Money Wars: Paper, Metals, BTC Tag Team

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Imagining that you remember our advice (“Sell in May and Go Away”) we are not using this as a neener-neener moment.  OK, I was tempted…

We need to sit back, thumb through books by Sun Tzu and von Clausewitz, and remember “Economics is war by other means.”

Even von Clausewitz got it wrong:  War is about money and power; not a continuation of the political spectrum.  Damn Prussians.

One thing he did get right?  Unexpected events “Under the fog of war” is a pet gem.  Which we can update today to read “Unexpected events, under the fog of media…”  (You may think of this as a Carl’s (vC) junior theory.)

Speaking of hamburger?  We see the crypto battlefield littered.  Though Buy-the-Dips shills are – as always – touting fresh meet to the battle.  Unable to accept a nutter in the woods could get it more right than the latter-day Daddy Warbucks selling electric limo’s.  History doesn’t serve justice.

One of the most useful books on point – and been out since before Cryptomania was wheeled onto the battlefield – is Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw’s The Commanding Heights : The Battle for the World Economy.  Read the book back in our sailing days.

I’d interviewed Yergin years earlier when his “Energy Future: The Report of the Energy Project at the Harvard Business School” came out back in 1979.  So about 1980-ish.  He struck me then (and still does) as a typical “brightest guy in the room” pretty much wherever he goes.  Yale man – and they produce some greats.  Well, except John Kerry, maybe.

Point is (before I lapse into “making a long story longer”) is that Yergin and Stanislaw got the battlespace concept dead-to-nuts.  About the only thing they missed was projecting the Wunderwaffe of  Geld (cryptos).

Like the dreaded Nazi V2s of WWII, though, crypto’s are not a particularly precise munition.  They can go off anywhere without notice.  Like the past couple of weeks, for example.

Greater Fools?

Despite the urgings of a former colleague, I didn’t buy cryptos when they were less than a dime each for BTCs.  “They’re not ‘honest money'” I insisted.  “Backed by nothing, they are simply made-up numbers with made up values.  Worse, there are zero barriers to entry.”

Investopedia noted this year:

“One reason for this is the fact that there are more than 4,000 cryptocurrencies in existence as of January 2021. While many of these cryptos have little to no following or trading volume, some enjoy immense popularity among dedicated communities of backers and investors.”

By contrast, there are 193 countries in the world.  The Holy See and the Palestinian State have other marketing problems than a national currency.

A lot of countries are just plain lazy, too.

Take Bonaire – or the British Virgin Islands – as examples.  U.S. dollar users. Never understood why the Brits allowed that.

Bitcoin has gone from $64,400 recently to a hair over $40-grand this morning. We don’t argue there’s a certain buzz to trading a “dark asset.” One with no convertibility except what the floating craps game (exchanges) decrees.  But playing “catch falling knives” has left us with financial bandages in the past.  So we don’t play with power equipment we can’t fathom.

A recent article (before the slide) said Tesla holds $2.48 billion of Bitcoin | TechRadar.  Chasing the pencil around it looks like a potential loss of $939-million.  Less today.

Still, Elon Warbucks is able to move markets with a comment.  We’ve been around long enough not to throw rocks too early.   Not until we see how this Wunderwaffe of money works when the global governance crowd aims their “Ban Guns” back.

Oh look!  There’s one now!  “China bans financial, payment institutions from cryptocurrency business” reported Reuters.

This is gonna be epic.

Slip-Sliding Away

Unless you have been following our thinking on the Peoplenomics side for a while, it may not be clear to you that:

  • Although prices of many things (*lumber and copper to name two) have been going up, few people actually play commodity futures.
  • Instead, China is touting the Digi-Yuan while the Coinwaffe stumbles forward on hype-shuck-and jive.
  • Leaving the Government side to make up money to paper-over collapse.  A moved aided and abetted by the Fed making up $120-billion a month in fresh gas for the bonfire of the equities.  Whee!  Confetti coin.

Elaine (fresh from hip replacement) asked me somewhere around 4 AM today “Don’t you think it odd that there’s a money war AND a biowar AND a climate war all going on at once?”

Since we view the world as seven major systems (food, shelter, communications, transportation, environment, energy,  and finance) it was a great question.

“Not odd at all,” I posited.  “Before the Global War ahead breaks out,  trial runs attacking everything will be run. This is war we have never seen.  Since last time. Feints of the Cash-ka-teers.  Gouges of the Government.”

The thought being that “news” always proceeds “battle.”  Bioweapons have had a years of press.  Cryptos have enjoyed several.  Cryptos the weapon of choice for non-gov challengers.  Bio-weps are off the shelf (more properly COTS – customized off the shelf) of governments.

Gas prices (and the ransomware attack) tested communications, energy, and transportation.  So the drop in financials really rounds things out.  Assuming you score bioweapons in the “environment” category and markets as “financial.”

We may have to add “psychological” as an eighth dimension of our thinking.  Because we see division by race, gender, spiritual beliefs, and moral positions in general as a whole field of psychological warfare.  Just as we have “gridded” our thinking about transportation into (land, sea, air), so too psychological casts well as race, gender, religion.  And it interacts with all the other aspects as well.

Systemically, it’s graceful.  Wars cast long shadows before them.

Today’s news merely foreshadows 70-years of systemic organization.  War comes along as an Entropy Event.  Once done, the cycles are reset and the game (assuming survivors) will be set for future generations to play.

We have more (second derivative levels and intersectional effects-mapping) which we’ll pencil out on Peoplenomics next, but that’s a vastly simplified view of what’s to come.

Weekly Unemployment Filings

Philly Fed Report

Manufacturing outlook in the Philly region:

Current Indicators Remain Positive
The diffusion index for current activity decreased 19 points to 31.5 in May, after reaching long-term high readings in March and April (see Chart). Over 43 percent of the firms reported increases in current activity this month (down from 59 percent last month), while 12 percent reported decreases (up from 8 percent). The index for new orders decreased 4 points to a reading of 32.5. The current shipments index fell 4 points to 21.0 in May. Over 42 percent of the firms reported increases in shipments this month, while 21 percent reported decreases.

After the numbers, futures were down 95 on the Dow and 5 on the S&P.  Better than earlier.  BTC jumped to $42,000.  Joy to the dippers?  We’ll wait for a longer sample…

Short Takes

You know what “food islands” are, right?  When rioting causes so much damage in a community, corporations move their stores (if/when rebuilt)  elsewhere.  Well, now behold what we label “drug islanding” as “Walgreens Closes 17 San Francisco Stores Due To “Out Of Control” Shoplifting.”

Government sanctioned discrimination is real:  “Banks say USDA’s debt forgiveness for minority farmers will cost them money and could affect future loans. Black farmers call that a threat.”  No, think of it as economics.  Equality’s a bitch.  Which is why ALL discrimination is bad.  Following?  Always blow-back.

Since Ukraine won’t “go hot” for a month, or so, it barely matters that Blinken and Lavrov to hold first high-level meeting of Biden’s presidency as US-Russia tensions simmer.  But, in the long-term it could.  So follow the moves on that chess board.

How Brainwashing the Kids works:  Teachers’ grades biased to more ‘agreeable’ pupils.  Which sucks when the teachers are overboard libtards selling gender uncertainty, and reverse racism salespersons.

AOC and the congressional left are out to screw Israel, sounds like: AOC leads effort to block arms sale to Israel.  Well, except she’s not leading…

The process of Grandstanding.  Here’s how the likes AOC operate:  They “introduce laws” (like HR 3149) which carries the title:

“H.R.3149 – To expand access to health care services for immigrants by removing legal and policy barriers to health insurance coverage, and for other purposes.”

Yet, when we go to read how what we assume will be yet-another (socialist, screw the taxpayers and make illegal entry to the U.S. even more attractive) idea, guess what?

“As of 05/20/2021 text has not been received for H.R.3149 – To expand access to health care services for immigrants by removing legal and policy barriers to health insurance coverage, and for other purposes.

Bills are generally sent to the Library of Congress from GPO, the Government Publishing Office, a day or two after they are introduced on the floor of the House or Senate. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed.”

Headline grabbing with no substance!  We’ll keep an eye on this because we do worry about expanding giveaways – especially with tax increases for working people on the table.  Nickel bet says it will give away even more to illegal aliens.

A Kamunist speaks:  “Kamala Harris: ‘Asian Americans Have The Right To Be Recognized As Americans’.”   See how the lefties begin with a false assumption (every Asian I know is recognized as an American, so WTF?) and turn it into a cause?  I go to bed every night praying for Joe Biden’s health.

Finally, Someone asks the Right Question (besides us):  Ransomware: Should paying hacker ransoms be illegal?  We don’t look for any of the demagogues behind the razor wire to actually get ahead of this problem, but rather than  give more away, government ought to actually FIX SOMETHING once in a while.

ATR:  The Impatient Patient

4 AM Reality:  “George my leg hurts.”

“I’ll get you a pain pill, dear.”

The Set-Up:  Brought Elaine home from the hospital Wednesday.  She then spent 3-hours (non-stop) on her feet.  Feeling no pain because hydrocodone not only kills pain but gives her motivation. Wanted to draw and paint last night.  Finally got her to eat about 6 PM by moving food into the living room and putting it on a teevee tray.  Sheesh.

Thursday Menu Planning:  Breakfast:  Assorted fresh fruit, hash browns, ham, scrambled egg, toast, cocoa.  Lunch:  Turkey & cheese sandwich on croissant, chicken noodle soup, salsa and chips, assorted juices, slice of cheesecake.  Dinner:  All-day pot roast from the crockpot.  Fine opportunity to watch the cook sip vodka.

If you ever plan to be sick, I’m not the warm and fuzzy type on doctor’s orders.  They are “orders” because they should be followed for best outcome.  On  the other hand, if you want to eat well, let me do the home cooking for a week or three and watch the weight come back up.  Her BMI was down to 18.63 as of discharge.  Mine’s not quite double that.

Next week off we’ll start the physical therapy work.  Bandage comes off Sunday.  Still can’t get over hip replacement to walking on the new hip in under five-hours.  Simply ‘mazing.

Write when you get rich, but don’t slip and fall,

George@Ure.net

72 thoughts on “Money Wars: Paper, Metals, BTC Tag Team”

  1. Wow mr ! Ure / dr Falsie – the patron saint of evil goblins, scientific fraud, harvard med school, and Urban Survival, admits the mask wearing was for theatrical purposes..theatrical purposes..hmmm

    harvard med = dr falsie ???? cream of the crop at harvard med ? or something else..

    Highest payed govmint apparatchik – has truly been expanding our scientific knowledge & frontiers with his billions of taxpayer funded research $$ going to UNC for gain of function studies – results of which were later funded for more LETHAL & moar INFECTOUS corona virus’sGain of Function at lugar labs/tbilsi and assorted other off the CONUS – US taxpayer funded – privately operated bioweapon labs. NIH together USAID and gates fdn providing funding !?!?! U know who USAID is ??

    Sure this wasnt planned for a long f-ing time, even Nosty called out the dirty”Physician”.

    Been under attack and at WAR since TRUMP “took” office in 2016 – as our US LGTB Military straps on yet another big giant one with which to stick it to the Prisoners daily..unh I mean Coitizens.

    Never mind the Bitcoinz G, they be way too Smart for a backwoods redneck sidewinder to wrap his/her head around – good on ya pardner – keep defending, standing up the slave script/USD – its whats 4 dinna.

  2. “honest money”

    I know zero Conservatives who burnt the Trump check. Even less burnt the Biden checks. That’s the CON. Nobody is who they say they are.

    I wanted into Bitcoin after the pizza transaction. I called the bank and they were clueless. Later that afternoon at I was called into the benefits meeting. I listened to the medical insurance provider liars telling me they were really trying to reduce costs.

    The class-action lawyer postcard was delivered to me earlier this month. The medical insurance provider lied about trying to reduce costs. In fact they were colluding with other insurers to fix prices. I’m out $100,000,000.00 plus opportunity costs.

    I did think Bitcoin was frothy when the first house sale went through for 100% Bitcoin. But I would have held.

  3. The mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto . The man that invented Cryptos and Blockchain. BS. Like Gore invented the Internet. It was DARPA’s predecessor.

    Cryptomaniacs please send your money. Don’t worry that there is no regulated Crypto Bank, or Securities Firm to hold the proceeds. You will get you a bunch of alpha numerics to put in your online crypto wallet as a thank you.

    And with that crypto wallet can you go to the grocery store or gas station and buy your products? Or a new Tesla? Nope. But you can see how much today’s Crypto is worth and load it on your spreadsheet to get a huge number that you think you are worth so you can run around telling people you are genius investor and friends and family should get in now.

    And if you want your money back, all you have to do is sell some of your cryptos to the next bunch of greedy fools buying into the BS. A Ponzi for sure. It relies on the next bunch of secret greedy investors putting money in so you can get those inflated returns. Just ask all the people that whispered how they were making big money from Bernie Madoff and they would get you an introduction. All the subsequent “investors” paid the returns for earlier investors who got returns but not all their money back.

    Even the Fed’s great Ponzi is coming to an end. Run-away Inflation and imploded markets with wars trying to cover the folly of it all will be self-evident before 2023. Since they closed the gold window in 1971, the dollar has lost 98% of its value. Debt to GDP was 37% in 1971 and is now 127%. M2 is up 29x.

    Do you really believe that every central bank in the world is going to give up their gravy train to a competing currency? Maybe BIS in Basel is Satoshi. The Central Bank of Central Banks. The top of the Ponzi pyramid. Why is one of BIS 2 satellite offices in Mexico City of all places? Bags of cash easier to process?

    Why does the US Treasury issue Treasuries that the Fed and other Central banks buy? So they can collect income taxes to pay the Central Bankers interest for creating paper and digital money out of thin air. Something the U.S. Treasury could do without a Central Bank.

    And the Central Bankers are going to let Cryptos replace them and give up the gravy train? LOL. And Governments are going to allow a method to wash money from illegal activities including drugs, arms sales, and every other kind of illegal activity without paying taxes? LOL. Not unless the government is involved in the criminal activity.

    And do you really think you are anonymous? The NSA and other 3 letter agencies, both domestic and foreign, know the minute you log onto your phone, or computer, and have digital “screen shots” including your “top secret” Crypto Wallet Code AlpahNumerics. You are not anonymous and you are not really encrypted.

    Now back to getting that money out when you need to spend it. Even Elon stopped accepting Cryptos. How much did you lose on that little move? If hackers can shut down a pipeline, and blackmail a multi-billion dollar company, they can secretly screen shot your computer for all that anonymous money. When it either leaves your bank or credit card, bingo it is reported to the government.

    And what is going to happen when the internet or electrical grid goes down from Solar Flares, EMPs, blackmail, cyberwars, or SloJoe putting out another dictatorial decree that Cryptos are a criminal enterprise and illegal. Think those events wouldn’t wipe out Cryptos? Yep, but they sure as hell wouldn’t wipe out gold or silver buried in the backyard.

    FDR stole everyone’s gold. Made it a crime to own it. Socialist Democrat he was. Real assets for phony paper below market value. After he got the vaults full, then he made it legal to own at a new higher price. And now it is the same hymnal, different verse……Paper money for alpha numeric numbers.

    Bankers don’t lose. They ultimately suck the life blood out of the people either directly with their usury rates on free Fed money they reshuffle, or indirectly through inflation, deflation, repossessions and foreclosures, rigging markets , and buying real assets for pennies on the dollar after they have squeezed the lifeblood out of the people.

    Enjoy your tulips and lighten up on George for trying to turn the lights on.

    • Thank you; succinct, and very well explained.

      Buckle up; it’s going to be a bumpy flight.

    • ” Since they closed the gold window in 1971, the dollar has lost 98% of its value. Debt to GDP was 37% in 1971 and is now 127%. M2 is up 29x.”

      Them were Republicans, of course!! When will you people ever forget about voting — never because you voters think that you’re “special.”

      SPECIAL, indeed! ;-((((

      • “Them were Republicans”

        The problem is, they weren’t conservative. Nixon takes the heat, but both Houses were Democrat-run.

        VP Richard Nixon was a “California Quaker” and never especially conservative, but he sold out completely to Nelson Rockefeller in 1966. Rocky told him “follow me and you will be the next President.” Rocky was an “East Coast Establishment Republican,” one of the “back room cigar-smoking” GOP GOBs (good ol’ boys) — what we now call RINOs…

        There’s not much difference between a RINO and a NeoCon. The neocons spun off from the Liberal wing of the Democratic Party in the 1960s, when the Party itself took a hard Marxist turn. NeoCons were the back-room Democratic GOBs who smoked those cigars with the GOP GOBs.

        The neocons favor nationalist-socialism. The neodems (which we now call “Progressive Democrats”) favor internationalist socialism. They both were, and still are, socialist in ideology, hence my utter disdain and lack of respect for both neocons and “progressives” (this is Orwellian newspeak. They’re really regressive, in that their goals are for individuals to cede all private lands and “God-given Rights” to the “public” {government} — à la an absolute feudal monarchy.)

        At least the Bernie Sanders’ types have the stones to admit their ideological leanings. They’re wrong, and stupid, but honest WRT their intent, if not their method or the eventual result…

    • We don’t have the same mindset as The Greatest Generation who was so inclined to go with government regulation that they said virtually nothing when their safe deposit boxes were cleaned out and had to accept paper. If the value of the currency in hand or digitized sinks far enough giving up anything that holds value will be anathema to the populace unless they see it as a fair trade – for the moment.

      There was still a lot of gold specie left in the hands of the people after FDR enacted his confiscation. Much of it was considered non-confiscateable under the “collectible” rules but most just went into hiding until the 70s when the next generation saw it as a curiosity from a by-gone era. The mind boggles thinking about how much of it is still buried out there. It would take another 20 years before the reality began to dawn that physical metals are the ultimate value hedge flying under any and all radars even to this day. Find a buyer, make the trade for cash or some needed commodity and the deal is done. If they could get away with it in old Soviet Russia’s black market for decades America will be all too easy. People find a way to get what they need.

  5. I feel strange “promoting” bitcoin because I don’t see myself in a role like that, only one arrow in my quiver. Bitcoin is only backed by the buyers/sellers of bitcoin. This is no different then almost any other asset. Baseball cards, comics, art work, jewelry, precious metals, classic autos. These have very little intrinsic value (meaning I cannot eat them or easily turn them into products with utility). But people trade in these items, far above their raw value. Yes bitcoin has gone down and lost a ton of value in the past and certainly will do so again. It is not very easy to work with locally, creating, protecting and purchasing for your own wallet, so that can be a hurdle. Yes also Bitcoin has been used by criminals, but they also use cell phones and encryption, but we criminal have been around before BC and will continue to be around no matter the tech they use for payments. We don’t ban products (BC cannot be banned anyway, as it is decentralized, people can trade privately), because a criminal can also find utility. So I put some of my portfolio in BC, one reason governments need some competition in their ability to print and steal savings (inflation) from citizens. Second I want to be part of the peoples ability to take back a level of self control over one of my assets. Government can tax you out of your property, and it is hard to protect physical assets, so I am onboard in be a part of this.

    • You have a stronger stomach than I do. How can you risk any part of your portfolio on something that bounces like a yo-yo? Bitcoin is really volatile.

    • “I feel strange “promoting” bitcoin because…”

      Don’t feel that way; The value of B/C lies in the mind (if there is any) of the beholder, or so they say. People have found “value” in stranger things, JMHO.

      • AMEN Choices… exactly… I agree completely..
        If you own gold or silver or anything else.. you have to find someone that collects it.. then when they make an offer you either accept it or you sell it..
        or if you want it you find someone that collects it then make an offer to buy it.. they either accept it or hang onto it..
        Value lies in the eye of the beholder.. back in the early eighties (Reagan recession).. I was in a barter group.. you took what you do and they would advertise it to all the people in the group.. they in turn would trade you in barter for other things.. this is what Greece did when they went through their drama a few years ago.. women were trading sex for a can of beans.. old people were dumpster diving.. after a while they realized.. a secretary is still a secretary.. a mechanic is still a mechanic and a plumber is still a plumber.. and they started to trade services for goods.. Argentina is just now realizing that.. the dollar is just a sheet of paper.. the BC is a cartoon and a number.. it only holds value as long as those collecting it see value in it..

  6. West Texas. Cryptos are no different than the stock market. The diligent crowd, like the group I hang out with, bought the many dips and sold the mini peaks on the dozens of crypto offerings and we came out ahead in the black after the past week. It was fun and profitable. As far as the electrical grid. Your hard cash and your gold and silver will be just as worthless, because..how will it be Authenticated? We aren’t magically switching to a paper and ledger system. And the power it takes to mine crypto’s is a tenth of what it takes to produce and manage hard currency. And… Ethereum and other cryptos are moving away from Proof of Work, the original algorithm in blockchain technology, toward a newer concept called Proof of Stake. In short, the upgrade will mean that participants are incentivized with a reward, paid in ether, to remain online and keep the network in check. This will do away with the energy-consuming race that comes with proof-of-work. The switch to proof of stake will cut energy usage between 1,000 to 10,000 times. This makes cryptos…or more important…Bitcoin and Ethereum much more valuable…especially to those looking to build financial margins.

    • Mark…all good and well, but back to my point of this morning:

      We are engaged – in a macro existential war – for supremacy between the crypto lords and the more traditional monied types.

      At what point does government say “Enough!”?

      It’s a floating craps game with made up “money.” The attempts to “logify” the insanity of it don’t help.

      Proof of stake is like giving title to squatters, to put it in real estate terms.

      • anybody want to buy my dead cat? anybody, anybody? com’on man, this cat can still bounce
        bitcoin seems to have lost a LOT of support since April 15,2021
        1,2,3 down wave like a drowning man
        the only people that NEED you to buy bitcoin are those who have held it past the top. Que Tiny Tim and tiptoe through the tulips
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9TtUjZVTJQ

      • On the surface, Crypto appears like a financial plague for traditional nation-state treasuries. It even seems to transcend globalism, touting ‘secure’ global purchases and investment in quantum encrypted algorithms, seemingly enabling individual investment independence. Quanta-cash by and for the people, if you will. Viva la revolution!

        Ah, but the twist, as George has so skillfully and patiently laid out to us, is that our current ‘cash’ based system (fungible assets) is and has for some time been largely illusory. Our paper cannot be exchanged for precious metals with the issuing government. We can still purchase those metals on our own, but our doing so is meticulously recorded.

        Back to our state minted cash, which is little more than barter chits consisting entirely of treasury validated and stored electrons. Your paper and cheap metal coin are already backed. by Bitcoin-like barter chits. Nothing more. Pay online. Use your cell phone. Even those chip enabled credit cards are archaic, material ‘bridges’ to crypto for those still dependent upon tangible minted paper money and coinage. ‘Real’ money is now stored in a ‘cloud.’ It consists of electrons. A dollar, pound or euro is little more than a virtually funded ‘chit’ used by the masses with the approval of nation-state treasuries to trade and barter.

        For the PTB, the penultimate benefit to crypto based treasuries is how easy it makes it to ‘reset’ whole economies when inevitable collapses occur. One minute your ‘one crypto’ buys a week’s worth of food, the next minute it buys five days, four, or one day’s worth. In the end, Jane and Joe Sixpack begin to realize that they are not really in control of their funds. They never were in control. Crypto seals that deal and delivers it back to Jane and Joe in spades, postage due – with love from your local treasury department!

    • Mark,
      There are many methods (battery powered, chemical, weight, size) combined to authenticate gold and silver that do not rely on the electrical grid or the internet.

      Unfortunately, you cannot have cryptos without the electrical grid or internet. If some hacks can shut down a pipeline, do ya think that adversarial governments couldn’t do the same to the satellite, electrical, and internet faster, more efficiently, and with greater stealth? And then what would those cryptos held in the cloud be worth? NADA, ZIP, ZERO.
      Things that are printed on paper require a degree of trust to facilitate a transaction between a buyer and seller. Doubly true with an unregulated Crypto. How do you know that the paper transactions through your broker aren’t a result of numbers being “FED” to a central exchange to post. A real rigged game. How do you know that Crypto values are not being “FED” to the exchanges to sucker in more cash? Cryptos are NOT regulated like the Banks, Brokerages, and Exchanges….not that they aren’t rigged by the regulators.

      Things that cannot be printed or made up in the air, e.g. REAL assets like gold, silver, guns/bullets, real estate and hard manufactured items ultimately are the only things that have value, along with labor. The dollar is worthless today compared to 1971 when they closed the gold window. 2% of value today compared to then. So are these inflated markets just keeping up with what should be the real value of the dollar? And are the Indexes and stock values really being controlled by and “FED” to the public.

      Everything is relative in a world of dualities. You have to be able to get to something and it has to be readily available to facilitate a transaction. Cryptos do not meet those criteria.

      If Cryptos make you feel like you own the world, then go for it. You better hope and pray that they will always be readily available out there in space and your average Joe at the grocery store, or hardware store, or filling station will accept them someday if you need them. There will be a hell of a blood bath from the governments and banks before they roll over and let that happen without them being in the middle controlling it.

      • West Texas,
        I don’t disagree with you or George. I am only in the game to make money while I can. There is only one way to make money in crypto. Play the cyclical game. Start at the bottom and work your way to the top. Rinse and repeat. Right now it’s a crazy roller coaster ride and that’s the best time to profit. But this isn’t a new concept This applies to everything from clothing, diets and tech fads, to the stock market to widgets and much more.

      • “I am only in the game to make money while I can. There is only one way to make money in crypto. Play the cyclical game.”

        I played the money game.. and I would even venture to toss away some money on crypto’s if it wasn’t for the fact that it is dark pool money that no one has a clue what is being invested in to keep the drive up…. I guess there comes a time when an individual has to decide what is important to you.. whether making a number on a sheet of paper is what is truly the only thing that is important to a person no mater what is funding that drive or where it is going..
        If making money is what is the most important for someone then they could put money into the local drug dealer or the cartels to.. which is dark pool money as well. At least with doing that you know where your money is going and who is dealing with it..with crypto’s you don’t have a clue or what it is being invested in to keep money flow increasing at loan shark levels…..
        for myself.. I have to reflect on the teachings of Aristotle and question is this dark pool money an honorable system working in a system of virtues in their business dealings to make this money. since non of this can be known because of the cloak of dark money dealings.. I will not invest in it….

    • Mark,
      There are many methods (battery powered, chemical, weight, size) combined to authenticate gold and silver that do not rely on the electrical grid or the internet.

      Unfortunately, you cannot have cryptos without the electrical grid or internet. If some hacks can shut down a pipeline, do ya think that adversarial governments couldn’t do the same to the satellite, electrical, and internet faster, more efficiently, and with greater stealth? And then what would those cryptos held in the cloud be worth? NADA, ZIP, ZERO.

      Things that are printed on paper require a degree of trust to facilitate a transaction between a buyer and seller. Doubly true with an unregulated Crypto. How do you know that the paper transactions through your broker aren’t a result of numbers being “FED” to a central exchange to post. A real rigged game. How do you know that Crypto values are not being “FED” to the exchanges to sucker in more cash? Cryptos are NOT regulated like the Banks, Brokerages, and Exchanges….not that they aren’t rigged by the regulators.

      Things that cannot be printed or made up in the air, e.g. REAL assets like gold, silver, guns/bullets, real estate and hard manufactured items ultimately are the only things that have value, along with labor. The dollar is worthless today compared to 1971 when they closed the gold window. 2% of value today compared to then. So are these inflated markets just keeping up with what should be the real value of the dollar? And are the Indexes and stock values really being controlled by and “FED” to the public.

      Everything is relative in a world of dualities. You have to be able to get to something and it has to be readily available to facilitate a transaction. Cryptos do not meet those criteria.

      If Cryptos make you feel like you own the world, then go for it. You better hope and pray that they will always be readily available out there in space and your average Joe at the grocery store, or hardware store, or filling station will accept them someday if you need them. There will be a hell of a blood bath from the governments and banks before they roll over and let that happen without them being in the middle controlling it. I had rather shoot craps in Vegas. At least I know in advance what the odds are.

    • “The diligent crowd, like the group I hang out with, bought the many dips and sold the mini peaks on the dozens of crypto offerings and we came out ahead in the black after the past week.”

      If that makes “sense” I’d give up. If that were true we would NOT know this person because he’d never post on any network whatsoever, IMHO!

  7. Clueless in WT – every single criticism of Bitcoin is false/incorrect/pure pulled out Ure ass BS.

    Guvmint regulated Futures market for trading BTC.

    Bitcoin crypto exchange listed on the NYSE.

    All major money center banks own,trade Bitcoin .

    Bitcoin/Litecoin can be spent anywhere, today, on any product, today.
    – via a bank regulated credit card – backed by Ure own BTC..cocktails&dinner, medical marijuana, theater, sports game – you name it. Let alone “coiner to coiner” – utohhh – how is Gman gonna slap his Slave tax on that kinda transaction ??

    How would ever trade/exchange gold and silver with grid down ? You wont . Only local transactions – that ought be totally safe, exchanging/bartering phyz Gold/Silver with a stranger. Sure and earth facing EMP gonna mess up one side of the globe – one side, what the other of the globe just gonna turn off their power in sympathy to other half of EMPed globe ???

    Perhaps if Ure thoughts weren’t all clogged up with spooky Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt regards alphabet agencies, U might see the “path”, but alas stockholm syndrome is tough to undo after 60+ years of incarceration..

    • Clueless in West Texas huh? You don’t have a clue about my background. I learned a long time ago you cannot argue with Stupid and you damn sure can’t fix it! Therefore, I won’t even try to show you the folly in some of your points. They are all based upon blockchains residing in space. Something that can disappear with the click of a mouse. As in bringing the grid and internet down.

      And if something happens to links in a chain or a blockchain, what happens. Poof. And FYI, you can trade Gold and Silver without the GD internet if you own the physical.

      You keep sending your money to the cloud in exchange for your Alpha Numerics blocks. We will see who is clueless before 2023 is over.

      You remind me of Trevor Lawrence the #1 NFL draft pick this year. He said he was putting his entire $21,000,000 signing bonus into Bitcoin. Dumbass! BTC was at $55,000 and today it is trading a little over $40,000. That is down 27% in a matter of 2 weeks, or his $21,000,000 signing bonus is now worth $15,333,000. Worldwide Bitcoin 24 hour volume today a whopping $103 Billion. Biden spent $6 Trillion in his first 100 days. Kind of puts things in perspective.

      Trevor Lawrence’s agent should be fired. He should have to go to a kindergarten investment school. You are enjoying GARF….Greed Always Replaces Fear. It won’t be long before you are full of FARG….Fear Always Replaces Greed. Enjoy the ride.

    • A serious CME – sun fart – that could continue for over 24 hours would wipe the entire global network and most devices attached to it. It’s not impossible, and nobody has really prepared for it except possibly in the classified realms. Of course there’s the Amish, but I doubt they use BTC.

      BTC may be fun to play with and that alone may make participating worthwhile. Meanwhile, it’s always hard to get out at the top, where the market is thin to non-existent. I regard the cryptos as a time sink, and I have too many time sinks already.

      • “A serious CME – sun fart – that could continue for over 24 hours would wipe the entire global network and most devices attached to it.”

        Not 24hrs — 12hr 10min max, but if it hit mid-Pacific, it would take out all of the Americas and all of the world’s facilities (located in China) which have the capability of remediating the problem, in about 6 seconds. We would not be dark for a year, but for half a century, as we stood in line with everybody else, to replace our 37 irreplaceable MPT transformers — a process which would only BEGIN after Siemens or ABB found a way to traverse several thousand miles of Chinese MadMaxLand and move their

        ++ really big ++

        1-off MPT manufacturing lines back through Chinese MadMaxLand, by rail, without fuel or electricity, past a half-billion desperate, starving people, and get them reinstalled in the German facilities from which they stripped them, 25 years ago…

      • G_____- ERCOT’s dominion extends into NM quite a ways, so the 148 mi extension cord might be a bit longer than required.
        Of course, with this past winter’s experience, I wouldn’t necessarily be betting heavily on an outcome which favors TX contingency planning and execution over NM for electrical reliability. However, happenstance does, well, happen.
        If the Texas grid were to prove more resilient to CME damage than the grid in neighboring areas, a 300 mile weekend round trip for supplies is not all that unheard of along the TX-NM border anyway. And there are realtors in Texas.
        Maybe a small covered trailer with vents and some gasoline jerry cans with brackets would come in handy. If solar power and a freezer were available at the hacienda, then a 12 VDC portable freezer in the tow vehicle might come in handy as well. The thing about trailers, gas cans, and 12 VDC freezers is that when you really, really need ’em, they are on the unobtanium list. I learned that on the Gulf Coast.

      • @ n____

        “Ray- Would the Texas grid be as heavily affected as the rest of the country?”

        Yes.

        CONgress has known of the issue since the mid-nineties, the power companies, long before. I have often wondered if certain PTB are just daring fate, or a renegade State, to hit us. There’s no rational explanation, and no other reasonable explanation I can think of. In the age of the submarine, our physical isolation is no longer of any consequence…

  8. As you know Congress is exploring a reparations bill. The lady in the following video is testifying in front of Congress. Her explanation for why is compelling.

    107-year-old Tulsa Race Massacre survivor Viola Fletcher testifies before Congress

    https://tulsaworld.com/video/news/107-year-old-tulsa-race-massacre-survivor-viola-fletcher-testifies-before-congress/video_6d566fc3-88c6-54d1-9230-9b9f7a61edf8.html

    H.R.40 – Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act

    https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/40

    Full 2.5 hour hearing:

    Hearing on Centennial of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

    https://www.c-span.org/video/?511795-1/hearing-centennial-1921-tulsa-race-massacre

    • The 17 Ure family men who died fighting for black freedom dead Northern soldiers in the Civil War) didn’t get a dime for their sacrifice.

      I will entertain modest compensation for victims of actual (documented) discrimination prior to the Emancipation. Maybe a token amount for prior to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But heirs upon heirs? Take a hike.
      This all begins to smell like a Business Model – a Money game!
      (Feel your guilt? Write me a check! – Critical Economic Theory! Write or you’re a racist!)

      Equality is either total OR its a con.

      Think a White Entertainment Network would play? A 1492 project? A 1776 Project? Math for white trailer trash? No? Not so much?

      All comes down to ways to keep Americans at each other’s throats while intergenerational wealth families laugh their asses off at all the dumb people they’ve “raised on corn” at school. And funded lawsuit firms to do their bidding. Keep the dumb people stirred up and fighting one-another. Deliciously demonic.

      If you have to check your plumbing to figure out you are, you’re lost. Your doubt is stronger than your core.

      There are Black Leaders (King, Goggins, Carson…long list).
      There are also grifters – the “reverend” and… just like there are in any race.

      We’re about Good People building a shared future. Otherwise, where’s 271 generations of royalties on the wheel?

      • Soldiers are paid.

        In a few years when a reparations bill is passed some people will be posting, “How did this happen?” I’ll respond, “I posted the C-span links as it unfolded.”

    • There is no case for the government to take from one citizen to give to another because of history. As far as I know (I claim no expertise), is the government did not own slaves, they were owned by individuals. So if someone wants compensation they should sue the individuals or the estate of individuals that owned their family members. Japanese americans who were interred were owed compensation from government, because government interred them. Of course the entire thought is awful, go far enough back in time and very likely some of our ancestors were enslaved or indentured in some way. The court case would be interesting to find out what compensation should apply. Many ancestors of slaves in the US have done far better then the families growing up in Africa. So how to value their harm? Compare the average current worth in a community that sold the slaves to the average income of US slave descendants? I think you likely would see those generations have far more worth here rather then there. People break laws and risk their families lives to come to the US, yet many of those here have no understanding of how good they have it.

      Of course none of that is the point, the politicians are trying to keep us separated, not have us realize the real problems are them, and for them to keep buying votes.

    • “107-year-old Tulsa Race Massacre survivor testifies before Congress”

      “107-year-olds” usually have “better sense” than to testifies before Congress. I wonder how much of our taxpayer money went to that family? ;-(((

    • The Tulsa “Black Wall Street ‘massacre'” had nothing to do with the Civil War or Emancipation.

      [It’s been a long time, but] IIRC, the importation of slaves to the United States was banned during Jefferson’s lifetime, and slave auctions were banned in the early 1840s.

      However, an Internet search for pre-1840 American publications will turn up handbills and newspaper adverts for slave auctions, and results of previously-held auctions.

      A strong, healthy, early-20s male would sell at the slave auctions for between $3500-$4200.

      With gold at $18/oz, that was a lot of money.

      If a slave “ran,” he or she, if caught, was returned to the slave owner and a reward [was] paid to the person who returned them. If a person or family were caught, harboring a runaway slave or facilitating the escape and emancipation of a slave, they were shot, hanged, or burned alive, on the spot — not just in the South, but in (present-day) New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, as well. Ergo, the folks who ran stops along the Underground Railroad took a much greater risk than the slaves, themselves.

      “Slave reparations,” if they are due, should be paid by the African tribes who enslaved their conquests.

      If “slave reparations” are ever considered “due and owing” BY the U.S., to the descendants of those whose ancestors were slaves in the U.S., a large percentage should go to the descendants of those who literally risked their lives, and that of their families, at their own expense and for no reward except to do what they believed “right, in the Eyes of God,” to facilitate the escape to Canada, of hundreds of thousands of enslaved people, between the 1730s and 1860s…

      Side note: In my trip a couple weeks back from Detroit to Lexington, along with acquiring a lawn mower, I had a chance to go by the Levi Coffin House (& Museum) on US-27 in Fountain City, Indiana (from Wackypedia):

      “The Levi Coffin House, home of Quaker abolitionist Levi Coffin and his wife Catherine, was an important stop on the Underground Railroad. Coffin was sometimes known as the “president” of the Underground Railroad. It is now operated as an Indiana State Historic Site.”

      Coffin was a Cincinnati industrialist. I have never understood why he built his residence in Fountain City (then called New Garden) because it is nearly a hundred miles from his home to the wharves on Cincy’s south side, with no means of going from “A” to “B” in much less than two days. If you drop in on the w-pedia page for Fountain City, the photo used for the city is of the front of the Levi Coffin house — now over 200 years old…

      BTW, highly recommended 20-mile out-of-the-way side-trip, for anyone driving up the Dixie Highway (US-127, say, during the “World’s Longest Rummage Sale”) who’s interested in actual facts regarding slavery, the political climate of early or mid-nineteenth Century America, and especially the Underground Railroad…

  9. Beyond a reasonable minimum, I’m avoiding the games and investing in personal time rather than these ephemeral fungible tokens that we call “money”. Yes, they’re useful to a degree, and even essential, but after necessities and some tools and materials, what do we even spend it on? Time to waste productively on yourself is not only invaluable, but it’s beyond the reach of the tax man. When I meditate, breathe, introspect, think, research, analyze, or just be, I’m using the resources in my life for myself alone. Yes, I can share and often do, but those resources and enjoyment remain tax free unless I try to monetize them. The same is true for anything I make, build, or maintain, unless I try to monetize.

    Sometimes the only way to win is not to play.

      • Great idea George! I tried to grow things here for five years and went through an ungodly amount of water. Some seedlings once appeared, but were eaten down to nubs the next day. Apparently my local soil is best amended by replacing it with real dirt trucked in from 100 miles away. I’ve been able to grow weeds in spades, but nothing that I can eat. I was once a member of a local gardening club, but had to ditch that when it was turned into an “art” club, which I found to be rather useless. The closest real Master Gardner course is probably 100 miles away, if/when the covid scare slows down a bit. I’ve yet to find a good way to grow things, though I suspect it will be inside a greenhouse or other sealed enclosure. The local fauna here will attack from six sides. There’s sun and fun here, but it’s probably much more expensive to actually grow things than to buy them, so I’m buying for the moment. When I’ve got some other projects out of the way, I’ll be harvesting rainwater and trying to make the “soil” more permeable. I’ve also got to figure out how to stop the native weeds from growing at the first hint of rain.

        There are a couple of local folks who can do food magic. I’ve yet to figure out their techniques. Thanks for the thoughts on wild life – I’m still working on that one. I’m glad you’re able to take good care of yours! There were a lot of family events happening here over the last six months that needed attention, but that’s winding down a bit now. I still have to find or buy a decent suit for a wedding next month(not mine).

        • My understanding (which is limited) is that Master Gardening classes can be taken on line.
          In the case of your green thumb for weeds, that will tell you oodles about the soil.
          Then it’s a matter of plantings with similar “tastes in dirt” OR amending as needed.
          If your crop is eaten, then one must fence (and fire) at intruders.
          Just as the three basics of fire are fuel, air, source of ignition, once planted all seeds need is right light, right temp, right H2O.
          If it was really hard (or magic) do you think I’d mess with it>

      • “If it was really hard (or magic) do you think I’d mess with it?”

        Probably! You’re messing with time travel, phototherapy, predicting the future, dream realms, analyzing luck, writing furiously, and taking good care of Elaine, so it must be hard. Yes, I can do it, but there’s a steep learning curve, and there are many competing priorities. It’s more of a time sink than I originally thought.

        It’s much easier to seal six sides against unwanted mouths than to stand guard 24/7, so inside gardening will be my next attempt. I have managed to keep a cactus alive for many years, so it’s not impossible. I’ll look into the online thing. My dearest friend is a good(not master) gardener and she manages to grow food every year, though in a very different environment where it actually rains regularly and has acid soil.

  10. re: Bitcoin (BTC), “they’re not honest money” Really George, so what is? Certainly not any fiat currency such as the USD. Gold? sure, but it’s not as divisible or portable as BTC and it’s not as “hard” either since BTC supply will cap & gold will continue to be mined.

    You’re right about proof of stake in that proof of work is better in some regards and BTC will never move off it (maybe a hard fork, but unlikely). I really am curious to know: what’s out there that you do consider to be “honest money”? Because gold comes the closest, I’d say and BTC has fundamental properties which make it a damn good alternative to holding physical gold.

      • exactly… coinage was to carry metals to be made into something dollars was script that reflected a set aside amount of grain..
        two years ago I was teaching the grandkids how to make their own marshmallow cream filled chocolate eggs using injection molding.. it was fun they learned a lot and had fun doing it.. coins have value because of the metal in them.. which can be melted and casted into a usable product..
        https://www.dunken.com/

    • Gold is the closest to actual money – divisible, fungible, portable, permanent.

      BTC is more like a traveler’s check. Good for specific purposes in the short term, but subject to significant acceptance and processing risk.

  11. Having grown up after the 60’s, I was always treated to the WWII myth that Japan sneakily attacked us.

    Around 20 years ago I bothered to read the history. We saw that coming for nearly 20 years as Japan expanded their empire and committed some of the worst atrocities you can imagine on their conquests.

    How strange to simultaneously honor Claire Chennault as a visionary, ahead of his time, and also moan about sneak attacks. The war in the Pacific was started years before with sanctions, energy resource wars, etc.

    I don’t even consider the conspiracy stuff about what happened near Pearl that weekend, irrelevant. We were in a struggle with the Empire of Japan for long enough to know it wasn’t as advertised to a kid in the 70’s and 80’s as a fairy tale good sheriff / bad outlaws parody of war fighting.

    I say all this because it’ll happen again. When push comes to shove, an event will be seen as a tipping point, couldn’t see THAT coming, kind of propaganda betrayal. Only this time, the people are so ignorant (misinformed by watching “news”) that anything goes. WMD, towers, those were easy to sell. This time it will be easier.

    • To which I would append: Roosevelt (a socialist democrat) forced Japan into the war by wrecking Japanese supply lines. That they attacked Pearl caught him (and his lefterly cabinet) flat-footed. It was the nation of Japan fighting for its survival. American ego couldn’t see it right. A tradition upheld today.

      That Bataan and the atrocities against Chinese is under reported is not surprising.

      Curiously, it was a demagogue democrat (Roosevelt) who drove presidential term limits when there was talk he would run yet-again for the White House. His run from March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945 was an unprecedented ego trip. Led to the term limits in 1947.

      Like Xi and Putin of today, old old-school socialists want to run things “to their superior vision” for the indefinite future.

      • “Roosevelt (a socialist democrat) forced Japan into the war by wrecking Japanese supply lines…
        “…It was the nation of Japan fighting for its survival.

        “American ego couldn’t see it right. A tradition upheld today.”

        Truer words hath ne’er been spake… People of a more leftist political bent, are (and have always been) exceedingly bad at understanding the Law of Unintended Consequences.

        “That Bataan and the atrocities against Chinese is under reported is not surprising.”

        And the Formosans, and the Koreans. The Imperial Japanese occupation was a b!tch for decades. It took years of social diplomacy and posterior osculation for South Koreans to get to the point they would allow Japanese corporate expansion or even partnerships with the Japanese, within Korea. Many of the oldsters still don’t well-tolerate ethnic Japanese on Korean soil.

        Ponder from yonder: If we hadn’t interfered with Japan’s fuel supply, would they have eventually conquered all of China and executed Mao, thus permitting the hundred million Chinese Mao murdered to have lived out their lives?

      • “To which I would append: Roosevelt (a socialist democrat) forced Japan into the war by wrecking Japanese supply lines.”

        I do literally remember that too ;-). However, today I feel so great because I accomplished a long walk (abt. 3 hrs.) that in the morning I had though I could never do again.

        Btw. My best to your wife. I’d lost mine 6 yrs. ago after >50 yrs. of blessed marriage.

      • I also grew up with relatives who were Christian missionaries in China, they saw it with their own eyes. Still called Pearl the biggest sneak attack. But imagine being a child and seeing the death marches. Chalk it all up to who owns the presses.

      • If FDR didn’t have prior knowledge of the attack, then why were no flattops in port? As I’ve read, he didn’t want to tip the Japanese off that we had broken their code. At least that was the excuse. The attack was a sacrificial lamb in the opinion of many.

    • On December 7th, 1941 very few people knew anything about what was happening beyond a hundred mile circle of their most familiar haunts. I remember reading in the book about the Code Talkers of WWII where a bunch of Indians (I think Navajo) showed up at the local sheriff’s office in New Mexico or some other official government office ON HORSEBACK armed and ready to fight when the word got around that Perl Harbor (America) had been attacked. They didn’t have a clue where Perl was, obviously, but the mere fact that our country had been attacked meant that problem needed to be nipped (no racial pun intended) in the bud post haste! The mere thought that these people, this race, who had had such a disastrous encounter with the people who now occupied what used to be THEIR country – AND STILL SHOWED UP TO FIGHT – makes it a bit difficult to focus on the computer screen as I type these words.

      Nevertheless the near total control of the Press back then, written and transmitted information along with the trust that people had in government, was such an all-controlling normalcy bias only a very few even cared to read about or have much knowledge of what was going on in the greater World. In that regard I have to agree that it is utterly astounding here in the Age of Information such a huge number of people, people who’s vote matters or at least ought to, still don’t want to know what is going on outside their sphere of physical and social activity. Even when confronted with information that would require action if it turned out to be true people will still do all they can to find or invent a narrative that requires them to do nothing. At least in the 30s people had a decent excuse to be ignorant.

  12. “Elaine (fresh from hip replacement) asked me somewhere around 4 AM today “Don’t you think it odd that there’s a money war AND a biowar AND a climate war all going on at once?””

    Which is why I introduced the “truth fork” (or a controlled amount of “conspiracy theory”) to my thinking. There’s too much crap — locked, loaded, and ready to hit the fan, for it to be coincidence. Yet no news and information pathway currently known, connects all the datapoints, or really, even a majority of them.

  13. “AOC and the congressional left are out to screw Israel, sounds like: AOC leads effort to block arms sale to Israel. Well, except she’s not leading…”

    …Out to screw Palestine.

    If we stop sending Israel money and bits for Iron Dome, they’re not going to lay down and allow Hamas to annihilate them, they will use what they have available to completely clear the region known as “Palestine” from all its inhabitants, sending them to Jordan, Egypt, or Hell, as they choose.

      • Have you ever been in a fight for your life? Not one of those sensationalized childish memes the kiddies dream up, but a real-life situation where a physical confrontation with another human or humans was unavoidable, and if you lost the fight you would certainly, absolutely, be put to death?

        Didn’t think so…

        Think of Israel as if the nation were Leonidas at the Battle of Thermopylae. Now take away King Leonidas’ shield, but give him a chain-gun and 60,000 rounds of ammo. What do you think ol’ Leo would’ve done?

        Israel already possesses the chain gun…

        Nobody with a lick of common sense really wants to see Israel without its “Iron Dome.”

  14. “A Kamunist speaks: “Kamala Harris: ‘Asian Americans Have The Right To Be Recognized As Americans’.””

    Somebody should’ve mentioned that to FDR…

  15. ” Brought Elaine home from the hospital Wednesday. She then spent 3-hours (non-stop) on her feet. Feeling no pain because hydrocodone not only kills pain but gives her motivation.”

    Regarding E’s hospital issue: I am violently allergic to morphine. It trips me out like LSD and has zero analgesic effect. It also plays badly with my cardiovascular system. It is best to know such things before some needle-happy Resident sends one into cardiac shock. My favorite pain killer is Toridal. It is an NSAID, not a narcotic, does an extraordinary job of shutting off the pain receptors, and does not mess your mind, AT ALL. I have been given it as a surgical post-op, then allowed to drive myself 50 miles home, on several occasions.

    When I have had synth-codeine (either hydro or oxy), taking an aspirin or acetaminophen 30-40 minutes before, then taking a HALF-DOSE of the drug/acetamin lozenge (usually a half-pill) provides both better analgesic action and much less of a “high…” I don’t do pain meds, so when I have to, I try to squeeze the most analgesic effect out of the drugs I’m taking, with the least possible departure from reality…

  18. why do you guys bag crypto when the FED has used it for years to juice everything ? really im right again . this sick world gunna have the greatest deflationary pulse ever as you patriots destroy the USD and talk covid like vaxed gibberish . my cat , who is 18 george !! , she has seen plenty with me . what garbage and dribble going on . the flation baby

  19. …Just bouncin’ around The Examiner:

    Biden administration starts negotiations for a global minimum tax at 15% rate

    The Treasury Department proposed a 15% global minimum corporate tax rate during meetings with officials from other countries.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/us-negotiations-15-percent-global-minimum-tax
    ______

    Never forget, our “income tax” was sold as being “temporary” and “only on the extremely wealthy” and it was capped at (what was it? like) 2%. Give a politician an inroad by which to tax, they’ll take, and take, and take until they destroy any incentive for productivity…
    __________

    Trump rising: 73% GOP want him to run, beats Harris 49% to 45%

    Three-quarters of the Republican base wants former President Donald Trump to run for president again, and 83% of the GOP would vote for him in the 2024 general election. And in a head-to-head race with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump would win by 4 points.

    According to a new McLaughlin & Associates survey, Trump would swamp every single challenger in the primary. In a potential primary, Trump leads with 57%, followed by former Vice President Mike Pence at 10%, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 8%, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley at 5%.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/trump-rising-73-gop-want-him-to-run-beats-harris-49-45
    ______

    Just in case anyone here thought Mark and Mike would get over their TDS any time soon…
    __________

    Stephen A. Smith: Tebow signing with Jacksonville Jaguars is ‘white privilege’

    Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith lamented “white privilege” as the reason the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars signed former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow to a contract.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/stephen-a-smith-tebow-white-privilege
    ______

    I don’t do ESPN very often, and never pay attention to the talkers because they have nothing of importance to say, ever. With that said, ISTM Tim Tebow is currently an ESPN employee, formerly a football player whom Urban Meyer coached to two national titles, is in better shape than ANY current 33yo pro football player (‘cuz he hasn’t taken a single hit in seven seasons), and has finally extracted his head from his butt and realized he was made to play tight end. I’ve never seen SaS or heard him speak, but my observation tells me the “privilege” and “racism” lie a lot closer to his corner of the planet than it does, either Tebow’s or that of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, will Dizzney do the right thing and send him packing?

    That’s the reason I posted this. I wanted a reference point from which to index whether these two people’s employer would suborn actual racism (not the “means anything I want it to” crap) and an incredibly unhealthy work environment, or fix what is an actual issue…
    __________

    • Guess you know which side of that bet my money is on: World is nuts, equality is a shakedown, and politics is all lies. But everyone here knows that already

  20. I understand that many of you get involved into “issues of the world” over which you have no control. I also understand the value of entertainment, and a few succeed making an adequate living turning such entertainment into a “business model.” ;-)

    However, the time will come in your life (and it will indeed if you turn old enough!) when “being in charge of your own faculties” is the only one important issue. Regardless of what others may say, you are alone by yourselves in this world. How do I know – because I experience it.
    Caso cerrado!

    Don’t anyone get me wrong – but there is a huge difference in life about “verbal vs. feeling” it. Nevertheless, this is not bad – but you should be aware of some “facts of live” that are less than pleasant, and try to modify your expectations accordingly.

    Point I’m trying to make: Less commentaries about “trying to fix the world’s ills” – versus more commentaries of what helps “me and you” to aim for a “better quality of live” individually ;-).

    amalgamate

    Since stock prices (not valuations!) are mostly a question of “supply vs. demand” an interesting question would be: If on

    • “amalgamate

      Since stock prices (not valuations!) are mostly a question of “supply vs. demand” an interesting question would be: If on”
      ———————————————————-
      ABOVE SHOULD NOT BE THERE!! SORRY.

    • Dear Choices,
      You have no idea how badly I wish we could all go back to being happily ignorant of anything outside of our immediate lives but the Internet, by its very nature, blows that existence to pieces. I and others here want very much to curb, blunt, divert, even possibly avoid the lunacy we bear witness to on a daily basis and which we see coming our way and toward our children. Few of us here have much more than a couple of decades left in us but preserving the values that have gotten us this far and improving on those values that need it given the circumstances requires some discourse between everyone. There is no more “front porch sittin'” that my predecessors enjoyed because the World has set up camp on the lawn and threatens, indeed even succeeds, in making it’s way into our very homes demanding our compliance with things many would rather never see. Most here also want to do what we can to help others avoid the fads and philosophies that bring so much heartache to so many today so if we can do that in some small way when posting we’ve fulfilled some part of our social responsibility in the World.

      If you’re so blessed to have nothing threatening you and yours please understand you’re a minority, a very lucky minority at that and I think you’ve said in past posts you’re in New York … state?? Amazing. That being said, if you’re so intent on living a quiet life to the end I find it surprising you show up here at all if only to throw out a few ideas you’ve held near and dear over the course of your life. You shouldn’t find it surprising to see them savaged on the Information Super Highway. All of us have tire treads, boot prints and various wounds going up and down our backs in this arena. When I was forced onto a public stage I wanted nothing to do with a couple of years ago I had to come to grips with a very unpleasant fact that I knew but had been able to avoid up until this late date in my life. That simple fact is what my Dad always said – “People are basically stupid.” Having to deal with people who would desperately rather cling to Group Think rather than think for themselves becomes necessary when that philosophy has YOU in its sights. Their capabilities to do just that have massively increased over the past 15 years – and I live in a place where hardly anything happens!

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