"Mamdani Land"

"Mamdani Land"

by Joel Bowman

"In The Big Rock Candy Mountains

There's a land that's fair and bright,

Where the handouts grow on bushes

And you sleep out every night."

~ "The Big Rock Candy Mountain",

 by Harry McClintock (1928)

Stavanger, Norway - "Don’t look now, gentle reader, but “democratic socialism” may be coming to a city near you. From the The Guardian..."Mamdani says leftwing populist victory can be replicated across US. Zohran Mamdani, in his first major interview since his upset victory in the Democratic party’s mayoral primary in New York shook up US politics, said his brand of campaigning and leftist political stances can translate to anywhere in the US.

Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, stunned many observers by beating Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday night, delivering a devastating blow to the former New York governor who ran a centrist campaign backed by most of the party establishment. Mamdani told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki that his populist campaign – which focused on inequality and promised radical moves on rent, the price of food and free public transport – could be deployed anywhere in the US as Democrats seek to combat Donald Trump and his Maga movement."

We won’t spoil the ending for those who didn’t catch the Collectivist Utopia production when it played out across the world stage throughout most of the 20th Century. Needless to say, there are plenty of... ahem... “plot twists” along the way. But what is “democratic socialism,” really? And how does it differ from social democracy... or bad ol’ regular socialism?

Theft by Any Other Name: Essentially, democratic socialism is same-old, same-old socialism... except it bets (in Mamdani’s case correctly) that people will be soft-headed enough to actually vote for it. That is, those who promise a kind of repackaged workers’ paradise openly seek highly regulated markets, massive government intervention through things like price controls, and even collective ownership of the means of production, as in “community owned” grocery stores.

Whether it’s through rent controls... “soak the rich” taxation and vote-buying handouts for the masses... or populist claims like “billionaires should not exist”... the story is as old as the politics of envy itself. It also renders H.L. Mencken’s old line in ever higher relief: “Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”

Conspicuously generous with other people’s money, Mamdani’s platform focused on the hoary tropes and gimmicks that have so reliably failed elsewhere, all of which are predicated on the fatal conceit that The State can possibly understand the inner lives of individual citizens... and should therefore act to order and coordinate their existence in every conceivable way, like some grand puppeteer. All for their own benefit, of course.

We plan on visiting the Big Apple toward the end of our summer travels and will let you know our thoughts from the ground in future Notes...But for now, a quick geography quiz for you. See if you can name this place, which we’ll codename Mamdani Land…

Mamdani Land: The country has a small, homogenous population, something in the order of 5 million people. Most of the citizens share similar religious and cultural views, which helps with what reductive sociologists sometimes call “cohesion.”

The government runs a state-funded, universal healthcare system, which provides free care to all nationals (plus a generous public insurance plan to help alleviate healthcare costs for expatriates working inside the country). The state also spends considerable sums building and maintaining public hospitals and employing plenty of doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals to serve all citizens.

Free public education is also high on the list of priorities, thus the state sets, and is primarily responsible for, guiding future generations through a national curriculum. All levels of education – from kindergarten to university – are completely free for students and parents alike. The country enjoys one of the highest literacy rates in its region. In addition, the state provides mothers with paid maternity leave and all citizens with unemployment insurance and disability benefits, should they find themselves unfit to work.

The government also invests heavily in national infrastructure, including an extensive public transport system. Naturally, there is a state-owned airline (the largest in the country) and state owned seaports and airports. The country has the strongest currency in the world and one of the highest per capita incomes. Oh, and the state also maintains one of the richest sovereign wealth funds on the planet, which it manages on behalf of its citizens, to guarantee retirement pensions for all.

Any guesses? Have we not imagined a kind of socialist utopia, the likes of which Mr. Mamdani and his comrades in arms, AOC and Colonel Bernie Sanders et al., could only dream?

As mentioned before in these Notes, the so-called “Nordic model” is the go-to example for these misty-eyed do-gooders, who insist that we could all be as happy, healthy and good looking as our viking cousins... if only we were to adopt a more generous approach to social welfare benefits. And yet, if you guessed Norway as our mystery country, you would be... wrong.

Non Causa, Pro Causa: While all the rest of the clues hold true, the Norwegian krone is nowhere near the top of the fiat power table. In fact, it has fallen by half against the USD since its high in 2008. (Back then, one greenback bought you roughly five of the king’s krones. Today, it’ll nab you ten.) The proud owner of the strongest currency title, and the correct response to our little pop quiz, is Kuwait. (A single Kuwaiti dinar currently trades for 3.23USD.)

Strange, then, that we seldom hear arguments in favor of adopting a Kuwaiti-style theocratic autocracy in order to achieve the kind of democratic socialist utopia advocated by Mr. Mamdani and his fellow travelers. Why don’t we see college “studies” graduates waving “Anocracy Now!” placards, sporting “Tribal Monarchy Before Profits!” t-shirts and ditching their Che Guevara-style berets for Arabic-style ghutras? Curious, no?

Could it be that these nations have something else in common, aside from generous welfare schemes, that lies at the root of their vast fortunes? Indeed, might they be rich despite their profligate spending habits, rather than because of them? Could their enormous sovereign wealth funds (Kuwait: $1.1 trillion; Norway: $1.75 trillion) have originated from something other than their respective styles of “giveaway government?” Might they have accrued their wealth by multiplying it, rather than by dividing it?

Hmm... what else do these tiny nation states have in common? If only there was a simple, three letter answer, something rhyming with foil... or turmoil... or disembroil. Quick, somebody call Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!

We raise this confounding conundrum because if we don’t know and understand whence riches came - what Adam Smith referred to as the “Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” – it’s highly unlikely we’ll be able to appreciate and safeguard them into the future. Indeed, we may end up killing the golden goose altogether!

The error here lies in something called the non causa (pro causa) fallacy. Or, in plain English, putting the Nordic cart before the Arabian horse. That is to say, universal healthcare and “free” (taxpayer-funded) education and the rest of the redistributive voter bribes are ways of spending money, not generating it. Progressive taxation is a means of redistributing wealth, not producing it. The difference is non-trivial. Countries like Kuwait and Norway are not rich because of their respective governments’ addiction to expensive giveaway programs, whatever one thinks of the merits or alleged compassion of such redistributive policies. They are wealthy despite them.

Down at the other End of the World, meanwhile, president Javier Milei has been busy liberating Argentina’s long-suffering citizens from three-quarters of a century of politicians’ worst laid plans. We’ll have more about the goings on in our adopted home later in the week. Stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World..."

- https://joelbowman.substack.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "The Party's Over - We May Not Survive This"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, AM 7/2/25

"The Party's Over - We May Not Survive This"

"The party's over in the automobile industry as car sales collapse in 2025, and we’re diving into all the reasons why! From a springtime panic buying frenzy to a staggering drop in sales during the second quarter- down by 2.6 million compared to usual numbers - it's clear the industry is facing major challenges. With the average price of a new car hitting $47,800, affordability is a growing issue, and Ford's CEO is raising concerns about the future of EVs. Could this be the end for some major automakers? Let’s break it all down, including how China’s BYD is dominating the EV market and the challenges American companies face in competing."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Bamboozled..."

"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back."

- Carl Sagan

Bill Bonner, "Heart of Fiscal Darkness"

"Heart of Fiscal Darkness"

by Bill Bonner

‘We’re gonna have growth like we’ve never seen before.’

- Donald Trump

Youghal, Ireland - "Growth! Growth! Growth! More jobs! More income! Abundance! Joy, from coast to coast! We know we’re on the road to joy when we see the GDP numbers. They’ll tell us when we are getting what we want - more of everything. The two parties agree about it…and come closer together. With the advent of the new ‘abundance’ doctrine, growth is the Jehovah now worshipped by the Democrats. The Republicans regard it as their Yahweh too - ever since the virgin birth of “supply side economics” in the 1970s.

The news this morning…the Senate has just passed a version of the Big, Beautiful Budget Abomination (BBBA), with the Vice President casting the tie-breaking vote. Reuters: "US Senate passes Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, setting up House battle." This Senate version goes even further into the heart of fiscal darkness than the House version. The numbers are fishy, but it looks like this will add $26 trillion to the nation’s debt by 2035. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ say the Republicans. ‘Growth will make the debt irrelevant.’

Today, we pause to wonder about it. Is ‘growth’ a false god? In preview, what we’ll see is that the feds can produce ‘more’ of just about everything - even more money itself. But what they can’t produce is real growth.

The statistics are misleading…or outright frauds. Falling unemployment is taken as a ‘good’ thing, for example. But it doesn’t mean that people are better off. And it doesn’t tell you whether they are doing anything worth doing, or not. The Soviets had full employment, by forcing people to dig canals - with picks and shovels. The US could have full employment too, perhaps by digging a giant canal between Mexico and the US - thus ‘solving’ two non-problems at once!

The Soviets also showed that they could produce as much ‘growth’ as they wanted simply by raising production quotas. Factory managers took their orders from bureaucrats, not from customers. They were rewarded or punished based on production targets. A factory manager might get a pat on the back depending on the the nails he turned out, measured in pounds. Easiest for him might be to produce huge, heavy spikes, which no one wanted. Then, the Gosplan geniuses could change the compensation arrangement to give bonuses based on the number of nails, rather than the weight of them. Managers could then switch to turning out millions of tiny tacks…which, again, no one wanted.

This is the core problem with all government projects. We only know if things are worth doing when and if people - of their own free will and with their own real money - pay for them. Otherwise, the transaction is likely to be a scam or a mistake.

Ultimately, citizens pay for all of the feds’ bamboozles. But the signal from voters to federal spenders passes through so many lobbyists, grifters, statistical illusions and big money political donors that it loses its ‘information content.’ And even if the voters approve of the spending program, they are only better off if it produces a real gain. This is the challenge for private industry too. If a hunter expends 2,000 calories catching a rabbit with only 1,500 calories of meat…he is worse off. If he continues with this math, he will die of starvation. Likewise, an enterprise - public or private - that applies $100 worth of time and resources to provide a service worth only $99 has not only lost money…it has made the world $1 poorer.

On the evidence (as well as the theory), it is almost impossible for central planning hacks to keep costs down and produce a real gain for the taxpayers. Even programs that seem to make sense run over budget…and get delayed and distorted. Thanks to the Fed’s fake interest rates…and state and federal regulations, for example, housing prices have roughly doubled in the last ten years, while wages rose only about 50%. This has put the average house out of reach for the average household. Another crisis!

What to do about it? More ‘abundance’…more supply side…more growth…more houses? California’s ‘affordable housing’ initiatives may cost as much as $1 million per unit. That’s growth! But we will all be a little poorer as a result. More to come…"

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "A Death Loop Is In Play, America Is Being Culled"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/2/25

"A Death Loop Is In Play, America Is Being Culled;

 A 'Shadow' System Is Being Created"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Profiting From Genocide: Murder In The Bank"

"Profiting From Genocide:

Murder In The Bank"

by Chris Hedges

"War is a business. So is genocide. The latest report submitted by Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, lists 48 corporations and institutions, including Palantir Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin, Alphabet Inc., Amazon, International Business Machine Corporation (IBM), Caterpillar Inc., Microsoft Corporation and Massachusetts Institue of Technology (MIT), along with banks and financial firms such as Blackrock, insurers, real estate firms and charities, which in violation of international law are making billions from the occupation and the genocide of Palestinians.

The report, which includes a database of over 1,000 corporate entities that collaborate with Israel, demands these firms and institutions sever ties with Israel or be held accountable for complicity in war crimes. It describes “Israel’s “forever-occuption” as “the ideal testing ground for arms manufacturers and Big Tech - providing significant supply and demand, little oversight, and zero accountability - while investors and private and public institutions profit freely.”

The post-Holocaust industrialists’ trials and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission laid the legal framework for recognizing the criminal responsibility of institutions and businesses that participate in international crimes. This new report makes clear that decisions made by the International Court of Justice place an obligation on entities “to not engage and/or to withdraw totally and unconditionally from any associated dealings, and to ensure that any engagement with Palestinians enables their self-determination.”

“The genocide in Gaza has not stopped because it's lucrative, it's profitable for far too many,” Albanese told me. “It's a business. There are corporate entities, including from Palestine-friendly states, who have for decades made businesses and made profits out of the economy of the occupation. Israel has always exploited Palestinian land, resources and Palestinian life. The profits have continued and even increased as the economy of the occupation transformed into an economy of genocide.”

In addition, she said, Palestinians have provided “boundless training fields to test the technologies, test weapons, to test surveillance techniques that now are being used against people everywhere from the Global South to the Global North.”

You can see my interview with Albanese here.

The report lambasts corporations for “providing Israel with the weapons and machinery required to destroy homes, schools, hospitals, places of leisure and worship, livelihoods and productive assets, such as olive groves and orchards.”

The Palestinian territory, the report notes, is a “captive market” because of Israeli-imposed restrictions on trade and investment, tree planting, fishing and water for colonies. Corporations have profiteered from this “captive market” by “exploiting Palestinian labour and resources, degrading and diverting natural resources, building and powering colonies and selling and marketing derived goods and services in Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory and globally.”

“Israel gains from this exploitation, while it costs the Palestinian economy at least 35 per cent of its GDP,” the report notes.

Banks, asset management firms, pension funds and insurers have “channeled finance into the illegal occupation,” the report charges. In addition, “universities — centres of intellectual growth and power — have sustained the political ideology underpinning the colonization of Palestinian land, developed weaponry and overlooked or even endorsed systemic violence, while global research collaborations have obscured Palestinian erasure behind a veil of academic neutrality.”

Surveillance and incarceration technologies have “evolved into tools for indiscriminate targeting of the Palestinian population,” the report notes. “Heavy machinery previously used for house demolitions, infrastructure destruction and resource seizure in the West Bank have been repurposed to obliterate the urban landscape of Gaza, preventing displaced populations from returning and reconstituting as a community.”

The military assault on the Palestinians has also “provided testing grounds for cutting-edge military capabilities: air defense platforms, drones, targeting tools powered by artificial intelligence and even the F-35 programme led by the United States of America. These technologies are then marketed as ‘battle proven.’”

Since 2020, Israel has been the eighth largest arms exporter in the world. Its two biggest weapons companies are Elbit Systems Ltd and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd (IAI). It has a series of international partnerships with foreign weapons firms, including “for the F-35 fighter jet, led by United States-based Lockheed Martin.”

“Components and parts constructed globally contribute to the Israeli F-35 fleet, which Israel customizes and maintains in partnership with Lockheed Martin and domestic companies.” the report reads. Since October 2023, F-35s and F-16s jets have been “integral to equipping Israel with the unprecedented aerial power to drop an estimated 85,000 tons of bombs, much of it unguided, to kill and injure more than 179,411 Palestinians and obliterate Gaza.”

“Drones, hexacopters and quadcopters have also been omnipresent killing machines in the skies of Gaza,” the report reads. “Drones largely developed and supplied by Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries have long flown alongside fighter jets, surveilling Palestinians and delivering target intelligence. In the past two decades, with support from these companies and collaborations with institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, drones used by Israel acquired automated weapons systems and the ability to fly in swarm formation.”

Japan’s FANUC companies sell automation products and “provide robotic machinery for weapons production lines, including for IAI, Elbit Systems and Lockheed Martin.”

“Shipping companies such as the Danish A.P. Moller - Maersk A/S transport components, parts, weapons and raw materials, sustaining a steady flow of United States-supplied military equipment post-October 2023.”

There was a “65 per cent surge in Israeli military spending from 2023 to 2024 – amounting to $46.5 billion, one of the highest per capita worldwide.” This “generated a sharp surge in their annual profits,” while “Foreign arms companies, especially producers of munitions and ordnance, also profit.”

At the same time, tech companies have profited from the genocide by “providing dual-use infrastructure to integrate mass data collection and surveillance, while profiting from the unique testing ground for military technology offered by the occupied Palestinian territory.” They enhance “carceral and surveillance services, from closed-circuit television (CCTV) networks, biometric surveillance, advanced tech checkpoint networks, ‘smart walls’ and drone surveillance, to cloud computing, artificial intelligence and data analytics supporting on-the-ground military personnel.”

“Israeli tech firms often grow out of military infrastructure and strategy,” the report reads, “as the NSO Group, founded by ex-Unit 8200 members, did. Its Pegasus spyware, designed for covert smartphone surveillance, has been used against Palestinian activists and licensed globally to target leaders, journalists and human rights defenders. Exported under the Defense Export Control Law, NSO group surveillance technology enables ‘spyware diplomacy’ while reinforcing State impunity.”

IBM, whose technology facilitated Nazi Germany’s generation and tabulation of punched cards for national census data, military logistics, ghetto statistics, train traffic management and concentration camp capacity, is once again a partner in this current genocide.

It has operated in Israel since 1972. It provides training for Israeli military and intelligence agencies, especially Unit 8200, which is responsible for clandestine operations, the collection of signal intelligence and code decryption, along with counterintelligence, cyberwarfare, military intelligence and surveillance. “Since 2019, IBM Israel has operated and upgraded the central database of the Population and Immigration Authority, enabling collection, storage and governmental use of biometric data on Palestinians, and supporting the discriminatory permit regime of Israel,” the report notes.

Microsoft, active in Israel since 1989, is “embedded in the prison service, police, universities and schools - including in colonies. Microsoft has been integrating its systems and civilian tech across the Israeli military since 2003, while acquiring Israeli cybersecurity and surveillance start-ups.”

“As Israeli apartheid, military and population-control systems generate increasing volumes of data, its reliance on cloud storage and computing has grown,” the report reads. “In 2021, Israel awarded Alphabet Inc. (Google) and Amazon.com, Inc. a $1.2 billion contract (Project Nimbus) - largely funded through Ministry of Defense expenditure - to provide core tech infrastructure.”

Microsoft, Alphabet Inc., and Amazon “grant Israel virtually government-wide access to their cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, enhancing data processing, decision-making and surveillance and analysis capacities.” The Israeli military, the report points out, “has developed artificial intelligence systems such as‘Lavender,’ ‘Gospel’ and ‘Where’s Daddy?’ to process data and generate lists of targets, reshaping modern warfare and illustrating the dual-use nature of artificial intelligence.”

There are “reasonable grounds,” the report reads, to believe that Palantir Technology Inc., which has a long relationship with Israel, “has provided automatic predictive policing technology, core defence infrastructure for rapid and scaled-up construction and deployment of military software, and its Artificial Intelligence Platform, which allows real-time battlefield data integration for automated decision-making.”

Palantir’s CEO in April 2025 responded to accusations that Palantir kills Palestinians in Gaza by saying, “mostly terrorists, that’s true.” “Civilian technologies have long served as dual-use tools of settler-colonial occupation,” the report reads. “Israeli military operations rely heavily on equipment from leading global manufacturers to ‘unground’ Palestinians from their land, demolishing homes, public buildings, farmland, roads and other vital infrastructure. Since October 2023, this machinery has been integral to damaging and destroying 70 per cent of structures and 81 per cent of cropland in Gaza.”

Caterpillar Inc. has for decades provided the Israeli military with equipment used to demolish Palestinian homes, mosques, hospitals as well as “burying alive wounded Palestinians,” and killed activists, such as Rachel Corrie. “Israel has evolved Caterpillar’s D9 bulldozer into automated, remote-commanded core weaponry of the Israeli military, deployed in almost every military activity since 2000, clearing incursion lines, ‘neutralizing’ the territory and killing Palestinians,” the report reads. This year, Caterpillar “secured a further multi-millionaire dollar contract with Israel.”

“The Korean HD Hyundai and its partially-owned subsidiary, Doosan, alongside the Swedish Volvo Group and other major heavy machinery manufacturers, have long been linked to destruction of Palestinian property, each supplying equipment through exclusively licensed Israeli dealers,” the report reads.

“As corporate actors have contributed to the destruction of Palestinian life in the occupied Palestinian territory, they have also helped construction of what replaces it: building colonies and their infrastructure, extracting and trading materials, energy and agricultural products, and bringing visitors to colonies as if to a regular holiday destination. More than 371 colonies and illegal outposts have been built, powered and traded with by companies facilitating the replacement by Israel of the Indigenous population in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the report concludes."

These building projects have used Caterpillar, HD Hyundai and Volvo excavators and heavy equipment. Hanson Israel, a subsidiary of the German Heidelberg Materials AG, “has contributed to the pillage of millions of tons of dolomite rock from the Nahal Raba quarry on land seized from Palestinian villages in the West Bank.” The quarried dolomite is used to construct Jewish colonies in the West Bank.

Foreign firms have also “contributed to developing roads and public transport infrastructure critical to establishing and expanding the colonies, and connecting them to Israel while excluding and segregating Palestinians.”

Global real estate companies sell properties in colonial settlements to Israeli and international buyers. These real estate firms include Keller Williams Realty LLC, which has “had branches based in the colonies” through its Israeli franchisee KW Israel. Last year through another franchisee called Home in Israel, Keller Williams “ran a real estate roadshow in Canada and the United States, jointly sponsored with several companies developing and marketing thousands of apartments in colonies.”

Rental platforms, including Booking.com and Airbnb, list properties and hotel rooms in illegal Jewish colonies in the West Bank. Chinese Bright Dairy & Food is a majority owner of Tnuva, Israel’s largest food conglomerate, which utilizes land seized from Palestinians in the West Bank.

In the energy sector, “Chevron Corporation, in consortium with Israeli NewMedEnergy (a subsidiary of the OHCHR database-listed Delek Group), extracts natural gas from the Leviathan and Tamar fields; it paid the Government of Israel $453 million in royalties and taxes in 2023. Chevron’s consortium supplies more than 70 per cent of Israeli energy consumption. Chevron also profits from its part-ownership of the East Mediterranean Gas pipeline, which passes through Palestinian maritime territory, and from gas export sales to Egypt and Jordan.”

BP and Chevron also serve as “the largest contributors to Israeli imports of crude oil, as major owners of the strategic Azeri Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and the Kazakh Caspian Pipeline Consortium, respectively, and of their associated oil fields. Each conglomerate effectively supplied 8 per cent of Israeli crude oil between October 2023 and July 2024, supplemented by crude oil shipments from Brazilian oil fields, in which Petrobras holds the largest stakes, and military jet fuel. Oil from these companies supplies two refineries in Israel.”

“By supplying Israel with coal, gas, oil and fuel, companies are contributing to civilian infrastructures that Israel uses to entrench permanent annexation and now weaponizes in the destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza,” the report reads. “The same infrastructure that these companies supply resources into has serviced the Israeli military and its energy-intensive tech-driven obliteration of Gaza. ”

International banks and financial firms have also sustained the genocide through the purchase of Israeli treasury bonds. “As the main source of finance for the Israeli State budget, treasury bonds have played a critical role in funding the ongoing assault on Gaza,” the report reads. “From 2022 to 2024, the Israeli military budget grew from 4.2 per cent to 8.3 per cent of GDP, driving the public budget into a 6.8 per cent deficit. Israel funded this ballooning budget by increasing its bond issuance, including $8 billion in March 2024 and $5 billion in February 2025, alongside issuances on its domestic new shekel market.”

The report notes that some of the world’s largest banks, including BNP Paribas and Barclays, “stepped in to boost market confidence by underwriting these international and domestic treasury bonds, allowing Israel to contain the interest rate premium, despite a credit downgrade. Asset management firms - including Blackrock ($68 million), Vanguard ($546 million) and Allianz’s asset management subsidiary PIMCO ($960 million) - were among at least 400 investors from 36 countries who purchased them.”

Faith-based charities have “also become key financial enablers of illegal projects, including in the occupied Palestinian territory, often receiving tax deductions abroad despite strict regulatory charitable frameworks,” the report reads. “The Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) and its over 20 affiliates fund settler expansion and military-linked projects,” the report reads. “Since October 2023, platforms such as Israel Gives have enabled tax-deductible crowdfunding in 32 countries for Israeli military units and settlers. The United States-based Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, Dutch Christians for Israel and global affiliates, sent over $12.25 million in 2023 to various projects that support colonies, including some that train extremist settlers.”

The report criticizes universities that partner with Israeli universities and institutions. It notes that labs at MIT “conduct weapons and surveillance research funded by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.” These projects include “drone swarm control - a distinct feature of the Israeli assault on Gaza since October 2023 - pursuit algorithms, and underwater surveillance.” You can see my interview with the MIT students who exposed the collaboration between the university Israeli military here.

Genocide requires a vast network and billions of dollars to sustain it. Israel could not carry out its mass slaughter of the Palestinians without this ecosystem. These entities, which profit from industrial violence against the Palestinians and mass displacement, are as guilty of genocide as the Israeli militray units decimating the people in Gaza. They too are war criminals, They too must be held accountable."

- https://chrishedges.substack.com/

Gerald Celente, "U.S./NATO Politicians: War Is A Profitable Racket! Peace Is A Dirty Crime!"

Strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, 7/1/25

"U.S./NATO Politicians: War Is A Profitable Racket!

Peace Is A Dirty Crime!"

"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."

- https://trendsjournal.com

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "Warning! Debt Is About To Explode! 'Big Beautiful Bill'"

Jeremiah Babe, 7/1/25

"Warning! Debt Is About To Explode! 'Big Beautiful Bill'"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: "Beautiful Relaxing Music - Calming Piano & Guitar Music"

Full screen recommended.

"Beautiful Relaxing Music - Calming Piano & Guitar Music"

"Beautiful relaxing music by Soothing Relaxation. Enjoy calming piano and

 guitar music composed by Peder B. Helland, set to stunning nature videos."

- https://soothingrelaxation.lnk.to/listenYL

"A Look to the Heavens"

“NGC 253 is not only one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, it is also one of the dustiest. Discovered in 1783 by Caroline Herschel in the constellation of Sculptor, NGC 253 lies only about ten million light-years distant.

NGC 253 is the largest member of the Sculptor Group of Galaxies, the nearest group to our own Local Group of Galaxies. The dense dark dust accompanies a high star formation rate, giving NGC 253 the designation of starburst galaxy. Visible in the above photograph is the active central nucleus, also known to be a bright source of X-rays and gamma rays.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111220.html

"All We Really Need..."

"Causes do matter. And the world is changed by people who care deeply about causes,about things that matter. We don't have to be particularly smart or talented. We don't need a lot of money or education. All we really need is to be passionate about something important; something bigger than ourselves. And it's that commitment to a worthwhile cause that changes the world."

- Steve Goodier

"Find the things that matter, and hold on to them,

and fight for them, and refuse to let them go."

- Lauren Oliver

"As Humans..."

“It is easy to overlook this thought that life just is. As humans we are inclined to feel that life must have a point. We have plans and aspirations and desires. We want to take constant advantage of the intoxicating existence we’ve been endowed with. But what’s life to a lichen? Yet its impulse to exist, to be, is every bit as strong as ours - arguably even stronger. If I were told that I had to spend decades being a furry growth on a rock in the woods, I believe I would lose the will to go on. Lichens don’t. Like virtually all living things, they will suffer any hardship, endure any insult, for a moment’s additional existence. Life, in short just wants to be.”

- Bill Bryson

The Daily "Near You?"

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: Langston Hughes, "Mother To Son"

"Mother To Son"

"Well, son, I'll tell you:

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

It's had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor -

Bare.

But all the time

I'se been a-climbin' on,

And reachin' landin's,

And turnin' corners,

And sometimes goin' in the dark

Where there ain't been no light.

So, boy, don't you turn back.

Don't you set down on the steps

'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.

Don't you fall now - 

For I'se still goin', honey,

I'se still climbin',

And life for me ain't been no crystal stair."

- Langston Hughes

o

"You've seed how things goes in the world o' men. You've knowed men to be low-down and mean. You've seed ol' Death at his tricks... Ever' man wants life to be a fine thing, and a easy. 'Tis fine, boy, powerful fine, but 'tain't easy. Life knocks a man down and he gits up and it knocks him down agin. I've been uneasy all my life... I've wanted life to be easy for you. Easier'n 'twas for me. A man's heart aches, seein' his young uns face the world. Knowin' they got to get their guts tore out, the way his was tore. I wanted to spare you, long as I could. I wanted you to frolic with your yearlin'. I knowed the lonesomeness he eased for you. But ever' man's lonesome. What's he to do then? What's he to do when he gits knocked down? Why, take it for his share and go on.”

- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

"When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' 

I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'"

- Sydney J. Harris

"The Worst Part..."

"People cry not because they are weak.

It's because they've been strong for too long."

 - Johnny Depp

"Breaking News! The Big Beautiful Bill Just Passed - What It Means for You"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 7/1/25

"Breaking News! The Big Beautiful Bill Just Passed

 - What It Means for You"

"The Senate just passed a 900-page bill, and I’m breaking down the 12 shocking changes you need to know! From tax cuts and overtime exemptions to major spending on border security and AI regulations, this bill has massive implications for every American. Whether it's no taxes on tips, new Medicaid work requirements, or tax credits for buying American-made cars, there’s something in this for everyone to consider. And yes, it’s coming with a $3 trillion price tag - so let me know your thoughts!"

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o

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 7/1/25

"Summer of Economic Hell - What You Need to Know"

"Get ready for the "Summer of Economic Hell"! In this video, I break down the critical issues facing us this season - rising inflation, volatile oil prices, AI replacing jobs, and the impact of tariffs and trade uncertainty. From the fallout of economic policies to the skyrocketing costs of living, we’re diving into what this all means for your wallet. Plus, I share real-life stories, insights on the debt ceiling drama, and how AI is reshaping industries like banking. Join the conversation as we explore these pressing topics and what they mean for the future. Don’t miss my thoughts on the state of California’s business exodus, the wild increases in home repair costs, and why Walmart is rethinking self-checkouts. Curious about gold and silver? I’ll explain why now could be the perfect time to consider precious metals as a safe haven."

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"A Much Needed And Totally Different Escape-From-The-Bad-News Interlude"

Full screen recommended.

Jive Bunny And The MasterMixers,

 "Swing The Mood"

We now return to our regular programming, already in progress...

"How It Really Is"

 

For those few who still even have a job...

"We're so freakin' doomed!" - The Mogambo Guru

"I've Learned..."

 

"Everyone’s Afraid to Speak"

"Everyone’s Afraid to Speak"

by Joshua Stylman

"Someone our family has known forever recently told my sister that they’ve been reading my Substack and that if they wrote the things I write, people would call them crazy. I got a kick out of that - not because it’s untrue, but because it reveals something darker about where we’ve ended up as a society. Most people are terrified of being themselves in public.

My sister’s response made me laugh: “People do call him crazy. He simply doesn’t care.” The funniest part is that I don’t even write the craziest stuff I research - just the stuff I can back up with sources and/or my own personal observations. I always try to stay rooted in logic, reason, and facts, though - I’m clear when I’m speculating and when I’m not.

This same guy has sent me dozens of private messages over the last 4 or 5 years challenging me on stuff I share online. I’ll respond with source material or common sense, and then - crickets. He disappears. If I say something he doesn’t want to hear, he vanishes like a child covering his ears. Over the last few years, I’ve been proven right about most of what we’ve argued about, and he’s been wrong. But it doesn’t matter - he’s got the memory of a gnat and the pattern never changes.

But he’d never make that challenge publicly, never risk being seen engaging with my arguments where others might witness the conversation. This kind of private curiosity paired with public silence is everywhere - people will engage with dangerous ideas in private but never risk being associated with them publicly. It’s part of that reflexive “That can’t be true” mindset that shuts down inquiry before it can even begin. But he’s not alone. We’ve created a culture where wrongthink is policed so aggressively that even successful, powerful people whisper their doubts like they’re confessing crimes.

I was on a hike last year with a very prominent tech VC. He was telling me about his son’s football team - how their practices kept getting disrupted because their usual field on Randall’s Island was now being used to house migrants. He leaned in, almost whispering: “You know, I’m a liberal, but maybe the people complaining about immigration have a point.” Here’s a guy who invests mountains of money into companies that shape the world we live in, and he’s afraid to voice a mild concern about policy in broad daylight. Afraid of his own thoughts.

After I spoke out against vaccine mandates, a coworker told me he totally agreed with my position - but he was angry that I’d said it. When the company didn’t want to take a stand, I told them I would speak as an individual - on my own time, as a private citizen. He was pissed anyway. In fact, he was scolding me about the repercussions to the company. What’s maddening is that this same person had enthusiastically supported the business taking public stands on other, more politically fashionable causes over the years. Apparently, using your corporate voice was noble when it was fashionable. Speaking as a private citizen became dangerous when it wasn’t.

Another person told me that they agreed with me but wished they were “more successful like me” so they could afford to speak out. They had “too much to lose.” The preposterousness of this is staggering. Everyone who spoke out during Covid sacrificed - financially, reputationally, socially. I sacrificed plenty myself.

But I’m no victim. Far from it. Since I was a young man, I’ve never measured achievement by finance or status - my benchmark for being a so-called successful person was owning my own time. Ironically, getting myself canceled was actually a springboard to that. For the first time in my life, I felt I’d achieved time ownership. Whatever I’ve achieved came from being raised by loving parents, working hard, and having the spine to follow convictions rationally. Those attributes, coupled with some great fortune, are the reason for whatever success I’ve had - they’re not the reason I can speak now. Maybe this person should do some inward searching about why they’re not more established. Maybe it’s not about status at all. Maybe it’s about integrity.

This is the adult world we’ve built - one where courage is so rare that people mistake it for privilege, where speaking your mind is seen as a luxury only the privileged can afford, rather than a fundamental requirement for actually becoming established. And this is the world we’re handing to our children.

We Built the Surveillance State for Them: I remember twenty years ago, my best friend’s wife (who’s also a dear friend) was about to hire someone when she decided to check the candidate’s Facebook first. The woman had posted: “Meeting the whores at [company name]” - referring to my friend and her coworkers. My friend immediately withdrew the offer. I remember thinking this was absolutely terrible judgment on the candidate’s part; however, it was dangerous territory we were entering: the notion of living completely in public, where every casual comment becomes permanent evidence.

Now that danger has metastasized into something unrecognizable. We’ve created a world where every stupid thing a fifteen-year-old says gets archived forever. Not just on their own phones, but screenshot and saved by peers who don’t understand they’re building permanent files on each other - even on platforms like Snapchat that promise everything disappears. We’ve eliminated the possibility of a private adolescence - and adolescence is supposed to be private, messy, experimental. It’s the laboratory where you figure out who you are by trying on terrible ideas and throwing them away. But laboratories require the freedom to fail safely. What we’ve built instead is a system where every failed experiment becomes evidence in some future trial.

Think about the dumbest thing you believed at sixteen. The most embarrassing thing you said at thirteen. Now imagine that moment preserved in high definition, timestamped, and searchable. Imagine it surfacing when you’re 35 and running for school board, or just trying to move past who you used to be.

If there was a record of everything I did when I was sixteen, I would have been unemployable. Come to think of it, I’m way older than that now and I’m unemployable anyway - but the truth still stands. My generation might have been the last to fully enjoy an analog existence as children. We got to be stupid privately, to experiment with ideas without permanent consequences, to grow up without every mistake being archived for future use against us.

I remember teachers threatening us with our “permanent record.” We laughed - some mysterious file that would follow us forever? Turns out they were just early. Now we’ve built those records and handed the recording devices to children. Companies like Palantir have turned this surveillance into a sophisticated business model.

We’re asking children to have adult judgment about consequences they can’t possibly understand. A thirteen-year-old posting something stupid isn’t thinking about college applications or future careers. They’re thinking about right now, today, this moment - which is exactly how thirteen-year-olds are supposed to think. But we’ve built systems that treat childhood immaturity as a prosecutable offense.

The psychological toll is staggering. Imagine being fourteen and knowing that anything you say might be used against you by people you haven’t met yet, for reasons you can’t anticipate, at some unknown point in the future. That’s not adolescence - that’s a police state built out of smartphones and social media.

The result is a generation that’s either paralyzed by self-consciousness or completely reckless because they figure they’re already screwed. Some retreat into careful blandness, crafting personas so sanitized they might as well be corporate spokespeople for their own lives. Others go scorched earth - if everything’s recorded anyway, why hold back? As my friend Mark likes to say, there’s Andrew Tate and then there’s a bunch of incels - meaning the young men either become performatively brash and ridiculous, or they retreat entirely. The young women seem to either drift toward fearful conformity or embrace monetized exposure on platforms like OnlyFans. We’ve managed to channel an entire generation’s rebellion into the very systems designed to exploit them.

The Covid Conformity Test: This is how totalitarian thinking takes root - not through jackbooted thugs, but through a million small acts of self-censorship. When a venture capitalist whispers his concerns about immigration policy like he’s confessing to a thought crime. When successful professionals agree with dissenting views privately but would never defend them publicly. When speaking obvious truths becomes an act of courage rather than basic citizenship.

George Orwell understood this perfectly. In "1984," the Party’s greatest achievement wasn’t forcing people to say things they didn’t believe - it was making them afraid to believe things they weren’t supposed to say. “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake,” O’Brien explains to Winston. “We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power.” But the real genius was making citizens complicit in their own oppression, turning everyone into both prisoner and guard.

History shows us how this works in practice. The Stasi in East Germany didn’t just rely on secret police - they turned ordinary citizens into informants. By some estimates, one in seven East Germans was reporting on their neighbors, friends, even family members. The state didn’t need to watch everyone; they got people to watch each other. But the Stasi had limitations: they could recruit informants, but they couldn’t monitor everyone simultaneously, and they couldn’t instantly broadcast transgressions to entire communities for real-time judgment.

Social media solved both problems. Now we have total surveillance capability—every comment, photo, like, and share automatically recorded and searchable. We have instant mass distribution - one screenshot reaching thousands in minutes. We have volunteer enforcement - people eagerly participating in calling out “wrongthink” because it feels righteous. And we have permanent records - unlike Stasi files locked in archives, digital mistakes follow you forever.

The psychological impact is exponentially worse because Stasi informants at least had to make a conscious choice to report someone. Now the reporting happens automatically - the infrastructure is always listening, always recording, always ready to be weaponized by anyone with a grudge or a cause.

We saw this machinery in full operation during Covid. Remember how quickly “two weeks to flatten the curve” became orthodoxy? How questioning lockdowns, mask mandates, or vaccine efficacy wasn’t just wrong - it was dangerous? How saying “maybe we should consider the trade-offs of closing schools” could get you labeled a grandma-killer? The speed at which dissent became heresy was breathtaking.

History has shown us that governments can be terrible to citizens. The hardest pill to swallow was the horizontal policing. Your neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family members became the enforcement mechanism. People didn’t just comply; they competed - virtue-signaling their way into a collective delusion where asking basic questions about cost-benefit analysis became evidence of moral deficiency. Neighbors called police on neighbors for having too many people over. People photographed “violations” and posted them online for mass judgment.

And the most insidious part? The people doing the policing genuinely believed they were the good guys. They thought they were protecting society from dangerous misinformation, not realizing they had become the misinformation - that they were actively suppressing the kind of open inquiry that’s supposed to be the foundation of both science and democracy.

The Ministry of Truth didn’t need to rewrite history in real time. Facebook and Twitter did it for them, memory-holing inconvenient posts and banning users who dared to share pre-approved scientific studies that happened to reach unapproved conclusions. The Party didn’t need to control the past - they just needed to control what you were allowed to remember about it.

This wasn’t an accident or an overreaction. This was a stress test of how quickly a free society could be transformed into something unrecognizable, and we failed spectacularly. Anyone who actually followed the science understood that the only pandemic was one of cowardice. Worse, most people didn’t even notice we were being tested. They thought they were just “following the science” - never mind that the data kept changing to match the politics, or that questioning anything had somehow become heretical.

The beautiful thing about this system is that it’s self-sustaining. Once you’ve participated in the mob mentality, once you’ve policed your neighbors and canceled your friends and stayed silent when you should have spoken up, you become invested in maintaining the fiction that you were right all along. Admitting you were wrong isn’t just embarrassing—it’s an admission that you participated in something monstrous. So instead, you double down. You disappear when confronted with inconvenient facts.

Raising Prisoners: And this brings us back to the children. They’re watching all of this. But more than that - they’re growing up inside this surveillance infrastructure from birth. The Stasi’s victims at least had some years of normal psychological development before the surveillance state kicked in. These kids never get that. They’re born into a world where every thought might be public, every mistake permanent, every unpopular opinion potentially life-destroying.

The psychological impact is devastating. Research shows that children who grow up under constant surveillance - even well-meaning parental surveillance - show higher rates of anxiety, depression, and what psychologists call “learned helplessness.” They never develop internal locus of control because they never get to make real choices with real consequences. But this goes far deeper than helicopter parenting.

The ability to hold unpopular opinions, to think through problems independently, to risk being wrong - these aren’t just nice-to-haves. They’re core to psychological maturity. When you eliminate those possibilities, you don’t just get more compliant people; you get people who literally can’t think for themselves anymore. They outsource their judgment to the crowd because they never developed their own.

We’re creating a generation of psychological cripples - people who are practiced at reading social cues and adjusting their thoughts accordingly, but who have never learned to form independent judgments. People who mistake consensus for truth and popularity for virtue. People who have been so thoroughly trained to avoid wrong-think that they’ve either lost - or never developed - the capacity for original thought entirely.

But here’s what’s most disturbing: the kids are learning this behavior from us. They’re watching adults who whisper their real thoughts, who agree privately but stay silent publicly, who confuse strategic silence with wisdom. They’re learning that authenticity is dangerous, that having real convictions is a luxury they can’t afford. They’re learning that truth is negotiable, that principles are disposable, and that the most important skill in life is reading the room and adjusting your thoughts accordingly.

The feedback loop is complete: adults model cowardice, children learn that genuine expression is risky, and everyone becomes practiced at self-censorship rather than self-examination. We’ve created a society where the Overton window isn’t just narrow - it’s actively policed by people who are terrified of stepping outside it, even when they privately disagree with its boundaries.

This is the architecture of soft totalitarianism. Just the constant, gnawing fear that saying the wrong thing - or even thinking it too loudly - will result in social death. The beauty of this system is that it makes everyone complicit. Everyone has something to lose, so everyone stays quiet. Everyone remembers what happened to the last person who spoke up, so nobody wants to be next.

The technology doesn’t just enable this tyranny; it makes it psychologically inevitable. When the infrastructure punishes independent thinking before it can fully form, you get psychological arrested development on a mass scale. It’s already baked into education and employment through DEI and ESG. Wait till it’s baked into the monetary system. Maybe they’re just connecting us to the Borg anyway?

We’re passing this pathology down to our children like a genetic disorder. Except this disorder isn’t inherited - it’s enforced. And unlike genetic disorders, this one serves a purpose: it creates a population that’s easy to control, easy to manipulate, easy to lead around by the nose as long as you control the social rewards and punishments.

The Price of Truth

I don’t share my opinions because I “get away with it” - I don’t get away with anything. I’ve paid socially, professionally, and even financially. But I do it anyway because the alternative is spiritual death. The alternative is becoming someone who messages critics privately but never takes a public stand, someone who’s perpetually annoyed by others’ courage but never exercises their own.

The difference isn’t ability or privilege. It’s willingness. I’m open-minded and open-hearted. I can be convinced of anything - but show me, don’t tell me. I’m willing to be wrong, willing to change my mind when new information comes to light or I gain a different perspective on an idea, willing to defend ideas I believe in even when it’s uncomfortable.

There are a lot of us right now realizing that something isn’t right—that we’ve been lied to about everything. We’re trying to make sense of what we’re seeing, asking uncomfortable questions, connecting dots that don’t want to be connected. When we call that out, the last thing we need is people who haven’t done the work standing in our way, carrying water for the establishment forces that are manipulating them. Most people could do the same thing if they chose to - they just don’t choose to because they’ve been trained to see conviction as dangerous and conformity as safe.

A 2020 Cato Institute survey found that 62% of Americans say the political climate prevents them from sharing their political beliefs because others might find them offensive. Majorities of Democrats (52%), independents (59%), and Republicans (77%) all agree they have political opinions they are afraid to share.

When adults who lived through Covid saw what happens when groupthink becomes gospel - how quickly independent thought gets labeled dangerous, how thoroughly dissent gets suppressed - many responded not by becoming more committed to free expression, but by becoming more careful about what they express. They learned the wrong lesson.

What we’re creating is a society where authenticity has become a radical act, where courage is so rare it looks like privilege. We’re raising children who learn that being yourself is dangerous, that having real opinions carries unlimited downside risk. They’re not just careful about what they say - they’re careful about what they think.

This doesn’t create better people. It creates more fearful people. People who mistake surveillance for safety, conformity for virtue, and silence for wisdom. People who’ve forgotten that the point of having thoughts is sometimes to share them, that the point of having convictions is sometimes to defend them.

The solution isn’t to abandon technology or retreat into digital monasteries. But we need to create spaces - legal, social, psychological - where both kids and adults can fail safely. Where mistakes don’t become permanent tattoos. Where changing your mind is seen as growth rather than hypocrisy. Where having convictions is valued over having clean records.

Most importantly, we need adults who are willing to model courage instead of strategic silence - who understand that the price of speaking up is usually less than the price of staying quiet. In a world where everyone’s afraid to say what they think, the honest voice doesn’t just stand out - it stands up.

Because right now, we’re not just living in fear - we’re teaching our children that fear is the price of participation in society. And a society built on fear isn’t a society at all. It’s just a more comfortable prison, one where the guards are ourselves and the keys are our own convictions, which we’ve learned to keep safely locked away.

Whether it’s experimental medicine or the masters of war lying again to drag us into what might become World War III - it’s PSYOP season - it’s never been more important that people find their conviction, use their voice, and become a force for good. If you’re still scared to push back against war propaganda, still getting swept up in manufactured outrage cycles, still choosing your principles based on which team is in power - then you may have learned absolutely nothing from the last few years.

These days, friends are starting to confide in me that maybe I was right about the mRNA vaccines not working. I don’t gloat - in fact, I appreciate the openness. But my standard reply is that they’re four years late to the story. They’ll know they’ve caught up when they realize the world is run by a bunch of satanic pedophiles. And yeah, I used to think that sounded crazy too."

- https://stylman.substack.com/

Adventures With Danno, "Massive Price Increases at Sam's Club"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 7AM 7/1/25

"Massive Price Increases at Sam's Club"

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