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Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, ‘n Guns blog,

The future of the U.S.’s involvement in the Middle East is in Iraq. The exchange of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran occurred wholly on Iraqi soil and it has become the site on which that war will continue.

Israel continues to up the ante on Iran, following President Trump’s lead by bombing Shia militias stationed near the Al Bukumai border crossing between Syria and Iraq.

The U.S. and Israel are determined this border crossing remains closed and have demonstrated just how far they are willing to go to prevent the free flow of goods and people across this border.

The regional allies of Iran are to be kept weak, divided and constantly under harassment.

Iraq is the battleground because the U.S. lost in Syria. Despite the presence of U.S. troops squatting on Syrian oil fields in Deir Ezzor province or the troops sitting in the desert protecting the Syrian border with Jordan, the Russians, Hezbollah and the Iranian Quds forces continue to reclaim territory previously lost to the Syrian government.

Now with Turkey redeploying its pet Salafist head-choppers from Idlib to Libya to fight General Haftar’s forces there to legitimize its claim to eastern Mediterannean gas deposits, the restoration of Syria’s territorial integrity west of the Euphrates River is nearly complete.

The defenders of Syria can soon transition into the rebuilders thereof, if allowed. And they didn’t do this alone, they had a silent partner in China the entire time.

And, if I look at this situation honestly, it was China stepping out from behind the shadows into the light that is your inciting incident for this chapter in Iraq’s story.

China moving in to sign a $10.1 billion deal with the Iraqi government to begin the reconstruction of its ruined oil and gas industry in exchange for oil is of vital importance.

It doubles China’s investment in Iraq while denying the U.S. that money and influence.

This happened after a massive $53 billion deal between Exxon-Mobil and Petrochina was put on hold after the incident involving Iran shooting down a U.S. Global Hawk drone in June.

With the U.S balking over the Exxon/Petrochina big deal, Iraqi Prime Minster Adel Abdul Mahdi signed the new one with China in October. Mahdi brought up the circumstances surrounding that in Iraqi parliaments during the session in which it passed the resolution recommending removal of all foreign forces from Iraq.

Did Trump openly threaten Mahdi over this deal as I covered in my podcast on this? Did the U.S. gin up protests in Baghdad, amplifying unrest over growing Iranian influence in the country?

And, if not, were these threats simply implied or carried by a minion (Pompeo, Esper, a diplomat)? Because the U.S.’s history of regime change operations is well documented. Well understood color revolution tactics used successfully in places like Ukraine, where snipers were deployed to shoot protesters and police alike to foment violence between them at the opportune time were on display in Baghdad.

Mahdi openly accused Trump of threatening him, but that sounds more like Mahdi using the current impeachment script to invoke the sinister side of Trump and sell his case.

It’s not that I don’t think Trump capable of that kind of threat, I just don’t think he’s stupid enough to voice it on an open call. Donald Trump is capable of many impulsive things, openly threatening to remove an elected Prime Minister on a recorded line is not one of them.

Mahdi has been under the U.S.’s fire since he came to power in late 2018. He was the man who refused Trump during Trump’s impromptu Christmas visit to Iraq in 2018, refusing to be summoned to a clandestine meeting at the U.S. embassy rather than Trump visit him as a head of state, an equal.

He was the man who declared the Iraqi air space closed after Israeli air attacks on Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) positions in September.

And he’s the person, at the same time, being asked by Trump to act as a mediator between Saudi Arabia and Iran in peace talks for Yemen.

So, the more we look at this situation the more it is clear that Abdul Madhi, the first Iraqi prime minister since the 2003 U.S. invasion push for more Iraqi sovereignty, is emerging as the pivotal figure in what led up to the attack on General Soleimani and what comes after Iran’s subsequent retaliation.

It’s clear that Trump doesn’t want to fight a war with Iran in Iran. He wants them to acquiesce to his unreasonable demands and begin negotiating a new nuclear deal which definitively stops the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, and as Patrick Henningsen at 21st Century Wire thinks,

Trump now wants a new deal which features a prohibition on Iran’s medium range missiles, and after events this week, it’s obvious why. Wednesday’s missile strike by Iran demonstrates that the US can no longer operate in the region so long as Iran has the ability to extend its own deterrence envelope westwards to Syria, Israel, and southwards to the Arabian Peninsula, and that includes all US military installations located within that radius.

Iraq doesn’t want to be that battlefield. And Iran sent the message with those two missile strikes that the U.S. presence in Iraq is unsustainable and that any thought of retreating to the autonomous Kurdish region around the air base at Erbil is also a non-starter.

The big question, after this attack, is whether U.S. air defenses around the Ain al Assad airbase west of Ramadi were active or not. If they were then Trump’s standing down after the air strikes signals what Patrick suggests, a new Middle East in the making.

If they were not turned on then the next question is why? To allow Iran to save face after Trump screwed up murdering Soleimani?

I’m not capable of believing such Q-tard drivel at this point. It’s far more likely that the spectre of Russian electronics warfare and radar evasion is lurking in the subtext of this story and the U.S. truly now finds itself after a second example of Iranian missile technology in a nascent 360 degree war in the region.

It means that Iran’s threats against the cities of Haifa and Dubai were real.

In short, it means the future of the U.S. presence in Iraq now measures in months not years.

Because both China and Russia stand to gain ground with a newly-united Shi’ite Iraqi population. Mahdi is now courting Russia to sell him S-300 missile defense systems to allow him to enforce his demands about Iraqi airspace.

Moqtada al-Sadr is mobilizing his Madhi Army to oust the U.S. from Iraq. Iraq is key to the U.S. presence in the region. Without Iraq the U.S. position in Syria is unsustainable.

If the U.S. tries to retreat to Kurdish territory and push again for Masoud Barzani and his Peshmerga forces to declare independence Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will go ballistic.

And you can expect him to make good on his threat to close the Incerlik airbase, another critical logistical juncture for U.S. force projection in the region.

But it all starts with Mahdi’s and Iraq’s moves in the coming weeks. But, with Trump rightly backing down from escalating things further and not following through on his outlandish threats against Iran, it may be we’re nearing the end of this intractable standoff.

Back in June I told you that Iran had the ability to fight asymmetrically against the U.S., not through direct military confrontation but through the after-effects of a brief, yet violent period of war in which all U.S., Israeli and Arab assets in the Middle East come under fire from all directions.

It sent this same message then that by attacking oil tankers it could make the transport of oil untenable and not insurable. We got a taste of it back then and Trump, then, backed down.

And the resultant upheaval in the financial markets creating an abyss of losses, cross-asset defaults, bank failures and government collapses.

Trump has no real option now but to negotiate while Iraq puts domestic pressure on him to leave and Russia/China come in to provide critical economic and military support to assist Mahdi rally his country back towards some semblance of sovereignty

*  *  *

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Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

Empires are built through the creation or acquisition of wealth.

The Roman Empire came about through the productivity of its people and its subsequent acquisition of wealth from those that it invaded.

The Spanish Empire began with productivity and expanded through the use of its large armada of ships, looting the New World of its gold.

The British Empire began through localized productivity and grew through its creation of colonies worldwide – colonies that it exploited, bringing the wealth back to England to make it the wealthiest country in the world.

In the Victorian Age, we Brits were proud to say, “There will always be an England,” and “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”

So, where did we go wrong? Why are we no longer the world’s foremost empire? Why have we lost not only the majority of our colonies, but also the majority of our wealth?

Well, first, let’s take a peek back at the other aforementioned empires and see how they fared. Rome was arguably the greatest empire the world has ever seen. Industrious Romans organized large armies that went to other parts of the world, subjugating them and seizing the wealth that they had built up over generations. And as long as there were further conquerable lands just over the next hill, this approach was very effective. However, once Rome faced diminishing returns on new lands to conquer, it became evident that those lands it had conquered had to be maintained and defended, even though there was little further wealth that could be confiscated.

The conquered lands needed costly militaries and bureaucracies in place to keep them subjugated but were no longer paying for themselves. The “colonies” were running at a loss. Meanwhile, Rome itself had become very spoiled. Its politicians kept promising more in the way of “bread and circuses” to the voters, in order to maintain their political office. So, the coffers were being drained by both the colonies and at home. Finally, in a bid to keep from losing their power, Roman leaders entered into highly expensive wars. This was the final economic crippler and the empire self-destructed.

Spain was a highly productive nation that attacked its neighbours successfully and built up its wealth, then became far wealthier when it sailed west, raiding the Americas of the silver and gold that they had spent hundreds of years accumulating. The sudden addition of this wealth allowed the Spanish kings to be lavish to the people and, as in Rome, the Spanish became very spoiled indeed. But once the gold and silver that was coming out of the New World was down to a trickle, the funding for maintaining the empire began to dry up. Worse, old enemies from Europe were knocking at the door, hoping to even old scores. In a bid to retain the empire, the king entered into extensive warfare in Europe, rapidly draining the royal purse and, like Rome, the Spanish Empire self-destructed.

In the Victorian era, the British Empire was unmatched in the world. It entered the industrial revolution and was highly productive. In addition, it was pulling wealth from its colonies in the form of mining, farming and industry. But, like other countries in Europe, it dove into World War I quickly and, since warfare always diminishes productivity at home whilst it demands major expense abroad, the British Empire was knocked down to one knee by the end of the war.

Then, in 1939, the game was afoot again and Britain was drawn into a second world war. By the end of the war, it could still be said that there would always be an England, but its wealth had been drained off and, one by one, its colonies jumped ship. The days of empire were gone.

Into the breach stepped the US. At the beginning of World War I, the US took no part in the fighting, but, as it had experienced its own industrial revolution, it supplied goods, food, and armaments to Britain and her allies. Because the pound and other European currencies could not be trusted not to inflate, payment was made in gold and silver. So the US was expanding its productivity into a guaranteed market, selling at top dollar, using the profits to create larger, more efficient factories, and getting paid in gold.

Then, in 1939, it all happened again. Although the US eventually joined both wars, they did so much later than Britain and her allies. At the end of World War II, the US had a lively young workforce, as they had lost fewer men to the war. They also had modern factories, which had been paid for by other nations, that could now be used to produce peacetime goods for themselves and the rest of the world more efficiently than anyone else.

And (and this is a very big “and”) by 1945 they owned or controlled three quarters of the world’s gold, as they’d drained it away from the warring nations in the early days of the war. This allowed the US to invite the post-war leaders to Bretton Woods to explain that, as the holders of the world’s wealth, they’d dictate what the world’s default currency would be: the dollar.

But this was all threatened by the fact that, when the now-poorer nations of the world sold their goods to the US, they, too, beginning with the French, wished to be paid in gold.

And so, in the subsequent years, the gold in Fort Knox was beginning to travel back to the east, from whence it had come in previous years. In 1971, this flow was shut off, as the US, still the foremost empire, had the power to simply remove all intrinsic value from the dollar and turn it into a fiat currency. Payment in gold ended.

Fast-forward to the post-millennium era and we see that America, like the previous empires, ended its acquisition of gold after World War II, yet its people became spoiled by political leaders who promised ever-increasing bread and circuses. The productivity that led to its initial strength was dying off, and it was spending more than it was bringing in. Finally, it sought to maintain its hegemony through warfare, thereby creating a dramatic drain to its wealth.

Like other empires before it, the US is now on the verge of relinquishing the crown of empire. If there’s any difference this time around, it’s that its collapse will very likely be far more spectacular than that of previous empires. However, just as in previous collapses, those who least understand that the collapse is around the corner are those who are closest to its centre. Clearly, the majority of Americans are worried about their future yet cannot conceive of their country as a second-rate power. And those who hold the reins of that power tend to be the most deluded, delving ever-deeper into debt at an ever-faster rate, whilst expanding welfare and warfare without any concept of how it might all be paid for.

It’s understandable, therefore, that those of us who are on the outside looking in find it easier to observe objectively from afar and see the coming self-destruction of yet another empire.

As stated in the first line of this essay, “empires are built through the creation or acquisition of wealth.” They tend to end through the gradual elimination of the free-market system, the metamorphosis to a welfare state, and, finally, through the destruction of wealth through costly warfare.

Does this indicate the “end of the world”? Not at all. The world did not end with the fall of Rome, Spain, England, or any one of the many other empires. The productive people simply moved to a different geographical location—one that encourages free-market opportunity. The wealth moved with them, then grew, as the free market allowed productive people to make it grow.

Freedom and opportunity still exist and indeed flourish. All that’s changing is the locations where they are to be found.

*  *  *

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A Walmart Supercenter in Salem, New Hampshire, has been the first store to test a new kind of technology that will use robots to collect grocery items for online order fulfillment. 

Walmart is one of the largest companies in the world by revenue, with at least 2.3 million employees in the US, has seen rapid increases in labor costs that are forcing unwanted margin compression. 

The solution offered by C-suite executives has been a pilot program of automating a warehouse in Salem with the goal of deploying robots to eliminate employees and save costs.

We’re investing in the future of online grocery pickup and delivery with first-of-its-kind technology. Meet Alphabot, the system working alongside associates: https://t.co/zTwv13124M pic.twitter.com/50dWk6Alcc

— Walmart Inc. (@WalmartInc) January 8, 2020

The new robot is called Alphabot, and it’s ten times faster than a human worker – this would increase productivity in the warehouse, driving down the need for new hires during peak holiday periods when orders increase.  

Alphabot operates inside a 20,000-square-foot warehouse that retrieves refrigerated and frozen items ordered for online grocery.

Once the robot completes an order, it delivers it to a workstation, where a human checks, bags, and delivers the final order. 

Brian Roth, a senior manager of pickup automation and digital operations for Walmart, said Alphabot would transform the company’s online grocery operations in the early 2020s. 

 

“By assembling and delivering orders to associates, Alphabot is streamlining the order process, allowing associates to do their jobs with greater speed and efficiency,” Roth said. “Ultimately, this will lower dispense times, increase accuracy and improve the entirety of online grocery. And it will help free associates to focus on service and selling, while the technology handles the more mundane, repeatable tasks.”

Roth expects the robots to increase fulfillment speeds and create more convenience for customers that would rival Amazon.

Walmart said the pilot program in Salem had been underway for six months. The rollout of automating other warehouses across the country could be nearing. 

The trend in automation will undoubtedly lead to significant layoffs at Walmart through 2030. As we’ve mentioned before, automation will displace at least 20 million US jobs in the coming years.

Authored by Mike Adams via NaturalNews.com,

To those who are celebrating the death of Qasem Soleimani, I ask this simple question: How does his death make you better off in America?

The First Amendment in America is just as dead as Soleimani, and no one in government — not even Trump — is lifting a finger to defend and restore online free speech. Instead, we all remain enslaved subjects under a fanatical left-wing techno-cult that’s far more insane than Soleimani’s followers ever could have imagined. Yes, Soleimani’s body was shredded by advanced missile technology, but the free speech that once existed in America is no less eviscerated under the malicious censorship war being waged by Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Soleimani may be dead, but censorship is alive and well in America, and no one in any position of power is fighting against it.

The Pentagon said Soleimani had to be taken out because he was planning “imminent” combat operations against United States persons. Yet Big Tech has already completed its online combat operations against tens of millions of Americans, having successfully banned, demonetized, smeared, slandered and de-platformed nearly every voice that supports the very freedoms America is supposedly fighting for in the Middle East. This abundantly demonstrates the absurdity of any claim that blowing up people in Iraq or Iran somehow makes us “more free” in America. The claim that the Pentagon is “fighting for freedom” is total propaganda.

If firing missiles at Middle Eastern terrorists made America more free, I would say “fire away!” But Soleimani’s death didn’t end Jack Dorsey’s ban of conservative Twitter accounts, nor Sundar Pichai’s blacklisting of the NaturalNews.com domain from Google, and it has already become abundantly obvious that Hellfire missiles are wasted in Iraq while the real terrorists — such as Sundar Pichai — continue to operate their daily “combat operations” across the ‘net, in total violation of America’s laws and civil rights.

At least the Iranian people had the sense to mourn the death of their leader, no matter how radical his ideas may have been. Yet here in America, almost no one even recognizes they’ve already lost the very freedoms we all pretend our military is fighting for.

It’s all just glorious bulls##t.

Soleimani’s death is not a win for America. It’s a distraction from the massive, gaping losses America is suffering every day right here at home as far more dangerous techno-terrorists run their fanatical oppression schemes across the ‘net, violating the basic human rights of tens of millions of American citizens.

Big Pharma Intoxication

At the same time Soleimani’s body was blown to bits, over 100 million Americans were also taking toxic prescription drugs, including mind-altering drugs that have turned America into a zombie land of over-medicated, chemically-altered “toxizens,” ripe for mass media programming. (Because only a brain damaged zombie could watch CNN’s Brian Stelter for more than a few seconds without wanting to plunge their own head into a blender…)

No matter how much the Pentagon bombs Middle Eastern terrorists, the truth is that America’s mental health is being chemically carpet bombed every single day that Big Pharma is allowed to advertise on television, directly to consumers.

It’s insane. The FDA “legalized” direct-to-consumer advertising in 1997, and since then, Big Pharma has taken over the corporate media, the tech giants and now even retailers like Amazon.com, which is set to become America’s retail pharmacy and drone delivery giant beginning this year.

Think about it: In Iraq, drones deliver Hellfire missiles that explode on impact and destroy a nation’s terrorism network. In America, drones deliver psychiatric drugs that blow away human minds and destroy a nation’s cognitive capacity. Frankly, I’m not sure which weapon is more dangerous to society. Soleimani never poisoned the American people with FDA-approved chemical weapons that are falsely labeled “antidepressants.” And Soleimani didn’t bribe 44,000 doctors with kickbacks and free trips to motivate them to prescribe toxic, deadly drugs to patients who don’t need them.

Soleimani may be dead, but so is America if we don’t stop the mass medication scourge that’s causing widespread brain damage across our own citizens.

Soleimani didn’t kill 20 million people since January 1, 2000, but guess what? The cancer industry did.

Doctors, hospitals, pharmaceuticals and medical mistakes have killed over 15 million people in that same time frame. Yet we dare to talk about “protecting Americans” by bombing one man who couldn’t even dream of such large-scale casualties?

Big Government surveillance threatens us all

Even as Soleimani was being “Hellfired,” nothing at all was being done to hold James Comey, John Brennan and Barack Obama responsible for the outrageous criminal offenses they committed by conspiring to spy on American citizens — and even frame them — in order to try to destroy Donald J. Trump and overthrow the 2016 election.

Soleimani could have only dreamed of carrying out the kind of treasonous crimes against America that were successfully achieved by Comey, Brennan and Obama, among others. (Oh, and should I even mention how Soleimani was Obama’s best friend in the Iran nuke deal that turned out to be a complete hoax anyway?)

Not only did this cabal of deep state traitors carry out deliberate, malicious crimes of illegal surveillance right here at home; Obama actually gave Iran $150 billion to fund their terrorism programs. That included $1.8 billion in physical cash that was stacked on pallets and flown on military cargo planes, delivered directly to Iran. Guess who was the key person in the center of the nuke deal negotiations, by the way? Soleimani, of course. He was Obama’s co-conspirator to transfer cash from the United States to Iran as a way to re-launch Iran’s nuclear weapons development program while funding terrorism on the side.

Yet no handcuffs have been placed on Obama, nor will they ever be, most likely. So illegal surveillance, money laundering and directly funding America’s foreign enemies is somehow okay in America? Are we supposed to clap like ignorant morons when Trump strikes a Middle Eastern terrorist but completely ignore the far more dangerous terrorist who used to occupy the White House?

And if this illegal surveillance — authorized by a corrupt FISA court — is not halted and outlawed in America, then aren’t all of us subject to the same sinister surveillance methods that were used against Trump?

Soleimani may be dead, but no one in America has been held accountable for the crimes of sedition and treason that were deliberately carried out against this nation and our elections process.

Killing Soleimani didn’t stop the deep state here in America, in other words. And that means we’re all still vulnerable to the unaccountable criminal activity that continues to be carried out by outright traitors like Schiff, Nadler, Pelosi and others.

Bombing foreign terrorists is as stupid as punching a corpse and screaming “Victory!”

We’re told by everyone that Soleimani “was a bad guy” who “killed thousands of Americans.”

The exact same thing could be said about the CEOs of the pharmaceutical companies, by the way. Or the CEOs of tech giants, whose malicious censorship actions now deliberately suppress lifesaving information about nutritional cures and anti-cancer foods that could save countless lives every year in America.

If our criteria for who gets bombed has now come down to justifying sudden terminations of bad guys “who killed thousands of Americans,” then theoretically shouldn’t abortion centers be at the top of such a list? Abortion was the leading cause of death in America for all of 2019, and while I don’t wish any violence on abortionists, they quite overtly wish violence — and carry out violence — against innocent human children, both born and unborn.

So Trump kills Soleimani and neocons celebrate, all while Planned Parenthood murders human babies while the Left celebrates. Slap me if I’m off track here, but I still fail to see how anyone is “winning” in all this.

“…[B]efore Trump’s obsession with attacking Iran, the past four US Administrations lied ceaselessly to bring about wars on Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Serbia, Somalia, and the list goes on,” writes Ron Paul at RonPaulInstitute.org. “At some point, when we’ve been lied to constantly and consistently for decades about a “threat” that we must “take out” with a military attack, there comes a time where we must assume they are lying until they provide rock solid, irrefutable proof. Thus far they have provided nothing. So I don’t believe them.”

America is falling into the abyss of fanaticism and foolishness

The problems in our world today are characterized by too much blood, too much political fanaticism and too much government. We are all living under the thumb of senseless tribalism, political posturing and stupefying incompetence at every level of government itself. And the people running Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Government are irrational, insane, fanatical lunatics who value nothing but their own power and profit.

The radical Left celebrates infanticide, just as the radical right celebrates blowing up terrorists on the tarmac. Meanwhile, America is falling into the abyss of mass medication, techno-fascism and government tyranny, all while everyone is too distracted by Hollywood loon bags to notice we’ve already lost the war for freedom.

If Trump thinks this is making America great again, then we’re in worse trouble than I thought. America is no better off today than it was last week, and the priorities of not just Trump but seemingly everyone in Washington D.C. are so out of whack with reality that we stare in awe and wonder what planet these people think they’re on. (Oh, and in addition to Hunter Biden collecting millions from Burisma, Chelsea Clinton reportedly bagged $9 million for sitting on the board of some venture capital firm, once again proving that incompetence pays in Washington.)

Hasn’t America already achieved energy independence thanks to all the fracking? So why are we still meddling in the Middle East and wondering why their people kill our soldiers when we are occupying their land with a foreign military presence? If Iran sent troops to occupy America’s cities, you can bet every patriot in America would be targeting them with any weapon at hand. Why are we surprised when the people of other nations carry out acts of violence against our soldiers who occupy their lands?

The hypocrisy in all this is beyond insane. Maybe instead of fighting a war with Iran to prove who has the biggest missiles, we should just bring the troops back home and let the Middle East solve its own problems, which go all the way back to the Old Testament days of the Bible, by the way. There is no solution in the Middle East that’s ever going to come from a Western military force anyway, and those who pretend such solutions exist are laughably delusional.

If we restore freedom, real justice and the rule of law in America, then maybe we’ve earned the right to meddle in other nations’ problems, having proven we are really good at making nations great again. But until that day comes, every dollar spent on foreign interventions is a dollar that isn’t spent here at home, materially impacting the lives of everyday American people who are losing their jobs, their livelihoods, their communities and even their sanity because no one in Washington gives a crap about real America anymore.

That is why we suffer, folks.

At least Soleimani’s suffering is over. For the rest of us, we have to endure this persistent madness until the big collapse mercifully arrives.

Yellowstone’s Steamboat geyser is the world’s tallest currently active geyser and it has been really active lately.

In 2019, it counted 48 eruptions, according to the USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. As Statista’s Katharina Buchholz details, this number by far surpassed the previous record set in 2018 of 32 eruptions.

You will find more infographics at Statista

The last time the geyser was remotely this active was in 1964, when it counted 29 eruptions. Records published on the National Park Service website go back as far as 1878, also showing that the geyser has in the past gone years without erupting even a single time.

“Yellowstone’s thermal areas are the surface expression of the deeper magmatic system, and they are always changing,” R. Greg Vaughan, a research scientist with USGS, wrote.

“They heat up, they cool down, and they can move around.” And Yellowstone has undergone some changes as of late, such as the eruption of Ear Spring, and the newly active Steamboat Geyser.

A geyser is a vent through which hot water and steam from below the Earth’s surface can erupt. According to geology.com, geysers are extremely rare phenomena that only occur when many conditions are met. As a result there are only about 1000 geysers in the world. Generally, a geyser forms if water accumulates underground in the proximity of magma, is heated up quickly and ejected onto the surface as steam.

Michael Poland, the scientist in charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, said the irregularity of Steamboat is just “a geyser being a geyser.” Poland added: “Steamboat clearly has a mind of its own “and right now it’s putting its independence on display.”

Authored by Michael Averko via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

There’ve been ongoing propaganda pieces that skirt over some inconvenient realities, for those seeking to unfairly admonish Russia in the Olympic movement.

One case in point is the January 2 Reuters article “Use 1992 Yugoslavia Precedent for Russians in Tokyo – Historian“. With a stated “some Russians“, that article suggestively under-represents the actual number of 2018 Russian Winter Olympians at Pyeongchang, while supporting a hypocritically flawed aspect, having to do with Yugoslavia in 1992.

The downplaying of Russian participation at Pyeongchang, is seemingly done to spin the image of many Russian cheats being kept out. At the suggestion of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) closely vetted Russians for competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics. In actuality, the 2018 Russian Winter Olympic participation wasn’t so off the mark, when compared to past Winter Olympiads – something which (among other things) puts a dent into the faulty notion that Russia should be especially singled out for sports doping.

At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Russia had its largest ever Winter Olympic contingent of 232, on account of the host nation being allowed a greater number of participants. The 168 Russian Winter Olympians at Pyeongchang is 9 less than the Russians who competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Going back further, Russian Winter Olympic participation in 2006 was at 190, with its 2002 contingent at 151, 1998 having 122 and 1994 (Russia’s first formal Winter Olympic appearance as Russia) 113.

The aforementioned Reuters piece references a “historian“, Bill Mallon, who is keen on using the 1992 Summer Olympic banning of Yugoslavia (then consisting of Serbia and Montenegro) as a legitimate basis to ban Russia from the upcoming Summer Olympics. In this instance, Alan Dershowitz’s periodic reference to the “if the shoe is on the other foot” test is quite applicable. Regarding Mallon, “historian” is put in quotes because his historically premised advocacy is very much incomplete and overly propagandistic.

For consistency sake and contrary to Mallon, Yugoslavia should’ve formally participated at the 1992 Summer Olympics. The Olympic banning of Yugoslavia was bogus, given that the IOC and the IOC affiliated sports federations didn’t ban the US and USSR for their respective role in wars, which caused a greater number of deaths than what happened in 1990s Bosnia. The Reuters article at issue references a United Nations resolution for sanctions against Yugoslavia, without any second guessing, in support of the preference (at least by some) to keep politics out of sports as much as possible.

Mallon casually notes that Yugoslav team sports were banned from the 1992 Summer Olympics, unlike individual Yugoslav athletes, who participated as independents. At least two of the banned Yugoslav teams were predicted to be lead medal contenders.

Croatia was allowed to compete at the 1992 Summer Olympics, despite that nation’s military involvement in the Bosnian Civil War. During the 1992 Summer and Winter Olympics, the former USSR participated in individual and team sports as the Unified Team (with the exception of the three former Soviet Baltic republics, who competed under their respective nation). With all this in mind, the ban on team sports from Yugoslavia at the 1992 Summer Olympics, under a neutral name, appears to be hypocritical and ethically challenged.

BS aside, the reality is that geopolitical clout (in the form of might making right), is what compels the banning of Yugoslavia, unlike superpowers engaged in behavior which isn’t less egregious. Although a major world power, contemporary Russia lacks the overall geopolitical influence of the USSR. Historian Stephen Cohen and some others, have noted that post-Soviet Russia doesn’t get the same (for lack of a better word) respect accorded to the USSR. This aspect underscores how becoming freer, less militaristic and more market oriented doesn’t (by default) bring added goodwill from a good number of Western establishment politicos and the organizations which are greatly influenced by them.

On the subject of banning Russia from the Olympics, Canadian sports legal politico Dick Pound, continues to rehash an inaccurate likening with no critical follow-up. (An exception being yours truly.) Between 2016 and 2019, Pound references the Olympic banning of South Africa, as a basis for excluding Russia. South Africa was banned when it had apartheid policies, which prevented that country’s Black majority from competing in organized sports. Russia has a vast multiethnic participation in sports and other sectors.

As previously noted, the factual premise to formally ban Russia from the Olympics remains suspect. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is set to review Russia’s appeal to have the recommended WADA ban against Russia overturned, as Western mass media at large and sports politicos like Pound continue to push for a CAS decision against Russia.

In a move that’s seemingly unprecedented in the history of American organized crime, a gangster-turned-government witness has published an open letter to his former criminal associates, warning them that if they’re thinking about trying to whack him, they should probably reconsider – for their own sake.

Former Genovese family soldier Michael “Cookie” D’Urso penned the letter, which was first shared with Gang Land News, a premium site that aggregates news about the American Mafia. D’Urso addressed the letter to several ‘former associates’ who were ‘overheard’ by law enforcement sources discussing D’Urso’s new identity and whereabouts.

First, some background: D’Urso was a mob soldier in the early 1990s when he survived a bullet to the head, allegedly fired over a gambling debt during a late-night card game at a social club in Williamsburg. One of his cousins was killed in the incident, but D’Urso survived.

D’Urso, more than 20 years ago

He took it on the chin when his Genovese bosses forbade him from retaliating for the shooting. But it wasn’t until he caught wind that then-acting Genovese boss Farby Serpico had threatened to have him whacked that he decided to turn state’s witness, becoming one of only a handful of Genovese family members who have violated their oath of secrecy.

His testimony eventually helped the Fed’s jail more than 70 mob members and associates, including the current Genovese boss Liborio Bellomo.

Of course, all that was more than 20 years ago. D’Urso, now 49, has been living under a new identity provided by the witness protection program since then.

But, as he acknowledged in the letter, D’Urso still ventures into his old neighborhood from time to time. It’s during these visits that he warned any passing wiseguys should think twice if they think they’re going to boost their rep by taking D’Urso out.

In his letter, D’Urso insists that those who “know him” understand that he only cooperated to save his own life from being taken out by rivals for whom he had no respect, and that he would have done “100 years” in prison “for the right people.”

Even if he’s not armed with a gun, D’Urso warned that he’s a black belt in ju-jitsu and mixed martial arts, and that anyone who attacks him “will need a gun” – a bat or a knife simply won’t do it.

If the bosses are intent on rubbing him out – so be it, D’Urso said. But anyone involved in the plot should keep in mind that they will likely be caught and prosecuted. And their bosses could eventually face life imprisonment.

A LETTER TO THE MOB:

This letter is a heads up to the individuals who were seen and overheard during the Christmas holidays at the TBar Steak & Lounge on the Upper East Side talking about me.

Law enforcement folks told me you were talking about my new identity and where I might be living today. I hope that 20 years later, no one would be so stupid to get himself into very serious trouble over me.

While I still have some respect for the life I once lived and the life that some of my old friends and acquaintances still choose to live, rest assured I WILL NEVER GET CAUGHT SLEEPING AGAIN. I am ready, able and willing to defend my family and myself. Also, I have very capable ex-law enforcement friends with gun permits who are with me all the time. And don’t forget, there are cameras everywhere today that can track people to and from any location.

As you know, I didn’t create this mess. I was extremely loyal until my life was in danger for the SECOND time. The people that got in trouble because of me can thank Farby for threatening me on the phone and putting me in the position that led to me cooperating. What boss gets on the phone to actually threaten someone? Did he not expect a response? As a street guy was I supposed to just let someone I don’t know abuse me? No f- -king way.

I hate the fact that some of my Bronx friends got caught up in my cooperation. They are legitimate tough guys. They know who they are. If I had been with them before, I believe they would have been by my side the second I got shot and would have helped me get even. I am truly sorry you guys got wrapped up in the investigation.

There was only one person who raised a finger to try and help me get revenge when I got shot, and my cousin got killed.

Unfortunately he [Editor:Vito Guzzo] got 38 years in prison. He was arrested before I cooperated. He was facing the death penalty and I paid for his capital punishment attorney while I was cooperating. The government didn’t need me to convict him.

When Sammy Meatballs [Editor:Salvatore Aparo] came to me with tears in his eyes and said, “If I send for you don’t come,” I knew that Farby was going to have me killed. I had no choice but to reach out to the government. Those of you who truly knew me know that I would have done 100 years for the right people and the right reasons.

There could not be a brotherhood without loyalty. But no real man can ever accept being told not to seek retribution when someone shoots you in the head and kills your cousin.

I understand why people have to act like tough guys when my name gets brought up. I would do the same if I was in their shoes. But just because I have been respectful and not rubbed anything in any of your faces, do NOT think that I will go on the defense if I see any of you. I am not running and I don’t need a weapon to protect myself. I am a black belt in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and have been training in mixed martial arts for over 14 years. A bat and a knife won’t help you so you will have to use a gun.

But if you, and your bosses, feel that getting me is worth risking life in prison, then come find me. Just keep in mind that your bosses will get prosecuted for the murder as well.

And rest assured that if I feel my life is threatened, I WILL BE ON OFFENSE, NOT DEFENSE. I FEAR NO ONE AND NEVER WILL. And remember that there is no statute of limitations for the murder of a federal witness. And you’d be surprised to find out how many confidential informants there are in your circle, who would love to tell the feds they heard about a murder plot to kill me.

To the gangsters in my neighborhood: If you stop and think, you will realize that I left all of you out of my cooperation on purpose. I didn’t hurt any of you. I didn’t seek you out. I could have started a beef to draw you out. But I didn’t want to see anyone in the neighborhood get in trouble whether we were on good terms or not.

I bring this up because I still come in and out of the neighborhood every so often. If you see me, do yourself a favor and do not confront me. It may look like I’m alone but I’m not. Again, I am respectful but fear no one and you might not be happy with the outcome of a confrontation.

Everyone should just focus on their families, their well-being, and staying out of jail. Continue to make money the smart way and leave the violence that gets you life in prison alone. For those of you that have money, find ways to keep it and for those of you that don’t, find ways to make it without violence. Times are different today.

Cookie

And for anybody who thinks the five families aren’t still active in the New York area, one recent report from NBC New York delves into how the mafia has changed and evolved since John Gotti’s imprisonment in the early 1990s.