@98 james

Nature seems to know what’s going on without any calendars at all !

Posted by: Ornot | Dec 22 2025 3:46 utc | 103

song for the moment – dancing madly backwards…  prog rock fans will dig it.. 

Posted by: james | Dec 22 2025 3:56 utc | 105

William Gruff @ 71

Merry X-mas everyone!

Spell out Christ, you Christ-hater.  This “X” was made up by Christ-hating Jews (tautology) so they don’t have to write a name they revile, It’s not funny, it’s not merry, it’s a big F*** YOU to every Christian, just randomly thrown out there.  What does that say about you?
Posted by: CalDre | Dec 22 2025 1:33 utc | 93
 
It was the Christian church that renamed the Christian unnamed God to Jehovah in the 1600s, the New Testament at no point ever names the Christian God as the Jewish Jehovah, so why the change? Perhaps you might look more to the church itself about Judaic subservience…
 
In fact why was the Jewish Old Testament included into the Christian Bible at all in the 300s?

Posted by: Organic | Dec 22 2025 4:23 utc | 107

wagelaborer 99

Gosh, you seem nice. Do you attribute that to your religion?

And what do you think is my religion?  And just b/c I disapprove of wanton, irrelevant anti-Christian hate I’m not nice in your world?  People who are a**holes deserve to be called out for it. 
Let me guess:  you are one of the haters too?

Posted by: CalDre | Dec 22 2025 5:27 utc | 109

Organic 107

In fact why was the Jewish Old Testament included into the Christian Bible at all in the 300s?

The money-changers bribed the Romans to include their satanic trash in Christianity at the Council of Nicea?

Posted by: CalDre | Dec 22 2025 5:31 utc | 111

Given the utter bankruptcy of the Nobel Peace Prize, I hope the Leo Tolstoy Peace Prize ousts it. 
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 21 2025 23:44 utc | 89

 
————
 
No doubt about the status of the prize funded by the dynamite patent holder… mostly peaceful dynamite though.
 
The similar irony with Tolstoy was the marriage of one of General Mikhail Kutuzov’s daughters to the Tolstoy family, who then inherited his estates:
 

He had five daughters with his spouse Princess Catherine Ilytchina Kutuzova née Bibikova (1754–1824); his only son Nicolay died of smallpox as an infant. As he had no male heir, his estates passed to the Tolstoy family, as his eldest daughter, Princess Praskovya Kutuzova (1777–1844), had married Count Matvei Fyodorovich Tolstoy (1772–1815).

 
Perhaps that is one reason why Tolstoy’s portrayal of Kutuzov in “War and Peace” was so flattering and bordered on hagiography.

Posted by: Fool Me Twice | Dec 22 2025 5:38 utc | 113

Double Bubble, Boil and Trouble
 
Gold is over $4400 in Singapore and DOW futures are hovering just above starting position.
 
Will a bifurcation be allowed to occur between precious metals and equity offerings or will the God Of Mammon cult keep the kabuki going longer?
 
Is one of the geopolitical dominoes falling and we don’t know about it yet?…the fog of our civilization war.
 
 
Sure is interesting to watch but I feel for those affected by the empire jackboot perfidy.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 22 2025 5:48 utc | 115

CalDre | Dec 22 2025 5:27 utc | 110
 
“And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?” ~ …
 
 

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 22 2025 6:09 utc | 117

juliania 113
I will add, just in case you are just completely clueless, the Greek “Χ” is “ch” in English, not “X”.  And in Greek, Christmas is “Χριστούγεννα”, not the insulting, derisive, Christ-hating non-word you so enthusiastically embrace.

Posted by: CalDre | Dec 22 2025 7:29 utc | 119

And what do you think is my religion?  And just b/c I disapprove of wanton, irrelevant anti-Christian hate I’m not nice in your world?  People who are a**holes deserve to be called out for it. Let me guess:  you are one of the haters too?
Posted by: CalDre | Dec 22 2025 5:27 utc | 110
 
************
 
So… you hate hatred?
 
I know exactly how you feel. The only thing I cannot tolerate is intolerance.
 

Posted by: General Factotum | Dec 22 2025 9:01 utc | 121

A monatery sovereign that issues its own currency cannot go bankrupt

A Insolvency Crisis does not equal bankruptcy. For example the last Federal insolvency crisis was in 1984-85.  result was the Plaza Accords and a 50% Devaluation of the dollar. 
This time will be much worse. 

Posted by: Exile | Dec 22 2025 9:10 utc | 123

is it due the change in calendars that the orthodox celebrate at a different time

Julian vs  Gregorian Calendar ( they differ in fine adjust : leap year and leap day placement )
over time the date frames diverge. Same for some other calendar systems.

Posted by: MAKK | Dec 22 2025 9:50 utc | 125

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 21 2025 23:12 utc | 87 
Thank you for your kind reply. I fear I am starting to suffer from DTS – Deranged Trump Syndrome. I support loading both houses of Congress with Democrats and doing an impeachment that sticks (an exorcism as well, to be sure). Withhold any personal protection until he pays for all the damage he caused to the iconic White House. His ‘Presidential Library’ should be limited to a small utility closet somewhere large enough for a copy of Art of the Deal  and his Presidential portrait to be kept there. 
 
I suspect you could find an article in The New Yorker of a letter sent to it. I no longer recall the date but it may be in the early 1970’s, the title something like ‘A Letter from Odessa (or some other Ukrainian location)’, reporting by an official on the reasoning behind Khrushchev ‘s transfer of Novorossian territory to Ukraine and the conditions attached to the transfer of Crimea as well. It is the best source of that information I am aware Sorry I have lost track of greater detail that might help find it but The New Yorker is an archive of great importance contemporary to many historical events that the MSM has failed to record accurately. This is true up to the time The New Yorker lost the run of itself with the Clintons and  TDS. After that it turned into linning for a cat litter box (but the cartoons still excel).
 
Posted by: juliania | Dec 21 2025 23:42 utc | 89 
I am afraid my reply might be too scientific but james had it almost correct had he placed the first full moon AFTER the Spring Equinox and on the first Sunday following. And yes, it was based on the lunar calendar applied to the Julian calendar formulation. By the time of the Gregorian Calendar, the dates had shifted about a fortnight off (wikipedia  can fill in the accurate info). All the best for the Holidays ahead. 

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Dec 22 2025 11:30 utc | 127

CalDre: I can think of several points on which Gruff merits a stiff rejoinder, but this ain’t one of them. Plenty of decent Christians use “Xmas” as an abbreviation, and I don’t think they intend disrespect toward their savior thereby. And besides, “Christ” was never even the guy’s name; it’s an epithet in a language he never spoke.
 
re “pepe”: We’ve seen this troll countless times before, and his attacks on juliania are beneath contempt. Let’s hope the site owner gets around to a cleanup.

Posted by: malenkov | Dec 22 2025 12:22 utc | 129

the third ship that the USA is attempting to seize has been having conflicting reports on its actual status, with the latest news describing the USA as “actively pursuing”.
hearing murmurs that there are foreign troops on board.
can anyone confirm this ?

Posted by: ryanggg | Dec 22 2025 13:56 utc | 131

ChatNPC@93…..working like clockwork, is the best system to increase the amount of taxes collected, increasing the amount of time one has to oneself, you know, for plotting far off Imperial adventures…..
 
Cheers M 
 
 

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Dec 22 2025 14:37 utc | 133

of our first Jewish president, from Girardi:

If anyone doubts that Israel and its various instruments own Trump, it would only take a review of Donald’s participation at the recent White House Hanukkah Party. Fox News host arch Israel Firster Mark Levin hailed President Donald Trump as “the first Jewish president” during the reception on Tuesday. Speaking to a crowd of supporters at the gathering, Trump invited Levin to “say a couple of words.” “Come here. And these people do like Israel,” the president remarked. Levin embraced Trump before shouting, “And he loves Israel too!” Levin then proceeded to hail Trump as the first Jewish president recalling how “Six years ago, I was up here, and I said this is our first Jewish president” and Trump replied, “It’s true.” Levin continued, “Now he’s the first Jewish president to serve two non-consecutive presidencies. We thank you for everything.” Interestingly, Levin aside, it has been plausibly asserted that Trump is indeed the first Jewish president, having converted in 2017, a possibility that has been certainly supported by his servile behavior towards the Jewish state during his time in office.

https://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/a-battered-america-awaits-trumps-next-move/

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Dec 22 2025 14:55 utc | 135

On the other hand

Trump’s new Greenland envoy takes his position ‘to make Greenland a part of the US’
‘This in no way affects my position as Governor of Louisiana!’

https://t.me/rtnews/126774

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 22 2025 15:37 utc | 137

If Gabbard really believes that drivel it merely suggests she has no central nervous system. The notion that this war mongering is because of opposition to Trump’s hypothetical push for peace is partisan hackery. 
Posted by: steven t johnson | Dec 21 2025 20:05 utc | 74
What Gabbard said are just lies they are not delusions.
Trump and Gabbards fake anti-war stance and fake pro-Russia stance is intended to get the Trump-haters to support a pro-Ukraine-war and anti-Russian position.  I’m not talking about getting the Western elites to support a pro-war and anti-Russian stance. They are already on board and have been for decades. The idea is to get the Western masses to support the war and hate Russia by creating the illusion that Trump is against it. 
 
What the Western elites believe is needed in Ukraine is warm bodies to go to Ukraine that are willing to fight and die and their populations willing to make sacrifices for the war.  They understand that the only effective propaganda instrument they have at their disposal is Trump. There is nothing else is going to ever get 10’s of millions of people in Europe and the US to get behind the Ukraine war and to hate Russia like having Trump against it. 
 
If Trump had lost the election a year ago support for arming and funding Ukraine would have fallen off a cliff. Instead Trump has turned that around. 
 

Posted by: jinn | Dec 22 2025 15:50 utc | 139

Jinn@1550:  Your screed strikes me as hinging on the terminally confused.  Trump does not have agency.  He is Not The Man. He takes orders from the financial elite, like all good servants.
 
 Awakening people will not volunteer to give up their lives for a failing attempt by the string-pullers in City of London, Basel and NYC/Wall $treet to gobble up Russian resources,while slicing it up into small neofeudal statelets, closely monitored and controlled from behind the scenes.
 
Do yurself a favor.  Take out all the Boobtoobs from your residence and bring them to a deserted gravel pit.  Be sure to bring along a shotgun, for dedicated target practice.  Over time, that escape from Boobtoob Noose, will free up your mind from the control matrix.

Posted by: aristodemos | Dec 22 2025 16:07 utc | 141

@ Nobody Special | Dec 22 2025 16:19 utc | 142
 
that is a very interesting overview in the link you’ve provided.. thanks… 

Posted by: james | Dec 22 2025 16:23 utc | 143

“Kali Yuga”? “the risen and ascended Son of God”? They make drugs to counteract delusions, you know.
Speaking of psychosis:

Under Christianity the instincts of the subjugated and the oppressed come to the fore: it is only those who are at the bottom who seek their salvation in it. Here the prevailing pastime, the favourite remedy for boredom is the discussion of sin, self-criticism, the inquisition of conscience; here the emotion produced by power (called “God”) is pumped up (by prayer); here the highest good is regarded as unattainable, as a gift, as “grace.” Here, too, open dealing is lacking; concealment and the darkened room are Christian. Here body is despised and hygiene is denounced as sensual; the church even ranges itself against cleanliness (—the first Christian order after the banishment of the Moors closed the public baths, of which there were 270 in Cordova alone). Christian, too, is a certain cruelty toward one’s self and toward others; hatred of unbelievers; the will to persecute. Sombre and disquieting ideas are in the foreground; the most esteemed states of  mind, bearing the most respectable names, are epileptoid; the diet is so regulated as to engender morbid symptoms and over-stimulate the nerves. Christian, again, is all deadly enmity to the rulers of the earth, to the “aristocratic”—along with a sort of secret rivalry with them (—one resigns one’s “body” to them; one wants only one’s “soul”…). And Christian is all hatred of the intellect, of pride, of courage, of freedom, of intellectual libertinage; Christian is all hatred of the senses, of joy in the senses, of joy in general….

Posted by: fnord | Dec 22 2025 16:42 utc | 145

Norwegian@1537:  I’m quite confident that you are far more informed on the fact that Denmark was once quite an imperial power. Similar to the Hohenzollerns and their “customs” perch on the Rhein river; Scania was long a province of the Danish Monarchy.  In the Great Northern War, in 1644, I seem to recall; the Svear rulers of Sverige…then comprised of the Svear tribal nation and their subsidiary Gotisker folk, centered on Goteborg (Gothenburg to English only speakers)…finally defeated the Danes and conquered Scania, centering on Malmo, just across the Kattegut from Kopenhavn (Copenhagen).
 
With the loss of Scania; the Danish control over entrance and egress to and from the Baltic, was terminated.  At much the same time the Danes suffered losses in the Thirty Years War with the Imperialists under the Habsburgs…and…if recall is correct…during that same timeline, Norway suffered the loss of Varmland to the Svears.  It remains a province of Sweden to this day.
 
 My homestead is located in a township which is primarily a Varmlander island in a Norwegian sea. As recently as fifty years ago, those Varmlanders sported the cutest Scandihoovian accent one can imagine.  It was a sing-song, up and down, rhythmic presentation.  Again, if memory holds and not looking at a map,Varmland is just inland from Oppland, particularly in Oster-Toten and to a degree, Vester-Toten.  Plenty of Slektningen in both districts.  In the mid 19th century my paternal great-grandfather was the Kontrollor of the Bonder cooperative’s “Spiritfabriken”. My sister gifted me a couple years ago with a bottle of Oppland Aquavit, which I finally opened earlier this week as I was visited by a couple of friends who still retained “Scandihoovian Accidents”.  Arne commented that it had quite a kick.
 
Please excuse my poor spelling in the current Norsk language.  As two other grandparents were natives of Vest Agdir and More Nord Romsdalen…the variable accents and dialects in my Norse dominated county are a bit scrambled.
 
 While stationed in Cornwall in late 1942 and throughout ’43, my father was called into a joint commando headquarters because he spoke excellent Norsk.  They determined that both his word usage and accent would have been a proverbial red-flag to the Nazis and Quislinger, as it was obsolescent by the time of the German occupation.  No go for the commandos.  On the other hand one of his first cousins was an active member of the resistance which was quite busy in the Lake Mjosa region.
 
 Next month, should the weather not be extremely cold, my plan is to rejoin the Sonner av Norge Granlund Lodge in a nearby larger town.  As a fomer traveling antiques dealer one of my lines was a huge assortment of classical postcards, mostly dating to the early 20th Century.  I did retain my very large collection of both Norsk postkarten and stereo-view cards.  It may well be the largest such collection in northern Minnesota.  Intention is to give a talk/presentation of those old treasures. Key to the lot is a real photo of Roald Amundson’s celebratory return to his homeland after he had completed his circumnavigation of the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic.
 
 Another Norsk exploratory first, long prior to Heyerdal’s Kon-Tiki expedition, and of course as first to the South Pole.  Only the Polynesians are known as leading competitors in navigational feats.  In the European sphere, only the Portuguese and Spanish displayed the same fortitude as the Norse and the Polynesians…but perhaps not the same level of determined courage.

Posted by: aristodemos | Dec 22 2025 16:48 utc | 147

Posted by: fnord | Dec 22 2025 16:42 utc | 145  You write as if closing the public bath houses of Cordoba was a Bad Thing. But if you thought for a moment, you would realize that closing the bath houses was hygienic. It is as certain as the existence of sin that there were occasional invitations to sin in some of those institutions, of a kind not to be spoken of.  And modesty was always offended by them.*
 
*This comment supplies your RDA of irony, an essential mineral supplement.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Dec 22 2025 16:56 utc | 149

Steven T. Johnson@1656:  Seems like you maintain your cultural recidivism.  Such a pitiful display of accute ignorance and adhesion to the Kali Yuga Epoch.

Posted by: aristodemos | Dec 22 2025 17:09 utc | 151

Quietus, as posted by Laurence@1650:  One tiny quibble.  The Medieval era was one of Manuscripts, slow and tedius to longhand and written on costly materials…mostly available to the monitarily fortunate.  In 1453 or thereabouts, Johannes Gutenberg invented the first assembly line technology with his development of the printing press.  within a couple of decades, Manuscripts became obsolescent, even if beautifully illustrated as in the Irish Celtic book of Kells.
 
Something was lost in that transition.  Artistic beauty was replaced by mechanistic reproduction.  Marshall McLuhan in his monumental “Gutenberg Galaxy” pointed out that the entire reductionist,materialistic devolution began with Gutenberg’s apparatus.  Mechanistics edged out the arts.  This devolutionary deviation into monodirectionality and lack of cultural balance metastatisized via the likes of Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes and the exclusionist development of the so-called Age of Enlightment…with its scientific methodology which insisted that any phenomenon which could not be replicated by labratory examination via our five “acceptable” senses was something to be ignored.
 
 Though the hard sciences have levels of validity, the so-called “social sciences” are a pizza chit.  “Political Science” is naught but reeking bullchit.  Politics are an art and cannot be resolved as scientific.  Ditto such “disciplines” as sociology, psychology and archaeology.  No truly sensible individual would comprehend them as scientific, however scientistic they may be.
 
 Perhaps the great cultural analyst and visionary of the mid 20th Centrury was the redoubtable Lewis Mumford. In manner similar to but not directly related to the oral lore of many Turtle Island tribal nations, most particularly the Hopi people in the four-corners area in the American southwest; Mumford decries the reality that our current “culture” is massively out of balance, as mere materialism, with its greed and competive rather than cooperative ethos, in near total dominance over all the arts.
 
Poets, playwrites, musicians, theater folk, plastic and sculptural artists, are pushed over to a tight and narrow niche in public connection by means of a rabbit’s fascination with the eyes of a cobra.  Mere materialism has replaced grounded and cosmic realizations which artists of all genres understand intuitively and inspirationally.
 
 We are the canaries in the coal mine.
 
Aside from that relatively minor quibble, Quietus presents a presentable account.

Posted by: aristodemos | Dec 22 2025 17:32 utc | 153

Not gonna wax philosophical at this moment, aristo.

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 22 2025 17:39 utc | 155

“US Oil Blockade of Venezuela Pushes Cuba Into Economic Collapse”
 
https://mishtalk.com/economics/us-oil-blockade-of-venezuela-pushes-cuba-into-economic-collapse

Posted by: WMG | Dec 22 2025 18:14 utc | 157

Jinn@1550:  Your screed strikes me as hinging on the terminally confused.  Trump does not have agency.  He is Not The Man. He takes orders from the financial elite, like all good servants. Posted by: aristodemos | Dec 22 2025 16:07 utc | 141
 
Yes Trump serves at the pleasure of his masters. If that weren’t true he wouldn’t be President. He would not be even able to run…
But,
 how do you think that makes the idea that Trump  faking that he is  against the war when he clearly is not a confused idea?

Posted by: jinn | Dec 22 2025 18:55 utc | 159

Carney’s Canadian corporate crime family just got stronger…
 
Carney Names Friend and Former Investment Banker Mark Wiseman as Next US Ambassador
 
https://nationalnewswatch.com/2025/12/22/cp-newsalert-carney-names-investment-banker-mark-wiseman-as-next-u-s-ambassador
 
“Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed a [Zionist] global investment banker and pension fund manager to be Canada’s next ambassador in Washington.
 
In 2016 he became the senior managing director and global head of active equities at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. Wiseman was once touted as a possible successor to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 22 2025 21:01 utc | 161

Posted by: jinn | Dec 22 2025 18:55 utc | 159  Given that you gentlemen have somehow agreed that a billionaire in office can have no agency, could you expand the scope of your teaching? Trump has hundreds of millions of dollars, extensive political contacts and the proven ability to get publicity, all in addition to the legal powers invested in him by virtue of his office. If a man like this has no agency, who for God’s sake does? Surely you are not confusing agency with open tyranny, insisting that Trump has to openly arrest or even kill his enemies to show agency. Sometimes it seems like people think that Trump conducting himself like a card-carrying member of the ruling class somehow diminishes his authority? Does it take heads on the fence around the White House to show Trump is boss?
 
Surely you are not implying that the only people with agency are Jews or intellectuals or maybe foreigners?

Posted by: steven t johnson | Dec 22 2025 21:40 utc | 163

Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 22 2025 21:08 utc | 162
 

Even as the victims were still bleeding …

 
One can only wonder what sort of power that psycho has to compel Western politicians actually eat it in public. 
 

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 22 2025 22:22 utc | 165

I have never been more offended as a Christian than when Elon Musk changed Twitter to X! I’m a believer, and Donald Trump is a believer, so with Truth Social, I know what I’m getting. and he’s not a Harvard Jew, unlike that Meta Borg guy.

Posted by: duck n cover | Dec 22 2025 23:40 utc | 167

I think that one of the reasons that Trump is pushing China hard is because of the military rare earth restrictions that China has made and continue to not be reported on.
 
China just needs to halt shipments of products to the US until the Venezuela origin ship belonging to China is released.
 
As long as the nukes don’t fly this sort of dynamic is useful and I believe will result in the collapse of the West.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 23 2025 0:47 utc | 169

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 23 2025 0:47 utc | 169
 
This dynamic isn’t as useful as you think it is. Its a leverage pt whose effectiveness gets eroded the more you use it. The tighter the restrictions are, the higher the premiums US rare earth refiners can charge and the more money they can invest into its own capacity. As opposed to the current situation where US manufacturers are mostly dependent on China supplies, then they’d actually be crippled when total trade embargoes is enacted upon the kinetic phase of WW3. Its the same concept as the US Nvidia chip bans helping to kick start the AI chip industry in China. 
 
Venezuela is more a case of easy pickings and the US gov getting more blatant in resource theft compared to previous admins. Like Trump says – he wants the oil. Supertankers worth hundreds of millions, with cargoes worth hundreds of millions, guarded only by dozens of unarmed civilian crew, are prime targets for would be robbers.
 
The current international order is largely based on trust that this sort of thing won’t happen. That trust has now been destroyed, and the mask has been ripped off. We’re reverting to naked imperialism, where might makes right. Murder, theft, and a breakdown of law and order will become more commonplace. To prepare for the change, I’d seriously start thinking about securing firearms, food and medical supplies, and selling assets whose security is based on trust.
 

Posted by: Jules | Dec 23 2025 2:16 utc | 171

Posted by: jinn | Dec 22 2025 18:55 utc | 159  Given that you gentlemen have somehow agreed that a billionaire in office can have no agency, 
Posted by: steven t johnson | Dec 22 2025 21:40 utc | 163
 
Never said Trump had no agency. That was some other clown. who said that.
I said he got the job because TPTB approved of Trump.  The fact that he does what the bosses want doesn’t mean he has no agency. 
 
 
Trump undoubtedly wrote his own job description. For him its just another reality show where he plays himself.  TPTB liked the idea when Trump pitched it to them and they gave him a shot.  If Trump could pull in the goobers to vote for him  the job was his. 
 
The whole bullshit story that Trump wants to make friends with Russia is just a con. Russiagate was a con in Trump1.0.
In Trump2.0 its the same con all over again.  
 
 
 

Posted by: jinn | Dec 23 2025 3:24 utc | 173

Posted by: james | Dec 22 2025 15:40 utc | 138
 
james, I’m sorry, I’m tired from shopping and there’s too much sloppy external to Christianity mind flight going on within this thread now to ever extract the simple truths.  Christianity has very little to do with Saturnalia except in the fact that we only have one earth which has certain astronomical conditions such as summer, winter spring and fall!   
 
It’s common to all studies of such that they perceive by obsrvances of sun, moon, planets and stars patterns that applied to their daily lives — patterns which most of the modern world have ceased to regard as important because they have clocks and other scientific measures that tell them what they need to know about when optimum times to plant etc. pertain.  That’s obvious!  And at least in my understanding, there is respect paid to those earlier suppositions about gods and their lives, but that is already getting debunked by Plato in his dialogues!
Plato, without being a Christian, already sees that the Greek theologians (writers of poetry about the gods) were describing inhuman practises for a lot of them.  So he counseled against those corruptions, as later on did Christians (who arose first, I believe, in Antioch. )
 
I came home tonight by bus and it was dark – the largest pueblo near me had lighting all through it in many of the homes. And the church on the central dirt plaza was radiant.  But even one home with a few lights around a window signified that the feast was coming.  To a tired heart, it warmed my soul.  I’ve been to a midnight service at one of those magnificent churches.  In more freezing weather there would be a bonfire outside for us visitors to keep warm.  A catholic mass would be inside for the parishioners while we waited out in the dark.  Then a sound of tiny bells could be rythmically heard coming from the nearby kiva.  Out would come the parishioners from the church to make room for the dancers to enter and dance within the church.  It still sends chills up and down my spine to remember.

Posted by: juliania | Dec 23 2025 3:29 utc | 175

Burl Ives- Silver and Gold (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) ==> https://youtu.be/JrpLh7N67m0
 

Posted by: too scents | Dec 23 2025 4:17 utc | 177

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 23 2025 3:01 utc | 172
 
On paper there are controls, but in reality, all controls are worthless as paper once it leaves Chinese shores. 
 
US civilian importers would gladly hand over their rare earths over to the military if the military offered them 2x market price for example. Or if they are not willing, they’ll be forced to hand it over and sign a NDA for national security.
 
 
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 23 2025 3:25 utc | 174
 
See above. Note you are not building skyscrapers with rare earths. You only need a small amount as catalysts, doping agents and certain high value components. Think of it like spices, you only need small amount for its purpose.
 
It’s not impossible for US to build up capacity to produce this small amount and rip off vassal states like Japan for the rest.
 
 

Posted by: Jules | Dec 23 2025 4:26 utc | 179

@ Jules | Dec 23 2025 4:26 utc | 179 who stupidly wrote
”
See above. Note you are not building skyscrapers with rare earths. You only need a small amount as catalysts, doping agents and certain high value components. Think of it like spices, you only need small amount for its purpose.
”
 
A quick search shows

The U.S. military currently consumes on the order of 3,000–4,000 tons of rare earth magnets each year, and specific flagship platforms like the F-35 jet or Virginia-class sub each contain hundreds or thousands of pounds of rare earth materials.

 
Find another bar to torment with your intelligence

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 23 2025 4:33 utc | 181

Posted by: Jules | Dec 23 2025 4:26 utc | 179
 
####
 
The Chinese have thought of that. Anyone trying to beat the embargo will be cut off completely.
 
China is the only source, and they are leveraging that monopoly to the hilt. The only way to beat them is to produce one’s own REs. As I detailed, that is nearly a generational project and does nothing to help any currently scheduled military conflicts.
 
Also, America needs REs for cars and domestic production. China has graciously agreed to continue supplying the Big 3, but Trump knows that if he pushes too hard, they can cut that off as well.
 
You seem to think the Chinese are incompetent or that the West is competent. Both assumptions would appear to be wrong.
 
IMO, this is check and mate, and the US knows it. As Psycho indicated, it is making them mad.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 23 2025 4:45 utc | 183

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 23 2025 4:33 utc | 181
 
You should look up how much steel the US military consumes in comparison.
 
However I think you missed my point. Rare earths is an effective card but with limited usage. The goal of CN supplying the US is stop the industrial capacity from developing. Nvidia in reverse. That card they’re keeping close to their chest to be used for maximum effect only when WW3 breaks out.
 
 

Posted by: Jules | Dec 23 2025 5:07 utc | 185

US Seizure of China-Bound tanker Near Venezuela Escalates US Conflict with Beijing
 
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/11/23/imtv.d23.html
 
“…The latest seizure has escalated the US conflict with China, making clear that Washington’s renewed drive to dominate Latin America is not a retreat from the US conflict with Russia and China…”
 
The bull is in the China shop. So bring on the matadors.

Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 23 2025 5:12 utc | 187

@  juliania | Dec 23 2025 3:29 utc | 175
 
thanks juliania.. i am saying it is the connection with christmas and saturnalia, not christianity and saturnalia…. also, in reading the orthodox book by ware, i finished it earlier today, i did come across a very interesting few paragraphs on the issue of the calendar which i will share with you tomorrow…. it is too much for me to copy and paste tonight…  good night! 

Posted by: james | Dec 23 2025 5:20 utc | 189

karlof1 | Dec 23 2025 5:07 utc | 186
 
Firefox, alas. Did note the scolding English post post https://gizmodo.com/chinas-stranded-astronauts-return-home-but-its-space-station-crisis-is-far-from-over-2000686028 Brushback pitch?
 

Posted by: Laurence | Dec 23 2025 5:40 utc | 191

@  Jane | Dec 23 2025 3:51 utc | 175
this in response to the  OT topic jane and santi were having on the Ukraine: ‘The GUR said …’ thread…
 
i agree with santi jane… here is a small bit of info for you to consider.. if you do some research you can find more info on this topic the 2 of you were trying to discuss…
 
“The destruction of the bison by white settlers and the U.S. military was a deliberate strategy to undermine Indigenous nations on the Great Plains, primarily by depriving them of their primary food source, shelter, and cultural foundation. This campaign was not merely a byproduct of westward expansion but a calculated effort to force Native peoples onto reservations and dismantle their way of life. Military leaders such as General Philip Sheridan explicitly recognized that eliminating the buffalo would weaken Native resistance and make it easier to subdue them. Sheridan stated, “The best way for the government is to now make [the tribes] poor by the destruction of their stock, and then settle them on the lands allotted to them,” and famously told legislators that killing buffalo would “force Indians to change their nomadic habits”. Another army official, Lieutenant Colonel Dodge, reportedly told hunters, “Kill every buffalo you can! Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone”.”

Posted by: james | Dec 23 2025 5:47 utc | 193

@  too scents | Dec 23 2025 5:51 utc | 194
 
thanks too scents… off to read and bed.. good night… 

Posted by: james | Dec 23 2025 5:55 utc | 195

From Xinhuanet
 
Xinhua’s think tank launches new book on U.S. mind colonization, military hegemony
 

BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) — The Xinhua Institute, a think tank affiliated with Xinhua News Agency, on Monday launched a new book titled “Colonization of the Mind” in both Chinese and English during the 36th academic conference on journalism held by Xinhua News Agency.
Published by Xinhua Publishing House, the book is a compilation of two think tank reports, namely one titled “Colonization of the Mind — The Means, Roots, and Global Perils of U.S. Cognitive Warfare” and the other “Origins, Facts and Perils of U.S. Military Hegemony.”
The report on U.S. mind colonization reveals the fact that the United States has long eroded other countries’ sovereignty through ideological penetration, undermining fairness and justice in international perceptions. The report was first released during the Global South Media and Think Tank Forum 2025 on Sept. 7.
The report on U.S. military hegemony explores the ideological roots, tools, and practices of U.S. military hegemony, as well as the damage it has inflicted on global security and stability. The report was first released on Sept. 5, 2023, and was later revised in light of the latest developments before being included in the newly published book.

 
Given Trump’s example as the leader of empire I would not expect much else is needed to convince the RoW of the perfidy of the US

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 23 2025 6:23 utc | 197

The goal of CN supplying the US is stop the industrial capacity from developing. Nvidia in reverse. That card they’re keeping close to their chest to be used for maximum effect only when WW3 breaks out.
 
Posted by: Jules | Dec 23 2025 5:07 utc | 185
 
#####
 
I don’t think you understand what is going on. China doesn’t need to sabotage US development; Capitalism is doing that nicely.
 
All of the money needed for investment in expansion and development gets paid out in dividends and stock buybacks.
 
Re: WW3. The Chinese have been cutting off the US throughout the year. All of those bombs dropped on Iran and Yemen? All of those interceptor missiles used in Ukraine? Essentially irreplacable.
 
I think Col McGregor has said that the US will have to go nuclear eventually because they do not have enough conventional weapons to sustain a conflict. They are tapped out, and even if thousands of tons of REs became available tomorrow, the supply process is sufficiently behind pace to match current needs.
 
The Axis is hitting the Empire from two sides—exhausting current inventories and choking off rearmament.
 
That doesn’t even get into the fact that everyone has hypersonics and America does not. Everyone has comprehensive drone programs, and America does not.
 
Check and mate…

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 23 2025 6:44 utc | 199