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Ombow, >> mesmerized with lies <<
Yes, that's the media. Therefore you can't trust the information presented. As a general rule, when the media says something, the actual truth is likely to be the opposite.
Frank Zappa's had it right with his ode to the media called 'I am the slime' -
I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed and deranged
I have existed for years
But very little has changed
I'm the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you
I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think I'm delicious
With the stuff that I say
I'm the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I'm the slime oozin' out
From your TV set
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't go for help, no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
That's right, folks
Don't touch that dial
Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin' along on your livin' room floor
I am the slime from your video
Can't stop the slime, people, look at me go
I am the slime from your video
Oozin' along on your livin' room floor
I am the slime from your video
Can't stop the slime, people, look at me go
The Walking Dead Worshippers of Satan will follow him anywhere. He's got them mesmerized with lies.
Ombow, That does sound like an accurate description of the mainstream media, modern music, TV, movies, etc. The 'Satan' analogy is accurate.
Satanism goes mainstream -
dead man dead man bob dylan lyrics
Uttering idle words from a reprobate mind,
Clinging to strange promises, dying on the vine,
Never bein' able to separate the good from the bad,
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it,
It's makin' me feel so bad.
Dead man, dead man,
When will you rise?
Cobwebs in your mind,
Dust in your eyes.
Satan got you by the heel, there's a bird's nest in your hair.
Do you have any faith at all? Do you have any love to share?
The way that you hold your head, cursin' God with every move,
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it,
What are you tryin' to prove?
Dead man, dead man,
When will you rise?
Cobwebs in your mind,
Dust in your eyes.
The glamor ad the bright lights and the politics of sin,
The ghetto you build for me is the one you end up in,
The race of the engine that overrules your heart,
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it,
Pretending that you're so smart.
Dead man, dead man,
When will you rise?
Cobwebs in your mind,
Dust in your eyes.
What are you tryin' to overpower me with, the doctrine or the gun?
My back is already to the wall, where can I run?
The tuxedo that you're wearin', the flower in your lapel,
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it,
You want to take me down to hell.
Dead man, dead man,
When will you rise?
Cobwebs in your mind,
Dust in your eyes.
Ombow, Of course the news media would never lie to us :o)
Operation Mockingbird -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
CIA influence on public opinion -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_influence_on_public_opinion
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another foolish conspiracy theory - did you ever find out or figure out how the "Deep State" convinced all those Saudi Arabians to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the "Deep State" on 9/11/2001? Preposterous. Why do you believe lies? Lies are of the Devil - Satan.
Since it's a slow day -
Expanding upon the 'Trump accepts a Deep State bribe' narrative from the previous post, another possible scenario would be that the Donald has agreed to do the 'US bombs Iran' task. In return he gets to be President again, while also getting the multi-billion $ payoff from Truth Social. With Trump facing close to $500 mil in court judgements against him, the Deep State has considerable leverage, and the Donald is desperate, so he agrees to the deal. Trump also agrees to forget about the 'drain the swamp' hyperbole, and will do as he's told by the handlers.
Who knows, but at minimum it sounds like a good novel or movie plot :o)
This is the kind of stuff that goes on all the time around the world, according to John Perkins in his famous book 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman' -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man
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Bigworld, >> Uranium stocks <<
In the nuclear sector, I went with URA and NLR to provide a wide exposure. The sector has run up over the past year, so not the bargain that it was, but still interesting. BWXT seems well positioned, with both military and commercial businesses, but the stock has been on a tear so maybe on a pullback. Another interesting one is Centrus Energy (LEU), but hasn't done much so I must be missing something, but am still new to the sector -
>>> BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT), together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells nuclear components in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Government Operations and Commercial Operations. The Government Operations segment designs and manufactures naval nuclear components, reactors, and nuclear fuel; fabrication activities; and supplies proprietary and sole-source valves, manifolds, and fittings to naval and commercial shipping customers. This segment also involved in manufacture of close-tolerance and equipment for nuclear applications; down blend government stockpiles of uranium; receives, stores, characterizes, dissolves, recovers, and purifies uranium-bearing materials; and supplies research reactor fuel elements for colleges, universities, and national laboratories, as well as components for defense applications. The Commercial Operations segment designs and manufactures commercial nuclear steam generators, heat exchangers, pressure vessels, and reactor components; and other auxiliary equipment, including containers for the storage of nuclear fuel and other high-level nuclear waste. This segment also offers nuclear fuel, fuel handling systems, tooling delivery systems, nuclear grade materials, and precisely machined components, and related services for CANDU nuclear power plants; provides in-plant inspection, maintenance, and modification services, as well as non-destructive examination and tooling/repair solutions; and manufactures medical radioisotopes, radiopharmaceuticals, and medical devices. The company was formerly known as The Babcock & Wilcox Company and changed its name to BWX Technologies, Inc. in June 2015. BWX Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia. <<<
>>> Centrus Energy Corp. (LEU) supplies nuclear fuel components and services for the nuclear power industry in the United States, Belgium, Japan, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) and Technical Solutions. The LEU segment sells separative work units (SWU) components of LEU; natural uranium hexafluoride, uranium concentrates, and uranium conversion; and enriched uranium products to utilities that operate nuclear power plants. The Technical Solutions segment offers technical, manufacturing, engineering, and operations services to public and private sector customers. The company was formerly known as USEC Inc. and changed its name to Centrus Energy Corp. in September 2014. Centrus Energy Corp. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. <<<
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Bigworld, While on the cloak + dagger topic, here's an interesting narrative to consider concerning Trump's potential multi-billion $ bonanza with Truth Social. The big question is why did the SEC finally decide to allow the DWAC merger to go through? They presumably could have blocked it indefinitely, but why the about face, and also why in March?
One theory would be that a deal was struck between Trump and the Deep State, essentially a bribe --> we'll let you take the $ if you agree to go away. They made it clear to him that they are going to fix the digital election anyway, so take the money and promise to stay out of the political realm forever. In preparation, they hit him with close to $500 mil in legal costs / judgements, so this makes accepting the 'bribe' the only practical way out.
Anyway, this would be one explanation for the SEC's surprising about face on allowing the DWAC merger. It also explains why they did it in March, since the 6 month lockup period will end in September, allowing Trump time to cash out prior to the election. After the election in Nov, the DJT shares will be worth zip, so Trump gets his payday even though he loses the election a few weeks later. So basically a financial bribe to end the Deep State's Trump problem.
Another possible explanation for the SEC's surprising approval of the DWAC merger would be political, since it creates the impression Trump is merely running for office again to cash in on the Truth Social bonanza. That realization hurts him politically as supporters see that Trump knows he has no chance of winning, but is merely using the presidential run to save his financial skin and line his pockets.
There are a few other possible explanations, but since the SEC could have stopped the DWAC merger indefinitely, there has to be a reason for their decision to allow it.
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Bigworld, Btw, with that bridge collision, I haven't looked into it much, but not every big event is a conspiracy. Having seen various false flag events over the years, the tendency is for us observers to start seeing conspiracies everywhere. They do happen, but with the bridge collision it seems unlikely. According to Wikipedia - >>> the ship suffered a "complete blackout" and began to drift out of the shipping channel; a backup generator supported electrical systems but did not provide power to the propulsion system. <<<
So a conspiracy narrative would have to first account for the complete blackout on the ship. The possibilities would be - 1) someone on the ship deliberately disabled the power, or 2) the power was disabled by external means. Not impossible, but more likely just a non-intentional failure within the electrical system, and then the bigger problem was that the backup system did not provide power to the propulsion system.
When we see a 'blame China / Russia' explanation for an event, that is almost always wrong, but is a convenient 'go to' smokescreen for anything that happens, ie 'Russia-gate'. Ditto with the 'blame the Arabs' explanation for events. It can happen, but more likely the real culprit is the CIA, MI-6, NATO Intelligence, Mossad, etc. Not always, but with a false flag the idea is to pin the blame on your enemy in order to justify the desired response.
Fwiw, I figure we'll be due for a 9-11 part 2 at some point in order to justify the 'US bombs Iran' scenario. Iran is close to getting nuclear weapon, so it seems inevitable that their Natanz underground facilities will have to be attacked before too long. Probably next year (?), but just a guess. Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities are reportedly under a mountain, so presumably tactical nuke bunker buster bombs will be needed. So that means - 1) the US has to do it, and 2) a big pretext event will be needed to justify the attack (ala 9-11). The alternative of allowing Iran to get nuclear weapons won't be allowed by either US foreign policy groups in power (Trilaterals or Neocons), at least that's the assumption. But lots of unknowns.
False Flag -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
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Bigworld, 2500 for gold by year end sounds feasible. It took 12 years to finally break through 2000 convincingly, so I figure the upside should be considerable as gold makes up for lost time.
Thanks for the Rinear update. I think he's right about the Fed wanting to help the markets remain relatively buoyant and in kumbaya mode. You said that Rinear is mainly a shorter term trader, but I figure we're in more of a buy/hold environment for the foreseeable future. Fed guidance is for 3 rate cuts this year, so that's a clear tailwind for the markets, therefore 'don't fight the Fed' seems like the logical strategy. Landmines abound though - geopolitical, election, black swans, so caution is warranted. So I figure a moderate stock allocation (28%) to take into account the risks, and a buy / hold strategy to take into account the Fed tailwind.
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Rinear has Uranium Stocks on His Radar:
Insiders Club Update
************************************************************************************************************
?
4.4.2024
Hello all
NOTE>>>>> There's no afternoon update today. My Friend Chuck and his family are down from Upstate NY, and I'm going to scoot over and visit with them today. I cherish such times.
Yesterday was a funky day. I mentioned to you that it just felt off, especially after two big down days. When the DOW went red around 2:45 I wasn't surprised. The whole day felt "pushed" or contrived. Even the S&P dipped red for a while.
Okay, so yesterday I mentioned we need to put the uranium stocks back on radar. I feel silly, because just two weeks ago, we were watching UEC, but it wasn't doing anything. Then I mentioned EU a small domestic uranium company, but it too didn't move.
So, I moved on. Well, in the last week they've all gone on a run. Is it already too much? Or is the supply demand situation where prices have to go up because there's so little available?
Many are starting to think this is the beginning of a longer term trend as supply is pretty low and demand is indeed rising. So yes, we'll be watching CCJ, they're the leaders. But NXE , UEC, EU, DNN, and UUUU are all to be watched.
The futures this morning are bright green across the board. In early going, it looks like they're going into chips.
SMH the ETF for the semi's might be a simple play from the open. Keep an eye on that.
NOTE>>> Some folks say they didn't get last nights FIR until like 6 am. I don't know what happened there.
Okay, so we let them open things and see where it goes.
Bob Rinear's Take on the Baltimore Bridge Collapse:
*******************************************************************************************
Part 1: General Commentary
Part 2: Market Commentary
The Bridge
When the barge hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, quite a few people asked me if I thought it was an accident, or it was a deliberate attack. Why would they ask me? Because for 30+ years, I've looked into the darker side of how things really work, not what they tell me about events.
For example, They told you there weren't any biolabs in Ukraine. I said we did, and was proven right. They told you that Putin blew up the Nordstream 2. I said we did it via nato proxies. I was right. They told you Ukraine wasn't suffering major losses. I said they're being slaughtered.
They told you that the United States wasn't funding both sides of this conflict.I said they were. They told you masks and vaccines were nearly 100% effective. I warned publicly "don't take that vax" They told you that COVID-19 came from a bat in a wet market in China. I told you it was manufactured in the US and spread via the Wuhan Military games.
They told you that Anthony Fauci wasn't using gain of function. I showed you proof he was.They told you that there is not a southern border crisis. Everyone said there is. They told you there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I told my readers over and over, that would be found to be a lie, an excuse for taking out yet another country.
They told you J6 was the worst attack since 9/11. I said it was an inside job, and you know I'm right. They told you lockdowns were for your health. I said the lockdowns were to destroy the middle class and small business. They told you there was no supply chain crisis. I preached about it weekly. They told you the Epstein client was a baseless conspiracy. I said for the first time in history, a woman was arrested and imprisoned for human trafficing.... to evidently no one??
They told you Donald Trump would do everything that Joe Biden is currently doing. They told you there was no elite child-trafficking ring.Meanwhile "Diddy" is being investigated along with dozens of others. They told you federal agencies don't target Americans. They have the FBI knocking on people's doors for posting their opinions on social media. They told you there was no such thing as the UniParty. There is, and you know it. They told you there was no such thing as the Deep State. Obviously. Once you finally realize how long "they" have been lying to you, the quicker you question the narrative. For absolutely everything.
So it is no wonder that dozens of folks have asked my opinion about the bridge. Well, one thing I've learned over the last 25 years is that when something big happens, give it at least 48 hours before you make your opinions up. That gives you time to weed through everything you're hearing and try and get to the truth. 72 hours is even better.
For the first few days, I could make the case that this was an accident. I grew up on sandy Hook bay, NJ. The north side of the bay is New York harbor. Barges, passenger ships, shuttles, you name it come and go out of that harbor 24/7/365. Sometimes, something goes wrong. I've seen ships stranded, grounded because they lost power and drifted onto the flats. Commuter boats have collided, despite 25 thousand dollars worth of radars and ship ID electronics. I've seen piers get crushed. In other words, accidents do indeed happen. Not every event has an angle behind it.
People asked why there were no tugs guiding this thing. Well, there was initially. The tugs got it away from the dock, got it turned around so it was in the channel and pointed out of the harbor. Then they peeled off and went on to their next job. This isn't terribly out of the ordinary. Once a ship is in the channel, and steaming along on her own power, as long as everything's working, they can send it on its merry way.
I couldn't see it as a terror attack. It's 1:30 in the morning. The bridge was almost empty, and the barge pilot called highway patrol and they shut off traffic. A terror operation would have hit it at 5 pm when there could literally be 200 lives crossing that bridge.
But as the time went on, I had no choice but to lean into the conspiracy camp on this one. There's simply too many red flags. First off the wind lie. The first reports said that a stiff north wind of 13 knots ( 15 mph) was blowing. Well, think of the side of a huge container ship like that of a huge sail. A 15 mph wind hitting directly against the port (left) side of that barge would indeed veer it to the right. But when I pulled up the NOAA maps for that night, it was almost dead calm. 2 to 3 MPH. That was a flag for me.
Next up, the redundant systems. This one gets tricky. Any ship of that size, doing operations in a port as big as Baltimore, is required by Federal law to have two power systems, completely separate from each other, along with a separate steerage system. Why this is tricky, is because while the law says that's what they have to have, it's up to the ship owner/user to make sure they work. So, the emergency back ups could have been hacked, or...not tested in some time. More on that in a minute.
A big red flag is the two minutes of missing data from the event recorder. Every ship like that one has a "black box" sort of like the airlines have. In the most crucial period of the event, it's blank. No data, no voices. That's pretty ugly.
Then there's the Chinese connection. There's a group of Chinese that have been against the CCP and the way they run the country for years. They are saying the ship was hacked via a technology they termed "Remote Towing" where they can hack the steering and electrical systems of ships like this one. Is that real? I have no solid proof, but when you see the video of the ship where the lights are out and the power is down, it looks like the redundant system kicks in, they get power back, They throw her in "full astern" to cut down the speed, and then that goes dark.
If indeed they had a way to remotely shut down the electrical system, it would account for the missing data, and the failure of the redundant system.
So, my bottom line here is that there's too many red flags for me to believe it was merely an accident. Am I 100% sure? No. When it fist happened, there was some scuttle on the loading docks where a guy working a crane said that ship had electrical issues before it ever left. If so, then the 'accident" angle could still be in play. But it's weak, and I'm not in that camp right now.
Which brings up the question, if it's not terror, then why do it? If this was deliberate, what did they expect to get out of it? Some think it's economic terror as this will disrupt shipping for a while, cause some fuel shortages in the nearby region, make workers commute a nightmare. My fear is a bit more concerning. That bridge was often used by trucks that were carrying dangerous loads, toxic loads, loads they didn't want in the Baltimore tunnel, or roads in the city. Now they've got no choice.
There's still a lot of questions, and this isn't over. But it looks like hanky-panky to me.
The Market
What a strange couple of days. On Monday and then again on Tuesday, the yield on the ten year was spiking higher and the market hated it. At one point Tuesday the DOW was down 512 points.
While we ended the day well off that low, it was a soggy day. Which led to this morning. The futures were creeping higher in the pre market, but then Fed head Bostic was on CNBC. He said he's only looking for 1 cut, and not until the 4th quarter. That hit the futures and they all plunged.
Well, at 10 the ISM services report hit, and the prices paid component fell sharply. They loved that and soon the DOW was up 120 points. All three indexes were running higher. But there was still a fly in the ointment. Powell himself was scheduled to speak at noon.
He came on stage at 12:10 and his message was the same as what he said Friday. Yeah cuts are coming, but we need to be patient and get more proof that inflation is still fading and some of the recent jumps are transitory. More Blah blah blah.
Interestingly, the DOW pulled off on his statement. It was up just 11 points after his written statement was released. Then it went green again and stayed there until about 3 pm. Then it went red again.
Very strange day indeed.
But they didn't roll over, and it's my guess they're going to want Monday and Tuesday's points back. So a decent bounce makes sense to me. But that said, we do need to watch the ten year. If it starts spiking higher again... all bets are off.
gfp: I will be disappointed if Gold is not at least $2500 by the end of the year. It should be $4000 already with the amount of borrowing/printing going on. By year end the US Treasury's #1 expense will be interest on the debt at @ $1.5 Trillion a year. That's a big chunk of the overall budget. The US will borrow at least $2.5 Trillion, which means we have to borrow just to pay interest on the debt. As the recent minibus stop gap budget deal indicates the Congress is oblivious and there are no serious voices doing anything about the spending orgy going on. Every day that goes by that we don't recognize the dangers of the exploding debt is going to result in far worse economic conditions down the road. Hard assets and paid off real estate (or real estate with an ultra low rate mortgage) are all we can do to hedge the losses the US dollar will eventually see.
High Tide (HITI) - nice break out on high volume :o)
>>> High Tide Inc. (HITI) engages in the cannabis retail business in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Retail and Wholesale segments. It operates licensed retail cannabis stores; and provides data analytics services. In addition, the company manufactures and distributes consumption accessories. Further, it sells its products through online sales via e-commerce platform. The company offers its products under the Daily High Club, DankStop, FABCBD, GC, Nuleaf, Smoke Cartel, and Blessed CBD brands. The company was formerly known as High Tide Ventures Inc. and changed its name to High Tide Inc. in October 2018. High Tide Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. <<<
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Bigworld, >> silver <<
Silver also coming to life :o) Looking at the SLV chart, as with gold there is a quasi 12 year cup + handle (bullish), with the 3 year 'cup' having a quasi inverted head + shoulders (also bullish). It's much less classic than on the gold chart, but is easier to see now that silver is climbing. Also the 'neckline' on the silver chart is sloped, where gold's is flat and thus more 'classic'.
Anyway, looks like silver is playing catch up to gold. There is also a potential motivation for price suppression with silver, since it represents a key input cost for solar panels. Therefore keeping silver prices lower helps keep solar cost competitive with traditional types of energy. Not sure how much price suppression of silver has been going on in recent years, but like gold. it does seem to have peculiar 'smack downs' at times.
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Ombow, Here's more on 'Ableton Live' -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ableton_Live
Looks like it could take some time to learn, but is a phenomenal tool. I see Amazon has the standard edition for $439.
Goldman - >>> Gold’s 'record march higher set to continue,' Goldman says
Yahoo Finance
by Ines Ferré·Senior
March 25, 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/golds-record-march-higher-set-to-continue-goldman-says-164325765.html#:~:text=Goldman%20Sachs%20analysts%20upgraded%20their,phase%2C%20barring%20any%20geopolitical%20surprise.
Gold’s roughly 8% month-to-date rally has room to grow with the precious metal poised to hit $2,300 an ounce by year-end, according to Goldman Sachs analysts.
On Monday futures gained to trade as high as $2,182 an ounce. The precious metal is considered a safe haven during times of geopolitical tensions and when interest rates decrease. Last week, the Federal Reserve continued to signal that it would lower interest rates three times this year.
The Fed meeting “reinforced the market’s (and ours) expectations that three cuts are likely this year, lending renewed support to gold to test and surpass March’s earlier record high,” wrote a team of analysts led by Samantha Dart.
Goldman Sachs analysts upgraded their average gold price forecast for 2024 from $2,090 to $2,180 per ounce, targeting a move to $2,300 by the end of the year.
The analysts forecast gold prices in the near term will move toward another consolidation phase, barring any geopolitical surprise. However, “a substantive retracement lower will likely also be limited by resilience in physical buying channels,” wrote Dart, citing Chinese imports of the precious metal.
“Nonetheless, in the midterm we continue to hold a constructive view on gold underpinned by eventual Fed easing, which should crucially reactivate the largely dormant ETF buying,” wrote Dart.
Bullion's price increases have been disconnected from recent outflows seen in gold-related ETFs. Strategists believe investors have been rotating money into bitcoin ETFs as the token roared toward new highs earlier this month.
Central banks have been buying up gold at historic levels, helping to drive up demand over the past couple of years.
Adjusted for inflation, gold hit a record in 1980 when it hit $850 per ounce, which would equal almost $3,200 in today's dollars.
<<<
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Bigworld, Goldman recently came out bullish on gold (next post), so that's a factor, and another is that Wall Street often bases its decisions on TA / charts, and this big breakout is attracting attention. I figure numerous 'macro' factors are also at work, including the growing US debt bomb, the BRICS plans for their own gold linked currency to compete with the US dollar, etc. As we know, central banks have been piling into gold for years, so global demand grows and mining output has lagged.
So the 'stars + planets' are finally aligning to produce the big breakout. The professional 'gold bugs' are always bullish, and have their reputations and livelihoods wrapped up in the bullish side, via newsletters, book sales, etc. But it looks like gold's appeal is broadening, and some of the Bitcoin crowd might also be switching over to gold. Seeing gold being sold at Costco, and selling out within hours, may have also attracted some attention. And anyone who follows TA / charts couldn't miss the extremely bullish chart pattern that had developed.
Based on the charts, this move is probably just beginning. But as you said, the big question is when does the suppression mechanism kick in? If gold is allowed to run up too much it could reinforce an inflationary vibe and thus work against the Fed's goals. So we'll see how long the party lasts, but so far it's been fun :o)
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gfp: A lot of the Metals gurus like Rick Rule have been pounding the table that the metals were going to take off any day. They were especially bullish on Silver and said that surpassing the $26 level was key. Well silver has done that. I'm seeing a nice move in the silver mining space, especially with some of my larger holdingslike Hecla Mining (HL), Pan American (PAAS) and Coeur Mining (CDE). But I remain cautiously optimistic. JP Morgan could sell Millions in futures contracts at any time to keep silver suppressed. They've done it successfully for years.
I'm looking at Ableton Live 12 if I get back into doing music -
https://www.ableton.com/en/live/?mtm_campaign=21071984808&mtm_kwd=ableton%20live&mtm_source=google&mtm_medium=cpc&mtm_cid=21071984808&mtm_group={AdGroupName}&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2a6wBhCVARIsABPeH1sl9t036Wl9swxUkjyCDDvtVKGT1AInobLuwGhGWys_NjVzbVLnoIsaAjyiEALw_wcB
Ombow, With Facebook I was willing to join, but got rejected, so I figure the heck with it. One of my college friends said he's on there all the time, mostly family related stuff. I'd like to follow developments with Roger Dean's latest album cover art projects, since I collect his stuff going back to 1968, and I think other artists like Jeremy Miranda are on there also. But a lot of people are also on other sites, like Twitter, so I may look into that at some point. I-Hub tends to be mainly stock related, but it's an interesting hobby for us bored retirees :o)
Btw, that advanced keyboard you posted about a while back (KORG Pa5X), is amazing, though I see it costs almost $5000, yikes. I have a decent keyboard now, so am looking at some of these digital recording setups, which can run off a desktop computer. Something like this one would probably be plenty (see below).
Btw, if you're into record collecting at all, here's a phenomenal site to find those obscure albums (link below). They used to also have unofficial / bootlegs, but had to stop those due to flak from the record companies. You can still look up unofficial releases to get info, but not to actually buy them. But all official records can be bought / sold on the site, so for anything rare this is the place to look -
Discogs - https://www.discogs.com/artist/1826912-Roger-Dean-4?type=Credits&filter_anv=0
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I think FB is a rather innocent venture barring the nefarious elements. The government already has your photo ID if you have a driver's license. It's not all a vast conspiracy by the "Deep State".
Facial recognition wasn't invented to control the populace in a 1984 Animal Farm Clockwork Orange megalockapy. I haven't suffered any ill effects from any data gleaned from my FB page. In fact, I think they would have only very little information about me.
Just upload a photo from your phone and join in on the fun instead of hiding behind the anonymity of faceless cyber activity. No reason to be paranoid about it. Does your sister do FB?
People actually see each other face to face even today!
Bigworld, Concerning the bridge related events, I doubt there's anything nefarious there (a guess), but a few years ago when all those food related building were burning / blowing up, that did seem suspicious. Not sure what was actually going on there though, and now that the internet is so censored, it's a lot more difficult to find out.
Fwiw, I don't even bother trying to find out anymore since you have to either go to sites like Rumble, or else to blogger type sites. Bloggers usually know little / nothing, and Rumble is a Peter Thiel company (intel community), and I figure his site is mainly to identify dissidents for future action (roundups, etc). That notion may sound extreme, but look at what happened to those Jan 6 people who thought they were merely going to a political protest rally, and are now in prison for up to 20 years.
Anyway, best to just chill out imo, since anything we do isn't going to make much difference anyway. Sounds defeatist, but no sense ending up like those Jan 6 guys. Anyone who was dumb enough to fall for that Q-Anon stuff deserves what they get. Or that would at least be the Darwinian way to look at it.
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Bigworld, Nice day for the metals. It seems like the miners are lagging, but hopefully they catch up soon. With gold's big breakout, the general rule is that the longer it takes for a chart pattern to form, the more dramatic and prolonged can be the ultimate breakout. If that's the case with gold (12 years to form the cup + handle), we could be in for quite a bull market. Silver also moving, now over 26 :o)
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Ombow, I think it depends on when you originally signed up on FB. I've heard that years ago it was a lot more lax. I tried to sign up right at the peak of the 'ban conservatives' hysteria, but they may have relaxed things since then. I think most of these sites make a good chunk of their money from selling the data gleaned from the site's visitors. Most likely Facebook was originally setup with the goal of accumulating facial scanning data (hence the name 'Face book'). Much of the web infrastructure like Google was originally funded by outfits like In-Q-Tel, which is an arm of the CIA -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-Q-Tel
>>> In-Q-Tel (IQT), formerly Peleus and In-Q-It, is an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in companies to keep the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with the latest in information technology in support of United States intelligence capability.[2] The name "In-Q-Tel" is an intentional reference to Q, the fictional inventor who supplies technology to James Bond.[5]
History
Originally named Peleus and known as In-Q-It, In-Q-Tel was founded by Norm Augustine, a former CEO of Lockheed Martin, and by Gilman Louie, who was In-Q-Tel's first CEO.[2][5][6] In-Q-Tel's mission is to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve United States national security interests. According to the Washington post, In-Q-Tel started as the idea of then CIA director George Tenet. Congress approved funding for In-Q-Tel, which was increased in later years.[7] Origins of the corporation can also be traced to Ruth A. David, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology in the 1990s and promoted the importance of rapidly advancing information technology for the CIA.[5] In-Q-Tel now engages with entrepreneurs, growth companies, researchers, and venture capitalists to deliver technologies that provide superior capabilities for the CIA, DIA, NGA, and the wider intelligence community.[8] In-Q-Tel concentrates on three broad commercial technology areas: software, infrastructure and materials sciences.
Former CIA director George Tenet said,
We [the CIA] decided to use our limited dollars to leverage technology developed elsewhere. In 1999 we chartered ... In-Q-Tel. ... While we pay the bills, In-Q-Tel is independent of CIA. CIA identifies pressing problems, and In-Q-Tel provides the technology to address them. The In-Q-Tel alliance has put the Agency back at the leading edge of technology ... This ... collaboration ... enabled CIA to take advantage of the technology that Las Vegas uses to identify corrupt card players and apply it to link analysis for terrorists [cf. the parallel data-mining effort by the SOCOM-DIA operation Able Danger], and to adapt the technology that online booksellers use and convert it to scour millions of pages of documents looking for unexpected results.[9]
In-Q-Tel sold 5,636 shares of Google, worth over US$2.2 million, on November 15, 2005.[10] The shares were a result of Google's acquisition of Keyhole, Inc, the CIA-funded satellite mapping software now known as Google Earth.[11]
In August 2006, In-Q-Tel reviewed more than 5,800 business plans and invested approximately $150M in more than 90 companies.[2][12]
As of 2016, In-Q-Tel listed 325 investments, but more than 100 were kept secret, according to the Washington Post. The absence of disclosure can be due to national security concerns or simply because a startup company doesn’t want its financial ties to intelligence publicized.[7]
<<<
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I don't remember being asked for facial ID. I post a lot there. Yeah, it's a fun site. I don't see any of the nefarious stuff.
Bigworld, Probably better to cool it with the house work, travel, etc, since all that vigorous activity may have played a role in the failure of the knee last year. Who knows, but best to err on the side of caution, one would think, and just hire people to do the lawn, deck work, etc.
Also, waiting until June to get the new knee in, that's a long time. But on the other hand, the highest risk of another bacteremia is probably after the 2nd surgery, so putting it off might be better from that standpoint (?) Anyway, good luck, but logic says it's probably better to not overdo things too much. In retirement there are advantages to having a low maintenance condo, as opposed to owning the 'Ponderosa ranch'.
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https://revolver.news/2024/04/watch-something-very-strange-happening-to-bridges-in-the-us-third-incident-7-days/
I don't believe in coincidences.
gfp: I'm still awaiting culture results. I thought they would be available by now. I've messaged my surgery team. Assuming the cultures are negative I am looking at a mid June surgery date. The surgery scheduler gave me an earliest date as May 22nd. But that doesn't work for me. I have a bunch of family events in the Chicago suburbs between June 8th and June 16th. I'll drive there and back. Airports are a hassle and I like a good road trip now and then. I'll return on June 17th and do the surgery on Wed June 19th. My Surgeon only operates at the hospital in my network on Wednesdays and Thursdays. And he doesn't operate on Fridays at all. And he's in high demand. So I'm content to wait.
I'm able to do a few things. I bought a zero turn riding mower last week. They delivered it today and I mowed my acre and a half of grass with it. A little tricky to drive at first. But I'll get the hang of it. I started restaining/treating my deck. I did the stairs yesterday. I have to wash the top part and give it a couple days to dry. But it's something I can do sitting on a short garden stool. I can't let a little discomfort put my whole life on hold. I can't wait until fall to take care of at least some things. For treating the deck I use Ready Seal in a Pecan shade. Great product. Expensive. But for $200 a year (one 5 gallon can) it beats replacing an 18 x 30 foot deck. After treatment to deck looks like a piece of furniture for about a month before sun and rain dull the finish a little. Treat it every spring and the deck should outlive me.
Ombow, >> FB <<
I tried signing up for Facebook a few years ago, but didn't want to give them the required ID type face photo, so gave something else and they rejected it and then rejected a 2nd attempt, so I figured forget it. This was right after all the big social media sites started their big censorship drive, kicking off conservatives, etc. Facebook wanted a driver's license type face photo, obviously for their vast face scanning data base.
Anyway, I hear FB is otherwise a fun social media site, but I've never really been able to check it out. I have some college friends on there, and am also a fan of the artist Roger Dean who is on FB, but the site rejected me. But I never liked that douchebag Zuckerberg anyway lol..
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Bigworld, >> EV Revolution is falling apart <<
From the globalist perspective, a key goal with 'electric everything' is behavioral control. They can just switch off an EV remotely, and thus make a person's freedom of movement dependent upon their behavior. Pretty simple, but this will soon be redundant overkill since with the CBDC they can just switch off our use of money. So CBDC is the ultimate in behavioral control - get out of line and you can't do anything.
This type system has been rolled out in China in recent years - a CBDC combined with a 'Social Credit Score' system. Every behavior is ranked, and if your score drops too low they progressively remove your ability to travel, buy things, etc. It's the most efficient behavioral control mechanism imaginable, and all made possible by high technology. The Chinese type system is coming here, basically Orwell's 1984 on steroids. So the domestic control realm is basically 'in the bag'. They just need to keep us sheeple distracted / divided for a few more years until the CBDC is in place.
The big problem the US / West globalists are facing is international --> how to derail the rise of China-Russia-BRICS. They recently made progress in slowing BRICS expansion by getting Argentina and Saudi Arabia to back away from joining, at least for now. But this is the key 'battle field' that will determine who dominates the planet.
Imo, if the US/West continue with only the 'stick' (sanctions, de-SWIFTING', war), they will likely fail. The key appeal of BRICS expansion is coming from the 'carrot' side, with China-Russia helping emerging countries build infrastructure, power systems, ports, roads, etc. That's the main appeal of joining BRICS, and to win --> the US / West need to lay off the stick, and go more with the carrot. All stick will only drive emerging countries further into the arms of BRICS.
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Bigworld, I assume the knee analysis went well? Any timeline updates for the 2nd procedure? I can imagine you are more than ready to get back to relative normalcy :o)
My sister had her knee done Jan, and the range of motion is much improved after PT twice / week. But in March they found a blood clot in the calf, so --> Eliquis for 3 months.
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Bigworld, Here are some dividend ideas (link below). The list is in descending order, with the highest divs at the top. In the pipeline sector are TRP and ENB, and in miners I recently picked up a little RIO, and also URA and NLR in the nuclear related sector. Also lots of REITs with high divs, some utilities and others -
https://investorshub.advfn.com/Dividend-Stocks-28771
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gfp: Yes. ET. I hold it in our Roth IRAs. I don't file any K-1 returns on it. Now that I have decided to mostly retire by year end I am going to be looking to eventually sell some non dividend paying mining stocks that have underperformed. I will still retain a large chunk of my net worth in precious metals and the miners. But in our Roth IRAs I am going to concentrate on migrating into more high dividend paying companies in the energy sector, mostly in the pipeline and transfer space. The EV Revolution is falling apart. People don't want EV vehicles. They cost too much, are going to be too expensive to insure, and have serious performance problems in cold weather. So fossil fuels are not going to be replace by windmills and solar panels, especially when solar farms can be destroyed by hail storms as just happened in Texas recently. I'm looking at:
Devon Energy (DVN)
Enterprise Products Partner (EPD)
Enbridge (ENB)
The Williams Companies (WBM)
TC Energy Corp (TRP) (Canadian)
Kinder Morgan (KMI)
I also want to look to some foreign energy plays for yield and to hedge the Dollar. But I need to do more research. I figure if we load up on these higher dividend plays based off assets that are themselves an inflation hedge within our Roth IRAs we can obtain about $2,000 a month tax free to supplement our Social Security pay outs. That should give us about 100% of what I currently take home working without touching principal, at least until they cut our Social Security or inflate it away.
Hard to believe what's going on with the squatting laws in the USA . It seems rather obvious that squatting is simply stealing, but the laws are protecting the thieves.
https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/new-squatter-law-signed-florida-issue-runs-rampant-108592242
Ombow, Yes, they seem interesting enough for a modest LT position (maybe), but that's about as far as I'd go, pending additional research. $350 is my limit anyway, which effectively avoids getting into too much trouble :o) But even with $350 / stock, you still can't become cavalier in the selection process. Of my 200+ individual stocks, only a handful don't have long track records. There are some turnarounds or 'contrarian values', but these are stocks with great long term charts that have hit headwinds. Because of their strong track records, the odds are they will resume their long term uptrends.
Anyway, it's a long way from throwing big bets down on bio stocks. lol. I actually only tried that (mega bets) a few times. Once with Dendreon (DNDN), and came away with a quick $40 K gain (pure luck), and another bio stock (binary event) I luckily got out of on a Friday afternoon, right before the disappointing press release after the market close. Man, dodged a major bullet there, and that was the end for my uber gun-slinging days lol. But I still found other ways to lose money, and back then knew zero about TA / chart, so was set up to fail. Plus an overly cavalier attitude. Better off being on the paranoid side :o) As Andy Grove of Intel famously said --> 'Only the paranoid survive' -
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You don't have the correct attitude. It's not buy and pray that your stocks go up, but being guided in your decision making. I feel good enough about Joby and Archer that I would invest in them.
Ombow, More on the emotional aspects of investing, from John Bogle (video below). The traditional allocation recommendation he talks about - 65% in stocks, 35% bonds, would have me on daily Tagamet for sure lol. But everyone is different. Fwiw, I like the old rule about subtracting your age from 100, so a 70 year old would thus have a 30% stock allocation. I'm 69, and have a 28% stock allocation, so that's pretty close. But even at 28%, nervous nellies (like me) may need another way to 'stay the course' with that 28%.
Here's what I came up with --> put half (14%) in the S+P 500, and the other half in a large number of individual stocks (200) with great long term charts. Selling that many individual stocks would be too cumbersome, so that forces you to maintain a permanent 14% stock allocation. So a step in the right direction for a jumpy investor. The other 14% in the S+P 500 can be sold off quickly if necessary, sit safely cash, or alternately be used to fully hedge the individual stocks by using the 1X short ETF (SH). So having these options means the angst level is effectively controlled, and you don't feel trapped and subject of the whims of the market.
Anyway, it seems to be working, but we'll see what happens when the next financial crisis rolls around. The markets were clobbered in 2001-02, 2008. 2020, 2022, so maybe we are due for a period of relatively smooth sailing (?) Who knows, but it helps to have a simple strategy in place to hedge if / when things really come unglued again. So angst controlled allows --> 'stay the course'.
An alternative that I notice a lot of older I-Hubbers are using, is to not be in the stock market at all. With cash/ money markets paying 4-5%, this strategy can be attractive. For me though, I experience considerable angst when the market goes up and I'm sitting 100% in cash, and that angst is actually even worse than being long through the market's inevitable fluctuations. So.. I figure the key is to find the right balance.
I'm not talking about betting the farm on it.
Ombow, The 'buy and pray' approach would be another way to deal with the angst aspect of investing, so whatever works. But I doubt the Creator would condone gambling on small cap tech stocks for the excitement and lure of easy / fast riches.
With the emotional side, Buffett says this is the biggest challenge investors face. More than intellectual ability, investors have to control their temperament -
Ombow, Lol. I wasn't much of an athlete, but decent at tennis and skiing.
With investing, taking a large position assumes that you know A LOT about the company, sector, competitive landscape, and can analyze financial statements, etc. So in other words, you have to be like Warren Buffett --> an uber brainiac who reads 500 pages/day. So that obviously rules us out. The alternative is extreme diversification (S+P 500), and also figuring out a way to manage one's own temperament / emotions enough to 'stay the course'.
In 1 minute (video below), Buffett explains why investors like us need - 1) extreme diversification, and 2) should not trade. Concentration is only for people who really know what they're doing, and can accurately and consistently analyze businesses. Face it, that's not us -
I guess I don't get the angst you get. I have faith in God.
What sports were you good at? Hopscotch? Hide and seek?
I'm thinking of going big or going home. I used to hit the long ball in baseball/softball.
Ombow, >> when to build a position <<
That's another advantage with small positions. You still want the timing reasonably right, but since these would be long term buy/holds, the exact timing is less critical.
Personally I've been sticking with more established companies that have nice longer term charts. It's harder to find small companies like that, but they are out there. Here's my list, by market cap (link below). There are 12 stocks with market caps between 1 and 5 bil, and 31 stocks between 5-10 bil, so plenty to choose from. I own them all, albeit small positions -
https://investorshub.advfn.com/Buy-Hold-Stocks-42434
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The question is when to build positions in these stocks. I don't think that it is an auspicious time to buy in the immediate future.
Ombow, Looking at that list, Joby and Archer look like the obvious choices. Eve Holding is already a subsidiary of Embraer, and Ehang is Chinese. In Europe there is Lilium (Germany) and Vertical Aerospace (UK), but these are considerably smaller than Joby and Archer.
Anyway, at first glance it looks like splitting an investment between Joby and Archer might have the best odds. My limit is a laughable $350 per individual stock (sometimes $500), so basically just 'play money'. Big positions, forget it (imo).
For me 'angst avoidance' is a big criteria for several reasons - 1) The key to making money in the stock market is to own quality and hold long term, and too much angst is the enemy of 'staying the course'. 2) Angst is not only unpleasant but unhealthy. It's different if you are young and want a shot at the 'big score', but once retired the key is not losing money. As Buffett says - Investing Rule #1 is - 'Don't lose money', especially for people our age. Unless you have gobs of excess $ to burn, but even then the risk is the 'slippery slope' and addictive aspect of speculation. Even mega rich guys can get hooked on the thrill of gambling and end up broke. Best to adhere to the ancient maxim --> 'Nothing to excess'. Small positions are fun, no ulcers, AND the results are better :o)
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