Apr 202022
 
 April 20, 2022  Posted by at 8:47 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Andy Warhol Grace Kelly 1984

 

There Has Been No Talk Of Peace, Only War (Celente)
Putin ‘Will Go Nuclear’ Says CIA Boss in Regime Change Set Up (Ransom)
Yet Another Huge Ukraine Arms Package As Total Military Aid Nears $3BN (ZH)
Watch Out, Vlad! Here Comes the British Invasion (Tracey)
Russia Must Prepare For “Possible Aggressive Action” From NATO – Medvedev (ZH)
Two Cheers for Realism (Lee)
Telling the COVID Good Guys from the Bad Guys (Hope)
Wall Street Now Paying Attention to the ‘Trust the Science’ Fraud – Dowd (Wolf)
New CDC Center to Predict Pandemics, Provide ‘Outbreak Analytics’ (CSN)
DOJ To Appeal Court Decision to Overturn Mask Mandate, if CDC Asks (CTH)
CDC Removes All Countries From COVID-19 ‘Do Not Travel’ List (Reason)
Treasury Bond Massacre, Mortgage Rates Hit 5.35%, and it’s Only April (WS)
Clinton Campaign: Fusion GPS Provided Legal Advice (TechnoFog)
Taylor Lorenz Is Simply Following The New Rules Of Journalism (Miller)

 

 

Number of days Julian Assange has been in Belmarsh prison, never charged with anything.

Today, another decision is due in his extradition case.

 

 

 

 

Zelensky’s statements influenced by what he drinks or smokes – Lavrov

 

 

 

 

Musk

 

 

The only thing you need to know, really.

There Has Been No Talk Of Peace, Only War (Celente)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that the Western sanctions that were intended to punish Moscow into submission and end its war with Ukraine have failed and, instead, hurt the very countries who imposed them. Putin used a televised address to tell Russians the sanctions were “expected to quickly upset the financial-economic situation, provoke panic in the markets, the collapse of the banking system and shortages in stores.” But said the West’s “economic blitz” failed and backfired. He said they instead led to a “deterioration of the economy in the West.” Last month, President Joe Biden told reporters that the sanctions imposed on Russia were not intended to prevent the 24 February invasion, but were intended instead to unite Europe and show its resolve.

“That’s the important thing. If you’re Putin and you think that Europe is going to crack in a month or six weeks or two months, [that] they can take anything for another month…We have to stay fully, totally, thoroughly united,” he said. When the White House announced a ban on Russian oil imports, oil prices in the U.S. hit their highest levels since 2008. The Russian central bank on Monday announced that consumer prices were about 16.7 percent higher than the same time period last year. The New York Times, citing international financial organizations, reported that economists believe that the Russian economy will contract up to 15 percent.

Biden, who has called Putin a war criminal, killer, and a brute, has discussed additional sanctions against Russia with European allies on Tuesday, Reuters reported. They also discusses arming Ukrainians with even more weapons. Canada announced Tuesday a new round of sanctions against Russians, including Putin’s two adult daughters, the report said. The repot said: “Among those on the call were Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as well as the leaders of Poland, Japan and Italy.” There has been no talk of peace, only war.

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The narrative needs a new chapter every day, lest people start questioning yesterday’s tale.

Putin ‘Will Go Nuclear’ Says CIA Boss in Regime Change Set Up (Ransom)

Democrats have invented their own WMD story to support regime change, as the head of the CIA warned about taking Russia’s nuclear capability too “lightly.” Speaking at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, CIA Director William Burns has said that in desperation Russian President Vladimir Putin could use a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon in Ukraine in order to try to reverse his battlefield mistakes. “Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,” said Burns, according to Voice of America. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also warned about potential Putin use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.


Nina Khrushcheva, the great granddaughter to former Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev, echoed the comments but said it wasn’t a prediction of the use of nukes, but was just noting the potential is there for Putin to use nuclear weapons, said Newsweek. “Since there are questions about how far Russia can go to create victory, and nuclear weapons have been part of the conversation on both sides, Russian and the West, the tactical atomic option is potentially imaginable,” said Khrushcheva, a professor of International Affairs at The New School in New York City, a progressive hotbed.

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Let’s make it an even $30 billion. $3 billion is hardly enough to pay the bonuses at Raytheon this Christmas

Yet Another Huge Ukraine Arms Package As Total Military Aid Nears $3BN (ZH)

Coming off last week’s approved gargantuan $800 million military package for Ukraine, which the broader public and media seemed to not even bat an eye about (but quite the opposite: positively cheering it), what more is there for Biden to do except sign off on another massive weapons package for Kiev… “The Biden administration is preparing to announce another substantial military aid package for Ukraine this week,” NBC News cited five US officials to report Tuesday evening. “Three officials said the package is expected to be similar in size to the $800 million one the administration announced last week.” Biden previewed the new aid package by answering a simple “yes” when asked by a reporter whether Washington will send more artillery to Ukraine.

The new transfers are expected to include “tens of thousands more artillery rounds” – notes Bloomberg, and likely along with more anti-tank missiles, as has been consistently shipped stretching back even before Russia’s late February invasion kicked off. It appears to be the administration’s response to Moscow launching a ‘new phase’ in the war: a major force buildup and push to take the Donbas region from Ukraine, which the Kremlin reportedly wants to see fully accomplished by May 9, Victory Day, which commemorates the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany. Without doubt these continual major weapons packages pledged to Ukraine will only push Russia and NATO into increasingly direct confrontation, given the Kremlin’s standing warning that it will target any inbound Western arms transfers.

Meanwhile, on Monday a senior Pentagon official told Reuters of plans to begin training Ukrainian forces on how to use American-supplied howitzers. It was described, however, that the training would occur outside Ukraine, likely in a neighboring friendly country like Poland. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed this week that so far the United States has successfully delivered new weapons to the Ukrainians on four flights – this as overall US aid pledged to Ukraine since Feb.24 has totaled about $2.6 billion and counting.

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“..the article was published at 10pm local time on the Friday of Easter weekend..”

Watch Out, Vlad! Here Comes the British Invasion (Tracey)

“You heard it here first”? Within less than 48 hours of publishing my previous article — aptly titled “The UK is Trying to Drag the US into World War III” — the most decisive evidence yet for the thesis conveniently emerged. This was thanks to The Times newspaper, which reported that British “boots on the ground” have been deployed to Ukraine. It’s the first time that the armed forces of any NATO member state were confirmed to be physically present inside Ukraine since the war started on February 24. If the UK Government really does aim to position itself at the “vanguard” of an escalating military intervention, in hopes that it can cajole the US into hotter and hotter warfare — as I reported in the previous article — then this seems like a pretty plausible way of going about it.


Is the US content to just sit around and let itself be one-upped by the British, who have now demonstrated their willingness to boldly send “boots on the ground” in defense of freedom and democracy? While the mighty US dithers impotently on the sidelines? Oddly, the response to the Times revelation has been conspicuously muted. At least from my vantage point here in London. And maybe that’s by design: the article was published at 10pm local time on the Friday of Easter weekend, and as I recently discovered, Easter weekend in England a big four-day Bank Holiday bash. So maybe the article was intentionally “buried” to dampen its effect — or maybe the timing was just an innocent coincidence. Either way, there’s been a curious lack of followup or even significant discussion in the days since the news broke. Maybe some inscrutable code of omertà reigns within the UK press corps? For all the problems with US media, it’s not quite as weirdly incestuous and insular as media in the UK.

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“We are talking primarily about an attempt to expand NATO’s presence near our borders.”

Russia Must Prepare For “Possible Aggressive Action” From NATO – Medvedev (ZH)

Following earlier this month both Finland and Sweden signaling their intent to join NATO, close Putin ally and former president Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, has warned that the Western military alliance is engaged in a military buildup along Russia’s borders. “A senior Russian official said on Tuesday that NATO’s reinforcement of its borders with Russia was no longer a figure of speech and Moscow should be prepared for possible aggressive action, Russia’s TASS news agency reported,” according to Reuters. “NATO’s expansion near Russia’s borders is no longer a figure of speech or a set of threats, we must be prepared for aggressive action,” he said according to a translation. The fresh words follow Medvedev’s prior threats to position nuclear and hypersonic missiles along Russian’s western border in the scenario that Finland and Sweden join NATO.

The prospect of Finland, which is said to be studying the issue, joining the alliance is especially alarming for the Kremlin, given Russian and its Scandinavian neighbor share a 810-mile border. Sweden, though a little less important geographically, has already announced its intent to join the alliance. “There can be no more talk of any nuclear–free status for the Baltic – the balance must be restored,” Medvedev said previously. But now on Tuesday, he’s heightened the rhetoric further by saying, “We are talking primarily about an attempt to expand NATO’s presence near our borders.” Medvedev stated further according to state-run TASS, based on a rush translation: “And this is no longer a figure of speech today, this is not a set of standard threats. We must be prepared for those aggressive actions that may happen.”

The thrust of his words were toward encouraging the rapid technological advance of the country’s defense capabilities amid the new ‘NATO threat’ – given the remarks were delivered before a national conference on science and education. He stressed that “it is important to build up, among other things, a system that allows you to provide the country with the most modern weapons.” “And this requires reliable, high-tech, powerful equipment – both military and dual-use,” the deputy head of the Security Council added, explaining that the situation did “not arise by itself, especially in those conditions when sanctions have been imposed on the country.”

Cement

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Westphalian Treaty, 1648.

“Russia, China have legitimate spheres of influence and this should be respected. This will involve an end to the gross provocations in the South China Sea and in Poland, Romania, and the Baltics, not to mention the ongoing series of colour revolutions.”

Two Cheers for Realism (Lee)

As the US and its vassals therefore prepare for war, its populations must be conditioned to believe and accept such an inevitable outcome. The propaganda machine has been stepped up to unprecedented levels. The message is simple. Our side = good, Their side = bad. Our side does good things, their side does bad things. Thus, the media – now an asset of the deep state – plays an essential role of propagating this political construction among the populations of the Anglo-Zionist heartlands. All of which is very reminiscent of Orwell’s short novel Animal Farm. After the Animal Revolution and the eviction of Jones the Farmer, the sheep were instructed by the ruling group – the pigs – into reciting the goodness of the animals and the badness of humans. The short and endless bleat of the sheep went as follows: ‘’Four legs good, two legs bad,’’ repeated endlessly.

That is about the level of western foreign policy. Good guys, bad guys, white hats, black hats, no compromise, no surrender. Result war. The question we must now ask is has this menacing process gone too far to go into reverse? This of course remains an open question. But the thrust of neo-conservative foreign policy would suggest this war would be a logical outcome. Either that or the whole thing is a bluff. Up to this point the US performance in attacking recalcitrant weak states has not been a roaring success. The same goes for Israel. Bombing countries with no air defence or shooting Palestinian kids with sniper rifles is easy-peasy. Taking on Iran is a different matter entirely. The irresistible force seems to be meeting its immovable object.

From a realist as opposed to a neo-conservative foreign policy the idea of an American world empire is frankly deranged. Pursuit of this pipedream can only result in mutually assured destruction; yes, M.A.D. still applies. The United States and its minions might not like it, but it will have to learn to live with other great powers. Russia, China have legitimate spheres of influence and this should be respected. This will involve an end to the gross provocations in the South China Sea and in Poland, Romania, and the Baltics, not to mention the ongoing series of colour revolutions.

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“These sociopathic characteristics include superficial charm, untruthfulness, absence of neurosis or anxiety, poverty of emotion, and a lack of remorse or shame. ”

Telling the COVID Good Guys from the Bad Guys (Hope)

Most recently, Elon Musk has stepped forward, offering to purchase Twitter and remove the censorship from the platform. This move would turn the tables on the Great Reset and restore the voice of the American public. Some are conflicted and see Musk as a potential bad guy due to his billionaire status and work developing technologies that could be used against the populace. However, upon closer inspection, one notices that Musk has been consistent in his views over the last two years. Musk was among the first to tweet about the potential benefits of using HCQ in early 2020. Musk’s position has not changed, while the opposition lies, waffles, and double talks.

In his first interview with Joe Rogan in May of 2020, Musk questioned the lockdowns’ wisdom and insisted that our freedoms should come first. He noted that our liberty and democracy had come at significant cost, and we should not allow them to be eroded so easily. Looking deeper at Musk, one realizes he is not a sociopath like so many other billionaires. Sixteen factors help identify a sociopath – according to the Cleckley Profile as set forth by Dr. Hervey M. Cleckley, the expert considered to be the Father of Psychopathy. He discussed these in his treatise, The Mask of Sanity. These sociopathic characteristics include superficial charm, untruthfulness, absence of neurosis or anxiety, poverty of emotion, and a lack of remorse or shame.

In short, they have cold, reptilian personalities and no conscience. Sociopaths have no anxiety and can often beat lie detector tests because their heart rates and blood pressure can remain stable under questioning that would phase most of us. While our leading health authorities and top vaccine billionaires easily qualify as sociopaths, Musk’s personality does not fit. He tears up at interviews to the extent the cameraman must stop filming; he exhibits great emotion when speaking about his childhood or challenges with his businesses.

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There goes the CDC.

Wall Street Now Paying Attention to the ‘Trust the Science’ Fraud – Dowd (Wolf)

As Pfizer try to ‘pump their stock’ Hedge Fund guru Dowd, takes us inside what he calls the third great fraud in his lifetime, in this new bombshell interview with Dr Naomi Wolf.

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Except, they’re giving the CDC more powers, no matter how badly it failed.

New CDC Center to Predict Pandemics, Provide ‘Outbreak Analytics’ (CSN)

On Tuesday, the Biden Administration announced the launch of the CDC’s new Center for Forecasting and Analysis (CFA) to predict future pandemics and guide the government’s efforts to address such anticipated infectious disease threats. A center of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CFA will use “infectious disease modeling and analytics and to provide support to leaders at the federal, state, and local levels,” the CDC explains in its announcement. As “the equivalent of the National Weather Service for infectious diseases,” the CFA will “predict trends and guide decision-making,” the CDC says:

“CFA’s work will be focused into three main pillars: to predict, inform, and innovate. CFA has begun to build a world-class outbreak analytics team with experts across several disciplines to develop faster, richer evidence to predict trends and guide decision-making during emergencies.” According to the CFA website, the new center will also predict the future course of ongoing pandemics, in order to help public health officials to take preemptive measures: “The goal of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA) is to enable timely, effective decision-making to improve outbreak response using data, modeling, and analytics.

“To do so, CFA will produce models and forecasts to characterize the state of an outbreak and its course, inform public health decision makers on potential consequences of deploying control measures, and support innovation to continuously improve the science of outbreak analytics and modeling.” CFA Science Director Marc Lipsitch, hopes to employ regular population sampling, by means like blood draws and swab tests, in order to collect data, the AP reports: “[T]he United Kingdom uses regular population sampling with swab tests and blood draws to get a clearer picture of who’s been infected, said Marc Lipsitch, the new center’s science director. He said similar sampling should be considered in the U.S.”

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“..a political DOJ has to wait for a political CDC to determine whether they still have any currency of influence..”

DOJ To Appeal Court Decision to Overturn Mask Mandate, if CDC Asks (CTH)

On one hand, Joe Biden needs to appease the base of his Covidians who identify themselves through the prism of COVID. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of Americans are done with the COVID fear mongering. What to do, what to do? Trying to split the baby, Biden’s DOJ announces it will appeal the federal court ruling that overturned the federal Transporation covid mask mandate, but only if the CDC tells them to. “DOJ PRESS RELEASE – […] “The Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disagree with the district court’s decision and will appeal, subject to CDC’s conclusion that the order remains necessary for public health.” “If CDC concludes that a mandatory order remains necessary for the public’s health after that assessment, the Department of Justice will appeal the district court’s decision.”


Keep in mind, the federal court ruling specifically centered around the arbitrary nature of the original mandate, which exceeded the scope of CDC legal authority, compounded by the CDC breaking its own rules for public feedback in the implementation.The mandate created by Joe Biden did not have legal structure. It was a dictatorial fiat that exceeded the capacity of the executive branch to create. Congress could easily write a law authorizing mechanisms for the CDC and TSA to use in enforcement of a federal Transportation mask mandate; but they won’t – because the public would never support it. So now, a political DOJ has to wait for a political CDC to determine whether they still have any currency of influence amid the politics of COVID.

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Just demolish it.

CDC Removes All Countries From COVID-19 ‘Do Not Travel’ List (Reason)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its international travel recommendations on Monday, relaxing previous COVID-19 risk assessments.Previously, the CDC’s “Level 4” risk designation applied to destinations with “very high” levels of COVID-19 transmission. On Sunday, 89 countries and territories were listed in this category, with the CDC advising, “Avoid travel to these destinations. If you must travel to these destinations, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel.” The agency has since named its highest risk category “Level 4: Special Circumstances/Do Not Travel” and removed all countries from it. In a statement last week, the CDC indicated it would reserve this designation for “special circumstances, such as rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts, emergence of a new variant of concern, or healthcare infrastructure collapse.”

The CDC’s next highest designation, “Level 3: COVID-19 High,” now includes 122 destinations and advises that travelers are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations, but does not advise the fully vaccinated to avoid travel wholesale. Given that there are few places in the world where COVID-19 has not spread widely, it is becoming necessary for the individual traveler to determine his own risk tolerance. Safety does not simply depend on picking the country with no active COVID-19 cases, but rather on taking stock of your vaccination status, your preexisting conditions, and the medical infrastructure at your destination.

The CDC’s new advisory structure makes the point that not all areas with high COVID-19 transmission are irreconcilably dangerous to visit. As recently as Sunday, the CDC advised travelers to exercise the same level of COVID-related caution when visiting Norway and the Central African Republic; South Korea and Papua New Guinea; and Australia and Vietnam. It makes little sense to advise the same level of extreme medical caution across each of these nations, considering how vastly each country’s health capacities may differ. Denmark, Switzerland, and Sweden are said to have some of the best health care in the world, but in terms of COVID contagion, the CDC considered them as risky to visit as Somalia, a country with only one surgeon for every 1 million people and a full COVID vaccination rate of just 8.5 percent.

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You will own nothing and you will be happy.

Treasury Bond Massacre, Mortgage Rates Hit 5.35%, and it’s Only April (WS)

The interesting thing is that no one at the Fed is trying to talk down those spikes in Treasury yields and mortgage rates. It shows that those yields are going where the Fed wants them to go, and that the Treasury market is coming around to the Fed’s rate-hike plan, and that those yields have a long ways to go, given that CPI inflation is 8.5%, a gigantic mess that has unfolded over the past 15 months, finally, after 12 years of money-printing. The two-year Treasury yield spiked by 15 basis points today to 2.61%, the highest since January 2019. This has been a huge move in just seven months. When the two-year yield goes over 2.83%, it will be in territory not seen since 2007, as the Treasury market begins to price in the Fed’s coming policy action to crack down on inflation:

Even the biggest doves at the Fed are now fully on board the rate-hike train, and it’s only a question of how fast and how long. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, one of the biggest doves, is “comfortable” with 25-basis-point hikes at every meeting this year (there are seven more), and even he is “open” to 50-basis-point hikes: “we want to be humble and nimble, and get to neutral before too long – maybe 50 helps, I’m open to that,” he said. The 10-year Treasury yield rose by 8 basis points to 2.93% at the close today, the highest since December 2018. The magic number there is 3.24%, beyond which yields are back in 2011 territory:

When yields rise, it means prices of those bonds fall, and prices fall the hardest of bonds with the longest remaining maturities. And it’s a massacre for people who invested in what they thought was a very conservative and prudent instrument, namely a bond fund tracking long-term Treasury securities, when in fact it turned out to be a highly risky wager on long-term Treasury yields always going lower forevermore. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF [TLT], which tracks an index of Treasury securities with at least 20 years of remaining maturities, dropped another 0.75% today, is down 19.5% year-to-date, and has plunged by 30.6% from the peak in August 2020, which was when long-term Treasury yields had hit historic lows, and which was – with hindsight – the moment the greatest bond-market bubble in US history began to implode:

Holy moly Mortgage rates. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate spiked to 5.35% today, the highest since 2009! This daily measure of mortgage rates by Mortgage News Daily had briefly hit 5.05% in November 2018, with inflation at or below the Fed’s target, and with markets tanking left and right, before the Fed made its infamous U-Turn, and mortgage rates dove. Now the Fed is just getting started, with inflation at 8.5%. There is no one that can persuade me that this jump in mortgage rates isn’t going to have a serious impact on the housing market. It’s the Fed’s way of getting the housing bubble under control before it tears up the financial system again:

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They’re getting lost in their own narratives.

Clinton Campaign: Fusion GPS Provided Legal Advice (Techno Fog)

The battle over documents and e-mails in the Michael Sussmann case just got hotter. Back in August 2017, Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee, explaining how his firm was retained to gather “lots of facts about Donald Trump.” He admitted that Fusion GPS met with reporters leading up to the 2016 election to spread opposition research against then-candidate Trump. The context of Perkins Coie’s retention of Fusion GPS was further explained in a book co-authored by Simpson and Fusion GPS co-founder Peter Fritsch. They documented an April 20, 2016 meeting with Mark Elias (Perkins Coie partner and counsel for the DNC/Clinton Campaign), where Elias requested their services for opposition research.

Now the stories have changed. Fusion GPS is no longer an opposition research firm, and they weren’t hired to dig-up dirt against Trump. Instead, they would have you believe, after the phony dossier and the Alfa Bank hoax, that Fusion GPS was retained to provide legal advice to the Hillary Clinton Campaign. Remarkable. On April 6, Durham filed [a] motion to compel in the Michael Sussmann case, requesting the court require the production of “emails and attachments between and among” Perkins Coie, Rodney Joffe, and Fusion GPS. These emails and documents, according to Durham, “appear or involve or relate to” Fusion GPS’s provision of research and media services to Hillary for America, the DNC, and Perkins Coie. (Some documents had been produced pursuant to grand jury subpoenas dating back to the 2021.)

Faced with this pressure, today there was a flurry of filings from interested entities in the Sussmann case, seeking to intervene to petition the court to keep these emails and documents secret. The DNC, Rodney Joffe, Perkins Coie, and Hillary for America all filed motions to intervene and memorandums in opposition to Durham’s motion to compel. Notably, we saw arguments to the court that Fusion GPS wasn’t retained for opposition research. Hillary for America, for example, asserted “attorney-client privilege and work product protection over communications and work product of its attorneys (at Perkins Coie) and their consultant (Fusion GPS).” In support of that motion, Hillary for America included declarations from John Podesta, Robby Mook, and their attorney, Marc Elias. Declarations which contradict the public record.

To prove my point, John Podesta declared that to his knowledge, Perkins Coie has “consistently maintained” confidentiality, despite the fact that Perkins Coie (Sussmann in particular) assisted in distributing to the press the materials and allegations prepared by Fusion GPS and other researchers. Not to be outdone, Robby Mook (Hillary’s campaign manager) told the court that he believed that contractors for Perkins Coie – which would include Fusion GPS – were providing “legal services and legal advice” to the Clinton campaign. Unfortunately for Hillary for America, Mook’s belief is insufficient for the purposes of privilege. Clinton lawyer Mark Elias also submitted a declaration, stating the role of Fusion GPS was to “provide consulting services in support of the legal advice” Perkins Coie and Elias were providing their clients. This contradicts the Elias’s own statements cited above.

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“Taylor Lorenz is not the ultimate problem. The problem is news outlets and infotainment companies using their outsize power and vast budgets to harass and doxx private citizens they disagree with. ”

Taylor Lorenz Is Simply Following The New Rules Of Journalism (Miller)

Much has been said about Taylor Lorenz, the 30-something-year-old journalist for the Washington Post and former New York Times Slack channel gossipmonger. Still, her lack of media ethics is now unambiguous. On Tuesday, we learned about Lorenz’s doxxing of those behind a viral social media account she personally dislikes. Lorenz published a story on the popular “LibsofTikTok” Twitter account. This account curates and highlights content from the extreme fringes of the cultural and political Left on TikTok and other platforms. The account isn’t much different from the “Right Wing Watch” account on Twitter, which does mostly the same thing from a politically left perspective. The difference is simply who is protected by most of the media and who isn’t. That’s what much of the discourse around the public revealing of the person behind the LibsofTikTok account is missing.

Taylor Lorenz is what the media are now. In 2017, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski tracked down an anonymous Reddit user who had created a gif of President Donald Trump clotheslining a wrestler at a WWE event, with the CNN logo replacing the opposing wrestler’s head. CNN found this to be doxx-worthy simply because it was retweeted by Trump. In 2019, when a joke video of a “drunk” Nancy Pelosi (the creator simply reduced the speed of the video) spread around, Kevin Poulsen of the Daily Beast tracked down and doxxed the person who did it, revealing he is an ex-con living in the Bronx who was working as a forklift operator. These details were not newsworthy. The video itself was not newsworthy. But the Daily Beast published his name and employment anyway.

In 2018, HuffPost writer Luke O’Brien doxxed and revealed the identity of a pro-Trump Twitter user, including information regarding a popular Brooklyn deli that her siblings owned and was not related to her social media posts. The deli was soon threatened with boycotts and negative Yelp reviews. These are just three examples of what has become an industry standard. It’s a standard that now has some reporters comparing LibsofTikTok to Harvey Weinstein and the Watergate scandal. However, in singling out Taylor Lorenz, what the political Right doesn’t understand is this is about politics and shutting down opposing speech. That is to say, speech that Lorenz or Kaczynski or the Daily Beast are ideologically opposed to. Of course, this is also about media power.

CNN is a multibillion-dollar media conglomerate that used the full weight of its corporate power to threaten a private individual with a Reddit account. In a newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos, Lorenz publishes a story with an individual’s name, professional license, and address information. It’s a struggle between one of the richest, most powerful men on the Earth and someone behind a Twitter account with less than a million followers (although that follower count is almost certainly about to increase). Taylor Lorenz is not the ultimate problem. The problem is news outlets and infotainment companies using their outsize power and vast budgets to harass and doxx private citizens they disagree with. It’s a new journalistic model for an industry that sees its grip loosening on what news it can control and create (see the media freak-out over Elon Musk buying their favorite toy). Taylor Lorenz, for all her theatrics, is simply leading the charge.

Tucker Libs of TikTok

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Gates Nov 2019
https://twitter.com/CovidMemo/status/1516444224622927882

 

 

 

 

Ships waiting to dock in Shanghai.

 

 

NATO ad

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle April 20 2022

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 75 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #106423

    Andy Warhol Grace Kelly 1984   • There Has Been No Talk Of Peace, Only War (Celente) • Putin ‘Will Go Nuclear’ Says CIA Boss in Regime Change Set
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 20 2022]

    #106430
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Andy Warhol Grace Kelly 1984

    Nothing Warhol coud do to Grace Kelly’s portrait could distort her natural beauty…

    #106431
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    D Benton Smith #106402 Yesterday…

    For example, there is (really) an accelerating global conspiracy to CAUSE the extinction of humanity. If we fail to stop them then we really will die. Thwarting their thoroughly developed (and lavishly financed) plan requires that we very VERY quickly up our game in sorting out this reality thing. But that’s not gonna happen if Overton’s Window doesn’t get nudged further in that direction. A LOT further.

    Sorry (not) but this whole meme is absurd! They/them/elites/whomever are not an cannot extinct the humans of this planet!
    Think! for god’s sake; think about what you believe! This is the real insanity………..
    What I’ve observed over the last 2 years of the covid debacle, is the complete failure of critical thinking across the globe; here in Thailand FAIL
    In the U.S. fail! In the west in general= fail!
    And now because the vaccine disaster (avarice, hubris, and lack of empathy), we are talking conspiracy to end humanity…that’s insanity…
    I’m sick to death of the “end of humanity” crap; because tha’s what it is…CRAP!!!
    While you are stuck in that wormhole of conspiracy theories you will be snookered at every turn…
    Wake the fuck up!!!

    Rant over for the moment…wake up…

    #106432
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    @ V.Arnold

    Wake the fuck up!!!

    Are they then woke?
    Careful for what you wish – take better aim – know your foe!

    #106433
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    T-Bear
    Are they then woke?
    Careful for what you wish – take better aim – know your foe!

    Oh god’s no!
    woke is not awake… 😉
    Cheers T-Bear
    and thanks for the comment…

    #106434
    Germ
    Participant

    This review paper by Seneff et al. (2022) summarises the current literature on mRNA and its effects on the molecular biology within human cells.

    The findings are shocking. Read the ‘Highlights’ –

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027869152200206X?via%3Dihub

    The authors conclude that “billions of lives are potentially at risk, given the large number of individuals injected with the […] mRNA vaccines […]. ”

    🤡🤡🤡

    #106435
    Germ
    Participant

    Dr. Jessica Rose discusses the fraud we’ve all experienced over the past few years in relation to the pandemic. The data shows negative efficacy regarding the COVID19 vaccine, meaning that it’s actually hurting you.

    She goes into the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and how the adverse event and death reports related to COVID19 injections are off the chart.

    https://jessicar.substack.com/p/my-latest-interview-on-geopolitics 🤡🤡🤡

    #106436
    Red
    Participant
    #106437

    “The Westminster Magistrates Court in London has issued an order to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States. It now goes to Home Office Secretary Priti Patel for approval.”

    #106438
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “UK Holds ‘Complex’ Talks over Banning Russian Tennis Ace from Wimbledon”

    Do they have some idea how stupid they look? This is going to go into the history books as “Stupid, useless, and embarrassing.” It’s actually just racist.

    “In Biden’s Annual Economic Report, the Word “Gender” Is Used 40 More Times than the Word “Inflation”

    That’s because the number of genders is inflating way faster than 20% a year. Every time I mention it I shake my head and say, “should I?” but seriously, am I going to give up on the hill that says essentially there are two genders? If there are no genders you can’t be gay, so I knuckle down and have to fight hard for gay rights. …Didn’t see that coming.

    Inflation, MMT:
    FlationGate
    https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/2022-04-19_10-53-39.jpg?itok=dIU1IPGa

    C’mon, when has doubling the money supply in two years ever caused inflation? Except for “every time in recorded history”? Goooo MMT. Let’s hear from Keen. (P.S. this was all supposed to fall on Trump which is why they didn’t care.)

    “German Industry Fears Immediate Russian Gas Ban”

    Clearly German industry is not in charge. Who is?

    “When the farmers cut fertilizer use, they accept that they will get lower profit.”

    This is not necessarily true. It’s one of those Prisoner’s Dilemma games. If NOBODY used the extra fertilizer, then prices and demand would equalize. …And the soil might be better. But EVERYBODY uses it, so production is higher and prices lower. If you don’t, you’ll be down some % and get run over because there isn’t any margin to lose. But right now, roughly speaking ALL will not be using it, or reduced to the same point, say 50%. Then prices equalize again. If you can use 60% you win. If 40% you lose. But this year nobody knows where the point is, having never been here before.

    Anyway, if they ALL cut fertilizer use, they get HIGHER profit. Or could. This is true of herbicide, pesticide, using cultivation instead, etc. I don’t really expect them to make headlines that complicated, but it’s an interesting thought experiment. And would come in handy right now if they had used soil health instead of chemicals. All to shave that 9%

    “California Grocery Workers Score Double-Digit Raises After ‘Unified And Militant’ Threat To Strike” “The companies were afraid…”

    The workers now have the power…

    “One thousand one hundred four”

    That’s not including his previous lockup and house arrest, nor the high security measures he had to take before. Almost a whole adult lifetime?

    But if Julian is extradited, it depends on what he says. Reading 96 hours into the Congressional Record would be illuminating, followed by the Supreme Court ruling that there’s no jurisdiction. Don’t think failure: it depends what happens.

    “There Has Been No Talk of Peace, Only War (Celente)”

    Quite the opposite: they said they were getting nukes and taking back Crimea.

    “Given the potential desperation … none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,”

    So the U.S. is going to try to set off a tactical nuke. Got it.

    Can Russia do it? Yes. We are in a world of battlefield tactical nukes. One was probably used in Syria and one in Ukraine back in 2015. Not the sort of thing anyone admits or gets good intel on, but generals want to use their toys.

    What happens to weapons sent to Ukraine? There’s always the Kiev Middle School Band. Actually, I bet some huge portion are sold worldwide for cash. 30%? If I were the Russians, I’d print money, pose as an arms dealer, and buy them.

    “poverty of emotion, and a lack of remorse or shame.”

    There’s a key indicator we have that they don’t: doubt. I could be wrong. They’re “always wrong but never in doubt.”

    “what he calls the third great fraud in his lifetime,”

    I must have missed all the arrests from the first two. Also there are way more than three. They have possibly double-counted or more all the existing NYSE stock in CEDE, mostly to naked short their enemies. The entire U.S. or world stock markets being irreversible, irreparable frauds, that therefore are ponzis that can never pay out their pensioners, might be counted “great”. And it may not be the largest out there.

    Except, they’re giving the CDC more powers, no matter how badly it failed.”

    Clearly they did what they were told, what they wanted, or else they would be mad at them.

    DOJ To Appeal Court Decision to Overturn Mask Mandate, if CDC Asks (CTH)”

    I’m sooo tired. Why are we discussing this? It is not now, nor never was a law. It was totally illegal and didn’t exist. I don’t talk about laws we never passed to wear pancakes on our head either. Shows people no longer obey laws, they obey POWER. By design. Nobody cares what the law is or isn’t. They no longer even look, and the Judges no longer care.

    “ CDC Removes All Countries from COVID-19 ‘Do Not Travel’ List (Reason)”

    As we said last time and were right: this will reappear the day after the midterms.

    “Treasury Bond Massacre, Mortgage Rates Hit 5.35%, and It’s Only April (WS)”

    They are sixteen hikes behind the curve and rising fast. At the rate we’re going (1 per quarter) he’ll catch up by 2050. I’m sure this won’t have any bad effects on housing, economy, or markets.

    Oh and the Yen carry trade may have finally exploded too.

    So is the Fed responsible? As they’ve held rates too low for a mere 22 years in a row? Against all warnings and inflation over 2% for a year now? And no rate hikes? And this is their only mandate: 1) Inflation 2) Economy.

    “Clinton Campaign: Fusion GPS Provided Legal Advice (Techno Fog)”

    Suddenly everyone in Washington is a lawyer working for the Clinton Campaign. Huh. But they were all objective, uninterested parties when we asked back in 2016. That’s what he told the CIA when he fabricated phone pings on a spreadsheet for no monetary or political reason whatsoever.

    And what the CIA said when they received that totally fake data…that was domestic…and was election tampering…and they said nothing about how it was all fake and they knew it for the next 6 years. Ah, daily presidential impeachments by parties fabricating data, sleeping with Chinese agents, while taking billions from foreign powers and selling all the U.S.’s uranium. What does that have to do with spies and national security? I can’t think of anything. Carry on, good sir.

    Taylor Lorenz Is Simply Following the New Rules of Journalism (Miller) “

    This is interesting, but why are they mad? People openly posted actual opinions, which are not presented out of context. It’s what they said, and what those people wanted to say, and what they believe.

    …Oh yeah: the truth is the only enemy. We attack the truth and whoever presents it, wherever they are found.

    Down on the ground this is probably some nobody who just started this on a lark. It got big and they moved from pistol-sniping to daisy-cutter fuel bombs being dropped on their head. That’s the strange new war where any random civilian can find themselves suddenly targeted with the nuclear codes – no time to adjust to the new reality, no reason to prepare for it beforehand.

    We haven’t seen Lira and it was hard to see how he was staying alive even weeks ago. So can any citizen bring charges against the Daily Beast for killing him? Or do you need special standing like a family member? That’s what Lorenz is doing right now to new victims. Pure tolerance, love, and light. Getting your enemies killed = the right side of history. And also lying in denial you have any responsibility.

    Yes, TikTok short is not my form. It’s hard to take. However, for nurses who work 12h 3x and crash, stealing a few minutes may be the thing. I think women like the episodic saga approach. To me, a 300 page book is too short, but think about this: as even Raul has to post more video format, how much important info is locked in these instagram forms and we’re not aware of it? Yes, 99% of it is trash, but that’s also true of YouTube. My problem is I need it aggregated into 20 vid highlights not to waste my time.

    For going further out, I feel like TAE is a doorway between old news and new things. If you go out as far as the weird, weird world actually is, in satellites and DARPA scientists locked in DUMB bunkers, it would read as straight sci-fi and help no one. How can I tell? There ARE such sites all over the internet. And they are ignored. Because the readers need to do the research to find out what’s plausible and why. But the world does need a doorway and we can be that. A wide gate not a narrow one to allow more people through than just a few cranks who can’t stop needing to know.

    But there’s a far more immediate problem: I can’t prove it. By definition, because they’re not going to release records, notes, ledgers, any more than they have, which is quite a bit, actually. So I’m connecting dots, like any journalist can draw conclusions, but I can’t get statements, can’t subpoena records, and couldn’t trust the records if I could. ($40T missing from internal Federal budgets, now hidden behind FINRA). What do I do then? We can’t move further than the evidence.

    #106439
    Michael Reid
    Participant


    Dr. Jessica Rose discusses the fraud we’ve all experienced over the past few years in relation to the pandemic. The data shows negative efficacy regarding the COVID19 vaccine, meaning that it’s actually hurting you. If they can lie about issues surrounding COVID19 so easily, then what have they been lying about the whole time? She goes into the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and how the adverse event and death reports related to COVID19 injections are off the chart. The FDA and CDC are not even looking at the data. She believes the vaccine is a segueway into introducing new injection platforms, normalizing injections, and digitizing the human. She agrees the goal of the Vaccine Passports is to install the Social Credit System. The WHO Pandemic Treaty will be the total loss of sovereignty for all countries and individuals. That’s the end.

    I see Germ also linked from Jessica Rose site

    Dr. Jessica Rose: COVID Vaccines to Digitize Human, Pandemic Treaty Total Loss of Sovereignty

    Off into the woods I go. Baking homemade bread later today.

    #106440
    Mister Roboto
    Participant

    Covid may be accurately described in many ways, but “snake venom” is most certainly not one of them.

    #106441
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    R.I.M. @ #106437

    Goes to show the British Judiciary are nothing but a¢¢holes, everything that comes out of them smells like sh*t. Defenestrate the whole establishment all together; after a thousand years it’s time for a change, the public is too inured and apathetic to pull their faces from their porridge.troughs – sheeple indeed.

    #106442
    zerosum
    Participant

    “end of humanity”

    Somewhere …. it will continue ….
    Look at …… after the war in Ukraine …. after the flood …. after natural disasters …. after covid-19 …. after the vaccines
    ———
    More and more sources of new/opinions/bloggers are behind “pay-for-view”
    “deterioration of the economy in the West.”

    https://trendsinthenews.substack.com/p/western-sanctions-against-russia?s=r
    ———-
    What goes up must come down.
    Using Metal detectors, to search for valuables, in Ukraine, will be overwhelmed
    (swamp · submerge · engulf · bury · deluge · flood · inundate · clog · saturate · glut · overload · beset · overburden · snow under), with spent projectiles
    ———

    #106443
    oxymoron
    Participant

    I’m with Formerly T-Bear. The whole system is collapsing when you have this. The public complicit by their inaction. Same as getting jabbed and doing what they are told. Social Credit and Orwell are kinda here just beta version.

    #106445
    userzeroid
    Participant

    It just gets worse and worse. Assange at the hands of Priti Patel… If she had her way Assange would just be hung without trial. We’re done. Finished.

    The British public are generally so apathetic they did nothing to even defend their own rights during covid, what hope do we have of a critical mass stepping upto the plate when the wikileaks founder gets extradited?

    #106446
    John Day
    Participant

    An odd thing just happened.
    I wrote an essay about the discussion here yesterday and today, about the “Overton Window” we keep repositioning, and I hit SUBMIT, and it disappeared. I back-spaced to it, hit SUBMIT, and it said “it looks like you’ve already said that”, but the text was not anywhere to be found.

    I’ll try this, then I’ll try breaking it up.

    #106447
    oxymoron
    Participant

    a few cranks who can’t stop needing to know.
    Guilty…

    Now if I could just fine tune my perception

    #106448
    John Day
    Participant

    That worked.
    Let’s try fractional-re-posting:

    @VP Gary, who I read, D Benton Smith who opened the can of worms, Dr. D who supplies worms by the bucket, V.Arnold who thinks getting extincted is beyond-the-pale, and everybody else who contributed, and it was all with feeling…
    “Overton Window” is functionally what we are willing to openly discuss on a format.
    The Triumverate For The World has a particular view of the western-elite owners and their schemes, which I am unable to refute or confirm. I am willing to keep it on the back burner of possibility, but I’m better able to do this than most people are. I don’t recall his being mocked or derided here, as he would be on other blogs.
    We are experiencing difficulty explaining our spiritual lives. I get it, Archie. It’s hard to discuss, and you can’t graph out the movement of the planets to confirm it “objectively”.
    I do advocate being guided by divine truth, and I don’t try to give lessons, other than “want to be guided by divine truth” and “keep taking little steps, so it can become a little clearer”.
    Like “grow vegetables”, “ridea bike” and “be a neighbor”, i can’t give more elaborate advice than what I am doing (not merely planning) myself. We do have some beans, rice, oil, salt, olive oil, canned goods, etc. What if the gas, water and electricity went out? Yeah, we’d be no better off in 2 weeks, though the first week, like in the February 2021 Texas Deep Freeze, might see us fare better than many.
    In prepping for Mad Max, one fails to prep for the years before Mad Max, and also the fact that the country folk know where the bunkers are…
    Hawaiians joke that the gated communities of “haoles” are their food reserves when the boats stop coming, and it’s not just what’s in the pantries…
    My physical worldview involves the persistence of traits within a gene-pool, and the assumption that trait-persistence provides some benefit to the gene pool. I wondered long and hard about the persistence of sociopathic traits, not just in Eurasian gene-pools, but in the new-world, also, as evidenced by the Mayan Collapse and all the massive human sacrifice to the Sun God, sacrifice of those not “pleasing the gods”, like the neighbor-community…
    I concluded (open to discussion) that the sociopaths killing off a lot of the people when food gets scarce is a survival benefit to the gene pool. Non-sociopaths follow orders in times of famine and war, follow orders without questioning… It appears to me that sociopaths ENJOY this kind of “work”, which they “should”, in order to be good at it.
    V.Arnold is right, as I see it, to doubt a conspiracy to extinct the human species, but a lot of species have been extincted in the last century, most of them in the last 40 years, and it does not seem to have been intentional, either.
    The technology is powerful and execution is sloppy. We can all see scenarios where 90% human extinction could occur. That is seen as a goal by some, whether attained gradually or somewhat faster.
    We still wonder about that Deagle prediction for 2025. Wassup widdat?
    Coming back to limits of finite fossil fuel, lithium, and rare-earths, in a polluted and toxic world, we should ask, “what’s the end game?”. Our owners read Limits To Growth in 1973, mulled it over awhile, then decided to openly deny it since Reagan/Thatcher. I think they decided to make a world for themselves, and find ways to exclude “others”. I’m in the “others” category by default, and also by choice. Catherine Austin Fitts has long discussed this (but I don’t pay to read it. I just accept the concept.)
    I personally seek guidance, spiritual guidance, direct inspiration, and I am open to it, and wish it would come more regularly and frequently, because I’m somewhat impatient, like D Benton Smith… I’m insecure, too. Doubts arise… It’s nice when serendipitous things happen. I feel reassured, for awhile…
    There is work i can do that I’m sure is good work, not just physically preparing and sharing life path and experiences with others, but meditative work, spiritual work.
    It’s difficult to explain, but going within, experiencing, not-forcing, being open to discovery and revelation, and open to nothing-much-this-time and open to a brain-full-of-thoughts-again, appears to be the window to going beyond self, also. One may be empathic without another person nearby, or even clearly in mind, like a radio transmitter-receiver. This is a practice, beginning with noticing feelings and going into them, and doing the same again, another time. You don’t have to sit. My bike-commutes, back when I was employed as a doctor, were an hour each way, and I felt like I was sharing the vibes of those along the way, often feeling sadness, often in the same points of the ride…
    It could just be my imagination. I didn’t hurt anybody, and I’m not afraid to share it here.

    Let’s see if this flies…

    #106450
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Oh and the Prince of Darkness goes by the name ‘Charles’

    Charles’ empire: the royal reset riddle

    #106451
    kolya
    Participant

    Another classic TAE.

    > V Arnold, I’d love to hear about the Thai characteristics of critical thinking – Fail.

    Julian Assange, still a hero.

    Contrarian investment advice: accumulate morals now during this fear cycle.

    #106452
    John Day
    Participant

    Hmm, the last part appears to have been more dangerous or threatening. I had a linkt to Plato’s “Noble Lie” Wikipedia entry. I’ll get that out of the way first:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_lie#:~:text=In%20politics%2C%20a%20noble%20lie,as%20described%20in%20The%20Republic.

    #106453
    John Day
    Participant

    Maybe I can break-u p the rest of the missive a bit. It was rejected without “It looks like you’ve already said that” response.

    Oops, I lost it…

    #106454
    John Day
    Participant

    Retrieved it… Trying again:
    .

    I think things are going okay because I have set the bar fairly low for enlightening-discourse. It can only go so far, as I see it. We’re doing ok here, I think.

    Our discourse has progressed into the obviousness of disinformation-conspiracy since 2016.
    I’ve been a little part of moving Mr. Overton’s window, but all of us have had perceptual adjustments, especially during COVID.

    We are mostly in that 30% who don’t trust vaccines and don’t trust the Putin-Bad narrative, with all of the puzzling overlap between the two categories, though not if you subscribe to Plato’s “noble lie” theory that elites manage society with control-narratives.

    We appear to be in a “super-cycle” economically, the end of 250 years of human expansion based upon fossil fuels. I have accepted it since 1974, maybe March or so, when a teacher spent a 10th grade sociology class period discussing The Limits To Growth. It made perfect sense during the Arab Oil Embargo.

    I am determined to do my best to prepare for a world of much less energy by making food growing systems that require just a little, in a place where food grows well, and you can survive the weather year round. I’ve designed, and am building a house that would be livable in the mid 1800s, when German and Bohemian farmers fled war and settled to farm the Texas Coastal Plains. It was never a slave economy, and many people there today are descended from those settlers.

    I do not have a physical alternative plan to propose as a replacement for the Apex-Predator-of-Apex-Predators sociopathic-rule paradigm.
    I seek to follow spiritual guidance.

    We can’t talk about smothering mentally retarded babies at birth, or girl babies, or eugenics, because these are ugly, but somehow we can kill Iraqi children, or have them killed in our names, if we don’t have to know about it.

    I can work on human-living-with-less-resource-and-energy-consumption, so I do that. It’s a path, not a destination.

    John

    #106455
    Kassandra
    Participant

    Wow V. Arnold, what a mean spirited post.

    I come here to hear different opinions from people that write with wit and wisdom. D Benton Smith I appreciated your thoughts yesterday, even though I personally have a hard time believing in that much evil. I personally think we are somewhere in between. I think there is no doubt that people like Bill Gates have passed over into “evil” and do want to both radically reduce the population while controlling those who are left in extremely sinister ways. I have had the unfortunate luck to be in the company of millionaires and billionaires in my life, none of them were nice people or cared one bit about the average person. I have seen it up close and personal, on vacation with them and spent personal time talking with them. They all made my skin crawl and made me realize that what goes on in the spaces they inhabit really is a form of “conspiracy” against most of humanity.

    My former job was at one of the top research universities in the world, and I have said it before, you could tell this (covid and the response) was all planned and coordinated. It spooked me enough to quit my job, take an enormous paycut, walk away from a sweet pension, and move 1000 miles away from there.

    It’s important we talk about this stuff and not ridicule each other.

    #106456
    Germ
    Participant

    The good news is that Julian Assange most probably won’t be going to the US.
    The sad news is that it’s because he will likely end his own life in Belmarsh.
    It is beyond shameful what they’ve done to him.

    And more from the unfolding Covid circus/ catastrophe:

    “To date (in the US) , only one of the covid claims has been deemed compensable, although no money has been paid yet. In contrast, Thailand’s National Health Security Office reports compensating over 14 000 people around $50m to settle covid vaccine injury claims through a process that promises quick financial assistance.”.

    “Covid-19: Is the US compensation scheme for vaccine injuries fit for purpose?”

    https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o919.full

    Of course, the real issue is that the vaccines themselves are not fit for purpose!

    #106457
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    @Dr. John Day – Re. Plato’s “Noble Lie”
    _____________________

    An interview of a critic of Leo Strauss – c.2003 – on this topic. Snip:

    “There are indeed three types of men: the wise, the gentlemen, and the vulgar. The wise are the lovers of the harsh, unadulterated truth. They are capable of looking into the abyss without fear and trembling. They recognise neither God nor moral imperatives. They are devoted above all else to their own pursuit of the “higher” pleasures, which amount to consorting with their “puppies” or young initiates.

    The second type, the gentlemen, are lovers of honour and glory. They are the most ingratiating towards the conventions of their society – that is, the illusions of the cave. They are true believers in God, honour, and moral imperatives. They are ready and willing to embark on acts of great courage and self-sacrifice at a moment’s notice.

    The third type, the vulgar many, are lovers of wealth and pleasure. They are selfish, slothful, and indolent. They can be inspired to rise above their brutish existence only by fear of impending death or catastrophe.

    Noble lies and perpetual war: Leo Strauss, the neocons, and Iraq
    https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/article_1542jsp/

    Best,

    F.S.

    #106458
    Noirette
    Participant

    DBS posted. But the point I need to convey is that there are other RELATED AND PERTINENT (AND YET DIFFERENT), advanced and urgent, “topics” that I must attend to.

    DBS, Well I sure don’t know what the higher order of things in the Universe is. (I realise that wasn’t precisely the question adressed, my free wheeling interpretation.)

    The Earth is composed of dissipative structures. It is subject to forces (Universe) we don’t understand, though we piddle about with the laws of physics in our own little corner. Even these seem off at times, as incomplete, folklorish, whatever. I remember at school I could not believe the moon regulated tides. Heh. (I still don’t.. but haven’t thought about it for decades..)

    To see or feel that organizing principles are embodied into some kind of higher order entities – God, Deities, Celestial Forces – who actually take decisions (usually painted as resting on moral grounds, whatever they might be..) of one kind or another seems natural from a human pov, as we predict the future and take decisions that shape it, well, so OK. I’m agnostic on all that, I don’t know, and reckon I will never know, and I’m fine with that. My concerns are more mundane and practical, so what are the urgent topics, understood that views may differ wildly..? They stretch from local trivialities (not trivial for those dealing) to grand philosophical stances or what?

    As for the global conspi. to end humanity, I’m ready to take up that topic…remember the rich cannot live without minions and expect sexy slaves as their right.

    #106459
    Noirette
    Participant

    Heh Zelensky is so pathetic Idk where to begin.

    Ukraine. This is both a civil war – part of the ex-USSR against another part – therefore Russia’s tag of special military operation as if it was their territory, which in a way it is. And a proxy war – the US vs. Russia on the lands of Ukraine, the US determined to fight the Russkies to the last Ukrainian. In that sense there are similarities with Syria, though differences as well.

    Past times.

    Contra Iraq invasion, 2003. Schroeder and Chirac refused to join and Blair had major difficulties (RIP David Kelly), leading to massive delays to the bombing and murder, finally it went thru but the coalition was ‘slim’ and Booted Bremer was a lonely figure, the support was fig-leaf, and hyped.

    Then for Syria, because of Iraq, Cameron called a vote to Parliament which did not support the invasion and did not join.

    So then the USA ordained: Never Again.

    Never again would these F*** the EU countries be allowed to opposed the Pax Americana.

    How they achieved that idk though I have some ideas.

    #106460
    TAE Summary
    Participant

    The Key Signs of an Empire in Decline from The Fate of Empires by John Glubb
    * Intellectualism and a decline of religion
    * An influx of foreigners
    * Internal hatreds
    * Affluence, materialism and frivolity
    * The largess of the welfare state
    * Selfishness, the love of money and a loss of the sense of duty

    It is sadly comforting to realize that the US collapse is just part of the natural cycle and is inevitable.

    #106461
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    Warning: Minority Report

    I do not “do” social media in any form at any time.
    TAE of late is reading like social media.
    Once some time ago the site subsisted to large extent on factual exchange and considered opinions.
    Facts are facts only if they can be proven or disproved.
    Beliefs, faith, religion, doctrine, theology, ideology, creeds, cults and cannon all cannot be disproved or proved – they are not factual although they may be fact in they exist.
    Please refrain from making judgments about others based on your non-factual mindset (or anything you learned or remember from MBA Econ 101).
    There are probably other sites available for your opinions, please express them there and allow R.I.M. to conduct HIS site as he deems fit, the presentation of newsworthy flotsam and jetsam from various media in aggregation.
    Many thanks.

    #106462
    Mr. House
    Participant

    “factual exchange and considered opinions.”

    Is anyone even able to discern what those are anymore?

    #106463
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    Mr. House,
    Probably not. Little current evidence available. May be at point of extinction now.

    #106464
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    I agree Mr. House. What is real regarding the world is very difficult to determine.

    @ FS

    I enjoyed reading about the three types of men and it left me thinking that we are likely a combination of the various types.

    I see myself as a fearless truth seeker. I have a clear sense of what is right and wrong but at this point all I can say about that is this sense comes from within me (my logic and feeling). While do believe in honor a life of self sacrifice would be a wasted life from my perspective. Regarding the third type I definitely love pleasure and I am of the opinion that it is one of the greatest joys in life.

    Something to reflect on and it is back into the woods for me.

    #106465
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    It’s fascinating how the rule of law rulings sometimes do work!

    Latest: … Russia’s recent payment in ₽s on two $ bonds was ruled a “potential default” by a “derivatives panel”

    Yes, … the derivative panel: “The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee” ruled that a “potential failure-to-pay event” occurred for credit-default swaps when Russia made the payment in ₽s.

    Now, … normally, Russia exchanges ₽s into $s at some foreign bank and makes the payment in $s, … but this time, some foreign bank declined to process $ transfers, … so Russia paid in ₽s. And so, now, Russia is in default. Cool!

    F.S.

    #106466
    John Day
    Participant

    @Figmund Sreud: I think there may be more than those 3 types of men. I don’t see Gandhi or Buddha in there, maybe not even Elon Musk.

    I am reading about Leo Strauss and his take on Plato, as you counseled. This jumps out at me:

    “The effect of Strauss’s teaching is to convince his acolytes that they are the natural ruling elite and the persecuted few. And it does not take much intelligence for them to surmise that they are in a situation of great danger, especially in a world devoted to the modern ideas of equal rights and freedoms. Now more than ever, the wise few must proceed cautiously and with circumspection. So, they come to the conclusion that they have a moral justification to lie in order to avoid persecution. Strauss goes so far as to say that dissembling and deception – in effect, a culture of lies – is the peculiar justice of the wise.”

    It’s a secret society of the powerful. What’s not to like, if you’re in it?
    Signal virtue by lying to the herd?
    Right-On!

    #106467

    So does Musk take this as a holiday? Or is he going to make it a day to remember?

    #106468
    Bishko
    Participant

    The Resilient Gardener, Carol Deppe recommends you raise, Potatoes, Corn, Beans, Winter Squash and Ducks. This spring may be the last time you can reasonably expect to get started before it’s too late.

    “The Secret of Success is Constancy of Purpose.” — Benjamin Disraeli

    #106469
    John Day
    Participant

    More on Leo Strauss:
    “Strauss is a nihilist in the sense that he believes that there is no rational foundation for morality. He is an atheist, and he believes that in the absence of God, morality has no grounding. It’s all about benefiting others and oneself; there is no objective reason for doing so, only rewards and punishments in this life.
    But Strauss is not a nihilist if we mean by the term a denial that there is any truth, a belief that everything is interpretation. He does not deny that there is an independent reality. On the contrary, he thinks that independent reality consists in nature and its “order of rank” – the high and the low, the superior and the inferior.”


    @Bishko
    : Carol Deppe lives in the Pacific Northwest. I also recommend her books, but you have to modify them for your specific location. I have tried a LOT of what she recommends. Texas is several different kinds of different.
    Start gardening, no matter what.

    #106470
    willem
    Participant

    @Dr. D: Good point regarding the profit picture for growers cutting back on fertilizers. Not to be forgotten is that organic farmers and those others who have been practicing sustainable agriculture will find their asking prices can now be more competitive. Also, their profit margins will jump for two reasons: their costs will not rise, and their yields will not shrink.

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