"I Wish You Enough"

"I Wish You Enough"

by Bob Perks

"At an airport I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together. They had announced her plane’s departure and standing near the door, he said to his daughter, “I love you, I wish you enough.” She said, “Daddy, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Daddy.” They kissed good-bye and she left.

He walked over toward the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, “Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?” “Yes, I have,” I replied.

Saying that brought back memories I had of expressing my love and appreciation for all my Dad had done for me. Recognizing that his days were limited, I took the time to tell him face to face how much he meant to me. So I knew what this man was experiencing.

“Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?” I asked. “I am old and she lives much too far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is, her next trip back will be for my funeral, ” he said.

“When you were saying good-bye I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough.’ May I ask what that means?” He began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.” He paused for a moment and looking up as if trying to remember it in detail, he smiled even more.

“When we said ‘I wish you enough,’ we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with enough good things to sustain them,” he continued and then turning toward me he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish enough “Hello’s” to get you through the final 'Good-bye.'” He then began to sob and walked away."

- https://alltimeshortstories.com/

The Poet: James Broughton, "Having Come This Far"

"Having Come This Far"

"I've been through what my through was to be,

I did what I could and couldn't.

I was never sure how I would get there.

I nourished an ardor for thresholds,

for stepping stones and for ladders,

I discovered detour and ditch.

I swam in the high tides of greed,

I built sandcastles to house my dreams.

I survived the sunburns of love.

No longer do I hunt for targets.

I've climbed all the summits I need to,

and I've eaten my share of lotus.

Now I give praise and thanks

for what could not be avoided,

and for every foolhardy choice.

I cherish my wounds and their cures,

and the sweet enervations of bliss.

My book is an open life.

I wave goodbye to the absolutes,

and send my regards to infinity.

I'd rather be blithe than correct.

Until something transcendent turns up,

I splash in my poetry puddle,

and try to keep God amused."

- James Broughton

The Daily "Near You?"

Greenfield, Massachusetts, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Sometimes..."

"Sometimes even to live is an act of courage."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"Cage the Dogs of War Before They Destroy Us All"

Col. Larry Wilkerson, 9/10/24

"Cage the Dogs of War Before They Destroy Us All"

"Col. Larry Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, addressed the International Peace Coalition on September 6, 2024, recalling discussions with Powell about the 2002 National Security Strategy, about which Wilkerson warned, “We’re at the peak of the mountain, and if we see anyone stirring at the bottom we will kill it. We are going to get sucked into something that is initially conventional...once we start losing - which we will,” we will resort to nuclear weapons

He is now hearing high-ranking military officers talk about the utility of nuclear weapons for the first time since the Cold War, which are very lucrative for defense contractors. In 1991-92, when both the U.S. and Russia were destroying nuclear weapons, he saw that it “scared the bejesus” out of the leaders of the military-industrial complex."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Get Ready! In 8 Days The US Dollar Changes Forever"

Morris Invest, 9/10/24

"Get Ready! In 8 Days The US Dollar Changes Forever"

"In just 8 days American faces the ultimate perfect storm for the U.S. Dollar. The U.S. dollar will face its most significant test in the last 80 years as the Fed slashes interest rates. The Fed has admitted we are now in a US dollar bear market. Get ready for increased inflation, more layoffs, and a devalued dollar."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It So Tragically Really Is"

 

"A Farewell"

"A Farewell"

by Fred Reed

"I have been writing this column, off and on, mostly on, for–dear God, can it be nearly thirty years? Yet nothing lasts forever, neither columns nor columnists, and "Fred on Everything," for unexpected reasons with which i will not bore the reader, has reached its end.

Columnizing is a curious trade. I suppose that from time to time most in it ask themselves, why am I doing this? It is not from vanity or the desire to see one’s name in print. At the age of twenty, a new writer thinks that if only he can be published in the next most important outlet, he will be happy and fulfilled. At thirty, he thinks, oh hell, its deadline, what can I write and how can I make it seem fresh and interesting when almost every subject has been written about thousands of times by thousands of writers also on deadline?

I suspect that few columnists think that their output will accomplish anything. People seldom change their minds. Most likely we are just bellowing at the universe to behave itself. It doesn’t.

Unlike many in our ashen trade, I have been fortunate in not having an editor to tell me what to write and not being constrained to specialize. “Fred on Everything” may sound pompous but it is not restrictive. Thus i could write about anything from the military-industrial complex to being a barefoot-and-BB gun-toting Tom Sawyer simulacrum in small-town Alabama to robots and the realities of Mexico. This has been fun for me and, apparently, for a certain kind of reader.

But not to most. What most readers want is to be told over and over what they already believe, preferably in combative prose. Most columnists and websites do exactly this. I could never do it, perhaps because of some psychic defect. Or maybe I am just bull-headed. The result has been that readers have been few by internet standards but, at least in my judgement, a superior and versatile sort who can disagree without huffing-and-deleting. I regard them–you– as fellow conspirators against the expected, the tedious, and the ordinary. It has been fun. I thank you for the years."

Ciao,

Fred

- https://fredoneverything.org/a-farewelll/

A Comments: Thank you, Fred, for the many excellent commentaries over the years, it's been an honor and a privilege to share them with readers of this blog. This "Farewell" resonates so powerfully within me, too, as I look back at the past 16 years of this blog, over 90,000 posts I found interesting and informative, and have often wondered, as you say, "Why am I doing this? It is not from vanity or the desire to see one’s name in print." No, not from vanity, it was never about me, and I've never shared details of my personal life or fully written opinions, which I could have done so easily many, many times, preferring to post the writings of far better minds than mine. And it was certainly never about the money, I never sold anything, never allowed ads, or made a single penny, ever. As Fred said, "Maybe I am just bull-headed. The result has been that readers have been few by internet standards but, at least in my judgement, a superior and versatile sort who can disagree without huffing-and-deleting. I regard them–you–as fellow conspirators against the expected, the tedious, and the ordinary." That's how I've always viewed readers of this blog, and I, too, want to thank you the readers for the years we've spent together. If it made even one person's life a little better it was all worth it. It's not yet my time to say goodbye, but wanted to express how deeply what Fred wrote struck me personally. God speed, Fred...

- CP

Bill Bonner, "Inflate or Die"

"Inflate or Die"

You can’t really cut spending without digging into the big spending 

programs. Neither candidate is willing to do that. And Congress 

has shown even less backbone; it will cut taxes... but not spending.

by Bill Bonner

"Here’s the latest. Bloomberg: "Trump now threatening 100% tariffs... unless you use the dollar that he is determined to depreciate. Donald Trump pledged on Saturday to make it too costly for countries to shift away from using the US dollar, adding a new pillar to his tariff platform. “You leave the dollar and you’re not doing business with the United States because we are going to put a 100% tariff on your goods,” the Republican presidential nominee said at a rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin. The statement follows months of discussions between Trump and his economic advisers on ways to penalize allies or adversaries who seek active ways to engage in bilateral trade in currencies other than the dollar."

Trump is the first US politician to reveal this part of the scam. The idea is to inflate away the value of the US dollar... but also to trap foreigners in the depreciating currency. It’s either inflate... or die. The US economy may be a grotesque zombie with debt growing three times as fast as GDP. But neither political party has the courage to drive a stake through its heart. So, inflation it will be. And Donald Trump threatens to make it worse.

As we know, raising the national debt also raises the cost of debt service (interest). Already over $1 trillion per year, the feds then have to borrow more money to pay it. And this leads them... alas... to ‘print’ money. While campaigning in 2016, Mr. Trump offered to help solve this problem by not only balancing the budget, but by paying down the national debt. Of course, it didn’t happen. Instead, his four years in the White House saw debt increase from $20 trillion to $28 trillion - a 40% increase.

Now, he’s running for office again... and promising more marvels. The Washington Post: "Trump is vowing to make permanent the measures from his first tax law, which could add an additional $4 trillion to the debt. Many of those tax provisions are otherwise set to expire next year. Several other plans endorsed by Trump, including eliminating taxes on tips and a further reduction in the corporate tax rate, would bring his total tax cut plans above $6 trillion and as high as $7 trillion, according to nonpartisan budget experts.

Bloomberg News has estimated the price tag at $10 trillion; that figure includes a $5,000-per-child tax credit called for by Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, which Trump has not endorsed..."

You gotta hand it to Mr. Trump. Who else would have the cojones to suggest adding $7 trillion to the national debt? But wait. He says that this time he will offset the tax cuts with spending cuts. The Post continues: "In a speech at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Trump promised “trillions” of dollars in spending cuts from a new government commission... that would save “trillions of dollars - trillions. It’s massive. For the same service we have right now.” “We’re going to have so much money coming in. We’re going to work on the national debt,” Trump said. “We have to get that down...”

Ha. Ha. Were these people born yesterday? Or do they think we were born yesterday? Of course, there are trillions that could be cut from federal spending. But each one of those dollars, like raw meat thrown to a pack of hyenas, goes to someone with sharp teeth.

The Trump team claims it will eliminate ‘waste.’ But there is no ‘waste’ in Washington. Every penny buys influence. And influence buys Washington. Mr. Trump also says he won’t touch Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits... or the military. But... “From a purely mathematical perspective, if you’re talking about cutting trillions in spending, you are talking about cutting Medicare, Social Security or veterans benefits. There’s no other way to make that math work,” said Bharat Ramamurti, who served as deputy director of the White House National Economic Council under Biden.

And there you have it. Have what? Well... bankruptcy. Inflation. The end of the empire. The end of the dollar. A failed state. It’s all there. You can’t really cut spending without digging into the big spending programs. Neither candidate is willing to do that. And Congress has shown even less backbone; it will cut taxes... but not spending.

And if cutting taxes will help you get elected... and not cutting spending will help you get elected, then the people who get elected are much more likely to cut taxes than cut spending. And deficits, money-printing and inflation are much more likely to be the way forward than responsible budgeting. Mr. Trump’s latest proposal is just a way to stick foreigners with some of the losses."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

"NYC Is Full of Fake Stores… Why?"

Full screen recommended.

Cash Jordan, 9/10/24

"NYC Is Full of Fake Stores… Why?"

"Walking down the streets of NYC you're surrounded by buildings, with many

 storefronts. Some are open, some are closed, and some are completely fake..."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Warning! Get Out Of Cash Now! The System Is About To Go Nuclear"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/10/24

"Warning! Get Out Of Cash Now! 

The System Is About To Go Nuclear"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "We Have Become Venezuela"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, AM 9/10/24

"We Have Become Venezuela"

"Is the US spiraling into Venezuela chaos? Let’s dive into the wildfires blazing through Southern California and the shocking scenes unfolding in Springfield, Ohio. With Haitian migrants overwhelming the small town and absurd happenings reminiscent of Venezuela's darkest days, it's a chaotic situation you won't believe. From wildlife thefts to economic turmoil, what's the future hold for us?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"Leaked US Army Documents: Thousands Of Violent 

Venezuelan Prison Gang Members Run Amok Across America"

"Alert! Moscow Struck, Planes Grounded! NATO's Nuclear War Plan; Ukraine 48 Hour Secret Plan"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 9/9/24

"Alert! Moscow Struck, Planes Grounded! 

NATO's Nuclear War Plan; Ukraine 48 Hour Secret Plan"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "The FED Will Trigger A Currency Crisis And A Lot More Inflation"

Jeremiah Babe, 9/9/24

"The FED Will Trigger A Currency Crisis 

And A Lot More Inflation"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Judge Napolitano, "Ralph Nader: Slaughter In Gaza"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 9/9/24

"Ralph Nader: Slaughter In Gaza"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Endless Horizon"

Full screen recommended. 

Deuter, "Endless Horizon"

○

"I cannot paint

What then I was. The sounding cataract

Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,

The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,

Their colors and their forms, were then to me

An appetite; a feeling and a love,

That had no need of a remoter charm,

By thought supplied, not any interest

Unborrowed from the eye.

That time is past,

And all its aching joys are now no more,

And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this

Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur: other gifts

Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,

Abundant recompense. 

For I have learned

To look on nature, not as in the hour

Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes

The still, sad music of humanity,

Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power

To chasten and subdue." 

- William Wordsworth,

"Lines Written A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Some spiral galaxies are seen nearly sideways. Most bright stars in spiral galaxies swirl around the center in a disk, and seen from the side, this disk can appear quite thin. Some spiral galaxies appear even thinner than NGC 3717, which is actually seen tilted just a bit. Spiral galaxies form disks because the original gas collided with itself and cooled as it fell inward. Planets may orbit in disks for similar reasons.

The featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a light-colored central bulge composed of older stars beyond filaments of orbiting dark brown dust. NGC 3717 spans about 100,000 light years and lies about 60 million light years away toward the constellation of the Water Snake (Hydra)."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191112.html

"The World Rests In The Night"

“The world rests in the night. Trees, mountains, fields, and faces are released from the prison of shape and the burden of exposure. Each thing creeps back into its own nature within the shelter of the dark. Darkness is the ancient womb. Nighttime is womb-time. Our souls come out to play. The darkness absolves everything; the struggle for identity and impression falls away. We rest in the night.”

- John O'Donohue,

"Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom"

○

"Beannacht"

“On the day when

the weight deadens

on your shoulders

and you stumble,

may the clay dance

to balance you.

And when your eyes

freeze behind

the grey window

and the ghost of loss

gets in to you,

may a flock of colors,

indigo, red, green,

and azure blue

come to awaken in you

a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

in the currach of thought

and a stain of ocean

blackens beneath you,

may there come across the waters

a path of yellow moonlight

to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

may the clarity of light be yours,

may the fluency of the ocean be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow

wind work these words

of love around you,

an invisible cloak

to mind your life.”

○

John O'Donohue was an Irish author, poet, philosopher and former Catholic priest. He was born in County Clare on January 1, 1956. He died suddenly on January 4, 2008. He is best known for popularizing Celtic spirituality and is the author of a number of best-selling books on the subject.

○

Freely download "Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom", 

by John O'Donohue, here:

- https://oceanofpdf.com/

"The Universe"

"Life is not what you see, but what you've projected.

It's not what you've felt, but what you've decided.

It's not what you've experienced, but how you've remembered it. 

It's not what you've forged, but what you've allowed.

And it's not who's appeared, but who you've summoned.

And this should serve you well until you find what you already have."

- The Universe

○

“There are no accidents. If it's appeared on your life radar, this is why: to teach you that dreams come true; to reveal that you have the power to fix what's broken and heal what hurts; to catapult you beyond seeing with just your physical senses; and to lift the veils that have kept you from seeing that you're already the person you dreamed you'd become. There are no accidents. And believe me, that was one heck of a dream.”

“Tallyho,”

The Universe

“Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!”

- www.tut.com

The Daily "Near You?"

Cicero, Indiana, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Life Is Difficult..."

“Most do not fully see this truth that life is difficult. Instead they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly, about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life were generally easy, as if life should be easy. They voice their belief, noisily or subtly, that their difficulties represent a unique kind of affliction that should not be and that has somehow been especially visited upon them, or else upon their families, their tribe, their class, their nation, their race or even their species, and not upon others. Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, forever a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit.”

- M. Scott Peck

"The Free and the Brave"

"The Free and the Brave"

by Todd Hayen

"Whatever happened to that (the free and the brave)? Whatever happened to the attitude that had Patrick Henry at the Virginia convention in 1775 say “give me liberty, or give me death”?

Whatever happened to the patriotic fervor and the uncanny commitment to face suffering and death that resulted in over two million young men volunteering for service in World War I, and five times that number volunteering to serve in World War II?

Whatever happened to the ability to conquer fear and ride on the excitement for adventure and potential for immeasurable success that drove hundreds of thousands of men and women into the wild, and dangerous, frontiers of the American West?

Whatever happened to the spirit that filled the souls of those that faced stark adversity, danger to life and limb, that lead over 50,000 hapless men and women (mostly men) into the jungles of Central America to build the Panama Canal? - ultimately killing over 5,000 of them as a result of accidents, all manner of diseases including malaria and dysentery?

What happened?

Yeah, this is about us, guys (me included!) Sure, women can be brave - any biological sexual orientation can activate the warrior archetype - but more commonly it is the gendered male that falls into this archetypal constellation. Bravery - a compulsion to protect those he loves, have a critical and logical assessment of a difficult situation, and the force and power, at the very least a potential force and power, ready to inflict whatever necessary to protect partner and family, community and nation. We, us men, have seemed to have lost much of that. Have we become a bunch of puss-balls?

Dr Mark McDonald, a prominent medical doctor with a speciality in psychiatry, doesn’t mince words when he says while describing the psychological state of men and women during this crises: "We essentially have men with no balls, and then we have histrionics, women who have no emotional containment, because there are no men to contain them anymore.”

Sexist? Maybe some will think so, but McDonald is not putting all the blame on one sex, or exclusively on the masculine or feminine archetypes, the responsibility here is rather well balanced.

What does this mean? Very basically it means we have created a culture that has done a pretty good job of emasculating men - the radical feminist movement, as well as a general lack of situations where men can express their “man-ness” in a healthy way, has been a big part of the problem.

“Toxic Masculinity” is a phrase and concept that has taken the world by storm, and contributes quite a bit to the confusion that men are experiencing while trying to ascertain what a “real man” is in today’s “anti male” culture. “Oh boo hoo” some of you may be saying. “Men, through their powerful patriarchal history of abusing women and treating them as inferior partners in relationships deserve a little pull back!” There certainly is truth to that, but two wrongs don’t make a right. You can’t carve out an essential part of being a “man” without some collateral damage, all the way around.

So what does being a “real man” have to do with bravery? A lot, actually. Facing adversity and danger, primarily in order to protect the physically weaker, is a very important attribute of the masculine archetype of warrior, or even king if you want to get more detailed about it. Historically and traditionally the man has been the protector, the physical, and sometimes intellectual (intelligence that is present in logic reasoning and critical thinking) found in masculine archetypes (again, archetypes both men and women have access to).

These attributes are primarily directed toward protection and outwardly projected as strength and resolve. This often stabilizes the more emotional feminine archetypal factors that again, typically, are activated by the female, or woman, in a relationship.

As a psychotherapist, and an archetypal psychologist at that, I see these archetypal powers and influences playing out in my clients every day. Most of the problems I find in a couple’s therapy stems from an imbalance, or a dysfunction, in these energies of masculine and feminine. Again, the “man” in a couple can be activating both masculine and feminine archetypes, as well as the “woman.” The problem comes in if the archetypes activated are inappropriate, out of balance, and create a result that is unexpected, undesired, or not beneficial. Most of these influences run in the unconscious, so very seldom are they consciously manipulated.

It wasn’t until I met Dr McDonald that I connected some very important dots. McDonald recently wrote and released a book titled "United States of Fear." The subtitle of the book, “How America Fell Victim to a Mass Delusional Psychosis” is the primary focus.

McDonald holds nothing back when he addresses what he believes to be a fundamental cause of this mass psychosis. He believes that women (feminine archetypes driving the woman’s behavior) need a strong, and masculine man, to contain her emotionality (due to the unfettered expression of her feminine archetypes.) McDonald, in an interview given on Jerm Warfare, said:

"Do you think men with masks on make women feel safe? It only shows they have no balls. I’ve spoken with female police officers who see men in camouflage, tattooed, driving around in trucks with gun racks - wearing masks. They tell me, ‘this does not make me feel safe. This makes me afraid. If they are this scared of a virus, how will they react to a real threat - what’s going to happen when the bear comes out of the woods? What’s going to happen when a rapist tries to attack me? What’s going to happen when my children are going to be kidnapped by the man in the park, what are they going to do? With their mask on are they going to say, “Please stop. Please. Please.” They’re not going to put their lives on the line. They won’t even put their mouth on the line.’”

Harsh words, my brothers. Harsh words, but I think quite on the money. Is this the only thing that is driving the collapse we are seeing in those that cannot stand up to this current tyranny, and say “Enough is enough, step back!” No, of course not, but, in my opinion, it is a large part of the problem.

Our culture, at least in the West, has been set up for this to happen. We have become more and more dependent on government taking care of us, thus losing our own personal drive to develop character and strength. We depend on government and authority to think for us, and tell us what is best for us to, in a word, parent us. We comply, we stay children, and we ultimately suffer.

The brave hold onto what makes them free and are willing to fight for it. Freedom is a God given right, not one bestowed upon us by any other authority. The healthy masculine archetypes of warrior and king have at their side the symbolic sword representing their power over adversity and danger.

There is a time for the warrior to pull the sword from its scabbard just a few inches to allow the sun to glint off of its polished surface, flashing in the eyes of a potential enemy, letting them know who they are dealing with. And then there is the time to pull the sword completely free from its confines and slash what is seriously threatening the warrior and those he loves. Now is the time to fight."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

o

"Permanent Adolescence:

The Epidemic That Will Destroy America"

Dan, I Allegedly, "Don’t Ever Do This - Huge Financial Mistakes"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 9/9/24

"Don’t Ever Do This - Huge Financial Mistakes"

"I'm spilling the beans on auto pawn scams you MUST avoid. Ever considered a car title loan? Think again! With sky-high interest rates and relentless lenders ready to swoop in when you're one day late, these loans can wreak havoc on your finances. Don't fall for this trap - it's a cycle of desperation and chaos you don't want to be part of. Beyond auto pawn, I'll unravel the truth about solar leases and excessive car lease miles - two more traps that could leave you in financial ruins."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"When people pile up debts they will find difficult and perhaps even impossible to repay, they are saying several things at once. They are obviously saying that they want more than they can immediately afford. They are saying, less obviously, that their present wants are so important that, to satisfy them, it is worth some future difficulty. But in making that bargain they are implying that when the future difficulty arrives, they'll figure it out. They don't always do that."

- Michael Lewis, "Boomerang"

"How It Really Is"

 

"Shortly..."

"Shortly, the public will be unable to reason or think 

for themselves. They'll only be able to parrot the information

 they've been given on the previous night's news." 

- Zbigniew Brzezinski 

Just a guess, but it appears "shortly" has arrived...

"To Humbly Submit"

"To Humbly Submit"

by Jeff Thomas

"Submission to the state is a time-honored tradition, a concept supported by governing bodies since time immemorial. In days of yore, men submitted to whichever member of the tribe was the mightiest in battle. By doing so, they stood a better chance of succeeding in battle, thereby diminishing the likelihood of their own death or enslavement.

Later on, as tribes became more tied to the land and communities sprang up, the idea of a strong leader still made sense. Not only might he do the best job of leading the protection of the town or village, he might also travel outside the community to attack other communities, bringing back spoils for all to benefit from. (Not too civilized, maybe, but still, the reasoning behind submission to the leader made sense.)

Later, settlements grew larger and, increasingly, many villages and towns would find themselves joined together collectively, under a national banner, with a single army to protect them. And, again, the leader would most likely be a fierce and formidable warrior. But a significant change was taking place. Whilst the warrior leader was away (sometimes for years), invading other communities, it was necessary to have leadership at home – administrative leadership. Predictably, this leadership also sought the loyalty and submission of the people.

There was a new wrinkle at this juncture as the administrative leadership did not have to prove itself repeatedly in battle to gain submission. It was expected merely due to the fact that the leaders held power over the people. The expectation of loyalty and submission to a government simply because it is the government is an unnatural and invalid one. Today, most leaders are primarily political rather than military, and even those who wear a military uniform almost never take part in actual battle, let alone lead the charge. For this reason, the original reason for loyalty and submission should be outmoded.

Why, then, does it persist? Well, in fact, it generally persists as long as there is prosperity and a people are prepared to tolerate dominance. However, should prosperity diminish dramatically, obeisance tends to diminish accordingly. At some point, the leaders conclude that they may be losing the submission of the people and need to reinforce it. This is done by one of two methods and, on occasion, both at the same time.

The first is force. An increased police state can create a greater assurance of submission through fear of those in uniform.

The second is inspiration. A condition of warfare often succeeds as a method of inspiring people to give up some of their rights and fall in behind a leader. Although, in the modern world, we never see a national leader actually suiting up for battle, the mere fact that he’s in charge of the fight from a safe distance often works to inspire people to be more submissive to an administrative government.

Following the English Revolution of 1688, we Britons found that our political leaders made the decision for us as to what our relationship should be to our new leaders at the time. They declared to the new joint monarchs, William and Mary, "We do most humbly and faithfully submit ourselves, our heirs and posterities, forever."

Quite a mouthful. It certainly left no doubt as to the intent of Parliament – that the people of England were never again to question their rulers and, further, that regardless of any possible changes in policies, laws, and edicts by future kings, the people swore submission... permanently.

This did not sit well with all Englishmen – not surprisingly since they hadn’t been asked whether they wished to make such a declaration of submission. In 1774, an Englishman named Thomas Paine (on the advice of his American friend Benjamin Franklin) immigrated to the Pennsylvania colony and began writing pamphlets that dealt directly with the concept of "unquestioned loyalty and submission", a concept with which he heartedly disagreed. Perhaps he stated it best in his book, "The Rights of Man," first published in 1791: "Submission is wholly a vassalage term, repugnant to the dignity of freedom."

Mister Paine’s pamphleteering in the late eighteenth century did not actually create the consciousness that brought on the American Revolution, but his phrasings did provide focus for the colonists in stating their grievances against King and Parliament.

Although Mister Paine’s pamphlets served as guidebooks to liberty and his input contributed to the framing of the US Constitution, he’s not remembered today as one of the seven founders of the United States. But one of those who is recognized today as a founder, Thomas Jefferson, took a very similar view to that of Thomas Paine: "When the Government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."

Both men believed that it was (and is) essential to assure that any government be reminded continually that it exists to represent the people who pay for its existence. They each echoed a view taken 2,100 years earlier by Aristotle, who commented, "Government should govern for the good of the people, not for the good of those in power."

Although these words were not quoted in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, Aristotle’s principles were well-known to all of the Founding Fathers and were frequently the basis of clauses written in each of the US’s founding documents.

Another quote from Jefferson suggests that it’s entirely predictable that any government is likely to continually work toward increasing its own power over a people. That being the case, from time to time, any government needs to be slapped down and reminded that its task is to serve the people, not to subjugate them: "Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government."

Here’s a final thought to consider: The concept of government is that the people grant to a small group of individuals the ability to establish and maintain controls over them. The inherent flaw in such a concept is that any government will invariably and continually expand upon its controls, resulting in the ever-diminishing freedom of those who granted them the power.

In reviewing all of the above, it should be clear that it’s the nature of all governments to seek to increase their power over those that they are sworn to represent. It should also be understood that they will not give up this power willingly. At some point, they become successful enough in establishing submission that the populace must either toss out the people in the government, toss out the governmental system, or take exit from the system. The last of these may be chosen in order to more peacefully regain liberty.

Each of these possible choices requires dramatic change, although the last of these entails less upheaval or danger to the individual. The alternative to making such a choice, and the one that the great majority of people in any culture, in any era, choose, is to humbly accept submission. Only a very small minority will actually take positive action to attain freedom over tyranny."

- https://internationalman.com/

Freely download "The Rights Of Man", by Thomas Paine, here:

- https://archive.org/details/PaineRightsOfMan

"United Against Existence"

"United Against Existence"

by Robert Gore

"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."

- J.R.R. Tolkien, "Lord of the Rings"

"Middle Earth had its Mount Doom, into which the One Ring of Power could be tossed, ridding that evil from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional setting. Real Earth is not so fortunate, but in all other aspects the lessons drawn from his classic apply. It only comes up short in one respect. Tolkien never delved into the psychology of Sauron, Saruman, and the lessor denizens of Middle Earth who lusted after the One Ring’s power, other than to depict the inevitable corruption of the soul their lust produced.

There are two conclusions uncorrupted souls have difficulty accepting, although both experience and logic point uncompromisingly towards them. The first is that those in power and those who lust for it want power for power’s sake, ultimately to destroy and kill. The second is that they want to destroy and kill because they want to destroy existence and kill themselves. We owe the first conclusion to Orwell, the second to Rand. (For a fuller explanation see “The Last Gasp,” Robert Gore, SLL, March 24, 2020.)

This article assumes both conclusions are well-founded and that the second in particular is the key to understanding where the world is now and where it’s going. They offer a realistic assessment of the chances for nuclear Armageddon.

It is no coincidence that the twentieth century witnessed history’s most totalitarian regimes and its bloodiest wars and genocides. By all indications the twenty-first century will extend the connected trends. Power goes hand-in-hand with destruction and death. Governments are based on their capacity to inflict violence; what else can they produce? Rejecting lofty rhetoric and revolutionary rationales, Orwell wrote that: "Power is not a means; it is an end." The twentieth century demonstrated that power is a means to inflict incalculable destruction and death. Know them by their fruits - those are the true ends of those who seek and hold power.

The travesty offers a refresher course we don’t really need: from world leaders down to petty politicians and functionaries, they want to kill us. Those who aren’t killed are to be frightened into compliance with their ghastly and tyrannical edicts, herded like cattle into some other slaughterhouse.

The gelatinous souls who move whatever direction the bowl tilts usually don’t recognize what’s happening until the moment of their execution. Beforehand, a few of the more intellectually adept will argue that the powerful will be limited by their instinct for self-preservation - if they kill too many they’ll end up killing themselves. Perhaps that thought offers comfort, however scant.

But what if the powerful are like those mass shooters whose terror ends only when they turn their guns on themselves? What if mass murder is the means to their desired end: suicide? Someone who kills himself but no one else is to be pitied. Someone who kills innocents before taking his own life perpetrates paramount evil.

"...Now he knew that he had wanted Galt’s destruction at the price of his own destruction to follow, he knew that he had never wanted to survive, he knew that it was Galt’s greatness he had wanted to torture and destroy - he was seeing it as greatness by his own admission, greatness by the only standard that existed, whether anyone chose to admit it or not: the greatness of a man who was master of reality in a manner no other had equaled. In the moment when he, James Taggart, had found himself facing the ultimatum: to accept reality or die, it was death his emotions had chosen, death rather than surrender to that realm of which Galt was so radiant a son. In the person of Galt - he knew - he had sought the destruction of all existence."

- Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged," 1957

Rand pinpointed the core motivation of those who seek power, whose lives are defined by those they subjugate. Regardless of their differing aims, professed justifications, and ideological platforms, the powerful are united against existence. Spoken or unspoken, acknowledged or unacknowledged, they are united by the ultimate evil: to slaughter innocents before their own lives are inevitably extinguished. That puts the prospect of global nuclear war in a whole new light.

How would it play out? Credit Putin and Xi with more intelligence than the cast of cretins running the American empire. It’s a low bar. But are they any less power-driven, any less evil? Russia’s oligarchy and China’s totalitarian dictatorship are, like the U.S. government, organized crime. Angels don’t get to the top of such syndicates, and these two non-angels have set themselves up as rulers for life. Putin’s and Xi’s intelligence are matched by their ruthlessness, which may surpass that of their Western counterparts.

Say the brain trust that masterminded the Nordstream sabotage decides that a low-yield, false-flag nuclear or dirty bomb detonation in Ukraine would accomplish important objectives. They could blame it on Russia, shoring up empire support for the Ukrainians sagging war effort. It would be the perfect excuse to cancel the elections the Democrats are set to lose and perhaps institute martial law. Russia might respond in kind, and the brain trust’s giddy hopes for global nuclear war would be realized. Obvious insanity for most of us, a feature not a bug for the suicidally inclined.

Once the bomb detonated, Putin and Xi would know the U.S. was behind it. They may even know beforehand. Russia has accused Ukraine of planning to detonate a dirty bomb, and the Chinese government has reportedly told Chinese citizens in Ukraine to leave the country. The comfortably numb assumption U.S. defense policy rests upon is that their responses will be proportional to the provocation out of respect for the planet-destroying potential of the U.S. nuclear triad.

What if they’re not? What if Russia and China respond with everything they’ve got, hypersonic missiles - to which the empire has no defense - taking out major cities, infrastructure, industry, and communications and computer networks? And what if the empire’s nuclear response capability has been surreptitiously crippled or eliminated by Russian and Chinese hacking and sabotage? They’re pretty good at that sort of thing.

Here is an urgent plea to anyone within the empire’s power structure who can short-circuit the false flag: check your assumptions. That false flag might not lead to the desired global holocaust, but rather to a Russia and Chinese victory! In either instance you’ll probably be dead, but you can’t take the chance that the Russians and Chinese might win. That would be simply intolerable. Stop the false flag!

A Putin and Xi victory would leave the U.S. as a nuclear wasteland and those two as the world’s rulers - not unipolarity or multipolarity but bipolarity. Of course there’s only one Ring; sharing absolute power sounds like a contradiction in terms. Regardless, a radioactive U.S. and its miserable survivors would be at the very bottom of the pecking order in a world run by one or two totalitarian dictators.

However, the radioactivity from any nuclear attack capable of decimating the U.S. wouldn’t stay confined to the U.S. Russian and Chinese hacking and sabotage may not prevent every U.S. bomb from landing in those countries. Theirs would be the Pyrrhic victory to end all Pyrrhic victories if fallout extinguished everyone. Assuming the powerful - American, European, Russian, Chinese and globalist - are indeed murderously suicidal, united against existence, that outcome is not just a nontrivial possibility; it’s more likely than not.

In which case only God can save humanity. Let us hope in his justice, compassion, and wisdom he gives our species, woefully deficient in all three, one more chance."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"You’ve Been Robbed"

"You’ve Been Robbed"

by Paul Rosenberg

"You work long, hard days, but you never have enough to be secure. Your husband or wife probably works too, and yet you still never get ahead. Now think about this: Your great-grandparents worked hard, and they did get ahead. You work just as hard, but you don’t make the same progress.

Was great-grandpa really that much better than you? Not likely. So, how was it that he could get ahead on one income, but you can’t? Take a good look at this graph:

The top line shows how many years of living expenses your great-grandfather would have accumulated as a hard-working young man. The bottom line shows what you can save. After working for five years, great-gramps had seven years of living expenses in the bank. Doing the same things, you’d have less than two.

The graph was generated as follows: $725 per year is the income in about 1903, based upon discussions with hard-working men who lived through the time. A figure of $325 per year for living expenses is taken from a New York Times article, dated September 29, 1907. Assets were presumed to appreciate at 10% per year. For 2008 {the year the graph was generated} the annual income was $45,000 and monthly expenses were $2,000. This young man pays 30% income taxes and investment return is calculated at a reduced rate of 8.5% because of taxes upon interest. The young man of 1905 is investing $400/year after living expenses of $325. His modern descendant is investing $7500/year after living expenses of $24,000.

When great-gramps worked hard, he kept the money. There was no income tax and no sales tax. (The government survived anyway.) There was no Social Security tax either, and the streets weren’t full of starving old people. Families were able to take care of their own. In your great-grandparents’ day, it was very common for mechanics, carpenters, and shop-owners to make private business loans. Now you shuffle into banks with piles of the most personal documents and beg for loans. (As the banks create your loan money with a keystroke.)

You’ve Not Only Been Robbed, You’ve Been Demoralized: Why did this happen? Because Westerners accepted a lie: that they were bad people. Think this through: Your money is taken from you before it can accumulate (“payroll deductions”), leaving you with barely enough to live a reasonable life. You have nothing left to help those who suffer unjustly – not because you don’t work, but because your surplus is skimmed away to Capital City. Then, those same politicians have the audacity to call you a bad person for not wanting to help the poor. They make it almost impossible for you to give, then insult you for it.

Your great-grandparents were proud to help their friends and neighbors. They felt good about themselves and were proud to make the world a better place. Being robbed of this heritage is the worst crime of all.

So…? This is the point where people ask, “What do we do about this?” And the answer is simple: Stop playing their game! The system is rigged and the abusers make the rules. More or less everything big is in on the game. People have been trying to reform this thing for a long time, and have accomplished next to nothing. The only sensible choice is to withdraw from the game and to start building something better."

- https://freemansperspective.com/

Paul, I totally agree with your analysis and opinions here, and absolutely agree when you say, "The only sensible choice is to withdraw from the game and to start building something better," as the only rational, logical solution, but... How? Where? Not quite so simple after all... - CP