“Our country’s cheerleaders are wedded to the notion of American exceptionalism. But when it comes to the machinations of power, we are all too similar to other societies and ones that have come before us. There is an implacable brutality to power that is familiar throughout the world and throughout history.”
David Talbot, The Devil's Chessboard
"Another cause of today's instability is that we now have a society in America, Europe and much of the world which is totally dominated by the two elements of sovereignty that are not included in the state structure: control of credit and banking, and the corporation. These are free of political controls and social responsibility, and they have largely monopolized power in Western Civilization and in American society.
They are ruthlessly going forward to eliminate land, labour, entrepreneurial-managerial skills, and everything else the economists once told us were the chief elements of production. The only element of production they are concerned with is the one they can control: capital."
Carroll Quigley, The State of the Individual
"In a sane and functioning American republic, this budget would be more than political suicide. It would be the political equivalent of doing a Rasputin to yourself. I mean, leaching funds from Medicare? Cutting the CDC in the middle of a pandemic? Cutting the EPA by a full quarter of its present budget? A ballooning deficit? There's something in there to enrage everyone from Bernie Sanders to Simpson and Bowles.
However, on the morning that the president dropped this dead fish on his own foot, people were lined up in the chill rain to attend his rally tonight, at which he will lie barefaced about everything in that budget. And they will eat up the lies in buckets because this is not a sane and functioning American republic any more."
Charlie Pierce, Trump's Budget: Cutting the CDC in the middle of a pandemic is not viable in a functioning republic
"Journalism is one of the devices whereby industrial autocracy keeps its control over political democracy; it is the day-by-day, between-elections propaganda, whereby the minds of the people are kept in a state of acquiescence, so that when the crisis of an election comes, they go to the polls and cast their ballots for either one of the two candidates of their exploiters."
Upton Sinclair, The Brass Check
In short, we have lost public control over the creation and distribution of our money, and it has fallen into the hands of very clever and determined people without conscience.
Stocks rallied hard in the morning, but faded badly into the afternoon as the euphoria of Davos man returned to a more ordinary consideration of our circumstances.
Gold and silver gained back much of their early losses. The Dollar gave up much of its early gains.
"Gold is at all-time highs versus 2011 in: Aussie Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Euro, Pound, Yen and Rupee. It is ~ 20% below it’s all time high in US Dollar. Wait for it—— When we take out $1,900 the world changes."Things may not always be as they are portrayed for us. Let us just leave it at that for now.
Lawrence Lepard
I am informed that N95 and better filtration face masks do offer some protection from viruses. Not the ordinary surgical masks however.
As you might expect there already has been a 'run' on face masks even here in the US. Some jokers have been buying them up in size, with intentions of selling them at usurious markups later on places like eBay and Amazon. Nice.Never fear. I am sure Trump and His Merry Pranksters have a plan for protecting us all. Besides cutting funding for medicare and the CDC.
All four US prosecutors in the Roger Stone witness-tampering and obstruction of justice case have quit from that case after political interference weighed in on the sentencing process.
There is a virtual riot of bad governance around the globe. Not only in the so called third world, as is traditional, but in many of the developed nations, and especially among those that are no longer very developed, but are merely faking it.
One might say that lying and the breaking of oaths by the self-appointed elite has become fashionable. All the worst people are doing it.
And the contagion for this abuse of office is carried through force and example by the great empire of power wielding sociopaths.
Things that have been hidden will be revealed.
Have a pleasant evening.
