Cost of Living – Crapo Smoke We Pipe
It is no surprise the ineffectual debate about reducing the cost of living has resurfaced. As usual the country is beguiled by the usual talking heads whose commentary is crafted to fulfil political interest and reaffirm traditional economic theories.
However you ‘slice and dice’ the challenge facing Barbados to significantly reduce the cost of living, it cannot change the fact Barbados is a net importer of commodities. For those who will interject that tourism as a service generates significant revenue inflow, it is an industry with significant foreign ownership which dilutes earnings making its way onshore.
A significant slice of Barbados’ import bill is oil and food totalling north of 40% by the blogmaster’s estimation. It does not require complex reasoning to understand that a significant increase in oil price and food will increase cost of living in Barbados. The disruption to global supply chains as a result of the pandemic quickly followed by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine (responsible for producing a significant share of the world’s agricultural products used as inputs in food products) means Barbados as a net importer will continue to import inflation.
With the cost of living on the jump trade unions in Barbados have signalled labour expects a favourable response to an increase in wages. Pensioners and other vulnerable groups have also been crying out as the economic climate becomes more severe. ‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown’ – with cries emanating from all quarters what will the Mottley government do to deliver comfort to citizens in most need? Without being insensitive to the plight of suffering Barbadians there is so much protection a broke heavily indebted government can offer. The longer external shocks persist ‘crapo smoke [we] pipe’.
The blogmaster – unlike some here – is not qualified to recommend to the leadership of the country the best approaches to take to manage an open economy during crisis after crisis. What can be said however is the importance of our leadership rallying the country around ‘fit for purpose’ national objectives. Truth be told, can many Barbadians say we have made significant adjustments to our lifestyle to effectively respond to the increasing adverse economic environment?
The blogmaster continues to be amazed at the bustling activity at fast food and fine dining restaurants. The number of vehicles zipping up and down the highways as byways 24/7 given the astronomical gas and diesel prices at the pump. The one that peeves the blogmaster no end is an aversion many Barbadians have to suffer discomfort in vehicles by leaving air conditioning units turned off. There are many initiatives individuals can undertake to help themselves and those who can afford it, do it as a means to help others.
The foregoing is not meant to excuse government from leading by example and doing all that it practical to execute fit for purpose policies. These are challenging times and a government with an unprecedented large Cabinet is expected to over achieve regardless of the challenges. To whom much is given much is expected.
Barbados Underground 
The cost of living has almost caught up to the cost of dying
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“These are challenging times and a government with an unprecedented large Cabinet is expected to over achieve regardless of the challenges. To whom much is given much is expected.”
DLP were on a roll riding high on power until they fucked up handling the economic recovery after the Global Financial Recession.
Blinding Truth is Developing countries suffer in recession at least 7 times more than the Capitalist manipulators on planet Earth, who will still get richer and richer regardless and the smaller minority of top 1% and 0.1% earn more growth in economic crises and rest get economic stagnation wage reductions redundancies bankruptcies and are permanently out the money making game without chances of building careers just zero hour contracts.
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@ David
Did Bushie not hold the patent for ‘Doom and Gloom’ here on BU?
Are you not WAYYYY out of your lane Boss…?
Whatever happened to Mr Optimistic bozie…?
Ukraine?
Covid?
Monkey pox?
Supply chain chaos?
Cost of living?
Global warming?
Pollution?
Global vaccine scam?
Radical vaccine scam?
Sewerage in the sea?
Solid waste still unsolved?
Chinese houses still in containers?
Still no constitution?
Is the senate legal?
What are our courts doing?
Emera raising electricity?
Engineers warn of Ponzi?
Petra Wicky is our national moral guide?
etc etc etc etc…
All of the above?
Expect to hear from Bushie’s lawyer (one of the three honest ones on Island) shortly…
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@Bush Tea
Isn’t given dispassionate advice to all who have ears taking the optimistic lane?
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David
This ‘fit for purpose’ mantra as delivered to Mottley by her friends in Washington has outlived its usefulness.
The circumstances have deteriorated beyond that. Indeed, fit for purpose connotes situations where margins could have been squeezed, even minor structural changes. We judge that the evolving conditions will not be responsive to such a light touch.
As you opine interminably about imported inflation, and rightly so, capitalism and the Bajan condition will continue to act in concert to deliver feelings of satisfaction and desire by citizen showing that they can still engage in conspicuous consumption and those who can’t respectively.
The wage escalatory ladder has long stopped making sense. We have missed the opportunity to transform workplaces into places of economic democracy. Within this equation the anti developmental tensions between labor and ownership or management ceases to exist.
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@ Pacha
in ‘non academic’ terms, are you too, saying that our ass is grass?
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@Pacha
The blogmaster uses fit for purpose to connote relevance to what is required to effectively navigate the challenge.
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Is a country a cemetery
Is a glass half full or half empty or both
Is this your glass or someone else’s
The glass is doing what it is meant to holding onto things
Bloom from These Tombs
Glorious
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This is about feeling. This is about taking enough time to stop running, come face to face with truth and fear and not letting fear drive the car anymore. This piece exists now because this affect all of us, every background, every skin tone and if you are human. If there is blood coursing through your veins, then you are not excluded from this. This could be though of as just my story, through my perspective, in regards to my reality or it could be that for someone else too but honestly it is so much bigger than both of us. The more we pretend this,–“this” as in hatred and racism and injustice all wrapped up — does not exist, the more power we give it. It’s time to shift the power. I bet if you took one moment to actually FEEL something about what is happening in our world today, your thinking would not cloud so much. Too many people are hurting and yet again I would dare to say that not enough people are hurting. this project not a political stance, this is a collaborative human observation.
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Wait and wunna surprised?
For 10 years not a fellow hardly got a wage increase. Over the ten year period if we assume true inflation averaged 3%, then by the end a $100 bill would only of bought about $62 worth of goods anyhow! Aunty Mia get in and everybody get a little something as an icrease but what happen then?
Then we had the new taxes aunty Mia brought on fuel etc etc and the infamous debt restructiring that saw returns on government paper fall from 7% to 1%. So a fellow with $100,000 in goverment paper that was getting $7000 a year in interest, just so wapaxx he get cut to $1000 a year. In other words we was in real trouble long before Putin do foolishness. Plus dont forget Covid do a number pun we tourist trade too.
Bajans today are poorer in real terms than they have ever been for all the above reasons. Dont let no politician or fowl come along now and blame putin. Yes that idiot make it worst, but we have been paving the road to poverty quite nicely all by ourselves for at least 15 years before him.
In simple terms we as a people have not earned enough to stay ahead of the annual inflation rate for over 15 years now. We are therefore poorer than we were in real terms in 2007.
Thing is it is not just individuals but companies with real estate holdings as well. Over the 15 years since the bust of 2008 prices of properties have not recovered to the pre 2007/2008 level either. So for 15 years owners have paid land tax and insurances on an asset that has not shown any capital appreciation. Actually it has depreciated in value. So dont let nobody come here and pretend that this inflation thing only now come long and we is the victim of putin and others. No please the facts say different!
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Bushie absolutely!. And that nobody has the answers to this situation which is long past a rhetoric of fit for purpose.
Fit for purpose might have been a necessary even if insufficient condition before recent events but now it has no relevance at all we fear.
Sticking to such terms vastly underestimate our perilous position. David
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@John A
Who is blaming Putin and the pandemic for the slide? What the blogmaster is saying is that it ripped the off the bandaids. We shouldn’t forget why the debt restructure was executed. We do not produce enough to pay for what we consume, this is the long and short of it. Until we do, we will be rearranging chairs on the titanic until the inevitable occurs.
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https://www.greatgreenwall.org/
Pacha, William, TLSN and others…i had to do some research first before posting this link, had some contacts on the continent check with their contacts to give up the truth about what this really means, since the UN has no track record of observing Black Afrikan rights in the west or anywhere else since the UN 30 Articles of Universal Human Rights ratified by them in 1948…all Black rights have been ignored by all since then…..72 years….
hopefully, you too with your contacts Pacha….check into this to get the truth..then we can compare notes..
one thing those who investigated and i can agree on….those Black conscious people in Barbados and the Caribbean should NEVER LEAVE the islands with any black face traitor politicians, the wretched of the earth…known CONNIVERS, they are THE ENEMY WITHIN….if you leave on your own, you will leave as A FREE AFRIKAN….if you leave with house negros from the colonial parliament…you will leave as A SLAVE and treated accordingly..
all info about their dirty black on black criminality plans against Black Afrikan descents…ARE OUT THERE…for everyone to read about and know to STAY CLEAR OF THEM and KEEP THEM ALL EXPOSED EVERYWHERE…
Pacha….i know you are well connected on our continent.., tellus what you find..
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@Pacha
The blogmaster respects your position, fit for purpose in the context used is about selecting appropriate strategies/policies to fit the predicament we find ourselves. There is no need to split hairs on language.
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Then there is this…do not be distracted with shite about cost of living, it RUNS MUCH DEEPER THAN THAT….
BE PREPARED…and watch their disgusting nauseatingly retching black face liars every move…they know they have BEEN CAUGHT…so now they JUMPED OUT to tell their usual sleight of hand fairytales about “PREP for regional migration after a disaster.”
these no good beasts are planning for Black lives ABOVE BLACK HEADS…and Black people KNOW NOTHING..
“Charter of Barbados under scrutiny – by Barbados Today Traffic May 31, 2022
Questions are being raised about the value of the new Charter of Barbados.
The matter came up during an online townhall meeting on Sunday evening, titled Constitutional Reform and the Republic: Perspectives of the Youth and hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences at The University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus.
Retired High Court judge Christopher Blackman was among those who shared their thoughts on the non-justiciability of the document that was approved by Parliament in November last year, less than a week before Barbados’ transition to a republic.
The Charter of Barbados, while not legally binding, outlines citizens’ rights and responsibilities. It is premised on five articles, the first of which states that all Barbadians are born free and are equal in human dignity and rights.
That first article, in particular, was referenced by political science student Kai Allman who queried its usefulness if there are existing laws that run contrary to the terms of the Charter.
“The Charter should really be serving as the foundation for the social and political change that we see in our new republic. The Charter can’t just be a symbol. When the Charter was passed, it was passed with the thought that it would just serve as a symbol for the Republic.
“However, if it is just a symbol, then it is nothing, because when we look at it and we see that ‘all Barbadians are born free and equal in human dignity and relevance regardless of age, race, ethnicity, faith, class, cultural and educational background, ability, sex, gender or sexual orientation’ but we take a look at another piece of legislation that completely contradicts that, then the Charter is not a symbol of Barbados. It does not reflect the legislation or the Barbadian way of living,” Allman stressed.”
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“so now they JUMPED OUT to tell their usual sleight of hand fairytales about “PREP for regional migration after a disaster.””
they did this in October 2021 and EVERYONE MISSED IT because they had no clue what they were talking about..
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Imagine Dr. DeLisle Worrell from high on the pecking order addressed the matter in 2014 and traditional policies remain the order of the day.
https://www.bis.org/review/r140509e.htm
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David
Please. We are past the stage where people can talk about policy selection. Can’t you see that so-called policies are irrelevant and that everything is outside our realm of awareness, ability to influence, at this historical moment.
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We should lay prostrate and await the inevitable as you see it?
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@ David
Our problem had been that for 2 decades we have done little to keep paste with inflation, other than to comsume more. We have borrowed, found excuses and lied as an alternative for this.
Based on all of this we have become lazy and unproductive as no politician wants to be open with the populace. Who wants to stand up and admit that ” under our leadership you have become poorer in real terms?”
Our leaders have wrapped the people in a false blanket of safety with stupid statements like ” pubching above our weight” and other feel good nonesence.
Here is a fact that I challenge any politician to question.
THIS GENERATION WILL BE THE FIRST TO END UP POORER THAN THEIR PARENTS IN REAL TERMS.
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BTW Bushie
Our first comment was meant to be ‘first’. However, today finds us in a country well known for power outages. Heavy rains brought one this day. On resumption, just sent.
What do they say about fools? They seldom differ😁
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David
There is a military philosophical saying which goes like this. When there is no clear path, the best thing is to do nothing. 😎
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Waru
Will be on the phone with one or two today, hoping
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“Pacha, William, TLSN and others…i had to do some research first before posting this link, …
.. Pacha….i know you are well connected on our continent.., tellus what you find..”
strange how you can see conspiracy in a green initiative on nuff land of African land
not sure what you are fearful of
intuition says it is kosher not cons piracy
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@John A
Agree that we did nothing and recent events have hurried the decline. The root of the problem as you alluded is with us, not fit for purpose policies as well as tired social economic models.
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“What a Miracle” Spoken Word
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“intuition says it is kosher not cons piracy”
your intuition ain’t worth shit, you have no clue what you are looking at…..nor the contacts to find out.
Pacha will share what he finds…
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You are suffering from information psychosis love and are a Pacha disciple
God and me and best mates which is worth an infinite number of BU Pachas
it is the original Pachamama
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“Waru
Will be on the phone with one or two today, hoping”
Thanks Pacha….the same group has a wealth of info..
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You sleazy little minorities will learn that inserting yourself in the middle of the BLACK FAMILY is no longer appreciated, never was, by those of us who know you and ya sabotaging antics so well…
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The complaints about inflation and high prices are unjustified. We live on a dream island. It is clear that paradise has a high price. You have to die to go to heaven to God, and you have to be a millionaire to go to Barbados to Mia Mottley.
If our island is too expensive for you, you can leave.
Goodbye!
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Pacha to @ David
“There is a military philosophical saying which goes like this. When there is no clear path, the best thing is to do nothing. 😎
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pay Pacha NO mind with THAT suggestion Boss….
You can always PRAY……
LOL
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“You sleazy little minorities will learn that inserting yourself in the middle of the BLACK FAMILY is no longer appreciated, never was, by those of us who know you and ya sabotaging antics so well…”
Bu family consensus is YOU are sleazy and stupid to maxi maxi maxi maximum
an angry black woman is what you are
has anyone said you wrote a good book with full knowledge wisdom and understanding
or you were out of your intellectual depth
I don’t speak on behalf of any minorities or races just me and I am not to put into a box by a mad black racist woman
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Write Bloody/Spill Pretty Book launch Party
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Not even pray is going to help here…this is their waterloo….in more ways than one..
the nusiance minority can have all the last words…
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I don’t get the point of the post.
Seems to be just a rehash of things we already know viz. (1) we are in deep doo doo (getting deeper) and (2) the Mottley Crew is powerless to do anything of substance despite much spin and PR.
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These so called self labelling Bajan African Black Radical Activists are soft and weak liberating nobody
Poetry, Music and the feels
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Them move on Dullard.
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Bushie
LOL! Trying to work out whether both yours and ours is doing the same thing -nothing!😇
At least the military men trying to materially save lives in the here and now.
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@ Dullard
Motley can do things but like all before her she will not as it would be political suicide.
6 of 1 half dozen of the other.
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The time to act decisively was in the last 10-15 YEARS…but all that was offered was EMPTY TALK, lies, deceit and sleight of hand…….now unless ya know the script or have a copy…….ya shit outta luck…
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Information overload can blow your damn mind when you are not prepared and ready to use your brain.
if someone calls black leaders in black lands lots of nasty names does that make them a self hating black.
Dysfunction junction what’s your function, To Bible or Not To Bible that is the question
Weeping and gnashing of teeth
Gnashing (חרק) of teeth (שנים) appears several times in the Old Testament, including three mentions in Psalms, one in Job and one in Lamentations. Lamentations says, of the Babylonian occupiers of Jerusalem, “שָֽׁרְקוּ֙ וַיַּֽחַרְקוּ־שֵׁ֔ן,” “They hiss (שרק can also mean to weep) and gnash their teeth”. In all OT cases except Psalms 112:10, the gnashing appears to be an act of persecution and not suffering.
The phrase “(there shall be) weeping and gnashing of teeth” (in the original Greek ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων) appears seven times in the New Testament as a description on the fate of the unrighteous ones at the conclusion of the age. It is thought to derive from a logion in the hypothetical Q source, which yielded Matthew 8:12 and Luke 13:28. The other five occurrences (Matthew 13:42, Matthew 13:50, Matthew 22:13, Matthew 24:51, and Matthew 25:30) are all within the context of parables and are widely held to be redactional additions by Matthew. (source) Others, however, believe redactional theories of the parables are speculative at best, and offer little explanation as to the meaning of this phrase, and only speculate as to why Matthew and Luke included this apparently familiar saying.
The phrase “gnash the teeth” is found in Acts 7:54, in the story of the stoning of Stephen. The phrase was an expression of anger of the Sanhedrin towards Stephen before the stoning.
The phrase is also found as an idiomatic expression in colloquial English.
Look up weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
“Gnashing of teeth” means grinding one’s teeth together, having one’s teeth set on edge, or biting down in pain, anguish, or anger.
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I am an intuitive and can say that people need to be more grounded on the earth to prevent dissipating excess energy out of their brain
Everybody needs a proper foundation to build on
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Pacha….when you get the info, don’t know how much of it you want to share on BU….i gave as much as i wanted…..I do believe some commenters deserve to know…
.many in close family and friends inner circles and certain platforms already got access….and in turn shared it among their close circles…..that way the information travels to whom it’s intended…
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Moving Meditation: Qigong Grounding w/ Michael Winn
Courtney Alex
In many spiritual traditions, we’re flying up and away, out of our bodies whether we notice it or not. In this practice, borrowed from Qigong (some call it Chinese Yoga) we’re both moving AND meditating, connecting with the Earth, blending spiritual experience with daily existence. Are you an Empath who struggles to understand which emotions belong to you or someone else? Intuitive, but can’t seem to make it work for you fully? A creative with a ton of ideas but trouble following through materially? Do you daydream a lot in life or during seated meditation? In this video, Taoist Master, Michael Winn teaches how and why this moving meditation, called Deep Earth Pulsing, is so transformative!
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People get too much information and can’t figure out what is theirs and what isn’t and don’t know what to do with it.
A country less than 300,000 peoples must be a minority.
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This is what these fraud politicians like….nothing happens for the people, they don’t lift a finger to help them………ten years later no severance. and all the politicians see is a photo op….2 governments later……all sucking on taxpayers, they and their fowls, hangerson and consultants…..but people can’t get benefits….pensioners…or their money from the treasury…
https://www.nationnews.com/2022/05/31/fight-for-severance/
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Tron you dont seem to get it Most of us come to the island and pay what ever it costs but for a lot of us it is hard to have fun drink and party when we see how most of you live in fact it is kinda like a trip to india so instead of thinking you are some big up be happy we come and try to help your 26 x 14 island instead of going to a cheaper mexico or the DR with nicer hotels and a hell of a lot cheaper you putz.
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Pingback: BARBADOS: Cost of Living Increasing – What Solutions? – Barbados Underground Blog | Guyanese Online
Pacha..i can now give you some background on the link, it came with a voice note from a well known and very credible individual…shared some weeks back….and also gave indepth info regarding that project….which does not correlate entirely with what they are projecting and seen as designed to sync with other events that were bound to occur over the last 15-20 years.
Had not for a few people on BU, I would never share that info on here. I don’t believe they would have known certain things otherwise or seek to develop a better plan for self protection, hence i had no choice, have choices about others though.
There is a very good reason to be economical with information going forward….by the time you get the full feedback…you will see the why….
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Intuition 101
How do you tell the difference between intuition and fear, a lot of time people may think they are surviving on intuition,
but are acting more on a survival based intuition in a situation that does not actually mean life or death. That can get us into the same patterns over and over again, stuck in the same story holding onto an old story or belief that does not necessarily serve you. Doing this practice will help you clear out some of that stuff without even having to identify it. A good example is when you start assuming types of people are the same when they are not and then worrying about it.
We really want to be in present time and using the information we have in present time to make intuitive decisions that actually really serve us in present time and that leads us forward and yields more positive feeling and results.
Intuition 101: Energetic Alignment
Just about every spiritual tradition talks about the importance of being present. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get there if we’re still running energy from past events or future expectations. Energetically, getting present means connecting our physical body with the space we’re in, and clearing out the energy associated with our past, the stories and beliefs that keep us stuck there.
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Our position is grave. There is much upheaval in the world. I not satisfied that our government has conveyed the severity of what it to come.
I am not one for panic or overstatement but it is definitely going to be worse than we are preparing for. Our solutions seem more medium to long-term whem the danger is around the corner.
I hope when the rains come in we will plant more food.
People will use less fuel when they cannot pay for it. Not too worried about that.
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Waru
Know a couple of people eround The Sahel driving projects that turned out to be part of this Great Green Wall but was not aware of this mega project until you highlighted it and making some calls. Afraid I’m not going to be much more helpful, so much else happening.
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It’s ok, already know the whole setup behind it….you too will find out…
.there is always the greedy and evil who use everything for their own narrow interests…
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Yes Pacha…a lot going on and the weakest people, both mentally and financially, are not paying as much attention as they should, still listening to lying corrupt politicians and their imps and pimps……
“WHO Forced into Humiliating Backdown
Stephen Andrew Mirani May 30, 2022
Brilliant news out of Geneva today!
As most of you know, the World Health Assembly has spent the past 7 days considering Biden’s 13 controversial amendments to the International Health Regulations.
Official delegates from wealthy developed nations like Australia, the UK, and the US spoke in strong support of the amendments and urged other states to join them in signing away their countries’ sovereignty.
The first sign, however, that things might not be going the globalists’ way, came on Wednesday, the 25th of May, which just happened to also be Africa Day.
Botswana read a statement on behalf of its 47 AFRO members, saying they would be collectively withholding their support for the ‘reforms’, which many African members were very concerned about.
Multiple other countries also said they had reservations over the changes and would not be supporting them either.
These included Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran and Malaysia. Brazil in particular said it would exit WHO altogether, rather than allow its population to be made subject to the new amendments.
In the end, the WHO and its wealthy nation supporters were forced to back down.
They have not given up though – far from it. Instead, they did what they always do and ‘pivoted’.”
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Our citizens should thank Goddess Bim every day that they are allowed to live on the island. We do not have and have not had war, civil war, famine or other serious problems typical of the hellholes of Europe, South America and Africa.
Thank you Supreme Leader for protecting us fiercely against all odds! We gladly drink French chamapgner instead of water and eat Italian pastries instead of bread. Not to mention that the high cost of living keeps refugees and the poor at bay. Those who want to come to us have to be wealthy.
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Pacha, Pacha…if only they had listened to you Bushman, Miller, William…etc…
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Gospel Gun · Ninjaman
BT 2017 | Raoul Peck | “Shock Of The Real: History as Provocation”
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Samuel L. Jackson on I Am Not Your Negro Documentary
‘I Am Not Your Negro’ Q&A | Raoul Peck
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Sunrise Qigong
Background Sound
Shiva Om (Reggae Mix)
Artist Sundeep Gosswami
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@ Tron at 6: 07 PM
How true ! We are an expensive society. Let us take that as a given and work towards the well-being of all who live within our borders. We can only be who we are. Are we managing ? Our job is to manage it. It is a work in process/progress. No one is /can do better.
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No one is /can do better.
What a goal?
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Source: Nation
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Source: Nation
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Source: Nation
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Source: Nation
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