lewrockwell--2020-02-10--WashPo Piles on With CNN To Try To Discredit the American Herald Tribune

In responding to an attack on a media venue about which I care a lot , this Canadian from Alberta Canada is being pulled into the swamp .
I find myself showering repeatedly to try to wash away the scum from the quagmire created by CNN and the Editorial Board of the Washington Post .
These media operations have decided to band together as protagonists in a smear campaign aimed at discrediting American Herald Tribune .
AHT is a news site that I helped get off the ground beginning in 2015 when I agreed to become Editor in Chief of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In wrongfully accusing AHT , CNN and Washington Post are adding to the scale of a wide constituency that is coming to the conclusion that these media operations are serial manufacturers of fake news .
In doing research into the antics of the two media ventures I came across the story of a well-publicized move by a member of the Tennessee Legislature to have CNN and Washington Post legally reprimanded .
Representative Micah Van Huss formulated a resolution asserting “ the State of Tennessee recognizes CNN and Washington Post as fake news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Democratic Party.
” The text of Resolution 779 continues , Presstitutes Embedded ... Dr. Udo Ulfkotte Best Price : $ 43.07 Buy New $ 31.52 I see something new in this formal enactment in a US Legislature of such severe animosity to mainstream media .
New too is the decision to divide mainstream venues in the United States into partisan publicity networks closely connected to one of the two major political parties .
These developments have ominous implications .
In prior times it seemed that a major function of mass communications in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ popular support for the invasions of foreign countries .
These days the agenda has widened to include preparing the conceptual ground for civil war within the United States .
The promotion of the conditions for civil war are unfolding concurrently with a new stage of the campaign to pull the United States into war with Iran .
This agenda was advanced in the opening days of the 2020s when Donald Trump shocked the world by immediately claiming credit for the grotesque drone assassination in Baghdad of top officials in both the Iraqi and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members of the entourage travelling with them .
This graphic proof that US Commander In Chief , Donald Trump , had gone rogue was followed by perhaps the largest , most solemn , most public and most extended funeral I can remember .
As the funeral procession went between eight cities in Iraq and Iran , there was a huge outpouring of heart-felt emotion as people turned out by the millions to commemorate the life and martyrdom of General Qassem Soleimani .
* ( The funeral procession of Qasem Soleimani in Tehran .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Corporation provided one of the indicators that the US war machine was being revved up by dehumanizing the possible future targets of mass murder by the US Armed Forces .
Those who follow the machinations of Facebook closely will understand the social media giant has been successfully recruited as an instrument of militarized propaganda for the Israeli and US governments .
The Facebook crew removed posts that in words or in pictures expressed grief for the loss of General Soleimani or expressed any sort of positive recognition of the values he embodied throughout @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many armed forces and many career soldiers , it seemed for a brief moment that a wide diversity of people on all sides of numerous military divisions could agree on something .
Many individuals found in the persona of the departed Qassem Soleimani an embodiment of the universal qualities residing in martial dignity and steadfastness .
Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 10.00 Facebook is setting very menacing precedents with its decision to censor the opinions of the great mass of humanity who laments the outcome of the Baghdad drone assassinations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the officers of Facebook invoked the pseudo-laws of the post-9/11 era .
They argued that Facebook was acting in conformity with Donald Trump ’ s very political move to designate Iran ’ s Islamic Revolutionary Guards ( IRGC ) as a terrorist organization .
As is now becoming clear , this designation amounted to a virtual Declaration of War on Iran .
The “ unprecedented ” move to declare the armed forces of another country as terrorists came as part of Donald Trump ’ s obsequious effort to help Benjamin Netanyahu win re-election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the Israeli vote of April 2019 .
As he faced the Israeli electorate , Netanyahu sent out a tweet in Hebrew thanking Trump for “ acceding to another one of my important requests.
” The Attack on AHT as Part of the Promotion of a US War with Iran There can be no doubt about the underlying causes of the decision of CNN and Washington Post to put so much of their severely overstretched journalistic capital on the line in attempting to demonize American Herald Tribune .
Like Facebook ’ s decision @ @ @ @ @ @ @ General Soleimani ’ s life and death , the attacks on AHT are all about preparing the conceptual terrain for a US-Iran war .
It is all about socializing the audiences of mainstream media to support raining death and destruction down on Iran ’ s 80 million people .
Here is how the Washington Post followed up on the original smear job introduced by the CNN ’ s notorious “ disinformation reporter.
” In my article , “ Donie O ’ Sullivan and the ‘ Garbage State ’ of Media , ” I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to take part in conferences including an academic event at the University of Tehran .
In those travels I developed friendships and collegial relations with some Iranian people including fellow academics .
This experience is reflected in the wide range of AHT ’ s content created by correspondents coming from many perspectives and from many different lands all over the world .
None of these subjects are fairly or honestly addressed in the alarmist Washington Post smear piece .
Rather the author representing the Washington Post ’ s Iranophobic Editorial Board rattles off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provides no evidence whatsoever for the extravagant claims being irresponsibly asserted .
The basis for the Washington Post ’ s claim goes back to a glossy document put together in Milpitas California by an organization named Fire Eye .
Fire Eye ’ s CEO is Kevin Mandia who cryptically describes his company ’ s specialty as the defense against “ cyberattacks.
” The title of the Fire Eye report is Suspected Iranian Influence Operation : Leveraging Inauthentic News Sites and Social Media Aimed at U.S. , U.K. , Other Audiences .
No specific @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as authors .
Thus no one takes specific responsibility for the report ’ s contents , an understandable absence given the shoddy quality of the study .
There is absolutely no information given about the funders of the report .
Why ?
What is there to hide ?
Did CNN or the Washington Post or a subsidiary company help fund the study ?
Did the Israeli or US government have a role ?
The question of the sponsorship of such an investigation is crucial to an assessment of its credibility .
Everything points @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much about the origins and genesis of this mysterious study that is being kept under lock and key .
There is no clear explanation or justification of the methodology used .
There are no specific references to other studies of a similar nature except for vague references to the Democratic Party ’ s hunt for Russian influences on US politics .
There are no scholarly references nor is there a bibliography .
I did not see anywhere in the anonymously authored document a single reference to American Herald Tribune .
Not one .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ studies devoting a few pages including screen shots to several sites .
These sites are Liberty Front Press , US Journal , Real Progressive Front , British Left , Critics Chronicle and Instituto Manquehue .
Before doing research for this essay I had not heard of any of these sites .
When I looked them up on Internet search engines , I found in several places adjacent to the named sites results linking to the Fire Eye document .
My biggest criticism concerning the supposed “ research ” done by CNN and Washington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that their reporters did not attempt to contact the Editor In Chief of AHT , namely me .
Instead of doing due diligence in a case like this one , the protagonists of the smear campaign used a report that seemed to depend more on lawyers and weasel words than on any genuine analysis of the topic .
The very first sentence indicates , “ Fire Eye has identified a suspected operation that appears to originate from Iran .
( my italics ) .
The unnamed authors report that they “ assess @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Iran actors.
” Why “ moderate confidence ” ?
What this qualification apparently means , is that “ some possibility remains that this activity could originate from elsewhere [ than Iran ] .
” I ’ m not really sure what the unnamed authors mean when they refer to “ this activity.
” What activity ?
Who do they mean when they refer to “ Iran actors.
” Is it the implication of the Fire Eye report than any Iranian person who publishes something on the Internet is doing something subversive ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fervid imaginations of the authors of the Fire Eye , CNN and Washington Post pieces that they imagine that it is verboten for an Iranian to express himself or herself on the Internet ?
So in the final analysis Fire Eye comes up with nothing that goes beyond the level of “ suspicion.
” My response to Fire Eye ’ s suspicion is to hold a mirror up to this group .
If there is any party in this fiasco that falls under a cloud of deserved suspicion , it is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extends to those in mainstream media who report Fire Eyes “ suspicions ” as gospel fact .
Such a failure of honest reporting , I should think , meets any reasonable criterion of fake news .
Following the Real Stories in the Face of Specious Attacks The preoccupation of CNN and the Washington Post with stick handling for the discredited Hillary Clinton wing of the Democratic Party and with advancing the Zionist agenda of war with Iran has had serious deleterious effects on the quality of their news reporting .
At exactly the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intent on drawing a specious connection linking American Herald Tribune to the Fire Eye report , it remained mum on a very significant breaking news that remains extremely germane to mounting US-Iranian tensions .
The Taliban in Afghanistan are reported by Iranian , Russian and Italian sources to have shot down a very advanced US Air Force jet containing highly sophisticated spy and communications features .
The high-tech aircraft was a Bombardier/Northrop Grumman E-11-A whose still-smoldering burned-out hulk was filmed in Ghazni province in Afghanistan .
Some reports indicate the CIA ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Mike de Andrea , was among the casualties .
Other reports indicate the Mike de Andrea had a lead hand in the drone strikes that dramatically advanced the agenda of a full-fledged Iran-US war in the opening days of the 2020s .
Yet another possibility is that such reports concerning de Andrea ’ s role in the assassination of General Soleimani have been introduced to divert attention away from other possible scenarios .
Much depends on getting at the truth of what really happened in the hours , days and weeks leading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in history .
Whatever the reality of the situation , reporting on the episode called attention to the many hundreds of murders by drone conducted by de Andrea in the course of an exceptionally violent career of murder and torture conducted largely outside the parameters of international criminal law .
Readers who would like to see how the American Herald Tribune is covering this fast-breaking story are encouraged to check out the essay of Dr. Philip Giraldi , a former high-ranking CIA official who publishes regularly in AHT .
We at AHT are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and courageous journalism by Philip Giraldi , Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest .
Dr. Giraldi stands at the front of a long list of contributors at all stages of their journalistic careers .
The essays of writers hosted at AHT will definitely bring readers much closer to the truth than the blatant and laughable propaganda at CNN and the Washington Post .

In responding to an attack on a media venue about which I care a lot, this Canadian from Alberta Canada is being pulled into the swamp. I find myself showering repeatedly to try to wash away the scum from the quagmire created by CNN and the Editorial Board of the Washington Post. These media operations have decided to band together as protagonists in a smear campaign aimed at discrediting American Herald Tribune.
AHT is a news site that I helped get off the ground beginning in 2015 when I agreed to become Editor in Chief of the small but exceptionally lively Internet publication. In wrongfully accusing AHT, CNN and Washington Post are adding to the scale of a wide constituency that is coming to the conclusion that these media operations are serial manufacturers of fake news.
In doing research into the antics of the two media ventures I came across the story of a well-publicized move by a member of the Tennessee Legislature to have CNN and Washington Post legally reprimanded. Representative Micah Van Huss formulated a resolution asserting “the State of Tennessee recognizes CNN and Washington Post as fake news and part of the media wing of the Democratic Party.” The text of Resolution 779 continues,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we condemn them [CNN and Washington Post] for denigrating our citizens and implying they are weak-minded followers instead of people exercising their rights that our veterans paid for with their blood.
Presstitutes Embedded ... Ulfkotte, Dr. Udo Best Price: $38.43 Buy New $34.09 (as of 11:15 UTC - Details) I see something new in this formal enactment in a US Legislature of such severe animosity to mainstream media. New too is the decision to divide mainstream venues in the United States into partisan publicity networks closely connected to one of the two major political parties. These developments have ominous implications.
In prior times it seemed that a major function of mass communications in the USA was to create and marshal popular support for the invasions of foreign countries. These days the agenda has widened to include preparing the conceptual ground for civil war within the United States.
The promotion of the conditions for civil war are unfolding concurrently with a new stage of the campaign to pull the United States into war with Iran. This agenda was advanced in the opening days of the 2020s when Donald Trump shocked the world by immediately claiming credit for the grotesque drone assassination in Baghdad of top officials in both the Iraqi and Iranian governments. The assassinations extended to members of the entourage travelling with them.
This graphic proof that US Commander In Chief, Donald Trump, had gone rogue was followed by perhaps the largest, most solemn, most public and most extended funeral I can remember. As the funeral procession went between eight cities in Iraq and Iran, there was a huge outpouring of heart-felt emotion as people turned out by the millions to commemorate the life and martyrdom of General Qassem Soleimani.
*(The funeral procession of Qasem Soleimani in Tehran.)
Soon after the funeral the Facebook Corporation provided one of the indicators that the US war machine was being revved up by dehumanizing the possible future targets of mass murder by the US Armed Forces. Those who follow the machinations of Facebook closely will understand the social media giant has been successfully recruited as an instrument of militarized propaganda for the Israeli and US governments.
The Facebook crew removed posts that in words or in pictures expressed grief for the loss of General Soleimani or expressed any sort of positive recognition of the values he embodied throughout his life. In a world of many armed forces and many career soldiers, it seemed for a brief moment that a wide diversity of people on all sides of numerous military divisions could agree on something. Many individuals found in the persona of the departed Qassem Soleimani an embodiment of the universal qualities residing in martial dignity and steadfastness. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $10.00 (as of 08:25 UTC - Details)
Facebook is setting very menacing precedents with its decision to censor the opinions of the great mass of humanity who laments the outcome of the Baghdad drone assassinations. In order to justify its actions the officers of Facebook invoked the pseudo-laws of the post-9/11 era. They argued that Facebook was acting in conformity with Donald Trump’s very political move to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
As is now becoming clear, this designation amounted to a virtual Declaration of War on Iran. The “unprecedented” move to declare the armed forces of another country as terrorists came as part of Donald Trump’s obsequious effort to help Benjamin Netanyahu win re-election in Israel. The designation came days before the Israeli vote of April 2019. As he faced the Israeli electorate, Netanyahu sent out a tweet in Hebrew thanking Trump for “acceding to another one of my important requests.”
The Attack on AHT as Part of the Promotion of a US War with Iran
There can be no doubt about the underlying causes of the decision of CNN and Washington Post to put so much of their severely overstretched journalistic capital on the line in attempting to demonize American Herald Tribune. Like Facebook’s decision to prohibit anything but Trump-supporting characterizations of General Soleimani’s life and death, the attacks on AHT are all about preparing the conceptual terrain for a US-Iran war. It is all about socializing the audiences of mainstream media to support raining death and destruction down on Iran’s 80 million people.

Here is how the Washington Post followed up on the original smear job introduced by the CNN’s notorious “disinformation reporter.”
CNN reported last month on American Herald Tribune, a self-professed “genuinely independent online media outlet” that cybersecurity experts have determined is part of a far-reaching Iranian influence campaign. The strategy is simple: create a network of inauthentic news sites, then enlist associated accounts on popular platforms to spread the stories not only here but also in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. American Herald Tribune’s modus operandi matches what we’ve already learned about online disinformation: Adversaries “launder” their campaigns through sympathetic citizens of target countries, or just citizens they offer money to — from authors on propagandistic or outright deceptive news sites to run-of-the-mill social media users. The byline on the KKK story, for instance, belongs to a man from Salem, Ore., who told CNN he believes the site is run by a man named Sam who lives in Brazil.
In my article, “Donie O’Sullivan and the ‘Garbage State’ of Media,” I discussed my visits to Iran since 2014 to take part in conferences including an academic event at the University of Tehran.
In those travels I developed friendships and collegial relations with some Iranian people including fellow academics. This experience is reflected in the wide range of AHT’s content created by correspondents coming from many perspectives and from many different lands all over the world.
I proudly affirm that AHT is opposed to any US-led war with Iran. For those seeking to avoid the scourge of war, the pursuit of peace obviously favors dialogue and exchange rather than animosity and sword-rattling. AHT intends to continue favoring dialogue and exchange.
None of these subjects are fairly or honestly addressed in the alarmist Washington Post smear piece. Rather the author representing the Washington Post’s Iranophobic Editorial Board rattles off jargon paraphrasing a deeply flawed study that provides no evidence whatsoever for the extravagant claims being irresponsibly asserted.
The basis for the Washington Post’s claim goes back to a glossy document put together in Milpitas California by an organization named Fire Eye. Fire Eye’s CEO is Kevin Mandia who cryptically describes his company’s specialty as the defense against “cyberattacks.”
The title of the Fire Eye report is Suspected Iranian Influence Operation: Leveraging Inauthentic News Sites and Social Media Aimed at U.S., U.K., Other Audiences. No specific individuals have permitted their names to appear as authors. Thus no one takes specific responsibility for the report’s contents, an understandable absence given the shoddy quality of the study.
There is absolutely no information given about the funders of the report. Why? What is there to hide? Did CNN or the Washington Post or a subsidiary company help fund the study? Did the Israeli or US government have a role? The question of the sponsorship of such an investigation is crucial to an assessment of its credibility. Everything points to the fact that there is apparently much about the origins and genesis of this mysterious study that is being kept under lock and key.
There is no clear explanation or justification of the methodology used. There are no specific references to other studies of a similar nature except for vague references to the Democratic Party’s hunt for Russian influences on US politics. There are no scholarly references nor is there a bibliography.
I did not see anywhere in the anonymously authored document a single reference to American Herald Tribune. Not one. Instead the report is organized as individual studies devoting a few pages including screen shots to several sites. These sites are Liberty Front Press, US Journal, Real Progressive Front, British Left, Critics Chronicle and Instituto Manquehue. Before doing research for this essay I had not heard of any of these sites. When I looked them up on Internet search engines, I found in several places adjacent to the named sites results linking to the Fire Eye document.
My biggest criticism concerning the supposed “research” done by CNN and Washington Post in preparing their respective smears, is that their reporters did not attempt to contact the Editor In Chief of AHT, namely me. Instead of doing due diligence in a case like this one, the protagonists of the smear campaign used a report that seemed to depend more on lawyers and weasel words than on any genuine analysis of the topic.
The very first sentence indicates, “Fire Eye has identified a suspected operation that appears to originate from Iran. (my italics). The unnamed authors report that they “assess with moderate confidence that this activity originates with Iran actors.” Why “moderate confidence”? What this qualification apparently means, is that “some possibility remains that this activity could originate from elsewhere [than Iran].”
I’m not really sure what the unnamed authors mean when they refer to “this activity.” What activity? Who do they mean when they refer to “Iran actors.” Is it the implication of the Fire Eye report than any Iranian person who publishes something on the Internet is doing something subversive? Are war obsessions already so advanced in the fervid imaginations of the authors of the Fire Eye, CNN and Washington Post pieces that they imagine that it is verboten for an Iranian to express himself or herself on the Internet?
So in the final analysis Fire Eye comes up with nothing that goes beyond the level of “suspicion.” My response to Fire Eye’s suspicion is to hold a mirror up to this group. If there is any party in this fiasco that falls under a cloud of deserved suspicion, it is the people at Fire Eye. This suspicion extends to those in mainstream media who report Fire Eyes “suspicions” as gospel fact. Such a failure of honest reporting, I should think, meets any reasonable criterion of fake news.
Following the Real Stories in the Face of Specious Attacks
The preoccupation of CNN and the Washington Post with stick handling for the discredited Hillary Clinton wing of the Democratic Party and with advancing the Zionist agenda of war with Iran has had serious deleterious effects on the quality of their news reporting. At exactly the same time that the Washington Post was intent on drawing a specious connection linking American Herald Tribune to the Fire Eye report, it remained mum on a very significant breaking news that remains extremely germane to mounting US-Iranian tensions.
The Taliban in Afghanistan are reported by Iranian, Russian and Italian sources to have shot down a very advanced US Air Force jet containing highly sophisticated spy and communications features. The high-tech aircraft was a Bombardier/Northrop Grumman E-11-A whose still-smoldering burned-out hulk was filmed in Ghazni province in Afghanistan. Some reports indicate the CIA’s most prominent figure in the Middle East, Mike de Andrea, was among the casualties. Other reports indicate the Mike de Andrea had a lead hand in the drone strikes that dramatically advanced the agenda of a full-fledged Iran-US war in the opening days of the 2020s.
Yet another possibility is that such reports concerning de Andrea’s role in the assassination of General Soleimani have been introduced to divert attention away from other possible scenarios. Much depends on getting at the truth of what really happened in the hours, days and weeks leading up to the most destabilizing drone strike in history.
Whatever the reality of the situation, reporting on the episode called attention to the many hundreds of murders by drone conducted by de Andrea in the course of an exceptionally violent career of murder and torture conducted largely outside the parameters of international criminal law. Readers who would like to see how the American Herald Tribune is covering this fast-breaking story are encouraged to check out the essay of Dr. Philip Giraldi, a former high-ranking CIA official who publishes regularly in AHT.
We at AHT are proud to publish much of the cutting-edge and courageous journalism by Philip Giraldi, Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest. Dr. Giraldi stands at the front of a long list of contributors at all stages of their journalistic careers. The essays of writers hosted at AHT will definitely bring readers much closer to the truth than the blatant and laughable propaganda at CNN and the Washington Post.


lewrockwell--2020-02-10--Trump Wins Iowa, On to New Hampshire

Trump Wins Iowa, On to New Hampshire

If there is one thing that is clear as we end this truly insane week it is that it was a good one for President Donald Trump .
Between his acquittal in the Senate over an impeachment that is the apotheosis of three years of patent nonsense and the fiasco that were the Iowa caucuses , Trump comes out of this first week of February in better shape than he ’ s been since he won the election back in 2016 .
The Democrats have made a complete mockery of their candidate selection process .
At least back in 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one the GOP didn ’ t openly try to rig primaries against him .
Of course , Trump isn ’ t as much of an outsider as he portrays himself , so his real threat to the entrenched political establishment in The Swamp was never as great as someone like , say , Ron Paul ’ s was in 2012 .
But the depths the DNC are willing to dig deep to in order to stop Bernie Sanders from being their nominee are truly breathtaking .
In 2016 , the Clinton machine had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting in the way of her coronation as the first woman president .
In 2020 , however , no one actually running for the Democratic nomination , except maybe Bernie Sanders in a perfect world , can actually beat Donald Trump .
So , the whole process is really academic at this point .
Against the Left : A Ro ... Llewellyn H Rockwell Jr Best Price : $ 13.57 Buy New $ 8.00 Honestly , after this week the only person who can beat Trump nationally is Trump himself .
So , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ll be re-elected .
But with impeachment behind him , an agenda of retribution against his accusers ahead of him and a Democratic party deep in the preparations for committing ritualistic suicide Trump should have no problem carrying at least as many states as he did in 2016 .
Caitlyn Johnstone believes that the DNC ’ s ineptitude is a ruse , a clever ploy to look stupid and corrupt but doing so to ensure their preferred outcome , which is a brokered convention and the return of Hillary Clinton from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ like some zombie whose head we forgot to cut off.
” While I love Ms. Johnstone ’ s thesis , I think she ’ s missing the much more salient point .
As the Democrats flop from one fiasco to the next , they are doing two very important things .
First , they invalidate the idea they operate as a functional organization .
This excludes them as people who can solve the country ’ s problems to voters who are pretty content with President Trump .
Second , it sets the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ party itself as the Bernie Bros become more convinced the party doesn ’ t represent them .
I ’ m convinced that the end game for the DNC is to drive Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard from the party through these shenanigans .
This is why no matter who is eventually declared the winner in Iowa , the winner there is Donald Trump .
And , guess what ?
There ’ s only 49 more states like this to go !
The good news is that , for now , the markets recognize that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been averted .
Stocks bolted to new all-time highs after Trump ’ s acquittal , but couldn ’ t follow through to end the week .
It only gets better from here if the DNC is set on sowing distrust , chaos beneath a veneer of practiced stupidity .
So , while there are a number of sincere challenges to global growth both right in front of us ( the coronavirus ) and far ahead of us ( the growing insolvency of the European financial system now that Brexit is finished ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rallying for the next few sessions .
But expect volatility to increase from here .
The dollar is strengthening .
While the euro narrowly avoided a catastrophic January close last Friday , the dominant bear trend reasserted itself with a vengeance this week , breaking below the all-important $ 1.10 level .
And that should finally see eurobond prices begin to collapse .
The rally we ’ ve seen over the past two weeks has been nothing short of ridiculous .
A classic ‘ false move.
’ Oil is now in a bear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ above $ 86 per barrel Brent and the terrible results and guidance from industry leaders this week like Exxon-Mobil ( XOM ) and Royal Dutch Shell ( RDS.A ) only reinforce that view .
If not for some noises from OPEC+ and the hopes that Russia will go along with extending current production cuts kept Brent from collapsing further this week as shorts piled on early .
But everything comes down to King Dollar and whether real fear which lurks just behind the headlines grips the plumbing of global markets , which had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the dollar confirms the December low as significant which sets up a difficult few months .
Given everything else we ’ re experiencing from the shutdown of major Chinese cities , travel , etc .
there ’ s every reason to be cautious here even if the equity markets keep grinding higher , though I ’ d expect a whole lotta grinding sideways from both equities and gold while this goes on .
And that ’ s where things get interesting for this election cycle .
For Trump , the primary season should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ imploding .
And I have no doubt he will now go on the warpath to take down those who he rightly feels wronged him and the country .
And he ’ ll be merciless on Twitter using it to goad the Democrats into even more lunacy , more mistakes .
This is what he truly excels at and it will all but guarantee him surviving any crises that appear on the horizon between now and November .
For now , New Hampshire is next .
Bernie should win the most votes it in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , regardless of anything else will be Trump .
The Best of Thomas Luongo

If there is one thing that is clear as we end this truly insane week it is that it was a good one for President Donald Trump.
Between his acquittal in the Senate over an impeachment that is the apotheosis of three years of patent nonsense and the fiasco that were the Iowa caucuses, Trump comes out of this first week of February in better shape than he’s been since he won the election back in 2016.
The Democrats have made a complete mockery of their candidate selection process. At least back in 2016 when Trump knocked people off one by one the GOP didn’t openly try to rig primaries against him.
Of course, Trump isn’t as much of an outsider as he portrays himself, so his real threat to the entrenched political establishment in The Swamp was never as great as someone like, say, Ron Paul’s was in 2012.
But the depths the DNC are willing to dig deep to in order to stop Bernie Sanders from being their nominee are truly breathtaking. In 2016, the Clinton machine had declared her the candidate. Bernie was getting in the way of her coronation as the first woman president.
In 2020, however, no one actually running for the Democratic nomination, except maybe Bernie Sanders in a perfect world, can actually beat Donald Trump. So, the whole process is really academic at this point. Against the Left: A Ro... Rockwell Jr, Llewellyn H Best Price: $2.85 Buy New $8.00 (as of 07:59 UTC - Details)
Honestly, after this week the only person who can beat Trump nationally is Trump himself. So, that leaves me with 65/35 odds he’ll be re-elected.
But with impeachment behind him, an agenda of retribution against his accusers ahead of him and a Democratic party deep in the preparations for committing ritualistic suicide Trump should have no problem carrying at least as many states as he did in 2016.
Caitlyn Johnstone believes that the DNC’s ineptitude is a ruse, a clever ploy to look stupid and corrupt but doing so to ensure their preferred outcome, which is a brokered convention and the return of Hillary Clinton from the grave, as I said recently, “like some zombie whose head we forgot to cut off.”
While I love Ms. Johnstone’s thesis, I think she’s missing the much more salient point. As the Democrats flop from one fiasco to the next, they are doing two very important things.
First, they invalidate the idea they operate as a functional organization. This excludes them as people who can solve the country’s problems to voters who are pretty content with President Trump.
Second, it sets the stage for an irrevocable split of the party itself as the Bernie Bros become more convinced the party doesn’t represent them. I’m convinced that the end game for the DNC is to drive Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard from the party through these shenanigans.
This is why no matter who is eventually declared the winner in Iowa, the winner there is Donald Trump.
And, guess what? There’s only 49 more states like this to go!
I’m really regretting swearing off popcorn.
The good news is that, for now, the markets recognize that the biggest threat to U.S. political stability has been averted. Stocks bolted to new all-time highs after Trump’s acquittal, but couldn’t follow through to end the week.
It only gets better from here if the DNC is set on sowing distrust, chaos beneath a veneer of practiced stupidity.
So, while there are a number of sincere challenges to global growth both right in front of us (the coronavirus) and far ahead of us (the growing insolvency of the European financial system now that Brexit is finished) equity markets are more than capable of rallying for the next few sessions.
But expect volatility to increase from here. The dollar is strengthening. While the euro narrowly avoided a catastrophic January close last Friday, the dominant bear trend reasserted itself with a vengeance this week, breaking below the all-important $1.10 level.
And that should finally see eurobond prices begin to collapse. The rally we’ve seen over the past two weeks has been nothing short of ridiculous. A classic ‘false move.’
Oil is now in a bear market after 2018’s reaction high above $86 per barrel Brent and the terrible results and guidance from industry leaders this week like Exxon-Mobil (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) only reinforce that view. If not for some noises from OPEC+ and the hopes that Russia will go along with extending current production cuts kept Brent from collapsing further this week as shorts piled on early.
But everything comes down to King Dollar and whether real fear which lurks just behind the headlines grips the plumbing of global markets, which had an outstanding week.
This surge in the dollar confirms the December low as significant which sets up a difficult few months. Given everything else we’re experiencing from the shutdown of major Chinese cities, travel, etc. there’s every reason to be cautious here even if the equity markets keep grinding higher, though I’d expect a whole lotta grinding sideways from both equities and gold while this goes on.
Expect a lot of this schizophrenic behavior as capital sloshes from stem to stern trying to figure out where it should best be deployed in this age of central bank heroin. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $10.00 (as of 08:25 UTC - Details) The central banks are still desperate to keep a lid on volatility to extend the lie that they have things under control, but if that’s the case then why is the Fed still having to deal with repo market interventions being oversubscribed and the rate creeping back up toward its target Fed Funds rate and IOER (Interest on Excess Reserves)? They’ve lost control over the short end of the yield curve.
And that’s where things get interesting for this election cycle.
For Trump, the primary season should work out well as the Democrats continue imploding. And I have no doubt he will now go on the warpath to take down those who he rightly feels wronged him and the country. And he’ll be merciless on Twitter using it to goad the Democrats into even more lunacy, more mistakes.
This is what he truly excels at and it will all but guarantee him surviving any crises that appear on the horizon between now and November.
For now, New Hampshire is next. Bernie should win the most votes it in a walk. But the real winner, regardless of anything else will be Trump.
Reprinted with permission from Gold Goats ‘n Guns.
The Best of Tom Luongo


lewrockwell--2020-02-10--A U-Turn Through the Past

A U-Turn Through the Past

I find myself detached from mainstream culture .
It started with the demise of nightclubs like Annabel ’ s , and the people that frequent them with names like Lil Nas X , Dua Lipa , Lizzo , Fat Joe , Pusha T , DaBaby , and others of their ilk .
All real names , incidentally , lifted from saccharine , slush-like descriptions by gossip columnists of nightclubbing celebrities .
Yep , things sure ain ’ t what they used to be—after dark , that is .
Forget top hats and tails , or older men leering at figure-eight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the # MeToo era and men are almost redundant .
The blatant extravagance and at times arrogance that came with inherited money are over .
Silly , empty-headed dowagers are a thing of the past .
Women nowadays go into nightclubs with support teams of yes-men and yes-women .
Clubs are dark places with more security than customers and with the charm of a root canal .
There is only one place in all of Europe that I go to after dark , Robin Birley ’ s 5 Hertford Street .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gotham of the postwar period of the ’ 50s .
El Morocco was full of playboys who were suavely but ruthlessly predatory .
All we did was chase women .
Hollywood types were considered riffraff , Middle Easterners untrustworthy and too slick , South Americans too greasy ; even Europeans were seen as too sardonic and always looking for funds .
I loved every minute of it , and even today I do not consider it a waste .
Where the rich set once partied and occasionally went slumming , today ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their hangers-on , wannabes , scene-makers , and stargazers personifying skid row .
Mind you , in a way the end of elegance after dark is a godsend .
Otherwise I ’ d be out every night still making a fool of myself at an age where I should be home watching the telly .
Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 10.00 Growing up when I did , and believing in the genteel romantic ideals that pervaded the culture at the time , the nightclub was the place where one tested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ believe it or not , meant nothing , although it got one a good table most of the time .
Manners and breeding came before it , and tainted fortunes that resulted in social status and power were seen as a crime long after the original transgression .
Or so we believed .
I remember reading The Great Gatsby while still in school and then rereading it while clubbing and doing nothing else .
Gatsby ’ s shame was that he was impressed by Tom Buchanan ’ s old money and ashamed of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the time .
But Buchanan ’ s old money meant nothing because he was a coarse bully , whereas Gatsby ’ s illegal fortune had made him a gentleman .
See what I mean when I say manners came even before breeding ?
What defeated poor Gatsby at the end was his embarrassment before social power .
I then reread Tender Is the Night and headed for France and the Riviera , where Dick Diver stood tall .
That was the book that broke Scott Fitzgerald ’ s heart , someone once remarked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poem .
Rosemary Hoyt and Nicole Diver were two of the most perfect women a young Taki had ever read about .
I searched for Dick , Rosemary , and Nicole for years , and although I never found them , I learned a lot while looking for them .
Fitzgerald explored the ambiguous relationship between great wealth and genteel values in Tender , just as I was doing while invited to move into La Leopolda , the great Agnelli-owned villa in Villefranche .
The Best of Taki Theodoracopulos

I find myself detached from mainstream culture. It started with the demise of nightclubs like Annabel’s, and the people that frequent them with names like Lil Nas X, Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Fat Joe, Pusha T, DaBaby, and others of their ilk. All real names, incidentally, lifted from saccharine, slush-like descriptions by gossip columnists of nightclubbing celebrities. Yep, things sure ain’t what they used to be—after dark, that is. Forget top hats and tails, or older men leering at figure-eight gals dressed in clingy gowns; this is the #MeToo era and men are almost redundant. The blatant extravagance and at times arrogance that came with inherited money are over. Silly, empty-headed dowagers are a thing of the past. Women nowadays go into nightclubs with support teams of yes-men and yes-women. Clubs are dark places with more security than customers and with the charm of a root canal. There is only one place in all of Europe that I go to after dark, Robin Birley’s 5 Hertford Street.
For me it all began with the frenetic Gotham of the postwar period of the ’50s. El Morocco was full of playboys who were suavely but ruthlessly predatory. All we did was chase women. Hollywood types were considered riffraff, Middle Easterners untrustworthy and too slick, South Americans too greasy; even Europeans were seen as too sardonic and always looking for funds. I loved every minute of it, and even today I do not consider it a waste. Where the rich set once partied and occasionally went slumming, today’s celebrity rich slum all the time, their hangers-on, wannabes, scene-makers, and stargazers personifying skid row. Mind you, in a way the end of elegance after dark is a godsend. Otherwise I’d be out every night still making a fool of myself at an age where I should be home watching the telly. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $10.00 (as of 08:25 UTC - Details)
Growing up when I did, and believing in the genteel romantic ideals that pervaded the culture at the time, the nightclub was the place where one tested one’s mettle. Money, believe it or not, meant nothing, although it got one a good table most of the time. Manners and breeding came before it, and tainted fortunes that resulted in social status and power were seen as a crime long after the original transgression. Or so we believed. I remember reading The Great Gatsby while still in school and then rereading it while clubbing and doing nothing else. Gatsby’s shame was that he was impressed by Tom Buchanan’s old money and ashamed of his own bootlegging, my thoughts at the time. But Buchanan’s old money meant nothing because he was a coarse bully, whereas Gatsby’s illegal fortune had made him a gentleman. See what I mean when I say manners came even before breeding? What defeated poor Gatsby at the end was his embarrassment before social power. I then reread Tender Is the Night and headed for France and the Riviera, where Dick Diver stood tall. That was the book that broke Scott Fitzgerald’s heart, someone once remarked, yet compared it with a Keats poem. Rosemary Hoyt and Nicole Diver were two of the most perfect women a young Taki had ever read about. I searched for Dick, Rosemary, and Nicole for years, and although I never found them, I learned a lot while looking for them. Fitzgerald explored the ambiguous relationship between great wealth and genteel values in Tender, just as I was doing while invited to move into La Leopolda, the great Agnelli-owned villa in Villefranche.
Read the Whole Article
The Best of Taki Theodoracopulos


lewrockwell--2020-02-10--RT Presents… The Alternative Oscars

RT Presents… The Alternative Oscars

The Academy Awards are a myopic establishment dog and pony show that ignores artistic greatness in favor of the status quo .
I ’ ve come up with a better alternative .
The cinematic cretins at the Academy Awards have consistently gotten things wrong over the years with their insipid choices inspired by political correctness , social cowardice and an appallingly pedestrian taste in film .
It is for this reason that I have taken it upon myself to create an alternative to the Oscars .
Being that I ’ m a nice Irish-American lad I have named my alternative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are the winners of the newest , most prestigious and illustrious ( non-existent ) awards in cinema… The Mickey Awards !
In the Academy Awards ’ usual inept fashion , they will reward Laura Dern for her strained turn as a lawyer in the ever dreadful and contrived Marriage Story .
Dern doesn ’ t make the cut for the Mickeys though , as the nominees are Margaret Qualley and Margot Robbie ( Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood ) , Park So-dam and Lee Sun-kyun ( Parasite ) and Zhao Shuhzhen ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to… Margot Robbie for her effervescent and luminous performance as Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood .
Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 10.00 The pussy hat contingent complained this film was misogynistic because Robbie ’ s Tate had a paucity of dialogue , but it ’ s a testament to her talent and skill that she was able to convey an affecting story with more than just words .
Brad Pitt is a shoe-in to win this award at the Oscars for his performance as stuntman Cliff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hollywood .
Pitt does give a great ‘ movie star ’ performance as Booth , and earns a Mickey nomination along with Joe Pesci and Al Pacino ( The Irishman ) , Jonathan Majors ( The Last Black Man in San Francisco ) , Sam Rockwell ( Jojo Rabbit ) and Son Kang-ho ( Parasite ) .
The Mickey goes to… Al Pacino in The Irishman .
Pacino has become a sort of parody of himself in his later years , but his portrayal of Jimmy Hoffa was a perfect manifestation of self-defeating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the highlights of his superb career .
Renee Zellweger ’ s near universally unseen performance as Judy Garland in Judy is a sure thing to win the Oscar over a conveniently thin field .
Admittedly , it ’ s slim pickings in Best Actress , but after considerable contemplation… The Mickey goes to… Florence Pugh in Midsommar .
Pugh is on her way to becoming a movie star and her Mickey will no doubt only accelerate her ascent .
A plethora of formidable actors inhabit the nominations for the Best Actor Mickey .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ his career as struggling actor Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood .
Joaquin Phoenix was transcendent as a tortured clown in Joker .
And Brad Pitt graduated from being a pretty boy to being a true thespian with his sensational and complex work in the terrific Ad Astra .
The Mickey goes to… Joaquin Phoenix .
Phoenix is a lock to win the Best Actor Oscar , which just goes to show that a broken clock can be right twice a day .
Phoenix ’ s work in The Master @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leap for the craft of acting , and his performance in Joker is a powerful continuation of that evolution .
The Oscars in all their flaccidity are going to award Sam Mendes for the technologically complex but dramatically mundane 1917 .
The Mickeys will make no such cowardly maneuver .
The Mickey nominees for Best Director are… Quentin Tarantino ( Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood ) , Martin Scorsese ( The Irishman ) , Todd Phillips ( Joker ) , Bong Joon-ho ( Parasite ) , James Grey ( Ad Astra ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) .
And the Mickey goes to… Bong Joon-ho .
All of the nominees did extraordinary work but Bong ’ s direction of Parasite was exquisite .
Parasite is an intoxicatingly detailed , precise , and specific master class in the art and craft of film directing .
Some of the Oscar nominees in this category are the pathetically pandering Little Women , the vacuous Jojo Rabbit , the aggressively fraudulent and narcissistically awful Marriage Story , with the predictable winner being the banal 1917 .
Despite those lowlights , 2019 was a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bevy of quality films like Ford v Ferrari , Ad Astra , High Life , The Last Black Man in San Francisco , and A Hidden Life , among many others .
But the nominees for the Mickey are… Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – A fork in the eye of woke Hollywood , this film may be the very best of Tarantino ’ s career as it is chock full of outstanding performances and crackling dialogue .
Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 15.00 Joker – The fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claim to fame was making The Hangover movies , made the dramatically electrifying Joker is one of the great miracles of modern cinema .
The Irishman – Martin Scorsese turned the story of a mafia hitman ’ s regrets into a surprisingly poignant and existentially insightful referendum on his own spectacular career .
Parasite – A startlingly original film and one of the most entertaining and interesting dramatic investigations of class struggle and social structure to come along in ages .
And the Mickey goes to… Joker .
Joker is a deeply profound @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expresses the palpable sense of despair and rage that permeates the consciousness and animates the intentions of the dispossessed in society .
Disguising this sentiment within the cloak of comic book intellectual property was a stroke of genius .
The elites loathed Joker because it didn ’ t tell them what they wanted to hear , but rather had the temerity to speak the ugly , unvarnished , and unnerving truth .
For its efforts , Joker made over a billion dollars… and now it earns the equivalent of that in prestige with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Thus concludes The Mickey Awards… and unlike the Oscars , we didn ’ t run for four hours or contain sanctimonious speeches by people receiving $ 210,000 swag bags .

The Academy Awards are a myopic establishment dog and pony show that ignores artistic greatness in favor of the status quo. I’ve come up with a better alternative.
The cinematic cretins at the Academy Awards have consistently gotten things wrong over the years with their insipid choices inspired by political correctness, social cowardice and an appallingly pedestrian taste in film.
It is for this reason that I have taken it upon myself to create an alternative to the Oscars. Being that I’m a nice Irish-American lad I have named my alternative movie awards The Mickeys.
So here are the winners of the newest, most prestigious and illustrious (non-existent) awards in cinema… The Mickey Awards!
In the Academy Awards’ usual inept fashion, they will reward Laura Dern for her strained turn as a lawyer in the ever dreadful and contrived Marriage Story.
Dern doesn’t make the cut for the Mickeys though, as the nominees are Margaret Qualley and Margot Robbie (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood), Park So-dam and Lee Sun-kyun (Parasite) and Zhao Shuhzhen (The Farewell).
The Mickey goes to… Margot Robbie for her effervescent and luminous performance as Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $10.00 (as of 08:25 UTC - Details)
The pussy hat contingent complained this film was misogynistic because Robbie’s Tate had a paucity of dialogue, but it’s a testament to her talent and skill that she was able to convey an affecting story with more than just words.
Best Supporting Actor
Brad Pitt is a shoe-in to win this award at the Oscars for his performance as stuntman Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.
Pitt does give a great ‘movie star’ performance as Booth, and earns a Mickey nomination along with Joe Pesci and Al Pacino (The Irishman), Jonathan Majors (The Last Black Man in San Francisco), Sam Rockwell (Jojo Rabbit) and Son Kang-ho (Parasite).
The Mickey goes to… Al Pacino in The Irishman. Pacino has become a sort of parody of himself in his later years, but his portrayal of Jimmy Hoffa was a perfect manifestation of self-defeating tenacity and combustibility that is one of the highlights of his superb career.
Best Actress
Renee Zellweger’s near universally unseen performance as Judy Garland in Judy is a sure thing to win the Oscar over a conveniently thin field.
Admittedly, it’s slim pickings in Best Actress, but after considerable contemplation…
The Mickey goes to… Florence Pugh in Midsommar.
Pugh is on her way to becoming a movie star and her Mickey will no doubt only accelerate her ascent.
Best Actor
A plethora of formidable actors inhabit the nominations for the Best Actor Mickey.
Leonardo DiCaprio gave the best performance of his career as struggling actor Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.
Joaquin Phoenix was transcendent as a tortured clown in Joker.
And Brad Pitt graduated from being a pretty boy to being a true thespian with his sensational and complex work in the terrific Ad Astra.
The Mickey goes to… Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix is a lock to win the Best Actor Oscar, which just goes to show that a broken clock can be right twice a day. Phoenix’s work in The Master (2013) was a gargantuan evolutionary leap for the craft of acting, and his performance in Joker is a powerful continuation of that evolution.
Best Director
The Oscars in all their flaccidity are going to award Sam Mendes for the technologically complex but dramatically mundane 1917. The Mickeys will make no such cowardly maneuver.
The Mickey nominees for Best Director are…
Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Todd Phillips (Joker), Bong Joon-ho (Parasite), James Grey (Ad Astra) and Terrence Malick (A Hidden Life).
And the Mickey goes to… Bong Joon-ho. All of the nominees did extraordinary work but Bong’s direction of Parasite was exquisite. Parasite is an intoxicatingly detailed, precise, and specific master class in the art and craft of film directing.
Best Picture
Some of the Oscar nominees in this category are the pathetically pandering Little Women, the vacuous Jojo Rabbit, the aggressively fraudulent and narcissistically awful Marriage Story, with the predictable winner being the banal 1917.
Despite those lowlights, 2019 was a fantastic year for cinema filled with a bevy of quality films like Ford v Ferrari, Ad Astra, High Life, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, and A Hidden Life, among many others. But the nominees for the Mickey are…
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood – A fork in the eye of woke Hollywood, this film may be the very best of Tarantino’s career as it is chock full of outstanding performances and crackling dialogue. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $15.00 (as of 12:45 UTC - Details)
Joker – The fact that Todd Phillips, the guy whose previous claim to fame was making The Hangover movies, made the dramatically electrifying Joker is one of the great miracles of modern cinema.
The Irishman – Martin Scorsese turned the story of a mafia hitman’s regrets into a surprisingly poignant and existentially insightful referendum on his own spectacular career.
Parasite – A startlingly original film and one of the most entertaining and interesting dramatic investigations of class struggle and social structure to come along in ages.
And the Mickey goes to… Joker.
Joker is a deeply profound and insightful film that eloquently and artistically expresses the palpable sense of despair and rage that permeates the consciousness and animates the intentions of the dispossessed in society. Disguising this sentiment within the cloak of comic book intellectual property was a stroke of genius.
The elites loathed Joker because it didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear, but rather had the temerity to speak the ugly, unvarnished, and unnerving truth.
For its efforts, Joker made over a billion dollars… and now it earns the equivalent of that in prestige with the coveted Mickey Award for Best Picture.
Thus concludes The Mickey Awards… and unlike the Oscars, we didn’t run for four hours or contain sanctimonious speeches by people receiving $210,000 swag bags.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.


lewrockwell--2020-02-10--Breaking Down the Last Decade of ‘Climate Change’ in 7 Charts

This article on Grist ( h/t to James Taylor , The Heartland Institute ) tries to point out how “ terrible ” the last decade was due to “ climate change ” .
They write : As this hottest-on-record , godforsaken decade draws to a close , it ’ s clear that global warming is no longer a problem for future generations but one that ’ s already displacing communities , costing billions , and driving mass extinctions .
And it ’ s worth asking : Where did the past 10 years get us ?
The seven charts below begin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question .
Some of the changes they document , like the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the number of billion dollar disasters that occur each year , illustrate how little we did to reduce emissions and how unprepared the world is to deal with the warming we ’ ve already locked in .
We can also provide 7 charts that illustrate the last decade of climate change , and they tell a different story .
What they say : 1 .
Atmospheric carbon dioxide rose by about 25 parts per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tim Ball PhD Check Amazon for Pricing .
There ’ s no disputing that ambient CO2 has gone up in the atmosphere , however , that isn ’ t necessarily a bad thing .
NASA , for example has this to say about the effects of that increased CO2 in study about CO2 and greening derived from satellite data .
“ We were able to tie the greening largely to the fertilizing effect of rising atmospheric CO2 concentration by tasking several computer models to mimic plant growth observed in the satellite data , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University .
It seems the Earth ’ s biosphere is responding to increased CO2 in a positive way , that ’ s also undeniable .

This article on Grist (h/t to James Taylor, The Heartland Institute) tries to point out how “terrible” the last decade was due to “climate change”. They write:
As this hottest-on-record, godforsaken decade draws to a close, it’s clear that global warming is no longer a problem for future generations but one that’s already displacing communities, costing billions, and driving mass extinctions. And it’s worth asking: Where did the past 10 years get us? The seven charts below begin to hint at an answer to that question. Some of the changes they document, like the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the number of billion dollar disasters that occur each year, illustrate how little we did to reduce emissions and how unprepared the world is to deal with the warming we’ve already locked in. https://grist.org/climate/we-broke-down-the-last-decade-of-climate-change-in-7-charts/
We can also provide 7 charts that illustrate the last decade of climate change, and they tell a different story.
What they say: 1. Atmospheric carbon dioxide rose by about 25 parts per million.
There’s no disputing that ambient CO2 has gone up in the atmosphere, however, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. NASA, for example has this to say about the effects of that increased CO2 in study about CO2 and greening derived from satellite data.
From a quarter to half of Earth’s vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on April 25 2016
“We were able to tie the greening largely to the fertilizing effect of rising atmospheric CO2 concentration by tasking several computer models to mimic plant growth observed in the satellite data,” says co-author Prof. Ranga Myneni of the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University.
“The greening over the past 33 years reported in this study is equivalent to adding a green continent about two-times the size of mainland USA (18 million km2)…” https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/bu-cfg042216.php
This image shows the change in leaf area across the globe from 1982-2015. CREDIT Credits: Boston University/R. Myneni
Source: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate3004.html
It seems the Earth’s biosphere is responding to increased CO2 in a positive way, that’s also undeniable.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-02-10--Private Sector Truck Drivers Are Nepal’s Lifeline to Clean Water

Increasing numbers of Americans are losing sleep about the climate and agitating that healthcare is a human right .
Residents of Flint , Michigan , and Newark , New Jersey , want government to provide clean water , and again the rallying cry is that water is a human right .
But the water disasters in Flint and Newark are miniscule compared to what ’ s going on in Nepal .
In a massive story , the New York Times the trials and tribulations of people in Kathmandu , who have given up on their government providing water .
Nepal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Galt ’ s Gulch , but , with government failing to deliver something as vital to life as water , entrepreneurs have stepped in .
The government ’ s proposed solution to these grave water shortages , the Melamchi project , has turned into a four-decade-long fiasco of almost unrivaled incompetence .
First proposed in the 1970s and begun in 2000 , this scheme to divert a mountain river from the Himalayas has been so delayed that the water it will bring—170 million liters a day in its first phase—is already insufficient @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needs .
It ’ s not a good plan , anyway , experts say .
The pipeline network is so riddled with holes that “ you could have Lake Baikal on the other end and it still wouldn ’ t be enough , ” Mr. Gyawali said .
How an Economy Grows a ... Peter D. Schiff , Andre ... Best Price : $ 5.01 Buy New $ 7.53 The result is four hundred competing water delivery trucks , in some cases running nineteen hours continuously in order to satisfy demand .
Meanwhile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Of course there is plenty of complaining .
When demand is high and supply is low , high prices and profits attract providers .
“ Let ’ s face it : the private sector came in because the public sector failed , ” Dipak Gyawali , a political economist and former water minister told the NYT .
“ And until you clean up government ’ s act , nothing will change .
The tankers are just a symptom.
” Krishna Hari Thapa has been delivering water for a decade and says that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spring has increased from around 30 to over 80 a day.
” Although the spring water has been reduced to a trickle , he won ’ t stop .
“ The money is too good , ” writes the NYT ’ s Peter Schwartzstein .
Besides , as Mr. Thapa says , “ Where else would people get water ?
” Mr. Schwartzstein tries his best to make the tanker men the enemy , from the article ’ s title , “ Merchants of Thirst , ” to quoting landlady Dharaman Lama , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do is invest capital , work hard , and supply something vital .
“ The city depends on us , ” said Maheswar Dahal , a businessman who owns six trucks in Kathmandu ’ s Jorpati district .
So where the state has failed , private enterprise has stepped into the breach .
Profits will make that happen .
High cost makes customers more careful with how much they use .
Nobody is wasting water in Kathmandu .
“ Before , I didn ’ t think about how often I could shower or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Laxmi Magar , a housewife and mother of six .
“ But now that water is so expensive I watch every drop.
” Tanker water costs ten times more than government-supplied pipeline water , according to a World Resources Institute study .
In Mumbai , the cost is fifty-two times more , according to Schwartzstein .
Water seems like something you would always buy in bulk ; however , for some that ’ s not possible .
During the dry season , as you would expect , “ The tankers raise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ And because many of these areas have narrow , tuk-tuk-wide streets sprawled across steep hills that often turn to mush in the monsoon , the bigger trucks can ’ t get through , meaning residents have to buy in smaller sums from middlemen at grossly inflated prices.
” Does the tanker business have a future ?
Likely , it will boom in Southeast Asia and beyond .
Schwartzstein explains , The Real Crash : Americ ... Peter Schiff Buy New $ 23.95 A water delivery boom seems unlikely as you pour @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tap .
But , water shortages are not new , and tanker men ( and presumably women ) have come to the rescue before : Sunita Suwal told the Times , “ The state fails us .
The tanker men rob us .
They all just want to make money from us .
Really , what ’ s the difference ?
” The difference ?
Tanker men are delivering , the state is not .
Note : The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute .
The Best @ @ @

Increasing numbers of Americans are losing sleep about the climate and agitating that healthcare is a human right. Residents of Flint, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey, want government to provide clean water, and again the rallying cry is that water is a human right.
But the water disasters in Flint and Newark are miniscule compared to what’s going on in Nepal. In a massive story, the New York Times documents the trials and tribulations of people in Kathmandu, who have given up on their government providing water.
Nepal doesn’t qualify as anyone’s Galt’s Gulch, but, with government failing to deliver something as vital to life as water, entrepreneurs have stepped in.
The government’s proposed solution to these grave water shortages, the Melamchi project, has turned into a four-decade-long fiasco of almost unrivaled incompetence. First proposed in the 1970s and begun in 2000, this scheme to divert a mountain river from the Himalayas has been so delayed that the water it will bring—170 million liters a day in its first phase—is already insufficient to cover half of Kathmandu’s needs. It’s not a good plan, anyway, experts say. The pipeline network is so riddled with holes that “you could have Lake Baikal on the other end and it still wouldn’t be enough,” Mr. Gyawali said.
How an Economy Grows a... Schiff, Andrew J. Best Price: $1.99 Buy New $7.20 (as of 11:05 UTC - Details) The result is four hundred competing water delivery trucks, in some cases running nineteen hours continuously in order to satisfy demand. Meanwhile the government has thrown up its hands:
The pressure is so weak that many households capture no more than 250 liters on each occasion. For these people and the roughly 30 percent of residents who receive nothing at all, tankers tide them over until the next pipeline flow. Officials recognize it’s a crisis, but say the solution is out of their hands.
Of course there is plenty of complaining. When demand is high and supply is low, high prices and profits attract providers. “Let’s face it: the private sector came in because the public sector failed,” Dipak Gyawali, a political economist and former water minister told the NYT. “And until you clean up government’s act, nothing will change. The tankers are just a symptom.”
Krishna Hari Thapa has been delivering water for a decade and says that “the number of tankers at his spring has increased from around 30 to over 80 a day.” Although the spring water has been reduced to a trickle, he won’t stop. “The money is too good,” writes the NYT’s Peter Schwartzstein. Besides, as Mr. Thapa says, “Where else would people get water?”
Mr. Schwartzstein tries his best to make the tanker men the enemy, from the article’s title, “Merchants of Thirst,” to quoting landlady Dharaman Lama, who claims,
They’re all thieves, rotten thieves, who should be hanged. It’s disgusting what they do to us.
What the truck men do is invest capital, work hard, and supply something vital. “The city depends on us,” said Maheswar Dahal, a businessman who owns six trucks in Kathmandu’s Jorpati district.
There would be disaster if we didn’t do our work.
So where the state has failed, private enterprise has stepped into the breach. Profits will make that happen. High cost makes customers more careful with how much they use. Nobody is wasting water in Kathmandu. “Before, I didn’t think about how often I could shower or when I can clean the house,” said Laxmi Magar, a housewife and mother of six. “But now that water is so expensive I watch every drop.”
Tanker water costs ten times more than government-supplied pipeline water, according to a World Resources Institute study. In Mumbai, the cost is fifty-two times more, according to Schwartzstein. Water seems like something you would always buy in bulk; however, for some that’s not possible. During the dry season, as you would expect, “The tankers raise their rates accordingly,” writes Schwartzstein. “And because many of these areas have narrow, tuk-tuk-wide streets sprawled across steep hills that often turn to mush in the monsoon, the bigger trucks can’t get through, meaning residents have to buy in smaller sums from middlemen at grossly inflated prices.”
Does the tanker business have a future? Likely, it will boom in Southeast Asia and beyond. Schwartzstein explains, The Real Crash: Americ... Peter Schiff Buy New $23.95 (as of 05:55 UTC - Details)
The urban population of South Asia alone is projected to almost triple to 1.2 billion by 2050, and as infrastructure decays and cities continue to sprawl into areas that aren’t served at all, tankers are well-placed to absorb some of the shortfall. Up to 1.9 billion city dwellers might experience seasonal water shortages by midcentury, according to the World Bank.
A water delivery boom seems unlikely as you pour a glass of aqua from your first-world tap. But, water shortages are not new, and tanker men (and presumably women) have come to the rescue before:
When severe drought emptied Cape Town’s reservoirs in 2017 and 2018, wealthy residents sidestepped restrictions by buying extra water from informal operators. When Chennai, one of India’s largest cities, almost ran dry amid weak rains this summer, over 5000 private tankers ferried in water from outside. As these shocks intensify and affect more cities, the tanker men look set for boom times.
Sunita Suwal told the Times, “The state fails us. The tanker men rob us. They all just want to make money from us. Really, what’s the difference?”
The difference? Tanker men are delivering, the state is not.
Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.
The Best of Douglas French


The Vatican Caucus

Francis is gearing up for the 2020 Vatican Caucus .
The campaign is now underway , the Bernie supporters are firmly ensconced , the pope ’ s political proxies are issuing statements trashing Donald Trump .
The papal bully pulpit is now primed for political warfare .
American Catholics , gird yourself for the continuing onslaught on America ’ s most pro-life President by none other than the Holy See .
This is just the first round of a Vatican full scale assault on the Trump Administration .
Move over , Nancy Pelosi .
The Bergoglian henchmen are ready to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 2016 campaign look like a romp in the Vatican Gardens .
Lest we forget , Socialist Bergoglio rolled out the Vatican red carpet and white smoke for Comrade Bernie during the 2016 Democratic primary .
The Sanders Vatican visit and speech was orchestrated , no doubt , at the behest of the Vatican ’ s UN handler , pro abort Jeffrey Sachs , who also doubles as both Sanders and Bergoglio ’ s economic and environmental consultant .
Yet when Hillary snatched ( stole ) the nomination from Bernie , the Vatican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Clinton campaign to defeat Donald Trump .
The Vatican coordinated election campaign messaging with Clinton operatives , as revealed by the John Podesta campaign email leaks .
Even , the uber political Francis jumped into the presidential political campaign .
He couldn ’ t resist taking his own cheap shot at Trump with his globalist dogma that “ it is unchristian to build walls ” , said he , from behind the Vatican ’ s 39 foot impenetrable wall .
Against the Left : A Ro ... Llewellyn H Rockwell Jr Best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 8.00 Where is the 2020 Vatican caucus being held ?
Look no further than the Vatican ’ s Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences ( PASS ) , orchestrated by its party boss , Bishop Marcelo “ China is the best implementer of Catholic social doctrine ” Sorondo .
Together with the Pope ’ s personal global political operative , Jeffrey Sachs , the PASS serves as the satellite office for the UN globalist agenda .
If ever there was an enemy of globalism and its population control agenda , it is Donald J.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Trump ’ s withdrawals from the Paris Climate Treaty , the Iran Nuclear Deal , the Cuba detente , and his America First populism agenda rank up there with King Herod ’ s deadly sins .

It’s 2016 all over again…
Francis is gearing up for the 2020 Vatican Caucus.
The campaign is now underway, the Bernie supporters are firmly ensconced, the pope’s political proxies are issuing statements trashing Donald Trump. The papal bully pulpit is now primed for political warfare.
American Catholics, gird yourself for the continuing onslaught on America’s most pro-life President by none other than the Holy See. This is just the first round of a Vatican full scale assault on the Trump Administration. Move over, Nancy Pelosi. The Bergoglian henchmen are ready to rip on Trump. They will make the 2016 campaign look like a romp in the Vatican Gardens.
Remember the tumultuous 2016 election?
Lest we forget, Socialist Bergoglio rolled out the Vatican red carpet and white smoke for Comrade Bernie during the 2016 Democratic primary. The Sanders Vatican visit and speech was orchestrated, no doubt, at the behest of the Vatican’s UN handler, pro abort Jeffrey Sachs, who also doubles as both Sanders and Bergoglio’s economic and environmental consultant.
Yet when Hillary snatched (stole) the nomination from Bernie, the Vatican operatives quickly shifted strategies and coordinated with the Clinton campaign to defeat Donald Trump. The Vatican coordinated election campaign messaging with Clinton operatives, as revealed by the John Podesta campaign email leaks.
Even, the uber political Francis jumped into the presidential political campaign. He couldn’t resist taking his own cheap shot at Trump with his globalist dogma that “it is unchristian to build walls”, said he, from behind the Vatican’s 39 foot impenetrable wall. Against the Left: A Ro... Rockwell Jr, Llewellyn H Best Price: $2.85 Buy New $8.00 (as of 07:59 UTC - Details)
Where is the 2020 Vatican caucus being held?
Look no further than the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS), orchestrated by its party boss, Bishop Marcelo “China is the best implementer of Catholic social doctrine” Sorondo. Together with the Pope’s personal global political operative, Jeffrey Sachs, the PASS serves as the satellite office for the UN globalist agenda.
If ever there was an enemy of globalism and its population control agenda, it is Donald J. Trump. According to the Vatican, President Trump’s withdrawals from the Paris Climate Treaty, the Iran Nuclear Deal, the Cuba detente, and his America First populism agenda rank up there with King Herod’s deadly sins.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-02-10--The Debacle in Iowa Is a Perfect Example of the Extreme Incompetence That Is Plaguing America

The rest of the world is laughing at us .
After what just took place in Iowa , we certainly do not have any right to lecture other nations about how to run their elections .
It was a dumpster fire of epic proportions , and the entire globe is talking about it .
Apparently the Democrats have decided to run their elections the same way that they run their cities .
The Iowa Democratic Party had just one job to do , and they failed in spectacular fashion .
Collecting voting results and reporting them to the public shouldn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days incompetence has become the norm .
From one end of the country to the other it seems like people are competing to see who can be the most incompetent , and our population is becoming more “ dumbed down ” with each passing day .
The debacle in Iowa is being blamed on a faulty app , and I suppose that we shouldn ’ t be surprised .
After all , just about everything that we put on our phones and computers these days must be constantly “ fixed ” or “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This app that the Democrats were using did not have to be complicated .
It simply needed to accurately relay data from the precincts to the Iowa Democratic Party , but thanks to “ a coding error ” that did not happen… Against the Left : A Ro ... Llewellyn H Rockwell Jr Best Price : $ 13.57 Buy New $ 8.00 After all of the hot air that the Democrats have been blowing around about “ the integrity of our elections ” , you would think that they would have their act @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instead they just showed the rest of the world what not to do .
And it isn ’ t as if this was a complete surprise .
According to CNN , it was clear well in advance that the app “ was not working properly ” … In fact , only about one-fourth of all precinct chairs were able to successfully download the app… There never was any training for the precinct chairs , and there was mass confusion among local party officials .
In Polk County , the chairman of the Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ call in the results , but that didn ’ t work either .
The following comes from the New York Times… Some precinct chairs were on hold with headquarters for two or three hours on Monday night , and it is still not clear why Iowa Democratic Party officials were not more responsive .
Needless to say , this was a complete and utter embarrassment for the national Democratic Party , and DNC Chair Tom Perez is pledging that such a debacle will never happen again… Hopefully they can get their issues ironed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Democratic Party has a long history of complete and utter incompetence .
Of course the Republican Party is not much better .
In fact , I could tell you stories about Republicans in my area that would make your hair stand on end .
Left of Bang : How the ... Patrick Van Horne , Jas ... Best Price : $ 12.13 Buy New $ 14.63 Sadly , the truth is that we have become a raging “ idiocracy ” where people can ’ t seem to do much of anything right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shining example to the rest of the world , but today we are a horde of entertainment-addicted zombies that never learned what it means to grow up and act like adults .
For example , just consider what is happening at one of our most prestigious universities… The more mindless our entertainment , the more we like it .
The number of alcohol-related deaths has doubled over the past 20 years , the suicide rate has soared to a record high , and we are taking more legal and illegal drugs than ever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ category of immorality that you can possibly imagine we are either leading the world or we are in very close contention for the top spot .
We are a complete and utter mess , and we on a road that inevitably leads to national ruin .
Of course if anyone dares to offend our snowflake sensibilities by confronting us with the truth , many of us instantly melt down and start throwing a temper tantrum .
Needless to say , what I have just said does not apply to everyone .
But overall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us , and our nation has no future if we stay on this path .
Reprinted with permission from End Of The American Dream .
The Best of Michael Snyder

The rest of the world is laughing at us. After what just took place in Iowa, we certainly do not have any right to lecture other nations about how to run their elections. It was a dumpster fire of epic proportions, and the entire globe is talking about it. Apparently the Democrats have decided to run their elections the same way that they run their cities. The Iowa Democratic Party had just one job to do, and they failed in spectacular fashion. Collecting voting results and reporting them to the public shouldn’t be complicated, but these days incompetence has become the norm. From one end of the country to the other it seems like people are competing to see who can be the most incompetent, and our population is becoming more “dumbed down” with each passing day.
The debacle in Iowa is being blamed on a faulty app, and I suppose that we shouldn’t be surprised.
After all, just about everything that we put on our phones and computers these days must be constantly “fixed” or “patched” due to endless errors.
This app that the Democrats were using did not have to be complicated. It simply needed to accurately relay data from the precincts to the Iowa Democratic Party, but thanks to “a coding error” that did not happen… Against the Left: A Ro... Rockwell Jr, Llewellyn H Best Price: $2.85 Buy New $8.00 (as of 07:59 UTC - Details)
Due to a coding error, the app, created by a company called Shadow Inc., wasn’t reporting the correct data, according to the Iowa Democratic Party. The error resulted in the Democrats delaying all public reporting of the results of Monday’s caucuses, and has sown chaos and confusion in a hotly contested and deeply important primary.
After all of the hot air that the Democrats have been blowing around about “the integrity of our elections”, you would think that they would have their act together for the 2020 election.
But instead they just showed the rest of the world what not to do.
And it isn’t as if this was a complete surprise. According to CNN, it was clear well in advance that the app “was not working properly”…
Precinct captains from across Iowa began realizing days before the caucuses that the app was not working properly. Some complained to their county party leadership, others said nothing and hoped it would work at the needed moment and some just planned to call in their results, as has been done in the past. And most county party chairs openly worried about the lack of training on the reporting system.
In fact, only about one-fourth of all precinct chairs were able to successfully download the app…
Only a quarter of nearly 1,700 precinct chairs even successfully downloaded the app, according to a Democrat familiar with the matter. “I couldn’t get it to work,” said Jane Podgorniak, the Worth County party chair. “I tried and tried.”
There never was any training for the precinct chairs, and there was mass confusion among local party officials. In Polk County, the chairman of the Democratic Party told his precinct chairs to simply call in the results, but that didn’t work either. The following comes from the New York Times…
So last Thursday Mr. Bagniewski, the chairman of the Democratic Party in Iowa’s most populous county, Polk, instructed his precinct chairs to simply call in the caucus results as they had always done. But during Monday night’s caucuses, those precinct chairs could not connect with party leaders via phone. Hold times stretched past 90 minutes. And when Mr. Bagniewski had his executive director to take pictures of the results with her smartphone and drive over to the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters to deliver them in person she was turned away without explanation.
Some precinct chairs were on hold with headquarters for two or three hours on Monday night, and it is still not clear why Iowa Democratic Party officials were not more responsive.
Needless to say, this was a complete and utter embarrassment for the national Democratic Party, and DNC Chair Tom Perez is pledging that such a debacle will never happen again…
“What happened last night should never happen again,” Perez wrote in the statement. “We have staff working around the clock to assist the Iowa Democratic Party to ensure that all votes are counted. It is clear that the app in question did not function adequately. It will not be used in Nevada or anywhere else during the primary election process. The technology vendor must provide absolute transparent accounting of what went wrong.”
Hopefully they can get their issues ironed out, but the truth is that the Democratic Party has a long history of complete and utter incompetence.
Of course the Republican Party is not much better. In fact, I could tell you stories about Republicans in my area that would make your hair stand on end.
Left of Bang: How the ... Patrick Van Horne, Jas... Best Price: $12.13 Buy New $14.63 (as of 08:15 UTC - Details) Sadly, the truth is that we have become a raging “idiocracy” where people can’t seem to do much of anything right. At one time we were a shining example to the rest of the world, but today we are a horde of entertainment-addicted zombies that never learned what it means to grow up and act like adults. For example, just consider what is happening at one of our most prestigious universities…
Students at Yale University are being encouraged to participate in a variety of programs offered by the Chaplain’s Office, including a weekly “Cookies and Coloring” hour and a campus “Bouncy Castle” during nice weather. The children’s activities are promoted as opportunities for adult students to relieve anxiety and disconnect from technology at the Ivy League institution.
The more mindless our entertainment, the more we like it. The number of alcohol-related deaths has doubled over the past 20 years, the suicide rate has soared to a record high, and we are taking more legal and illegal drugs than ever before. And in just about every category of immorality that you can possibly imagine we are either leading the world or we are in very close contention for the top spot. We are a complete and utter mess, and we on a road that inevitably leads to national ruin.
Of course if anyone dares to offend our snowflake sensibilities by confronting us with the truth, many of us instantly melt down and start throwing a temper tantrum.
Needless to say, what I have just said does not apply to everyone. But overall our society is rapidly degenerating all around us, and our nation has no future if we stay on this path.
Reprinted with permission from End Of The American Dream.
The Best of Michael Snyder


lewrockwell--2020-02-10--There Is Good Evidence That Clutter Causes Anxiety & Stress

Clutter in our home or office certainly does cause stress , according to an article in Psychology Today .
Psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter lists the following 8 reasons that stress may ensue from a cluttered environment : • Clutter bombards our minds with excessive stimuli ( visual , olfactory , tactile ) , causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren ’ t necessary or important .
• Clutter distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be on .
• Clutter makes it more difficult to relax , both physically and mentally .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that our work is never done .
• Clutter makes us anxious because we ’ re never sure what it ’ s going to take to get through to the bottom of the pile .
• Clutter creates feelings of guilt ( “ I should be more organized ” ) and embarrassment , especially when others unexpectedly drop by our homes or work spaces .
• Clutter inhibits creativity and productivity by invading the open spaces that allow most people to think , brainstorm , and problem solve .
• Clutter frustrates us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need quickly ( e.g .
files and paperwork lost in the “ pile ” or keys swallowed up by the clutter ) .
She also offers 8 remedies in the same article which are quite reasonable and practical .
But before you rush over there to see what they are , there is something I ’ d like you to consider .
Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 10.00 Consider whether an anxious mind is the result of clutter , or if clutter is actually the result of an anxious—one could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great to get tips on how to eliminate clutter in our environment , but if our mind is ‘ cluttered ’ to begin with , and we don ’ t directly address this , we will probably not put the advice we ’ ve been given into practice , or may do some de-cluttering in a spurt only to revert back to our old habits .
It ’ s true that cleaning up clutter in our environment will likely help to ease our stress momentarily ; but in the long run , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ de-clutter only when the stress of clutter has become unbearable means that we will perpetually live cluttering and de-cluttering , rather than creating far less clutter to begin with .
If you were to step back like a fly on the wall and see yourself in the process of actually creating all the clutter you live with , much of it would be predicated on having too many things on your mind , moving onto a second activity before finishing the first , allowing yourself to get distracted and untracked by external events @ @ @ @ @ @ @ present .
The practice of mindfulness then becomes our first priority .
We need to be fully at peace in the moment and let go of any judgments about it .
• If you see the clutter as ‘ wrong , ’ as something you urgently have to ‘ fix ’ , don ’ t act .
Take a moment to accept it as it is • If you feel bad about yourself because there is clutter , don ’ t act .
Take the time to accept yourself , and let go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ embarrassment you feel • If you think you can ’ t feel good until you clean up the clutter , think again .
Get yourself out of the addictive pattern of blame and judgment as a motivator to do work At first , it might take some time in a quiet space to empty your mind of the judgments and negative feelings .
As you get used to this process , it may only take a few deep breaths to re-orient yourself .
You will know you are there when the process flows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is not enjoyable , stop—and reach for mindfulness .
When we look at clutter this way , we are less likely to be impacted by the list of stressors described above—and far more motivated and inclined to deal with the clutter efficiently .
Eventually , mindfulness will serve to mitigate much of the creation of the clutter to begin with .
This is because we naturally create order in our physical world as a reflection of the order in our minds .

Clutter in our home or office certainly does cause stress, according to an article in Psychology Today. Psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter lists the following 8 reasons that stress may ensue from a cluttered environment:
Clutter bombards our minds with excessive stimuli (visual, olfactory, tactile), causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren’t necessary or important. Clutter distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be on. Clutter makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally. Clutter constantly signals to our brains that our work is never done. Clutter makes us anxious because we’re never sure what it’s going to take to get through to the bottom of the pile. Clutter creates feelings of guilt (“I should be more organized”) and embarrassment, especially when others unexpectedly drop by our homes or work spaces. Clutter inhibits creativity and productivity by invading the open spaces that allow most people to think, brainstorm, and problem solve. Clutter frustrates us by preventing us from locating what we need quickly (e.g. files and paperwork lost in the “pile” or keys swallowed up by the clutter).
She also offers 8 remedies in the same article which are quite reasonable and practical. But before you rush over there to see what they are, there is something I’d like you to consider. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $10.00 (as of 08:25 UTC - Details)
Mind Over Clutter
Consider whether an anxious mind is the result of clutter, or if clutter is actually the result of an anxious—one could say cluttered— mind. It’s great to get tips on how to eliminate clutter in our environment, but if our mind is ‘cluttered’ to begin with, and we don’t directly address this, we will probably not put the advice we’ve been given into practice, or may do some de-cluttering in a spurt only to revert back to our old habits.
It’s true that cleaning up clutter in our environment will likely help to ease our stress momentarily; but in the long run, the pattern of sucking up the energy to de-clutter only when the stress of clutter has become unbearable means that we will perpetually live cluttering and de-cluttering, rather than creating far less clutter to begin with.
Mindfulness
If you were to step back like a fly on the wall and see yourself in the process of actually creating all the clutter you live with, much of it would be predicated on having too many things on your mind, moving onto a second activity before finishing the first, allowing yourself to get distracted and untracked by external events. Negative thoughts or feelings are often present.
The practice of mindfulness then becomes our first priority. We need to be fully at peace in the moment and let go of any judgments about it.
If you see the clutter as ‘wrong,’ as something you urgently have to ‘fix’, don’t act. Take a moment to accept it as it is
If you feel bad about yourself because there is clutter, don’t act. Take the time to accept yourself, and let go of whatever guilt, shame, or embarrassment you feel
If you think you can’t feel good until you clean up the clutter, think again. Get yourself out of the addictive pattern of blame and judgment as a motivator to do work
At first, it might take some time in a quiet space to empty your mind of the judgments and negative feelings. As you get used to this process, it may only take a few deep breaths to re-orient yourself. You will know you are there when the process flows, and is even enjoyable. If it is not enjoyable, stop—and reach for mindfulness.
When we look at clutter this way, we are less likely to be impacted by the list of stressors described above—and far more motivated and inclined to deal with the clutter efficiently. Eventually, mindfulness will serve to mitigate much of the creation of the clutter to begin with. This is because we naturally create order in our physical world as a reflection of the order in our minds.
Reprinted with permission from Collective Evolution.