Tag: Chile

The most normal place in the world

Guest Post by Simon Black

Two days ago, in its infinite wisdom, the government of Chile announced that they were once again closing the national borders and putting the country back into lockdown.

I had been in Chile since late February, spending time at our farms and touring our agriculture operations after a successful harvest season. But needless to say I was on the first flight out.

It’s not just Chile; these same sorts of restrictions are happening all over the world.

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After so many years, this place is still amazing

Guest Post by Simon Black

Like many of our readers, I’ll never forget the Great Crash and the Global Financial Crisis from more than a decade ago.

Some of you may be too young to remember. But it was pretty gruesome.

One of the largest investment banks in the world collapsed in September 2008, nearly dragging down the world economy with it.

Practically overnight it became apparent that the global financial system was a house of cards. Some of the world’s leading banks were insolvent. Insurance companies were bankrupt. Entire governments (like Iceland) went bust.

Real estate prices sank. Stocks plunged. Tens of millions of people around the world lost their jobs. And taxpayers were forced to fork over a trillion dollars to bail out the financial system.

People were panicking.

Continue reading “After so many years, this place is still amazing”

Sad Death of a Crooner

Guest Post by Southern Sage

In the latest news from Chile, a kangaroo court has just convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison eight former soldiers for the killing of Victor Jara, a Communist folk singer who was shot following the September 11, 1973 coup that overthrew the regime of Salvador Allende, the “socialist” president of that long, thin, country at the tip of South America.  One other soldier was sentenced to five years for his part in a “cover up” of the killing.

For one who has spent much of his life fighting people Like Jara, these “convictions” are a dreary repetition of many similar instances whereby soldiers and police officers who fought the Communists in Latin America are being hounded by their liberal and leftist enemies for actions taken under desperate circumstances.  In view of the looming civil conflict in America, it would be well for all of us to remember that a fight is not over until the last one of these rats and their sympathizers are put in a place where they are never again in a position to take revenge on their political enemies.

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5 Ways Capitalist Chile is Much Better Than Socialist Venezuela

The story of Chile’s success starts in the mid-1970s, when Chile’s military government abandoned socialism and started to implement economic reforms. In 2013, Chile was the world’s 10th freest economy. Venezuela, in the meantime, declined from being the world’s 10th freest economy in 1975 to being the world’s least free economy in 2013 (Human Progress does not have data for the notoriously unfree North Korea).

Why you might as well paint a giant bulls-eye on your bank account

Guest Post by Simon Black

Vegetarians be forewarned… you won’t like what follows.

We slaughtered a pig yesterday at the farm. I have two freezers full of pork now, and countless strips of bacon curing in the kitchen.

I’ve written about this before– out here at the farm I’m able to organically produce almost everything that I eat… meat, eggs, rice, nuts, and just about every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable. A lot of it gets canned and stored.

We even grow wheat which we turn into organic flour, plus oats and all sorts of other grains.

As I’ve described in the past, this is a pretty powerful feeling. I know that, no matter what happens in the world, I’ll always have a source of food.

Continue reading “Why you might as well paint a giant bulls-eye on your bank account”

SOMETHING IS GOING TO BLOW

In one day you have the largest earthquake in California in 25 years, the Iceland volcano ready to blow, a 7.0 earthquake hits Peru, a 6.4 earthquake hits Chile, and a 5.4 earthquake hits Iran. It seems Mother Earth is angry. Pressure seems to be building below the surface of the earth, matching the pressure building among the people’s populating this planet. Something is going to blow. 

 

120 injured, state of emergency as California hit by largest quake in 25 years

Published time: August 24, 2014 11:12
Damage is shown to a downtown building in Napa, California August 24, 2014. (Reuters / Jim Christie)

Damage is shown to a downtown building in Napa, California August 24, 2014. (Reuters / Jim Christie)

At least 120 people were treated at hospital and a state of emergency was declared in the city of Napa, after California was shaken by a 6.0 magnitude earthquake.

Local officials had to set up a triage tent at the Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa to handle the influx of the people injured in the earthquake, AP reports. According to hospital’s CEO Walt Mickens, most of the injured had cuts, bumps and bruises. Three people were also admitted with broken bones, and two for heart attacks.

The 6.0 quake struck at 3:20 am (10:20 GMT), the US Geological Survey said. Its epicenter was 6 kilometers from American Canyon and 9 kilometers from the city of Napa, at a depth of 10.8 kilometers from the surface.

Residents of the cities of San Francisco, some 40 miles away, and Davis, just over 70 miles away, quickly took to Twitter reporting feeling the quake.

View image on Twitter

View image on Twitter

Damage to a downtown building is seen after an earthquake in Napa, California August 24, 2014 (Reuters / Stephen Lam)

Two quakes shake Icelandic volcano’s area, govt restricts airspace

ARCHIVE PHOTO: Smoke and ash bellow from Eyjafjallajokull volcano as it is seen from Asolfsskali, Iceland, on April 23, 2010 (AFP Photo / Emmanuel Dunand)

ARCHIVE PHOTO: Smoke and ash bellow from Eyjafjallajokull volcano as it is seen from Asolfsskali, Iceland, on April 23, 2010 (AFP Photo / Emmanuel Dunand)

Two small earthquakes shook ground around Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano Sunday. Earlier, the country’s government closed the airspace around the area triggering fears of air chaos.

READ MORE: Iceland evacuates area near volcano amid eruption fears

Two earthquakes measuring at 5.3 and 5.1 in magnitude — the biggest yet — shook the volcano beneath Iceland’s vast Vatnajokull glacier early Sunday.

Following the quakes and a reported eruption, the Icelandic Met Office issued aviation red alerts over the Bardarbunga eruption on Sunday morning. However, later in the day the agency lowered the risk from the highest possible to orange, which means “heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption.”

7.0 quake strikes southern Peru

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck southern Peru on Sunday 38 miles (61 km) east-northeast of the town of Puquio, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. The quake struck at 23:21 GMT at the depth of 36.6 miles (58.9 km). The nearest city to the epicenter is Tambo, located just 26 miles (42 km) away. USGS revised the magnitude of the quake upwards from 6.9. An earthquake was triggered by a subduction of Nazca plate, located off the west coast of South America, RT Spanish cited experts as saying. No tsunami warning has been released by the authorities. Some network and electricity outages are being reported.

 

6.4 tremor hits central Chile

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked the region around Chile’s Valparaiso port at 7:32 PM Eastern time, the US Geological Survey reported. The epicenter of the quake was about 18 kilometers from Hacienda La Calera community and some 117 kilometers from the capital Santiago at a depth of 30 kilometers. Initially the tremor was estimated at 6.6 on the Richter Scale, with three aftershocks subsequently registered in the area. No casualties or damage have been registered, although electricity and phone communication was interrupted in some areas.

 

Western Iran hit by 5.4 magnitude earthquake

The western Iranian province of Kermanshah was rocked by a 5.4 Richter Scale tremor at 00:36 local time (GMT +4:30 hours), reported Iran’s official IRNA news agency, citing the seismography center affiliated with the Tehran University Geophysics Institute. No casualties or damage have been reported so far. The earthquake struck 15 kilometers underground.