Category Archives: Atlas Shrugged

Being without cable and internet for several days gave me the opportunity to dust off some of my old DVDs and watch them. Three were parts I, II and III of Atlas Shrugged, based on Ayn Rands seminal 1957 novel. Rand was born Alissa Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russia on Feb. 2, 1905, a mere 11 days after the infamous Bloody Sunday massacre of Jan. 22, 1905. Her father was a pharmacist and she grew up in a middle-class Jewish family. After the Communists came to power in November 1917, they confiscated her fathers business and the family fled to the Crimea, many miles to the south.

She emigrated to the United States in 1926 when she was 21 years old, changed her name to Ayn Rand and set out for Hollywood. Her most well-known works are We the Living (1936), The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957). So-called professional literary critics did not like her books, but they were popular with the public, sold thousands of copies and remain in print today. Ayn Rand was both a novelist (a writer of fiction) and a political and economic theorist; she has been aptly called a philosophical novelist.

Having seen her family and society destroyed by Communist collectivism and terror, it is not surprising that she strenuously opposed them and advocated individualism and its economic manifestation, capitalism. Neither is it surprising that she thought the best place to find these virtues was the United States. And, likewise, it is not surprising that, when she saw those virtues under attack in the United States, she defended them with her powerful pen.

Marx and Lenin divided the world into two groups: (1) the bourgeoisie were the industrial and commercial owners and managers, few in number but great in power; and (2) the proletariat were the workers and farmers, great in number but weak in power. The solution was for the proletariat to rise up in a great revolution, overthrow and destroy the bourgeoisie and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat that governed by the motto, From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

Rand anticipated and then recognized the disastrous consequences of the poverty, tyranny and social disintegration the communist ideology created where it was implemented and was very alarmed by the collectivism she saw progressivism creating in America. She saw two groups one small, one large. The first was the people who provide the motor of the world, ... those who produce the goods and ideas that keep the society going, be they industrialists, engineers, artists, scientists, or philosophers that is, the creative individualists. The second was everyone else.

The latter permit, and even demand, the suppression of freedom because they do not value it because they hate the fact that liberty allows some to achieve things others cannot, thereby violating the collectivist ethos of equity. It is not the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about but the alliance between the industrial, academic, entertainment, mass media and political institutions which endlessly attack like stinger bees those who provide the motor of the world with so many rules, regulations, taxes and fees in the name of first one and then another silly cause that the movers and shakers simply quit and disappear, thereby depriving society of the benefits of their work.

The rest are unable or unwilling to engage in creative and productive labor, so the economy collapses, money becomes worthless because there is nothing to buy with it and society degenerates into roving gangs of lawless thugs.

If Ayn Rand could write like this in the 1950s, we can only imagine what she would think of our society, our economy and our politics today. If she, by a miracle, were alive today, she would have seen the Soviet Union collapse, she would have seen China discard the failure of rigid communism in favor of authoritarian mercantilism, she would have seen the failure of the clown regime in North Korea and she would have seen Fidel Castro destroy Cuba and Hugo Chavez destroy Venezuela all examples of collectivism.

Then she would say, Have you Americans completely lost your minds? Have you gone crazy? Why do you want to go down this awful road?

If you want to know who John Galt is, read the 1,168-page book or watch the movies on DVD or by streaming them from YouTube or Prime Video. Itll be time well spent.

Winfield H. Rose taught political science at Murray State University for 39 years and is now retired. He is active in the Calloway County GOP, but speaks here as an individual and not as a representative of either of these organizations. He can be reached at winfieldrose@gmail.com.

Editors Note: Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the editorial opinion of the Murray Ledger & Times.

Read more:

Who is John Galt ? | Opinion | murrayledger.com - Murray Ledger and Times

Its a Fed day of sorts, with minutes of the last Federal Open Market Committee the one where they doubled the pace of the taper and released a new dot plot set for release.

George Saravelos, global head of currency research at Deutsche Bank, says the market is too focused on dots, which get to the question of how much the Federal Reserve lifts interest rates this year. He says the market instead should be focused on the balance sheet, which has more than doubled in two years, to an end-of-year reading of $8.76 trillion.

How quickly the Fed decides to unwind it will have a big bearing on how financial conditions tighten, says Saravelos. A rapid QE unwind would be worse for long-end bonds, EM and equities and potentially slow down the hiking cycle. A very slow unwind would keep long-end yields contained but require more interest rate hikes, in turn with a bigger impact on the [U.S. dollar].

Saravelos also says the market might be misreading the impact of the omicron coronavirus variant by focusing too much on how the U.S. and Europe are responding, and not enough on China. In the worlds biggest port, Ningbo, theres a partial lockdown. We highlighted signs of an easing in supply bottlenecks last month, but some benchmark container indices are making new record highs again. Chinas persistence and success in containing omicron over the new few weeks will be critical for the supply side of goods in 2022, he says.

Another point with respect to omicron is the impact on supply of labor. In London, for instance, nearly 8% has COVID and is stuck at home. The real freedom day, Saravelos says, is when the isolation period is zero, not five days.

ADP reported a big 807,000 pop in private-sector payrolls in December. At 2 p.m., the minutes from the FOMCs last meeting will be released.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention amended its new five-day isolation guidance but didnt add a testing requirement. U.S. President Joe Biden doubled the order for the Pfizer PFE, +1.60% pill treatment Paxlovid, as French President Emmanuel Macron said his governments strategy was to piss off the unvaccinated. Hong Kong banned flights from the U.S. and seven other countries.

A new coronavirus variant has been found in France that could possibly be more transmissible than the omicron variant.

Beyond Meat BYND, +2.18% shares surged in the premarket, after the company said its plant-based, fried chicken product is coming to Yum Brands YUM, -1.15% KFC locations in the U.S. next week.

Sony SONY, +0.97% jumped in Tokyo trade, after it announced a new electric-vehicle unit and rolled out a prototype sport-utility vehicle.

Citi hiked its year-end S&P 500 SPX, -0.41% price target to 5,100 from 4,900.

U.S. stock futures ES00, -0.01% NQ00, -0.07% were a bit weaker before the Fed minutes.

After a 17 basis point surge over two days, the yield on the 10-year Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.767% edged back to 1.65%.

Here are the most popular stock-market tickers on MarketWatch, as of 6 a.m. Eastern.

A new word game has surged in popularity in just a few months.

The novel Atlas Shrugged was trending after star Green Bay Packers quarterback, and noted vaccine refuser, Aaron Rodgers revealed its on his bookshelf.

Floorboards from the home of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton have been turned into a violin.

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Excerpt from:

Wall Street is looking at Fed and the virus the wrong way, analyst says - MarketWatch

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers responded to Pro Football Weeklys Hub Arkush, who as one of the 50 voters for the Associated Press said he wouldnt be voting for Rodgers because of his actions this offseason and his personal opinion of the Packers quarterback.

Heres the full quote from Rodgers that opened Wednesdays media availability:

I think hes a bum. I think hes an absolute bum. He doesnt know me. I dont know who he is. Nobody knew who he was, probably, until yesterdays comments. I mean, and I listened to the comments, but to say he had his mind made up in the summertime, in the offseason, that I have zero chance of winning MVP, in my opinion, should exclude future votes. His problem isnt with me being a bad guy or the biggest jerk in the league, because he doesnt know me. Doesnt know me. Doesnt know anything about me. Ive never met him, Ive never had lunch with him, Ive never had an interview with him. His problem is Im not vaccinated. So if he wants to go on a crusade and collude and come up with an extra letter to put on the award just for this season, and make it the Most Valuable Vaccinated Player, then he should do that. But hes a bum. And Im not going to waste any time thinking about that stuff. He has no idea who I am. Hes never talked to me in his life, but its unfortunate that those sentiments its surprising, that he would even say that, to be honest. But yeah, I know this was possible, I talked about it on (Pat) McAfee weeks ago. But crazy.

Rodgers also had this to say:

Like I recommended the book that I recently read, you can guess how many you know whats I give about that subject. Ive enjoyed immensely my time with Pat, I feel like it gives an insight into my personality and whats important to me. We talk about a lot of football, we talk about some life stuff, life lessons, learning, mistakes, failures, positivity, manifestations, things that are important to me. I enjoy that show, just like I enjoyed working with Jason for so many years. Those opportunities gave me windows to let people in, to let people see the kind of person I am, so people wouldnt think Im the biggest jerk in the NFL. But theres obviously a faction, based on the response when I tested positive, that want to demonize me for my decision to be unvaccinated and want to adjust facts around that. Any time something comes up with me, me mentioning the largest book on my bookshelf, Atlas Shrugged, triggers people. Thats the environment were living in. There is not room for dissenting opinions or individual freedoms or informed consent ideas or people to have a different view than you. Im someone who has an allergy to the mRNA vaccinations. Thats not even good enough to have a question about things. Pat joked about it on the show a while back, I knew he was serious. I think we were both serious at the time. Obviously, Ive made it a little more difficult by the way Ive played the last six weeks. I think the MVP should be about the most valuable player on the team. A lot of times it goes to the best player on the best team. And were the best team. So, if voters want to use the offseason or dont like my stance being unvaccinated, thats their prerogative, I dont think its right, but thats their prerogative.

Coach Matt LaFleur defended Rodgers and the MVP vote earlier on Wednesday.

View post:

Here's Aaron Rodgers' strong response to one NFL MVP voter - Packers Wire

Howard Shotts

Stover

Dear Editor:

Never thought it would happen but based upon today's experiences I may be living in a novel. Now, there are a lot of novels it would be fun living in, but this is not one of them.

Day started as usual, going to the store to buy a paper as it is not delivered in our area. There was no paper at the store because the delivery person just did not show up. While there, might as well pick up some groceries. Shelves were almost bare; store is having a problem finding workers who will do the job. Even if they could, due to the problem at distribution centers and trucking companies finding drivers, there would have had no products to stock.

Went home to read a book and have my morning toast in the new toaster oven. Five minutes later, my bread was still bread, warm it was, toast it was not. Surely, I can at least have a cup of coffee with my book.

Coffee pot, while not new, wasn't old either. Got it ready, turned it on, lights lite up and that was about all. Water was still water and the grinds still grinds. That is when it hit me, "Oh my, I am living in Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged.'"

If you haven't read it, it is understandable, good read, but ever so long. Anyway, it is about what happens to a society where the lawmakers make laws, rules and regulations in favor of what they want rather than what is good for those in the society, much like what is going on here today.

Workers won't work and neither do the products they make. It gets so bad those who have the skills and abilities just simply "disappear" from society, leaving those who made the mess to live in it. The ending is where our real lives will be most unlike the novel as they find a place to hide. We have no such place. Having no "John Galt," we are doomed to live in the mess being made.

Read the original post:

Your Opinion: Doomed to live in our mess - Jefferson City News Tribune

Archetypical Relationship Dynamics

Part two of The Remnant series explored the psyche of the three primary human archetypes.

In this third and (at this point) final part of the series, I want to explore the relationship and dynamics between each of the primary archetypes so that we can better understand how to behave, relate, interact, cooperate or compete with each.

To begin with, lets lay out some mental models.

If you put 100 red ants and 100 black ants into a jar nothing will happen.

They will sit there observing each other. Weary, but generally peaceful. If you then shake the jar, the ants will start killing each other.

The red ants will believe that the black ants are the enemy and vice versa, when in reality, the enemy is the person who shook the jar.

If youre looking for a simple mental model to help understand how easy it is to have groups of otherwise similar people at each others throats, this is it.

The parasites are the ultimate jar makers and shakers. Their ingenuity has led them to develop systems which confine entire groups of lemmings such that mass hysteria can take hold with a little chaos and uncertainty.

Most impressive of all is that theyve accomplished this via the consent of the same damn lemmings!

Unfortunately for the Remnant, the environment we grow up and live in is often the same kind of jar. The active and radical Remnants often find a way to escape, while the dormant Remnant find themselves trapped inside with multiple groups of mindless ants all tearing each other apart.

In their bid to weaponize the masses against the Remnant, the parasites have actually obfuscated the terminology of the world elite.

The natural elites used to be admired, but in vilifying them and convincing the mindless horde that theyre out to rob them, theyve given permission to the lemmings to take aim at the producers as a way to apply vires in numeris to the detriment of all.

The natural elite versus the parasitic elite.

The image above is one of the simplest ways to understand this, and I suggest you share it far and wide.

We need to take back this term, because the designation of elite implies that one is exceptional at something. In my mind, being elite is something to strive for. It is to become the best version of yourself.

More on this here:

In Support of the ELITE

The parasite is the individual who:

Oscar Ameringer was a socialist author and the kind of parasite who at least knew how to define his craft well.

This kind of racket has been going on for millennia, and those who practice it, have become quite adept at it. Democracy, i.e., modern socialism, is merely the most advanced incarnation because it gives the entrepreneurs enough room to innovate and produce, and then by the will of the masses it is all stolen via taxation, inflation and never-ending borrowing from the future.

The last heuristic is related to the above, but even more challenging for some people to accept.

The reality of nature is that we are always in a state of anarchy. The only difference is the scale at which the anarchy occurs.

Government is created to combat anarchy, but because no one ever governs the governors, weve not really escaped anarchy, weve just moved it up or down the scale. Edmund Burke called this the grand Error upon which all artificial legislative Power is founded.

We appoint governors to guard ourselves from violence, but a worse and more perplexing difficulty arises, how to be defended against the governors?

If you think about this long and hard enough, youll find that a government is merely a legally-appointed gang or cartel, which, when all of the window dressing is removed, has and holds power because it may use force to achieve its ends.

Governments are therefore the more sophisticated incarnation of a gang, created and run by parasites, with the explicit purposes of legalizing theft, racketeering and parasitic behavior by a select few.

This is why, if were to ever have a functional government, it must be one that is held economically accountable. One that cannot operate outside of the economic bounds we all operate within, and who cannot use a model to obfuscate reality. You cannot hold an institution accountable via a piece of paper which it has the power to change or ignore. The accountability must come in the form of a physical law, like gravity.

Therein lies the importance of Bitcoin but we will get into this later.

For now, keep the above models of the world and harsh truths in mind as we explore the relationships between each of the archetypes.

As with personality typing, analyzing the relationship between the archetypes helps you understand each of them better than just exploring them in isolation.

Source: The Matrix

When I think about the relationship, I view it as a sort of game or battlefield, like a blend of chess and poker being played by three different species, with some who are excellent players and play fair, others who just keep changing the rules to their own benefit (and the detriment of others), i.e., cheaters, and lastly with the lemmings who are not aware theyre even playing a game in the first place.

So, lets explore

This is the main battle, and resembles playing a game of chess against your little shit of a brother who is a compulsive liar and cheater. The good-hearted big brother knows hes better, so he lets the little one get away with it unfortunately, this is where the Remnants moral superiority has failed them since time immemorial.

The Remnant exists to produce, to innovate, to progress and to compete in the meritocratic free market.

The parasite looks to embed themselves in such a way as to extract maximum value for minimum input. Their goal is to create an unfair advantage by transforming meritocratic into democratic. They are freeloaders, and the more they get away with, the more they want to take.

The Remnants greatest error is to not kill the monster while its little.

Hank Rearden is guilty of this in Atlas Shrugged. He continues to fight, to build, to toil and produce, while Wesley Mouch and crew bleed him dry and destroy everything around him through sheer greed, stupidity, ignorance and short-sightedness.

Unfortunately, the real world is much like the novel. The parasitic class have become better at developing models of theft and the steps to implement them are as follows:

The process repeats despite the fact that these mechanisms break down every generation and the strong men have to rise up and rebuild each time.

In a way, it reminds me of Zion in The Matrix. There were how many iterations?

The absolute worst-case scenario is that the parasite makes the environment so bad that it wipes out too much of the Remnant (the host) and the world goes completely to hell. But that doesnt bode well for the parasite either, so its a Pyrrhic victory. Perhaps this is what happened to other sentient intelligent species who did not pass through The Great Filter?

While we cannot know the answer to that, we do know there is hope for humanity.

Unluckily (or perhaps luckily) for the parasite, the Remnant, by its very definition, remains. On a long enough timescale, you cannot defeat them. You cannot remove randomness from the universal equation.

All of the models truly are broken, because true reality cannot be modelled.

The discovery of energy money may well be how we unplug from the matrix, and once and for all transcend the realm of the parasite (explored below in Bitcoin Fixes This).

A slight detour here, but something I recently learned from Nozomi Hayase is the idea that psychopaths may be an inherently different species than empathic humans.

Her work on this topic will provide far more coverage of this idea, but the part I wanted to point out here is the mistake made by otherwise well-intentioned humans to try and fix psychopaths by teaching them empathy.

Its apparently akin to teaching a colorblind person the color blue, in that they will not get it. And the danger is that they will see this as a weakness on the part of the empath, which they can weaponize. Such conclusions have been drawn from some studies, which once again Hayases work will do it justice.

I find this an interesting anecdote or piece of the puzzle when analyzing the relationship between Remnants and parasites.

This is like playing chess with a bag of potatoes. The potatoes are not only ignorant of the rules of the game of chess, but they are unaware that they are even playing a game.

The Remnant energy, when it comes to their relationship to the masses, reminds me of the interaction between Elsworth Toohey and Howard Roark in The Fountainhead.

Toohey asks Roark:

Mr. Roark, were alone here. Why dont you tell me what you think of me? In any words you wish. No one will hear us.

Roark replies:

But I dont think of you.

And while Roark was speaking to a parasite in this case, the invocation is the same.

This is the only honest response by a Remnant toward the masses. They dont want to use, or oppress or take advantage of them. The Remnant barely recognizes them.

The Remnant is focused on the mastery of their own craft and of their own character. Those who are of the same ilk respect that and are attracted to it.

They do their thing, you do yours. You trade, exchange, collaborate and cooperate. You deal with the masses insofar as what they need is something you can provide. Its a purely commercial transaction that doesnt require love nor hate nor any emotion nor call to moral action.

This is, in fact, another differentiator between the Remnant and the parasite. The Remnant will build on vision and instinct. They can almost sense the future and know that the buyers will come.

The parasite will coerce, blackmail and deceive the masses into believing they need whats being sold to them.

Its completely different energy, intention and obviously outcome.

The Remnant, through strength of character, has no desire to use the masses as pawns, nor coerce them. In fact, they want little to do with these people because theyre usually a distraction and/or require babysitting. They much prefer to find the few Remnant.

The idea of using the masses is foreign to the Remnant. What use could one have for a mindless lemming that just gets in the way? The reality is that the Remnant barely notices them until theyve been weaponized by the parasites like a hoard of mindless zombies.

Only then does the Remnant attack. In self defense.

Unfortunately, this is where we are now. I for one never cared for them, and just wanted to be left alone. Now, theyre on our properties, in our faces, all over our feeds,and like shit on a blanket, they have fouled up the air and are difficult to remove.

This is like stealing candy from a baby. Its not even a game.

To the parasites, the masses are the ideal pawns. They exist merely as a tool to use against the productive members of society. Theyre perfect because they dont think deeply about what things actually mean nor what the second, let alone third or subsequent, order effects may be on society or their environment.

They are fooled into believing nice-sounding ideologies full of vague platitudes, then stirred up emotionally to perform heinous acts and crimes in the name of were all in this together or for some other miasmic greater good.

Worldcoin, recently released by Silicon Valley parasites, is a perfect example:

To a Remnant, or a person of greater-than-turd-level-intelligence, this is categorically the dumbest idea possible. It took bitcoiners less than a microsecond to identify it as a scam, and then another five minutes to point that out beyond a shadow of a doubt:

Fairness and equality as defined by the parasitic class. Source: Twitter.

But alas, the lemmings will follow their masters directions right off the side of the cliff, into the lava, believing its the path to paradise.

The worst part is not that they end up in the lava, but that as they continue to leap to their death, they will actually blame it on those who dont jump into the lava with them!

This is the extent of derangement possible when you take a member of the masses and place them on a diet of soy, envy, propaganda, platitudes and moral relativism.

There is no saving the lemmings through reason. There is no rallying them on our side through words. Their only hope is that the functional subset of humanity builds a new world, and it becomes the default.

This has, is and always will be the role of the Remnant.

Placating the lemmings, and paying them to adopt slavery. Source: Twitter.

Until then, the parasites will continue to coerce the blind masses into voluntary slavery, while weaponizing them against the Remnant, i.e., the true source of wealth in any society.

Weve seen this movie before..This is just the 2021 remake. Source.

Can Bitcoin fix this?

On a long enough timescale, I believe so. Although a system can likely never remove parasites altogether, good hygiene (Bitcoin in the economic and social sense) makes it harder for them to proliferate, or even exist in the first place.

In fact, perhaps the role that the parasite must play is like the snake in the garden. They exist to keep the system strong and resilient. To keep the Remnant sharp, to awaken them and to test them.

Akin to the grand role of evil in society, at some level, it exists to challenge good and keep it not just honest, but robust. So, in that sense, perhaps the parasite is never fully removed.

Perhaps Bitcoins role is to make the environment hygienic enough for prosperity, by making it impossible for them to feed and grow to the extent they have today.

Lets explore this further

In the same way that particular environments are conducive to the growth of molds and fungi, parasites proliferate when the conditions are right.

The fiat world were living in provides the ideal conditions for parasitism to be rewarded. When the consequences of human actions are not evident and we can lie to ourselves through the development of models that do not reflect reality, where the map is taken as gospel and the territory ignored, the world quickly devolves into a mindless tyranny.

Environments with ideal conditions for parasitism include:

In fact, its so bad that even some traditional Remnants have decayed into parasitic versions of themselves due to a blend of fear, greed and broken incentives.

Its quite sad actually, and a reminder of why what were doing is so important. If we fix the money, we can fix behavior, and downstream have a positive impact on the world.

Through this lens, Bitcoin goes a long way toward fixing this.

Bitcoin, by virtue of tying the metaphysical cost of decisions to real-world economic consequences, makes fraudulent, abhorrent and parasitic behavior expensive.

Bitcoins number one impact to society will be the reintroduction of economic consequence. Could the discovery of Bitcoin move us from a Type 0 into a Type 1 civilization? Could this take us beyond the framework of the Remnant, the parasite and the masses? Could energy money root human action into reality, such that time, energy and resource wastage is drastically reduced through cost and consequence? Could the result be that everyones character is forged toward being exceptional and outstanding? Could homo-bitcoinicus as a species not have a blind masses but a literal civilization of Remnants?

Is this what lies beyond the great filter?

I dont know. All I do know is that Bitcoin may well be the most important discovery since fire, and future generations will measure the timechain of humanity as Before Bitcoin (BB) and After Bitcoin (AB)

Before Bitcoin was a low-fidelity, low-resolution version of history in which homosapiens battle to establish themselves as the dominant, intelligent, sentient species on planet Earth.

After Bitcoin is a high-fidelity, near-perfect-resolution continuation of history in which homo-bitcoinicus emerges and harnesses the energy from the sun leading it to the next great leap: teleportation.

Read more:

The Remnant: Bitcoins Game Of Thrones - Bitcoin Magazine

Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist, is shown in Manhattan with the Grand Central Terminal building in background in 1962. ASSOCIATED PRESS hide caption

Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist, is shown in Manhattan with the Grand Central Terminal building in background in 1962.

Are most modern problems caused by selfishness or a lack of it? Ayn Rand, a Russian American philosopher and writer, would say it's the latter that selfishness is not a vice but a virtue and that capitalism is the ideal system. Everyone from Donald Trump, to Alan Greenspan, to Brad Pitt have sung Ayn Rand's praises. The Library of Congress named her novel Atlas Shrugged the second most influential book in the U.S. after the Bible. Ayn Rand wasn't politically correct, she was belligerent and liked going against the grain. And although she lived by the doctrine of her own greatness, she was driven by the fear that she would never be good enough.

In this episode, historian Jennifer Burns will guide us through Rand's evolution and how she eventually reshaped American politics, becoming what Burns calls "a gateway drug to life on the right."

If you want to read more:

Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right, by Jennifer Burns

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

See more here:

The Monster of We : Throughline - NPR

Although 9 new releases hit Netflix US today the majority of them are companion titles for the big new release of the day in the form of The Witcher season 2. That doesnt mean theres nothing else new to watch so lets dive into whats new and whats trending on Netflix for December 17th, 2021.

Looking ahead to the weekend, weve got the new Netflix Original Norweigen thriller What Happened in Olso coming on Sunday. Were also going to see the 2013 Josh Brolin movie Oldboy hit Netflix US tomorrow.

On the removals front, today is your last chance to watch Guest House and People Just Do Nothing. Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2012) departs on Sunday.

Now lets get into whats new on Netflix for weekend!

Genre:Action, Adventure, FantasyDirector:Tomek BaginskiCast:Henry Cavill, Anna Shaffer, Freya AllanWriter:Lauren SchmidtRuntime:60 min

Naturally, The Witcher is the big new Netflix Original release of the day with the second season now streaming in full.

The second season builds on the first season in every conceivable way. In season 2, youll follow Ciri and Geralt who united with each other at the end of season 1 and Yennefer who has been captured.

Alongside the release of the main series, Netflix added a bunch of companion pieces including:

Genre:Animation, Action, CrimeCast:Tyler Posey, Charlet Takahashi Chung, Jorge DiazWriter:Bret Haaland, Tim HedrickRuntime:23 min

Its been an odd trek for Fast & Furiouss animated adventure on Netflix. While reviews started off poorly, the show has really gained momentum over the months with today marking the release of the sixth and as we now know, final season.

Heres what you can expect:

In the epic final season, the Spy Racers meet their match in a mysterious villain who always seems to be one step ahead!

Genre:Comedy, DramaCast:Raaj Vishwakarma, Dilnaz Irani, Atul KumarWriter:Manu JosephRuntime:28 mins

Originating out of India is this new comedy series that follows a misanthropic writer and his startup-founder wife who are juggling their impending divorce with the absurdities and annoyances of life in their affluent world.

Early user reviews have been strong for this new comedy-drama so perhaps Decoupled can buck Netflixs rather underwhelming Hindi TV slate with this one. Lets wait and see.

Read the original:

Whats New on Netflix & Top 10s: December 17th, 2021 - What's on Netflix

There are many stone-cold humiliating moments from Keep the Wolves Close but two stick out in my brainand somehow, Jimmy jerking off a horse is only the second worst of them. Well get to the gold medalist of the Embarrassing Olympics in due time, but first lets take stock of where we are as this season strolls to the finish line. Beth starts her new job at the evil company that is trying to destroy her family and is surprised to discover they are still evil and still trying to destroy her family. John Dutton tells a crowd of people that he will do anything to stop progress because progress is inherently bad. Lloyd gives up a prized belt buckle to acquire either a guitar or a gun from a pawn shop. (OK, its a guitar, and he and Walker bury the hatchet, which is normal, since its been an entire episode since the whole stabbing incident.) Rip and Beth are coerced into moving back in with John, who thinks it is proper for his adult children to be down the hall from him at any given moment. And as mentioned previously, Jimmy directs a horse penis into a pouch with a mixture of panic and moxie.

Much of the usual absurdity of this show has been relegated to the opening 15 minutes of this seasons first episode. But this is Yellowstone! We are clearly being lulled into a false sense of security. Thomas Rainwater has got to have something up his sleeve!

Its almost a certainty that the various parts of this frayed, couscous-hating tapestry are about to slam together in a legendarily loud and nonsensical bonkers climax. It may well conclude with fewer bullets than the previous finale, but perhaps with bigger, less reversible consequences. YesI am saying that [redacted] Dutton is a goner.

We begin this episode with a cold open sans dialogue or plot set to a Tim McGraw ballad. Its just multiple stirring angles of cowboys herding cattle into a pen. This has to be metacommentary signaling Yellowstones awareness that life on most ranches is not centered on gunfights, sleazy land deals, and bunkhouse stabbings, but rather on actual work. The proposed spinoff about this serious ranch, 6666, will need to quickly manufacture some patented Taylor Sheridanstyle drama because viewers expecting the violently kooky world of the Yellowstone wont be tuning in week after week to watch B-roll of wrangling calves or competent cowboys with no personality other than waking up really early.

Here is the direct counterpoint to the above paragraph, as the Yellowstone ranch hands take a break from their usual drama-filled lives to do a bit of actual work. Its a less-than-raucous sequence of various hands moving heifers and steers from one point to anotherthe sort of stuff we stay up late for.

The recently dismissed Teeter (Jen Landon) forces her way into an audience with John Dutton and Rip after they both agree there were indeed 81 cows on the ranch. Teeter makes an impassioned plea not to be banished from the bunkhouse for the horrendous crime of being a woman. John is shocked when Teeter reveals that she wears the brand, as he never signed off on that particular bit of mutilation. Teeters relatively cogent argument forces John to rethink his knee-jerk anti-lady position and he grumbles and grunts his way to relative wokeness. In appreciation for (belatedly) speaking up on her behalf, Teeter hugs Rip. Its a very sweet moment. No jokes here, just a nice little hug between two people who dont mind being indentured servants on a cultish ranch.

The running joke of the season seems to be that Tates new dog is referred to as Dog. This fun tidbit comes up three times this episodethe second of which occurs at the breakfast table, where Monica is still simmering in uncharacteristic jealous rage about Kayces nonexistent suitor Avery, whom she refers to as Ms. Pouty Lips despite Averys basically normal, non-pouty lips. This all feels like an assault on Monicas core. Shes supposed to be a confident and intelligent woman, but her bitterness about Kayce talking very briefly and very politely to another woman while doing his job has pushed her into an uncomfortable place as the stereotypical nagging wife. Tate has to save the day by distracting Monica from her quiet fury by mentioning how the dog has no name but Dog! Shortly thereafter, Monica takes Tates breakfast away before hes finished for the crime of saying this cool sentence: I think that sucks pickled ass.

This episode proves the old adage: Jerk off a horse and an attractive woman standing nearby will offer to buy you dinner. Maybe thats more of a regional expression, but it bears fruit here, as Jimmys pluck and can-do attitude when it comes to letting horses get their rocks off in his proximity earns him the tentative affection of Emily (Kathryn Kelly), a vet tech at the 6666 Ranch. Jimmy is at first reluctant to betray Mia, but in the final analysis, not that reluctant. Hes lonely, its Texas, everyone constantly tells him he sucks at his job. He needs a silver lining. In any case, if you take one thing away from this episode, it should be that Jimmy masturbates a total of 16 horses, though 15 are unfortunately pleasured off-camera.

Beth stomps into her new place of employment, Market Equities, with the boredom and coiled resentment of a person who has worked at Market Equities for more than zero hours. First, shes rude and dismissive to the helpful receptionist, then downright sadistic to her assistant, whom she fires for the sin of being from Palo Alto? Perhaps shes saving him from a violent endas she accurately mentions, her assistants tend to perish violently. Yellowstone is largely a show about people treating other people like absolute shit and getting cheered on for it. But hey, thats just Beth being Beth!

As predicted, Jamie has exactly one scene interacting with his new child, a little peek-a-boo session on some grass as Christina, his baby mama, and Garrett Randall, his biological father, watch with a mixture of bemusement and boredom. Garrett then unleashes the next bit of his byzantine plan: He wants Christina to help Jamie become the next governor of Montana. He looks like a governor, Christina allows, mulling over the abrupt proposal of this supremely creepy man. And while, sure, maybe he does look like a governordoes he look like a governor of Montana? I dont know about that. Governor of Vermont, maybe.

Speaking of governors, Lynelle Perry (Wendy Moniz), John Duttons occasional lover and erstwhile ally, is planning for some reason to run for the United States Senate. She takes a walk with John and tries to convince him that D.C. is where she needs to be. She bemoans that Washington has lost the art of negotiation and the art of compromise (yes, these are both arts) and how a level-headed Montanan such as herself might change all that. In other words, her ambition is to become the next Kyrsten Sinema or Joe Manchin. She also mentions her willingness to endorse Jamie as governor, at which point John throws a taciturn fit, revealing once again his deep dislike and distrust for all things Jamie-related. He has a plan to stop this, a plan that amounts to being a Bad Dad.

Carter, the miserable street urchin conscripted to shovel horse shit and learn the intricacies of saddles, seeks forgiveness from Beth. He even brings her flowers, which Beth scoffs at disdainfully. But that abject rejection is probably still not the cruelest thing she manages to do in this episode. Beth, as youll recall, spurned Carter for half of this season because he thought the person who brought him into town to buy him things (Beth) wouldnt freak out and cause a scene if he asked her to buy him things. Turns out he didnt count on Beths vengeful, fickle, Nietzschean nature. Carter pleads with Beth for a ride into town so he can take his chances in foster care, concluding that life on the Yellowstone is unpleasant and depressing and not healthy for his soul. Beth doesnt even mildly reconsider her tough love until Carter admits he doesnt have any dreams or ambitions beyond staying alive.

Beth has a deeply cynical takedown of the pointlessness of caring about things that segues into a bro-down moment with vegan environmental activist Summer Higgins. Youll recall that their last interaction began with Beth pulling a knife on her because, well, none of us are really sure why. At this point in the episode, Beth has realized it was a mistake to put any trust in Market Equities, thus she is already scheming for ways to destroy them. She looks at Summer with fresh eyesno longer a random woman who had a sordid night with her dad, but now a potential weapon to use against her enemies. Beth divulges some semi-confidential development gossip about the artificial destination town Market Equities is planning to create in the most fragile ecosystem of North America. So, now we see why Piper Perabo is here: to become a pawn in Beths unending struggle to watch the world burn. Girl power, baby.

Avery, the object of Monicas irrational jealousy is, as it turns out, actually very into Kayce. So, OK, kudos to Monica for the unrequited horniness intuition. After Kayce and various others return the stolen horses to Avery and her family, Kayce is cornered by the lovelorn former ranch hand. Avery, in so many words, confesses her love-at-first-sight, thunderbolt moment. Its a strangely vulnerable and sort of sad scene. Avery is well aware that Kayce is married, even before Kayce mentions how much he loves his wife like nine times during their short conversation. In his own stoic way, he tries to reassure her with the words, Cant be love. God wouldnt let you love something that cant love you back. But Avery, already in a doomed mood, retorts Yeah he would.

I implore Taylor Sheridan to not let this be the end of this plotline, this Monica was right to be jealous scenario. This is a soap opera, right? Let Avery have a pop at the champ. The people demand it.

The most savage moment of the season! Imagine being Jamie Dutton. You are the attorney general of Montana. You think youre about to announce your campaign for the governorship. The sitting governor herself is going to introduce and endorse you. You descend the stairs to find your father, whose approval youve always sought but never managed to completely collect. He must be there to support you, despite your differences. Your sister, who hates you, is also there. But perhaps this is the beginning of a rapprochement. Jamie literally begins walking down the stairs all proud and full of purpose when Lynelle Perry announces she is endorsing John Dutton as the next governor of Montana. This scene is so brutal! Needlessly so! Why not politely warn Jamie of what is about to happen? Why the evil subterfuge?

Because they just want to humiliate Jamie! They want to tear him down, to put him in his place for not being an upstanding war criminal like Kayce or a brazen sociopath like Beth. Thats why, even in an episode when Jimmy is forced to handle the penises of 16 horses, Jamie Dutton wins the award of Biggest Loser. Its a damn good thing he lives with a creepy guy who is determined to kill his family!

Jimmy and Emily will have a nice dinner at Applebees before moving to a dimly lit bar famous for its mechanical bull. Jimmy will definitely drink more than he should but somehow his Montana-style Cousin Greg charm will only endear him to Emily. The evening will end on the verge of their first kiss, at which point Mia will miraculously turn up with an engagement ring. A bar fight will break out between soldiers and sailors and Jimmy will end it by being the last man thrown off the mechanical bull. No kiss goodnight.

Things will get a little hot and heavy between Rip and Beth, but John Dutton will angrily pound on the door before they really get going and say something like, My daddy didnt storm the beaches of Normandy so you two could do the horizontal polka under my roof. Goodnight. Rip and Beth will go to bed unfulfilled, both falling asleep to Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead respectively.

Hey, its been a while, and Rip did mention an abundance of bear tracks and also warned Beth to drive to the lodge to avoid bears. Thats what we in the world of television call Chekhovs Bear. As Ive long (two episodes now) suspected, something grim is going to go down at Casa Kayce/Monica/Tate/Sunka the Dog. Its too idyllic, and in lieu of a Parasite revelation of a basement dweller, a home invasion via bear is looking pretty good.

Walker, feeling a bit guilty about how the bloody feud all went down, will trade in his brand-new guitar to retrieve Lloyds special belt buckle. This will go on for several episodes and become a sort of violent, eternal, Gift of the Magi scenario.

It seems highly unlikely that Beth will get through an entire episode without forcing her new subordinates to gaze into the abyss after they get her lunch order slightly wrong or take too many bathroom breaks. To Beth, any minuscule blunder or slight character flaw is an excuse to unload the full weight of her Existentialism CliffsNotes upon the hapless city-slickers who are forced to serve her.

Sadly, there will almost definitely be no televised debate between John and Jamie Dutton. Well truly be missing out on some vividly clumsy Shakespearean estranged father and son dialogue. Jamie would easily skewer his father over policy and vision as an indifferent crowd looks on. John Duttons response would be to keep repeating his refrain of Damn right I did it! to thundering applause. Sorry, Jamie. You have to be popular or likable to win anything. Also, you did kill an innocent woman a couple of seasons ago, so whatever. The smart move is to just run to the mountains and atone for your sins, dude.

Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) is, for all intents and purposes, the true big bad of the show. Thats not to say hes bad! Hes obviously less bad than the Dutton Mafia, but hes diametrically opposed to John Dutton in a primal, essential sense. And yet, this season hes been mostly relegated to sidekick duty, passing on documents, giving the occasional pep talk, and having a laugh with Kayce about Avery wanting to jump his earnest bones. Hes both a schemer and a dreamer and a worthy adversary to this completely mangled family at the heart of the show. But, and Ive been harping on this for weeks now, I believe hes being kept in reserve until the end of the season. Hell make his next big move in the wake of the predestined failure of Garrett Randall.

Alex Siquig lives in Baltimore, drinks MD 20/20, and writes about things like Game of Thrones, the Willennium, and the life of Doug Funnie.

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John Dutton, the Future First Spite-Governor in U.S. History - The Ringer

Canadas Parliament resumed yesterday, and Erin OToole has announced that multiple Conservative MPs received medical exemptions to the requirement that everyone be vaccinated to enter the House. Although it is statistically unlikely that, in a group of 119 people, so many have received valid medical exemptions, we thought wed put together a top ten list of the very valid reasons these Tories could not get the vaccine.

1. Allergies (specifically to criticism from Rebel Media)

2. Chronic fatigue caused by listening to Pierre Poilievre speak

3. Misunderstandingthecharterofrightsandfreedoms-itis

4. Advanced facebook exposure

5. Already got COVID because they refused the vaccine the first time around

6. Terminal I did my own research tumour

7. Inability to stop screaming about Myocarditis whenever someone asks them why they dont just get the vaccine

8. Constantly quoting Atlas Shrugged syndrome

9. Syphilis

10. A specific form of Tourettes where they constantly shout fuck your grandma

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Top 10 medical exemptions granted to unvaccinated Conservative MPs - The Beaverton

I was half asleep when I was jolted awake by beams of light and the sound of crunching rocks. Two men with flashlights were headed toward me, with some urgency, and they were calling out something. I caught a glimpse of one of the men: his face was partially obscured by a scarf. I unzipped the shelter, scrambled for my flashlight, put on my boots, and, in a panic, tried to remember where I had packed my knife.

The Black Tomato travel company has predicated its business, in part, on the notion that many affluent vacationers no longer wish to lounge for a week by an infinity pool: they want to earn their enjoyment in some way, either through physical exertion or by doing good works abroad. Black Tomato specializes in adventure, and its Web site beckons daring customers with such offerings as iceland: snorkel and dive between tectonic plates. The companys packages are expensive. Some cost more than fifteen thousand dollars per person.

The concept of Get Lost isnt only that clients must find their way out of desolate situations; they have no clue where in the world they are going, until the last minute. Participants are also encouraged to surrender their cell phones. The imperative is not just to disappear but to disconnect. After an expedition ends, clients are pampered at a beautiful hotel before flying home. The locations for Get Lost range from the Mongolian steppe to the jungles of Costa Rica to the deserts of Namibia. Its clientele is similarly various. Predictably enough, several tech bros have taken such trips. But the firm has also arranged an ambitious expedition for a newlywed couple, and for a stay-at-home motherwho, upon returning home, applied to join the Air Force.

As soon as I read about the idea, I also wanted to get lostalthough I couldnt quite explain the urge. I live in Manchester, England, and, unlike many of my friends there, I have never been an enthusiastic camper. In fact, I avoid such weekends if I can, not least because British campsites are laden with persnickety rules about where you can wash up and where your kids can play sports. Its like being back at school, except less comfortable. You have to put on your shoes if you need to pee in the night. Also, Im a huge man, and I find crouching in tents annoying. Yet the Get Lost concept had an enticing sense of scale, and there didnt seem to be too many rules. During the various lockdowns, unable to travel, I had longed for adventure. Here it was.

I had some reservations about Get Lost. It would feel strange for me to travel without having first researched my destination. In my work as a reporter, I go abroad often, and I would never fly to a new country without at least reading a few books, or talking to other journalists about their experiences there. But I realized that it might be freeing, just this once, to travel with few preconceptions and with no control. I discussed Get Lost with my wife. She said that it sounded fun; I also detected an eye roll. We agreed on my taking a trip lasting six days. Black Tomato started preparing an itinerary that would begin in early October.

Two weeks before takeoff, Black Tomato sent me a packing list. The suggested itemsnot too many warm clothes, sunblock, hiking boots, long-sleeved shirts, a waterproof jacketindicated some mixture of desert and mountain terrain. Because the trips time frame was tight, I thought that it wouldnt make sense for the company to send me too far from Greenwich Mean Time. I guessed Id be going somewhere in North Africa. Two days before I flew, I received my tickets: Manchester to Marrakech.

The morning after my arrival in the city, Rachid Imerhane, a genial mountain guide with slicked-back hair and an impish smile, collected me from my hotel. I turned off my phone and put it in a bag in the back of the car. We travelled ten hours to the starting point of my adventure. I tried to winkle out my destination from Imerhane, but he was implacable. Once we left Marrakech, I did a lot of staring out the window. The experience was like a very pleasant kidnapping, with coffee breaks.

We drove over high, winding passes and down into a desert plateau, through the city of Ouarzazate, which is sometimes called the Hollywood of Africa, because it has a thriving film business. A giant clapper board adorns the entrance to the town; Gladiator was filmed there, among many other movies. After Ouarzazate, the High Atlas Mountains rose to our left. On our right was the Anti-Atlas. We turned right onto a deserted tarmac road, and out of the plateau.

The elevation increased, the roads becoming narrower and snakier. We swapped cars, to let our driver return to Marrakech. A sturdy white Toyota took us up gravel and dirt tracks, higher into the mountains. We gave a farmer and his two bashful, doe-eyed childrena boy and a girla lift to a small homestead at the top of a remote road. They were about the same age as my kids, who are nine and six, and evidently not used to seeing tourists. Their fatherspeaking Berber, which Imerhane translatedsaid that his son had once visited a city, but his daughter had never left the mountains. Imerhane remarked to me, This is a Morocco that most Moroccans dont know.

Finally, at sunset, after many harum-scarum switchbacks, we reached an apex where two high valleys met. Standing there, in a black T-shirt and combat pants, was Phil Asher. He shook my hand firmly and suggested that I put on a jacket. Its about to get cold, he said, and he was right. He tended to be right about things like that.

Asher motioned toward one of two camp chairs that had been set up beneath a tarpaulin. He explained what my expedition would entail, which seemed daunting; what lessons he would try to impart to me the following morning, in a brief period of training that seemed insufficient; and where I was going to sleep that night, which was not in the comfortably adorned canvas tent where Asher himself was staying but beneath a mosquito shelter, on a roll mat, by myself. As a first-night treat, I was allowed to eat tagine in the canvas tent with Asher, Imerhane, and Hicham Niaarebene, the driver, who prepared the mealit turned out that he was also a chef. The three men composed Black Tomatos support team in the mountains.

Asher, looking me dead in the eye, asked, What do you want to get out of all this?

I didnt have a good answer. I also felt a jangle of nerves.

As the two men with flashlights approached me in the dark, I realized that they were calling out in French, which I know well enough to get by. They were curious about what I was doing alone in the mountains. I clambered to my feet and shook hands with them while trying to explain that I was going on a long walk. They shrugged, looked at each other, and left.

I wasnt sure what to think. Although I was almost certain that this encounter was no cause for alarm, I got out the tracker and sent a text saying that I had received a visit from some locals. Imerhane knew people in a nearby village. I figured that he could make a call and work out whether I was in any trouble. I received no reply to the text. It took me a couple of hours to fall asleep.

I woke up at 5:30 a.m.long before dawn. I was cold, and I hunkered in my sleeping bag, looking at the stars. I think I saw the Plough, although Ive always been baffled by the constellationsit seems as if one could link any group of stars together to make a pattern. As the light in the valley became milkier, I put on my boots and began my morning chores. I filled my water bottles for the day from a large drum that Asher had left, built a fire for breakfast, cooked a meal, struck the shelter, charged my Samsung, brushed my teeth, and packed my bag. I also donned my yellow-and-black shemagh, or head scarf, which Asher had insisted I wear, telling me that it might be more than a hundred degrees in the sun in the hottest part of the day. In Ashers words, the scarf would stop my head from boiling. I felt ridiculous wearing the shemagh, as if I were in costume as an Afghan warlord, but I wanted my head to remain unboiled. I folded the loose ends around my head and took a selfie. My kids, I knew, would laugh themselves silly when they saw the picture.

As I started on my route for the day, at around 8:15 a.m., I received a message on the tracker, from Asher: How was your night? I replied that it was good, but did not receive a response.

According to my maps, I needed to follow the riverbed where I had slept, then take a hard left up a steep valley toward a high peak called Jbel Kouaouch. After I had climbed to about eight thousand feet, I would start to pick my way along an escarpment, eventually descending plateaus and valleys to a plain, where Id spend the night. The days walk was about nine miles.

The first hour was hard. I run most days when Im at home, but theres a difference between running and hauling weight. Loose rocks on the ground often gave way, particularly on steep grades. Navigating posed its own challenges. The G.P.S. kept me pointed in the correct general direction, but it was sometimes fiendish to pick out the precise path that I was supposed to take. Asher had encouraged me to follow goat droppings or boot marks. Sometimes I found them, but for nearly two hours I frequently found myself off course, scrabbling up and down steep banks to relocate a path. After a while, I became better at spotting the slightly different shade of the zigzagging trail.

The rest is here:

The New Luxury Vacation: Being Dumped in the Middle of Nowhere - The New Yorker