"Ninety-nine percent of boomer 'success' was just interest rates falling for [forty] years because they destroyed the real economy."

~ Darth Powell

"How can stock market valuations be at or near historical highs while the average [person] is about as pessimistic as they’ve ever been?

"This contradiction is a perfect illustration of the financial fun house — and the extreme distortions that relentless money printing has pumped into the system.

"If fiat currency is a dishonest measuring stick — and it is — then how do we accurately measure the stock market?

"The best option is to measure value in gold, honest money that no politician can arbitrarily debase.

"If measuring in fiat is like looking into a fun-house mirror, then gold is a mirror of truth. And when we measure the stock market in gold, that truth becomes clear. Below is a chart of the S&P 500 measured in gold going back to 1950.

"Viewed through the lens of gold, the stock market tells a very different story than it does in fiat terms — and this chart makes that unmistakably clear.

"The most striking feature of the chart is what isn’t there: a sustained upward trend. The S&P 500 today is worth the same amount of gold it was in 1995.

"Despite decades of nominal gains, the stock market has repeatedly given back those gains when measured against gold. In other words, the rising stock market was more a reflection of currency debasement than of real wealth creation.

"This helps explain the disconnection at the heart of today’s market. In fiat terms, stock prices appear to be at record highs. But in gold terms — a unit that cannot be printed — the market looks far less extraordinary."

~ Nick Giambruno from his post 'The Melt-Up Trap: Why Stocks Must Rise Until the Dollar Breaks' 

2026 is the 40th anniversary of this important publication on the foundations of epistemology. “This book is a highly original defense of realism. David Kelley argues that perception is the discrimination of objects as entities, that the awareness of these objects is direct, and that perception is a reliable foundation for empirical knowledge. Kelley’s argument […]



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Matthew Belloni isn’t your average Hollywood podcaster.

The veteran journalist once served as an editor at The Hollywood Reporter and now covers the industry for Puck News. That, plus his time as an entertainment lawyer, gives him unique access to Hollywood and the reporters who cover the industry.

He also, apparently, has a sense of humor.

Take all of the above into consideration while processing this post he shared on X.

Critics preparing to review MELANIA tonight pic.twitter.com/mnIIeW1nU6

— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) January 29, 2026

Would he make a similar crack about “Becoming,” the 2020 documentary praising former First Lady Michelle Obama?

The context?

The Jan. 30 documentary “Melania” offers an inside look at the press shy First Lady in the 20 days prior to her husband’s second non-consecutive term.

The film has a very high profile for all the obvious reasons, plus a few more. Director Brett Ratner was chased out of Hollywood following the MeToo cultural revolution. Several women have alleged he sexually harrassed or abused them, although he was never formally charged with a crime.

He also hasn’t had a major movie project since 2017 as a result.

RELATED: WHY ARE FILM CRITICS AFRAID OF ‘AM I RACIST?” 

Amazon ponied up plenty of greenbacks to acquire “Melania,” and reportedly dumped millions more into its marketing campaign.

Even if you separate all of the above from the movie itself, the chances that film critics will give “Melania” a fair review are slim to none.

And, as we all know, Slim just left town.

Why?

The film critic community leans aggressively to the Left. It’s been that way for at least the past 20 years, the time this reporter has been covering Hollywood.

It’s why your average Michael Moore documentary gets rave reviews while critics bring out the knives for any Dinesh D’Souza project. One filmmaker stands on the far Left. The other is on the far Right.

It also helps explain why so many critics refused to cover “Screams Before Silence,” a documentary recalling the extreme sexual assaults on Israeli women by Hamas soldiers on Oct. 7, 2023.

Said critics often judge movies by their cultural representation, something even occasional actor Jim Gaffigan pointed out several years ago.

Dismiss Belloni’s comments at your peril. Consider how many news articles have pummeled “Melania” for reportedly low presales figures and the documentary’s high price tag – a reported $40 million. John Nolte at Breitbart News offers a quick, informative survey of said reportage.

And, in a few days, note how many critics either avoid reviewing “Melania” or use the most inflammatory language to dismiss the film.

Yes, the latter is a prediction, not based on current reality. This article will be updated if something else occurs over the next few days.

The post Veteran Journalist Admits Film Critics Gunning for ‘Melania?’ appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

The post Does Success Require Sacrifice? appeared first on New Ideal - Reason | Individualism | Capitalism.

 

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