"Our study demonstrates that among children who describe memories of a past life, a strong association exists between gender nonconformity and memories of a life as a member of a different sex."

Researchers from the University of Virginia studied 469 children who claim to have memories of past lives and, using "logistic regression," a form of statistical analysis, they found that "children who remembered a life involving a different natal sex were much more likely to exhibit [gender nonconformity] than children who remembered a same-sex life."

The study was published in the International Journal of Sexual Health, and Jim Tucker, one of the paper's co-authors and a psychologist at the University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies, is one of the foremost reincarnation scholars in the field.

Quote:Childhood Gender Nonconformity and Children’s Past-Life Memories (10 pg PDF)

Division of Perceptual Studies, Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

ABSTRACT

Objectives: This study examines childhood gender nonconformity (GNC) in conjunction with the phenomenon in which young children describe memories of a purported previous life. Methods: In a case-control study of 469 children reporting past-life memories, we used logistic regression to examine predictors of GNC, measured by documented gender nonconforming behaviors. Results: Children who remembered a life involving a different natal sex were much more likely to exhibit GNC than children who remembered a same-sex life.

Conclusions: After exploring potential explanations, we conclude that past-life memories represent a novel factor that may be associated with the development of GNC.

...

Cases of the reincarnation type

The phenomenon of children claiming to remember a “previous life” occurs in many countries around the world (Stevenson, 2001). For the past 50 years, researchers have systematically collected, studied, and reported in the literature such cases under the term cases of the reincarnation type (CORTs) and have found common features among them. These children start talking spontaneously about a life as another individual (referred to as the “previous personality” or PP), typically beginning around the age of 2 to 5 and ending by the age of 6 to 8. In some cases, the details provided by the child about the PP are so specific that they allow for the identification of a
deceased person who closely matches the account of the child.

Methods
CORT database

More than 2200 cases of the reincarnation type from various countries have been investigated and documented by the University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies according to an investigational protocol developed by Stevenson (1977a). Once a new case is identified, a trained investigator conducts thorough interviews with the child and his/her parents and closest relatives who serve as firsthand informants for the specifics of each case. The goal of these investigations is to evaluate systematically the evidence for different explanations of each case, including those of an anomalous nature. To standardize the collection of evidence across cases and investigators, the investigators use a registration form that includes a checklist of salient features of CORTs to guide the interviews. All interviewed informants provide informed consent and child participants provide assent, and the study is approved by the university’s Institutional Review Board for Social and Behavioral Sciences.
....

Discussion

Our study demonstrates that among children who describe memories of a past life, a strong association exists between gender nonconformity and memories of a life as a member of a different sex. It is unclear whether one causes the other or if they travel together as two parts of one over-all process.

To explore the question of whether the presence of GNC can lead a child to report past-life memories, we considered scenarios in which parents, believing in reincarnation, would be most likely to interpret GNC as an indication that a child had a past life as a member of a different sex.
....

Conclusions

Among children who report memories of a previous life, gender nonconformity is strongly associated with a purported life as a member of a different sex. This association may offer insights into contributors to gender nonconformity in children who do not express such memories. In clinical settings, when past-life memories are present in conjunction with GNC, it may be beneficial to address this connection in focused psychotherapy. It is possible that currently unidentified hormonal or neurochemical factors could predispose affected children to both phenomena, or as Stevenson and Keil (2005) suggested, perhaps a previously unrecognized factor of consciousness may be involved.

You were warned! The first thread where I started this project is here

Because it was asked for! Note: I hosted these pictures on my defunct website and saved them as jpg and not png so the quality isn't the best but I tried to keep the file sizes down and limited to 1000px. Native pic size is 4032x3024 so it took me a whole day to process them and put this together. I wrote most of this last night and didn't proofread it before posting. I'm hoping for the longest and most obnoxious thread evar award!

OH CRAP - No warning when previewing but error posting with more than 10 pics so I am going to have to break this into multiple posts.

Where to start catching up?

Last update ended with our intrepid wannabe woodworker getting setup with a jointer and discovering indeed, some sort of dust collection was going to be mandatory.

Enter The Dustopper – a cyclonic dust separator that attaches to a bucket powered by a shop vac that was connected to my ex-husband’s machine lathe in the kitchen that I snagged for my own use. The jointer makes a nice cole slaw and practically nothing ends up in the shop vac. It smells delightful!


I had only used a jointer once before 100 years ago but did not realize how physically hard it was going to be especially trying to joint 8’ 2x4s and 2x6s. I had to pick up a couple roller stands to even do long boards but it was a good investment because I’ve needed them for other things more than I imagined.



Trying to force 8 foot long crappy Home Depot lumber flat against the jointer table absolutely killed my noodley old lady arms. With one side milled flat and one edge milled square, I really wasn’t looking forward to trying to flatten the other side. It was exhausting.

I knew I needed a planer but balked at the $780 for a Dewalt so I spent days researching alternatives and watching videos and settled on something closer to $400 with stellar reviews a Wen (with 13” w/ spiral cutterhead) I’ve always wanted a planer and I’m not getting any younger and was fortunately in a position to act so I clicked the button and had it the next day with free delivery. I was lucky to already have an isolated 20-amp circuit available but had to buy a quality $30 14ga extension cord.

But damn, the planer weighs 80 pounds and getting it unboxed and on a table liked to kill me. Not having the luxury of an indoor working space, the ability to move things to a secure location in case of weather was paramount so I scrounged around through my redneck surroundings and found a rusty old metal cart with busted wheels.



It was quite the effort sanding it down, mounting new wheels, painting it and cutting a piece or ¾” plywood, then getting the mounting holes marked and drilled (I had to lift the damn planer again twice) but it came out great and is super functional. With a couple laminate flooring planks on a steel table that weighs about 900 pounds (The 900 Pound Bench™), the outfeed lines up perfectly.



This is absolutely fun to use and my favorite thing so far. With boards milled flat on one side, running them through the planer makes the other side flat and parallel then running them through on their one flat edge makes the other edge perfect. Between the jointer and the planer, I used up five 55 gallon black trash bags for shavings with about as much as they could hold without bursting. The Dustopper thing works great but the bucket requires emptying more often than I would like.

After 3 bags of planer/jointer shavings, I checked the inside of the crusty old Rigid shop vac and found this much. The Dustopper really surprised me at its effectiveness. It’s kind of a pain to empty it all the time and I have to move the hose to each machine as needed but I can only imagine the mess I would have made without it.



I milled (jointed & planed) eight 2x6s and six 2x4s. It took me a long time because I could only do a few at a time due to being old and puny then it came time to cut everything to length which presented the next problem.

I had made an oversize cross-cut sled for my old cheapo table saw I thought would help but it didn’t. Eight foot boards were just too long and unwieldy even with trying to use the roller stands or that metal bench for support. I probably could have jigged something up and just used a circular saw or gasp, even a hand saw but I wanted square and perfect cuts and got frustrated for a while thinking I was out of my mind to try and build something so big.

With hours and hours watching YouTube woodworking videos, the answer was clear, I needed a miter saw. I used to have an ancient Sears radial arm saw but I donated it to Goodwill when I moved because it sucked and was limited in what it could do. With more time spent researching options for the features I wanted and the price, I again went with a WEN 12” dual bevel sliding compound miter saw. Couldn’t see spending $550 to $850 for the name brands just to get my foot in the door and the WEN was just the ticket for a hobbiest. I also got an 80 tooth blade for finer cuts but haven’t used it yet.

Of course, it had to weigh 55 pounds and of course I needed some sort of a mobile base for it so I got busy making one. The result was functional but the design is unfinished. I plan to make fold up extension wings on either side for supporting long boards and I was going to put some drawers in it until I got a new router table (used to have one of these too but sold it about 15 years ago to buy drugs) that fits neatly underneath. Sorta killed two birds with one stone there and moving the router table off to a bench when I want to use it isn’t that hard. For those 8 footers, I still needed to use those handy roller stands and I am so glad I bought them

It is super cool to make a bunch of cuts and have them come out perfect



I finally got started on building things. The four 86” long legs consist of a 2x6 connected to a 2x4 for each leg. My idea was to have the legs be smooth and free of fasteners and I thought about dowels but decided to go with sunken screws and plugs.  This part was pretty fun.

I had purchased an oddball set of countersinks, hole and plug cutters that worked super perfect. I marked things out in the 2x6s, drilled a pilot hole then a hole for the plug. Then I cut the plugs from a piece of cutoff scrap and was tickled how well they came out and how fun it was popping them out.



Then things were glued up, clamped and the screws tightened. Then I glued in the plugs I had cut.


After sanding, where the plugged screws are, nothing is visible. I didn’t bother to line up the grain because everything was being painted but was really happy how this came out.


I used my palm /trim router to put a nice round over on all the corners. Then on the inside of each leg, I added 2x4 stops that will serve as under supports for the three layers and assist in keeping the layers level. Next came my adventure in priming.

It has taken me forever to get things done because I keep stopping to research stuff and this time it was what primer to use.  I had always used something like Kilz but wanted to make sure what variety because I wanted something that would seal any knots and prevent any sap leaking through this crappy lumber and ruining my paint job.

I found a product all the pros were raving about, Zinsser B-I-N, a shellac based primer that covers and seals anything. It dries to the touch in 15 minutes and can be top coated after 45 minutes and everyone was raving about its capabilities but it cost an absolutely ridiculous $75 a gallon but I decided YOLO, right? It indeed is special but a little tricky to work with as it dries so fast. I applied it with a short nap roller and ended up with more texture than I wanted which frustrated me and I took a couple days off to sulk but then I sanded it and went over it with a foam roller and it turned our really nice.



-continued next post

Have you heard about ARkStorm's?

Forget Earthquakes. THIS Is What Could Doom California
A Joe Scott vid - Sunken towns around the world & a focus on Calif.

Quote:It's a weird thing to think about, but all around the world there are towns at the bottom of lakes. Many are from reservoirs and dams built to generate power or clean water for cities, but some were from insane natural disasters. Here we talk about some of the most interesting sunken towns in the world, and a potential disaster on the horizon in California called ARkStorm that could sink hundreds of towns and threaten millions of lives.

In the shoutbox, on the topic of bears, my spears came up. @"EndTheMadenssNow" asked for pictures, so here they are:

The set - 



Closer view of the head of the boar spear - 



The original handle on the boar spear was longer and heavier, but it was also warped. Cold Steel, where I got the spear, wouldn't replace it unless I sent it back to them, so rather than have a boar spear with no shaft, I just mounted it to a shovel handle... that re-mount to a shovel handle also made it lighter, and quicker to wield. Faster, sleeker, more responsive, but at the expense of having a 7 foot long, 2 inch thick ash shaft.


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Fascinating article, but much is still being hidden from us.

Quote:Despite claims by experts and historians, not all of human history can be easily explained and many mysteries still remain. Just south of Sicily, surrounded by sapphire waters and sun-soaked shores, the islands of Malta hold many secrets. Prehistoric Malta, along with her sister island Gozo, is filled with archaeological sites including dwellings, temples, and vast subterranean sanctuaries.

Within the few sites of Malta that have been excavated, many strange objects have been found ranging from votive offerings and bones of bygone animal species, to dismembered and burnt human remains, trepanned elongated skulls, stone spheres, enigmatic channels and modified teeth. Archaeologists have even discovered iconic sculptures of an obese woman, culturally linked to carvings found in caves from Spain to Siberia, dating back as far as forty thousand years.

Stranger still, once the primary hypogeum was excavated it was discovered to have unique acoustic properties which appear to have been deliberately designed. Since it’s accidental discovery in 1902, the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum has become a cauldron of speculation, myth, and scientific misconduct. Meanwhile several other sites, such as the Xaghra Hypogeum, are being suppressed entirely.



Hal Saflieni Hypogeum and Xaghra Hypogeum: Catastrophe and Misconduct on Malta

It's quite difficult to summarize the chronology of discoveries, excavations, and reconcilement of archaeological sites on Malta due to the fact that this constitutes an utter coprolite storm of catastrophes and misconduct. We can however begin in 1903 when the Maltese Jesuit archaeologist, ethnographer, and writer Manuel Magri excavated the accidentally discovered hypogeum.

It must be stressed that Magri is one of few early researchers who are excluded from charges of misconduct. Magri devoted his life to preserving knowledge and traditions from the distant past. He is now falsely accused of discarding artifacts from the hypogeum, but the reality is, that only five short years after excavating the hypogeum, Magri died “unexpectedly” and all his reports on the excavation were suspiciously “lost.” According to a May 1920 edition of National Geographic Magazine :

Quote:“In 1906 the work of exploration was begun. Most of the rooms were found to be half-filled with earth, human bones, and broken pottery. It has been estimated that the ruins contained the bones of 33,000 persons, mostly adults. Practically all were found in the greatest disorder, and there had evidently been no regular burial of a complete body” (Volume XXXVII, Number Five, page 466).

• Malta, Shrouded in Megalithic Mystery
  
• Cover Up: Very Early Human Presence in Malta Has Been Intentionally Hidden
  
• The Incredible Sound Effects of Malta’s Hypogeum Hal Saflieni
  

Although no carbon-dating results have been published, the site supposedly dates back to 4,000 BC and 2,000 tons (1,800 metric tons) of stone must have been removed in order to hollow out this three level structure. There is conjecture that there were caves here originally that were then modified, but regardless, this mammoth task combined with the megalithic surface shrines (many of which have been removed or destroyed) would have been an unimaginable task for Bronze Age Homo sapiens using only crude tools.

Similar suspicious circumstances surround the initial discovery and excavation of the Xaghra Hypogeum site on Gozo by Otto Bayer in the 1820s, who is not exempt from the charge of misconduct. Two monumental pillars originally marked the entrance to this site up until 1828, but were removed. By the late 1830s this remarkable site was reburied and its location was “lost” until being rediscovered in 1964. This excavation revealed 220,000 bones belonging mostly to dismembered human skeletons scattered throughout the site. It’s estimated that between 450 and 800 individuals were interred here along with the tusks and bones of extinct species such as dwarf elephants, hippopotamus, deer, and bears. Much of this site remains unstudied, no radiocarbon tests have been published, and this site is not open to the public.



Horrific Myths and Historic Maltese Murders 

Macabre legends and myths swirl around these little islands and if that weren’t strange enough, archaeological records that can be gleaned seem to reinforce the ominous tales. The large numbers of disheveled burials at both the sites mentioned, in archaeological terms are mass graves which typically indicate a crisis that wiped out much of the population. The large quantities alone suggest rapid burials of many individuals, but also, the fact that the remains were dismembered, strongly suggests a lack of reverence for the deceased and therefore, it can be reasonably speculated the bodies were “dumped” presumably after a massacre.

Dr. Josephine Quinn, a modern researcher and faculty member of Oxford (exempt from the misconduct) has definitively established that child sacrifice occurred on Malta. Her discoveries of urns containing burnt remains of infants have been published in the scholarly journal Antiquity. However, it should be pointed out that this practice occurred thousands of years after the hypogeum habitation periods, even taking into account the potentially compromised chronology.

Quinn’s research links the islands with the Carthaginians who are in turn linked to the Phoenicians, who at their origins, are Canaanites. In 2012, Andrew Cross of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem published a paper entitled “Child Sacrifice at the Tophet.” In it he references a Phoenician translation into Latin of a stelae from Carthaginian Malta making reference to deities and the sacrificial practices made to appease them.

Quote:“To the holy lord Saturn (Baal-hammon), a great sacrifice of nighttime (sacrum magnum nocturnum), molchomor (Moloch), breath for breath, blood for blood, life for life (Albright 1965, 235). According to the inscription, the sacrifice to Baal-hammon was made at night. This confirms the chthonic nature of this sacrifice.”

These inscriptions and the much older obese female figurines yield significant clues as to the beliefs and identity of the original inhabitants of Malta. It has been observed that of all the artifacts and artistic renderings, archaeologists haven’t unearthed any depictions of warriors and very few weapons have been discovered. Those that have (ceremonial flint daggers) clearly indicate they were utilized in a ritualistic way rather than for combat. This, along with the many Maltese temples , altars, and shrines all point to this place being a sanctuary of sorts.

Funneling Sacrificial Blood to Deities of the Underworld

Andrew Cross also identifies the name and icon of Baal-hammon’s consort Tanit frequently referenced, more so even than her male consort. These two deities were known by a variety of names as they existed in many regions, the oldest being Mesopotamia (El and Astarte) into the later Greco Roman pantheon (Cronus and Rhea). They also equate to the Egyptian deities Geb and Nut, which is noteworthy because Nut was often depicted as very large and in a prostrate position.

Furthermore, these deities were associated with the underworld, rain, fertility, and were chthonic (belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld) in nature. Cults to underworld deities often built shrines or altars in valleys, canyons, or by rivers thought to have sprung from the subterranean realm, thereby acting as a conduit. Sometimes underground pipes or channels above ground were constructed to funnel sacrificial blood down to these underworld deities in the underworld.

Mediterranean and Mesopotamian mythology is full of beliefs in bloodthirsty beings who dwelled underground or in caves. Interestingly, in Greek tradition the island of Sicily and the surrounding smaller islands were believed to be where the Cyclopes lived. Their traditions also held that the megalithic monuments scattered throughout the Mediterranean were the work of the Cyclopes, hence the term Cyclopean masonry.

Despite the most common image associated with the Cyclopes being the giant, one-eyed cave dwelling cannibal shepherds, there were three different attestations by ancient Greek authors. The first and most common and sensational is that of Homer and the Odyssey. The second comes from Hesiod’s writings, in which he relates that three brother Cyclopes dwelt with Hephaestus beneath a volcano and aided him in the forging of Zeus’s prized thunderbolts. The third is a general reference by several Greek authors to a race responsible for the megalithic constructions .

Many ancient historians like Herodotus or Josephus also make reference to the Troglodyte, a term literally meaning “cave goers.” These accounts vary slightly, but the universal parallels are relevant. In almost every account they are exterminated by the non-cave dwellers, their language is described as unknown or bizarre, they are said to eat lizards, snakes, other reptiles, as well as human beings. They are also mentioned as the inventors of certain musical instruments like the Sambuca (an Asiatic stringed instrument).




Disturbing Modern Legends of Malta’s Hypogeum

One of the most disturbing legends regarding Malta’s hypogeum may be a historical fact, that is certainly how the National Geographic reports it in August 1940 edition:

Quote:“Prehistoric man built temples and chambers in these vaults. In a pit beside a sacrificial altar lie thousands of human skeletons. Years ago one could walk underground from one end of Malta to the other. The government closed the entrances to these tunnels after school children and their teachers became lost in the labyrinth and never returned. For weeks, mothers declared that they had heard wailing and screaming from underground. But numerous excavations and searching parties brought no trace of the lost souls. After three weeks, they were finally given up for dead” (Volume LXXVIII, Number Two).

The grand prize of Mata’s horrific accounts goes to the account relayed by Ms. C. Louis Jessop who visited the hypogeum in 1940 while working for the British Embassy, seemingly just before this missing school children incident occurred. According to her story, Ms. Jessop was on a guided tour of the hypogeum with friends. When the tour guide had reached the end of the tour, Jessop inquired what was beyond the stopping point through a corridor she noticed. At which point he invited her to explore it for herself at her own risk, so she crouch-walked down into the corridor. What follows is her account quoted from Journal of Borderland Research Volume 17 No. 2:

Quote:“I came out first, onto a ledge pathway about two feet wide, with a sheer drop about fifty feet or more on my right and a wall on my left. Thinking it was quite a drop and perhaps should go no further without the guide I held up my candle. There across the cave, from an opening deep below me, emerged twenty persons of giant stature. In single file they walked along a narrow ledge. Their height I judged to be about twenty to twenty-five feet, since their heads came about half-way up the opposite wall. They walked very slowly, taking long strides. Then they all stopped, turned, and raised their heads in my direction. All simultaneously raised their arms and with their hands beckoned me. The movement was something like snatching or feeling for something, as the palms of their hands were face down. Terror rooted me on the spot. I put my left hand on the wall to steady me and stopped again. My hand wasn’t on cold rock, but something soft and wet. As it moved a strong gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew out my candle!”

She goes on to describe scurrying back up the passage completely terrified and how the tour guide seemed to be aware of what she had seen, cautioning her not to reveal it. But even more disturbing, she concludes the story with the guide inviting her to join a schoolteacher who was taking a group on an expedition to explore soon.




Archaeoacoustics and Megalithic Music

In 2014, a team led by archaeoacoustic researcher Linda Eneix, conducted sound experiments from the “oracle room” within the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum . Her team found that when sound is produced in the oracle room, the stone walls subtly vibrate creating reverberating sound waves that reach a resonant frequency of 110 megahertz. The significance of this find cannot be understated, as many other extremely ancient, sacred sites around the world also have this frequency producing effect incorporated into their design, like Newgrange, a Neolithic site at Boyne Valley Ireland, along with many others. Not only does the entire structure ring like a bell via the sound wave emissions, but the human body also resonates via the vibration of water molecules within the tissue.

Neurophysiologist Michael D. Mark has also done experiments relating to this frequency and the sensory effect that influences theta waves and binaural beats within the human brain. Utilizing an EEG (electroencephalography) machine, Mark has determined that this particular frequency stimulates the parietal lobe of the brain, and it is this region that governs a person’s senses of touch, visual and spatial expression, as well as spatial memory and awareness. Furthermore, when subjects were exposed to a wide variety of frequencies, it was this specific frequency that induced what the subjects described as an out-of-body experience.

It has been widely theorized that the sculpture of the obese woman may represent not a fertility goddess, but rather, an oracle similar to that of famed Delphi. It is curious that the common concept of an opera singer is often a pleasantly plump woman who can reach extraordinary octaves when singing, and there has been extremely loose speculation that perhaps a larger person has a correspondingly large rib cage, capable of using larger gusts of air.

Yet another curiosity that crops up in the iconography of the hypogeum are honeycomb patterns. While this may seem random, there is a connection between Greek myths involving prophecy and the female oracle who was referred to as the Delphic Bee, a term which according to Pindar predated Apollo’s usurping of the oracular shrine deity. In other words, its seems that before Apollo was the deity who blessed the Oracle of Delphi with prophecies, there was a preceding deity who was responsible and associated with bees, which seems to be reflected in this hive-like structure which revolved around an oracular queen.



A Quagmire of Questions about Prehistoric Malta

An entire encyclopedia could be devoted to this absolute mess of massive Maltese megaliths , mythology, murder, and misconduct. It is no overstatement to suggest that Malta is a fulcrum point of human history, a crossroads where science and mythology come crashing into each other shattering paradigms. Ultimately, due to the reluctance of institutions like UNESCO and Heritage Malta, only burning questions remain.

Why were all the skulls that were previously on display removed once UNESCO took over the sites in 1980? Was it to conceal the fact that they were missing the Fossa Median, the joint atop the skull? Why was the initial figure of 33,000 skeletons reduced to 7,000, then reduced again to a mere 100? How exactly could tens of thousands of skeletons so precious to human history simply vanish? Why was the Hypogeum of Santa Lucia (yet another suppressed site) never excavated and sealed shut after its discovery in 1973? Why is the Xaghra Hypogeum also sealed off and failing to be studied?

Why, after his initial discovery and excavation, were Emmanuel Magri’s reports never published before or after his death five years later? Why is it that not a single skeleton is now on display, not a single genetic test has been conducted, and not a single radiocarbon analysis published? The evidence suggests that in this instance, the integrity of both local and global institutions like are in question and that investigations of human origins could be distorted as a result.

There are stores closing all over the US. There are a number of different reasons being given for why all these stores are closing. Some of the excuses, I don't believe are at the core of these closing.

I believe online shopping and text to shop, is a far more lucrative sales model than brick and mortar stores. No utility expenses, a great reduction in the number of employees needed, no building insurance, reduced employee insurance, and the list goes on for so many other expenses that will turn to profits.

We were conditioned to online and text shopping during the lock downs, and now the beta test is over. I believe they have many things in store for us. But the stores will be virtual.

Quote:More than 1,400 stores are closing across the US in 2023. Here's the full list.

It has started.

I have, I should say "had" an excellent credit rating. It used to be in the mid 800s fluctuating up and down a point or two. I really only use the card in lieu of cash, and then I pay it off each month.

I had to make a very expensive charge a couple of weeks ago. Hearing aids for my mother. They are not cheap. Not even close to cheap. So I charged it on my credit card.

I knew it was massive, so I paid the amount right away. Well, the payment went in, five days before the doctor actually charged the card, I had a very large negative balance during those five days. When the charge finally came in, I went back to a zero balance.

I don't think it made the credit card company very happy. So they dropped my score by five whole points. I guess this was their way of telling me they were pissed.

I want to laugh, but for some reason this is making me a bit more leery than humored.

No gas stoves and no Diesel trucks coming to some states sooner than you might think. Also the video has a break down in the billions of dollars some blue states are losing in tax revenue due to residents leaving.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan kicks off a Brookings Inst talk on the New Washington Consensus.


White House Transcript


Jake Sullivan outlined an affirmative vision - long requested by allies/partners for what comes after the post Cold War US-led economic order. In a nutshell:

It is a time to build, at home and abroad. This will require a major reorientation of domestic & foreign policy.

The goal is no longer trade for trade’s sake or markets as ends unto themselves: we have larger, more urgent aims— rebuilding our energy, physical & technology infrastructure. And we’ll do it via targeted public investments that crowd in private capital to deliver good jobs.

This is the surest path to all 4 major challenges of the day: resurrecting a middle class, to sowing political support for further decarbonization; to out-competing China; and, through all of this, to repairing faith in democracy itself.

Quite extraordinary, Sullivan's speech can be summarized as "everything we've been saying and doing for 40+ years is now wrong" (markets aren't actually efficient, free trade is bad, etc.)

In short: rules of the game were good when we were winning, but now the rules must change.

Which is why this speech should be seen as America's farewell to the world: "We had this narrative of building a 'rules-based order', it failed for us, we stop the pretense and now unabashedly focus on our own self interests."

Antony Blinken and Sullivan running domestic and foreign policy. Powell is taking orders from the BIS. Intelligence agencies and their blackmail rings running '24 and the media. No need to waste energy on distraction flares. Make yourself relevant to Asian supply chains and the real economy.

The genesis of Putin and the late Soviet era: calcified & geriatric political leadership, quick fall of domination in parts of Europe, disastrous pullout of foray into the graveyard of empires [Afghanistan], an economy & military that people thought were too big to fail.

Quote:Some of America's top experts on the Soviet economy seem just as perplexed by our popular sense of an imminent collapse— especially when it centers on the Soviet economy. Vladimir Treml, a professor of Soviet economics at Duke University, says simply, "Economies this size don't collapse." John Hardt, the Congressional Research Service's top Soviet analyst, likewise sees neither imminent collapse nor any immediate threat to Gorbachev's political future.

Jerry Hough, a Brookings Institution political scientist, whose judgments about Gorbachev are highly regarded, is blunt: despite its current problems, he expects the Soviet economy to begin showing significant improvement within the next two to three years, and he says that when he raised the issue of Gorbachev's possible downfall with a broad range of Soviet citizens on a recent trip, "they looked at me with a blank stare." Hough says that "no one I talked to has the sense of an imminent popular uprising" or of widespread collapse.

The Black Box of Soviet Production

WHEN AMERICANS THINK ABOUT THE SOVIET Union, they often tend to think about scarcity. That, after all, explains the lines, the discontent, the seeming perennial shortage of goods.

The peculiar fact is that the Soviet Union produces an enormous abundance of goods. When you look at primary production (in what is still the world's second largest economy), the Soviets come out first globally year after year in things like oil, natural gas, iron ore, and steel. In 1988, for instance, they produced nearly twice as much steel as the United States did. Taken together, all the things that Marx, Smith, Ricardo, or any other classical theorist of capitalism would tell you are important to industrial success are hallmarks of the Soviet achievement. That's what makes the current disarray of Gorbachev's Russia seem so peculiar at first glance. The disarray down the line leads everyone— Soviets and Westerners alike— to debate what is going on, and why.
Inside the Collapsing Soviet Economy (June 1990)

Some of you may remember the 1995 Nellis footage that was broadcast on Hard Copy and Sightings.

The Military has confirmed this is real footage by locating the Airman who smuggled this footage oou of the base and sending him to prison.

Our Chief processor has been working  on that case ever since that day since he used to work in the same job as the radar operators you hear talking on the tapes, so he had a special interest in the case.

As computer imaging software has advanced through the years, our ability to solve that mystery has advanced as well.

We are close to finishing that project and I will share the Trailers of what we have in store for you here -