TDT: Banks on the Brink, with Rural Areas Facing Greatest Threat
Also: An EV win, Russia weighs in on Texas Secession, plus much more!
Welcome to this edition of the Three-Dot Tablet [TDT], a weekly news-digest where I seek out the headlines others may not be covering (or not covering well), and - with healthy doses of passion, common sense, and brevity - discuss them with raw, unfiltered commentary.
Let's get to it…
Three-Dot Tablet | V. 02.08 | February 25, 2024
Prime Cut…
New York Community Bank flashed a warning sign... Small banks are in trouble
Friday5 [The Pragmatic Optimist]
In the February 16th edition of Friday5, one of the sharpest business minds I have ever seen, Amrita Roy, covered a disturbing concern…
New York Community Bancorp… flashed a fresh warning sign recently, rattling markets after it cut its dividend and set aside more money than expected for losses on bad real estate loans.
‘Bad real estate loans’ - hm, now when have I heard that before? 2008, perhaps?
As Amrita expertly explained, while the regulators are very concerned about those ‘too big to fail’ banks, they seem far less focused on 'regional banks.’ And what are those, you may ask?
Generally, regional banks are defined as banks with less than $10B in assets. That encompasses most of the US. banks. More than half are in rural communities of less than 50,000 people, and often they are the only bank in town.
To be fair, the 2008 crisis was due to a collapse of the housing markets, while this potential calamity will be driven by commercial real estate. As such, the threat is not exactly the same, but if bank failures occur? The results would be similar… perhaps even worse. After all, as Amrita notes the Regionals are already facing additional vulnerabilities, and since they are the largest lenders for agricultural concerns… and since regulators do not seem all that interested in protecting them?
Forgive my stylish-yet-functional tin-foil-hat, but can you see why I am worried?
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Promoting and protecting the freedom to live ‘local’ has been a constant theme of mine, due to a firm belief ‘local living’ is more aligned with natural living than the alternatives.
From encouraging everyone to focus on local elections rather than political circuses, to how the Globalist powers target rural living though EV propaganda… from corporate attempts to stifle AM radio, to shady federal machinations in the name of ‘protecting’ wildlife? I have covered many angles on this topic.
With that noted, the examples named above could be, at least in part, written off as speculative and theoretical concerns (the rantings of a conspiracy lunatic, if you will), especially by those who cannot see - or are attempting to manipulate - the ‘big picture.’ This banking issue, on the other hand, is very in-the-moment tangible, with real-world consequences that we could see manifest almost overnight.
Again, remember 2008.
I freely admit I am no guru in financial concerns, nor with banking enterprises; I leave those things up to the experts like Amrita, and learn where I can. However, one does not have to be an expert to know that if a banking crisis is looming, and the banking-regulators do not seem to give one care about how said-crisis may affect regional banks… the banks that serve rural communities?
It’s pretty easy to read the writing on the wall.
Whether this is being done with deliberation (as part of Agendas 21 and 2030, to financially and subconsciously drive people into cities) or is just another example of the short-sighted selfishness so common amongst the power-‘elite,’ doesn’t really matter at this point. It appears to be happening - again - and 2024 is looking to be another watershed year.
Don’t let this knowledge freeze you in fear, however - allow it to spur you to continued action. Tend to your stocks, expand your knowledge, and prepare…
Terrorism…
Housing crisis forces Americans to shack up with former partners
Fox Business
While commercial real estate is the focus above, the situation with the residential housing markets is not looking all that rosy, either; in fact, it’s rather terrifying, for a different reason…
Americans are choosing to remain in a living situation with their exes amidst the ongoing housing crisis, a move that experts say may prove emotionally taxing despite the potential financial benefits.
“May prove emotionally taxing?” You don’t say…
How desperate do times have to be for one to even consider this terrorism of the spirit? I can assure you, with a fair degree of confidence, that my backside would be barbequing in the roasty-toasty infernos of Hades before I’d live with my ex again; some things, after all, really are worse than hell.
So yes, the growing residential pinch is certainly adding to the overall crisis we discussed above…
Reason for Hope…
Biden begins to admit defeat on electric vehicles
Washington Examiner
Oh, and having spoken of EVs in the Prime Cut? How about some good news…
As unsold electric vehicles pile up on dealer lots and manufacturers announce production cuts after billion-dollar losses, President Joe Biden began to admit defeat for his clean energy agenda this month, directing the Environmental Protection Agency to roll back Clean Air Act regulations mandating two-thirds of all cars sold by 2032 must be electric vehicles.
As I discussed in the aforelinked EV article from September of last year, the ‘human-caused climate change’ narrative is one of the biggest gaslighting psyops in the history of propaganda. When looked at with an active mind it becomes clear that its goals include targeting those who wish to live rural, who want to live more naturally… more analog… to just be left alone.
So yes, this is good news. It is just a rollback, of course - they never abandon their tyrannical dreams, after all - so we must remain ever vigilant.
Still, victories are victories, so we’ll take the W on this one…
Secession Talk…
Putin Ally Weighs In on Texas Independence
Newsweek
Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev had some thoughts on the potential secession of Texas from the United States; after making some rather pointed jokes, he shared this...
"But in fact, speaking seriously, 20 years ago this would seem nonsense. Yes, the United States is a federation, the federation has more internal problems, we know from the experience of the Soviet Union and our experience too, but, nevertheless, it is a very strong country… and now this is quite discussed."
Keep in mind, this is not some low-level political flunky; Medvedev is a former president, prime minister, and the current Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia. As a long-standing Putin advocate this guy has serious juice, so even his ‘jokes’ must be scrutinized.
Oh, and regarding that…
In April 2023, Medvedev said he would "be rooting for Texas" should it declare independence from the United States.
It appears, at minimum unofficially, if Texas were to decide to go on its own? It might have at least one ally - and a rather powerful one, at that…
Covert Grooming…
Assembly Bill A6761: 2023-2024 Legislative Session
The New York State Senate
Had you heard about Assembly Bill A6761? Ashamed to admit it, but I was in the dark on this one.
The bill-in-question, currently making its way through the New York State Senate, would allow minors - ostensibly under unique circumstances - to give consent for a variety of medical treatments, including vaccinations. Said-circumstances include children who are underage parents themselves, homeless youths, and other ‘unique’ scenarios.
The highly-overwritten legislation (because that is how they hide the stuff they do not want you to notice before passage) is being portrayed as a targeted bill, limited in scope and only to help those where parental consent may not be possible.
Just one problem with that…
Any person, including a minor, who comprehends the need for, the nature of, and the reasonably foreseeable risks and benefits involved in any contemplated medical, dental, health, and/or hospital services, and any alternatives thereto, may give effective consent to such services for themself, and the consent of no other person shall be necessary.
Buried in this bill are those words - word-for-word, exactly as they are presented here. I am sure they have slick legalese written into the bill, to be able to claim, ‘oh no, it doesn’t mean that, due to this subsection down here,’ but we all know how laws get interpreted. Straight-forward language tends to set the standard, and you do not get more ‘straight-forward’ than what is above.
They are looking to ‘consensualize’ your children, folks, pure and simple. They are using health-care as a backdoor means for so doing, and once they make inroads in that field they will utilize the ‘precedent’ to justify others.
Get involved with your state politics, and make sure laws like this never see the light of day. Because - unlike Vegas - what happens in New York seldom stays in New York…
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Sunday WX…
Gracious readers of The Stone Ages… today’s forecast for a vast chunk of the nation couldn’t better if I programmed it myself. Aside from pockets of mixed precipitation along Great Lakes, and the northern Rockies and Cascades… near-perfection.
Sure, we will have some funky bumps coming as the week progresses, but today…today? If you’re in the ‘reds and oranges,’ get outside and enjoy it while you can.
Here are your forecast maps for today, the 25th of February…
[Maps Source: National Weather Service]
And Finally…
There’s so much space junk in orbit - scientists claim it’s messing with their view of the stars
New York Post
The Powers-That-Be trash everything they touch. Literally…
A long-defunct “grandfather” satellite ERS-2 fell to Earth Wednesday in a push to reduce low-orbit space junk — but it barely made a dent in the problem, with so many thousands of pieces of debris experts say could [make] rocket launches dangerous and one day create rings made of scrap around the planet.
Well, that explains Saturn, doesn’t it? Apparently, idiots were once in control there, too, and their space-garbage created now-decorative ‘rings.’
Okay, seriously though, we are talking about over 25,000 items bigger than a softball, with over 100 million pieces smaller than that. Since these items can reach speeds 10 times faster than a bullet, space travel through the debris will very likely become hazardous.
This begs the question: Are we hemming ourselves into our own planet… with GARBAGE? I guess it wasn’t enough to turn Earth into a mass, open-air landfill; they had to pollute the space surrounding it as well. I just hope when the ‘aliens’ reveal themselves to take control, they understand we are NOT our ‘leaders’ - that we are not of those who do these terrible things.
Of course, I am being facetious with that alien stuff. I think…
And that is all for this edition of the Three-Dot Tablet. Have a great week ahead, and as always… stay frosty!
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Notes…
-- You may have noticed several non-news features that were previously included in the TDT were absent in this edition; those features will be coming back soon, but in a brand new weekly publication I am planning. More information on that will be forthcoming.
-- Unless otherwise credited, all images were generated using Substack’s AI tool.
Even though I never get to these until Monday (because of my weekend schedule) I want you to know that I thoroughly enjoy them and look forward to them each week. You bring to my attention things I might not otherwise notice, and you do it with appropriate amounts of salt. Bravo!
Most people don't know the Fed printed 10 trillion 2020-21, five of it just to float the big banks. That is what they printed over 4 years in the Great Recession. They could not have done that without covid, which was part of the psyop. The question is will they perpetrate another martial law like scenario to save the banks this time?