Economic Collapse: Are You Living In “The Land Of The Setting Sun”?

“Abe fiddled while Tokyo burned”

By Andrew Henderson: Greetings today from the Nozomi superexpress train, where I’m headed from Tokyo to central Japan’s Nagoya.
I was in elementary school when modern day Japan was at the height of its greatness. In fourth grade, the school news propaganda service showed us these fabulous new bullet trains that could criss-cross the long coast of Japan in record time.
Today, Japan reminds me a bit of a centuries old story…
Yang Guang was one of the early emperors of China’s seventh century Sui dynasty. Yang Guang was hailed through much of his rule for creating infrastructure within the empire, including an innovative grand canal.
However, Yang Guang’s military prowess did not match his successes at home. Several expeditions to modern day Japan failed, and Yang Guang was highly insulted when he received a letter from Prince Shotoku which read, “The emperor in the land of the rising run sends a letter to the emperor in the land of the setting sun.”
One emperor was acknowledging the decline of the other emperor’s kingdom. He saw the writing on the wall.
That same story is playing out again today not only here in Japan, but in the western world as well.
Just a few years ago, Japanese investors were snatching up US real estate, including much of Manhattan’s skyline, at a frantic pace.
It wasn’t to last.

Why Worry? The Two Scariest Charts In The World

Submitted by Erico Matia Tavares via Sinclar & Co: There are plenty of things to worry about these days. A cursory look through today’s (13 Sep 14) drudgereport.com sets the tone: the Pope says WWIII is underway; a senior Democrat accuses the Republicans of endangering civilization; drones are invading the privacy of citizens; militias are blocking traffic in the Mexican border; Feds run a US$589 billion budget deficit; the UK might fall apart; the Ebola epidemic is getting serious in Africa; a mystery virus spreads to NY and CT (and we could not resist adding this one: Hillary Clinton is doing yoga).
With all of this in our minds it is easy to forget, or at least put in proper context, the extraordinary progress that mankind has achieved over the centuries against remarkable odds. World population has steadily increased, proving Malthus wrong. Serious diseases like polio and smallpox, which affected even monarchs and presidents over the centuries, have been eradicated. We can crisscross the planet in less than 24 hours and put satellites in deep space. The baby boomers and their offspring are the most prosperous generations the world has ever seen.
This shows that with enough intelligence, political will, common sense and perseverance most challenges we face as a species can be overcome. This should provide a decent amount of hope that we can tackle whatever we are facing right now.
So why worry?

THINK VERY CAREFULLY - WilliamBanzai7 + The Thieves Banquet

Media Hatemongers Of #MaleTears: Larkins Report

By Jenny Larkin: We, the Larkins, a group of men and women of differing ethnic and political backgrounds, have been disturbed watching 
the hatred of boys and men being embraced and celebrated by figures in the media who would never celebrate and laugh at female suffering in the same way.
While so-called “ironic” misandry is already known to be celebrated by notorious bigot Jessica Valenti, who appeared famously in a photo wearing a shirt saying, “I bathe in male tears,” we recently noticed that a #MaleTears hashtag by hateful gender ideologues was not only started but going strong.
We also noted the irony of feminist ideologues who claim that feminism is about breaking out of stereotypical gender roles and telling men they should feel more free to express their emotions and their experiences only to then turn around and mock any men who actually do so, laughing at men who shed tears, as bullies have done to men and boys from time immemorial. Is this defeating the “patriarchy” they so strongly believe is oppressing women?
As if this hypocritical hate-fest was not enough, we also noticed that not only were general users of Twitter participating in this sexist bigotry, but that actual working journalists from mainstream sources were also participating.
As a collective group, we decided to look for media figures involved in this bigotry and expose things they had publicly written to a wider audience, who may not have noticed that they’re reading “reporting” from writers with a bigoted, hateful mindset.

"This Is Not A Referendum. This My Friends Is A Revolution!" - The BBC Sucks O Cocks News

"Why have the 'NO' vote dragged out David Beckham? ...That's what we're living now, with their fear and their hate and their prejudice! ...We will reject wars, we will reject 'Trident'. we will reject the monsters from Westminster! ...First they bribe you then they threaten you then you win" The Artist Taxi Driver

Tommy Sheridan and Andrew Neil on Scotland - Neil Reduced To Sneers

"The working class people of England are praying for a YES vote!" Tommy Sheridan

This Week in Stupid "Moral Degeneracy Edition"

"My jiggling woman flab is beautiful,
says gibbering feminist maniac." Sargon of Akkad

The S.H.I.T.s: UFC President Courageously Reinstates Fighter After He’s Cleared Of Spurious Domestic Assault Charges

By Ty Henry: Amid the scorched earth pogrom that has overrun the NFL attendant to the Ray Rice fiasco, there was some encouraging news that at least one head of a sports promotion once again proved that he can be trusted to handle the domestic violence issue properly - and do the right thing in the face of potential backlash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAUArp7BrfY
UFC President Dana White reinstated light heavyweight Thiago Silva after all domestic assault–related charges against him were dismissed late last week. Silva was arrested in May after a SWAT team standoff at the gym owned by his wife’s lover, Pablo Popovitch. He was alleged to have threatened the boyfriend and pointed a gun into his wife, Thaysa’s, mouth. He was charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, resisting arrest, and a host of domestic assault charges. At the time, White terminated Silva’s contract, going on record to say Silva would “never fight in the UFC again.”
http://www.tmz.com/2014/02/07/ucf-star-thiago-silva-arrested-for-attempted-muder/
http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/10417491/thiago-silva-arrested-altercation-barricading-residence
White explains on UFC Tonight the reason for his decision. Simply put, if ALL charges were dropped, “how can I not let the guy earn a living?”

Facts About Women In Iranian Universities

"...we invest heavily in making it possible for people with IQs of 70 to easily get a doctorate from an Azad university. It is not an education system; it is an education market."
By Ali Mehraspand: It has recently been reported in the English-language news that women have been barred from many degree programs in Iran. This is true. But there is much misinformation surrounding it. We should not be surprised at the level of disinformation; after all, it comes from Shirin Ebadi, one of the worst fraudsters ever seen from Iran. She received a Nobel Prize, by the way, by being a disingenuous, lying gender ideologue. As I explain the situation more deeply, you will see how easy it was for her to bring about lies and disinformation—and that if she has the chance to do it again, you can bet that she will.
There are two major types of universities in Iran: Sarasari and Azad.
Sarasari universities are government-funded and are free of charge. They are much more prestigious and heavily equipped than Azad universities. All students in Iran prefer to go to Sarasari universities. Every major city has at least one such university; all the most prominent universities in Iran are in this category, such as Sharif University of Technology, the University or Tehran, Shiraz University, and the University of Isfahan, to name a few.
On the other hand, Azad universities make students hemorrhage money. In Iran, when a family wants to say how much they are under pressure financially, they say that they have a kid (usually a daughter) who is going to an Azad university.

Zio-Nazi Military To Discipline Intel Veterans Over Public Refusal To Torture, Spy On and Blackmail Palestinians

“The notion of rights for Palestinians does not exist at all, not even as an idea to be disregarded,”

RT: The Israeli military has threatened disciplinary action against 43 veteran servicemen who signed an open letter refusing to spy on the Palestinians for the IDF’s elite military intelligence Unit 8200.
“There is no room for insubordination in the IDF,” spokesman Moti Almoz said. “There are disputes and (opposing) political positions” but the military is not the place to take political actions designed to schism, he stressed.
“We in the IDF, up to the most senior officer, view this severely, and the disciplinary action will be loud and clear,” Almoz vowed.
The IDF statement comes in response to an open letter of refusal that has been sent to the Israeli prime minister, the IDF chief and the head of military intelligence. In it, 43 past and present reservists openly proclaim that they refuse to serve in military intelligence. In witness testimonies, they detail the strategies used by Israel.

Giant Cunt - Honey Badgers

Fate is a funny thing. And funny is a confusing thing. And confusion is unavoidable. DoctorRandomercam