Over 2,000 stores across all retail sectors have closed in the past 12 months according to a recent report from UBS retail analyst Michael Lasser (available to pro subs in the usual place), and that is just the beginning. “As of 3Q’22 (latest available data), retailers shed -1,500 net stores. This number is already up significantly in ‘23 with the likes of Bed Bath & Beyond, Foot Locker, Tuesday Morning and others closing stores recently” the UBS economists wrote.
“We believe this trend should continue in the years to come, with consumers consolidating their trips and shifting towards online channels. As underperforming retail stores are shuttered, it should help the store productivity of surviving locations,” the report authors said, and predicted that over the next 5 years, “another 50,000 stores will close on the current store base of ~940K stores in the US (ex. gas and food service).”
Recently I’ve been thinking about the old French folktale, Bluebeard. For readers who are unfamiliar with the story, Bluebeard is a nobleman who has been married six previous times to young women who have all mysteriously vanished. Wikipedia provides a succinct account of what happens when he marries a seventh time.
[A neighbor’s youngest daughter who decides to marry him] goes to live with him in his rich and luxurious palace in the countryside, away from her family.
Bluebeard announces that he must leave for the country and gives the palace keys to his wife. She is able to open any room with them, each of which contain some of his riches, except for an underground chamber that he strictly forbids her to enter lest she suffer his wrath. He then goes away, leaves the palace, and the keys in her hands. She invites her sister, Anne, and her friends and cousins over for a party. However, she is eventually overcome with the desire to see what the secret room holds, and she sneaks away from the party and ventures into it.
She immediately discovers that the room is flooded with blood and the murdered corpses of Bluebeard’s previous six wives hanging on hooks from the walls. Horrified, she drops the key in the blood and flees the room.
I’ve long been intrigued by Bluebeard as an archetypal expression of the horror we may experience when we become curious to know what is going on behind the closed doors of power. Bluebeard is a powerful nobleman who is apparently beyond the law. His young bride is an ordinary girl who becomes implacably curious to see all of the rooms of his castle, which seem to symbolize the rooms of his soul.
I spent this evening carefully reviewing declassified e-mails authored by the eminent Scripps Institute virologist, Kristian Andersen. The first one was dated January 31, 2020 and addressed to Anthony Fauci:
The most noteworthy sentences in the email are:
The unusual features of the virus make up a really small part of the genome [0.1%] so one has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially look engineered. … I should mention that after discussions earlier today, Eddie, Bob, Mike [Edward Holmes, Robert Garry, Michael Farzan] and myself all find the genome [of SARS-CoV-2] inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory.
3.5 days later—shortly after a phone conference with Dr. Fauci and others—Dr. Andersen completely changed his tune. By then, the decision had been to submit a letter to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine regarding the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
Please note the final sentence:
If one of the main purposes of this document is to counter those fringe theories [about the virus being engineered] I think it’s very important that we do so strongly and in plain language (“consistent with” [natural evolution] is a favorite of mine when talking to scientists, but not when talking to the public—especially conspiracy theorists).
After these e-mails were released to the public in response to a FOIA request, Dr. Andersen claimed that he learned revelatory things about the novel virus in the 3.5 days following his initial e-mail to Fauci, and that these revelations caused his perfect volte-face. However, it seems to me that his explanation doesn’t really account for his strident, unequivocal assertions in his second e-mail.
Many of the recipients’ names in his February 4, 2020 have been redacted, but there many apart from the two men who received his January 31 e-mail (Dr. Fauci and Jeremy Farrar). His first e-mail was a matter of strictly confidential counsel. His second pertains to an open letter—about to be sent to a large institution with many members—declaring that anyone who even suspects the novel virus to have emerged from a lab is a crackpot conspiracy theorist.
What on earth could inspire a virologist to adopt a posture of such Machiavellian duplicity about an infectious agent that—as he well knew—was about to inflict a catastrophe on all of mankind? He had to have known that such pronouncements—coming from a virologist of his eminence—would likely retard a thorough and impartial investigation of the virus’s origin.
Contemplating this question this evening, I thought Bluebeard’s young bride when she discovers the chamber of horrors in her husband’s castle. I suspect that Tess Lawrie felt the same way in her encounter with Dr. Andrew Hill, which she recounted in the short documentary film Dear Andy.
Author’s Note: If you found this post interesting and informative, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our Substack. For just $5.00 per month, you can really help to support Dr. McCullough and I in our ongoing efforts to discover and report the truth about our confusing world.
Editor’s Note: In the lead up to the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Winter Watch continues a three-day running series that focuses primarily on the elements of deception and obfuscation around the events.
One of the most revealing tells of a false flag and/or staged deception — beyond grainy and blurry imagery — is a blatant dearth of security camera footage. It’s gotten to the point that the Crime Syndicate doesn’t even bother to offer to explain this anymore, as it doesn’t seem to even occur to a neuro-linguistic programmed population to inquire about this MO.
Back in 2001 after the Pentagon was hit, people were still asking about such things. Accordingly, the criminals needed a story line.
The explosion occurs close to the Pentagon’s heliport, an area that normally would be under 24-hour security surveillance, including video monitoring.
In this document from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, we can read through an interview with the staff responsible for the cameras at the Pentagon. The interview is long and distracting verbal diarrhea, but ultimately we get to the who, what, where, when trivium bottom line:
“Many security cameras at the Pentagon that could have captured the building being hit were switched off or had been taken down due to construction work that was taking place and therefore do not film the attack.”
More specifically, this incredible story was offered up:
“There are a lot of cameras within the facility at any one time,” commented Steve Pennington, a private consultant responsible for the Pentagon’s security cameras. However, due to renovation work that is being carried out on the Pentagon, many cameras close to where the attack occurs are currently out of use. Some cameras have been taken down temporarily. “There were cameras on poles at the other end, along the roadway, but they were down for construction projects or being changed out during the process,” Pennington recalled. Other cameras that would normally focus on the area where the crash occurs have been switched off. “Because that area was being renovated, a lot of the connectivity of these cameras and the infrastructure that allowed those cameras to be connected back to the building had been removed or destroyed, so they weren’t capturing images and offering fields of view,”
Furthermore, a number of cameras near the area of impact are either destroyed or lose connectivity when the crash occurs, he adds. “
The lugenpresse at CNN inform us that two cameras did miraculously survive and were operating that day, but the story has since been scrubbed from the Internet.
Two recently installed cameras north of the crash site are apparently the only Pentagon security cameras that capture the building being hit.
Without further ado, here is an analysis of the only images captured from the security cameras on the Pentagon exterior grounds. Note that when you hear Crime Syndicate narrative about this scene, it is usually prefaced with the words, “the plane hit the Pentagon.” This is neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) designed to answer the question for you. Always disregard the narrative and examine using your own senses, asking the fundamental trivium method: who, what, where, when, why and how. The question of what is not even remotely answered by this Pentagon video, nor any Pentagon video.
Further on the trivium question of when, the video shows the date Sept. 12, 2001, not Sept. 11. The time is also wrong: 17:37 instead of 09:37. To cover for this glitch in their matrix, the operatives explain in the interview above that this was when “they made the video.” What possible rationale is used to time stamp evidence with the date it was “made.” This is ludicrous on its face. Once again, the NLP trick is employed as the word “plane” is inserted on lower right on the first photo.
2017: 9/11 Pentagon Video FINALLY Reveals Truth About Attack That Changes EVERYTHING!
April Gallop was in the Pentagon on 9/11 working in her office as “the object” hit. Here is her eyewitness account of what she experienced. The money part starts at minute 2:00. She saw no evidence of a large airliner.
Pentagon Employee Witness Says There Was No Plane on 9-11-2001!
Later, Gallop gives clues about how the Crime Syndicate controls the process. She said that while she was in the hospital, men in suits visited her more than once.
“They never identified themselves or even said which agency they worked for. But I know they were not newsmen because I learned that the Pentagon told news reporters not to cover survivors’ stories or they would not get any more stories out of there. The men who visited all said they couldn’t tell me what to say, they only wanted to make suggestions. But then they told me what to do, which was to take the (Victim Compensation Fund) money and shut up. They also kept insisting that a plane hit the building. They repeated this over and over. But I was there and I never saw a plane or even debris from a plane. I figure the plane story is there to brainwash people.”
One of the refrains that we hear about 9/11, etc., is that people would eventually talk if there was a cover up or conspiracy. The fact is that people do and did talk. One was a Pentagon taxi driver and husband of an FBI employee, Lloyde England. He fessed up on camera that his story of a “plane” striking the light poles, with one landing on his vehicle, was a lie and deception. Be sure to watch the last 90 seconds starting at minute 4:00.
The Boeing 757 That Magically Vaporized in Shanksville on 9/11
The mystery of Boeing 757 Flight 93 at Shanksville on 9/11 reminds me of my socks: They just keep disappearing. There must be a wormhole near my laundry basket that sucks socks into The Great Void. I’ve never been able to solve it.
But not everything disappeared at Shanksville. What was found? Clean and unscathed red bandanna believed to belong to “hijacker.”
And, of course, “hijacker” “Saeed Al Ghamdi’s” Saudi Arabia passport was located.
Passport photo from flight 93:
But as for the “Boeing 757 aircraft” in Shanksville; no signs of it. Of course, for somebody like “Bin Laden,” who could totally obliterate three sturdy tower blocks with two planes, and then manage to wipe out the accounts department in the world’s best-protected military headquarters with another, making a fourth huge aircraft completely vanish into a small hole in the ground should barely have presented a challenge. /sarc
This is an interesting exercise in how the Crime Syndicate controls the scene and the narrative. In this case, news media showed up on the scene, flew overhead and interviewed witnesses. You have to see it to believe it though. These short clips are entirely scrubbed from the Internet. What you are watching here is ultra-rare. We will see how long it lasts online.
What’s amazing about Shanksville is that USGS aerial images show a hole and trench there before the crash. Here is one taken in 1994. Whodathunk?
9 11 Shanksville Crash Site Exposed Proof) YouTube
Here are more witnesses at Shanksville that got out of the bag. Coroner describes Flight 93 crash site as a hole of nothing.
TLC – Coroner describes Flight 93 crashsite
Mayor is on the scene, sees no aircraft, no body parts.
911 – Flight 93 Shanksville Mayor Eyewitness No Airplane!
First responder firefighter.
BANNED FROM CNN Flight 93 eyewitness admits not seeing dead bodies
This eyewitness describes something that was anything but a commercial aircraft. Yes, something did hit. A missile.
Eyewitness to Shanksville Crash – It Was Not a 757
Citing reporting delays, officials believe the final count could be around 109,680, which would be a record high. The figures represent a plateau from the previous year when 109,197 overdose deaths were recorded.
The White House said it’s a sign that America is closer to “beating” the drug crisis. But health experts were more skeptical, with one scientist warning that the plateau could be a “wobble” before addictive drugs like fentanyl and xylazine cause overdose deaths to rise again in the United States.
The country has been fighting a never-ending battle with “an escalating overdose crisis” since 2010, the year fentanyl was first added to the illicit drug supply. The addictive drug is up to 50 times more powerful than heroin and can help drug users achieve a “more intense high.”
Fentanyl, which is also used as horse medication, is toxic. As little as two milligrams of fentanyl are enough to kill an adult.
Losing interest in activities you previously considered enjoyable
Needing to use fentanyl more often or in larger doses to achieve the same high
Severe cravings for more fentanyl
Swollen hands and feet
The figures from the CDC were based on reports submitted to the National Vital Statistics System, which monitors births and deaths nationwide.
The reports revealed that there were 105,452 overdose deaths from drugs in 2022. However, the figure is still provisional because of the time taken for deaths to be cataloged and the cause of death to be determined. There is another few thousand still expected to be reported.
While this is a lower rise than in previous years, it’s not enough to indicate a decrease in the figures with deaths going up 17 percent in 2021 and 30 percent in 2020. The shocking figure is also the equivalent of all 660 passengers on a Boeing 747 dying every other day.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), claimed the figure was evidence that the country was finally “beating” the crisis.
But Dr. Donald Burke, a health scientist at the University of Pittsburgh who modeled 40 years of data on the overdose crisis, warned that the plateau may be a “wobble” before another increase. “Anybody looking at this with historical trends in mind, and a few statistics in mind, will probably say it’s not going to go down,” said Burke.
Big Pharma’s greed leads to drug crisis
America’s drug crisis can be traced back to the 1990s, when greedy pharmaceutical companies started to aggressively market opioid painkillers as a “safe and effective way” to treat chronic pain.
These companies were able to convince doctors that the risk of addiction was low. As a result, many doctors wrote prescriptions for millions of patients in the country.
When opioid painkillers ran out, many addicted users looked for more on the black market. Others switched to heroin as a cheaper and more accessible alternative.
This greedy move triggered today’s crisis, with manufacturers now lacing supplies of drugs like heroin with fentanyl.
Visit Addiction.news to learn more about addiction in the United States.
(Natural News) A book set to be released in June chronicles Robert Kennedy Jr.’s involvement in resolving public health crises in the U.S., particularly the chronic disease epidemic affecting children across the nation.
The intimate biographical portrait titled “The Real RFK Jr: Trials of a Truth Warrior” written by Dick Russell exposes the misconceptions and explains the rationale behind Kennedy’s campaign to protect public health based on dozens of interviews with RFK Jr.’s colleagues. It also “details how he evolved from one of the country’s top environmental attorneys into a medical freedom advocate and outspoken critic of Big Pharma.”
Russell describes how on multiple occasions, mothers of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities reached out to the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and urged him to look into the issue of mercury in vaccines.
This prompted Kennedy to study peer-reviewed science, where he discovered the shocking cover-up by the pharmaceutical industry. The science clearly indicated that thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative, was causing an unprecedented epidemic of neuroimmune damage to children nationwide.
It was further exposed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added numerous mercury-containing vaccines to the childhood vaccination schedule, and injuries began occurring after that. This also came after Congress passed the “National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986,” which empowered vaccine makers to be immune from liability for injuries and deaths from their “experimental” products.
The book also touched on how mainstream media (MSM) censors reports on legitimate vaccine safety concerns.
Russell further delves into everything from Kennedy’s sometimes death-defying river rafting adventures to his pioneering legal cases against polluters like Smithfield Foods and Monsanto, while founding the world’s largest water protection group. “The Real RFK Jr.” also examines his pursuit of the truth about the assassinations of his father and uncle; the wrongful murder conviction of his cousin; and the false narratives around the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Kennedy is the founder and chairman-on-leave of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), a nonprofit activist group mainly known for advocating against vaccines and their damage, especially to children. In April, he announced that he would challenge President Joe Biden for his party’s nomination.
MAGA supporters want Kennedy as Trump’s running mate
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said he even received a “standing ovation” from a hardcore Make America Great Again (MAGA) crowd at a recent speaking engagement, where Trump supporters are floating the idea of a bipartisan Trump-Kennedy ticket. “Bobby Kennedy would be, I think, an excellent choice for President Trump to consider as a running mate,” Bannon commented on a “War Room” episode.
Roger Stone, one of Trump’s early political advisers, even called Trump-Kennedy a “dream ticket” on the news program “Real America.” Stone said he likes the candidate’s opposition to globalists and skepticism of continued U.S. support for Ukraine against Russia. “On those geopolitical ideas, he makes a lot of sense. In fact, he sounds a lot like Donald Trump,” he noted.
Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn also tweeted how he is “really starting to like this presidential candidate’s attitude.” Meanwhile, conservative talk show host Steve Deace posted a picture with Kennedy on Twitter with a caption: “As long as he doesn’t go trans, a man with high character and courage like RFK Jr. will be tempting.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy has earlier pushed back on reports that Bannon encouraged him to run for president as a chaos agent against Biden. He tweeted on April 8: “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with my presidential campaign.”
Head to VoteDemocrat.news for updates on RFK Jr.’s bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
“State Farm General Insurance Company made this decision due to historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure and a challenging reinsurance market,” said the company in a statement. “We take seriously our responsibility to manage risk. We recognize the Governor’s administration, legislators and the California Department of Insurance for their wildfire loss mitigation efforts.”
State Farm’s new policy will not impact the company’s personal auto insurance business in the state. Furthermore, independent contractor agents in California will continue to serve current customers who were already approved for property and casualty insurance with the company before the deadline, meaning they can still make claims for properties that are already covered by State Farm. The company has also stated that it will try to not issue any non-renewals in the meantime.
Inability to deal with wildfires a major economic threat to California
In 2022, there were 7,490 recorded wildfires in California, a drop of 256 from the five-year average of 7,746 fires per year. This has caused many other insurance companies to either stop or limit property insurance coverage in California, citing the ever-increasing amount of regulations and the state government’s inability to control the damage these wildfires cause.
Last year, the American International Group (AIG) notified thousands of customers in California that it was no longer renewing their insurance policies.
“It’s necessary to take these actions now to improve the company’s financial strength,” read AIG’s statement. “We will continue to evaluate our approach based on changing market conditions.”
Other insurance companies like Chubb Limited and Farmers Insurance have also canceled or dropped renewals for thousands of their own customers in the state.
This has made life that much harder for Californians, especially those living in areas vulnerable to wildfires, who are growing increasingly worried about the refusal of massive insurance companies like State Farm to sell new homeowners insurance policies.
“It would be a nightmare because our property tax is already insanely high. So, if we had a policy like some of our neighbors and friends have had, it would be like having a third mortgage,” said Michael Branson, a policyholder who described to CBS News the potential impact of losing his policy.
Branson had a close call in 2020 during the CZU Lightning Complex Fires, which affected over 86,000 hectares in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties in San Francisco’s South Bay region. His family’s farm was threatened by the wildfire, and Branson’s decision not to evacuate helped him and local firefighters save his family’s homes on the property.
“We knew it would be a nightmare dealing with insurance and the county and that it would be years before we could rebuild,” he said.
State Farm was the largest property and casualty insurer in California in 2021, and its business in the state brought in over $7 billion in premiums and $4 billion in losses last year.
California regulations state that insurance companies that cover property like State Farm may be required to also cover living expenses such as emergency shelter and food, personal property and valuables, damage to property and other buildings or structures on it, the removal of trees, shrubs and debris and water damage not caused by flooding.
The state’s Insurance Department also enacted a new policy last year requiring insurers to provide insurance discounts for homeowners and businesses that take action to reduce fire danger around their properties.
Learn more about the quickly deteriorating state of affairs in California at CaliforniaCollapse.news.
