Revelation, Planes still don't fly in blizzards

 COMMON SENSE PROVIDES SAFETY FOR WINTER TRAVEL

AIRLINES CAN NOT BE BLAMED FOR THE WEATHER

Much ado because airline canceled thousands of flights during Christmas inconveniencing travelers who hoped to be with family for the holidays. Planes just are not safe flying in blizzards and also freezing rain and high wind, all prevalent during the Christmas weekend. Get over it! Maybe it would be better to visit family for the fourth of July.

Personally, I have refused to fly anywhere and especially in the winter. Your chances of being stranded in some airport for some time are very high, it is just a fact of life. Accept it, you are never going to change this reality. Do you want the airlines to just go for it, when they understand the increased risks involved, if so maybe some investors should form a new airlines, called the "Kamikaze " or "Russian Roulette" Airways. There motto could be, "We fly when others are chicken"

When flights are cancelled due to weather a snow ball effect is created, now crews and pilots are not available in other parts of the country due their inability to travel and it just escalates into chaos. My only complaint about the airlines is they need to do a better service in accommodating passengers in arraigning alternative flights. Could you imagine someone without a cell phone stuck in some airport for days. A good common sense idea would be to just stay home if the weather looks like trouble.

We also see that a lot of people died stuck in their cars and in the snow.  Another simple lack of common sense. Do not go out in winter in shorts and sandals. Do not go out without the proper cloths in case of an emergency. Things your mother should have taught you in Kindergarten. 

While weather forecasting is sometimes not perfect, in today's world it is reasonably good for 5 days in advance. Years ago sailors and travelers were hit unexpectedly with violent weather, with little time to prepare or hunker down until the storm passed. It seems many today are just too self absorbed with other priorities to make good decisions for their safety. Maybe it is just the old law of natural selection still at work.

Poland now mobilizing military.

 POLAND MAY BE READYING FOR BUILDING CRISIS

OR HOPES TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF UKRAINIAN COLLAPSE

It has been reported that Poland is in the process of mobilizing up to 200,000 military personal. There has been no announcements about what is the purpose of this mobilization. Speculation by some suggests  that as Ukraine runs low on recruits NATO is hoping to supplement them with Polish troops. I would expect that this unlikely, it would be a very severe escalation of this crisis and Poland would then be another country living on aid from other countries.

It is also reported that Poland has 2.3 million Ukrainian refuges in their country now, many are women and children. It is costing Poland large expenditures to house, feed and educate these refuges. There also has been up to 4 million who have transited through Poland to other countries. As the conditions in Ukraine deteriorate it is likely Poland will have an avalanche of new refuges. It is a good bet Poland is ramping up to either discourage more refuges or to process them to other countries.

The other possibility is that Poland has been complaining about the borders between Ukraine and Poland. They feel that in the wake of WW2 they lost considerable real estate, that is now western Ukraine. These decisions were made by Stalin in the forming of the Soviet Union. 

When the Soviet Union disintegrated into individual countries, these border problems were never addressed. They believe that they have a legitimate claim to much of western Ukraine. They have recently proposed that the western border of Ukraine be removed, this was never fully explained. One other possibility is as Ukraine deteriorates, some may believe that if western Ukraine were part of Poland, they would also then be part of NATO and would be protected form any further Russian expansion.

Much of the problems in Europe for centuries has been the changing borders, ethic populations in border lands and discrimination against minority populations. This was the case with the Yugoslavia break up and the Kosovo/ Serbian situation which is continuing today. It is a large factor in the eastern Ukraine and Crimean situation between the Ukrainian government and the Russian population. We have seen similar disputes in the middle east when after WW1  and WW2, the western powers divided countries for political purposes without considering the natural ethic populations and cultural differences. Many of these disputes continue until today.

Originally countries were formed by clans and tribes who resided in these geographic areas, when these natural boundaries are removed and replaced with arbitrary borders they always end in disputes and often war.

World economic war escalates.

 RUSSIA SUSPENDS OIL SALES TO COUNTRIES THAT ATTEMPT TO IMPOSE PRICE CAP

EXPECT RISING OIL PRICES FOR EVERYONE

History is full of examples of attempts to control prices with price caps, they all end in shortages and then increased prices, this latest attempt will end the same. While oil is a commodity without borders, a real international commodity, any attempt to cap the price will end in failure and economic suffering for everyone.

We will see how long this plan stays in effect or will it just fade away and some can call the cap another emotional symbolic effort to damage the Russian economy. It will most likely harm the imposers more than the Russians.

The next test is to see if the G7 attempts to cap the price of Russian gas that still is being supplied to western Europe through Ukraine, a fact little reported by the usual press. Actually, Ukraine still receives $1 billion in revenue from the transit of Russian gas through the country.  This is one of the reasons for the opposition of the Nord stream 2 which could have bypassed Ukraine and cost them all that revenue, including the Ukrainian gas companies, which are benefactors of the Bidens.

Since Russia has taken this step of refusing to sell at the capped price, the ball is now in the West's court to see if they will risk capping Russian gas which is a much more important source of energy to Ukraine and western Europe. Of course, this will be reported as Russia using oil as a weapon.

This is just another step in the worldwide economic warfare that is a two edged sword. The imposers seem to suffer just as much as the Russians, if not more. 

They have already band the sale of Russian gold on the London exchange, does anyone believe that the gold is not going to be sold? It will be sold, but the London traders are losing their commissions. In fact, it seems that Russia is a net purchaser of gold on the world market. This may be coupled with the desire of many countries to tie a new currency to a commodity index of possibly gold and oil to create a more stable currency than the present constantly inflating dollar.

While the west has a monopoly on the financial institutions worldwide, they no longer have a monopoly on the life sustaining commodities  produced mostly in the third world, Russia and the middle east. The use of the dollar and these financial monopolies as a political weapon has increased the desire of many of these countries to find an alternative.

At one time the dollar was considered,"as good as gold" that is when gold was valued at $35. an ounce, it is now $1800 dollars an ounce. It is just an indication of the inflated dollar caused by decades of government deficit spending. U.S. inflation and the dollar are noted by foreign producers, it was the U.S. inflation of the 1970's that created OPEC to protect themselves from receiving lower valued dollars for their oil. OPEC will not support price caps dictated by oil using countries at the expense of producing countries.

So, of course this is all to come to aid of Ukraine and the Ukraine war which was so easily avoided if the west had put themselves in Russia's place in their opposition to NATO expansion. Deaf to the lessons of the Cuban missile crisis and unable to understand what the U.S. position would be with a foreign military alliance on the Mexican or Canadian border. If this country had any real foreign diplomats, or would have listened to those who tried to warn them they would have understood that this would be the result.

It seems that we have leaders who do not understand limits and are so inflated with hubris they believe they can rule the world. Judging from their decisions and the results, such a rule would be a sad day for the world.

The Department of Injustice.

HAVE REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS BEEN TREATED EQUALLY

IS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT A DEEP STATE WEAPON

Everyone is whooping it up in Washington since Trump voiced his opinion about an excessive sentence recommended by DOJ prosecutors for Roger Stone. Stone was convicted of perjury and witness tampering and the former Mueller investigators recommended a 9 years sentence. A sentence in excess of what is often handed out for rape, assault and manslaughter.

Lets take a look at the DOJ treatment of political suspects in recent years. 

1. Hillary Clinton, who maintained her own personal server while Secretary of State. This is a clear violation of the Federal government records law and the freedom of information record keeping law. When confronted and subpoenaed she had the server and its contents destroyed along with multiple cell phones. The members of her staff were granted immunity from prosecution by DOJ without any explanation.

2. Tony Podesta, brother of John Podesta, campaign chairman of the Clinton campaign was the lobbyist of the overthrown Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych. Never registered as a foreign agent. He was never charged or indicted for his role. While Paul Manafort who was a political consultant for Yanucovych was charged and convicted as an agent of a foreign government.

3, Greg Craig, former Clinton and Obama lawyer, while also working for Yanukovych was not charged as a foreign agent, was charged for perjury for lying about it, but acquitted in a jury trial. Did the DOJ  aggressively push this case?

4. James Clapper, former NSC director, swore under oath on national TV, in a congressional hearing , that the government does not engage in surveillance of U.S. citizens, it was a proven lie. The whistle blower,  Snowden who proved the lie,  had to flee the country and if returned would possibly get the death penalty. Clapper was never charged.

5 FBI director James Comey has admitted he leaked confidential information to a college professor who leaked it to the New York times to trigger the naming of Independent council Robert Mueller, a close friend of Comey. This was an attempt to force Trump from office. No charges brought.

6. Acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, fired for lying to the FBI, no charges Brought.

7. Comey, McCabe and Acting Attorney General Rosenstein all signed and swore under oath that the information in the FISA warrants was true and correct when it has been proven that they knew it to be false and was produced by the Clinton campaign.

These are only some of the possible examples.

How about some Republican cases brought by the DOJ.

1. General Michael Flynn, 30 year military career, former Defense department intelligence director.  Fired by the Obama administration when he raised the warning about the rising threat from ISIS. He was approached by 2 FBI agent within days of his becoming the National Intelligence Director for Trump. He engaged in a casual conversation, he suspected it was all routine, little did he know that he had been under surveillance by the FBI for months. While the agents testified that they believed he did not knowingly lie to them. He was charged with perjury for lying to the FBI and forced out of his position. He was given the choice of pleading guilty or they would arrest and prosecute his son as a foreign agent because he had talked to Turkish officials about a possible consulting contract with Turkey. Flynn plead guilty to protect his son.

It was later revealed that FBI director Comey bragged how easy it was to entrap inexperienced Trump appointees and associates who trusted government officials.  Flynn has since attempted to reverse his plea, but the DOJ wants him to serve a jail term.

2. Roger Stone was charged with process crimes, there was not evidence that he colluded with Russians or Wikileaks, but he dared to challenge the DOJ in court. They want to make an example that if charged, just plead guilty or they will crush you.

3. George Papadopoulas a low level consultant for the Trump campaign, was fed information about Hillary Clinton by an FBI operative, then contacted by another FBI informant in a bar with whom Papadopoulas talked about this information. He was then questioned by the FBI who charged him with perjury for not being  exact in his recollection. It was only later that the whole plot was revealed. Papadopoulas served some time and has a felony record. He is now suing the FBI. Good luck with that.

4. Paul Manafort the first target of the FBI, was forced out of the Trump campaign when information from the Ukraine was produced to show money transfers to Manafort. This so called black-ledger has since become questioned as a fabrication. Manafort was eventually indicted and convicted of this, plus perjury, and acting as a foreign lobbyist. He was held in solitary confinement, without bail for 9 months, allowed out 1 hour a day.  He is presently serving a 30 year sentence.

Now any attempt to address abuses by the FBI or DOJ triggers the explanation that it is a vindictive president Trump abusing his power to even suggest corruption in the federal government.

These charges are all supported by the democrats and the media, who know the truth, but their fear and hatred of Trump overcomes any thought of fairness and justice. They have a lot of nerve to ever talk about trying to preserve our democracy. when they are the very ones destroying it.


Originally published 2/13/2020  More relevant as the days go by.

Spin will not save Ukraine.

 NO OBJECTIVE WESTERN REPORTING ON UKRAINE

ONE THING IS TRUE, WEST IS WILLING TO CONTINUE UNTIL LAST UKRAINIAN

We witnessed the celebrity show in Washington praising Zelenzky and promising another $44 billion in aid. This will bring U.S. aid to $100 billion and I would expect more in the near future. We are still being told that Ukraine is winning and that the Russian offense has stalled. It is true that Russia has not taken much ground in months, but that is not the whole story of this conflict.

Early in this conflict Russia seemed to probe several objectives and eventually seemed to settle on a strategy of degradation of the Ukrainian military and infrastructure. While they have accumulated large supplies and reserves in perpetration for a further escalation they have mostly just continued to destroy the Ukrainian military without taking new ground. It now appears that has been the strategy and not a result necessarily of Ukrainian resistance, which up to now has been quite impressive.

The Ukrainian military is being supplied from 750 miles across Ukraine through Poland and Romania. The Russian army is sitting very close to the Russian border and actually has very little resupply problems. This is a great advantage to the Russian military.

Russia could have taken out all of the infrastructure, including all the bridges early on in this war, it did not. One has to wonder why? Unless Russia also does not want this war to end quickly, a very similar objective as that of the U.S.. While there is pressure inside Russia to increase this effort, it has mostly been more of a slow patient degradation of the manpower of Ukraine but also of the ability of the west to keep up with the supply of arms and ammunition. $100 billion in aid is nearly double the Russian annual military budget.

Only recently has Russia taken out the electrical distribution system of Ukraine, it cannot be restored for a long time. It has not taken out the electrical generation system, the bridges or the railways. Taking out that infrastructure could have mostly eliminated resupply from the west.

So is the Russian army now just creating a massive junk yard, with a massive shredder, shredding western equipment and Ukrainian lives. 

Ukraine cannot recapture the land that it has lost, but as time goes on its ability to resist is being degraded by the day and so is the west's ability to resupply. 

Ukraine in the meantime is solely dependent on the United States for everything including making payroll for its bureaucrats and even their pensions. Ukraine has very little capability to produce income, has outlawed opposition political parties, there is no free press, and I would expect no elections in the future. It is actually attacking the church as an ally of Putin. It has also been reported that citizens are now confined to their homes and freedom of travel is restricted to forestall a mass exodus from the country. Many who do not have electric or heat. How long can this disaster continue?

Western Europe is in the process of collapsing economically and politically. How long can they contain the protests about food and energy prices? There are hints that they want to end this soon.

We have been sold a narrative for 10 months that Russia is going to collapse at any moment, that Putin is sick and will be overthrown. That the people of Russia are suffering and will soon revolt. There is no real evidence for any of that. If  Putin would not be the leader of Russia it is unlikely that the policy would change.

The west will soon have two choices, both very bad ones. One is to admit defeat and negotiate a security arrangement with Russia, similar to what Putin proposed before the conflict. Russia will not agree to give up those areas it has incorporated into Russia. Both Germany and France have indicated they are ready for such a deal.

The second is far worse, that is to finally admit that this is a war between the U.S. and Russia and western Europe and Ukraine are just going to be so much collateral damage. It seems the U.S. population has, after 2 decades of anti-Russian propaganda, been readied to go to war with Russia, to save the world. This will likely be facilitated by Poland or some other NATO country acting as the Agent Provocateur to illicit an attack from Russia or Belarus.

If our policy makers choose number two we can expect that the U.S. homeland will not go unscathed and that the concerns about overpopulation and overuse of natural resources will no longer be a problem. It will just boil down to basic survival for the foreseeable future.

Trump now says he will consider being temporary speaker.

 MCCARTHY DOES NOT HAVE THE VOTES

NEITHER DOES ANYONE ELSE

It the latest bizarre revelations in Washington, it now appears that the Republican house is faced with no Speaker when they take control in less than 2 weeks. The democrats are already strategizing how they can optimize this lack of unity when the time comes. As of now, no one has the required votes to win the position. Early on, it was suggested by some that Trump could be voted in as Speaker, Trump quickly stated he was not interested.

The latest proposal is that Trump would be voted in as speaker for 90 days, or until the republicans could settle their differences as to who will be speaker. It is reported that Trump let it be known that he would consider this proposal depending on the details.

Whether this is a serious proposal or just more maneuvering is an open question. It would of course raise hell with the democrats and likely some republicans, maybe it is just a strategy to induce everyone to compromise on a new speaker. It may be an incentive for some democrats to agree to vote for McCarthy, rather than face a Trump speaker. 

Whether it is all hot air or a device to force compromises, it would be a explosive development in Washington politics and add a lot of drama to the already dysfunctional government.

Twitter files 8. Security services used social media for Psychological warfare.

 SOCIAL MEDIA HAS LONG BEEN RECOGNIZED AS PART OF REGIME CHANGE TACTICS

HAVE THESE METHODS BEEN USED ON THE DOMESTIC POPULATION?

It has been public knowledge that social media has been used in many of the regime change movements around the world. It was clear in Ukraine in 2004 and 2014, Russia in 2011 and Egypt 2011, where many of the instigators were U.S. citizens on the ground and arrested and eventually negotiated their release by the Obama administration. Many of these movements were on the borders of Russia, including Belarus 2006, Georgia, 2003, Kyrgyzstan 2005, and Kazakhstan 2022 and Yugoslavia 2000. The next targeted area is the middle east, with Iraq 2005, Lebanon 2005, Kuwait 2005 and of course Egypt 2011. These were all part of a series of so-called color revolutions that were in excess of 30 social revolutions with the goal of overthrowing the existing government. Many of these governments were not enemies or adversaries of the United States.

In the latest revelations from Twitter it has been revealed that the FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies have been involved in using social media around the world to inspire social discontent by using false information, and in effect, conducting psychological warfare around the world. We, of course have been told that these movements were all just domestic discontent that has risen spontaneously.  If this is true of Twitter we can bet it was much more widely used by Facebook and likely every other platform that they were granted access.

One must wonder if the social unrest in the United States in last decade has also been a result of influence and misinformation supplied by the same agencies. Has their success in these methods around the world enticed them to use the same methods on the civilian population of the United States? Is this why anyone who watches foreign policy and politics in the United States now have the feeling that you can not believe anything, unless you have first hand knowledge of its veracity?

It has been acknowledged for some time that the security state has had a practice of leaking information to selective journalists who then write stories from anonymous sources and later other journalist and even the security state themselves use those stories as evidence of their validity. These methods have been used here, it is disinformation to effect public perceptions that are false. Has the United States civilian population been subjected to physiological warfare in an effort to undermine our institutions, divide the country and create social unrest, all from actors from government agencies?  

The Russian Hoax and the other disinformation and slander that has been directed against Donald Trump, may be the most obvious view of these practices, but it seems this is just one area of disinformation being used against the citizens of this country.

Judging from past behavior we can expect the media to ignore these revelations, likely because they have been complicit, maybe willingly, in these actions. 

Hopefully these revelations will open a window to the populace to understand why we see chaos, division and social unrest in a country that has offered the greatest hope of opportunity in world history.

Something seems to be cooking in Russia.

 RUSSIA SEEMS TO BE MAKING NEW PLANS FOR THE UKRAINE CONFLICT

IT IS ALL LIKELY TO BE REVEALED VERY SOON

This past week saw a large meeting in Moscow with all the leaders, both political and military. It was followed yesterday with a meeting in Belarus, with Putin himself and all his top staff and some military leaders, supposedly talking about some new Nuclear power plants. It seems that something is about to happen soon.

While all this could just be a diversion to put Ukraine on guard, it is most likely not just a ruse. It seems there is never a leak or divulging of strategy out of Moscow. It could be to entice Ukraine to add support to the Kyiv area and thus draw down some troops from were the current fighting is going on, or as some suggest, Kyiv is not the target, but actually an effort to cut off supplies coming through  Poland and Romania. Efforts based out of Belarus makes sense, since it is all very close to were supplies are entering the country.

While we hear stories of Russians being tired and unsupportive of the war, it seems the truth is that many both in and out of government want to get this whole affair over with a military victory. So far, it has been a slow grinding down of the Ukrainian military, a destruction of military infrastructure and a disruption of civilian infrastructure, that may all be about to change.

The Russian military may feel that due to the weather and limits of the remaining Ukrainian military it is time to up the conflict to a new level. Sadly, the numbers of both men and equipment favor the Russians at this point unless the west is willing to send men and equipment to aid the Ukrainians. While the U.S., UK and Poland would be willing, the rest of NATO will unlikely support such an escalation as they will be directly affected by any such conflict.

It seems there is no one willing to support a negotiated settlement at this time. It appears those bridges have all been burned and there will be a lot more death and destruction by all before it is ripe for a negotiation.

Will we now be forced to accept crypto currency as the only means of trade.

 

 WHY WOULD ANYONE STORE THEIR ASSETS IN THE CLOUD?

WE HAVE ALL WITNESSED CLOUDS DISAPPEARING

Only Millennials would accept storing their hard earned wealth in cyber space where it could disappear in an instant. I believe many millennials are smart and do have a view of the future, but they obviously have a very limited understanding of history. The history of money, and what it is supposed to be. The history of governments ability to debase and devalue money and implement policies to benefit government over citizens.

Recently bitcoin has traded at over $37,000. It began at 30 cents in 2011. Many believe its value is unlimited, because it is a fixed limited supply. This is reminiscent of Tulip Mania in Holland in the 1830's  and the Pine lumber bubble in early America and the more recent bubble in silver prices in 1980's. These are commodity bubbles and after their collapse at least you still owned tulip bulbs, pine boards and silver, while the value was dramatically lower, you still had something.  I don't know if you can classify Bitcoin as a commodity, it is sold as a currency.

I  suppose we have been conditioned to put our faith in intangible things. Money up until the late 20th. century was always gold or silver. Our paper money, up until the 1970,s was a receipt for a certain weight of gold and silver. Our coins up until 1964 were silver. Now our paper money only has value because people will exchange goods and services for it. It has no real value in itself. It is continually losing its buying power due to government budget deficits and unlimited supply of so called money.

We often hear the term when reminiscing about what things were worth years ago as increasing in value, but in effect they have not, just the value of money has been debased. This is why many believe bitcoin is a good investment, because it cannot be debased by government action. The problem is you cannot put it under the mattress and it is probably the most vulnerable asset ever created. Does anyone believe that governments around the world will allow transactions to occur that are not taxed, regulated and controlled by them? Government regulation can and will likely sentence bitcoin and other digital currencies to disappear into thin air.

They will likely actually replace these digital curriens with their own, controlled, taxed and regulated by governments around the world. It is their perfect dream. They will be able to fine, tax and confiscate without any restraint. Have no doubt, I suspect the planning is already in the works. 

When I was a young boy in the 1950's, I spent a lot of time with elderly people in my neighborhood, who relayed stories of the depression. They did not trust banks, they often kept their money hidden somewhere in their house. They saw many peoples money just disappear overnight. They unanimously were deathly afraid of debt. They remember the confiscation by the government of their gold. 

My parents generation, the WW2 generation, did regain their trust in banks and the government but they also were very wary of debt.

My generation, the boomers have embraced debt as the only way of doing business, never counting the interest they have paid over their lifetime, some never actually acquiring a positive net worth.

The present generation has thrown off all restraint and their faith is in the clouds, not anticipating that anything bad can ever happen. Maybe the wariness of earlier generations has pushed off the inevitable day of accounting. Bitcoin is just a symptom of the times.

originally published 2/5/21

6/20/22 Bitcoin and other crypto currencies have recently plunged in value. It is inevitable to eventually be worthless.

12/19/22. Crypto currencies have now taken a further decline, a decline into what they are really worth, nothing. Now we see that the government has now realized it will save the crypto market and possibly make it the only means of exchange in the future. The treasury department is reviewing how it can capitalize on this fake money.

Section 230 is important for freedom of speech.

 WITHOUT SECTION 230 SOCIAL MEDIA AND INTERNET NEWS AND OPINION PLATFORMS WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE

ANY TALK OF ELIMINATING 230 IS AN ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH

We often hear that section 230 gives immunity to all kinds of internet practices. This immunity is limited to internet platforms that host third party content. It protects them from civil lawsuits of slander, or other lawsuits from what is posted by those using their platform. It does not protect those using the platform from their activity, especially if it is illegal content.

Most of the discussion arises from the coordinated censorship of speech by many of the biggest platforms, Twitter, Facebook etc. Removing the protections of section 230 would in effect eliminate the possibility of such platforms and also give these platforms more reasons to censure speech.

Censorship should be abhorrent by all Americans, without free speech we are not a free country. Much of this has to do with political speech, the real reason we have a first amendment. It was not written to protect pornography or crude displays against religion, but to protect political speech, the bedrock of self government. Censorship is the bedrock of totalitarian governments whether socialist, communist or fascist.

The best solution is if internet platforms would adhere to their own guidelines originally drawn up as conditions of service, prohibiting illegal content, child pornography, drug transactions or human trafficking and other such activities, also threatening others with physical violence etc. Just plain common sense things that people should not do.

When Barack Obama's political campaigns used social media, it was considered and touted as genius, when Trump did the same it was touted as criminal. Obviously it immediately showed the possible bias in these platforms that have in effect replaced the written press and is in the process of replacing broadcast media. It is indeed the town hall of the future, if not now.

The best way to address this situation is to consider these platforms as utilities that are forbidden to discriminate on the basis of race, sex or political view. There should be heavy penalties for this discrimination and we could indeed have a more vibrant discussion by all of the citizens of the country. 

It would be big step forward for representative democracy and encourage participation and sharing of ideas throughout the country and the world.

It is a fact that we NEED this open communication, it needs to replace the corporate media which has for some time had a monopoly on information, particularly political information. They choose to enhance what they think is in their or their patrons best interest and ignore and not report what think people should not know about. These practices have been so obvious that their approval is in some polls down to single digits, their viewership is declining and they are soon becoming irrelevant. 

They should have the right to pick and choose what they report, and citizens should have the right to listen and watch what they find most credible and revealing. That is America as we know it.  

All truth in an open and accessible information age will reveal itself. The truth will win out if it is given a fair hearing. A discussion where ideas that are opposed can be articulated by either side would be in the best interest of the nation. Only those who want a continued  monopoly on information consisting of lies and half truths want to maintain such a monopoly. Our nation and the world will be a better place with free and open display of free speech and ideas.

Twitter collusion, criminal implications or civil rights violations?.

RESTRICTING FREE SPEECH BY ELECTED OFFICIALS SHOULD RESULT IN IMPEACHMENT

EVERYONE INVOLVED, GUILTY OF CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS 

In the early stages of this new scandal concerning censorship by elected officials and government employees, it is still not clear what the offenses will entail. To restrict free speech by government officials is a constitutional matter. It is also a conspiracy to effect elections and enhance political power. That offenses have occurred are clear, what the penalties should be and remedies are not.

We have already seen the complicit major media po-po the released information as a non story. Of course, because they are guilty of the same collusion and conspiracy. A conspiracy to withhold information in a free society that effect the decision making of the citizens and the peoples representatives, all in the attempt to increase government power. 

Remember, Trump was impeached by a democrat house for asking for information of illegal acts by the Biden family from a foreign government. The acts are in fact fact and the impeachment was in fact a cover-up of those facts. Then government employees of the intelligence community used intimidation to hid those fact from the american people. 

Anyone, and I mean anyone who condones this behavior in the name of party unity is a traitor to America. An America that has sought to be nation of fair play and free speech, freedom to disagree, freedom to have other alternatives. Any government, and any private corporation or company that conspires to deny the civil rights of those whose words have been censored, banned and labeled with viscous adjectives of racist, fascist or other terms to deny their credibility are guilty.

While this conspiracy and collusion is now in the open concerning Twitter, it is very likely also applicable to the Washington Post, the New York times, Facebook and every other social media platform. While the Twitter conspiracy is a clear fact, the others need to be investigated for their collusion with government officials and operatives to deny the civil rights of all Americans in an effort to control and enhance their political power in direct opposition to the tenants of the U.S. Constitution.

If there is no accountability for these actions, just like the actions of other conspirators concerning the Russian hoax, the country is doomed, we are no better than other third world dictators who engage in these practices to insure their political power.

Liberal, conservative, left, right, no longer valid identities

 IT IS NOW STATISM OR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES

NOT ONLY IN DOMESTIC AFFAIRS ALSO IN WORLD AFFAIRS

As the days go on we see the former coalitions evaporating, whether it was the former left that embraced individual rights, free press, openness and a rejection of foreign military intervention, or the right that was for free trade without limits, an aggressive foreign policy and a support of government control. It has now all been transformed into new coalitions that are more about the lust for power than any principles.

The new terms are an embrace of the state as the power over all aspects of life. The New religion of Statism that promises equality of result rather than equality of opportunity. That feels its role it to censor all speech that objects to its goals of control and power both at home and abroad, and is now applauded by a growing number of the citizenry. 

Since the dawn of 21st century the doctrine of regime change and the elimination of systems and beliefs that are contrary to the approved ideology are embraced by what used to be called the left. This includes censorship and an attack on religious liberty which is now viewed as threat to the power of the state.

Many on the former right have rejected the idea of unlimited and unregulated foreign trade as a threat to the well being of the workers of the nation. Many are also questioning the use of our military as a cudgel to overthrow any government that does not submit to the demand of the world Statists. Truly all the former coalitions are now in question.

The democrat party has now evolved into some blend of Marxism, atheism and an embrace of an all powerful and all consuming federal government. It consents to foreign wars that that can be sold as a furthering of their ideology, which no longer advocates democracy but an adherence to some Marxist godless ideology. They embrace and support government control through surveillance, censorship and even political prosecution, as long as it is to further their new ideological positions. 

These same positions are also held by a substantial number of the republican adherents, whose coalition has been severely disrupted by the Trump influence on the party. While many still believe in the power of the government to insure their business success or benefit from the largess of foreign intervention and foreign trade many have rejected those policies in favor of a policy of advocating for America first.

Government power is always what needs to be feared most. Dependence on government power is always a two edged sword that will benefit you today and decapitate you tomorrow. It was a lesson learned by our founders who experienced the results of the power of European Kings and aristocrats. The constitution they wrote is a remarkable restraint of government power, that is why statists are continually attempting to denigrate and attack this law for the government. They view the constitution, free expression, religious freedom, right of speedy trial, warrants for surveillance and right to keep and bear arms,  a hindrance to their goal of totalitarian power.

Ukraine , the most under reported conflict in modern history.

 NEWS FROM THE BATTLEFIELD IS PRESS RELEASES FROM KIEV AND WASHINGTON

INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS BANNED FROM THE CONFLICT ZONE

While the war in Ukraine is into its 10th month there has been very little objective analysis of this conflict. This is mostly due to the fact that Ukraine has not allowed any journalists near the conflict areas. We see the reporters who are in the country report from their hotels in Lviv and Kiev and are given videos and press releases approved by the Ukrainian government.

Last week, EU president Ursula Von Der Leyen stated that 100,000 Ukrainian servicemen had died so far in this conflict. It came as a shock to most of the world and within hours the video was altered removing the statement. Not much later it was removed entirely. This statement increased scrutiny on the progress of this conflict, eliciting comments by several people who have some knowledge of what is going on in Ukraine.

One is former colonel Douglas MacGregor,  who in interviews stated that this number is likely extremely low and that in the beginning of the war the Ukrainians were losing men at a rate of 3 Ukrainians to 1 Russian and now that number is closer to 10 to 1. He estimated that Ukraine is now fielding around 195,000 men but that Russia has amassed a force of over 600,000 in Ukraine and on the border and their more modern and sophisticated weapons are being moved into the region.. U.S. and UK special forces are mostly manning the more sophisticated weapons for Ukraine. 

He also stated that new recruits coming into the conflict are untrained and that most never see a Russian as the Russians are shelling the Ukrainians with near 20,000 artillery shells a day, a number that at one time was responded to by the Ukrainians but is now down to 5 to 7,000, as they are running low on such munitions.

Also interviewed this week was Scott Ritter, former marine intelligence officer, and former UN weapons inspector, the Scott Ritter who claimed early on that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He believes that the dead in Ukraine may be nearing 300,000 and sites a petition circulating in Ukraine by mothers and wives who claim that there are 320,000 soldiers who have not been heard from in months. He claims that the Ukrainians are now losing around 1000 men a day. He believes that NATO and the US is unable to keep up the supply of ammunition, stating that in the gulf war the US used 60,000 rounds of 155mm artillery rounds in the whole war. The U.S. in normal times has the capacity to produce 250,000 rounds a year. That number is being used up in several months in this ground conflict.

Then in an interview for NEWSWEEK, the leader of Mozart, Andrew Milburn, whose group is made up of contractors who are training and advising Ukrainian troops in the conflict zone, made the statement that new units of Ukrainian recruits are suffering over 70% casualties in quick order. He claims that 80 % of the new recruits have never fired a weapon.

It was also claimed that shoulder fired antiaircraft and anti-tank weapons are turning up in Africa and on the black market in European countries, a recipe for disaster in the future.

It is estimated that 2.5 million Ukrainians have fled to Russia and 7 to 8 million have moved to western Europe. That is 1/3 of the pre-war population.

It was again reported this week that a plan embracing neutrality for Ukraine was agreed to in Turkey in a deal with Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France at the start of this conflict, but was squashed by Boris Johnson and Joe Biden.

There are large protest going on in Germany and other countries of the EU opposing sanctions and high energy prices. It seems that negotiations are being opposed by the U.K.,the U.S., Poland, who has eyes on some of the Ukraine territory and the Baltic countries. 

Is this all just Russian disinformation? What are the facts in this conflict? Facts that can allow those supplying the weapons and the people of Ukraine to make judgments about the course of this war. We hear whatever it takes and other slogans. We hear Lindsey Graham state that if we keep giving the weapons the Ukrainians will fight to the last man. What happens after the last man? 

Objectively the result of this conflict could have been predicted before it began and it could have all been avoided by a little humility and acknowledging Russia's legitimate concern about NATO expansion. While leaders of France and Germany have recently made those statements, it seems there is no will to change direction. The end of Ukraine as a viable country is now assured. How much more death and suffering will go on before we either change direction or risk escalation to a  nuclear Armageddon.

New Tripoli community mourns the loss of two of their volunteer firefighters.

 TRAGEDY STRIKES COMMUNITY FIRE CO. OF NEW TRIPOLI

FIREFIGHTERS PERISH WHILE RESPONDING TO CALL FOR ASSISTANCE

Zachary Paris,39 and Marvin Gruber, 59. perished while responding to a call for assistance Wednesday in West Penn township, Schuylkill county, just south of Tamaqua. It was reported as a call for assistance from the local fire company with a possible entrapment.

I served as a treasurer for this Fire co. for several years and have witnessed the selfless dedication of the volunteers at this fire co. They sacrifice many hours spent in training and responding to fires, vehicle rescues, ambulance assistance, road cleanup and other emergencies. They respond promptly while taking time form their jobs, families and personal pursuits, often spending hours at the scene of these emergencies all on a volunteer basis. They spend their time also taking meticulous care of the equipment of the community. All these endeavors are very dangerous, and sadly these two have paid the ultimate price.

Everyone should remember their families in their prayers and also pray for the other volunteers who are dealing with this tragic loss. Without a doubt the community has lost two of their best residents.

Governments worldwide are becoming more authoritarian.

 CENSORSHIP, BANNING PROTEST, DIVERSION AND MISINFORMATION

BLAMING OTHERS FOR THEIR BAD POLICY

While we see that Iran is executing some protesters and China may use open protests to weed out and target malcontents, western countries are setting the stage to quell protests and dissatisfaction with the results of their policies.

We of course, see the heavy hand and disinformation resulting from the protest in the United States 2 years ago, a protest that got out of hand and was led astray by some. It is then labeled as a an attempt to overthrow the government, a far fetched attempt to in fact quell any more protests of elections or other government actions. Especially from those who are not supporters of the left wing of the government.

We can expect that we will see more diversions and blaming for the conditions arising in Europe. Winter is going to bring about suffering and social unrest, so it seems to be setting the stage for diversions to fear some overthrowing of the government. While the first example is now in Germany we can expect this pattern to be repeated throughout Europe. We can expect more arrests and the labeling of protesters as threats to democracy. They will of course blame right wing extremists and surely Russia for the results of decisions their leaders have made. Dissatisfaction with massive immigration and energy and food shortages will result in accusations of conspiracy against democracy.

We also see the steps being made around the world to insure that many governments will not be able to be challenged even through elections by changing rules and practices to insure continued control and power. If these practices become insufficient we can expect to see the next step of declaring emergency powers to, in fact, postpone any elections and impose restrictions on speech.

The world is looking more and more like the world of the 1930's. A world in transition and still reeling from the results of WW1. A war brought about, not by some master plan, but by a series of alliances that escalated to disaster. Then rather than face the reality of the cause of the disaster, a plan to demonize and destroy Germany by sanctions, reparations and punishment for a war that they really did not start. This of course, led to an authoritarian government in Germany and the next act of massive violence and destruction.

It is appearing we are now witnessing a very similar scenario and no one is willing to step back and review where the world is heading. Protests in Germany about energy led to the blowing up of the gas pipeline, protests in other countries about the direction of their countries are being disregarded and likely to be squashed. 

It seems there are times in history when whole nations are deluded into some coordinated actions that inevitably lead them into self destruction. Two world wars in Europe seem to be forgotten in the fog of some grandiose plan brought about by non-thinking alliances rushing to their destruction.

Musk fires former FBI general counsel Jim Baker.

INVOLVED IN RUSSIA GATE AND HELPED IMPLEMENT CENSORSHIP

EX-GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SEEM TO BE EVERYWHERE

Yesterday Elon Musk, fired former general counsel of the FBI, Jim Baker, the same Jim Baker that presided over the issuing of faulty FISA warrants against Trump associates in the Russia collusion hoax that was part of the worst conspiracy in U.S. history, an organized effort to remove a sitting U.S. president.

Baker was hired by Twitter after his removal from the FBI in June 2020 and served as Twitter's general counsel and seems to have been involved at decision making concerning censorship at Twitter. It seems he is now accused of slow walking the release of documents that implicate the FBI and Democrats in this censorship for political advantage.

It is interesting how the same names and former government officials seem to be intertwined in government, business, media and social media, seemingly all with the same objective. While everyone should be able to have a second career after government service, it increasingly appears that it is all just an extension of their real career, expansion of government power and protection of revelations of their corruption.

"Crossfire Hurricane", Worst conspiracy in U.S. history.

 

WHO WAS THE ARCHITECT? AND WHY WAS IT THOUGHT TO BE NECESSARY?

EVIL PLANS HATCHED IN HIGH PLACES

The Inspector general, Michael Horowitz released his report on the origins of the Russia investigation this week. The FBI had named the investigation into the Trump campaign, "Crossfire Hurricane". The media and Dems claim it has exonerated those who were accused of an attempted Coup. It is obvious, if you listen to the hearing and study the report, that it exonerated no one. In fact, it has affirmed all the findings of the Republican Judicial committee report that had to do with actions of those in the Department of Justice. The IG report did not get into those actions undertaken by others.

The question is, Who was the mastermind of this attempted Coup? There is much evidence, that is expected to be verified, that it was begun by people in the State Department, CIA, and some intelligence groups. The beginning began with a CIA agent planting information with George Papadopoulos while in Europe. He informed Papadopoulas that the Russians had the missing Hillary Clinton emails.This action was most likely  prompted by the CIA, led by John Brennan. The next action was a supposedly unplanned casual meeting of Papadopoulos with an Australian diplomat in a bar, who talked about Russians and the campaign. This most likely was arranged by someone in the State Department, then led by John Kerry. This diplomat then informed the FBI. This was the beginning of the Russia investigation. Were these action taken without the knowledge of John Brennan, John Kerry, and then Loretta Lynch? 

Once this investigation moved to the FBI it took on a life of its own with many abuses being revealed in the Horowitz report. 

Then there is the Steele dossier that was originally opposition research for the 2016 campaign, bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign and the DNC. It was shopped around the media during the campaign and most would not touch it. It became important after the election. While the information started being compiled in June 2016 it continued even after the election. This is when the decision to use it as part of a coup must have been made. It was likely made in high places of the Obama administration.

The next question is Why? Many of the players were ideologically in opposition to many of Trump's proposals. This is often the case after an election. The problem is no one or no group has ever attempted to nullify an election in this country. Why now? It is very likely that Trump's pledging to "Drain the Swamp" and also his hope to improve relations with Russia were part of the reason. Also his plan to renegotiate trade relations with China. There are many people who became very rich in dealing with China. While those reasons may be the motive of Never-Trumper Republicans and others in Business it is not a likely motive for career State Department or FBI employees.

It is very probable it is more of a matter of survival. A case of having been involved in inappropriate and likely illegal actions during the past administration. We have some motive for Kerry and Biden who both have their fingers in Ukrainian corruption. There was the Obama administration in cooperation with the Justice department in extorting Tens of Billions in penalties from the banks and conveying the money to undisclosed non-profit groups. There was the Uranium 1 deal signed off by the State Department and FBI, which conveyed control of 20% of U.S. Uranium production to Russia. There was the arming of Al Quada elements in Syria through Libya that was part of the Benghazi incident. These are some of the incidents that have been made public, who knows what has not yet been revealed. It seems there is extreme fear that Trump will actually talk to the Russians. Are the Russians aware of what these people fear may be exposed?

It just seems unlikely that Career employees of the government would be so motivated by ideology to risk it all in this endeavor. Many likely just did as they were instructed, but there were decisions made in high places that were unprecedented in American politics. While many would like to believe that Trump was or is a Russian agent, if given some thought it is an absurd idea. The FBI knew in early January 2017 that was not the case, yet the investigations and accusations are ongoing.

Obviously many in government and media still believe this whole thing can be white washed and covered up. They may be correct.

Sadly the damage that has been inflicted on our country by these politically motivated investigations have damaged our country, possibly irreparably.

If this nation is to survive, there needs to be corrective action and consequences for those involved. Nothing less than full exposure can restore faith in our Government institutions.


Originally published 12/16/2019.  will we get answers to these questions?

50+ intelligence community liars provided cover for social media censorship.

 TWITTER REVEALS WHAT EVERYONE KNEW

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE DNC AND BIDEN ADMINISTRATION COLLUDED IN CENSORSHIP

The unconstitutional cooperation between the Democrats and the media is now being fully exposed. I suspect it is still just the tip of the iceberg. These revelations should be probable cause to seek the emails and correspondence from the DNC, Biden administration, Facebook, Google, U Tube and any other collaborators who choose to ignore the right of free speech, including the many individual collaborators who scanned and reported speech detrimental to the Democrats, or other government agencies, to their operatives for the purpose of suppressing free speech.

The below 50+ federal intelligence operatives provided cover for the Hunter Biden story to be suppressed, all the while knowing it was not a Russian disinformation campaign, but in fact, the truth. Everyone of their emails and correspondence should also be subpoenaed and they should be brought before the House committees, to see just how far this scandal goes. 

It is also common knowledge the the New York Times, Washington Post and other broadcast media engage in the dissemination of leaked misinformation and the squashing of stories that damage their co conspirators. Sadly there is very little news that can be trusted today, leading to the lowest approval ratings of all main stream media. A free and democratic country can not survive without a vibrant independent watchdog.

Some of the below are serial disinformation liars who knowingly have spread disinformation to the American people.

While the present revelations concern disinformation about the Hunter Biden and Joe Biden corruption, they have all been involved with other lies, like the Trump/Russian collusion lie. Iraq weapons of mass destruction and other lies that have not only created damage to this country's trust of government but led to the deaths of 100's of thousands of people around the world, brought about fake leaks and misinformation to cause violent military action.

Now that it has been accepted that the Hunter Biden laptop story is real and much worse than previously reported it should be of interest who was instrumental in conveying misinformation to the public. There should be special scrutiny of the, " so called" former intelligence experts. some are well known and prolific liars, like Jim Clapper, who has been know to swear under oath on national TV that the federal government does not collect information on American citizens. He was exposed by the true whistle blower, Edward Snowden, who had to flee the country to preserve his life.  This list of those who signed the letter claiming Russian disinformation also includes other nightly quests on CNN and MSNBC, Mike Hayden, Leon Panetta, John Brennan and many more. While no longer working for the government they are still perpetuating the disinformation.  Supposedly we should believe them because of their former employment by the government.

Below are some of the liars, who still hold their heads high and continue to spew propaganda to the American people. No guilt, no contrition, just the same elite arrogance.

The signatories include Jim Clapper, Mike Hayden, Leon Panetta, John Brennan, Thomas Finger, Rick Ledgett, John McLaughlin, Michael Morell, Mike Vickers, Doug Wise, Nick Rasmussen, Russ Travers, Andy Liepman, John Moseman, Larry Pfeiffer, Jeremy Bash, Rodney Snyder, Glenn Gerstell, David B. Buckley, Nada Bakos, Patty Brandmaier, James B. Bruce, David Cariens, Janice Cariens, Paul Kolbe, Peter Corsell, Brett Davis, Roger Zane George, Steven L. Hall, Kent Harrington, Don Hepburn, Timothy D. Kilbourn, Ron Marks, Jonna Hiestand Mendez, Emile Nakhleh, Gerald A. O’Shea, David Priess, Pam Purcilly, Marc Polymeropoulos, Chris Savos, Nick Shapiro, John Sipher, Stephen Slick, Cynthia Strand, Greg Tarbell, David Terry, Greg Treverton, John Tullius, David A. Vanell, Winston Wiley, and Kristin Wood; 

So, while we can expect that they will never face any consequences for their intentional lies, we can at least consider giving little credence to anything they should say in the future in their new jobs of paid propagandists. 

Do any of the present governments really represent the will of their people?

 IS GOVERNMENT FOR AND BY THE PEOPLE DEAD?

THE RUSH TO SOME FORM OF GLOBAL GOVERNMENT WILL NOT BE GOOD FOR THE CITIZENS

One has to wonder, do the citizens of Western Europe really support their governments or the EU's unchecked and limitless migration? Do the majority of citizens in the USA support unlimited and unregulated immigration? Did the citizens of Europe have any say in the expansion of NATO to the point of becoming a security threat to Russia. Do the citizens of the West believe that it is worth the sacrifice to enforce this NATO expansion?  I suspect that these decisions are made by behind the scenes masters of the Universe that have no consideration of the best interest of their people. It seems everything is designed for a bigger purpose and the citizens are just pawns and collateral damage in their view of the world.

These decisions have now placed the whole world on the brink of Nuclear war and they are not ashamed if their decisions result in the death of millions of people. In fact, some believe it would further their hopes of  their new world of the future. Whether these decisions are intentional or just deluded and corrupted by power and lust of power, we may never know, but we will all suffer from the decisions that are being made.

I firmly believe that if the citizens of all these countries had the uncensored information to make judgement and the ability to make their will known, they would do much better at building a peaceful and better world. That was the whole idea of Governments by the people, for the people. Do you believe that governments today are better or worse at representing the will of their people?

Europe has been, in effect, destabilized by the actions of the EU hierarchy, the whole of Europe has been led down a path of disaster by the NATO expansion folly. It seems that citizens no longer have any control over the decisions of their leaders, not in Europe, not in the USA. No matter who is elected, or what party, they soon succumb to the same direction. A policy that creates cahous and uncertainty and fear of the future. Actually much better decisions could be made by common people with some common sense, but it seems the world is under the spell of leaders without any sense of history or diplomacy, just an arrogance of power.

If you think the world is on the brink of disaster, you have to ask, Why? There needs to be some reevaluation as to what is important for the citizens, for individual countries, before it is too late. 

Democratic socialism is an unsustainable experiment.

 

THE COMING COLLAPSE OF DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM

THE QUESTION IS NOT IF, BUT WHEN? 

 

The Biden administration has just proposed a 2022 budget of over $6 trillion, with current revenues of around $4 trillion that leaves a massive deficit. This is supposed to be filled with tax increases on the wealthy. If anyone believes that the federal government will be able to harvest $2 trillion from the so called wealthy, well think about it, taxes will need to be increased by 50% on taxpayers in general. If you only target the wealthy you will need a 100% tax increase. Does anyone really believe that the wealthy got wealthy by being stupid. We can expect massive shifting of assets, income and other lawful activity to avoid any such taxes. If that becomes impossible, we could even see many decide to opt out and take extended vacations overseas. Think about who will be holding the bag to pay for all the promised benefits. 

Of course the problem is that there has been an accumulation of extraordinary debt by all governments, corporations, and individuals. There is not a precedent for this situation in human history. While the housing bubble was the symptom that was burst, when gas rose to $4.00 a gallon, in the US the massive debts held by everyone was the real problem. After covid, the savings rate among the more well situated has actually reached an all time high. We can bet bureacrats see this largress as an opportnity to be pounced on as soon as possible.　

A far bigger problem is the debt of governments, particularly in Western Europe and the US.
These debts are a direct result of massive spending and the whole idea of democratic socialism where votes were bought by promising unsustainable benefits...to individuals, spending on projects, surveys, studies, ad nauseum... to the well connected. When fulfilling these promises could not be sustained by raising taxes they just borrowed the money to be consumed. The spending on projects, etc. is more easily addressed by just saying "NO"...BUT the spending on benefits is much more difficult to address. The real culprit in all this is that socialism has been a dismal failure whenever it has been tried. I should qualify that by distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary socialism.

Voluntary socialism is self limiting. An example is fire insurance. If the incidence of loss becomes
excessive, premiums go up and some people may refuse to buy insurance. If losses become excessive insurance companies may refuse to enter that market. There are natural limits for both parties.

The first instance of collectivist failure was recorded in the New Testament. The early Christians, thinking that the end was near, sold there possessions, dined together and shared with each other. It was not long till Paul, hearing complaints from the responsible members of the community, wrote to them saying, “He who does not work shall not eat.” Human nature and the voluntary basis of this experiment was a natural remedy.

Another example was the Puritans who landed in Plymouth in 1620. They formed the, "Mayflower Compact," an agreement to share all property and work in common. After 3 years of this experiment, they were barely able to survive. The Puritan's endeavor had been financed by investors in Europe who hoped they would reap a profit by the Puritans repaying their debts with furs and other goods. After 3 years of no return, investors refused to send any more support and the idea was scrapped. The Puritans then distributed land to each family and they were on their own - the result was the beginning of prosperity for all.  It was chronicled by William Bradford that while the number of people who were either too weak or incapable of work grew, and the young and motivated were increasingly unhappy with the communal arrangement, many who formally were unable to add much to the community instantly became more productive when they were able to keep the fruits of their labor.

Remember the 1960’s communes, where a few self motivated people bought a ranch and lived off the land? It was not long until they were supporting a larger and larger number of new disciples, who agreed it was wonderful, except for the motivation part. Again it ended in a natural turn of events and human nature.

Now to involuntary socialism. Of course the greatest example has to be the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics. This experiment was immediate total government control that in the end was a dramatic failure. It may take Russia several generations to recover from the debacle. While touted by Socialists as the wonderful system of the future, (including Eleanor Roosevelt who visited the country many times in the 1930s when the worst atrocities were being committed), Solzhenitsyn and others saw and reported the true nature of the experiment. It's interesting to note that from the revolution in the USSR in 1917 to its collapse in 1989 was 72 years. If we take 1935 as the "embrace of socialism" in western Europe and the US, we end up at 2007. Does it take roughly this long for the failures of socialism to become unsustainable? While we have not had total control by the governments of western Europe or the US, we have been progressing in that direction for decades...hence the term progressivism. It has been a slow incremental movement that has taken control of most industries through regulation and has encouraged dependency by promising a safety net to those displaced by their policies. The part of the private sector that has not been effectively controlled by the government is the food and energy sector. They are in the process of taking over the energy sector and when they can control food they will have complete control of the economy and the people. Remember the winners of socialist economies are the ruling class who often live well off on what they skim off of the redistribution schemes. Even in the Soviet Union they lived well in their dachaus and had access to  travel and benefits that could only be dreamed of by the rest of the population.

While it all appears wonderful in theory, Unchangeable Human Nature has not been taken into account. Humans will help each other to some extent, but most will not jeopardize their or their families well-being for others. On a voluntary basis, many are willing to help those in need, in danger, etc. but as soon as it becomes involuntary, there will be resistance. This is just the nature of human survival instincts. While it may not measure up to the expectations of the idealogues of socialism, it is probably superior to all other organisms on earth. The Soviet experiment ended when there were no longer any incentives left. The Russians who have weathered some form of dictatorship for their whole existence were noted to remark to each other, "We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us." In the end the only prospering part of the economy was the black market and flea markets.

So what has happened in every case of involuntary socialism?  Those who believe they are taxed too
much will resist by finding ways to pay less; those who believe they are restricted in some way will find ways around the restrictions. Too much tax will usually create less revenue, etc. At first this is accepted or minimally enforced, but as the deficits grow, enforcement must increase and we see a cycle of increased enforcement, then less activity, then less revenue and if left to follow a linear path to forced labor and slavery.

In the U.S. there was once a work ethic and pride of self reliance - many would not accept charity, but after decades of increasing regulation and taxation it seems all restraint has fallen off and everyone will take and pursue more benefits, even if liquidating assets and claiming poverty is necessary. The dam has broken. The tipping point has been reached. It will not likely be restored by government action, or by acts of Congress; the same applies to Western Europe.

So what is the solution? At this point there is no easy solution. All solutions will require much pain and suffering. It may be limited by economic suffering and the necessary austerity to liquidate the debt and begin a new start with liberty and self reliance the foundation...OR...it may be that more enforcement will be needed until we return to feudal type society where basic necessities will be provided to the productive and compliant and those that do not conform will be eliminated from society by the powers that be.

This is the question that will be answered when the coming collapse reaches its fulfillment.

originally published 6/8/21