New Years Day–2026

*** HAPPY NEW YEAR ***

We begin another new year and the challenges that will foist upon the people of this country (which is good for bloggers like me it will give me something rant about in the coming year)

Do you make a new years resolution?

Many people do and many people fail at keeping those resolutions that were grasp in good conscience…..

As an FYI post to start this new year I would like to help those that make then break their resolution….

These are a couple of ways to help one stick to what they desire…..

New Year’s resolutions have a habit of being broken. Impress your friends and demonstrate your resolve with these 10 science-backed ways to honor your commitments to self-improvement and healthy change.

  1. To feel more fulfilled, volunteer.
  2. To increase discipline, reduce “activation effort.”
  3. To be more creative, make art when you’re happy.
  4. To be more productive, take more breaks.
  5. To experience greater happiness, travel more.
  6. To quit smoking, don’t go at it alone.
  7. To lose weight, stop focusing on weight.
  8. To save more money, restrict your access to your bank account.
  9. To form new habits, give them time to stick.
  10. Choose a resolution that doesn’t require willpower.

I hope this will help in some small way so you can keep to the resolution you chose to embrace.

Me?

I do not make resolutions for I do not feel the need….but that is just me.

I hope everyone did not party too much last night and that you day will be off to a good start and hopefully will continue throughout the new year.

Peace my friends….and let the blogging begin.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

New Years Day–2025

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The fireworks have ended (hopefully) and those damn pesky resolutions are being made (and are seldom followed) a new year begins and thoughts of the old are left by the wayside.

The first day of a new year and what better time for me to offer up the predictions of Nostradamus for 2025….

But first the family will drop by for we have a tradition of corned beef, cabbage, black-eye peas and cornbread as the first meal of the new year.

That out of the way….what does old Nostie have to say for 2025?

As the year draws to a close, it’s time to talk doomsday, my babies — and no one grips us with grim quite like Nostradamus.

Nostradamus, Nos if you’re nasty, was a 16th-century astrologer, plague doctor, accused heretic and bearded seer who has been credited with foretelling the Great Fire of London, Hitler’s rise to power, the Sept. 11 attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic, and last year’s New Years Day earthquake, to name a few.

Referred to as the “prophet of doom,” Nostradamus’ bleak worldview is believed to have been shaped by heavy doses of the Old Testament and the trauma of losing his wife and young children to illness, presumably the plague. Unable to cure the ones he loved most, it seems he set out to forewarn the rest of us through his revelations of ruin.

Sometimes right on the money but more often than not missing the mark, our man’s prophecies lean towards conflagration and catastrophe.

With the publication of his famed book “Les Prophéties” in 1555, Nostradamus gifted the world and its future generations a quasi-poetic tome that predicts wars, pestilence, natural disasters, civil unrest, political assassinations and other such lighthearted fare.

Heavy on language like “blood rain,” the book is an enduring classic, and with 2025 on the horizon, we’re looking at what fury and hellfire lay in store.

But first, a look back.

https://nypost.com/2024/12/09/lifestyle/nostradamus-predictions-for-2025-what-to-prepare-for/

Old Nostie seems to be stuck on Doom and Gloom….I take his stuff with a grain of salt….but that is just me.

Make a list and let’s see how accurate these ramblings are….I am not one that holds his predictions in high regard….but I will give him a chance to impress me.

This is for all those readers that may have celebrated a bit too much last night….and to add to the bad head some history.

Picture the scene: a disheveled man stumbles through the Forum, his wine-stained toga bundled haphazardly around his torso. At his feet, a smattering of empty amphorae lie strewn across the floor, their contents greedily imbibed by the convivium’s attendees. Saturnalia has been wild this year, but the December festivities are drawing to a close and it’s time to go and lie down with a cabbage on your head.

Fast-forward a couple of millennia and we’re still partying our way through the darkness of mid-winter, though our green hangover remedies now tend to come in smoothie form. Personally, I’ve never had much relief from blended kale and ginger, so this year I’m going old-school and trying out some of the ancient world’s top cures for alcoholic remorse.

https://www.iflscience.com/do-ancient-hangover-cures-still-stand-up-77267

Let’s begin this journey together…..I look forward to my readers input in the coming year.

The only sure cure for that hangover is not overindulge….pretty simple.

I hope all my readers have a great day and a better new year….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

New Year’s Day–2024

A new year begins and we have things to look forward to in the coming year most notably the election of our next president.

This will my only post for the day because I have been tasked with cooking the traditional family meal on this day…..cabbage, black-eye peas, corned beef and corn bread….

But what will this year bring to us and the world….well some notables that find predictions in Nostradamus’ quatrains has our year mapped out.

Nostradamus made some incredibly scary predictions for 2024, so you best buckle in for the year ahead!

I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to wonder why those predicting the future can never say anything nice… You never see any predictions for good news, do you?

With that being said, I’m deeply sorry to say that Nostradamus, the renowned astrologer who walked the earth nearly 500 years ago, made some startling claims for 2024.

So what has 2024 apparently got in store?

Looking into the future, another quatrain warns: “The dry earth will grow more parched, and there will be great floods,” while cautioning of a “very great famine through pestiferous wave.”

Sounds fun.

Nostradamus also seems to have alluded to international tensions, particularly with China, in a quatrain envisioning “combat and naval battle,” and a “Red adversary becoming pale with fear / Putting the great Ocean in dread.”

Speculation suggests the “red adversary” refers to communist China, pointing to a potential maritime confrontation.

In a more recent interpretation by Nostradamus commentator Mario Reading, attention is drawn to a quatrain referring to the “King of the Isles,” supposedly alluding to the current British monarchy.

The reading suggests a scenario where King Charles III is forced to abdicate due to “persistent attacks on both himself and his second wife,” with Prince Harry – characterized as having “no mark of a king” – ascending to the throne, per the Mirror.

While that might sound horrible to some, you can’t deny that it would make for an incredible season of The Crown.

If that hasn’t filled your boots, how about some predictions from the blind mystic Baba Vanga?

For starters, she claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his end at the hands of an assassination, and also that Europe will be plagued by an influx of terror attacks.

Not only this, but if the seer who passed away in 1996 is correct, then we have a major economic crisis on the horizon and there will be attacks carried out with biological weapons.

It’s all a bit bleak, isn’t it?

(vt.co)

My take….’red adversary’….if this was 30 years ago it would mean USSR…..if it were 250 years ago it would mean the Brits in their red uniforms or the American Native tribes…..my point is that we can read whatever we want into these vague ‘scriptures’

Strange stuff, huh?

That is my post for this first day of yet another year….

I hope everyone has a wonderful day….enjoy the food, family, fun and football and get ready for a year that could be a new beginning or the bitter end.

Happy New Year my friends.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

New Year’s Day–2023

I apologize if I have missed anything important but my cold came back onto me and the first was a bad day…..hopefully things will soon get back to normal…..sorry I am a day late.

First I would like to wish everyone a very happy New Year and hopefully all are well….

50 Happy New Year 2023 Wishes - Parade: Entertainment, Recipes, Health,  Life, Holidays

Actually I am very happy to see 2022 in the rear view mirror….it was a year that I wanted to end and it seemed to go on and on…..why?

January 2022 my car died and had to bite the bullet and buy another.

March my son-in-law of 20 years died at age 50.

June we learned that Sue’s cancer had returned and she had to go through chemo all over.

July my A/C crapped out and had to spend thousands for a complete new system.

October Sue was given the news that her new surgery would be in January.

So as you can see it was not the best of years.

Enough of my problems….

I would like to thank all my regulars for the continuing visits and their loyalty and I appreciate their readership in the coming year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023 clipart-min

I sincerely hope that we all have a very happy year….and we all have a happy and prosperous New Year.

Be well and Be Safe….

“Lego ergo scribo”

Happy 2022

Happy New Year’s my friends.

I will be busy today preparing a traditional meal for the family….corned beef, cabbage, black eyed peas and corn bread and strawberry short cake for dessert…….

I hope that everyone has a good day and that your year will be safe and prosperous.

To start your year here are some predictions from that seer for the ages, Nostradamus….

If you’re the kind of person who is given over to beliefs about historical horses**t, perhaps you’d like to know what the famous mystic Nostradamus said we have in store for us over the next year?

Well, either way, we’re doing it, so you might as well strap yourself in for some wild speculation from hundreds of years ago.

Now Nostradamus – Michel de Nostredame to his friends – came up with all of his predictions more than 450 years ago in a tome entitled Les Prophéties.

https://www.ladbible.com/community/heres-what-nostradamus-predicted-would-happen-in-2022-20211226

Personally I do not think Nostro was not as accurate as some would have us believe……it is all in the interpretation and what you would like the prophecies to predict.

But you decide…..

Enjoy your day for the new year will be tasking at best.

Be Well and be safe…..

“lego ergo scribo”

New Years Day–2021

Another year and another chance for the world to learn humility and stop killing each other…..but will they?

Free Vector | 2021 new year card with realistic papercut page design

This will be my only post today for the family gets together on New Years Day for a meal of corned beef, cabbage and black eye peas and probably some cornbread….of course with distancing…..

It is good that I have  huge piece of land that we can be together without being too close….

I would like to wish all my regulars and all those that visit occasionally a very Happy New Year and I hope that 2021 will be a good year for us all.

But the great news we will survive (is that Donna Summer singing in the back of brain?)

Have a great day….Be Well….Be Safe…..

I shall return soon (a promise or a warning you decide)

Peace Be With You

“lego ergo scribo”

New Years–2020

We not only start a new year but a new decade as well…..will we be more than we are today or will we be small and insignificant?
Image result for new year 2020 images"

As with my tradition here on IST I like to look back at the year IST had…..Igt is by no means the most popular blog on the foreign policy subject or on politics here in the US…but I try to be fair, (not always successful) with my posting for there are many sides to every story or report.

I am not trying to convert anyone to my way of thinking…..I just want people and readers to understand what it is they are reading and I try to be as simple as possible for international relations is not an easy topic to understand.

Please accept my heart felt gratitude to heart and please know that each of my regulars are valued members of my site and the newer readers are most welcome to participate however they would like.

A running tally…..I have written 14,633 posts at an average 350 words that is 5.1 million words typed (now I know why my fingers are so tired)……IST has had 70,121 comments…..and I have not broken any records but I have 3,617 followers….most of whom stick around…thank you for that.

I look forward to the coming year, 2020, there will be much to write about both internationally and nationally….after all we Americans have a presidential election this year…..that should prove to be interesting and entertaining if nothing else.

Thank you one and all……

Image result for new year 2020 images"

Image result for new year 2020 images"

I shall have the traditional meal for my household….Corned Beef, cabbage, and black eye peas….with a good beer thrown in as well…….

So Happy New Year and let’s get busy on the year to come.

We can be the change we desire.

Watch This Blog!

“lego ergo scribo”

New Years Day News–2019

Before I shut it down for the day…..let us look into the year, 2019…..

First, you heard that GM was shutting down plants and laying off people, right?  Well 2019 will see the end of several models of cars that have become sort of iconic….

  • Cadillac ATS
  • Cadillac CTS
  • Cadillac XTS
  • Chevrolet Cruze
  • Chevrolet Impala
  • Ford C-Max
  • Ford Focus
  • Ford Taurus
  • Honda CR-Z
  • Hyundai Azera
  • Nissan Juke
  • Toyota Prius V
  • Volkswagen Beetle
  • Volkswagen Touareg

See what other cars are leaving the production line here. (The “surprise” among GM’s discontinued vehicles.)

I own a Ford Focus and it is a great car it has been reliable for 15 years…..but I guess they are not profitable in the SUV generations….I hate fads and trends.

Since I am a international relations geek there are some conflicts that need watching so that the US will not be drawn in (some we are already ass deep)……

Instruments of collective action, such as the UN Security Council, are paralysed; those of collective accountability, including the International Criminal Court, are ignored and disparaged.

Nostalgia can be deceptive. Too fond a portrayal of the era of Western hegemony would be misleading. Iraq’s chemical weapons use against Iran in the 1980s; the 1990s bloodletting in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Somalia; the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; Sri Lanka’s brutal 2009 campaign against the Tamils; and the collapse of Libya and South Sudan: all these happened at a time of – in some cases because of – U.S. dominance and a reasonably coherent West. A liberal and nominally rules-based order hardly stopped those setting the rules from discarding them when they saw fit. The erosion of Western influence, in short, looks different from Moscow, Beijing, and the developing world than it does from Brussels, London, or Washington.

https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/10-conflicts-watch-2019

This will be overlooked I fear….but not to worry someone will pick up the coverage when it is too late to stop it.

Every American knows that National Security is primary to any president or Congress…..these are the 5 NatSec concerns for 2019…..

Trouble with Russia and China top the list.

Winston Churchill once wisecracked that the politician’s job is to predict what will happen—then explain why it didn’t. More to the point, George Orwell mocked “the unsinkable Military Expert” who keeps venturing strong predictions about martial affairs, keeps getting forecasts wrong, and keeps drawing “fat salaries” despite repeated failures as a soothsayer. Be humble when prophesying—lest the ghosts of wars past appear before you and terrify you!

In that spirit of humility, my Five National Security Predictions for 2019:

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2018/12/31/5_big_national_security_predictions_for_2019_114068.html

2019 will be an interesting year but more so on the international stage than any other…..we will be watching and reporting….

**********A parting thought……2019–the Dems take control of the House…and now DEFICITS will matter.*********

One more thing……

Have a day and a good day of rest and hangover remedies…..

New Years Day–2017

Out with the old and in with the new…..

We begin another glorious year….many surprises are awaiting us on the horizon….some will be good while others not so much…..

It is raining and cold here…pretty damn dismal…I do hope this not any indication of the year to come….

As I start my 11th year of blogging I look forward to the visits by my followers and commenters…we have had a good 2016 now let’s make 2017 even better.

Today will be filled with food, fun, football and family…..be safe and be well…I will return tomorrow with a full schedule of posts…until then……

Thank you for your support and I look forward to 2017….

Have a joyous day and see ya tomorrow.