and industrial zones. He describes the current model of large-scale, centralised power generation, hundreds of miles from where the power is actually needed, as “a 20th-century business plan for a 21st-century problem”.
​  ​“The conversion of intact wildlife habitat should be the absolute last resort, but it’s become our first resort – just because it’s the easy fix.”
​  ​Vincent Battaglia, founder of Renova Energy, a rooftop solar company based in Palm Desert, agrees. “We’ve been led to believe that all solar is good solar,” he says. “But it’s not when it molests pristine land, requires hundreds of millions of dollars to transmit to city centres, and loses so much power along the way. It is simply preserving the monopoly of the big energy companies.”​   [Thanks Christine] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/21/solar-farms-energy-power-california-mojave-desert

​Solar Farmer (pictured with chlorophyll-based collectors​ around compost pile)