Double Talk?
Gee, let’s trust the government!
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A Mixed Bag Decision For Julian Assange Today
Posted by M. C. on March 28, 2024
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Freedom
Posted by M. C. on March 28, 2024
Ya! What he said!
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U.S. History of Using ISIS
Posted by M. C. on March 27, 2024
Moscow Theater attack reminds me of U.S. policy in Syria
Notably, this chemical weapons attack just happened to occur the day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson publicly announced that regime change in Syria was no longer official U.S. policy. In other words—we were told—the day after the U.S. announced it was getting off Assad’s case, he committed an atrocity (of zero military value) that would guarantee that the U.S. recommit itself to getting rid of him.
https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/us-history-of-using-isis
Back in 2015, the Guardian published a fascinating report titled Now the truth emerges: how the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq, which detailed how U.S. and British intelligence were supporting Islamic jihadist rebel groups in Syria with the objective of overthrowing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The report included a link to a leaked 2012 Department of Defense document about U.S. support for these rebel groups in Syria, including ISIS. This report stuck with me, and I was a reminded of it a couple of years later when Assad was accused in April 2017 of using chemical weapons against Syrian civilians.
Notably, this chemical weapons attack just happened to occur the day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson publicly announced that regime change in Syria was no longer official U.S. policy. In other words—we were told—the day after the U.S. announced it was getting off Assad’s case, he committed an atrocity (of zero military value) that would guarantee that the U.S. recommit itself to getting rid of him.
Though most of the legacy press endorsed the assertion that Assad’s forces were behind the attack, a few discerning reporters noted that it could have easily been carried about by one of the Islamic jihadist groups operating in the region to make the Trump administration rethink its abandonment of its regime change objective. Sure enough, a couple of days after the chemical attack, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that he was reconsidering his announcement the week before.
Now comes the news of a major terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall in Moscow that has left hundreds dead and injured. The U.S. government claims the attack was carried out by ISIS-K, which has reportedly taken responsibility for it. However, Kremlin officials have alleged that some of the gunmen were trying to escape into Ukraine, utilizing a ‘window’ of support from across the border.
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Brazil’s Sad Tale Sounds Familiar
Posted by M. C. on March 27, 2024
Why Alex Fled Socialism
As a newer American citizen with first-hand experience of socialist blight, Alex fears that socialism will bring another once-prosperous country to its knees. I was therefore intrigued by his take on young Americans’ economic make-believe; he described the hard facts that these hare-brained fantasies never include.
Some things in life will never dwell together in unity. Examples from the physical world illustrate this easily—oil and water, equal magnetic poles, or cats and birds. The ideological world provides even more examples— prosperity and socialism, for example. As with other South American victims of the Left, this point is illustrated clearly in Brazil.
Younger Americans nonetheless love to agitate for socialism’s shiny promises—the “free” stuff like college educations and medical care, or the “cool” stuff, like high-speed rail or mass transit. Life under socialism appears to be one big, happy hostel, full of licentious delights, music festivals, and climate-friendly “solidarity”. What was “available for years in Europe” is now available here—if only people will, “like, save democracy” and vote!
Like European cars, real socialism would presumably bring stylish improvements to the clunkier traditions of American life. For the star-gazing Left and its young disciples, there is something pleasing and progressive about socialism’s brutalist, gender-fluid aesthetic. Regardless of the hipster window dressings applied to this dismal philosophy, though, one will only find the old deprivations and tyrannies within.
My regular Uber driver, a Brazilian guy named Alex, only shakes his head at his American peers’ mindless appetite for socialism. Like many in the ride share business, Alex is finding some success here. He’s happy to work long hours and build wealth along with his wife, who is also a citizen, now pregnant with their first child. Over the course of several airport drives, he described Brazilian socialism—the popularly touted “social democratic” variety that he escaped through a costly and legal immigration process.
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As a newer American citizen with first-hand experience of socialist blight, Alex fears that socialism will bring another once-prosperous country to its knees. I was therefore intrigued by his take on young Americans’ economic make-believe; he described the hard facts that these hare-brained fantasies never include.
Surprisingly, his heavily-accented personal history doesn’t focus on stories of privations, shortages and censorship—although he observed those things, too. Instead, most of his Brazilian backstory was disturbingly relatable; it was as if he was describing my American life from a vista of the future, just a little further on down our current road.
When I asked about the “free” medical care enjoyed in Brazil—the left’s famously touted benefit of socialism—he shared his experience working for an oncology practice, where he scheduled patients for cancer surgeries. As is always true, “free” wasn’t worth much at the doctor’s office; most Brazilians still need private insurance because government medical care is poor— if you ever manage to get it. On many occasions, by the time he contacted cancer patients on the long waitlist, the patient had already died.
Government schools—both in Brazil and here— are the training and acclimation grounds for all such dismal results. Brazil teaches us where a socialist education model leads; public high schools and universities there are known to hang posters of Marx or Che Guevara. Public education is generally abysmal, so even struggling middle-class families will cobble funds to send their kids to private schools instead. Sexual performance “art” is increasingly common on college campuses. None of this is difficult for Americans to imagine anymore—to a large degree, it’s already happening here, too.
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Pawn Shop Inventories Are Exploding As The Failing U.S. Economy Hammers Those At The Bottom Of The Economic Food Chain
Posted by M. C. on March 27, 2024
When the government says something is going great, take it with a 5lb…4lb bag of salt.
by Michael
How much longer will the Biden administration and the mainstream media continue to deny that we are in the midst of a very painful economic downturn? Debt levels have never been higher, delinquency rates are spiking, the commercial real estate market is crashing, the banking industry is mired in turmoil and large companies are conducting mass layoffs all over the nation. Anyone that attempts to claim that the U.S. economy is in good shape is just being delusional. Unfortunately, it is those that are at the bottom of the economic food chain that are being hurt the most.
If you want to know what is really going on with the economy, pawn shops are a great place to look.
When the economy is doing well, pawn shop inventories tend to go down because people aren’t pawning much stuff and there is lots of buying going on.
But when the economy is not doing well, pawn shop inventories tend to go up because people are pawning lots of stuff for fast cash and there aren’t as many buyers as there were during the good times.
So what are we seeing during the early stages of 2024?
One pawn shop owner that was recently interviewed by USA Today admitted that he has “a glut of inventory” right now…
Clay Baron has everything in his pawn shop from gold rings and pearl necklaces to vintage cowboy boots, silver belt buckles, stereos and ticking clocks.
The only thing he’s short on is space. “Right now we have a glut of inventory,” Baron said, “which tells me that our clientele doesn’t necessarily have money.”
Accumulating pawn shop inventory means fewer buyers than sellers – a sign that for the lowest-income Americans, times remain tough.
That same article pointed out that inventory levels have also grown rapidly at some of the largest pawn shop chains in the entire nation…
Two of the largest, publicly traded pawnshop corporations in the U.S. – which between them own roughly 1,700 pawnshops nationwide – are also reporting growing inventory and increased demand for short-term loans.
FirstCash Holdings Inc. operates nearly 1,200 pawnshops under the FirstCash and Cash America brands in 29 states and the District of Columbia. The company reported “record pawn receivables” in its most recent year-end earnings report and a 10% increase in inventory at its U.S. stores.
EZCORP Inc. also owns 530 pawnshops in the U.S. and reported an 8% increase in inventory at U.S. stores in the company’s latest earnings report. The “challenging macro-economic backdrop” continued to fuel demand for short-term cash loans, the company said.
If anyone comes to you and tries to convince you that the economy is doing well, just show them these numbers.
That will be the end of any debate.
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“Capitalism Has Failed”
Posted by M. C. on March 27, 2024
by Jeff Thomas
Whenever I’m confronted with this now oft-stated comment, my first question to the person offering it is, “Have you ever lived in a capitalist country?” That is, “Have you ever lived in a country in which, during your lifetime, a free-market system dominated?”
Most people seem initially confused by this question,
In recognizing the traditional definition of fascism, there can be no doubt that fascism is the driving force behind the economies of North America and Europe.
Today, more than at any time previously, Westerners are justifying a move toward collectivist thinking with the phrase, “Capitalism has failed.”
In response to this, conservative thinkers offer a knee-jerk reaction that collectivism has also had a dismal record of performance. Neither group tends to gain any ground with the other group, but over time, the West is moving inexorably in the collectivist direction.
As I see it, liberals are putting forward what appears on the surface to be a legitimate criticism, and conservatives are countering it with the apology that, yes, capitalism is failing, but collectivism is worse.
Unfortunately, what we’re seeing here is not classical logic, as Aristotle would have endorsed, but emotionalism that ignores the principles of logic.
If we’re to follow the rules of logical discussion, we begin with the statement that capitalism has failed and, instead of treating it as a given, we examine whether the statement is correct. Only if it proves correct can we build further suppositions upon it.
Whenever I’m confronted with this now oft-stated comment, my first question to the person offering it is, “Have you ever lived in a capitalist country?” That is, “Have you ever lived in a country in which, during your lifetime, a free-market system dominated?”
Most people seem initially confused by this question, as they’re residents of either a European country or a North American country and operate under the assumption that the system in which they live is a capitalist one.
So, let’s examine that assumption.
A capitalist, or “free market,” system is one in which the prices of goods and services are determined by consumers and the open market, in which the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government, price-setting monopoly, or other authority.
Today, none of the major (larger) countries in what was once referred to as the “free world” bear any resemblance to this definition. Each of these countries is rife with laws, regulations, and a plethora of regulatory bodies whose very purpose is to restrict the freedom of voluntary commerce. Every year, more laws are passed to restrict free enterprise even more.
Equally as bad is the fact that, in these same countries, large corporations have become so powerful that, by contributing equally to the campaigns of each major political party, they’re able to demand rewards following the elections, that not only guarantee them funds from the public coffers, but protect them against any possible prosecution as a result of this form of bribery.
There’s a word for this form of governance, and it’s fascism.
Many people today, if asked to describe fascism, would refer to Mussolini, black boots, and tyranny. They would state with confidence that they, themselves, do not live under fascism. But, in fact, fascism is, by definition, a state in which joint rule by business and state exists. (Mussolini himself stated that fascism would better be called corporatism, for this reason.)
In recognizing the traditional definition of fascism, there can be no doubt that fascism is the driving force behind the economies of North America and Europe.
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Pres. Obama Didn’t Believe in the Principles and Values of America – Chief Divider | Thomas Sowell
Posted by M. C. on March 27, 2024
Pres. Barack Obama is the embodiment, the personification, and the culmination of dangerous trends that began decades ago. Moreover, he has escalated those dangers to what may be a point of no return.
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Congressional Omnibus is Like a Bad Hollywood Movie Sequel
Posted by M. C. on March 26, 2024
by Ron Paul
Unfortunately, this latest sequel is as bad as the previous ones, as the American people are left with a massive $1.2 trillion dollar spending package to add to our already $34 trillion in debt. Military spending will, of course, be increased yet again, as the military-industrial complex demands more of our wealth to feed its ever-increasing appetite.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/congressional-omnibus-is-like-a-bad-hollywood-movie-sequel
This weekend’s late-night spending vote in Congress seems like another in an endless series of sequels to a bad suspense movie. Just at the brink of “disaster,” just before the stroke of midnight, Congress pulls off a miracle and passes an omnibus bill to save us from a “government shutdown!”
The heroes have saved the day!
Unfortunately, this latest sequel is as bad as the previous ones, as the American people are left with a massive $1.2 trillion dollar spending package to add to our already $34 trillion in debt. Military spending will, of course, be increased yet again, as the military-industrial complex demands more of our wealth to feed its ever-increasing appetite. And if this military spending increase is not enough, Congressional leadership is promising another huge supplemental bill to further fuel proxy wars in Ukraine and Gaza – with some money to provoke China as well.
Republicans like to talk a good game about reining in spending – especially during election season – but as we learned with this “compromise” and all previous “compromises, it’s all talk. At the end of all the dramatic warnings about shutting the government down, we are left with a Washington-style compromise, meaning the leadership of both parties gets to throw anything and everything they want into the massive bill. Because it is only presented to the rank and file at the last moment before “disaster,” none of the Members get a chance to even read it, much less shape it through amendments and debate.
The Republican House leadership promised the Members 72 hours to read any new bill before a vote, but they broke their promise without hesitation. Members would not have the chance to read the more than 1,000 page bill, which was worked out in secret behind closed doors
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Taxing The Rich To Help The Poor Or To Send It Overseas? Thomas Sowell
Posted by M. C. on March 26, 2024
Some years ago, in my syndicated column, I challenged anyone to name any economist, of any school of thought, who had actually advocated a “trickle down” theory. No one quoted any economist, politician or person in any other walk of life who had ever advocated such a theory, even though many readers named someone who claimed that someone else had advocated it, without being able to quote anything actually said by that someone else.
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