How stupid are we? (he asked, rhetorically)

When I was in high school, I worked afternoons in a grocery store, Albertson’s. In those days stores would buy a full two page newspaper ad each Thursday highlighting sale prices, and people would buy sale items, often in quantity. One day I noticed our assistant manager going around and marking up various items – I asked him “John, what’s this about?”

He said that they had to make up for money they lost on advertised sale items, so that part of his job was to go around and mark up enough stuff so that the store would break even on their “sale”.  It was a good life lesson on how things really worked. There were no computers in those days, so that the process was not foolproof, but was at least carefully calculated.

This morning on entering our local Kings Sooper I encountered this sign. It says that shopping carts will stop rolling if they leave the parking lot.

Imagine the expense of inserting electronic equipment on each cart and a laser perimeter on the edges of the parking lot to prevent loss of ancient wobbly old shopping carts. But then I thought … they put a man on the moon. This might be real too!

I think this came about in the 1990s, and every store abides by it (except perhaps Walmart – I don’t know as I do not shop there, but Walmart’s business model appears to be merely underselling competition).

I call it the fake price/real price system. Maybe half or more of the items for sale in the store have these tags on them, indicating that an item is temporarily marked down. This item, red apple chips, is marked down by fifty cents, and on leaving the store the receipt will say that we “saved” that amount. The clerks are instructed to say on checkout how much each customer “saved” on that shopping trip. It is a demeaning job.

Look at all those tags! It must be some poor schmuck’s job during the night to attach them over the store!

I once chatted with a grocery store manager back in the 1990s, I do not know why. The stores were just implementing the fake price/real price system. I suggested to him that the job of his store (and all stores) was to extract as much money from each customer has humanly possible, while at the same time emphasizing that they were “saving” money while shopping. He said that this was pretty much how it worked.

My wife and I like a beer called Incredible Pebble, make by Denver Brewing Company. Kings Soopers sells it for $12.99 (fake price) but it is always on sale for $10.99 (real price), suggesting a “savings” of two bucks. The liquor store a half black away sells it for $10.99, real price, but I tell my wife we should purchase it at Kings Sooper to take advantage of the two dollar savings.

Because, you see, we are really that stupid.

63 thoughts on “How stupid are we? (he asked, rhetorically)

  1. Great insights.

    I’ve noticed for years that Kroger will frequently jack-up the price of an item by 30 or 40% a week before it goes on special for buy one get one free. So you’re not saving as much with the bogo as you think you are, plus the store makes it all back after the sale anyway.

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    1. In Europe and your neck of the woods, Mom and Pop stores are abundant. Up here in the Denver foothills, our choices are Natural* Grocers, Kings Sooper, and Safeway. There is nothing else. Down the hill in Denver, same except perhaps in the black and Latino sectors, where people are poorly served by the big chains. Chris Rock talks in his act about grocery stores in black versus white neighborhoods.

      *From a legal standpoint, the word “natural” has no meaning, so that it can be placed on any product without fear of false advertising, not that “real” ads are not false too.

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      1. Mark, please.

        You don’t fool me with lame excuses. You live in the absolute first world, compared to most others on Earth. You also have small shops in Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, etc. I have been in Denver, albeit 18 years ago, it cannot be that AAAALLL those latino and other cornerstores ALL have closed.

        Just 2 min watching maps I already found the Lucky’s Market in Boulder, which in the most explicit terms I have seen offers organic food:

        We believe good food shouldn’t be a luxury, it should be a right. If you don’t want to eat things like pesticides, antibiotics and growth hormones, you shouldn’t have to. Natural and organic food shouldn’t be priced out of your reach. We also have the crazy notion that we shouldn’t adopt a holier-than-thou attitude if your grandma’s recipe calls for something that doesn’t fit some people’s idea of what’s good for you.

        So we created a store that will hook an entire generation on eating a little bit healthier. A store that does serious work, without taking itself too seriously. A store dedicated to good food. And making sure that everyone can enjoy it.

        https://www.luckysmarket.com/how-we-roll

        Then you have lots of farmers around where you can just buy your produce directly from the source without middle men, saving on all sides.

        AND creating a bond with your grocer/farmer, like it should and used to be.

        I know everyone I shop at and they know me.

        The anonymism of the crapitalist western world is easy to break. Just do things differently

        The idea that “everywhere in the world, except in the most abundant first world country of them all, you can buy at small stores” is completely ludicrous and yet another lame excuse to not live JUSTLY, MORALLY, GOOD.

        Yous all should stop endulging in this evil and get a clean conscience. And then you automatically also meet better people.

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        1. That would be great … if we lived in Boulder. We live near Conifer, 35 miles away. We only go to the People’s Republic to watch our grandson play hockey.

          Up here near Conifer, there are no small stores. There are only the three I mentioned. The closest farmer’s markets are down the hill, and in places like Aurora, though there is one in Evergreen I was not aware of. We did go to one last year, I am not remembering where, but it was poorly stocked and very expensive. That’s been my experience with farmers’ markets – they’ve gone Harvard Business School on us. It used to be that we could get things like peaches and melons cheaper than a grocery store, but now the opposite is true.

          My excuses are not lame. That expression is out of date. My excuses are physically challenged.

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          1. I’ve actually had “run-ins”, I guess you could call it, with farmers market administrators (who seemed to be just more government bureaucrat weasels). And even some participating farmers!
            Things like asking the supposed-farmer on-site if the vegetables were sun-ripened and just-harvested vs. harvested some time ago and gas-ripened, and they can’t answer, or won’t, or get mad.

            Last summer I asked why the watermelons have upc stickers on them like in the grocery stores. Same non-answers and acting like how dare I pose questions.
            And, yes, the high prices for produce that’s nothing special. I have concluded that it’s probably mostly just yet another huge racket. 😢

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          2. That is my point exactly

            you choose “convenience” and “cheapness” over principles. Why? How can you defend that, running a blog which is all about exposing these Animal Farmers and then just supporting them?

            I know you have a good pension, investments in gas fields and knowing your travels and your daughters expat status you clearly do not need to suffer financially. I wouldn’t call you “rich”, but you clearly have above average finances.
            And that in one of the overall wealthiest nations on Earth….

            Yes, your medical costs are sky high, but that is the perk of living in the US, other than that life is much cheaper for you than for most of us outside of the US.

            I have to scrape by every month, having lived of on average 100 USD per month in the last periods. And I can save myself pesos by going to the D1, the Colombian version of Aldi/Lidl, and also a German owner, but why would I do that?

            Life in Colombia is 5x cheaper, but living in the US with just 500 USD a month is also a challenge. And still then you can make MORAL choices, instead of just running after “convenient” or “cheap”…

            I openly share my views with the small shop owners and other Colombians present and explain to them I don’t buy at big chain supermarkets. I don’t even have to go into any “awake” stuff, it is very simple:

            they have the money already and the small shop owners need the support to stay in business and not be wiped out by those big chains.

            There are many many mindless minions here who don’t think about where they shop, what they do with their time or money or who they actively support.
            But they have no moral obligation because they are not awake.

            Anyone here at POM is and thus has no excuse.

            Yes, acting moral costs more than being a mindless sheep, but that is what life is about, not like a Black Friday Addict chasing only the cheapest prices (which most people do not even do, it is the convenience they stick to).

            I get the feeling that Tyrone McCloskey (thanks for informing me and us about Luckys Market, I obviously don’t know the details of those stores) sees “virtuous” as something negative. How is that possible?? Living a virtuous life is the GOAL, especially once you understand how much horror there is in the world (“waking up”), you should stay far far away from those freaks and thus become virtuous.

            So it goes back to my earlier point; if I can do it, then everyone can do it.

            But yeah, that convenience, eh?

            big PUKE

            PS: you can strike deals with neighbors where one of you goes one week and the others go another week and you share the costs of gasoline and time.

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            1. Gaia, I realize that my position is one of privilege, yours not. If I could change that, I would happily do so. Perhaps in another life my position will be less fortunate, and if so I hope I accept it with grace. People tell me (I have read anyway) that people walking the sidewalks of Wall Street are less happy than those of Mumbai … where poverty is far more common. Money does not solve problems. Johnny Carson was asked how had wealth affected his life, and he said the only difference in having money was not having to constantly worry about money. I am comfortable and secure in money, not wealthy by any means, but otherwise very happy anyway. I wish happiness for you too.

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              1. Regarding eating habits, I notice a difference between my wife and I and others, including family members – we cook our own food. My wife insists on organic, I am not a believer but go along with her on the matter because, you know, she could be right and me wrong. Eating out, fast food and restaurants, to me, seems lazy and wasteful. But people do it every day. When I was growing up, there was but one pizza joint in our town, and I rarely went there with friends, not family, as we did not go out for meals as a family. McDonalds came along, one branch, and when I went there it was for a hamburger and french fries, and I did not think either was very good. Gary Taubes, the diet (avoid carbohydrates) guy, suggests that french fries are a large part of the overweight problem in this land, but then he adds, we don’t really know what is in the meat they use, do we.

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              2. Happiness does not come from money.

                I am so intensely happy, even though my finances are even for Colombian standards low.

                But poor? I have a beautiful roof over my head, have the best life possible and am happy with anything. Everything is a donation, every day spent is a gift.

                I have become so detached from money, that would not have been possible without getting to the levels I am at.

                But I am so intensely happy, why, because I have a clean conscience. I do not need to wiggle and weasel, because I STAND for something.

                Typical desk slave quote by someone who clearly hasn’t lived in India.

                Have you been to Mumbai?

                I have. I had to fecking WORK with those mofo indians and their horrific culture.

                Being poor in Mumbai is no joke and no, THOSE levels are def not better than Wall Street. Because India is such an abomination of a country, culture, mentality, it is hell on Earth there.

                But living a humble life is FAR better than the consumerist craze we live in.

                I am working all day and have always holidays, making value out of our words we speak on air.

                And I work purely donation/support base. Anyone liking my work (you yourself have NEVER given any feedback of the numerous productions I made from YOUR show at Fakeologist…) may donate to Molly and me.

                But even if nobody else financially supports us, my happiness doesn’t change. I am happy because I am conscious, clean and have and take TIME for anyone I deem worthy. Now THAT is a good life. Not chasing the cheapest crap in the stupidest supermarkets. That is zombie behavior.

                And Molly is the gift of GAIA for all of this. The most special caniña on Earth chose me, and not the other 10,000s of humans she must have seen.

                Why do you refuse to come on Eye am Eye Radio and yet in another post claim you want to start podcasting??

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                1. I don’t recall any invitations on Eye on Eye, as I would gladly accept.

                  Your words against me are always harsh. I take it all in but with discomfort.

                  Regarding Fakeologist and your work there, I just don’t go places, and do not single you out. As I told Boethus, I never go to Clues Forum. There was a time when I wandered around, but now I am sated, seen enough, and do not imagine that there are any more surprises. Lately I have taken to reading fiction and writing about small things, like supermarket pricing strategies. I am winding down.

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                  1. Do you remember the show we had with Ab? In that show I invited you and you even asked me to become a writer again here, upon which I suggested a list of topics I could write about but let the readers and commenters decide which topic is most appealing.

                    I am rigid, yes, but not personally harsh. It is the principles and stances I focus on.

                    And I think social auditing, judging each other is very important in this degenerate world, and I am not alone.

                    Yesterday when we were discussing that here there was a taxi driving the wrong way in a one way street. So I do what I always to when seeing injustice or entitled pricks, I just sat on his hood, till he would turn around.

                    The anger of the asshole was the first confirmation I was doing right, and the thank you I got from the other, right way, driving traffic was the second.

                    See also Carla Klauslers comment here below, keeping each other straight has become even more important than ever, because if we do not socially audit, we are in the hands of “ze authorities” who think they can do that for us.

                    For you and anyone interested in talking, using our GAIA given voices, with 0 limitations on free speech, feel free to join and we record our best ideas and thoughts.

                    The benefit of my style of podcasting is that you do not “have to podcast”, like on other platforms.

                    That is because I do the work, rather than you, talkers. I pick out the best phrases and wordings, and the times you’re looking for words mishaps, ehhms, I all cut out.

                    We can even highlight some classic and revealing posts or comments made here.

                    Fakeologist is currently ruled not by Ab, but by a military cancer cultist, the place has deteriorated. Cluesforum I also don’t read anymore, but recently kham joined Eye am Eye Radio again, we haven’t spoken yet.

                    Invite to the Eye am Eye Radio Discord server:

                    https://discord.gg/sNBewZB9m5

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                    1. It is an invitation to Discord.

                      So if you install Discord first, then the link takes you to the web version of Discord and then automatically switches to the installed app of Discord.

                      I don’t do Zoom, Skype (owned by Wild Billy G, come on!) or other platforms. Discord is great!

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  2. Walmart – I don’t know as I do not shop there

    this is good to read, but should be for anyone reading along here

    WHY oh WHY do “awake people” go to ANY big chain supermarket? How can you look yourself in the mirror shopping at exactly those people who REFUSED you just 2-3 years ago because you didn’t wear the right muzzle?

    Have they ever apologized to you, dear Customer of the Consumerist Addictions???

    And on top of that; why would anyone here, knowing how awful, deceiving and immoral those bastard corporations are, SUPPORT those freaks?

    I only shop at small scale shops, corner shops, family owned non-chain supermarkets, etc. It is maybe a little bit more expensive than the underpriced big buck chains, but all of you are richer than me, so if I can do it, anyone of you can do it.

    THAT is the way. These people are being put out of business. Not by the big chains, but by all of YOU who refuse to support the right people and instead support the wrong ones (making your consumerist lifestyles double bad).

    NO shopping at
    Walmart
    Tesco
    Amazon

    or ANY of those conglomerations.

    live a MORAL life
    not a MORON life

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    1. Gaia, I told a friend once about the awful things Amazon does to some of their retailers and I said I wasn’t going to support that anymore. She nonchalantly said, “I can’t fight every battle.” and “Your battle is not my battle.” Shrug. I once updated her on new information regarding food and nutrition and she told me I’m the only friend who pays attention to that stuff. Like it’s a liability or a negative.

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      1. Great to hear your actions. That is indeed how we should deal with our friends, keep them straight. And just. And good. That is why they are friends in the first place I would say.

        The reaction you got is what I also got from an online friend, same nonchalant reaction.

        We have more information than EVER about all the corporations, the products, we have the internet, people can go to bookstores still instead of lazily clicking something from Jeff “building the Ark of History” Bezos…

        3 years ago I could still stomach people not acting justly, especially with their own economy, but NOW?? I mean, really?

        Amazon is such pure evil, from so many sides, the boss, the practices how they abuse their staff, the monopolization of everything, etc. etc. etc. etc.

        What makes people wake up?
        When are they going to spend their valuable money justly?

        I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep even if I would spend my days either shopping at or working for the Building of the Beast. And I thought any other truthful human would have the same.

        So nice to see you take action, you speak up. So many people do not, they are weasels, hypocrites.

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        1. Gaia, I sure do speak up…but my words fall on cloth ears. Walmart and Amazon have everything cheaper and faster but I have patience to wait for things from other companies. I can also forgo something if those are the only places to get it. Convenience and low cost is what matters to these brainwashed people. Oh, yes, I can hold a grudge. For a very long time.

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  3. My first guess regarding that sign was it’s to prevent people from facepalming, when riding carts over obstacles. But a quick search on the internet brought up, there is really a system to lock carts crossing a cable.
    We don’t have that in Germany, but electronic markets and even grocery stores use e-ink tags. So every single tag, some 10 thousand, is a battery powered miniature e-book reader, with wifi! Remote price adjustment. Surely more devices than that wheel lock.

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  4. The shopping cart restrictions have been in place at the super markets in Frisco for some time and they do work. As the tent enclaves continue to spread, an emancipated shopping cart is like a brand new Pontiac to the bums roaming about, also without restrictions. The big chains are guarding their carts at some expense as they would be gone in a fortnight and the actual shoppers would start to bellow.
    PS- Luckys is exactly the same as Safeway. A large corporate chain and their “organic” food is just a label to squeeze a few extra pennies out of the virtuous.

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    1. I’ll be darned. We’ve been shopping at that same store for 12 years now. The shopping carts are old and rickety. Suddenly they are geared with new technology. If they were going to go to all that trouble, I wish they had also straightened some wheels and oiled some bearings.

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      1. It would be became cheaper to store if they just donate some oldest and ricketiest carts away, wouldn’t it? Just how big need for stolen carts there are in Your neighborhood anyway? They show us in American movies how some homeless people wanders in the streets with their whole property in shopping carts, but is the problem really so big there? We don’t have that issue here in Finland as here the homeless people in big cities live often in cardboard cottages and only carry a bottle of cheap spirit with them when hanging around city. They drink here sometimes denatured (It taste so bad that it’s difficult or impossible to drink. European Union told us that we should sell poisoned fuel spirits, but that would kill so drunkards that we have to refuse that.) fuel spirits or cheap Russian vodka which sometimes are really poisonous methanol instead, because the official alcohol is so expensive here, but that’s an another topic.

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        1. I missed so many thees in my comment above that I leave some here to pick them up when trying to read my text: the, the, the, the. I’m sorry.

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  5. The prices of groceries and other stuffs are risen so much in the Finland during the last two years that many thing cost double the money today than former. They say it’s because of the things like pandemic, mostly because the war in Ukraine (I know, that another topic), expensive fuel, bad weather…et cetera. So mainly it’s Putin’s fault like so many other bad things they say to be in our country.
    There was a time period when the prices were higher EVERY time when we were shopping in the grocery stories of our nearest town. I told my wife half joking that there must be quite a bustle at nights when they are changing the price tags all the time for almost every other day/night. My wife blurted out that that is just a silly talking of mine like all those dull Moon hoax stories. Anyway in the home I was showing the receipts of our shoppings from last few months and indeed the prices were a little bit higher in every receipts. For example the coffee used to be about 2 or 3 Euros (same with Dollars) per package and now it costs about 6 euros. (They say it’s because of war, but also because of the drought in coffee farming countries or something like that) But also the prices of for example household and toilet papers are doubled among few months. (I have not seen any reasons for that). Many, almost all, other items have become more expensive by variable amounts. You get the picture. Still I haven’t ever seen any of the staff in stories ever changing the tags anywhere in these months. So it must be done by nights in my opinion. You see all the time when shopping that the staff is bringing more items to the shelves so You should see them replacing the tags too? My wife said eventually that I might be right about that. That feels so good. A little step for a mankind but one great leap for my trustworthiness in the eyes of my wife. Maybe?
    Now they are bringing the electronic price tags here too in some stories (Firstly in the Germany origin Lidl stories ) so they could release the night taggers from storages of the stories or something.
    If I go to speak about the higher prices with someones I know they answered like “what about the poor people in Ukraine? Their homes are devastated by the russians and they have anything left and You dare to be worried about the wellness of You and Your family. Are You some kind of Putinist or russian agent perhaps? If Putin strikes here, I will laugh off You!” WTF? Not. Brainwashed. At. All.
    That’s like when we were kids and we were told that we should think all those poor hungry African children when not liking to eat all the beans and carrots from our plates. I never understood what it was supposed to do for us, but I feel just sad for the African children and guiltiness from that I have more food than them. It decreased my appetite instead of wanting to eat more. That was a common practice to say to the children in our country years ago when I was a kid.
    Back to the present. This raising of prices is going to lead to the biggest crisis of wellness of the poor and middle class people in the period of time after the WW II in the Finland in my opinion. But we should think about the Ukrainians instead, they say. Sorry Ukrainians, but I think my own and my family life matters too.

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    1. The mega-inflation is also here, with similar factors.

      I used to buy a pound (lb, so 454 g, 90% of a real pound, half a kilo) of minced meat for 4000 pesos, which back then was about 1.1 USD.

      Now the same pound of meat costs 12,000 pesos, so 3 times as much for me, living the Colombian only economy, but because of the peso-USD exchange rates, now this costs just 2.2 USD.

      So the prices for me have risen 3 times, while for all of you foreigners they only rose double.

      Stressing what I have been saying for years now; all of you rich European and North American people should invest in Colombia, with that you gain because of the less developed economy here and you fight your own inflation with it, a double edged sword.

      In the last months I buy meat just twice a month and unfortunately have to feed kibble to Molly. Before I always cooked for the 2 of us, but with my own finances dropping and prices rising I am not able to do that anymore.

      But my lesson out of all of this is; none of this affects me. I can go out, with money in my pocket, and not having eaten for 2 days and STILL not buy anything and save my money for another day.

      That is strength.
      That is power.

      (((they))) will never get to me, no matter how hard they try

      PS: I would not speak bad about Ukraine. Their situation is not a justification of you complaining or not, that is a fallacy, but having no sympathy for the Ukrainians I find appaling.

      No matter the military War part is a Hoax, the cultural, economic and linguistic domination of “Russia” over “Ukraine” is very real, and the imperialist, expansionist politics of hyper crook Putin deserve nothing but contempt and opposition.

      Have you ever been to Ukraine? I have been there 3 times, and Kiev was always one of my favorite cities in Europe. Great people, the Ukrainians. And much nicer, more open, than Russians (whom I know quite lot of too).

      Don’t let the media stories fool you, people suffer, even if the cover story is nonsense.

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      1. Ukrainians are neo-nazis, satanists, pro-Stephan Bandera with their neo-nazi ukrainian Jew president Zelensky.

        Unthinkable Atrocities of ukrainian neo-nazi Banderites
        The OUN-UPA and the Ethnic Cleansing of Polish Volhynia , 1943
        The Volhynian massacres were anti-Polish genocidal ethnic cleansings conducted by Ukrainian “nationalists”.

        Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Azov Battalion
        Zelensky Speech With Nazi AZOV BATTALION
        youtube.com/watch?v=F0tAWaNEhU8

        362 different examples of torture and brutality used by the “heroes of Ukraine” ukrainian neo-nazi Banderites in the early 40’s of the last century against the poles.

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          1. How in this case?
            Neo-nazism is Ukrainian state religion.

            The alliance of MI6, the CIA and the Ukrainian neo-nazis Banderites (Stepan Bandera)

            Apr 12, 2022 — After having shown that the war in Ukraine was prepared by the Straussians and triggered on February 17 by Kiev’s attack on the Donbass,
            .https://www.voltairenet.org/article216406.html

            Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada Chrystia Freeland was photographed on Sunday with a scarf promoting a ‘far-right’ Ukrainian ‘Nationalist’ movement OUN linked to Neo-Nazis and extremism.
            .https://www.awakecanada.org/freeland-caught-holding-pro-nazi-banner-at-ukraine-protest/

            .https://jonahintheheartofnineveh.blogspot.com/search/label/OUN-B
            .https://jonahintheheartofnineveh.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-roots-of-ukrainian-nazism.html

            .https://strategic-culture.org/news/2022/04/04/how-ukrainian-nationalist-movement-post-wwii-was-bought-and-paid-for-by-cia/

            .https://data.ibtimes.sg/en/full/55630/chrystia-freeland.png

            Stepan Bandera

            newsweek.com/ukraine-nazi-collaborator-birthday-holiday-anti-semitic-1272911
            timesofisrael.com/hundreds-march-in-ukraine-in-annual-tribute-to-nazi-collaborator/
            en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Sector

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            1. Totally agree with Sobieski.
              Mark you’re not from Europe and you don’t live in Europe, I don’t know about Sobieski but I am and I do, so I know.

              Ukrainians are the worst people I ever had the disgrace to come across in my life. They’re so proud of their shitty country and nazi culture yet they migrate to other countries in Europe for work knowing from day 1 how to take advantage of our healthcare and welfare.
              They only take and do not give anything in return. You own them in their minds.
              Talked to a ukrainian acquaintance weeks ago. I told her that most people in my country do not want to be involved in the war and their clown of a leader should negotiate peace with Russia asap, she said they’ll fight till the last human on ukrainian soil. I asked her ” so what if Russia starts a nuclear war that will kill all europeans?”. She bluntly replied ” So be it. If we can’t win all europeans can die, we do not care”.
              Helping them or caring for them? Not a chance.
              Truth is nobody likes them, only globalist leftist woke retards who turned out to be nazi lovers, climate change gretins (as we call the idiots who follow Greta Thunberg) and vaccine fascists.
              Oh, and don’t we forget lgbt supporters of course.
              Pure garbage.

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        1. I don’t doubt what You are saying. The wars, hoaxed or not never are are Good Guys versus Bad Guys. It’s always more complicated. This is so large subject what is going on in Ukraine that it can’t be discussed shortly. But when thinking about Zelensky being an professional actor and that his wife is a screenwriter. Also the fact that Ukraine is leader country in development of the extended reality we have a big coincidence, or not?

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          1. Ukraine is also the country with an impressive number of military biolabs, mostly american, financed by the Biden family.
            That’s why this travesty war was started: the labs had to be protected.
            But the list doesn’t end here: Ukraine is the country of surrogate mothers, illegal adoptions, child trafficking (there is a very recent polish documentary that talks about it) and so on and so forth.
            Yeah Zelensky and his wife are actors of course, but real nazi actors.
            Their destiny is not my problem and the idiots who run my country can say whatever they want, I don’t care about Ukraine and never will.

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    2. Speaking of starving Africans, the Live Aid racket was almost 40 years ago already. Has anyone here written about that Total-Scam?

      Bob Geldof should have been in prison this whole time.

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      1. Tell me why? Maybe he just don’t like Mondays? (I’m just kidding, black humour of mine, I couldn’t resist.)
        I was teenager back in about 1984 When there were that Band Aid scam thing with the song from Geldof “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” I remember wondering then that when the children are starving to death without food and water what they do with information about if it is Christmas or not? Do they send Christmas cards each other or buy a Christmas ham from local store if someone told them it’s Christmas? Or do they praise Jesus about his birth and resurrection and other nice tales of his supposed life? How in the Earth could someone sing that song along without understanding it’s absurd text? There’s a line in that song, singed by Bono, which says: “Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of You.” WTF! Could it be more crappy anymore? Another line, singed by Paul Young says: “Underneath that burning Sun.” Oh, It’s not all about the starving or Christmas, there is even the Sun shining. I can’t handle that.

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  6. I never said that I don’t feel sympathy for Ukrainians! Of course I’m very sad about their situation and there are many refugees from there in my hometown. Many of us have donated stuff and money to Ukraine and there are busies going to Ukrainian and back with volunteer drivers moving stuff and refugees. I would like to be driving the busies but I don’t have a licence to do that. Finland is a rich country, but here are plenty of poor people too. We have bread queues here in almost every town, where they donate food to people that can’t afford, And the queues are longer every day. These are not all some homeless bums but real people with family to feed. It should not be that it’s o.k. for our citizens to suffer because the people suffer in other land. We have the longest border in Europe with Russia and for example my grand father fight against them(Soviet Union then) in two wars so I know pretty much what the Russia is. It’s a kind of irony that the attackers in the Winter War (Year 1939) were Ukrainians, but they have no choice but attack under the power of Stalin, just like the Russian soldiers have no choice in Ukrainian under the power of Putin. Some of my ancestors by the way were rulers of the Ukrainian in Kiev long long time ago, but that’s another story. I feel very much sympathy for them. Your comment was exactly the reaction how they want us to feel about when someone is talking about the situation in Ukraine without crying the whole time when speaking.
    I hear You too and I’s sorry about Your situation. The Molly is a cat I suppose? The cat’s need a good food or they became sick. There are here abandoned more cats and dogs than ever in history because people can’t feed them. And they found too often farms where there are starving cows and horses with nobody caring them. It’s awful and had nothing to with wars anywhere. It should not be a competition which land is more poor because in every land the poor people are suffering. Don’t You believe so much that propaganda about our wealthy European countries.

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    1. Suominen: Given that the “war” is Ukraine appears to be 100% a hoax, what is it about the situation of the Ukrainians about which you feel sympathy?

      Honest question. I mean no sass or sarcasm.

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      1. I don’t take Your comment as sarcasm by any way. Many wars are more or less hoaxes, but that do not mean that there are no people suffering. There are many Ukrainian refugees here in Finland and many of those homes are destroyed in bombings they say and their husbands are in war zones they say. I believe they believe that what’s happened to them. No one really knows what really happens in the “war zones”. What I have seen in TV they are devastated the old ugly Soviet era buildings which were already falling apart without any bombs. I haven’t see any of pictures or videos of distraction those very beautiful older buildings. Don’t know why. Many of the war scene pictures are clearly faked, but that is what propaganda is about. We see videos of blasting Russian tanks and fallen soldiers, but we see that in movies and TV-series too so I don’t know which of these are real and which not. Only those in there “war zones” knows. But still I feel sympathy for those Ukrainian civilian, they suffer regardless what is causing their suffer. It’s not a hoax as if nothing happens there and that there is no victims. Why would TPTB spare the people lives anyway? This is a good opportunity for them to harvest the cattle, isn’t it? Many people will die here in my country too for ascend life expenses because of the situation. Are they (TPTB) supposedly now worried about us like they pretend to be with all that “pandemic” hysteria?

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        1. West Ukraine is untouched so Ukrainians don’t help each other.
          They are imigrants escaping from jewish oligarchic poor Ukraine ane they get free benefits from goverments of Czech Rep., Poland.
          Great Britain doesn’t want Ukrainians:)

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          1. There’s like neo-nazi jews in Ukraine? That’s cool. Does they come with the different colours? I was already boring with those old nazi jews.

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    2. Thanks a lot for expanding your views.

      I got the feeling you were downplaying the terror on the Ukrainians and in the meantime praising Putin. That seems to be a common “alt media stance” now, which I find disgusting. Putin will never be a hero.

      I am as much against the invasion of Ukraine as I am against the invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, Winter War Finland, etc. etc.

      I am sorry to hear of the tragedy in Finland atm, but those people you described is also what I have seen in boots-on-the-ground-videos in the US (your question before), like Skid Row in LA and so many other places in the bigger cities.

      Molly provides all the happiness I need

      Have you seen this breed in Finland? It is the 2nd most popular country for her race, so maybe you have seen dogs like her?

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      1. Nice dog. I don’t know much about breeds and can’t differ them easily, but one of my neighbour have a dog that looks lot like the dog of Yours. I’m more cat people myself but I like dogs a lot too. We have one cat at the moment.
        I never praise dictators like Putin and never will. But they who are making our lives worse are keeping him as a scapegoat who are guilty for everything bad that happen here. He IS a very bad person,but I believe he is one of the PTB members like many other leaders and they begins to worse our things long before Ukrainian war with so called Pandemic. Now they blame the war and Putin for every the bad things happening to us and our economy. They told like we should just be grateful that Putin didn’t attack Finland and quietly suffer our misery. I don’t think that’s right thing to do and it’s not fair for anyone.

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        1. Wow, cool about your neighbor. Molly is a mudi, a very rare Hungarian breed, that has a large presence in Finland too.

          It’s funny, I also used to be much more a cat person and even though I grew up in a zoo (my dad worked in the zoo in Rotterdam and we had all kinds of animals always at home), I didn’t really like dogs so much.

          But then Molly was brought into my life as a gift from God.

          And that is no longer me alone saying it, just now in the park 3 women said those exact same words before I could say them.

          On the other hand we have complete maniacs here on the streets who start KICKING Molly when she rightly senses someone has bad energy.

          The women I met today were as fierce as me and that gives so much boost, to meet good people who have principles, stand for something…

          And my response to their questions is always the same:

          “Is she yours?”
          Eh no, I cannot claim ownership over Molly, because I found her on the streets…

          And that usually brings up a conversation, which I love. I even used your coffee example to explain to the Colombians who want to leave the country (we have a socialist regime for the first time ever, as only South American country Colombia never had socialist regimes like Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia have), be prepared for a much more expensive life elsewhere.

          And then my status as a foreigner helps.

          My days are like this, I have no bosses, no alarms, no schedules, just good conversations and pure freedom.

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      2. Molly is cool. Enjoy her while you can. I just lost my pup. They give you more loyalty pleasure and comfort than any human ever can.

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        1. Oh man, so sorry to hear about the loss of your dog!

          And yes, you’re right about how important dogs are.

          But her life has been on a thin thread, 99% of the people love her, it is those 1% utter MORONS who start KICKING her and in some cases even throwing stones at her who cause the problems.

          Those psychos should not even be on the streets with such sick, totally maniac behavior, but I’ve had too many encounters with the little green friends over those cases.

          Yet I KNOW FOR SURE in the US when the police comes at your door at Christmas night, they won’t leave, as they did here, RECORDED, cause I just started podcasting about that yet another psycho in society.

          Again, my condolences for your enormous loss.

          If you are ready again for a dog, consider a mudi (right on the thumbnail):

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          1. 5 rarest dog breeds in the world? They must be. I think I have never seen any of those in my life time, but in the other hand I think that I would recognize only under the dozen breed. For me there are mostly the big dogs, the medium dogs and the small dogs. The German shepherd is the only one I am really sure. They were one of the most common dogs here when I was a kid. Most of dogs here are mixed breeds anyway. Once there walked past my home a people with the dog just like that wolf “Devil” from the Phantom comic books. If You know that. That dog in the video of Yours above standing with his/her back foots was really amazing.

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              1. Thanks for the link! But to the radio with my English skills? No thanks, I would be much worse than those Finnish rally drivers. “The rally was good, but the car was bad.” If You know what I mean. Writing in English is hard enough for me. And thirdly I have nothing wise to say about anything.

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              2. I read all the Phantom comics released here in Finland (They were first black and white but later became in colors and that was when I stopped reading them, they feels duller with colors and didn’t leave enough room for a imagination IMO.) in my Youth and I always wanted to have an own wolf just like the Devil was. I was amazed when I noticed that someone in my neighborhood actually have one like that. When I was a kid we have a Finnish Hunter dog instead and it was my best friend in those days. Later we mowed to the town and didn’t take a new dog when the old one died.
                By the way, the name of the Devil’s father seems to be Satan. Why those names? Maybe I should study more about the Lee Falk and reread some of the older Phantom comics with my adult eyes.

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            1. I don’t know how to insert a photo to the comments. But it’s remarkable resemblance between the Devil and the wolf-dog I linked, isn’t it?

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              1. You post an image by just dumping in the full URL. I think only .jpg and .gif work in showing up as images, maybe .png too, .svg comes up as a link.

                I managed to get a glimpse of that wolf/dog/wolf-dog on that Finnish site, bombarding me with text I cannot read and cookies I won’t accept….

                Just open the image in a separate tab and share that image url here, and it should work, no need for html code or anything.

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                1. That seems to be a webp-picture. Those are common things these days, don’t know why and what they are. Those modern times follies of some kind I thing.

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                  1. You can right click and download webp images but then you need to upload them to imgur or even much easier, Discord, to be able to share them here.

                    That’s why Discord is such a great tool, versatile and so much easier than having to constantly upload images to other sites.

                    And for podcasting it works well too.

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                    1. All right, thank You for help. Is it legal to upload other people’s photos to the Discord? I use to be interested about the computers and new technology, but nowadays I feel that stuff to be boring. I write this comment with my ancient laptop that I bought from flea market many years ago and just do with it what is necessary, like paying bills and reading sites like this in internet. I don’t have any social media accounts or any other internet things taken for granted these days. It’s my own choice to do so as like I’m always been supporter of the sustainable development. That means that I rarely get excited or buy new innovations and I stick with my old stuff as long as they are working.
                      But I try to study that Discord think, that may be interesting thing after all.

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    3. Yeah, all european countries run by US puppets -you have one as Prime Minister, we have one too- are donating money, weapons and whatnot to nazi ukrainians.
      Hungary is the only sane country left in the EU, and actually the only one to really wanna stop this travesty of a NATO war.

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      1. Totally agree,
        part of Hungary is occupied by Ukraine.
        Hungarians, Poles (citizens of Ukraine) in Ukraine are sent by neo-nazi U. to the front.
        So PM of Hungary V. Orban has no interest to help Ukrainians murder Hungarians.

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  7. Mark,

    You make some keen observations regarding Albertson’s and the food supply in general. I have seen carts with locking wheels but typically these are areas under increased blight/homelessness and theft of carts. Is that Missoula sprawl heading your way?

    You might like this article my ‘friend’ wrote on the WrenchInTheGears last year… albeit it is a bit lengthy but there is a heavy Albertson’s connection. With the recent Albertson’s/Kroger merger on the horizon, further consolidation of food supply and robotic shopping carts enabled for the space age is eminent.

    Here is the article: https://wrenchinthegears.com/2022/02/07/the-grocery-business-is-dye-ing-guest-post/

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    1. This post is being pushed down by the Dave McGowan stage play.

      Contrary to normally, I read this enormously extensive investigative blog post in full.

      There is clearly put a lot of time in this unraveling of these “organic” food chains, the name Cerberus indeed is eerily accurately chosen.

      This post by washington sean is the most on-topic reaction in this whole thread, give it a read, even I was grabbed by it (and normally I don’t read/watch/listen to ANYthing Clownworld anymore)…

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      1. Thank you Gaia for taking the time.

        I have it on good authority that the author did put a lot of time into that article… a good first step if you will, in exposing the clown world, coming to grips with it, and perhaps, even a step towards leaving it all behind as we grasp for meaning in the bigger picture.

        I also happen to know that the protagonist in the article, Mary, was later terminated from her position, while on her maternity leave! No small feat in my opinion.

        But perhaps the biggest lead-out from the article was the revelation that Mr. Dye, AKA one of the three headed hounds of Hades himself (Cerberus) is currently neck deep in the institutionalization of the legal cannabis industry in Colorado through the Schwazze brand (https://schwazze.com/our-leaders/justin-dye/). This revelation should concern EVERY consumer of cannabis.

        Schwazee boasts the motto: “Transcending the Human Condition Through Cannabis” and the definition of Schwazee is: A cultivation technique that prunes a living organism to create more growth.”

        To the ordinary recreational stoner this motto and definition don’t trigger anything. But to the avid POM reader, something more sinister and much deeper is going on with the rollout of legal weed. Polyethylene glycol (PEG), mysterious vaping illness of 2019 seem related if you (cough cough) catch my (engineered nanoparticle) drift.

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        1. yes, that Schwazze also caught my Eye am Eye, as well as the many Tribe of Trickster names I counted in the enormous article (some “Selzer” I recall was there too…)

          that is what I always have had problems with in conversations with US Americans, and them ONLY, about what I coined

          cheese / quesito

          a.k.a. María Juana (I released 3 Mixes of that enormously intriguing origin story)

          yousamericans use terms like “Delta 8”, “Delta 9”, I dunno, it all sounds very militaristic…. recently I learned it stems from the chemistry of cannaboids, but it still sounds so strange to my Dutch-Colombian (we are the only ones in the whole world who share a certain “stigma”, innit?) ears

          used to sativa and indica and Haze and what the Monsanto variant is called aptly here…

          creepy

          (no kidding, and I dun smoke that shite)

          It is an AMAZING piece of investigative journalism

          to keep MY attention for SO long

          of something I have 0 relation with

          and seeking unmarkedness

          is impressive enough by itself

          it is just a very very well written piece.

          WAY more valuable than “Agent Dave” and “Petra Razorblade”…

          but yeah, the “hits” are sooooo important…… 🙄

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  8. If you support small business which would be an LLC or corporation too until it becomes a national or state franchise then does it matter. Are the days still here of just owning and operating one store and hope to make profits and stay in business? Many small stores in my area have the same products and suppliers as the big chains. Do we have the illusion that we are supporting a grass roots small business that will forever stay grass roots and we can feel good about ourselves for paying a little more……

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