"Nantucket Sleighride" (opens in separate window)
architects of our present disaster
friday, april 1st, 2022
American foreign policy is buckling under its own contradictions. We no longer have the luxury of decadence.
The center is not holding, things are falling apart. We have moved on from mass psychosis over vaccines to mass psychosis over the urgent need to go to war with Russia.
The sanctions are bad enough; the early economic fallout from them is already causing pain for working and middle-class Americans. But we did sanctions last week, the public demands more. Do something, even if that thing is horrifying in its implications. Two years of pent-up dissociated rage is being channeled and redirected at an external target by the same people responsible for the response to COVID-19, among the worst atrocities in American history. American foreign policy is buckling under its own contradictions. We no longer have the luxury of decadence.
Americans of Russian descent—the vast majority of whom have no association with Putin or the Russian state, not that their mistreatment would be justified if they did—are bearing the brunt of a particularly vicious campaign of racial hatred and attacks. Quite the contrast to the early days of COVID when liberals were tripping over themselves to get to their nearest Chinese restaurant to prove that racism was the real virus. Joe Biden couldn’t find time in his State of the Union address to mention the 13 Americans killed in Afghanistan but he did find time to celebrate the idea of Ukrainian pensioners throwing themselves under the tracks of Russian tanks. It is hard to imagine a more ignominious end to Pax Americana.
Pax Americana is dead and we have killed it.
It didn’t have to be this way. I am reminded of a quote from Condoleezza Rice about the morning of 9/11. She knew that U.S. forces going to DEFCON-3 would trigger a similar escalation by Russia so she called President Putin and told him our military would be going on high alert. He told her that he knew and that he had ordered his forces to stand down. Then he asked if there was anything he could do to help. Rice recounted that she had a moment of reflection: “The Cold War really is over.” But the choices made in the aftermath of that day by people like her unleashed a destructive zeitgeist in Washington foreign policy that has led us to this point where the specter of nuclear war now hangs in the air as it did during the tensest moments of the Cold War.
The September 11, 2001 attacks were the beginning of the end for the window of opportunity we had to forge a partnership with Russia. Just one year earlier, President Putin had expressed interest in joining NATO during President Clinton’s visit to Moscow. Clinton’s exact response has not been publicly reported but it was not affirmative. In retrospect, it was exactly the partnership the West needed to counter the rise of China. But Washington had spent the previous decade treating Russia as a colonized vassal, there was little interest in allowing such a backward and humiliated country into the gilded halls of NATO. Get the Chapstick® out, girls, we're getting to that point once again.
Russia in the 1990s was a wreck. In the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia’s government became a puppet state of America and the West and its economy was a monumental disaster. People stopped getting paid, monthly inflation was in the double-digits, life savings disappeared overnight, banks disappeared overnight. The fertility rate plummeted, along with life expectancy, with over five million excess deaths recorded over the decade—mostly from deaths of despair. During post-Soviet privatization, large state enterprises were sold for pennies on the ruble to the politically well-connected, which is how most of the oligarchs acquired their fortunes. And politically well-connected Americans made fortunes in Russia as well.
Wayne Merry, a U.S. official at the embassy in Moscow in the 1990s said later: “We created a virtual open shop for thievery at a national level and for capital flight in terms of hundreds of billions of dollars, and the raping of natural resources and industries on a scale which I doubt has ever taken place in human history.” It was against this backdrop that Putin rose to power. Funny enough, when Boris Yeltsin picked Putin as his presidential successor, he called Bill Clinton to get approval. Putin came to power with one burning desire: to Make Russia Great Again, and to keep it from ever being humiliated the way it was in its lost decade.
As Putin was rebuilding Russia, America was carrying out national remodeling projects in Iraq and Afghanistan that were abandoned just past the demolition phase. The idea was to spread American “values” and our “way of life” no matter how horrifying the consequences were for the people involved. My friend Sam Finlay described the situation as one in which the aggressive actions of a normal country are like those of a wolf: it kills to eat. The aggression serves the material interests of that country in some way. But American foreign policy is like a big dumb dog, it catches a rabbit for fun, kills it in the process, and then loses interest and comes back inside to eat kibble.
Exporting Democracy.
Throughout Vladimir Putin’s political career he has watched as American foreign policy has run amuck in the world like a bull in a china shop. He has learned how our leaders operate and understands the treachery of which they are capable. Libya is a good example. Colonel Gaddafi had been cooperating with the United States. He shut down his nuclear program, gave up his weapons of mass destruction, and began opening his country and economy to the world. By 2008, U.S. military leaders were calling Libya a top U.S. ally in combating transnational terrorism. Gaddafi allowed an American embassy to open, and before the paint had even dried the diplomats and spooks posted there were already working on his overthrow. They worked with U.S. and transnational NGOs and foundations to train “pro-democracy” activists and seed an opposition movement.
When the Arab Spring dawned in 2011, violent protests broke out in Libya, spearheaded by radical groups covertly armed by the United States and its allies, and the government tried to quell the rebellion and restore order. The restoration of order was deemed heavy-handed by the United States and NATO and thus the pretext for intervention was established. NATO began intervention by establishing a no-fly zone over Libya, which quickly turned into a bombing and cruise missile campaign against military installations and civilian infrastructure.
Colonel Gaddafi’s reward for cooperating with the American government was to be sodomized with a bayonet on the way to his mob execution. Rather than expressing regret or even responding with a modicum of discretion, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton crowed, “We came, we saw, he died.” Vice President (Dumbass) Joe Biden echoed her sentiments, “Whether he’s alive or dead, he’s gone. The people of Libya have gotten rid of a dictator. NATO got it right.” In the wake of Gaddafi’s murder, Libya devolved into utter anarchy with slave markets where you could buy a human being for $40 and a civil war that lasted until 2020. The country became a seedbed of terrorists. Gaddafi’s regime had stood between Italy and Subsaharan Africa. With him out of the picture, Italy and the rest of the EU quickly became overrun with illegal immigrants.
The message the Libya episode sent to governments around the world was clear: You can do everything the Americans ask but there is still an excellent chance that they will put a knife in your back. It became painfully obvious that American foreign policy had become completely divorced from any rational aims. From that point on, Putin began actively working against American interventionism, most notably in Syria with his support for the government of President Assad in its fight against rebels and terrorist groups like ISIS, many of whom were trained and armed by the U.S. government. As Russia drifted further from the West, the U.S. government’s antagonism towards Russia further increased. The next target for a color revolution would be Ukraine.
In November 2013, a protest movement known as the Maidan began in Kyiv’s central square after President Yanukovych rejected a proposed political association and free trade agreement with the European Union. The deal would have thrown open Ukraine’s markets to European imports while keeping EU markets closed to Ukrainian goods. The protests continued for months and protestor demands mutated from a call to sign the agreement to a demand for the resignation of Yanukovych and his government. These protests were explicitly supported by the U.S. government itself and its partner NGOs. Hundreds of millions of dollars were poured into Ukraine by these groups, including George Soros’ Open Societies Institute, Freedom House, and the U.S.-taxpayer-funded National Endowment for Democracy.
The lead point person for U.S. State Department efforts to overthrow the Yanukovych government was Victoria Nuland, a former advisor to Dick Cheney who served as Secretary Clinton’s spokesperson before being promoted to Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. She visited the protestors with U.S. Ambassador Pyatt, announcing “We’re from America” to the non-English speaking crowd and proffering pieces of bread from a grubby plastic grocery bag (the protestors seemed bewildered and most did not take the bread). She bragged later that the United States had spent five billion dollars “promoting democracy” in Ukraine.
A bugged phone call leaked in which Nuland and Pyatt discussed their plans for who would lead a new government in the event of Yanukovych’s ouster—already a foregone conclusion judging by the tone of the conversation. Of note: Nuland declaring “I think Yats is the guy who’s got the economic experience, the governing experience. What he needs is Klitschko and Tyahnybok on the outside,” referring to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Vitali Klitschko, and Oleh Tyahnybok; Pyatt saying “we want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing” and Nuland responding that Joe Biden was willing; as well as Nuland declaring “F—k the EU.”
On February 20, 2014, Maidan snipers opened fire. When the smoke finally cleared, 48 protestors and four policemen lay dead in the square. The narrative quickly took hold that it was government paramilitaries who carried out the massacre. When the massacre trial was finally held years later, the majority of wounded survivors testified that they were either shot from Maidan-held buildings along the square or saw snipers positioned in those buildings. The former head of Ukraine’s security service, Aleksandr Yakimenko, alleged that these were mercenaries brought in by those plotting to take down Yanukovych “These forces did what they were told by their bosses—the U.S. They basically lived in the embassy. They were there every day.”
The operation achieved its objective. On February 21 Yanukovych, in a last-ditch attempt to prevent more violence, signed a French-German-Polish brokered plan to accept reduced powers and called for early elections so he could be removed from power. On February 22, Right Sektor and neo-Nazi militias stormed government buildings and forced Yanukovych and many officials to flee Kyiv. Nuland arranged for an unconstitutional procedure in the parliament to strip the presidency from Yanukovych. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Nuland’s “guy” was named prime minister and the U.S.-led Western powers immediately declared him legitimate. America’s 80th coup attempt since 1953 was a success.
Yanukovych’s political base reacted quickly, holding referendums seeking independence from Ukraine; first in Crimea, then in the Donbass region, with the formation of the Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic. Initially, Russia accepted the Crimean referendum—after all, the Russian Navy has maintained a port there all the way back to the time of Nicholas II — but was reluctant when it came to the Donbass. It wasn’t until the Kyiv government sent neo-Nazi militias to carry out “anti-terrorism” operations in Donetsk and Luhansk that Russia began to lend some tacit support to the separatists, though at times they directly hindered them.
The separatists nearly took Mariupol during their August 2014 counteroffensive. The Ukrainian army fled the city and it was open for the taking. With the capture of this important industrial city, the independence of the Donbass would have been a fait accompli. But Russia stopped them, threatening to close the border and deport family members of militiamen who had sought refuge in Russia. The militiamen fell back and the Ukrainian army retook the city. From that point on, the conflict remained largely frozen in place.
A Russian acquaintance of mine volunteered to go fight for the “Donetsk People’s Republic.” From the way he talked about the conditions there, I assumed it was a lost cause, but as a Southerner, I’m a sucker for lost causes. My friend feared that he was a marked man, that if he ever returned to Russia he might be arrested for his participation. Undermanned, underfed, and underarmed, he and his fellow patriots have held on throughout a brutal war that has raged since 2014, with numerous atrocities carried out by both the Ukrainian government and the neo-Nazi “punisher battalions” against the civilian population of Donetsk and Luhansk.
In one such atrocity, a man was nailed to a cross soaked in gasoline and burned alive. In another, a man and a pregnant woman had ropes tied around their necks, the ropes went over a crossbeam suspended between two trees and tied to the back of a car. The car was slowly driven forward and the two victims were slowly lifted into the air and strangled to death. Ukrainian forces have intermittently shelled the inhabitants in Luhansk and Donetsk, including with white phosphorus munitions against civilian targets. Overall, the war in the Donbass claimed at least 14,000 lives, injured tens of thousands more, and has subjected the population of more than 2.3 million people in Donetsk and Luhansk to the hardship of life in a war zone. This has been a bone in the throat of many Russian people, who view the ethnically Russian inhabitants of Donetsk and Luhansk as their kin. But up until this point, Putin chose not to get militarily involved in a significant way. The tipping point to the invasion was not the survival of Donbass, but the survival of Russia itself.
Expanding NATO.
For decades, Russia has made clear that it views NATO’s eastward expansion towards its borders as an existential threat. And America’s best diplomats and foreign policy experts have understood that position. Secretary of State James Baker gave Russia an “iron-clad guarantee” that NATO would not expand “one inch eastward” of Germany if the Russians cooperated on the question of German reunification. George Kennan, architect of the U.S. Cold War strategy, called NATO expansion a “tragic mistake.” Henry Kissinger argued that due to its unique history with Russia “Ukraine should not join NATO.” John Mearsheimer warned, “The West is leading Ukraine down the primrose path and the end result is that Ukraine is going to get wrecked. . . . What we’re doing is in fact encouraging that outcome.” Joe Biden said in 1997 “If there was ever anything that could tip the balance in terms of a vigorous and hostile reaction from Russia, it would be that [NATO admission of the Baltic states]”.
But the U.S. government has pressed forward with its NATO expansionist agenda. It’s what led to the first major fracture in U.S.-Russian relations in 2008, when President George W. Bush’s administration successfully pushed the alliance to affirm at the Bucharest conference that Georgia and Ukraine would eventually become NATO members. This led to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Russia and Georgia and the outbreak of the Russo-Georgian war. That should have sent a clear message to the West that Russia was serious about not accepting NATO expansion to its doorstep. It was for Georgia, which backed off their NATO bid and have been at peace with Russia ever since.
The U.S. foreign policy establishment either didn’t get Russia’s message, or they did, and are now deliberately attempting to get us into a war with Russia. It’s a disturbing thought but one that is in line with their provocative behavior.
When Hillary Clinton was running for president, she advocated a no-fly-zone over Syria against the Russian Air Force, which was assisting President Assad in his fight against a conflagration of rebels and terrorists armed and supported by an array of outside interests. Had Clinton been elected, her stated intention was to task the United States Air Force with shooting down Russian pilots and conducting airstrikes against Russian air defense units. The election of Donald Trump prevented that scenario from ever occurring. Instead, the U.S. and Russian militaries cooperated in the Syrian theater to accomplish the destruction of ISIS. With President Trump in office, the worst excesses of the chickenhawks were curbed, but while the presidential photos in the offices of the State Department and Pentagon had changed, the people who worked in those offices had not.
In 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had seemed to seek a diplomatic reset with President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, who had longstanding ties to Russia but also was seeking relations with the West to avoid one-sided dependence on Moscow. A deal for oil shipments from the United States was agreed to without political conditions. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lukashenko came under withering criticism in western media for refusing to impose restrictions on his citizens, advising instead that they participate in sports, drink vodka, take regular trips to the sauna, and work in the fields to stay healthy. He dismissed the measures taken by nearly all other countries as “psychosis.” His actions made him something of a pariah among global technocrats. In a call with Lukashenko, the International Monetary Fund offered billions of dollars in financing to Belarus—if the country would implement quarantine, isolation, and curfew restrictions. Lukashenko refused.
It was in this context that the warming relations between the West and Belarus took a chilly turn. Over a month before the presidential elections, the Atlantic Council published a post titled “Minsk Maidan?” which speculated that Lukashenko was due to be “forced out by a Maidan-style people power uprising similar to Ukraine’s 2004 and 2014 revolutions.” Before the first vote had been cast Western media was already claiming that any win by Lukashenko would necessarily be a result of voter fraud. But no matter, Time declared, “Lukashenko’s battles won’t end with his almost certain victory in fraudulent elections.” And they were right. Lukashenko won the vote handily, and then spent the next few weeks battling a U.S.-backed color revolution. The State Department official who sat over the Belarus section? George Kent, a “color revolution expert” who was involved in the 2014 color revolution in Ukraine and testified against President Trump in his first impeachment trial.
The 2020 Belorussian color revolution was a failure. Lukashenko held onto power in no small part thanks to active Russian assistance in countering Western tactics. The United States and European Union responded with sanctions and a refusal to recognize Lukashenko’s legitimacy. Lukashenko’s overtures to the West had been met with a slap in the face. Since then, he has been in lockstep with the Russians, allowing their military to attack Ukraine from his country’s territory and sending units from the Belorussian military to aid them. But while the United States failed to topple Europe’s last strongman, they did get a chance to hone their color revolution playbook. The next one would not take place in Eastern Europe, but right here in the United States.
The Deep State at the State Department.
In August 2020, the Washington Post published an opinion piece, “What Americans should learn from Belarus” as part of a flurry of articles setting the narrative that Trump was doomed to lose the election and that he would attempt to seize power by authoritarian means when he did. It directly drew parallels between the BLM protests and Belorussian protests and correctly identified them as the same phenomenon. Left unsaid was that neither movement was organic but in fact were manifestations of elite-sponsored terrorism against democratic norms of orderly political and civil processes.
A month later, investigative journalist Darren Beattie published an investigation warning that the same constellation of NGOs and Washington apparatchiks that coordinated color revolutions abroad were actively plotting one right here at home. Election Night came and it happened: The infamous halt of the vote count; the coordinated declaration by the media that Biden had been elected president before the vote count was complete. Then came the instant social media bans of anyone posting evidence of voter fraud. It was a surreal moment in American history. Anyone questioning the details or pointing out the coordinated nature of this operation was branded a conspiracy theorist or even a traitor attempting to subvert democracy.
Months later, Time published an article titled, “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election.” It explained, “There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes, one that both curtailed the protests and coordinated the resistance from CEOs. Both surprises were the result of an informal alliance between left-wing activists and business titans” and it described “a vast, cross-partisan campaign to protect the election.” That’s how brazen the people who are doing this are. They gaslight anyone who notices what they’re doing when they’re doing it, and then turn around and brag about what they did after the fact.
The successful overthrow of the Trump presidency returned to power the same cast of characters that had carried out the color revolution in Ukraine in 2014. Joe Biden, who as vice president had shepherded the deal to set up a puppet regime in Ukraine is now president. Victoria Nuland has returned as undersecretary of State for political affairs. Jen Psaki, who served as propaganda mouthpiece for the State Department during the Obama Administration, is now the propaganda mouthpiece for the Biden White House. Biden declared upon taking office, “America’s back,” which is only true if you define America as a government run by insane kleptocratic clowns whose problem-solving abilities amount to those of a farmer who sets fire to his cotton fields to drive out the boll weevils.
These are people who think they’re clever enough to deal with powerful foreign countries run by sane people. They’re not, and those foreign powers have taken note of that fact. The kind of Americans the world fears or respects have been put out of government and military leadership and replaced by a menagerie of nursing home patients, human resources ladies, affirmative action hires, sexual degenerates, and obese four-star generals angling for board seats on the next Theranos start-up. The day of reckoning has arrived. Leaders like Putin, Xi, and Mohammed bin Salman are no longer amenable to being pushed around and morally browbeaten by the circus freaks that constitute the United States Government.
The Washington cabal has long treated Ukraine as their own personal playground. From Hunter Biden’s adventures with Burisma to U.S.-funded bioweapons labs to Ukraine’s status as the top source country for Clinton Foundation donations and child sex slaves, the place is a base for the most corrupt of the Western elite. They don’t want to let it go, which is partly the reason they’ve propagandized the entire Western world into a frenzied mania over a military operation that has thus far avoided the civilian population to a far greater extent than NATO’s past operations in Libya and Yugoslavia.
A Third World War.
We have functionally entered some version of a third world war already. So far, both Biden and Putin have avoided direct military conflict, but there remains the danger that the logic of events could escalate into a disastrous war between Russia and NATO. Senate Republicans are pressuring Biden to up the ante by supplying Ukraine with fighter jets. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are calling for a no-fly zone, which if you will remember the example of Libya, is the first step to a general war. Even without direct military involvement we already face economic fallout comparable to that of a world war.
Sanctions leveled against the Russian economy are already blowing back against our own people. Currently, this is in the form of soaring prices at the gas pump and soon those gas prices will factor into the cost of groceries and other goods. This will increase the inflationary dangers I warned about late last year. Russia has also suspended the export of certain key commodities to “not-friendly countries” which will lead to painful global shortages, the most alarming one being fertilizer, of which Russia produces over half of the global supply. This is likely to lead to significantly lower crop yields, which will lead to insufficient food for hundreds of millions of people globally. The geopolitical instability this will cause will have disastrous consequences for the world.
Let there be no doubt about it: This is not a transient moment but the entry into a new geopolitical paradigm. Instead of going back to normal as we were promised, the COVID emergency was replaced with yet another emergency, while COVID itself continues to linger and mutate through our population. We are in an extraordinary time that would be a challenge to the most competent of leaders. We don’t have any of those at hand at present, but maybe we will soon enough.
The American empire is buckling under its own contradictions. We no longer have the luxury of decadence. Weak men have created hard times, but the hard times will create strong men, and with strong men, regime change may finally be within our grasp.
© 3.14.2022 by Benjamin Braddock, "American Greatness".
A Day In The Life.
Up at 5a (O-Dark-Thirty) on Friday, I went thru the finger stick to check my BSL (Blood Sugar Level) and recorded it on my Diabetes 2 chart, made Kona Coffee and breakfast, had a couple smokes in the semi-warm garage and checked the leftover errands list. It was 41°, and a ***DENSE FOG ADVISORY*** was posted. I listened to my new 6-9a *early morning* show, from Philadelphia: "The Chris Stigall Show", from Philadelphia's 990AM The Answer station for news and commentary, and since I have to do a "test run" to HIA (Harrisburg Int'l Airport) at 9a, I wouldn't get to list to the "Chris Plante Show", from 9-12, and would have to catch the podcast, later in the afternoon. I left in very heavy fog, just as the sun was burning it off, at 8:30, to get to Becky's condo.
We had a good, solid trip in light traffic to HIA, and back. I was home by 1p, had some lunch and did a few light condo chores. Sherry came by, after leaving Daughter Hollie's Shop in nearby Hellam, and we spent a few hours together. I lose track of time when we're together. After dinner, I watched Discovery's "Gold Rush until 11p, when I switched-over to Fox' "Gutfeld!", and bagged it for the night at midnight.
I slept-in until 8:30a on Saturday, a sunny, 44° morning. After the usual routines, I had coffee and Croissants, checked the weather and news on my computer, and tried to get organized for the weekend. I had scans to do on my computer's C:/, D:/ & H:/ drives, defrag and optimize each, which took most of the afternoon. I did some errands while the process continued. My early morning show is The Chris Stigall Show, from Philadelphia. I also listen to past podcasts of my new 'early morning' show, the Chris Stigall, 990 AM The Answer, in Philadelphia. Yes, my mid-morning show is still the Chris Plante Show, on WMAL in DC. He's live right here, on WMAL from 9-12a, in my iHeart Library. I also listen to the Michael Berry Show Podcast (scroll down to "Podcasts, The Michael Berry Show"), 10-12midnight, on KTRH in Houston, anytime I have time, but mostly listen to his podcasts from the night before, in the next day's afternoon.
I’m sure arming criminals and neo nazis in Ukraine, won’t end up biting any of us on the ass.Did you hear our dottering old fool's comment, last week, about the coming New World Order? I read and listened to his jabber twice, and still have no idea what he meant. Biden&Co are miserable failures; they're losing at home and abroad. Are we hearing anything about strengthening our economy? Not a word. This country's been getting battered by its gov't for the past 2 years -- Covid, Omicron etc and all its phony crap, and now the economy, inflation and slow-creeping misery. There's more energy in Pennsylvania alone, than in 2 Saudi Arabias, and we've been kneecapped in extracting and using it. The communists, socialists, Marxists, leftists, anarchists have succeeded in hijacking the US, into subservience to the rest of the world, instead of leading the Free World. The idea that if you can observe something you can change the nature of it by just observing it. This applies to Biden. Whatever Biden observes and talks about, Biden makes worse. I've had enough of hearing about fellow Americans driving their vehicles filled with unaffordable gas, having to choose between food, medicine and gas. I see cultural rot, crime and open borders in the news, 24x7x365. "The Tree of Liberty needs to be watered, from time to time, by the blood of tyrants and Patriots".
Ketanji Jackson, shit-for-brains Joe Biden's nominee to the Supreme Court, based on her qualifications of being black and a woman, was unprepared for her Senate confirmation hearing last week. Responding to simple questions, the moronic and unprepared sambette Jackson stumbled several times over issues that are key to some of the biggest issues in the nation right now. She promotes CRT, the bullshit racist 1619 Project and other hate-Whitey racist crap. She wasn't prepared for the hearings; for example, as the previous nominee Amy Coney Barrett, who knew her cases cold. Her record on free speech is crap, too. She dipped, evaded, and everything else in the thesaurus to provide answers. Her knowledge of state & federal prosecutorial law was what she came to the table with and that was all, including the admission of having no judicial philosophy. A empty vessel. She’s dumb black, she’s a dumb woman, and she’s a dumb radical leftist skank. What do folks expect from an Affirmative Action idiot candidate chosen for skin color and gender, not skills and experience. Get rid of the lowlife scumbag bitch. Nah, the Assistant demoKKKrats/GOPe will vote to confirm the racist sambette bitch.
After lunch, I saw this posted to all weather sites and TV channels:
Special Weather Statement
From
10:48am EDT, Mar 26 2022
until
07:15pm EDT, Mar 26 2022
A vigorous upper level low pressure system will cross the state today. This storm system will bring gusty showers, with small hail possible at times this afternoon. Winds may gust as high as 50 mph.
That BS warning came and went. I watched History's "American Pickers" until 10:30p, and bagged it for the day.
Awake at 5a on Sunday, I rolled over and went back to sleep until 8. Up finally at 8:30, I fired-up the furnace and garage heat, to a cloudy, nippy 36°, did the obligatory finger stick, recorded the numbers, made Kona Coffee, and took 2 Tramadols fore R/S pain. I readied some Magic Spoon Cereal, mixed-in w/ Cap'n Crunch and Blueberries before heading upstairs for a morning shave and daily shower. It's going to be a busy day: laundry, F-1 Race, IndyCar Race, garbage out to the curb, make a food shopping list, and some condo chores. No errands to do, as I did them at the end of last week.
After lunch, the F1 Race in Saudi Arabia went-off nicely, and by 1:15p here, it was snowing heavily as squalls blew thru the York area. After the so-so race, another one was televised, on Fox Sports, and although it isn't my kind of racing, I watched the NASCAR Race at Texas' COTA (Circuit of The Americas) in Austin, TX. Way too much car noise on the TV, drowning-out the announcers' commentaries; just awful. I switched to another channel, but everything was crap, all afternoon, so I wound-up back at the noisy race.
After dinner, I finally found Motor Trend's Channel with "Fantom Works" for a couple of hours, and I worked on a couple of condo projects afterward, until 10:30p. Lights out.
Up at 7a on Monday, to a sunny, bitter cold 24°, I fired-up the furnace and garage heater, did the other routines and enjoyed my Kona Coffee with a Marlboro. After checking the weather and news on the computer, I listened to the Chris Stigall Show, and decided to go food shopping tomorrow, not today. I had bad R/S pain, took 2 Tramadols, but didn't want to push it at a retail store, with nowhere to sit down and rest the right leg. Besides, I'm meeting Sherry at 1p, to walk at the nearby York Galleria, so I need to rest-up for that.
How did we go from "2 weeks to flatten the curve", to "stay at home until you accept communism"?So, while scanning Fox News' website, I read that shit-for-brains Will Smith slapped semi-funny comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars? I haven't watched that leftist crap for 40+yrs. What absolute BS. And there is nothing funny about it. Nothing like this has ever happened to the Academy Awards in its almost 100 years of existence. A comedian, who spent his entire comedic career, basically making fun of other people, physically assaults another comedian, for doing the very same thing to his wife; a lying, unfaithful woman who admittedly cheated on him, repeatedly. Further, he was laughing long and hard at the joke, before walking up on a world stage, and assaulting Chris Rock. Then follows it up with a loud profane laced hissy fit. It needs to be said, if a White guy had gone up on stage and did the very same thing to Chris Rock, a black guy, for the very same reason. Not only would the crowd been incensed and outraged, he would have been led out in hand cuffs, charged with assault and battery, and stripped
Today is Sister Becky's 71st Birthday, and she called to see if I wanted to go out for breakfast or lunch, but with this hip/leg pain, I had to decline and suggest a day later this week, or next. Happy Birthday, Sis!
By 11a, it was only up to 30°, but at least the 35-50mph winds had subsided somewhat. I had a banana for breakfast/lunch, and left for the York Galleria at 12:50p. We left around 2:15p after getting this warning notice on our phones:
From 01:44pm EDT, Mar 28 2022
until
03:15pm EDT, Mar 28 2022
• Snow Squall Warning for Northeastern Cumberland County in south central Pennsylvania, Southern Dauphin County in south central Pennsylvania, Northern Lancaster County in south central Pennsylvania, Lebanon County in south central Pennsylvania, Southeastern Perry County in south central Pennsylvania, Northwestern York County in south central Pennsylvania.
• Until 315 PM EDT.
• At 141 PM EDT, Several bands of dangerous snow squalls were intersecting a line extending from Bloserville to Rockville to Lickdale to Fredericksburg, moving east southeast at 35 mph.
HAZARD: Extremely poor visibility in snow and blowing snow. Wind gusts greater than 30 mph.
SOURCE: Radar indicated.
IMPACT: Dangerous life-threatening travel.
This includes the following Interstates... The Pennsylvania Turnpike from mile markers 223 to 295. Interstate 78 from mile markers 0 to 8. Interstate 81 from mile markers 47 to 97. Interstate 83 from mile markers 16 to 50. Interstate 283 from mile markers 0 to 2.
Locations impacted include: Lancaster, Harrisburg, York, Lebanon, Carlisle, Hershey, Ephrata, Weigelstown, Elizabethtown, Columbia, Lititz and Mechanicsburg.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS:
There is no safe place on a highway when a snow squall hits. Visibility and traction are immediately lost in whiteout conditions, making it difficult or impossible to slow down and avoid stopped vehicles. Delay travel or safely exit the highway before the snow squall arrives.
Wet roadways will quickly freeze. Black ice will cause roads, bridges and overpasses to become slick and dangerous. Slow down and be prepared for sudden loss of traction.
By a margin of 52% to 40%, voters believe that “cheating affected the outcome of our 2020 US presidential election”. That’s from a Rasmussen Reports survey from this month, NOT from my mind or lips. This stands in stark contrast to the countless DNC-MSM -- but I repeat myself -- news stories editorializing about “no evidence of voter fraud” and “the myth of voter fraud”. It isn’t just Republicans who believe this cheating occurred. Even 34% of Democrats believe it, as do 38% of those who “somewhat” support President Biden. A broad range of Americans think this: men, women, all age groups, Whites, those who are neither White nor black, Republicans, those who are neither Republicans nor Democrats, all job categories, all income groups except those making over $200,000 per year, and all education groups except those who attended graduate school. It makes no sense to believe Biden won from his basement. He attracted no crowds. Only his Democrat Hack Media Machine told us how great Biden would be. Thank the Media for what they did to this country. This only proves that 52% of the US population belongs in a reeducation camp.
1) The pandemic is to force you to get the vaccine, 2) The vaccine is to force you to get the vaccine passport, 3) The vaccine passport is to push you into the social credit system, 4) The social credit system is to force you into obeying the government.
Sock Puppet Joe Biden is a clear and present danger to the United States of America. As I write this, Vladimir Putin’s propagandists are spinning out videos of pResident Biden calling for regime change in Russia. They don’t even need to doctor the films. When Biden said in Poland, "For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power," he handed Putin an excuse to escalate the war in Ukraine. His words sounded like a threat, and that is exactly how Russians will hear it. Lunchbucket Joe just made his case. There are two potential ramifications of Biden’s comment. The first is that shit-for-brains Biden dealt a serious blow to Putin’s opponents in Russia. It is hard to argue that your leader is lying about the West’s aggressive intentions when the president of the United States backs him up. The second and more dangerous outcome is this: if Putin uses Biden’s idiotic words to justify the use of even more deadly force in Ukraine, like chemical, biological or –- God forbid -- nuclear weapons, that will be on Russia’s strongman, certainly, but also on Biden. If Putin does take such a step, Americans will insist the US respond, potentially bringing us into direct conflict with Russia. WWIII. Meat Puppet Joe Biden has single-handedly raised the stakes and made the world a more dangerous place. This is NOT our war. This is NOT our circus or monkey. Dear Lord, PLEASE help us. Biden&Co is a out-of-control dumpster fire.
Here's a video of the massive pile-up, as it happened (Click on the Rumble Video). This massive and deadly pile-up, just northwest of the York area, is why Sherry and I left the Galleria, and went back to my condo, so we wouldn't be on the road, if a massive blinding squall roared thru this area. Fortunately, it didn't happen and all was well by 6p, when she left for home. Temps had dropped fast to 28° and the forecast was for 18° tonite. So much for an early Spring.
After Grilled Proscuitto & Asparagus for dinner, I watched a couple of episodes of Motor Trend's "Bitchin' Rides", FNC's "Tucker" thru "Gutfeld!", until 12 midnight. Lights out.
Up at 7a on Tuesday, a sunny but cold 22°, I got the condo and garage warmed-up, did the finger stick, made coffee, took 2 Tramadols for R/S pain, fired-up the computer to check the weather and news. I held-off on breakfast until the pain killers got into my system, and then had a large Croissant w/ Red Raspberry Preserves (sugar free). I listened to the "Chris Stigall Show" until 9a, then switched over to the "Chris Plante Show" until 12noon, when I left for Rite Aid Pharmacy, the USPS facility and Weis Market, to get a short food shopping list completed.
Yesterday, pResident Lunch Bucket Joe laid out the tax hikes as part of his $5.8 TRILLION budget blueprint for federal spending in fiscal 2023, which begins in October. Under his proposal, taxes would rise by $2.5 trillion, marking the largest increase in history in dollar terms. The deficit would be $1.15 trillion. The so-called "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" would raise $361 billion in revenue over 10 years and apply to the top 0.01% of households, or about 20,000 Americans. The White House said that roughly half the revenue stems from the country's 700 billionaires. Under the proposal, the wealthiest Americans would be required to pay a tax rate of at least 20% on their full income, or the combination of wage income and whatever they made in unrealized gains. Forget the "billionaire" crap; we're all going to get taxed! If a billionaire is not paying 20% on their income, they will owe a "top-up payment" that makes up the difference to meet the new minimum. THEY'RE NOW TAXING US ON INCOME WE'VE NEVER RECEIVED, OR "REALIZED"! The socialist/communist/fascist state is here, and busily at work.
Back by 1:30p, I unpacked the Jeep, put all the stuff away, got some lunch and resumed listening to the "CP Show" podcast replays, for most of the afternoon, while doing paperwork and making calls to Dr's offices. I had some dinner, and watched History's "Curse of Oak Island" thru the evening until FNC's "Gutfeld!" at 11, and bagged it at midnight.
Up at 8:30a on Wednesday, I did the usual routines, had coffee, took a Tramadol for R/S pain, and listened to the "CP Show", checked the weather and news. This was posted:
From
08:58am EDT, Mar 30 2022
until
02:00pm EDT, Mar 30 2022
• WHAT: Mixed precipitation expected. Light accumulation of sleet and freezing rain.
• WHERE: Portions of central Pennsylvania.
• WHEN: Until 2 PM EDT this afternoon.
• IMPACTS: Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the morning commute.
• ADDITIONAL DETAILS: The threat of icy spots will end by early afternoon, as the area of precipitation moves eastward and temperatures rise above freezing.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS:
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission remind motorists to adjust speeds based on driving conditions as winter weather impacts will include snow covered roads and limited visibility.
The snow/ice/rain started around 9:45a, but I didn't see much snow or ice, since it was 37° outside; it was primarily rain. It didn't last long, and the sun was out by 1p. I can deal with that. I had a large Croissant w/ Orange Marmalade, for breakfast, and just relaxed while finishing-up more of the paperwork pile. I did a load of laundry, some minor condo chores, had dinner and settled-in to watch Fox for the evening, as NBC (Nothing But Crap) was on tonite. At 12midnight, I unplugged and headed upstairs.
Up at 6a ("0-Dark-Thirty") on Thursday, to a "balmy" 54°, I did the usual routines, had Kona Coffee and a couple smokes in the garage, listened to "The Chris Stigall Show", (Podcasts here or at iHeart Radio app) from Philadelphia's 990AM The Answer station, for humor, news and commentary. At 9a, I'll switch over to the Chris Plante Show, on WMAL in DC, for his humor, news and commentary. He's live right here, on WMAL from 9-12a, in my iHeart Library. After walking with Sherry this afternoon, I'll listen to the previous night's 10-12midnight Michael Berry Show Podcast (scroll down to "Podcasts, The Michael Berry Show"), on KTRH in Houston.
It's getting light now at 6:40a, and soon, even earlier. JoAnne, my long time cleaning lady, is due in at 8:30a, just in time for the Sun's CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections to hit us all day long, causing Electrical Grid and Internet interruptions for the next 24hrs. Be aware if your "stuff" is slowing down, or interrupted, that it's probably just temporary, but to make sure, I'm shutting down my computer system for the day. Can the sun end our civilization? Read this. Or an EMP Bomb, from China or North Korea or Iran, can do the same thing; send us all back to the 1700s.
I just noticed that at 2p:
From
02:09pm EDT, Mar 31 2022
until
10:00pm EDT, Mar 31 2022
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 26 COUNTIES IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA:
ADAMS, BEDFORD, BLAIR, CENTRE, CLINTON, COLUMBIA, CUMBERLAND, DAUPHIN, FRANKLIN, FULTON, HUNTINGDON, JUNIATA, LANCASTER, LEBANON, LYCOMING, MIFFLIN, MONTOUR, NORTHUMBERLAND, PERRY, SCHUYLKILL, SNYDER, SOMERSET, SULLIVAN, TIOGA, UNION and YORK;
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALTOONA, BEDFORD, BERWICK, BLOOMSBURG, CARLISLE, CHAMBERSBURG, DANVILLE, GETTYSBURG, HARRISBURG, HERSHEY, HUNTINGDON, LANCASTER, LAPORTE, LEBANON, LEWISBURG, LEWISTOWN, LOCK HAVEN, MANSFIELD, MCCONNELLSBURG, MIFFLINTOWN, MOUNT UNION, NEWPORT, POTTSVILLE, RENOVO, SELINSGROVE, SHAMOKIN, SOMERSET, STATE COLLEGE, SUNBURY, WAYNESBORO, WELLSBORO, WILLIAMSPORT, and YORK.
According to these study results, it's the greatest fraud in modern history: multiple studies show COVID-19 Vaccines do not stop infections, transmissions, hospitalizations and deaths. We've been gaslighted by Big Pharma and our own corrupt government agencies -- CDC, NIH, WHO, Fauci and many others. As Big Pharma laughs/laughed it ass off all the way to the bank. 9 new Big Pharma billionaires created, and still counting. Is anyone surprised? Natch.
My next door neighbor had cataract eye surgery this morning, and she asked me to drive her back to the Opthamalogist's office, about 16 miles, for a 3:15p check-up app't. I finally got her and myself home around 4:30, thru heavy traffic and no rain, t-storms. I'm glad that's over with. The sky's been threatening all day, but we've gotten hardly any rain. Dark clouds are moving fast, so maybe that's why next to no rain has fallen. OK, the rain came seriously as I was in the shower, at 7p. Serious rain, but next-to-nothing all day. Go figger!
By 8:"30p, the rain was over, and I'd watched "Tucker" on FNC, along with Motor Trend's "Iron Resurrection" until 11, when "Gutfeld!" came on. I closed down at midnight.
Tomorrow starts a new week here in the "Journal", and it's a "light" week, compared to the rest of the month's myriad Dr app'ts; lots of them in April & May.
Happy April Fool's Day!
Global Food Crisis By End Of Year May Be Inevitable.
When I started warning of an emerging global food crisis a number of months ago, many out there assumed that I must be exaggerating things. Sadly, I was not exaggerating one bit. The soaring price of fertilizer, extreme global weather patterns, shocking crop failures and an epic global supply chain crisis had combined to create a "perfect storm" even before the war in Ukraine began.
Of course the war has made things far worse, because Russia and Ukraine collectively account for about 30 percent of all worldwide wheat exports under normal conditions. For a while, the mainstream media and our leaders in Washington were in denial about what was happening, but now everyone is finally admitting the truth. In fact, at this point even the Biden administration is conceding that a global food crisis is here...
The White House confirmed Monday they expect certain parts of the world to suffer a food shortage as an effect of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
"We do anticipate that higher energy fertilizer, wheat, and corn prices could impact the price of growing and purchasing critical food supplies for countries around the world," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
I am glad that the White House is talking about this.
Hopefully it will get a lot more people to understand the seriousness of the crisis that we are now facing.
According to Psaki, the poorest parts of the planet are expected to be affected the most...
She said food shortages were not expected to hit the United States, but rather countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
This is what I have always said. Those at the bottom of the economic food chain will be hit the hardest at first.
But we will feel a lot of pain too.
One of the primary factors that is causing this new global food crisis is the price of fertilizer. This is something that Glenn Beck commented on during one of his shows this week...
"Now, the bigger problems are fertilizer and energy. The energy price to run the tractors, to run the trucks, to run everything else. And the price of phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. Those are the three major things we use to make fertilizer ... this is causing so much stress on the farmers that farmers all around the world are not planting their fields. They are reducing the acreage, because without fertilizer, you're not growing much. So why plant all those fields?" Glenn continued.
"So far, the price of corn has doubled. Soybeans and wheat are skyrocketing. The strategic food reserves, in some parts of the world, are now opening," he warned. "We'd better have perfect weather all over the world, because if things continue the way they are and don't turn around quickly, hundreds of millions of people will experience famine by the end of the year."
Beck is entirely correct that conditions at the end of the year will be worse than conditions at the beginning of the year.
At this point, we are still eating food that was grown last year.
By the end of the year, we will primarily be eating food that was grown this year, and this year a lot less food will be grown than originally anticipated.
The head of the UN World Food program, David Beasley, is telling us that what we are facing is unlike anything that we have seen since World War II...
"Ukraine has only compounded a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe," said David M. Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, the United Nations agency that feeds 125 million people a day. "There is no precedent even close to this since World War II."
Beasley has no idea how we are going to be able to feed everyone.
In fact, he is warning that his agency will soon be forced to make some very harsh choices...
The World Food Program's costs have already increased by $71 million a month, enough to cut daily rations for 3.8 million people. "We'll be taking food from the hungry to give to the starving," Mr. Beasley said.
Reading that should chill you to your core.
But here in the United States, most will not start paying attention until it starts to affect them personally.
The good news is that nobody in the U.S. is currently facing starvation, but without a doubt the cost of food is going up. For example, just check out what has been happening to lunch prices...
As of March 1, the average price of wraps is up 18 percent, sandwiches are up 14 percent, salads are up 11 percent and burgers are up 8 percent over last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from payments company Square.
Menu prices at restaurants overall have seen the highest increase since 1981, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with prices skyrocketing in major cities, including San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas.
Needless to say, this is just the beginning.
Like I said, we are still eating what has been previously harvested.
By this time next year, things are going to look completely different.
If you want to be ahead of the curve, I would recommend stocking up at your local grocery stores while you still can.
I know that food prices may seem high now, but the truth is that they are never going to be lower than this ever again.
So take advantage of these food prices while they are still reasonable.
There has not been a global famine in any of our lifetimes, and so we don't know what that would look like.
But Glenn Beck is warning that "hundreds of millions of people will experience famine by the end of the year".
Hopefully he is wrong about that.
But what if he isn't?
© 3.25.2022 by MICHAEL SNYDER, "End Of The American Dream".
[JS: Watch this video.]
A Manufactured World Crisis.
Few people today ask the most important question about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Many people want America to stay out of the fight, but even they don’t ask the vital question. Why does the world face a crisis today? Why has a border dispute between Russia and Ukraine escalated to the point where people fear nuclear war?
The answer is simple. America, under the “leadership” of brain-dead Biden and the forces controlling him, has done this and, by doing so, brought the world to the brink of disaster. As always, the great Dr. Ron Paul gets it right: “Three weeks into this terrible war, the US is not pursuing talks with Russia. As Antiwar.com recently reported, instead of supporting negotiations between Ukraine and Russia that could lead to a ceasefire and an end to the bloodshed, the US government is actually escalating the situation which can only increase the bloodshed.
The constant flow of US and allied weapons into Ukraine and talk of supporting an extended insurgency does not seem designed to give Ukraine a victory on the battlefield but rather to hand Russia what Secretary of State Blinken called ‘a strategic defeat.’
It sounds an awful lot like the Biden Administration intends to fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian. The only solution for the US is to get out. Let the Russians and Ukrainians reach an agreement. That means no NATO for Ukraine and no US missiles on Russia’s borders? So what! End the war then end NATO.”
Let’s look at an analogy that will help us understand Dr. Paul’s point. For years, the Ukrainian government has attacked an area in the Donbas region that has seceded from Ukraine and formed an independent, pro-Russian, republic. Just before Putin moved against Ukraine, Ukraianians increased the scale and scope of their attack. Rick Rozoff describes what they did: “Two-thirds of Ukrainian army servicemen have been amassed along the Donbas contact line, Eduard Basurin, spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militia, said on Thursday.
“Another three brigades are on their way [to Donbas], which is 20,000 to 25,000 troops more. The total number will reach 150,000, not to mention the nationalists. This is about two-thirds of Ukrainian Armed Forces’ personnel,” Basurin said on the Rossiya 1 television channel (VGTRK) on Thursday.
Ukrainian troops are stationed along the 320-kilometer front line, he said.”
Unlike what has just happened, the Ukrainian attack did not result in US sanctions on Ukraine. There were no meetings of the UN to condemn Ukrainian aggression. There was no talk of world war. On the contrary, Ukraine government used American weapons in its attack and asked America for more weapons to continue their attack. Let’s listen to Rick Rozoff again: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine used the American anti-tank missile system Javelin in the hostilities in Donbas. This was announced by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov in an interview….
Budanov said that ideally, the U.S. would help deter any Russian incursion, through additional military aid and increased diplomatic and economic pressure, including more sanctions against Russia and the seizure and blocking of Russian banking accounts.
Also, in addition to U.S. aid already promised and delivered, including Mark VI patrol boats, Javelin anti-armor systems and AN/TPQ-53 light counter-fire radar systems, Ukraine seeks additional air, missile and drone defense systems and electronic jamming devices, Budonov said. Patriot missile batteries and counter rocket, artillery and mortar systems are on Ukraine’s wish list.
The AN/TPQ-53 systems were used to great effect, Ukraine military officials have previously reported. Budanov said the Javelin systems have also been used against Russian forces. Those, along with Turkish-manufactured drones, used against Russian-aligned separatist artillery troops, have a significant psychological deterrent value, said Budanov.”
Why the difference? We think that the US should not have shipped arms to Ukraine. Doing this made the situation worse. But for what we’re saying now, it doesn’t matter what you think of the policy. The key point is that because there was no international outcry and no sanctions, the matter remained a local fight. If brain dead Biden and his gang had reacted to the so-called Russian “invasion” in the same way, the matter would have remained a local quarrel. Russia and Ukraine would have made a deal and that would be that.
The neocon warmongers and other defenders of “democracy,” who unfortunately include some deluded “libertarians” object. Don’t we have a duty to resist “aggression?” The answer is clear: No, we don’t. We do not have a duty to evaluate every foreign quarrel and assess who is at fault. We do not have a duty to require leaders of regimes we, or rather our masters in Washington, don’t like to accept existing boundaries of countries as unchangeable. We should reject the false doctrine of “collective security,” which makes every border disputes a world war. The great American historian Charles Beard recognized what was wrong with “collective security” in the 1930s. In his article, “Giddy Minds and Foreign Quarrels,” he asked: “On what … should the foreign policy of the United States be based? Here is one answer and it is not excogitated in any professor’s study or supplied by political agitators. It is the doctrine formulated by George Washington, supplemented by James Monroe, and followed by the Government of the United States until near the end of the nineteenth century, when the frenzy for foreign adventurism burst upon the country. This doctrine is simple. Europe has a set of ‘primary interests’ which have little or no relation to us, and is constantly vexed by ‘ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice.’ The United States is a continental power separated from Europe by a wide ocean which, despite all changes in warfare, is still a powerful asset of defense. In the ordinary or regular vicissitudes of European politics the United States should not become implicated by any permanent ties. We should promote commerce, but force ‘nothing.’ We should steer dear of hates and loves. We should maintain correct and formal relations with all established governments without respect to their forms or their religions, whether Christian, Mohammedan, Shinto, or what have you.”
Beard then responded to those who wanted to scrap our traditional policy of non-intervention with “collective security”: “In the rest of the world, outside this hemisphere, our interests are remote and our power to enforce our will is relatively slight. Nothing we can do for Europeans will substantially increase our trade or add to our, or their, well-being. Nothing we can do for Asiatics will materially increase our trade or add to our, or their, well-being. With all countries in Europe and Asia, our relations should be formal and correct. As individuals we may indulge in hate and love, but the Government of the United States embarks on stormy seas when it begins to love one power and hate another officially.”
We should heed Beard’s wisdom today. Otherwise, the world may go up in flames.
© 3.25.2022 by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., "Mises Institute".
Here's Where The COVID Money Went.
When politicians in Washington D.C. planned to infuse the economy with trillions of dollars in Wuhan coronavirus "relief funds", fiscal conservatives warned about the inevitability of widespread fraud and abuse.
Once again, they were correct. A new report from the Associated Press shows "pandemic relief" money, earned by hard working taxpayers, was used for over-the-top vacations, parties and other completely unrelated expenditures.
"Thanks to a sudden $140 million cash infusion, officials in Broward County, Florida, recently broke ground on a high-end hotel that will have views of the Atlantic Ocean and an 11,000-square-foot spa," the Associated Press Reports. "In New York, Dutchess County pledged $12 million for renovations of a minor league baseball stadium to meet requirements the New York Yankees set for their farm teams".
"And in Massachusetts, lawmakers delivered $5 million to pay off debts of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate in Boston, a nonprofit established to honor the late senator that has struggled financially," the story continues. "The three distinctly different outlays have one thing in common: Each is among the scores of projects that state and local governments across the United States are funding with federal coronavirus relief money despite having little to do with combating the pandemic".
The IRS revealed this week that investigators have found nearly $2 billion in stimulus check fraud.
"The agency investigated 660 tax and money laundering cases related to COVID fraud, with alleged fraud in these cases totaling $1.8 billion. These cases included a broad range of criminal activity, including fraudulently obtained loans, credits and payments meant for American workers, families, and small businesses," the IRS released in a statement.
Multiply by a thousand or two corrupt demonKKKrat "projects", and suddenly they want more money.
