Closing the Books on 2023: Not Very Good

by

A little “mood setting” is in order. Too many years as a rock & roll (and country) newscaster doing mainly mornings, teaches music first, then news.

Perhaps “Wrap it Up” by Sam & Dave would work?  Or, perhaps, the “Long and Winding Road” would be better?  Well, to each their own.

For us, Abba is more our groove.  As in “Money, Money, Money!” (With apologies to Eddie.)

So How Was 2022?

Depends how we count.  

The government has reasonably robust data, but most people are too lazy to actually study the data; instead opting for the politically polished bullshit in press releases.

That’s not the way we do things around here.  We’re data driven.

One measurement of “national success” might be the total number of people actually working.  But, as we see here, we are not yet up to pre-Covid levels set in 2019:

We appreciate that we are almost back to pre-Covid employment.  But during this time at least another million illegals have entered through the porous border.  Which is mysterious in that we won’t tolerate a “leaky border” in Ukraine, but we do in the (formerly) United States.

Another success metric is consumer prices.  If we look at CPI-W (which has less big shots and fewer farm workers) here’s the hardcore reality:  Prices overall are up 7.1 percent year-on-year:

This 7.1 percent increase might be sold as a “good thing” but it’s not when you back out inflation.  For this, we refer to this BLS data set:

The short version is that for three consecutive quarters, real non-farm hourly income is down.

You’d maybe suspected as much, but yeah – the data is right there for people who don’t like spoon-fed pabulum from the Crooked Corporate Media (CCM) which will read anything the American Power Structure puts in front of them and pretend it’s “news.”

Social Security Increases

Even though the Gift-o-crats have lost the House – which changes hands next  week – our Social Security new payment report came in this week.

We were among the lucky ones.  Our net-to-bank was up a shade over 9-percent.  But others will be higher (or lower) than the average 8.7 percent.  Likely due to healthcare premium confusion.

See, the Medicare number used for calculations is based on Nov. 2022 billings.  As higher Medicare costs roll in, the real net will likely decline.

Government peddling a non-real number.  The surprise will come in 2023, I suppose.  Holding onto 8.7 percent seems unlikely.  We know how insurance companies are when comes to monetizing doctoring.  Things rarely (if ever) get cheaper.

Plan for Famine and War

The year ahead is based on continuation of food supplies.  And that is why our big January push will be for modest tree clearing around the garden and solar panels.  Energy and food are nice to have around.  With enough self-generated energy to keep a small part of our home cool in the blistering summer.

We’re planning now because there are signs most of Europe will be embroiled in war within a year, or less.

On the Russian side, reports like the Ukraine government report Ukraine may get ATACMS next year, depending on battlefield developments – Kuleba (ukrinform.net) will merely piss-off Russia more than ever.

While the Ukrainians can’t be happy to read how Surovykin pincer maneuver: Bakhmut flanked & 50,000 Ukrainians trapped – Advance to Toretsk – Bila Hora – Kleeshevka & Pidhorodne.

As we watch the flaring in Kosovo-Serbian regions, there was a possible indicator of cooling tensions seen as Serbia revokes troop alert, removes some roadblocks along Kosovo border.  Whether that can hold more than a few days will depend how accurate the forecasts of Russia moving west into Moldova and then up the Carpathians into lower Europe are.

When you sit back with a “thoughtful single malt” it becomes clear that the EU is trying to hornswoggle in as many new “members” as they can.  Which merely taunts Russia all the more.  As in Moldova’s Sandu Says Hopes for EU Entry This Decade. And there’s the Western drive to get Kosovo membership in the “war club” too.

Our local reality is these moves continue to suggest that massive war expansion is necessary for the World Economic Forum (of fat-cat corporate communism sponsors) to use a limited nuclear exchange to replace representative governments and replace it with a puppeteer show.  Especially on reading Zelensky to Join World Economic Forum at Davos, Partner With BlackRock to ‘Rebuild’ Ukraine.

Yep, that’s the plan, it seems, because there’s a lot of energy in eastern Ukraine and the masters of planetary resource stripping will leave no stone (or country) unturned.

As I advised earlier this week:  Do not panic when a nuke (even several) go off as early as this weekend.  Because it will all be part and parcel of a shock & awe event designed to stampede populations into corporate communist subservience.  Any nuke use will be the prima facie excuse to impose Chinese-like social credit and corporate-orchestrated social controls in formerly somewhat free countries.  Like the U.S.

Dandy, huh?

Meantime, the PowersThatBe are working their way through controlling social media and stories like Divisive social media star Andrew Tate detained in Romania in trafficking case, seems worthy of mention.

Especially since Elon Musk has dropped how the FBI (and other) agencies became political lapdogs of the Buyed’em administration. Matt Taibbi Puts Ted Lieu on the Hot Seat Again About FBI Going After Domestic Speech on Twitter.  We note the democrat representatives’ name seems to have an extra letter at the end of it.

Back to point?  Russia Doubles Yuan, Gold Share in National Wealth Fund Holdinngs while we think a hot spot for 2023 will come as Putin expects China’s Xi to visit in spring, wants to boost military cooperation | Reuters.  Are they planning timing or further adventurism?

The Crypto Cons

While we wait for the money-driven “green movement” and “climate change” artists to figure out that Crypto mining is a crime against the planet, how about we follow the money?

The Bahamas seized $3.5B of FTX digital assets after exchange declared bankruptcy | Fortune  And FTX founder reportedly cashes out $684K after being released on bail (cointelegraph.com).

Ure notices that BTC was trading $16,482 early today.  So, we must conclude there’s been no mass awakening of financial literacy overnight.

Useful to Know Dept.

Good article on Study Finds today about something called “fluid intelligence” (not related to single malts).  See What is fluid intelligence? Study identifies brain areas necessary for quick thinking.

Related – if you plan to have genius level grandchildren: Associations between executive function and early math and literacy skills in preschool children – PubMed (nih.gov)

Around the Ranch: Holiday Eats

Love holidays.  Time to kick back and cook.

Lunch today is my mock won ton soup.  With fresh from the greenhouse tat soi (Korean mustard greens) and Bok Choi.

Dinner tonight will be an all day, slow crock pot corned beef, cooled and turned into Reuben sandwiches and steak fries for dinner.

Tomorrow?  Another prime rib.

And because we can’t eat that much, the Monday fare will be beef stroganoff over wide noodles.

Somewhere in there I will bake a loaf or two.

There’s something very warming and familial about spending time in the kitchen.  Reading a good book, cup of hot soup, listening to the raindrops on the greenhouse…

We thank you for visiting and hope you will continue to visit in 2023.

May 2023 be a better year for all of us.

George@Ure.net

75 thoughts on “Closing the Books on 2023: Not Very Good”

  1. I hope that you are wrong about the Nuke strikes but it certainly would not surprise me. Nothing on Mainstream media is believable yet the masses still soak it in. Non-stop Pharma commercials listing off a litany of side effects while smooth music plays and everyone smiling. This FTX thing is also a setup for more Government control and a government digital currency which is the end of any idea of freedom. That will be the final nail in the coffin.

      • it it tastes good eat it.. enjoy life..
        OR…
        you could enjoy a tasty meal of tofurkey LOL

      • 1 Timothy 4: 1-3: Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the later times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

        Eat all the meat you want… it will save plants from being eaten by the animals you eat… see… win-win… lol

  3. Fear will drive American folk into rural areas after the first bomb drop. RE prices in rural will spike while RE prices in metro will collapse.

    Infrastructure doesn’t exist in rural for any mass exodus so people are trapped. Quite the stew.

    Having well digging equipment ready for newcomer demand could be lucrative. Everyone needs a well.

    • I wonder. I have a different scenario.

      Is it possible that people would not know there was an attack because of grid collapse and an EMP? Instead of receiving an alert on their cell phone they simply experience a blackout? By the time they realize that the power is not coming back because the grid needs to be rebuilt it will be too late.

      Then there is the question of fallout. If they don’t know what is happening then they won’t take steps to avoid fallout. Some of the advice I have read in the past is to shelter in place, stay indoors, take frequent decontamination showers, drink distilled, bottled or filtered water.

      What if a person lives in a 10th story condo that is now a 10th story walk up with no heat light or running water? There are people trapped in the elevator and no body is coming to save them. What if the attack happened at night and people slept through it? What if the first clue they have of an attack is radiation sickness. (Remember the first information about Chernobyl came from reactor workers in Sweden who were coming of shift at a reactor when suddenly their dosimeters showed a radiation event)

      This is just a possible scenario of the hell that awaits people who have no clue about what is going on.

      • I was operating under the thinking open salvos being one or two nukes.

        Once people see Warsaw evaporated people are going to want out of Chicago and Miami price be damned. They’ll be scared. George’s small town may see an influx of 4 or 5,000 people over night.

        People can live in anything but all need a well.

        In cases of mass scale EMP or full attack like you describe people will be taking, not buying. Hide in the Pacific Northwest lava tubes.

    • Rural real estate prices are already spiking. Most of the large (500 acres or more) available tracts in my county have already been snapped up by multimillionaires, presumably to set up their compounds. Eight foot chain link or welded wire fences are going up around them. Smaller (50 to 100 acres) tracts have jumped from $800 an acre to over $3,000 an acre, and they’re still climbing. Our city friends have been visiting here while looking at property, but they can’t afford these prices.

      Even our local airport (3,800′ paved runway) is seeing a spurt of growth. Big new hangars are popping up, and at least one jet now resides in one. High performance twins are showing up more often, and there’s talk of extending the runway to 5,000′ to meet insurance requirements for jet operations. A couple of the multimillionaires are constructing runways on their own properties so they don’t have to pay exorbitant hangar rent at the city-owned airport.

      • S. Indiana price for farmland has gotten crazy out of hand, too. I’ve seen a spate of huge farming tracts being auctioned off as the older gen dies and their descendants don’t care for the work and just want a paycheck from the sale. These are either sucked up by the corporate farmers or RE carpetbaggers, who divide up plots that are scary small with a gigantic home. Looks really odd, but whatever. And yes, there is also a glut of recently built, or proposed suburban housing development. Even out in here in NoWhere the RE developers been pushing it. Their only agreeable companions to this desire are the county tax collectors and assessors, who happily make it a priority to “grow the community”. Other than that, none of us already here want it. We live out in the styx for a reason, and it ain’t because we wanted to view our neighbors up close and personal in their daily home activities. I like Indiana, for the most part. But I am not overly thrilled by the cityfolk moving out here.

      • “With property taxes over 450/mo that’s crazy money. AYFKM?”

        NOPE… not kidding.. Now I don’t have a fancy house.. or a lot of land.. I built my own home it does the job.. no fifty thousand dollar kitchen or much of anything.. I live in the wastelands of america.. the part of the USA that no one wants to go to except some corrupt banker in another country hiding money for the wealthy.. Its the wastelands.. most of the homes around me less than twenty five years ago sold for under twenty thousand.. the business close to me sold for fifteen..
        you don’t see jaguars driving around the road or mecedes benz.. here you see a green tractor that costs two to three times more than those fancy get stuck in the snow and have to roll out onto the ground because they are so low to the ground cars..
        and our taxes are a couple hundred a month.. and I still haven’t found out the NEW rate taxes were going to go up between twenty five and thirty percent this year. in an area where the average wage for the average worker is around ten to thirteen dollars an hour.. insurance if you get one that will pay anything after you spend twenty grand is a couple thousand a month.. (I get the hint that they don’t want them to have insurance so they can own all their property ) . IF you make less than seven hundred a month on a family of two parent.. then you can get food stamps and heat assistance but only five dollars a day food allowance per person and only up to a thousand dollars a month total income.. yes they take the gross amounts of income not the NET after taxes and all that other bs..
        count your blessings.. You live in an economically responsible area.. where the average citizen can live pretty much debt free.. and if you need medications you live only a couple hundred miles away from Mexico where you can get them off the shelf at a mere fraction of what they sell them here for. low cost of heating more than likely low water costs as well.. Here our water bill is almost a couple hundred a month.. see the founders of our community didn’t save a quarter or a dime.. they kept the cost at rock bottom.. ( dam cheap azz’s… OH SHIZT I am talking about our morons in congress to.. that would rather spend trillions on someone elses infrastructure and border security rather than repair our failing infrastructure. even though they printed up enough to do the repairs and haven’t spent a dime on them.. I am curious did NN ( numb nuts) give each illegal a half million like he had proposed. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/03/biden-families-separated-southern-border-519321 OMG.. the dual standards are so vast it shocks me.. makes me want to cry at times.. got a drug addicted pervert kid with thousands of images of his activities that has more corruption of the whole family on one hard drive and we do everything we can to protect that corruption.. its mind boggling to even contemplate…. Fuzt you citizens and screw your needs we have more serious fish to catch.. ) so now that everything is getting old and needs repair.. the only way they can get grants is if they raise the rates.. without using one drop of water.. its about 135 a month.. base rate.. the sad part is that the aging repairs are escalating.. I can totally see a five hundred a month water and sewer bill a month..
        And every media outlet in the country telling everyone that it is good and honorable.. isn’t he nice.. the whole perverted mess should be banned from even going ten blocks from a school or park.. IMHO..

      • the average cost for a house.. seven hundred sq ft.. was 137 grand without infrastructure or land or labor.. just materials..
        land around here.. to get the right to put a house on a farm.. to have is zoned for building.. was 37000.00 just to get it zoned.. a friend looked at one five acre pice of property in 2003 the cost was going to be 130 for the acreage.. and no infrastructure.. to get rural water was another seven grand just to get the hook up .. none of the digging or pipe work.. a septic system.. well if you do it all yourself.. about fifteen to twenty grand..
        a lot.. in 2003 was twenty seven thousand.. and you still had to dig in the water and sewer.. I am not sure what lots are selling for here now.. but ten years ago the lots were six grand.. homes that sold for fifteen to twenty five thousand are going for over a hundred now.. the average home owner.. if they buy a home today has to clear twenty dollars an hour in an area that pays half of that for labor.. so they have to work multiple jobs to pay for a home..
        around here the average cost of materials per sq ft is around a hundred and forty.. but sites say its much higher than that..
        https://www.homelight.com/blog/buyer-how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-house/#:~:text=Square%20footage%20impacts%20cost,average%20construction%20cost%20is%20%24281%2C000.
        the cost of rammed earth home with foam insulation is at thirteen to twenty dollars a sq ft. for total materials ..

  4. I have a prayer to offer in honor of the year ending and the year beginning:

    May we ALL meet here all throughout 2023 and well beyond.

    Unexpected and unimaginable things probably lay ahead. May we survive them all, and thrive and triumph, regardless.

    If this happens, I will be well-satisfied with 2023.

    Com Backup:
    7.299 LSB by day
    3.999 LSB by night.
    May we not need it.

    • Well, if unexpected and unimaginable things lay ahead, we should do as Ray Milland says in Panic In Year Zero.

      (Ray Milland) Harry Baldwin:
      Now we don’t know what lies ahead of us. The unknown has always been man’s greatest demoralizer. Now maybe we can cope with this by maintaining our sense of values, by carrying out our daily routine, the same as we always have. Rick, for instance, and myself will shave every day… although in his case, maybe every other day. These concessions to civilization are important. They are our links to reality, and because of them we might be… less afraid.

      • That’s amusing. I’m already out here in the boonies, and just everyday retired folk out here don’t shave at all. I only shave if I’m going ‘off property’ into town to interact with other people… maybe once a week shopping. It’s a disguise so they won’t know I’m really a ‘jungle hippie’.

      • LOL! I’ve not shaved since my stubble scratched up a former girlfriend’s face badly when we were just fooling around. I felt awful about that and apparently she did too. Notice I said “former”. I clip my beard so I don’t look homeless and I keep it reasonably trimmed. I can do that with scissors by feel, and it’s little to no effort. Shaving is hopeless – twice a day and it’s still scratchy. If TSHTF, I can continue doing that without electricity at all.

  5. ” Our net-to-bank was up a shade over 9-percent. But others will be higher (or lower) than the average 8.7 percent. ”

    SS went up the nine percent.. but medicare rates went up 11.8 percent.. with last years figures.. net to bank was around thirty bucks..after taxes.. I have taxes taken out of the SS which also increased.. (I won’t mess with big daddy IRS.. they won’t mess with big buck billy.. but they love to #@$% up the life of little willie worker)
    thirty bucks is a nice increase but it won’t buy but a cup of coffee and a pastry at the local starbucks..

  6. Email from my Financial Advisor telling me that Betty (his Secretary) needs to set a date for us to meet. Anytime as long as it’s before next Friday. When is a good time? Don’t like the tone of that. Nope, not one bit.
    ON another ATR note. I have this old Howard Miller mantle clock that stopped chiming about 25 years ago. I have had it on the Ham bench for a looooooooooooooong time. I pick at it every now and then. Well last night I sat down and thought about firing up the Yeasu but grabbed this thing instead. Low and behold after putting my new bench mounted magnifyer on it I noticed a tiny pawl on the wheel with the digits that bang the gongs cocked to one side. Quick adjustment to push it back over and Ta Da! I cranked up T Rex on the stereo and placed it back on the Mantle. I caught the Boss looking at it this morning. She looked at me and wanted to know how to turn those damn chimes off. Hmmm, I’ll take a look at it. Queue T Rex.

  7. They want a few nukes to go off so that they can blame all the wierd deaths on Russia. Russia knows this.

    • I believe that Putin is just waiting for the USA and NATO to make the first leap and unfortunately either way this goes is bad.. either way this goes we loose our credibility as a leader..by giving into the battles we have to compromise any morals and ethics that we tell everyone that we have put ourselves in just as dire a situation as russia financially and if we back out we loose all credibility with those that we have following us.. the best winning action was to not play this game.at the beginning.. now we are commited.. then the other nato countries that don’t have the financing and resources that the USA and UK have are all on the loosing end to.. a global depression.. a loss of crop production.. and the industrial collapse is going to be horrific all by itself.. then we have crumbling infrastructure that has needed serious attention for decades.. congress appropriated the funds for those repairs and nothing is being done for that.. instead we are dumping our money into a battle that cannot be won without a drastic change to the global landscape.. the deaths of billions.. its all ugly..from any angle you look at it.. either way from my perspective if we win the battle we loose the war.. .. ….

      I believe that Kim in NK.. and china launching drones and fighters as just a show that this could escalate beyond their comprehension at any time..Xi is still the one saying we need to be adults and act like adults and handle this responsibly..
      the show was the be careful what you wish for you might just get it sign..

      https://youtu.be/p5ZkdHImCuQ

  8. Alwayz G, da music should be 1st!

    for has the ability to lift the SOUL, and raise the Spirit, or vice versa depending on what it is you be listening to..like my fav late night jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, talk about a tight grooving trio..oh my can that guy tickle the ivories. Weekends – like a lighter jazz ala Lights Out Jazz San Diego every Sunday evening in the 80’s – still have vivid recollections of those evenings, joyfully ignoring the Monday “scaries”alwayz present at the time.

    Music helps me express my essence, my being, and as such I am living my life as defined by the great Joe Walsh and One Day at a Time – https://youtu.be/xlfCyHbLdpI.

    Problem is – I was destined from birth&adoption to be the adopted Family “Rover”.. Irish/Russian by birth..dna test said northern europe and slavic..

    Yes I completed/fulfilled that life mission/destiny… Soul mission is ongoing project..

    therefore Rolling Stones Never Make a Saint of Me -https://youtu.be/qv9nhWxYG84 helps define/flesh out my character.

    – I know Im seriously conflicted, it aint easy when ure Soul mission is to BREAK The System! (includes a memory wipe prior to “insertion”) any and all..

    I tell all this to update on “The War in Heaven” which has been going on for many,many millennia. Earth allies want to help- they say We must gain Strength and Control. There will be No Help without YOUR Permission. Continue to Learn – so We can continue to Fight.

    “Dracs” are here in the physical – they are taking control of all we hold dear..our leaders. Leadership IS compromised. Nasty bastards are very “pissed” – read angry with RVers/FarSight.org (cause we be untouchable and spreading the information).. miserable “dracs” finding ways to tap into “our “deep mind probes..no damage like lost chunks of Memory, but never the less having a powerful mind pop into your head and talk loudly& sternly to You is enough to knock your ass out for awhile.ISTNot.

    * Must ACT Now..must come together – strength in numbers

    **All is this is BEST explained by Gandalf the Gray(at the time) – https://youtu.be/gBH_mUn3po0 – See “Just Andy” for examples.

  9. Nukes
    I don’t think you get it.
    Let’s see.

    Texas 262,000 square miles.

    Assume each bomb destroys 100 miles.
    Ergo, miles of area = 50 x 50 x 3.14 = 7,850 square miles per bomb.

    33 bombs and the entirety of Texas is a hole in the ground.

    U.S. and probably Russia probably have 7,000 bombs each.
    7,000 x 7,850 = 54,950,000 square miles

    U.S. 3,400,000 square miles U.S. destroyed 16 x over.
    That’s not destroyed. It doesn’t exists.

    Why not EMPs?
    Doesn’t kill people or break things.
    But your car won’t start and your toilet won’t flush.
    No ‘tactical’ nukes necessary.

    Other than that inconvenience, everything is fine and dandy.

    • Your estimates of the weapon’s effects are off by one to two orders of magnitude. Use Nukemap to get more realistic technicals;

      https://nukemap.org/nukemap/

      Using a single 800 Kt SS-25 surface burst warhead as an example, you get the following results:
      Fireball radius (total destruction): 1.15 km ( .715 miles)
      20 psi heavy blast damage: 2.02 km ( 1.255 miles)
      500 REM lethal radiation dose radius: 2.43 km ( 1.5 miles )
      5 psi moderate damage radius: 4.25 km ( 2.64 miles)
      3rd degree radiant thermal burn radius: 9.7 km (6 miles) 296 km2 (114.3 sq-mi)
      1 psi light damage: 10.9 km ( 6.77 miles) 375 km2 (114.7 sq-mi)

      An airburst decreases the inner radius effects, while increasing the outer radius lethality radius.
      This is not to belittle your argument; even a moderate nuclear exchange will leave urban America in ruins, and the energy sector will evaporate. The survivors leaving the urban areas will overwhelm rural resources. Without infrastructure, many of the initial survivors will have little chance of making it through the first year. Some of the HEMP (High Altitude EMP) carpet bombing scenarios may have even lower survivability: too many surviving mouths to feed without supporting infrastructure.

      • …And if Russia fires their 100 megaton warheads (of which they have a number), in airburst?

        The way to kill a modern nation is with a HEMP attack (it takes exactly 4 to send all of North America back to the 18th Century — only three if you don’t bother with Mexico City and points south). Nukes on the ground (either airburst or ground detonation) are for things that can shoot back at you. I live outside a small town in the middle of nowhere. There is a missile silo 14 miles from me. No one knows it’s there, and I do, only because of my FEMA connections. There’s probably a silo within 20 miles of virtually all who read here. The reason the military abandoned our silos in CA, AZ, NM, MT, the Dakotas, and elsewhere, is because they built new ones, on rural easements and in city suburbs. You won’t know there’s an ICBM next door until it blasts through that house, or someone nukes your neighborhood. Because our government officials are only good at keeping unimportant secrets, you can betcherass both the Russians and the Chinese know where that silo down the road from you, is located.

        BTW, the rich lady a couple miles up the road from me put up a new privacy fence, then put in an Olympic-sized pool, this last fall. Funny thing, though: She had the hole dug about 30 feet deep, and the GC installed a “cage” made of 12″ steel I-beams embedded in thick concrete walls & ceiling, before they built the pool over the top of it.

        I wonder why a cement pond would need that kind of pump & filter facility…?

        I also wonder why a frail, 83yo widow would need a swimmin’ hole that’s 75 feet long…?

        Drones with Hasselblad cameras and 6 mile ranges are evil things…

      • with hasselblad cameras dam.. I would love to find the camera from the drones.. LOL LOL always wanted to have one of those.. great camera.. great lens.. but would it be a video camera.. not a digital .. that would suck.. not 35 mm or 4 by 5 sheet.. I don’t even know if they make four by five sheet film anymore..

      • @LOOB

        They make ’em.

        They are “portrait cameras” and they’re not cheap. The Hasselblad digitals are flat impressive. The one on my drone shoots 2k vid, but it shoots either 14 or 20 megapixel (can’t remember which cam is the Hassie) stills and stores them on-board. I believe they use separate CCDs someway, for each color (at least the one in the Nokia phone some years ago did. It was, IIRC 43 megabyte — either 7×6 {layers x megapixels} or 4×10, with the remainder of the bytes used to map and stitch the layers together). I just noticed it in passing, because I wasn’t in the market for a phone at the time, and it wasn’t around for very long…

    • I don’t think an enemy would ‘carpet bomb’ all the terrain with nukes. EMP is easy with few nukes, and it would kill most everyone… just more slowly. Mil targets get nukes to prevent responses. But as I reminded myself when Hawaii was subjected to an error “Incoming Missile Alert”… nobody is going to waste a nuke out here in the boonies with no military targets. And I’m upwind of anything important.

      • That is exactly the way I assume things would work, because it is, by far, the most-efficient use of resources. Nukes take time to build, so in a war, chances are, what you have is what you get.

        The EMP gives the military and FEMA 330mln people to take care of, and no resources with which to do it, other than those already stockpiled (which is frankly, about enough to feed 40mln ppl for a week) and those in the DUMBs (which are dedicated for use by people who are not you).

      • Likely that in a limited engagement scenario, surface bursts will be initially reserved for offensive military targets, weapons storage and production, energy, ports, and comm targets- anything that will interfere with a counter-strike or offensive. A dozen HEMP weapons will bring all the civilian activities to a standstill, with no parts resupply from the Far East possible.
        Hoarders become fair game in the EMP NBC scenario, especially for the expats. If you make it through the first year die-off, you might have a chance to go a few more, under brutal living conditions.

      • @n____

        “If you make it through the first year die-off, you might have a chance to go a few more”

        This is why I strongly advocate the idea that NO-ONE who’s not in your invited family or group should know where you are, what you have, or your capabilities. If’fn you can’t “lay low” for at least 10 months, whether you’ve 3 people or 300 under your roof, you’re gonna die.

  10. Folks,

    Hold the nukes! “People” magazine has reiterated the report that CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen will be exempted from the booze ban on the network’s New Years Eve broadcast. Mr. Cohen has promised to “cocktail it up” and that shots of drink will be served to the duo through the evening.

    Leaving such gaiety behind, across Times Square, the Walt Disney flagship broadcaster ABC offers more sober offerings under the guidance of Ryan Seacrest. The increasingly Dick Clark look-a-like will launch hits such as “Butter (holiday mix)” by Korean supergroup BTS. Mr. Cooper and sidekick will defend with selections from “Higher than Heaven” with Ellie Goulding.

    What? Miley Cyrus is pairing up with her godmother Dolly Parton on NBC? Whoa, Tinkerbell. Pass the remote and let’s switch the dial over to NeverNever Land.

    • Folks,

      Interfax, Moscow, advises that the Servant of the People has signed new legislation in the Ukraine. Generators, other energy equipment, and Starlink satellite systems will be exempt vat and customs duties until May, 2023. Apparently it is now also permitted to store up to 2,000 liters of fuel without a licence in the Ukraine! American preppers may wish to check their tanks with respect to their future compliance? Thank you for your anticipated understanding and cooperation.

  11. May all beings be lovingly fulfilled.
    May all beings be financially fulfilled.
    May all beings be readily fulfilled.
    So Be It

    • Hi been a while since I see you post.. I was just wondering where you had vanished to.. may your year be filled with peace and tranquility..

  14. George, you are living in the South now, so a meal for Jan 1 should be black eyed peas, collard greens, and seasoning both in a meat of your choice. LOL

    • Blackeyed peas and cabbage for New Year’s Day lunch will ensure good luck and financial success in the coming year according to Southern legend. I figure my blackeyed peas and coleslaw will go well with my ribeye and baked potato, with lemon meringue pie for dessert.

      • dam black eyed peas and ham bone with some cabbage in it.. now you are talking good eaten there.. they can keep the collard greens though..

  15. As I sit here day after day looking at cities and a world I used to travel and love and see friends oblivious to what is happening as evil slowly but surely permeates and destroys our daily lives, I am reminded of the words of the poet Yates who wrote in 1919.

    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    I would normally wish you Happy New Year but can’t. May you be safe and strong as we face what will most certainly be a tumultuous year as exploding crisis points are reached in lands near and far.

    Bob In Canada

    • AMEN MY FRIEND AMEN
      I see and feel the same things headed our way.. what once was evil is now heralded as pure and innocent.. I fear for humanity.. when its over it will take men of wisdom that can help rebuild a little of what we all take for granted daily.. stay strong.. pray ..

      • This is why socialists hate Christianity and the Bible. They have been able to ban God’s Word, but (except in China) they have not been able to rewrite the Book, nor the moral code it contains. TBF, they haven’t with Mohammedanism or the Koran either, but they believe they can use Muslims as tools, to destroy Christians and their lands, then discard or eradicate them later.

        Virtually every religion I’ve looked at proffers the same general moral code (think “10 Commandments”) which is essentially a distillation of “how to live in proximity without killing one-another,” but many, like most of the Buddhist and Hindu sects, have been relatively easy for the commies to subvert or co-opt. Jews and Christians, not so much.

        With Judaeo-Christianity, we have required “counter-programming” to render (organized) religion less-meaningful, and thereby, drive Christians and Jews slowly, but inexorably away from their core morals and beliefs. This is the reason we’re now teaching 4yos what a penis is, and all the places you can put one, and that you don’t have to have one, to “be a boy.” It’s also why “if you’re White, you’re racist.” It is all a ploy, designed to destroy our civilization, because once destroyed, a new socialist system can be implemented, worldwide…

  16. On Wednesday I thought the market would rally Thurs & Fri – attempted year end rally.., but yesterday’s rally showed a lot of holes and wasn’t very convincing.., I jumped in near the close yesterday.., & viola ! Dow is down over 300 and the NASDAQ100 is down over 130.., good lunch money on the last day.
    – .., but, I am just a ‘grunt’.., what do I know……..

      • yep – I was a pretty good ‘grunt’.., three tours in Vietnam as a Ranger.., I’m still here ! We just won’t tell all of the nay-sayers that I also have a masters in theoretical math.., we’ll keep that a secret – right?
        –
        Did a prelim on my taxes for this year’s trading…, damn !

    • You and George have a skill for the market that most people including me don’t have. Rest assured that if I tried to do what you guys do, I would be on the opposite side of every one of your trades. In your arena, I am the grunt.

      • I have actually thought about writing down “Ure’s Method”
        And I did go short at the close today.
        An early morning Jan 1 strike by Russia with the US asleep (stoned, etc) and the Slow out of DC means a window for mischief may be considered.
        And that will collapse marked deeper into my Big 3 down wave which need to drop another 5,000 points

      • Me to.. I don’t have the patience to follow the markets.. a good friend of mine use to try and talk me into it.. he thought it was fool proof.. went for breakfast one day.. made sixty five thousand eating eggs and hashbrowns..
        then I didn’t hear a thing from him for three years.. one day his son called me to ask if I would talk some sense into him.. he went nuts trying to replicate what he had done.. lost a section of prime farmland his home that was all paid off his car.. he lost it all.. playing the markets.. he had to move in with a child … a woman I worked with did the same thing but not on a big of a grand scale.. she lost her home cars a govt retirement fund that she cashed in and half a million dollars up til this last year she was living at the mission all while making over thirty dollars an hour.. its gambling and the money is on the house.. Now I love to go to the casino’s once a year.. they have good shows that I go to.. the last time I met eric and we had a beer talked the house band to play polka LOL let me tell you they were shocked but like we told the band.. doesn’t everyone like to hear a good polka.. and who is going to argue with him.. he was traveling through and I got lucky nice guy to..
        I kind of wished I had asked him for his autograph at the time.. but heck I have the memory of a nice cold drink and a great visit.. the security guard about fainted LOL he was so excited.. I told him.. heck he is just like you and me.. so he can sing .. I get paid when I sing to.. except I get paid to stop singing that is the only difference LOL LOL LOL
        https://youtu.be/JxPj3GAYYZ0

      • Like George., I happen to have several arenas.., squeezing out a few dollars from the market is just one of them. I have a set of trading rules that basically govern my trades.., my ‘Dirty Dozen’.., and I never break them.., I believe it is one reason why I am still solvent and still able to trade. Some people get addicted to the trades.., they make one good earning trade and believe they all will be that way – and they end up chasing the market.., literally throwing money away trying to ‘do it again’.., it just doesn’t work that way. “The market can remain irrational much longer than you can remain solvent.”
        Money is the fastest way to loose friends and make enemies. I have never, ever given financial advice, or recommended a trade. Not a very wise thing to do. Tell me a little about yourself and I can make a pretty good suggestion on which pistol you should buy.., but “money advice”? Never. It is something you have to study and learn.

      • George, many of us would appreciate knowing your method if you chose to share! We’ve tried to understand it, but for us it’s sufficiently arcane that we could never reproduce your results. You’ve alluded to it many times, but actually looking at charts and finding the salient points is more luck than judgement, and some of us don’t like investing in luck alone. I’d certainly appreciate knowing it in sufficient detail to actually come out ahead over time – perhaps integrated over a month, and then repeat. I’ve not had much luck with paper investments and I’m somewhat averse to such intangibles, but I’d like to learn and succeed in this. Perhaps it’s best on the subscriber forum, since Ure method, dumbed down for us regular folks, would be serious value added.

  17. “A little ‘mood setting’ is in order. Too many years as a rock & roll (and country) newscaster doing mainly mornings, teaches music first, then news. Perhaps “Wrap it Up” by Sam & Dave would work? Or, perhaps, the “Long and Winding Road” would be better?”

    The Beatles would suffice…

    Song for America: ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. Or maybe,’ Yesterday’?

    Song for (Resident) Biden: ‘Nowhere Man’

    Song for Congress: ‘Fool On The Hill’

    Song for Kamala: ‘Honey Don’t’

    Song for Covid Origins: ‘Do You Want To Know a Secret’

    Song for MIC: ‘Here, There And Everywhere’

    Song for Our Times: ‘All Things Must Pass’

    Song for Social Media: ‘A World Without Love’

    Song for Things We Can’t Control: ‘Let It Be’

    Song for Those Stealing Our Freedom: ‘You Can’t Do That’

    Song for Those Who Took The Injection: ‘I Should Have Known Better’

    Song for Trump: ‘Taxman’

    Song for We the People: ‘Help!’… OR ‘Think For Yourself’… OR ‘We Can Work It Out’

    Song for ALL OF US in the New Year (We hope)… ‘Glad All Over!’

  19. https://warnews247.gr/dioikitis-amerikanikon-dynameon-stin-oukrania-einai-mia-diaftharmeni-gni-koinonia-pou-dioikeitai-apo-psychopatheis-diaprattoun-omotites-vid/

    some of the stories I heard from Ukraine by someone that lived there years ago long before any of this war was even known or thought of.. were enough to curdle your heart strings.. horrible atrocities that none of us hear about and those that know of them keep them hidden from public knowledge .. it isn’t the people the people are just like you and I.. farmers from all countries wouldn’t have any trouble sitting down to a cup of coffee together its the evil bastards running the narrative that they want everyone to see..

  21. Ok.. for a garden.. grow sugar beets..
    Wash, peel, and remove bad parts of beets. I chose to remove the green skinned parts of the beets, as they seemed to be much darker and softer on the inside (see picture).
    Shred or dice beets, then cover with water in a large pot.
    Bring to a boil, then simmer until beets are tender. This was between 1 and 2 hours for me.
    Drain the liquid from the beets. Collect the beet pulp in a strainer lined with cheese cloth or similar material.
    Press liquid from the beet pulp and combine with the rest of the sugar water.
    Reduce sugar water until it turns amber brown and has a consistency like honey.
    Allow to crystalize.
    to grow the crystals from this.. is easy to.. same method with the exception that you are using the crystals to create crystals.

    • Oh the greens are edible to in a nice salad.. but if you want to eat the greens pick them when they are young and tender..
      you can do the same thing with red beets to.. but it isn’t as sweet because of the sugar content.. the same method with sorgum etc…maple sap.. takes hundreds of gallons to make a gallon of syrup.. a friends mom use to make maple syrup when I was in the military.. I didn’t know how much it took at the time.. and I didn’t appreciate her efforts today.. I totally appreciate what she did for us..

      • Here in Canadian Wilds it takes 40 gallons of fresh Hard Maple=Sugar Maple sap to produce a rich gallon of waffle-juice.
        Done that many times but only when a large, free supply of hardwood limbs and small branches were available. The natural smoke infuses the syrup ever so lightly and is incomparable. A stainless steel evaporator pan speeds the process as many hours of boil are required to eliminate 39 gallons of waste. Dont take eyes off it in the final hours of finish. Requires almost exact timing or it is garbage.
        Been there done that!

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