Wednesday, July 3, 2024

"It’s Damned Hard to Be Proud of America"

"It’s Damned Hard to Be Proud of America"
by Justin Smith

"Americans probably still have many good reasons to be proud of America, but as I sat thinking about what I would write to commemorate our Independence Day, they all seemed to evade me at the moment, given where we find our country today. And even tho’ we have seen some recent gains moving the country away from the Marxist-Maoist Democrat Party’s communist agenda and the plan to fundamentally transform America into something despicable, foreign and conquered, it will be for naught so long as the American people keep embracing corrupt politicians and act as tho’ the Bill of Rights are unimportant footnotes in Mad Magazine, written by President Alfred E. Newman, trudging into the years ahead unprincipled and immoral as ever.

After decades of witnessing America hasten into a dark nightmare of an existence and an ever more uncertain, ill-prepared direction for the future of the country, under a fascist Marxist-Maoist regime, our reasons to be proud of this country have become practically non-existent, on this 4th of July, due to largely inadequate counters or no counterattacks at all to prevent or halt the constant and continuous assaults and attacks by America’s domestic terrorists and the enemies-from-within, as well as enemies from abroad. And as many prepare to celebrate America’s Independence Day, Americans should reflect on their own vision for the not so “united” United States of America and whether or not they love this nation enough to ensure its continued success and survival throughout the 21st century as the greatest nation on earth.

This is the nation that gave the world the marriage between the ideas of liberty and the equality of all under the law, which greatly enabled and facilitated the highest levels of individual liberty and the greatest economic prosperity ever seen throughout the entire history of mankind. This alone would ordinarily make America a very Exceptional nation indeed, if not for the advent of the new amerikkans who hate America’s founding, Her principles and Western civilization itself.

The American Flag is heavily worn, and its stars are faded today, after roughly 200 years of America being such an exceptional nation. Yes, we know She’s stood tall for many years, the best She could for 248 years, but a large segment of the American people — those with a long line of American ancestry as well as the newer generations of immigrants — have themselves diminished and torn asunder the luster of the idea of American Exceptionalism and that Shining City on the Hill that has so often been used across history to depict America, and in far too many instances they have sabotaged the country and American virtues and principles by way of numerous Machiavellian mechanisms, as seen for example in the 1913 Federal Reserve Bank Act, 1929 Stock Market Crash, 1965 Immigration Act, the Covid Pandemic, mail-in ballots, “Election Month” instead of “Election Day” and the New Green Deal.

Our nation emerged from the fire, fury and chaos of the War for Independence with the hopes of the people and a people determined to live free through their own capabilities and devices without the heavy, tyrannical hand of any government from that day on, but from the looks of things today, those hopes were dashed repeatedly across the ages. They revolted over a two percent tax hike on tea, and yet here we sit today taxed on every damned thing under the sun, including the property we supposedly own and the very damned air we breathe.

The average American has many more valid reasons to revolt today, than they had in 1776. Consider the Declaration of Independence, and then consider the current political malaise that has grabbed the American people by the cajones and seemingly just sucked the will and the life out of them, as they sit back ever complacent and apathetic as a Marxist-Maoist juggernaut rolls over their inalienable God-given rights as seen in Natural Law made by God the Creator. One can almost hear the bleating as one walks down Main Street USA.

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and intransient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Never in American history have we seen our country and its people so sorely abused and put upon. Never have the American people suffered such a long train of abuses and usurpations, as we are suffering through today under this Marxist-Maoist communist regime that has captured our government through and through. And it’s damned hard to be proud of a country that has allowed for this, that stands by this very moment watching as if the situation will somehow miraculously resolve itself, as the Democratic Party move ahead with the fundamental transformation of America into something foreign and antithetical to Her founding, a tyrannical Socialist Super-State

It’s damned hard to be proud of a country that is doing next to nothing to stop the treason on the southern border that allows millions of illegal aliens to cross each year, mostly military aged men from all across the world, from the socialist-loving people of Nicaragua, Mexico and El Salvador to nations hostile to America like China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and many others too - smuggling tons of China’s death dealing fentanyl into the country in the process. Yes, there’s nothing for the American people to be proud to see in a country that won’t stand up in the face of an existential threat, because its people have grown weak and complacent and obedient to their deaths, even with the Democrat Party admitting they plan to legitimize these illegal aliens and hand them “the right to vote”.

Yea - I can’t be too proud of America when She has nearly totally forgotten Her Veterans in far too many respects, as we see thousands of homeless Veterans trying to get help in vain, while the Veteran Administration Office is busy filing medical claims for Illegal Aliens [I shit You not] as explained in a recent article by Representative Greg Steube (R-FL). https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-va-must-stop-working-for-illegals/

How can anyone be proud of America when the tyrant in the Oval Office has weaponized the DOJ, the FBI and the IRS against his political opponents with impunity, giving a wink and a nod to Attorney Generals in every state that it’s open season on former President Donald Trump and any conservative or independent political leaders that currently are trying to fight back in any meaningful manner against the Biden regime’s anti-American agenda? No one should be proud to see this illegal and unconstitutional lawfare being utilized as tho’ it’s business as usual.

How can anyone be proud of a country that allows Government Agents to gun down innocent patriotic Americans such as Randy Weaver’s wife Vicki and his son Sammy, LaVoy Finicum and Ashli Babbitt under suspect and largely unwarranted circumstances?

And it sure as hell is hard to be proud of America, when so many of Her leaders seem to give more allegiance to foreign interests than they give to America, especially where the Bidens, Clintons and McConnells [and many others too] are concerned in regard to their respective dealings with China and Russia, especially when one looks at the millions handed to the Biden Crime Family by several Big Players in the Chinese Communist Party.

Are you proud of this America that has spent and manipulated us all into economic oblivion and a debt-based economy hell that forces everyone in a household to have to work a fulltime job and a parttime job too, since 2000, making the traders and top business executives even wealthier while everyone else goes bust? Are you proud of an America that has every ordinary citizen pinching pennies and scraping everything they can together, just to get by, when it was just sixty years ago that one man’s salary would still pay the rent/mortgage, utilities, gas for the car and groceries for a family of four.

It’s damned hard to be proud of a country that, despite the final defeat of Roe vs Wade, still promotes and facilitates the murder of millions of unborn babies, even up to them exiting the birth canal, as millions cry “a woman’s right to free reproduction”. How about they clamp their damned legs shut if they don’t want children, or get on the pill and make their sexual liaison wear a condom? Better yet, wouldn’t it be a fine thing and the right thing if they could be brave enough to allow the baby its life and give it to loving adoptive parents?

How can we be proud of America, when so many of Her people revel in their sick, demented, immoral perversions and deviancy and brainwash America’s children so deeply that twenty-five percent of that demographic now identifies as non-binary, homosexual or transsexual? What is there to be proud of in a country that enables minor children to be severely damaged both physically and psychologically for life, behind their parents’ back, and given transsexual gender therapy treatment? I’ll tell You what. NOTHING. Not one damned thing.

There’s nothing found in a country to instill pride, when its own churches wallow in the immoral ways of society and lend comfort to the deviant pervert heretics, even to the point of allowing “drag queens” to promote their sinful way of life before the congregants.

What pride is to be found in an America that has forgotten God and Her own founding virtues and principles?

No one believes this current situation or this current government’s agenda represent anything remotely close to the principles our ancestors fought to defend and preserve in 1776 or WWI and WWII.

“president” Joe aka Traitor Joe does not love America, or he would not be attempting to “fundamentally change” Her into something completely antithetical to every idea and principle She is founded upon. He wouldn’t be destroying our border security, our energy infrastructure, our economy and our families if he had the tiniest bit of concern or true love for America.

Yes. This 4th of July, it’s hard to feel proud of an America that has fallen so far from its beginning.

Americans must stop enabling the fools and knaves in the ranks of the Democrat Party Communists and RINOs to twist and manipulate the truth, and they can no longer remain so passive as these anti-Americans break the fine things so many have devoted their lives to build by way of their insane and asinine policies, that are purposely designed to destroy America. We will kneel and build them again, forcing our hearts and nerve and sinew to fight on long after we are worn out, and so, we hold on and continue when there is nothing in us except the will to enable and ensure that a free America will soon exist once more, after this next election. Afterward, if we are not compelled toward armed rebellion beforehand, we will untangle ourselves from the Marxist-Maoist tentacles and the mess the communist ideology has created within our system and, perhaps, return America and Her courage to Her resplendent magnificence and place of honor, in order that we may preserve freedom and individual liberty far into the future for our children and grandchildren and their children’s children, and many generations yet to come.

Now more than ever, America needs Her people to return to God and the principles upon which She was founded and to remember those things that made America great so many years ago, to understand that America still has the potential to be great again, far into the future, if only Her people will take a hard stand for true freedom and liberty for all.

Thinking of what America faced then and now, I think of the rousing speech Patrick Henry delivered to the Continental Congress in the spring of 1775. Henry concluded: “The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our Chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace - but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Even more heart-wrenching are the final words of the Declaration of Independence, since every signer of this sacred document believed he was signing his own death warrant: “And for the support of this Declaration, with Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

My eternal allegiance is to God, Family and America, and for anyone who desires to rebuild America anew, we must pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."
Hat tip to the Burning Platform for this material.

"It Now Takes An Annual Income Of $186,000 A Year For Americans To Feel Financially Secure"

"It Now Takes An Annual Income Of $186,000
 A Year For Americans To Feel Financially Secure"
by Michael Snyder

"According to a stunning new survey that was just released, an annual income of at least $186,000 a year is required in order to feel financially secure in the United States today. Unfortunately, only 6 percent of U.S. adults make that kind of money. So we have a major problem on our hands. The cost of living has become extremely painful, and millions of Americans are stressed out of their minds because their finances are such a mess. Over the past several years we have witnessed an economic shift of epic proportions. The ultra-wealthy have gotten a lot wealthier, the ranks of the poor have exploded, and the middle class has been absolutely eviscerated. In this current economic environment, only a very small segment of the population is living comfortably. The following comes from CBS News

"Americans have a specific annual income in mind for what it would take to feel financially secure, according to a new survey from Bankrate. The magic number? $186,000 per year. Currently, only 6% of U.S. adults make that amount or more, Bankrate said. The median family income falls between $51,500 and $86,000, according to the latest federal data. Achieving financial security means being able to pay your bills while having enough left over to make some discretionary purchases and put money away for the future, the personal finance site said."

When I was growing up, I thought that anyone that earned more than $100,000 a year was wealthy. But now it takes an income about five times that size in order to be considered “wealthy”…"Americans have an even higher yardstick for feeling rich. The survey found they believe they would need to earn $520,000 a year to qualify as wealthy - up from their $483,000 response during the same survey last year."

Much of the population is trying as hard as they can, but they will never make the kind of money that they would like to make. Meanwhile, the cost of living just keeps going higher and higher and higher. As a result, the percentage of Americans that admit that they are experiencing financial stress just continues to go up…"Many inflation-weary consumers continue to experience financial stress, with a new Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia survey finding that 35% of Americans are worried about making ends meet, up from 29% a year earlier."

That gap between what the typical American earns and what they aspire to earn means “Americans have their eyes set on this high income, and they think they need to make more money even if they know it’s unrealistic they’ll never make that amount,” Sarah Foster, an analyst at Bankrate, told CBS MoneyWatch.

At this point, even many that are considered to be in “upper-income groups” feel forced to take on extra jobs just to make ends meet…"Americans in upper-income groups are concerned about their ability to pay bills, with more than 15 percent of this demographic taking up additional jobs over the past year, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. As of April 2024, 32.5 percent of respondents earning over $150,000 annually were worried about making ends meet over the next six months, up from 21.7 percent in April of last year, the June survey showed.

This percentage is higher than for those in the income groups of $100,000 to $149,999, $70,000 to $99,999, and $40,000 to $69,999. Only individuals who earned less than $40,000, the lowest income group, were more worried than the $150,000-plus group." I have never seen numbers like this before. People are feeling so much anxiety about their finances, and that helps to explain why economic issues are playing such a prominent role in this election cycle.

Some Americans are trying to make ends meet by cutting back anywhere that they can. For example, the following comes from an NPR article about how Americans are cutting back on charitable giving…"Robert Lang, a longtime cabinetmaker in Cincinnati, used to feel good about giving money to less-fortunate people. These days, however, he’s being forced to be less generous. “I’m no great humanitarian,” says Lang. “But I feel really good if I can give a homeless guy 20 bucks. And we can’t do that anymore.” The reason? Rising prices, which have forced Lang to dial back his giving as the 69-year-old tries to make ends meet with Social Security benefits and a part-time job with a furniture-making journal."

When times get tough, people become less generous. I wish that wasn’t true, but that is just the way that it is. So what will happen when economic conditions become extremely harsh?BCA Research chief global strategist Peter Berezin is warning that another recession is coming and that stock prices could soon fall by 30 percent…"There may be trouble looming on the horizon for the U.S. stock market, according to BCA Research. In a note to clients last week, BCA Research chief global strategist Peter Berezin warned that, contrary to popular belief, the economy will fall into a recession either this year or in early 2025. Should that happen, the S&P 500 could tumble to 3,750, which marks a 30% drop from current levels."

Will he be proven correct? I don’t know. But I do know that it feels like a recession has already arrived to many Americans. Every day, we get even more bad economic news. For instance, Fox Business just published an article about how major drug store chains are in the process of closing down locations from coast to coast…"Just this week, Walgreens announced that it would close a “significant” number of under performing stores across the U.S. due to ongoing challenges with profitability and declining margins. Earlier this month, Rite Aid announced that 27 locations in Michigan and Ohio have been added to the growing number of stores it plans to close while it restructures under Chapter 11 bankruptcy."

In large cities all over the nation, thousands upon thousands of commercial properties are now sitting empty. Of course this is just the start. As the globe is rocked by one chaotic crisis after another, things will get a whole lot worse. A “perfect storm” is now upon us, and most people have absolutely no idea how harsh conditions around us will soon become."

Bill Bonner, "A Funny Old World"

A meeting of New York City Suffragette’s movement, 1894
"A Funny Old World"
A Brookings study says the cost of $310,000 to raise a child. 
You could spend a lot more - just send your children to private
 schools and expensive colleges. But you could also spend a lot less.
by Bill Bonner

"Dying all the time,
Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind.
Ain’t life unkind..."
 - "Ruby Tuesday", The Rolling Stones

Poitou, France - "Poor Joe Biden. He’s gotten old. Here’s the New York Times on who might take Joe’s place: "Kamala Harris Could Win This Election. Let Her." The obvious, logical path out of the mess President Biden created with his disastrous debate performance is for him to bow out with honor and endorse his young, vigorous and talented vice president to stand in his stead.

Who are some of the other leading candidates to replace old Joe? Michelle Obama. Hillary Clinton. Two of the three were catapulted to political fame because they were married to presidents. The other was chosen, probably because she was born Black, female and Asian, to be Joe Biden’s Number Two.

One of the main criticisms of monarchy was that leaders were chosen on the basis of birth, not merit. Another gripe was that ambitious women, such as Madame du Barry or Madame de Pompadour could gain influence simply by being fetching companions in the bedchamber.

And what to make of Dr. Jill? The New York Times reports that she may now be the most powerful person in Washington; she decides whether her husband stays or goes: "In those first stricken moments after a raspy, rambling and at times incoherent performance, he [Biden] turned to his wife, Jill Biden. The first lady’s message to him was clear: They’d been counted out before, she was all in, and he - they - would stay in the race. Her thinking, according to people close to her, was that it was a bad night. And bad nights end. So Dr. Biden spent the 24 hours after the debate putting her decades as a political spouse to the test, projecting confidence and normalcy while effusively praising her husband."

Our goal is to connect the dots. We call our system a ‘democracy.’ But is it really so different?And what happened to the white, male patriarchs? Have they all turned into feeble, fumbling oldsters? Marine Le Pen in France. Georgia Meloni in Italy. Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico. And in America, women are drawn to the White House like zombies to live flesh. And as women rise up, birth rates fall.

The BBC rings the alarm: "The world is ill-prepared for the global crash in children being born which is set to have a "jaw-dropping" impact on societies, say researchers. 23 nations - including Spain and Japan - are expected to see their populations halve by 2100."

Countries will also age dramatically, with as many people turning 80 as there are being born. It takes a birth rate of about 2.2 children per woman to maintain a steady population. But the rate in Ireland and France is only 1.8. In the UK, it’s only 1.6. And in Canada, only 1.5. Babies in Italy and Japan are even scarcer, with 1.3 births per woman. South Korea has almost no babies at all - with less than one per woman.

Women are having fewer children. Or, to be more correct, fewer women are having children. Those who have children seem to be doing it at about the same rate as before, but more women are just not having any children at all. In Japan, in the 1970s, for example, it was rare for a woman to not have children. Today, one of three are ‘barren.’

Why? Polls tell us that about 10% of them don’t have children intentionally. But most just don’t get around to it. They are busy with their careers... or have not found a decent mate... or not prepared financially or emotionally.

Some commentators insist that falling birth rates have something to do with the economy or wages. And yes, raising a child is expensive. A Brookings study came up with a total cost of $310,000 to raise a child to adulthood. You could spend a lot more - just send your children to private schools and expensive colleges. But you could also spend a lot less. People who say they ‘can’t afford to have children’ probably really mean they don’t want to make the necessary trade-offs.

There are also the ‘hidden costs’ of raising children. In addition to the investment of money, children take time. Begrudging your children time with their parents is like begrudging seed to a fertile field; the harvest is likely to be poor.

We have a friend who wrote a book, "The Price of Motherhood." She notes that a woman often sacrifices her prime years... when she could be embellishing her resume and developing her career skills. This is the real reason, say researchers, that female salaries lag those of their male counterparts; women are more likely to take time off work to care for children.

Around the 1970s, widespread birth control helped women avoid getting pregnant. Their opportunities increased, but their imaginations failed. They didn’t want to ‘stay at home and bake cookies,’ as Hillary Clinton put it. They wanted an active role in what they thought was a more interesting or more important world - a man’s world.

Like Hillary, many hung up their aprons and began to wear pant suits. They postponed having children so they could take seats in law schools... state houses... and corporate HQs. Today, they are our mayors, our city council members, our busybodies... our world-improvers... our White House press secretaries and Treasury secretaries... our BS-ers, fraudsters, and our candidates for president. Too bad they didn’t have something better to do."

Tuesday, July 2, 2024

Jeremiah Babe, "RFK Jr. Dining On Dogs; Locked Out Of Your Bank Account; All Hell About To Break Loose"

Jeremiah Babe, 7/2/24
"RFK Jr. Dining On Dogs; Locked Out Of 
Your Bank Account; All Hell About To Break Loose"
Comments here:

Gerald Celente, "Independence Day? Pay Your Taxes, Do What You're Told"

Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 7/2/24
"Independence Day?
 Pay Your Taxes, Do What You're Told"
The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times.
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: 2002, " A Gift of Life"

 
Full screen recommended.
2002, " A Gift of Life"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Why isn't this ant a big sphere? Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round. Why then would the gas that is streaming away create an ant-shaped nebula that is distinctly not round?
Clues might include the high 1000-kilometer per second speed of the expelled gas, the light-year long length of the structure, and the magnetism of the star visible above at the nebula's center. One possible answer is that Mz3 is hiding a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the bright star. A competing hypothesis holds that the central star's own spin and magnetic field are channeling the gas. Since the central star appears to be so similar to our own Sun, astronomers hope that increased understanding of the history of this giant space ant can provide useful insight into the likely future of our own Sun and Earth.”

"We Must Not Forget..."

 

The Poet: William Stafford, “Starting With Little Things”

“Starting With Little Things”

“Love the earth like a mole,
fur-near. Nearsighted,
hold close the clods,
their fine-print headlines.
Pat them with soft hands -
Like spades, but pink and loving; they
break rock, nudge giants aside,
affable plow.
Fields are to touch;
each day nuzzle your way.
Tomorrow the world.”

- William Stafford

"Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse On The March" (Excerpt)

"Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse 
On The March" (Excerpt)
by Jim Quinn

“The least-bad scenario is a hard landing, global recession 
worse than the 1930s. The worst-case borrows from the 
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: war, famine, pestilence, and death.” 
- Kenneth S. Deffeye

“When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse.”
- Eric Hoffer

Excerpt: "I don’t pretend to be a biblical scholar or have any particular expertise in interpreting scriptures, and certainly not the Book of Revelation, supposedly written by John of Patmos during the reign of Roman emperor Domitian sometime between 81 AD and 96 AD. But I did suffer through twelve years of Catholic school, with plenty of time reading the bible for homework assignments. I know many people take everything in the bible literally. I do not adhere to that understanding. I believe most, if not all, of the bible is parables and symbolism written by men as a means to guide early Christians in how they should live their lives. The wisdom imparted by these writers is vast and deep. The Book of Revelation is the most apocalyptic, mysterious, and prophetic.

I would agree with scholars who say Revelation does not refer to actual people or events but is an allegory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil. But, as our modern-day world seems to be coming apart at the seams, the battle between good and evil is reaching a zenith, only seen at crucial turning points in history.

The scale of propaganda designed to mislead the public, scope of deceit exhibited by our hand-picked leaders, level of wickedness in the purposeful destruction of economic systems based on climate crisis lies, purposeful infliction of pain and suffering upon the masses through destruction of conventional food and energy structures, implosion of the financial system due to incompetence and/or willfully malicious motivations, and incessant provocations of Russia and China designed to ignite a global conflagration, are all part of one demonic plan.

Knowing we are reaching the most violent phase of this Fourth Turning and this kind of horrendous whirlwind has occurred during the fall of previous empires, does not make it any easier to confront or endure.

As the stock market implodes, draining the retirement savings of working men and women once again, inflation rages out of control, pushing lower and middle class families to the brink, our senile Trojan horse president, implements a country destroying agenda at the behest of his globalist handlers designed to incite a civil war, and the Deep State/Military Industrial Complex attempts to monetize Ukraine and Taiwan to fill their coffers with billions in war profits, the world teeters on the brink of a collapse which will make the Great Depression/World War II era seem like a walk in the park.

And very few people see it coming or are prepared in any way for the consequences. They have spent too much time in government school indoctrination centers, soaked up too much propaganda spewed by the corporate legacy media doing the bidding of those in power, have been misinformed and misled by the left wing Silicon Valley social media conglomerates, and are too distracted by their gadgets, social media likes, fake reality TV, and modern day sports circuses.

I’m certainly not predicting the end times or second coming of Christ, but the parable of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse sure seems applicable in this modern-day Crisis – the latest times that try men’s souls. We are in a time of Crisis, just as we were in the 1780’s, 1860’s, and 1940’s, all 80 years apart. The 2020’s will also go down in history as a time of fateful decisions, great battles, heroes, villains, and ultimately a purging of the existing social order - to be replaced by something better or far worse."
Full article is here:

"We Are..."

 

"Doug Casey on the End of Western Civilization"

"Doug Casey on the End of Western Civilization"
by International Man

"International Man: The decline of Western Civilization is on a lot of people’s minds. Let’s talk about this trend.

Doug Casey: Western Civilization has its origins in ancient Greece. It’s unique among the world’s civilizations in putting the individual - as opposed to the collective - in a central position. It enshrined logic and rational thought - as opposed to mysticism and superstition - as the way to deal with the world. It’s because of this that we have science, technology, great literature and art, capitalism, personal freedom, the concept of progress, and much, much more. In fact, almost everything worth having in the material world is due to Western Civilization.

Ayn Rand once said "East minus West equals zero." I think she went a bit too far, as a rhetorical device, but she was essentially right. When you look at what the world’s other civilizations have brought to the party, at least over the last 2,500 years, it’s trivial. I lived in the Orient for years. There are many things I love about it - martial arts, yoga, and the cuisine among them. But all the progress they’ve made is due to adopting the fruits of the West.

International Man: There are so many things degrading Western Civilization. Where do we begin?

Doug Casey: It’s been said, correctly, that a civilization always collapses from within. World War 1, in 1914, signaled the start of the long collapse of Western Civilization. Of course, termites were already eating away at the foundations, with the writings of people like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx. It’s been on an accelerating downward path ever since, even though technology and science have been improving at a quantum pace. They are, however, like delayed action flywheels, operating on stored energy and accumulated capital. Without capital, intellectual freedom, and entrepreneurialism, science and technology will slow down. I’m optimistic we’ll make it to Kurzweil’s Singularity, but there are no guarantees.

Things also changed with the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913. Before that, the US used gold coinage for money. "The dollar" was just a name for 1/20th of an ounce of gold. That is what the dollar was. Paper dollars were just receipts for gold on deposit in the Treasury. The income tax, enacted the same year, threw more sand in the gears of civilization. The world was much freer before the events of 1913 and 1914, which acted to put the State at the center of everything.

The Fed and the income tax are both disastrous and unnecessary things, enemies of the common man in every way. Unfortunately, people have come to believe they’re fixtures in the cosmic firmament. They’re the main reasons - there are many other reasons, though, unfortunately - why the average American’s standard of living has been dropping since the early 1970s. In fact, were it not for these things, and the immense amount of capital destroyed during the numerous wars of the last 100 years, I expect we’d have already colonized the moon and Mars. Among many other things.

But I want to re-emphasize that the science, the technology, and all the wonderful toys we have are not the essence of Western Civilization. They’re consequences of individualism, capitalism, rational thought, and personal freedom. It’s critical not to confuse cause and effect.

International Man: You mentioned that the average American’s standard of living has dropped since the early 1970s. This is directly related to the US government abandoning the dollar’s last link to gold in 1971. Since then, the Federal Reserve has been able to debase the US dollar without limit. I think the dollar’s transformation into a purely fiat currency has eroded the rule of law and morality in the US. It’s similar to what happened in the Roman Empire after it started debasing its currency. What do you think, Doug?

Doug Casey: All the world’s governments and central banks share a common philosophy, which drives these policies. They believe that you create economic activity by stimulating demand, and you stimulate demand by printing money. And, of course, it’s true, in a way. Roughly the same way a counterfeiter can stimulate a local economy.

Unfortunately, they ignore that, and completely ignore that the way a person or a society becomes wealthy is by producing more than they consume and saving the difference. That difference, savings, is how you create capital. Without capital you’re reduced to subsistence, scratching at the earth with a stick. These people think that by inflating - which is to say destroying - the currency, they can create prosperity. But what they’re really doing, is destroying capital: When you destroy the value of the currency, that discourages people from saving it. And when people don’t save, they can’t build capital, and the vicious cycle goes on.

This is destructive for civilization itself, in both the long term and the short term. The more paper money, the more credit, they create, the more society focuses on finance, as opposed to production. It’s why there are many times more people studying finance than science. The focus is increasingly on speculation, not production. Financial engineering, not mechanical, electrical, or chemical engineering. And lots of laws and regulations to keep the unstable structure from collapsing.

What keeps a truly civil society together isn’t laws, regulations, and police. It’s peer pressure, social opprobrium, moral approbation, and your reputation. These are the four elements that keep things together. Western Civilization is built on voluntarism. But, as the State grows, that’s being replaced by coercion in every aspect of society. There are regulations on the most obscure areas of life. As Harvey Silverglate pointed out in his book, the average American commits three felonies a day. Whether he’s caught and prosecuted is a subject of luck and the arbitrary will of some functionary. That’s antithetical to the core values of Western Civilization.

International Man: Speaking of ancient civilizations like Rome, interest rates are just coming off the the lowest levels they’ve been in 5,000 years of recorded history. Trillions of dollars’ worth of government bonds trade at negative yields. Of course, this couldn’t happen in a free market. It’s only possible because of central bank manipulation. How will artificially low interest rates affect the collapse of Western Civilization?

Doug Casey: It’s really, really serious. I previously thought it was metaphysically impossible to have negative interest rates but, in the Bizarro World central banks have created, it’s happened.

Negative interest rates discourage saving. Once again, saving is what builds capital. Without capital you wind up as an empty shell - Rome in 450 A.D., or Detroit today - lots of wonderful but empty buildings and no economic activity. Worse, it forces people to desperately put their money in all manner of idiotic speculations in an effort to stay ahead of inflation. They wind up chasing the bubbles the funny money creates.

Let me re-emphasize something: in order for science and technology to advance you need capital. Where does capital come from? It comes from people producing more than they consume and saving the difference. Debt, on the other hand, means you’re living above your means. You’re either consuming the capital others have saved, or you’re mortgaging your future.

Zero and negative interest rate policies, and the creation of money out of nowhere, are actually destructive of civilization itself. It makes the average guy feel that he’s not in control of his own destiny. He starts believing that the State, or luck, or Allah will provide for him. That attitude is typical of people from backward parts of the world - not Western Civilization.

International Man: What does it say about the economy and society that people work so hard to interpret what officials from the Federal Reserve and other central banks say?

Doug Casey: It’s a shameful waste of time. They remind me of primitives seeking the counsel of witch doctors. One hundred years ago, the richest people in the country - the Rockefellers, the Carnegies, and such - made their money creating industries that actually made stuff. Now, the richest people in the country just shuffle money around. They get rich because they’re close to the government and the hydrant of currency materialized by the Federal Reserve. I’d say it’s a sign that society in the US has become quite degraded.

The world revolves much less around actual production, but around guessing the direction of financial markets. Negative interest rates are creating bubbles, and will eventually result in an economic collapse.

International Man: Negative interest rates are essentially a tax on savings. A lot of people would rather pull their money out of the bank and stuff it under a mattress than suffer that sting. The economic central planners know this. It’s why they’re using negative interest rates to ramp up the War on Cash - the push to eliminate paper currency and create a cashless society.

The banking system is very fragile. Banks don’t hold much paper cash. It’s mostly digital bytes on a computer. If people start withdrawing paper money en masse, it won’t take much to bring the whole system down. Their solution is to make accessing cash harder, and in some cases, illegal. That’s why the economic witch doctors at Harvard are pounding the table to get rid of the $100 bill. Take France, for example. It’s now illegal to make cash transactions over €1,000 without documenting them properly.

Negative interest rates have turbocharged the War on Cash. If the central planners win this war, it would be the final deathblow to financial privacy. How does this all relate to the collapse of Western Civilization?

Doug Casey: I believe the next step in their idiotic plan is to abolish cash. Decades ago they got rid of gold coinage, which used to circulate day to day in people’s pockets. Then they got rid of silver coinage. Now, they’re planning to get rid of cash altogether. So you won’t even have euros or dollars or pounds in your wallet anymore, or if you do, it will only be very small denominations. Everything else is going to have to be done through electronic payment processing.

This is a huge disaster for the average person: absolutely everything that you buy or sell, other than perhaps a candy bar or a hamburger, is going to have to go through the banking system. Thus, the government will be able to monitor every transaction and payment. Financial privacy, even what’s left of it today, will literally cease to exist.

Privacy is one of the big differences between a civilized society and a primitive society. In a primitive society, in your little dirt hut village, anybody can look through your window or pull back the flap on your tent. You have no privacy. Everybody can hear everything; see anything. This was one of the marvelous things about Western Civilization - privacy was valued, and respected. But that concept, like so many others, is on its way out…

International Man: You’ve mentioned before that language and words provide important clues to the collapse of Western Civilization. How so?

Doug Casey: Many of the words you hear, especially on television and other media, are confused, conflated, or completely misused. Many recent changes in the way words are used are corrupting the language. As George Orwell liked to point out, to control language is to control thought. The corruption of language is adding to the corruption of civilization itself. This is not a trivial factor in the degradation of Western Civilization.

Words - their exact meanings, and how they’re used are critically important. If you don’t mean what you say and say what you mean, then it’s impossible to communicate accurately. Forget about transmitting philosophical concepts.

Take for example shareholders and stakeholders. We all know that a shareholder actually owns a share in a company, but have you noticed that over the last generation shareholders have become less important than stakeholders? Even though stakeholders are just hangers-on, employees, or people who are looking to get in on a shakedown. But everybody slavishly acknowledges, "Yes, we’ve got to look out for the stakeholders." Where did that concept come from? It’s a recent creation, but Boobus americanus seems to think it was carved in stone at the country’s founding.

We’re told to protect them, as if they were a valuable and endangered species. I say, "A pox upon stakeholders." If they want a vote in what a company does, then they ought to become shareholders. Stakeholders are a class of being created out of nothing by Cultural Marxists for the purpose of shaking down shareholders."

Editor’s Note: This is going to be the most turbulent decade in US history…The 2020s ​will be more ​dangerous than the 1930s, the 1940s, and even the 1860s. That's because severe crises are brewing on multiple fronts and converging. The whole system will have a complete reset, and soon. It could be the BIGGEST thing since the founding of the USA."

The Daily "Near You?"

Crozet, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Dan, I Allegedly, "Proof That the Economy is Collapsing in Real Time"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 7/2/24
"Proof That the Economy is Collapsing in Real Time"
"I'm bringing you proof that the economy is collapsing NOW! Industries are downsizing, jobs are disappearing, and companies are shipping out. From John Deere moving 600 jobs to Mexico to the brutal layoffs across various sectors, it's clear we're in a severe economic freefall. I delve into alarming WARN Act notices, share staggering job loss numbers, and highlight how businesses are bracing for the worst."
Comments here:

"All Palestinian Prisoners To Be Executed And Shot In The Head"

"All Palestinian Prisoners To Be Executed And Shot In The Head"
"The Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir, says he plans to introduce legislation in the Knesset which reads: "All Palestinian prisoners to be executed and shot in the head." – The Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir

Watch this monster say it himself!

"Israel is Evil personified. Israel is Evil embodied."
- Scott Ritter
OMG... God damn these psychopathically degenerate monsters to Hell!
And YOU, Americans, pay for it all, every bullet, every bomb, every tank, everything! 
All that blood's on YOUR hands too! Eternal shame and disgrace on us all...

Gregory Mannarino, "Another Pandemic? Count On It! We Are Being Set Up!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/2/24
"Another Pandemic? Count On It! 
We Are Being Set Up!"
Comments here:
o
Related:
"Bird Flu - Another Attempt to Control
 the Food System and Make a Profit"
"Let the fearmongering begin (again)! Propaganda efforts are making people believe humans can die from the bird flu and that we must “do our part” in preventing the next global pandemic. Wear masks, social distance, sanitize everything, get tested, get vaccinated… It’s kind of like “COVID-19,” but now in dairy cows!"
Full, highly recommended article here:
o
What is the risk? What do the latest data demonstrate?

"How It Really Is"

 

"If The High Cost Of Groceries Makes You Feel Sick, You Are Not Alone"

"If The High Cost Of Groceries Makes You
 Feel Sick, You Are Not Alone"
by Michael Snyder

"If you are really struggling with the high cost of living, I want you to know that you aren’t alone. In recent months, I have been hearing from so many people that feel like they are drowning financially. Have you experienced a palpable sense of panic when you compare your rising bills to the level of income that you are currently bringing in? So many people out there are stressed out of their minds because it has become such a struggle to pay the bills each month. As I discussed a few days ago, a typical U.S. household must now spend $1,069 more a month just to buy the exact same goods and services that it did three years ago. Over the course of an entire year, that is almost an extra $13,000 dollars. Month after month, prices just keep going higher, but those that are running things continue to insist that everything is just fine. No, everything is not just fine.

Last week, a TikTok video about rising grocery prices at Walmart quickly garnered more than a million views. The person that made the video found a grocery order that he had placed two years ago, and he decided to hit the “Reorder All” button to see what that same order would cost today…
Full screen recommended.
A recent TikTok video has gone viral, showing a user’s surprising experience with Walmart’s grocery prices. The user explained in his video that he tried to use the “Reorder All” button for an order he placed two years ago, which originally cost $126.67. To his shock, the same order would now cost $414.39. I was quite stunned by this video. Many of the things that I regularly purchase at the grocery store have doubled or more than doubled in price, but in this case the total cost of the grocery order had more than tripled

The TikTok (@sewerlidd) explained that the original $126.16 purchase was for a month’s worth of groceries, which included 53 items. “A whole month of groceries just for me,” he said in the video. The total was updated to $414.39, almost quadrupling. “I feel like I’m going to be sick,” he said. Needless to say, this video has generated a ton of discussion online.

When Walmart was asked about this, they responded by saying that the primary reason there was such a difference is because the person that made the video was attempting to order “discontinued items”…"Walmart representatives have responded, stating that the claims in the video are not accurate. According to them, the discrepancies in prices are due to discontinued items rather than actual inflation." But this explanation certainly did not satisfy everyone. Another person hit the “Reorder All” button on an old order, and that order went from $180 back then to $430 today

Viewers expressed both shock and frustration in the comments. “Now I feel a little less gaslit about grocery prices because it has gone crazy, and it’s not just me!” wrote one person. “Walmart, can you explain yourself, please,” added another. A fellow shopper said they used to spend $180 for two weeks’ worth of groceries and are now spending over $430 for the same amount.

If you think that the price of groceries is not a problem, I have a challenge for you. Fill up a grocery cart all the way to the very top with items that you typically eat, and try to keep the final bill under 300 dollars. If you are smart, you can do it, but it won’t be easy.

In the old days, you could buy a used vehicle for 300 dollars. Now, many people burn through more than 300 dollars in just one trip to the grocery store. This is just one of the reasons why inflation has become such a huge political issue.

According to Gallup, inflation was not really considered to be an important issue at all prior to 2022…"For the third year in a row, the percentage of Americans naming inflation or the high cost of living as the most important financial problem facing their family has reached a new high. The 41% naming the issue this year is up slightly from 35% a year ago and 32% in 2022. Before 2022, the highest percentage mentioning inflation was 18% in 2008. Inflation has been named by less than 10% in most other readings since the question was first asked in 2005."

The last three years have been an inflationary nightmare, and no matter how much our leaders try to deny it, a lot more inflation is on the way. Things are particularly bad in our major cities. In fact, it is being reported that Manhattan is the most expensive place to live in the United States by a wide margin…"The New York borough of Manhattan is the most expensive place to live in the U.S. - and the cost of living in the No. 2 place isn’t even close.

The cost of living in Manhattan is more than twice the national average. The second- and third-most expensive places are Honolulu and San Jose, California, but in comparison, they are much more affordable. Manhattan is 24% more expensive than Honolulu and 30% more expensive than San Jose."

It isn’t a big mystery why this is the case. When our leaders pumped trillions upon trillions of dollars into the system, the financial markets benefitted greatly. So Manhattan is swimming in cash, and prices there have gone into the stratosphere.

Many of us relentlessly warned about what would happen when our leaders flooded the system with cash, and now we are facing economic distortions that are extremely painful. For most Americans, prices have been rising much faster than their paychecks. As a result, our national standard of living has been steadily declining. And now we have entered a time when it appears that economic conditions are really slowing down.

For example, it is being reported that Ford is preparing for yet another round of layoffs…"Ford Motor is preparing for a new round of layoffs for its salaried workers in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company in March last year announced plans to reduce structural costs of up to $3 billion at its gas-powered vehicle unit. In August, Ford said it would cut a total of 3,000 salaried and contract jobs, mostly in North America and India."

Over the past several years, our politicians in Washington have borrowed and spent trillions upon trillions of dollars, and the “experts” at the Federal Reserve have pumped trillions upon trillions of dollars into the financial system. All that did was buy us a little more time. All that did was delay the inevitable. Now we are facing a crisis of absolutely epic proportions, and the economic suffering that we are currently experiencing is nothing compared to the economic suffering that is ahead of us."

"Why the New Paradigm Was Inevitable"

"Why the New Paradigm Was Inevitable"
by Jeff Thomas

"Just as people go through a lifespan that consists of different stages, so empires tend to follow a pattern of stages. They tend to start off slowly, making progress as a result of industriousness, understanding that progress is dependent upon hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit. This is important to understand, as it’s the one essential in the growth of a nation. No nation becomes an empire through complacency or a lack of productivity. Welfare states do not become empires, although most empires end up as welfare states. So, if that’s the case, what is the progression? And more importantly, what does this mean, considering the dramatic changes that are now unfolding in much of the world?

Prosperity: As stated, prosperity is created through a strong work ethic and an entrepreneurial spirit throughout a significant portion of the population. This is what brings about wealth creation – a condition in which people invest their time and money in a business enterprise that reaps profit. The profit is then re-invested to expand upon that success.

In the early stages of prosperity, those who create the wealth are revered, as the goods and services they create benefit all, even those who may be less ambitious or less imaginative and may never become business leaders themselves. But inevitably, there will be those who seek to prosper to the exclusion of others. This trend was seen around 1900 in the US – a time when the country’s wealthiest entrepreneurs figured out that, if they banded together, they could buy both political parties. That would mean that, regardless of which party held power, the government could be counted on to pass laws that would protect their monopolies and make success increasingly more difficult for the competition.

Wealth Disparity: Of course, the objective of this would be that there would be a small number of individuals and corporations at the very top, who would be in a position to split up the pie amongst themselves and throw the crumbs to those beneath them. Over time, this would lead to those at the very top becoming inordinately wealthy, well beyond what would be normal for their level of investment. And very few new individuals and corporations would be able to break into this cabal. Only those who could add to the size of the pie would be allowed in.

Resentment: Not surprisingly, this, over time, would lead to resentment amongst those who were left out of the loop. When this became generational, with minimal change, the "greedy rich" would become the most hated segment of the population. Those who come to understand that they will never be able to advance to the top layer would come to regard themselves as "disenfranchised." This in turn results, eventually, in the awareness that the "little man" represents the majority of voters, which is then capitalized upon by opportunistic political candidates.

Increasingly, there are cries by political hopefuls for the one percent to be taxed. With every election these promises are renewed. And each time out, greater demands are made by the politicians. Of course, the one percent are already running the show on both sides of the aisle and can make sure that they are taxed very little, if at all. But someone must be made to cough up, so politicians go after the middle class, taxing them increasingly until, after decades of increases, they are squeezed to the limit. As Vladimir Lenin said, "The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation."

At this point the wealth disparity is at a peak and the resentment turns to anger. Those, who for decades have been promised a "fair share," realise that they have instead been sold out. And here’s where it gets interesting. Traditionally, once the population became resentful enough that the system was in jeopardy, those few who comprised the ruling elite were likely to essentially say, "Let them eat cake." This, ultimately, would lead to their downfall. But today, we have the illusion of democracy, which allows for a different paradigm.

Collectivism: From the time of the French Revolution onward, we have had the construct of collectivism to work with. Rather than defy the little man, defeat him by being seen to agree with him. Create political figures who call out for a re-engineering of society: "An equal outcome for all. Take the wealth from the wealthy who stole it and give it back to the little man." Such platitudes sell well when resentment has hit its peak.

But the secret benefit for the ruling elite is that the new breed of politician works for the one percent, just as politicians always have. And collectivism benefits the one percent even more than any free-market system could. Under it, the little man is not raised up, as promised. Instead, the middle class is beaten down to the same level as the little man, creating uniform poverty. As Winston Churchill stated, "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

Therefore, it should come as no surprise to us that, when an empire such as the US begins to unravel, the ruling elite who actually own the country are ready and eager to create a transition that will appear to benefit the little man but will, instead, enslave him to a greater degree than he ever could have imagined.

So, it should come as no surprise to us that in recent months, the US has witnessed a carefully orchestrated drama in which the poster boy for the greedy rich – the US president – goes down in flames. And the heroes of the play appear centre stage, providing a litany of collectivist promises that will bring cheers from the populace. And so the trap is sprung. A totalitarian future disguised as a panacea.

As P.T. Barnum said, "There’s a sucker born every minute," and there is no greater sucker than a voter who actually believes that there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. His vain hope is that, even though every collectivist government in history has failed to deliver on its promises and has, instead, resulted in uniform misery, this time it will be different, and the new government will deliver on the now-hackneyed empty promises. The new paradigm was as inevitable as it will be long-lived and ultimately destructive."

Bill Bonner, "A Dirty Business"

"A Dirty Business"
The West is setting itself up for a huge credit crisis. Central banks will still be able to 
fund their operations. But they won't be able to protect the value of their own currencies.
by Bill Bonner

"Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
And whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars,
Whose sages are silenced,
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero,
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture..."
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti

London - "On the steps of the old church, stood an old man, with an old flag... honoring the death of an old soldier. The deceased was also an old friend. The day was warm. But the inside of the stone church was cool. There were about one hundred mourners. Ignoring the alarming headlines, we took time out in the middle of a work day to say goodbye.

France is in an uproar. The Daily Mail: "France battles to keep Le Pen from power: Panicking President Macron calls crisis meeting to defeat National Rally as socialists urge French leader's supporters to back them and 'do everything to prevent' hard-right election victory on Sunday." The ‘hard’ right may not be as steely as the crisis mongers claim. All over Europe (as in America), the ‘right’ is on the rise. Often called a ‘populous,’ ‘nationalist,’ or simply ‘right wing’ movement, it is easily mistaken for a real change of direction.

But a fundamental change of direction would mean reversing the growth of government, reducing its spending and backing away from its wars. The ‘populists’ have various ideas on these subjects - some good, some bad - but as far as we know, none really favors a fundamental change. And as far as we can tell, nothing that they offer will derail the coming financial debacle.

The West is setting itself up for a huge credit crisis. Central banks and central governments will still be able to fund their operations... and will still be able to boost (nominal) asset prices. But they won’t be able to protect the value of their own currencies. Shrewd investors — including foreign central banks - are preparing by buying gold. We are too.

Meanwhile... we were saying goodbye to an old friend...We sang our hymns. We said our prayers. We took the host but not the cup... (they do not share the wine in French Catholic services). And at the end... we lined up to sprinkle holy water on the casket. It was then that we noticed: something was missing. Pierre was a retired colonel in the French Army. Typically, the government honors its soldiers with a flag draped over the coffin. But there was no flag.

We knew Pierre from the church choir. We both sang bass. Pierre had no ear for music. So, we put him in the center... where he could follow along. “It can be a dirty business,” Pierre had told us, speaking of his lifelong military profession.

People look to the government to reduce the uncertainty in their lives. They don’t necessarily like their government. Still, they much prefer to be robbed by their own leaders, systematically and more-or-less peacefully, than to suffer violence, rapine and theft at the hands of foreign invaders. Then, the elites praise their men in uniform…but use them to leverage their own power and increase their own wealth.

General Smedley Butler, twice winner of the medal of honor, saw first-hand how it works: "I spent thirty three years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers."

It was the Algerian War that most troubled Pierre. By 1956, there were 400,000 French troops in the North African country. They were called in to help put down a rebellion by local ‘terrorists.’ Fresh from their defeat in Indo-China, the French army nevertheless pioneered many of the tactics that would later be used by the US in Vietnam - the helicopter, napalm and ‘strategic hamlets’ - with equally dismal results.

“The Algerian War was obviously unwinnable,” he told us. “But that wasn’t the worst of it. It was also destroying the French army. We were expected to do things that weren’t right. Torturing prisoners to get information. Ignoring civilian casualties. Retaliating for murders with more murders.

An army can win against another army. It can’t win against terrorists... or call them ‘freedom fighters,’ if you want. Because the harder it cracks down, the more people support the terrorists. Then the army begins to act like a police force...not a real army. And usually, a corrupt and brutal police force. It can keep a lid on things... even for a long time. But not forever.”

Whether it was Pierre’s choice... or his family’s... we don’t know. But Pierre’s coffin was bare."

"Scott Ritter: Israel Will Be Destroyed In A War With Hezbollah"

George Galloway, 7/1/24
"Scott Ritter:
 Israel Will Be Destroyed In A War With Hezbollah"
Comments here:

Monday, July 1, 2024

"Alert! Nuclear Code Crisis; Belarus Prepares For NATO Invasion; Israel Training To Nuke Iran!"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 7/1/24
"Alert! Nuclear Code Crisis; Belarus Prepares 
For NATO Invasion; Israel Training To Nuke Iran!"
Comments here: