Wednesday 12th October 2022

From a friend:

When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, it was one dictatorship ruled by a madman invading another dictatorship ruled by yet another madman.

But it has been said that though Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, he ended up fighting the Russian people. That made all the difference.

Aside from Moscow (which Hitler literally planned to level and turn into a lake if he had captured it), the city the Little Corporal most wanted to capture was Leningrad. This city (formally St. Petersburg) was considered a birthplace of Communism and Hitler’s plan was to cut off the food supply and allow the population to starve. This was the plan even if the city was captured by Nazi forces.

But, though the German armies at first seemed likely to overrun the Soviets with ease, the Russian people soon began to fight back with unbelievable courage and tenacity. When the Germans approached Leningrad, untrained and often unarmed young men (fighting from fortifications hastily dug by civilians) held off the enemy for nearly a month. When the Germans finally broke through this defensive line, they surrounded Leningrad and cut off supplies, but were unable to actually capture the city. For 27 MONTHS, the starving population fought tooth and nail. Russian casualties in Leningrad were higher than the combined casualties for the Americans and the British during the entire war. 800,000 of the 1.5 million Russian casualties were civilians.

But Leningrad held and was relieved by the Soviet Army in late January of 1944. Along with the battle of Stalingrad, weapons and supplies delivered by the Allies and the Russian winters, it was one of the major factors leading to the defeat of the Nazi armies on the Eastern front.

A commenter replied: Interesting, especially considering that I read this portion of text, written DURING that war, just yesterday. From Isabel Paterson’s “The God of The Machine“ (1943) is an absolutely fabulous book! How is it we all know about Ayn Rand and Rose Wilder Lane, yet it seems so few have ever heard of Isabel? It starts off a bit difficult to get into (almost boring, in a way), but once she gets going... ...look out!

Because a big part of life is routine and mundane. The 4 Ss (Shit, Shower, Shave and Shampoo), meal preparation, eating, cleaning afterwards, washing the laundry, hanging it out, bringing it in, folding and transporting it, shopping, exercising the body, housework, yard work, carrying out the trash, getting to and from work, work itself for most people.

In fact, I have heard it said that most people’s lives lack enough drama. Probably one reason for the success of movies.

You can go through life resenting it or, as I see it, there are two solutions.
1. Stop resenting it and start enjoying everything you do for the satisfaction you get from doing it. After all, many cannot do what you resent doing and would love to be able to do it.

2. Get really, REALLY good at what you do best so you can make a bucketload of money and hire others to do what you do not want to do.

I keep posting this to remind myself what great minds encourage me to focus my attention and efforts on achieving.

A mantra I have for myself and my business, "purity, density and diversity". Purity Have your food as clean as possible, no GMOs, organic, (no pesticides, herbicides, no artificial flavours, colours, taste enhancers). Density Eat foods that are not empty calories but nutrient dense. Diversity Eat as wide a variety of foods as possible.

The highest capability of a being is knowingness. That is knowing without dependency on data or even observation, one just knows. This has been given the label "gut feeling", probably because many emotions manifest in gut reactions.

When Vladimir Putin announced the twin goals of the Special Military Operation in February–i.e., demilitarization and denazification–it sounded strangely familiar. Well there is a reason for that. At the end of World War II, the UK, the US and Russia reached an agreement at Potsdam. Not surprisingly, it was called the Potsdam Agreement.

[D]uring the Potsdam Conference, on 30 July 1945, the Allied Control Council was constituted in Berlin to execute the Allied resolutions (the “Four Ds“):

Denazification of the German society to eradicate Nazi influence
Demilitarization of the former Wehrmacht forces and the German arms industry; however, the circumstances of the Cold War soon led to Germany’s Wiederbewaffnung including the re-establishment of both the Bundeswehr and the National People’s Army
Democratization, including the formation of political parties and trade unions, freedom of speech, of the press and religion
Decentralization resulting in German federalism, along with disassemblement as part of the industrial plans for Germany. Dismantling was stopped in West Germany in 1951 according to the Truman Doctrine, whereafter East Germany had to cope with the impact alone.

Putin’s reiteration of the Denazification and Demilitarization principles established from the 1945 Potsdam Conference is not just some quaint tip of the hat to history. He was laying down a marker to the United States and United Kingdom that the agreement reached at Potsdam in 1945 is still relevant and valid.

The Russians have good reason to be angry that the West failed to carry through on denazifying Germany. Very few of the Nazi men and women involved in carrying out the war against the Soviet Union and implementing the extermination of the Jews of Poland, Ukraine and Russia were tried and convicted of war crimes. In fact, prominent Nazis remained in power in the “new” Germany.

This is SO true. Likewise confidence follow competence follows action.

THAT’S a REALL kicker isn’t it? You have to DO BEFORE you feel motivated or have confidence. I guess that’s why most folks live lives of quiet desperation.

To avoid that, pick something you LOVE to do and get REALLY good at it. I’d be VERY surprised if income did not follow.

"The thing that bothered me the most was when I had to return to the public eye in ’95 or ’96 when my husband died. We lived a very simple lifestyle in a more reclusive way in which he was king of our domain. I don’t drive, I didn’t have much of an income, and without him, I had to find a way of making a living. Besides working in a bookstore, the only thing I knew how to do was to make records—or to write poetry, which isn’t going to help put your kids through school. But when I started doing interviews, people kept saying “Well, you didn’t do anything in the 80s,” and I just want to get Elvis Presley’s gun out and shoot the television out of their soul. How could you say that? The conceit of people, to think that if they’re not reading about you in a newspaper or magazine, then you’re not doing anything. I’m not a celebrity, I’m a worker. I’ve always worked. I was working before people read anything about me, and the day they stopped reading about me, I was doing even more work. And the idea that if you’re a mother, you’re not doing anything—it’s the hardest job there is, being a mother or father requires great sacrifice, discipline, selflessness, and to think that we weren’t doing anything while we were raising a son or daughter is appalling. It makes me understand why some human beings question their worth if they’re not making a huge amount of money or aren’t famous, and that’s not right. My mother worked at a soda fountain. She made the food and was a waitress and she was a really hard worker and a devoted worker. And her potato salad became famous! She wouldn’t get potato salad from the deli, she would get up at five o’clock in the morning and make it herself, and people would come from Camden or Philly to this little soda fountain in South Jersey because she had famous potato salad. She was proud of that, and when she would come home at night, completely wiped out and throwing her tip money on the table and counting it, one of her great prides was that people would come from far and wide for her potato salad. People would say, “Well, what did your mother do? She was a waitress?” She served the people, and she served in the way that she knew best." Via Alan Light interview in Medium Thanks Thatericalpter.com Photo by Frank Stefanko

Make time to watch and SHARE this 15 minute video that outlines how the CBDC cashless system works. It also explains how your spending often sits as ’pending’ in your account when doing an electronic transaction.

A friend asked what we can do about this. I replied:

Have reserves of food and physical “cash recoverable” items. Things that in an emergency you can trade like cigarettes, coffee, lighters, bandaids, batteries, antibiotics etc.

Have some gold and silver coins that can be traded if required. You can buy some at www.abcbullion.com.au and they have a sister company where you can store it securely.

Start growing your own fruit and vegetables etc. I got some seeds from Brian at www.AussieGardener.com.au

Keep getting more people up to a level of awareness and responsibility where they can affect their environment positively.

It is not for nothing Bill Gates has been getting out of cash and into physical assets. He is now the largest landholder of US farmland, and Jeff Bezos I heard has less than 5% of his assets in cash.

Until next time,
dream big dreams,
plan out how to achieve them,
be continually executing your plans,
enlist people to your causes,
travel and/or read widely, preferably both,
all the while observing what you observe
rather than thinking what you are told to think,
think well of your fellow man,
take time to help your fellow man,
he sorely needs it and it will help you too,
eat food that is good for your body,
exercise your body,
take time to destress,
and do the important things
that make a difference -
they are rarely the urgent ones!

Most of the content herein has been copied from someone else. Especially the images. My goodness some people are talented at creating aesthetics! The small bits that are of my creation are Copyright 2006-2022 © by Tom Grimshaw - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. Also for entertainment and educational purposes. All rights to the original works go to those that hold them, no copyright infringement intended. All material used falls under fair use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998). (for commentary, criticism, education and satire)

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