Bill Bonner, "Pain, Pleasure, and Poverty"

"Pain, Pleasure, and Poverty"

by Bill Bonner

Poitou, France - "First the dots. MarketWatch: "Has inflation really slowed? Not according to this new Fed study. A new study by the New York Federal Reserve doesn’t directly weigh in on the hawk-versus-dove debate. But researchers at the bank use a proprietary price measure to try to pinpoint the underlying rate of inflation by stripping out any temporary factors, including the effects of the shutdown and limited data collection. What did New York Fed researchers Martin Almuzara and Geert Mesters find? The rate of inflation in the U.S. stood frozen at 2.83% at the end of 2025 - still well above the Fed’s 2% target."

And here’s Fortune: "$56 trillion national debt leading to a spiraling crisis: Budget watchdog warns the US is walking a crumbling path. The United States is rapidly accelerating toward a definitive tipping point in its financial history, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) wrote in response to the latest 10-year outlook from the Congressional Budget Office. The nonpartisan budget watchdog issued a stark assessment: The current trajectory of borrowing, which is running at double the 50-year historical average, is simply mathematically unsustainable."

And now the connections. The question we posed yesterday was: are we fascists yet? As we will see, this is not just a political issue, but an economic one. Most people would say ‘no;’ we are not fascists. Where are the death squads...the murdered rivals...the gulags...and the disappearances? And, as far as we know, elections this year...and in 2028...will leave the voters in ultimate control...not the ‘Big Man.’ In the absence of a real emergency - war, insurgency, crash, depression - the voters will determine what happens next, for better or for worse. They may not get what they want, but they will certainly get what they deserve...and maybe get it good and hard.

But whiffs of fascism are in the air. Watching a televised cabinet meeting, for example, may make you think we’re already there. Instead of offering new and different opinions, Bondi, Noem, Bessent, Hegseth et al merely praise the Great Helmsman, who...realizing that nothing of substance is being discussed, may be asleep at the wheel.

Other political elements - the growing control of the press...the use of the Department of Justice to hassle opponents...creation of a huge prison system for detaining (possibly forever?) illegal immigrants, with a large federal paramilitary force ready to do the president’s bidding...and a Department of War with a $1.5 trillion budget (more below) - could be moving us towards a more oppressive and dictatorial government.

But on the economic front, the jackboots already strut and swagger in the Capitol building. Recall Charlotte Twight’s description of fascism: ‘Although fascism gives lip service to capitalism, a fascist economy is essentially orchestrated from the top by its political authorities.’

At the top, the feds now wield so much power that businesses almost have no choice. They must get on board (or into bed!) with the politicians. The Department of War alone is going to spend $1.5 trillion according to the Trump plan. Who can resist bending over for that kind of money?

And then, with so many jobs and so much money depending on the firepower industry...who dares stand against it? Certainly not the Senators and Representatives whose voters are employed by it...and who receive campaign financing from it. And not the press, whose owners often depend on federal regulatory approvals. And not even The People themselves, who rely on it not only for their incomes but for a thin shellac of patriotic pride; their boys kick butt all over the planet.

The regime is often vilified as ‘capitalist,’ but capitalists make their decisions in the existing context...which is set by the political authorities. Krupp, I.G. Farben and Lufthansa, just to name a few out of a group that includes plenty of US corporations too, did not cooperate with the Nazis just because they were greedy. They are always greedy. It was the political context that had changed.

In Germany, 1933 to 1945, it was the Nazis who paid the piper and called the tune. In Detroit, Ford set the pace for treating workers well. But at the Ford plant in Cologne, foreign workers were held in camps behind barbed wire. Did Ford executives in Detroit object? We don’t know, but the politicians were in control. Not capitalists.

As Bertrand Russell explained (our commentary yesterday), the allure of power is that you can get ordinary people to do things they don’t want to do. Threats and violence follow; they’re the only ways to get them to do it. And anytime people are forced to do what they don’t want to do, they get more pain…and less pleasure. They get poorer, in other words. Stay tuned..."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

o

"Feeling Pain Is a Prerequisite To Experiencing Pleasure"

Adventures With Danno, "Kroger Sales This Week!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 2/19/26

"Kroger Sales This Week!"

Comments here

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Alastair Crooke: War Closer Than Ever, Iran's Game Changing Retaliation Boxes Trump In"

Full screen recommended.

Danny Haiphong, 2/19/26

"Alastair Crooke: War Closer Than Ever, 

Iran's Game Changing Retaliation Boxes Trump In"

"Former UK Diplomat Alastair Crooke joins the show to discuss bombshell reports indicate the Trump administration is set to go to war with Iran in a matter of weeks if not sooner. Iran has sent a brutal warning shot to Trump about the consequences of this war, and we discuss what this all portends for the region and the world."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"One Minute to Midnight"

"One Minute to Midnight"

by Larry C. Johnson

"Notwithstanding some of the positive words that came out following the talks in Geneva on Tuesday between the United States and Iran, the die is cast. The United States is going to attack Iran in an attempt to create enough social disorder and chaos in Iran that the Shia Muslim clerics will be forced to disband the Islamic Republic. All of the US military pieces for this action are in place or shortly will be. The one wild card is Donald Trump. He has issued the Deployment Order and the US bases in the region have been flooded with the largest contingent of US combat air assets since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

There is a report tonight from the NY Times that : "Senior national security officials have told the president that any operation that aims to change the Iranian leadership is not guaranteed to be a success, the officials said. “Diplomacy may give the U.S. more time to get its military ready, but it also gives Iran more time to plan its retaliation,” said Vali Nasr, an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University. “Ultimately,” he added, “the president has to weigh the cost of attacking Iran. Ironically his approach has made those costs more likely.

It is up to senior US military and intelligence officials to give Trump the hard truth - i.e., a US attack on Iran is unlikely to bring about a regime change, but it will ignite a massive Iranian retaliation that will cause significant US and Israeli casualties, and will likely lead to a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. It is the last possibility that carries a potentially severe economic penalty.

Since February 17, 2026, oil futures’ prices (primarily focusing on the benchmark WTI crude oil futures, as it’s the most commonly referenced for “oil futures” in the US context) have risen significantly. From the Feb 17 close (~$62.30) to current levels (~$65.40 average), that’s an increase of roughly +$3.10 per barrel, or about +5% in just 1–2 trading days. For Brent crude oil futures (global benchmark), prices rose to ~$70.35–$70.56 by Feb 18–19, a similar ~+4.3% gain on the 18th, now hovering near $70.60 (up ~$3.15 or +4.7% overall since Feb 17).

There is another indicator that something bad is afoot. The pizza joints near the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and CENTCOM headquarters at MacDill Air Force base are showing unusual spikes in activity. This fits a pattern observed on the eve of previous US military actions in Venezuela, Iran and Iraq.

Donald Trump is playing with fire. The US military is cocked and loaded. The remaining question is whether Donald Trump will pull the trigger. If he issues the Execute Order I think he will be signing the death warrant for his Presidency. This is no hyperbole. The fate of the world hangs in the balance."

- https://larrycjohnson.substack.com/

"Alert! It's About To Start! Biggest Air Attack In History! Russian Doomsday Plane"

Full screen recommended.

Prepper News, 2/18/26

"Alert! It's About To Start! 

Biggest Air Attack In History! Russian Doomsday Plane"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Iran Will Destroy The Global Economy If War Breaks Out"

Full screen recommended.

Trends Journal, 2/18/26

"Iran Will Destroy The Global Economy If War Breaks Out"

Professor Mohammad Marandi from the University of Tehran speaks to The Trends Journal about the enormous risks of a full-scale war between the U.S. and Iran and explains three key reasons why President Donald Trump has the world on the precipice."

- https://trendsjournal.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Rachel Blevins, 2/18/26

"Russian Air Defense + Chinese Radar 

Ready for US Attach on Iran: This Is WW3"

"Reports say the Trump Admin is planning for a "major war" that will include "weeks-long" operations against Iran, as the U.S. Military rushes dozens of fighter jets and hundreds of flights of weapons to the Middle East.  But Iran is not alone, and it is actively carrying out joint military drills with Russia and China that temporarily shut down a portion of the Strait of Hormuz. Stanislav Krapivnik, a former U.S. Army officer, supply chain exec and military and geopolitical expert, noted that if the U.S. does attack Iran, it will be going up against both Russian air defenses and Chinese radar systems. A reminder that the Trump Admin is massively underestimating its opponents."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Soothing Relaxation, "Stardust: Relaxing Fantasy Music with Beautiful Night Skies"

Full screen recommended.

Soothing Relaxation, "Stardust:

Relaxing Fantasy Music with Beautiful Night Skies"

"I am a composer from Norway and I started this channel with a simple vision: to create a place that you can visit whenever you want to sit down and relax. I compose music that often can be described as sleep music, calm music, yoga music, study music, peaceful music, beautiful music and relaxing music. I love to compose music and I put a lot of work into it.

Thank you very much for listening and for leaving feedback. Every single day I am completely astonished by all your warm support and it really inspires me to work even harder on my music. If you enjoy my work, I would be very happy if you decided to subscribe and join our community. Have a wonderful day or evening!"

Peder B. Helland, composer for Soothing Relaxation

- https://music.youtube.com/channel

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Blown by fast winds from a hot, massive star, this cosmic bubble is huge. Cataloged as Sharpless 2-308 it lies some 5,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Big Dog (Canis Major) and covers slightly more of the sky than a Full Moon. That corresponds to a diameter of 60 light-years at its estimated distance. The massive star that created the bubble, a Wolf-Rayet star, is the bright one near the center of the nebula. Wolf-Rayet stars have over 20 times the mass of the Sun and are thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova phase of massive star evolution.

Fast winds from this Wolf-Rayet star create the bubble-shaped nebula as they sweep up slower moving material from an earlier phase of evolution. The windblown nebula has an age of about 70,000 years. Relatively faint emission captured by narrowband filters in the deep image is dominated by the glow of ionized oxygen atoms mapped to a blue hue. Presenting a mostly harmless outline, SH2-308 is also known as The Dolphin-head Nebula.”

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211021.html

"The Worst Part..."

"People cry not because they are weak.

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

 - Johnny Depp

“Thoughts on Evil, Human Nature”

“Thoughts on Evil, Human Nature”

by W. Christopher Epler

“Carl Sagan, author and astrophysicist from Cornell, used to wonder if atomic weaponry would be the nemesis of most “advanced species”. A flight of fancy of sorts since whales and elephants are certainly advanced species but don’t feel the need for technology (and should we patronize them for this since they aren’t rapidly destroying the planet?). Is it possible that much of science and technology are actually synonyms of self destructive stupidity? A kind of short sighted greed, perhaps.

In any event, what has now totally blocked the evolution of the human species is pure evil. The fringe of astronomically rich sociopaths is the absolute outer limit of evil. Similarly, so do all mentally ill religious fanatics poison the march of human civilization. And, probably most of all, the Earth’s Paris Hiltons and astronomically rich parasites (and vampires – remember, it’s all really OUR wealth), necessitate convoluted social/financial structures and processes which are the “crown of thorns” or highway to hell (or your metaphor of choice) for Homo sapiens. Maybe the wrong species got killed off during the demise of the Neanderthals.

Remember, “human” is a generic word that evolution has experimented with in actually a great many forms – we’re just the form that is still standing. But what’s the problem? Not a candy ass “religious” problem or a candy ass “political” problem but THE problem? Why is our species well on its way to going extinct? Indeed, why is it a near certainly that Home sapiens are going bye bye in the relatively near future (and taking countless “innocent by-stander” species with us in the process)? However, alas, they are just a sample of evil, since evil is as omnipresent as our breath. But what IS evil? Well, we don’t have to get particularly metaphysical about this. Evil is a function of human society. It has to do with the interactions of quantities of us (or probably any advanced life form).

So there’s a decidedly “quantitative” variable here. As our numbers increase, so does the complexity of our social infrastructure. And that seems to be the rub, since invisibly and insidiously the “social game rules” are conditioned into our vulnerable, biological brains. And just here is the door to hell. This dimension can be called “consensus reality” and it’s an admixture of language (always language!), the past, memory (not always our friend), and the miscellaneous conditionings of our time, place, and families (often profoundly dysfunctional). More openly, here are the programmed religions, laws, constitutions, and “theories” we so love to worship. In short, here is the stopping point of our species. Not atomic weapons, but the accumulated programming of years of social/psychological conditioning. The “operational definition” of all of the above is thought, because consensus realty IS thought; hence the thing the human race does best is think itself to death.

On a positive note, words like liberation, transcendence, and Enlightenment are “mystical” (the shoe fits) alternatives to this “swallowed whole” existence. The intelligence limitations of our species are still sublimely unknown, but whatever pragmatic value consensus reality may offer, our lives don’t even BEGIN until we get straight that this fire storm of conditioning that has become the “mind set” of the entire human race (indeed, the very “God” of the human race), is fundamentally, radically, and biologically arbitrary and random. In the context of this piece, what this means is that the social game rules that perpetuate the “Have’s,” that justify their astronomical wealth and power, and that (worst of all!) give an obscene “righteousness” to deranged lunatics who so love to commit genocide for the glory of God, aren’t worth the toilet paper they are printed on.

And exactly here is where our species is probably doomed, since many are called but few are chosen when it comes to being true to your birthright self and finding a reality/creativity/intelligence center that trivializes millennia of evil-perpetuating conditioning. Remember phrases like, “Might makes right”, “Manifest Destiny”, “survival of the fittest” (translation, survival of the wealthiest), and the loathsomely hypocritical “Divine Right”.

Of course these sayings (and even laws) are merely the tip of the iceberg. The dungeon is elsewhere. It is deep within the infrastructure of the collective human mind. Do we know that it is infinitely unjust that the elites spend more money on their wardrobes than most of us spend on our families in an entire lifetime? Do we know it is evil when religious fanatics try to steal an entire country and turn the lives of the people who have been living there for centuries into a WW2 concentration camp?

One response to these questions could be that we’re not sure if these things are evil, but almost certainly the world does know these things are filthy, evil, and infinitely unjust. However, you can know things on the “surface” of your mind that you play games with in the depths of your mind. The tragedy is that the world basically turns the other way from these evils and injustices because in the depths of our conditioning we are historically programmed to accept them. Hence, it is the deep, collective mind set that permits and justifies evil. We know better, but our “unconscious” (to use that word) “accepts” evil because we have been programmed to adapt to it for millennia.

The literally unimaginable suffering that necessarily goes with the existence of Greek God-like elites would make Jesus weep, but we accept The Haves (the evil) – indeed, most of us probably envy them. This is the paradox of evil. If we didn’t “accept” evil, it couldn’t exist! But since literally billions of us DO accept evil, that makes us an evil species.

This is not intellectualizing or empty theory. If the human race said no to “The Beast”, to the “Have’s”, to genocidal religious fanatics, to the Rockefeller’s, to the Rothschild’s, to the Bush’s, to murder in the name of God subhuman filth, to Saudi Princes, etc., etc., we could destroy them in a week. And I mean “non theoretically” destroy them in a week. Remove them from the planet as in cease to exist – now you see them, now you don’t! There are times in life you must be limitlessly aggressive. We can either watch The Beast destroy Mother Nature and our children’s future, or WE can destroy the beast. Remember, we know exactly who they are and we know exactly where they are. So what in the name of truth, beauty, and goodness are we waiting for? Certainly not for the paper bullets of religion and politics. ULTIMATE hardball is the name of this game.

Hence, looked at one way, there is great hope. Looked at another way, it is hopeless. It all comes down to how each of us deals with a lifetime of conditioning. Liberation is transcending the box. The world IS the box. So consensus reality (the home of evil) can be left. This is called being true to ourselves, or perhaps even Enlightenment. However, as a species, the probability that we will leave the box in sufficient percentages to “eliminate” evil is probably very, very small. Fortunately, even though our paralyzed and conditioned species continues to equate life with a moronically defective consensus mind set, each of us is still able to stretch our intelligence/spiritual eagle wings and leave this evil box forever. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: we’re the dogs – never the tails.”

- http://www.sott.net/

o

Freely download “Beyond Good And Evil”, by Friedrich Nietzsche, here:

- https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/Nietzsche-Beyond-Good-and-Evil.pdf

"'Kill Them And Dispose Of Them', We Found The Worst Epstein Files"

Full screen recommended.

Secular Talk, 2/18/26

"'Kill Them And Dispose Of Them', 

We Found The Worst Epstein Files"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"This $2,000 Missile Could Take Down America’s $40 Billion Aircraft Carriers"

Full screen recommended.

Money Over History, 2/18/26

"This $2,000 Missile Could Take Down 

America’s $20 Billion Aircraft Carrier"

"Can a $2,000 hypersonic missile really threaten a $20 billion aircraft carrier? Modern naval warfare is changing fast. The rise of low-cost precision weapons and hypersonic missile technology is forcing even the most advanced navies to rethink their defense strategies. In this video, we break down how asymmetric warfare, advanced missile guidance systems, and evolving naval tactics are reshaping the battlefield. America’s aircraft carriers represent the backbone of U.S. power projection - floating airbases designed to dominate oceans. But with hypersonic missiles traveling at extreme speeds and maneuvering unpredictably, traditional defense systems face new challenges."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Dialogue Works, 2/18/26

"David T. Pyne: How a War With

 Iran Could Trigger Nuclear Armageddon"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Secular Talk, 2/18/26

"Major Breaking: Iran War 'Imminent' 

With 'Tactical Nukes' Used?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Ashburn, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: David Wagoner, "Getting There"

"Getting There"

"You take a final step and, look, suddenly

You're there. You've arrived

At the one place all your drudgery was aimed for:

This common ground

Where you stretch out, pressing your cheek to sandstone.

What did you want to be?

You'll remember soon.

You feel like tinder under a burning glass,

A luminous point of change.

The sky is pulsing against the cracked horizon,

Holding it firm till the arrival of stars

In time with your heartbeats.

Like wind etching rock, you've made a lasting impression

On the self you were,

By having come all this way through all this welter

Under your own power,

Though your traces on a map would make an unpromising

Meandering lifeline.

What have you learned so far? You'll find out later,

Telling it haltingly like a dream,

That lost traveler's dream under the last hill

Where through the night you'll take your time out of mind

To unburden yourself

Of elements along elementary paths

By the break of morning.

You've earned this worn-down, hard, incredible sight

Called Here and Now.

Now, what you make of it means everything,

Means starting over:

The life in your hands is neither here nor there

But getting there,

So you're standing again and breathing, beginning another

Journey without regret

Forever, being your own unpeaceable kingdom,

The end of endings."

~ David Wagoner

'Fools And Knaves..."

“In the mass of mankind, I fear, there is too great a majority of

fools and knaves; who, singly from their number, must to a certain

degree be respected, though they are by no means respectable.”

- Philip Stanhope

“There are more fools than knaves in the world,

else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.”

- Samuel Butler

"The Enemy..."

 

"Protecting Sex Predators: The Sordid Reality of the Global Power Elite"

"Protecting Sex Predators: 

The Sordid Reality of the Global Power Elite"

by John & Nisha Whitehead

“When did pedophilia become a partisan issue? The American people deserve to know the whole truth about Jeffrey Epstein and every single powerful person who enabled him. Every name, every flight log, every cover up, all of it… If there’s one thing we should all be able to agree on Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and progressives - it’s that no one, including the President of the United States, should be able to cover up crimes against children.” - James Talarico (Texas politician, Presbyterian seminarian, and former public school teacher.)

Nearly 30 years after the first complaints were filed, the Epstein files remain a masterclass in how the ruling class shields its own. This is no longer just about one man’s crimes—it is about the machinery of silence that keeps the global elite untouchable. We are long past the point for partisan excuses and institutional gaslighting.

The question is no longer whether Jeffrey Epstein - the hedge fund billionaire/convicted serial pedophile and sex trafficker - committed monstrous crimes against young girls, many of them children. We know he did. What remains unresolved is something far more troubling. We know that Epstein did not act alone.

A decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals allowing thousands of pages of Epstein-related documents to be unsealed referenced allegations involving “numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known Prime Minister, and other world leaders.” That alone should have been enough to trigger full transparency. Instead, nearly 30 years after the first complaints against Epstein were filed, the full truth remains obscured. Why are documents still partially sealed? Why do redactions remain? Why are investigations declared “closed” while unanswered questions linger?

Epstein may have conveniently died in a jail cell six weeks after his arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, but the machinery that empowered and protected him is still very much intact and it continues to work overtime to shield the global power elite, silence victims, and erase accountability. And that is the real scandal. Because this was never simply about Epstein. It was about the system that made Epstein possible.

The Epstein files should have been a moral bright line - an issue so morally reprehensible and widely condemned as to cut through partisan politics. Instead, it has become part of the three-ring circus that is governance in America today. The political noise. The wag-the-dog distractions. The slow-walking of the files’ release. The what-aboutisms. This was never about one president. It was never about one political party. And yet, at this present moment, it is one president and one party that appear to be resisting full transparency.

Donald Trump was at one time socially connected to Epstein. Bill Clinton was, too. Both men were shielded, in different ways and at different times, by a partisan system willing to look the other way when politically convenient. The same voices who denounced Clinton for sexual impropriety often fell silent in the face of Trump’s own history. Likewise, some who defended Clinton had no hesitation in condemning Trump. The principle was never the point. Power was.

And that is why this cannot be dismissed as partisan score-settling. This is not a minor incident involving minor players, nor can it be confined to one political party or one political era. This is about the darkness at the heart of the American police state: a system built to shield the powerful from justice. Epstein did not sidestep accountability because he was clever. He sidestepped accountability because he was protected.

Power protects power. Epstein was aided, abetted and protected by a cross-section of political, corporate and societal classes here in the United States and abroad. He cultivated relationships across politics, finance, academia, entertainment, and global power circles. His social network spanned parties, ideologies, and continents.

Trump’s name alone reportedly appears more than 38,000 times. Numerous top officials connected to the Trump administration have also appeared in the Epstein files, including Elon Musk, Steve Bannon, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. While mere association is not tantamount to guilt, these associations speak volumes about how power operates according to its own rules.

As Rep. Thomas Massie warned Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s effort to slow-walk the release of the Epstein files: “This is bigger than Watergate. This goes over four administrations. You don’t have to go back to Biden. Let’s go back to Obama. Let’s go back to George Bush. This cover-up spans decades, and you are responsible for this portion of it.” If it looks like a cover-up, smells like a cover-up, and appears to benefit the same entrenched interests, we have every right - indeed, a civic and moral duty - to demand greater transparency.

Nothing illustrates how the power elite protects its own more clearly than Epstein’s 2008 plea agreement. Almost two decades ago, when Epstein was first charged with molesting, raping and trafficking underage girls, he was gifted a secret plea deal. According to the Palm Beach Post, that sweetheart deal, arranged by then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, led to 15 more years of abuse by Epstein. The Justice Department estimates that Epstein victimized at least 1,000 women and children. Over 100 survivors of Epstein’s sexual abuse have come forward so far.

Yet the plea deal allowed Epstein to evade federal charges and serve what amounted to a privileged sentence. For the first 13 months, he was allowed to “work” at home six days a week before returning to a private wing of the Palm Beach County jail to sleep. Later, under house arrest, he was allowed to travel extensively, including to his private island. Acosta, the U.S. attorney who enabled that arrangement - which, in turn, shielded Epstein’s associates from federal exposure - was later nominated by Trump and served as his Labor Secretary.

This is how corruption by the power elite flourishes: not through secrecy alone but through get-out-of-jail cards that tacitly sanction immoral, illegal and corrupt bad behavior by the ruling classes. As the Associated Press pointed out, “The arrest of the billionaire financier on child sex trafficking charges is raising questions about how much his high-powered associates knew about the hedge fund manager’s interactions with underage girls, and whether they turned a blind eye to potentially illegal conduct.”

The rot goes deep, and the Epstein case is only the most visible symptom of a much larger disease. For years, the Epstein case has stood as a grotesque emblem of the depravity within the global power elite: a sex trafficking ring operated not only for Epstein’s personal pleasure but also for that of his friends and business associates - billionaires, politicians, and celebrities. According to The Washington Post, “several of the young women…say they were offered to the rich and famous as sex partners at Epstein’s parties.”

Once again, fact and fiction mirror each other. Popular culture has long hinted at what polite society refuses to confront. lmost 30 years ago—three years after the first complaint against Epstein was filed - Stanley Kubrick’s final film "Eyes Wide Shut" provided viewing audiences with a sordid glimpse of an elite sexual underworld insulated from consequence: a secret sex society that indulged the basest urges of its affluent members while preying on vulnerable young women. Kubrick suggested these secret societies flourish because the public chooses not to see what’s right in front of them, content to navigate life in denial about the ugly, obvious truths in our midst. The Epstein case suggests he was not wrong.

Sex slaves. Sex trafficking. Secret societies. Powerful elites. Government corruption. Judicial cover-ups. It is not so different from the real world, where powerful men, insulated from accountability, indulge their base urges.

As The Guardian reports, “By the mid-2000s, Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teen girls was routine. From 2002 to 2005 alone, the late financier victimized ‘dozens’ of underage teens by luring them into sex acts for payment under the auspices of massage work, some as young as 14.”

If Epstein exposed the rot at the top, the broader landscape of child sex trafficking reveals how deep and systemic that rot truly runs. The numbers alone are staggering. Child sex trafficking - the buying and selling of women, young girls and boys for sex, some as young as 9 years old—has become big business in America. It is one of the fastest growing criminal operations and the second most-lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns. Adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the United States.

It’s not just young girls who are vulnerable to these predators, either. Boys account for over a third of victims in the U.S. sex industry. Who buys a child for sex? Otherwise ordinary men from all walks of life. “They could be your co-worker, doctor, pastor or spouse,” writes journalist Tim Swarens, who spent more than a year investigating the sex trade in America.

Ordinary men, yes. But then there are the so-called extraordinary men - like Epstein and his associates - with wealth, connections, and protection who are allowed to operate according to their own rules. Power does not create perversion, but it does insulate the powerful. These men skate free of accountability because the criminal justice system panders to the powerful, the wealthy and the elite.

For years, investigative journalists and survivors have documented how blackmail, intelligence agency ties, and financial leverage helped shield elite sexual predators - not just from prosecution, but from public scrutiny. For every Epstein who is - finally - called to account for his illegal sexual exploits after years of being given a free pass by those in power, there are hundreds (perhaps thousands) more in the halls of power and wealth whose predation continues unabated.

While Epstein’s alleged crimes are heinous enough on their own, he is part of a larger narrative of how a culture of entitlement becomes a cesspool and a breeding ground for despots and predators. Nor is this culture of impunity confined to billionaires and political elites.

Across the country, law enforcement officers have been caught running sex trafficking rings, abusing women and girls in their custody, or exploiting their badge to coerce sex. From Louisiana to Ohio to New York, officers have been arrested for trafficking underage girls, assaulting vulnerable women, and raping detainees - often shielded by unions, prosecutors, or a blue wall of silence. This isn’t a few bad apples. It is a culture of impunity baked into the system. This is how the system works, protecting the untouchables - not because they’re innocent, but because the system has made them immune. And this is why this case was never just about one man.

As Piotr Smolar writes for Le Monde, “Epstein was the most striking face of a two-tier system of justice, one that provided a privileged path for the powerful.” We see this pattern everywhere. A cop shoots an unarmed citizen and walks free. A president sidesteps constitutional limits. An agency spies on its citizens. A financier negotiates immunity.

Abuse of power - and the ambition-fueled hypocrisy and deliberate disregard for misconduct that make those abuses possible - works the same whether you’re talking about sex crimes, government corruption, or the rule of law.

Sexual predators aren’t the only threat. For every prominent name who eventually gets called out for his sexual misbehavior, there are hundreds - thousands - of others in the American police state who are getting away with murder - in many cases, literally - simply because they can. And as history repeatedly demonstrates, power corrupts.

Worse, as 19th-century historian Lord Acton concluded, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Give any one person - or government agency - too much power and allow them to believe that they are entitled, untouchable and will not be held accountable for their actions, and those powers will be abused. History proves it. The present moment confirms it.

We can agree to disagree about many things, but the sex trafficking and abuse of children is one issue where there should be absolutely no dissembling, no wiggle room, and no immunity.America should have zero tolerance for child sex trafficking. So when President Trump insists that there’s nothing more to discuss or investigate so we should just move on, our collective, unequivocal answer should be an absolute refusal to move on, be distracted or engage in what-aboutisms. At some point, moral outrage must give way to moral clarity.

The Trump administration’s cover-up is unacceptable. The selective redactions of non-victims’ names and faces are unacceptable. The removal of files by biased administration operatives is unacceptable. As I make clear in my book "Battlefield America: The War on the American People" and in its fictional counterpart "The Erik Blair Diaries," a constitutional republic cannot survive a protected class.

If the Epstein files force us to think and act differently about anything, let it be this: the rule of law cannot be a one-sided weapon used against the powerless. It must require that the powerful be held just as accountable for their abuses as anyone else."

- https://www.rutherford.org/

"How It Really Is"

“The only difference between the Republican and Democratic

parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when

corporations knock on their door. That’s the only difference.”

- Ralph Nader

"You Can Avoid Reality..."

 

"The War Prayer"

 

"The War Prayer"
By TDB

"My curmudgeonly grandpappy, who reveres Mark Twain and George Carlin and H.L. Mencken and people of that lovable cynic variety – or however you would characterize their philosophical disposition – put me onto "The War Prayer" back in the day. This was in the days of innocence before 9/11 and the subsequent War of Terror, and so whatever lack of an impression it made on me at the time was remedied shortly thereafter by apropos events in the real world.

Twain, in his later years when his family had died and the cynicism became more malignant, would often write fiction in which a cynical protagonist would serve as a proxy for himself. This is one such story; the “aged stranger” is Twain. Via Virginia Commonwealth University:

"It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism… on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun… nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. 

Sunday morning came - next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams - visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said …

Then came the “long” prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work…

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness… he ascended to the preacher’s side and stood there waiting. 

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside - which the startled minister did - and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said: “I come from the Throne - bearing a message from Almighty God! 

God’s servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two - one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this - keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

You have heard your servant’s prayer - the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it - that part which the pastor - and also you in your hearts - fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: ‘Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!’ When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory – must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle - be Thou near them! With them - in spirit - we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it - for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."

(After a pause.) “Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!” It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said."

- Mark Twain, "The War Prayer"

Twain reportedly caved to pressure not to publish the short story, as it was regarded by his family and publisher as too inflammatory for public consumption. Asked if he had plans to publish it, Twain answered: "No, I have told the whole truth in that, and only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead." At any rate, for whatever reason, it remained unpublished until after his death.

War is an ugly business, fraught with moral pitfalls – not to mention existential implications in the nuclear age. It might be necessary at times, but so are limb amputations. Both should be undertaken with all due discretion. I’ll choose my own wars, not the ones the government or MSNBC or the ADL tells me to."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

Judge Napolitano, "Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: The Strategic Risks of Fighting Iran"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 2/18/26

"Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: 

The Strategic Risks of Fighting Iran"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Scott Ritter, 2/18/26

"Hormuz Blocked! Iran’s Missile Fire 

Can Leave the US Navy Defenseless"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Money Over History, 2/18/26

"$20 Billion Warships Have ZERO Defense: 

The Hypersonic Missile Threat America Ignored"

America’s $20 billion aircraft carriers are designed to project global power - but what happens when hypersonic missiles travel at Mach 10 to Mach 15 with almost no reaction time? Recent warnings from intelligence and defense officials suggest that advanced hypersonic weapons could challenge traditional naval missile defense systems. With reaction windows potentially measured in seconds, even the most advanced carrier strike groups face new strategic risks.

In this documentary-style breakdown, we examine:

• How hypersonic missiles work.

• Why interception is far more difficult than with ballistic threats.

• The limits of current naval missile defense systems.

• The strategic implications for U.S. aircraft carriers.

• What this means for power balance in the Persian Gulf and beyond.

As global military technology evolves, the future of naval dominance may depend on closing a rapidly emerging defense gap. This analysis explores the technology, strategy, and geopolitical consequences shaping modern warfare in 2026."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"Oil Surges On Report Warning US-Iran 

War Is Far Closer Than Americans Realize"

"In Human Society..."

"When a bull is being lead to the slaughter, it still hopes to break loose and trample its butchers. Other bulls have not been able to pass on the knowledge that this never happens and that from the slaughterhouse there is no way back to the herd. But in human society there is a continuous exchange of experience. I have never heard of a man who broke away and fled while being led to his execution. It is even thought to be a special form of courage if a man about to be executed refuses to be blindfolded and dies with his eyes open. But I would rather have the bull with his blind rage, the stubborn beast who doesn't weigh his chances of survival with the prudent dull-wittedness of man, and doesn't know the despicable feeling of despair."

- Nadezhda Mandelstam

Dan, I Allegedly, "Living Alone? You’re Paying a $10,000 Penalty!"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 2/18/26

"Living Alone? You’re Paying a $10,000 Penalty!"

"Living alone in America has never been more expensive. In this episode of i Allegedly, we break down the so-called “singles tax” and how single households are paying over $10,000 more per year compared to couples who split housing, utilities, groceries, travel, and everyday expenses. From rising rent prices and inflated utility bills to bulk shopping disadvantages and tax filing differences, the financial system rewards shared households while solo earners absorb 100% of fixed costs. If you’re single, divorced, widowed, or simply living independently, this economic reality directly impacts your budget and long-term wealth building.

We also examine how this affects business owners, young professionals, and retirees trying to manage home expenses, property taxes, inflation, and cost-of-living increases. As housing affordability declines and wages fail to keep pace, single Americans face compounding financial pressure that influences savings, investing, and retirement planning. This is real economic news that impacts everyday people. Welcome to i Allegedly - where we cover financial news, housing market trends, business updates, and the economic stories that matter most."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"The Financial “Samson Option”: What to Do Before Governments Pull the Trigger"

"The Financial “Samson Option”: 

What to Do Before Governments Pull the Trigger"

by Nick Giambruno

"In the early ’90s, legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed the “Samson Option,” a secret Israeli nuclear deterrence strategy. It holds that if Israel’s enemies were about to overrun the country, Israel would respond with a massive use of nuclear weapons as a last resort. The concept comes from the biblical figure Samson, who pushed apart the pillars of a Philistine temple, bringing down the roof and killing himself - along with the Philistines who had captured him. In short, the Samson Option is a threat that says, “If we’re going down, we’re taking you with us.”

I’m bringing this up because governments also have a financial Samson Option… and they could soon use it to devastating effect. Thanks to central banking and fiat currency, governments can steal a nation’s savings through currency debasement. In the event of bankruptcy - or other existential situations - governments can tap into the wealth of a nation by creating new currency units as they desperately try to survive. There’s no doubt they’ll exercise that option before they go down.

It gives a government the ability to bankrupt everyone - at least the unprepared - as it goes bankrupt. “If we’re going down, we’re taking you with us.” In short, that’s the government’s financial Samson Option. And they’re preparing to use it soon.

When the Next Crisis Hits: Imagine working 9 to 5 for 50 years… only for the Federal Reserve to print 40% of the money supply and inflate away 20 years of your hard work. You don’t have to imagine - it actually happened during the COVID mass psychosis, as governments worldwide indulged in a frenzy of currency debasement.

It was the most recent example of what happens when the US government faces an imminent financial crisis. In a matter of days, the Fed created more dollars out of thin air than it had over the US’s nearly 250-year existence.

The Fed’s actions during the Covid hysteria amounted to the biggest monetary explosion in US history. It’s a strong indication they won’t hesitate to use the financial Samson Option during the next crisis - which is likely coming sooner than later and could be much bigger than what happened in 2020.

And no matter how they try to disguise it with confusing euphemisms - quantitative easing, reserve management, yield curve control, large-scale asset purchases, open market operations, balance-sheet expansion, liquidity injections, emergency lending facilities, repo operations, and countless other bits of financial jargon - the end result is always the same: currency debasement. When the next crisis inevitably hits - and I think it will be soon - the money-printing programs will likely dwarf the previous ones. Here’s some context.

During the Covid hysteria, the Fed was creating $120 billion out of thin air each month - far larger than the $40 billion per month during QE3, which itself was larger than the monthly pace during QE1 and QE2. That’s why I expect the coming QE - or whatever they decide to call it -will be significantly bigger than the $120 billion per month they injected into the economy during the Covid scam. And if gold is already hitting record highs, imagine what happens when the Fed unleashes even more currency debasement than the last rounds of “stimulus.”

The Biggest Wealth Transfer in History: The US government is approaching the financial endgame. It can no longer disguise its bankruptcy. When the next crisis comes - and I think it could be imminent - the US government will have no choice but to implement its financial Samson Option. In other words, as the US government goes bankrupt, it will drag everyone down with it in a desperate wealth grab. That’s why I believe rampant currency debasement will be the most important investment trend of this decade - and it will devastate most people.

The worst of it could go down soon… and it won’t be pretty. It will trigger an enormous wealth transfer from savers and regular people to the parasitic class - politicians, central bankers, and those connected to them. In short, I believe we’re on the verge of the biggest wealth transfer in history… And those holding US dollars, Treasuries, and other fiat currencies will be on the losing end. Countless millions throughout history have been wiped out financially - or worse - because they failed to see the correct Big Picture as their governments went bankrupt. Don’t be one of them.

But what if you get the Big Picture right? You can avoid financial disaster - and set yourself up to potentially make life-changing profits. That’s the difference between being on the right and wrong side of changes of historical proportion. It’s a rare fortune-building opportunity for those who see the writing on the wall and take the proper action today. So, what can you do about it? I lay out the details in an urgent free PDF report I just released on where this is all headed. It’s called “The Most Dangerous Economic Crisis in 100 Years… the Top 3 Strategies You Need Right Now.” Click here to download the free PDF now.

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/2026/02/18/