Ten Years After the Last Recession,

15 Wednesday May 2019

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And, just in time for the next one (overdue), confirmation of what many Americans have known for, well, the past ten years.

40 percent of U.S. families, including middle-class households, sometimes struggle to afford housing, utilities, food or health care, according to the Urban Institute.

Nearly 1 in 5 families said they had experienced difficulty paying for food or medical care.

About 60 percent of low-income people surveyed by the nonpartisan think tank said they couldn’t pay their bills at times.

Four in 10 Americans sometimes face what economists call “material hardship,” struggling to pay for basic needs such as food and housing, according to a new study from the Urban Institute. Even middle-class families routinely struggle financially and are occasionally unable to pay their bills.

The finding is striking given the U.S. has experienced a decade of economic growth in the decade since the recession ended. The unemployment rate is at its lowest in half a century, and the stock market has enjoyed a decade-long bull run. But for many Americans, incomes haven’t kept up with the rising cost of necessities such as housing and health care, resulting in financial anxiety.

Financialization = financial anxiety = a lost decade in advance of the next downturn.

Those “green shoots” must have dried up or something. The price of the sorcery is becoming obvious. It will be made even more so in the next few years.

Doves of Peace Grace Washington …

14 Tuesday May 2019

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… only to be shot dead by Bolton, et al. Trump says he isn’t fully behind this idea. Maybe he made a few bad appointments?

At the direction of national security adviser John Bolton, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan last week presented top White House national security officials with a plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East in the event that Iran “attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons,” the New York Times reports.

Details: The plan was reportedly presented during a meeting about the Trump administration’s broader Iran policy, attended — among others — by Bolton, CIA director Gina Haspel, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. It’s unclear if President Trump has been briefed on the details of the plan, which did not call for a land invasion of Iran, but requested a similar number of troops involved the U.S.’ 2003 invasion of Iraq, per the Times.

The big picture: Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been warning of an unspecified “escalating threat” from Iran in recent weeks, after receiving intelligence from Israel about a possible Iranian plot to attack U.S. interests in the region. Trump told reporters today that he’d been “hearing little stories about Iran,” adding: “If they do anything, they will suffer greatly.”

 

Oil tankers. Oil pipes. Drones. One-missile (non)threats. Carrier groups. B-52s. Little stories. Baseless, idiotic propaganda and unspecified yellowcake … (wait, was that the last one?): this thing with Iran is heating up. Maybe it’s all a Twitter hoax.

If not, then there could be great suffering.

A Couple of Things: The Neocons Dream of an Iranian War; Hellywood Hating on Georgia, and; MUST READ Civil War Fiction – From TPC

14 Tuesday May 2019

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A Couple of Things: The Neocons Dream of an Iranian War; Hellywood Hating on Georgia, and; MUST READ Civil War Fiction

Greetings, beloved readers, near and far! It’s a busy time of year, policy and news-wise. Join me and we will explore two of the more interesting, if not alarming, topics of the recent cycle, followed by an excellent literary recommendation. This trio I found more tantalizing than little Benny’s BBC meltdown (poor wuttle Trotskyite snowflake), the unchecked flood across the Southern border, the new baby Royal, Trump’s trillion$ trade Tweet, social media either spying on or banning everyone to the right of AOC, and whatever happened concerning the coming GREAT QUADRENNIAL BLACK MASS. Here goes,
Cometh an Iran War?
The crazies that still have us fighting unwinnable, undeclared wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, and one-third the rest of the world, aren’t happy about the way Russia checked U.S. imperial aggression in Syria. They’re really upset that the same thing happened in Venezuela, even as most Americans still can’t find that country on a map. Now, they want to go for the prize, the country they’ve been eyeing since 1979. Actually, THE Prize is Russia. But, for now, this week, Iran will serve as a good proxy.
Unlike with Iraq and Afghanistan, now they’re not even floating lies to justify the adventurism. They’re just doing it. Those who still wonder about things like this are left to wonder: Is it about oil? Are they blaming terrorism in [fill in the blank]? Did Seeing Eye Netanyahu order it? Is this for the benefit of our “friends” in Saudi Arabia? Could Goldman Sachs or Raytheon be in the red? Economic diversion? Another refugee source?
We may never know. Leaks, hints, and what passes for news, to some degree, kind of support all of my ponderings. For instance, we’ve heard rumors of Iranian plots against unspecified American interests in the region. Those, for some strange reason, remind me of the promise of Saddam’s Yellowcake, minus any semi-plausible specificity.
As is, we’ve got some big, tough words from some small, stupid men. The USS Lincoln steams towards the Persian Gulf. A task force too. A B-52 squadron. Patriot missiles. Etc. It’s almost like they’re gearing up for war. If so, will it be another of the splendid cakewalk variety? Could it be yet another endless quagmire complete with a Toby Keith ballad? Or, could this be the one in which Russia takes Uncle Sam behind the woodshed? We may soon know.
Meanwhile, a little closer to Covington,
The Devil Wants Out of Georgia
For as long as the neocons have dreamt an invasive slaughter of ancient Persia, the leftists have made slaughtering unborn babies (now, born ones too) one of their signature issues. Their “Holy” day is January 22nd (1973), the date on which the Supreme Court said murdering babies was a-okay. (I do not refer to the Supreme Court as “The Nine” for nothing).
Great was the consternation amongst the communists when some States began rolling back a few of those rights of women to choose (to murder), began to (GASP!) declare that living human babies are in fact just that. You know, little human beings with some rights of their own. You know, like the right not to be chopped into bits, vacuumed up, and sold to vampires. Last week, Governor Kemp signed Georgia’s Heartbeat Bill to that effect.
The ghouls of Hollywood, every last one of them degenerates, are not happy. And, they’re threatening to take their drugs, their STDs, and their child-molesting ways and leave town. All I could think to say when I heard the news, was, “Good!” Then again, being one to shun movies, television, and other forms of Satanism, I didn’t really know that Georgia had a film industry to abandon. You do, it seems. They want to control “your” Gold Dome and, if you don’t let them, they’ll leave.
A long list of celebrity garbage figures, none of whom I had ever heard of, issued a variety of condemnations, threats, and dire warnings. In particular, an outfit called “Killer Films” no longer considers Georgia a viable shooting location. Okay … if these killers can’t shoot at little babies, they’re going back … to hell? Sound good to me! Get out and take the rest of the trash with you!
I understand that some Georgians reap financial benefit from the salacious propa-tainment industry. Would you rather keep the money at the risk of your kids and the sovereignty of your State? I know, I know … Ain’t no time fer such questions. Gotta go see Endgame! (Ironman dies!) If you’re of the world, then by all means, keep supporting the catamites and demons. If you are merely in the world, then stop supporting those who hate you. Reject their “cool” films, “funny” shows, “dope” lyrics, and the rest of it. Ditch the fake and the obscene for the real and the beautiful. Remember, to have a heartbeat, you’ve gotta have a heart.
And, one finds battalion-level strength heart in,
A Fatal Mercy, The Man Who Lost The Civil War by Thomas Moore
The novel opens with high honor and hard truth, about the War and about the human condition. It also addresses more important issues:
“Doc Craven has ordered me to give up drinking, and Nellie won’t let me chase women. If I have to give up cigars too, then I might as well be dead.”
– Chapter Two, A discussion among the FitzHenry boys.

READ MORE AT TPC

Attack of the $5 Trillion Gubmint

14 Tuesday May 2019

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There’s just no need for elaboration. These numbers speak for themselves:

The federal government spent $2,573,708,000,000 in the first seven months of fiscal 2019 (October through April), setting an all-time record for real federal spending in the first seven months of a fiscal year, according to data published in the Monthly Treasury Statements.

Prior to this fiscal year, the most that the federal government had ever spent in the first seven months of a fiscal year was in fiscal 2011, when it spent $2,476,257,690,000 in constant April 2019 dollars (adjusted using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator).

That’s a high price for an Empire that’ll be gone in a decade and a half. It’s like wasting everything on a luxury model for use as a beater that you can’t even afford to insure. Should have gone with the economy republican model. Or even a mid-sized Monarchy or something. Hey, it’s just (fake) money in (and at) the end.

Never Miss a Chance

13 Monday May 2019

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To walk out on insulting political trash. Just what these kids in CO did during a vigil, allegedly for the victims of the recent Satanic, gay-tranny, hate crime and shooting spree.

Colorado students walked out of an event billed as a vigil for Kendrick Castillo, an 18-year-old killed in a shooting at his school on Tuesday, when prominent speakers attempted to turn it into a rally for gun control. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) each took a turn calling for gun control at the Douglas County event before students streamed out in protest.

Two students at STEM Highlands Ranch, a K-12 charter school focused on science, technology, engineering, and math, shot nine students, one fatally. The accused students, who were arrested, are an adult male and a juvenile female who identifies as male. The accused male had written anti-Christian social media messages. He drove a car with a pentagram spray-painted on the hood, as well as other [Satanic] graffiti…

In response to the shooting, a public vigil was announced at another local public high school: Highlands Ranch High School. It was sponsored by the gun control groups Brady’s Team Enough and March for Our Lives and featured Democratic politicians who seek limits on Second Amendment gun rights, but was billed instead as an event to remember and honor Castillo and other victims. As the politicians called for gun control, students left in protest over the politicization of the deaths and injuries.

You were just supposed to be there as pawns, children. The shithead pols care nothing about you nor your deceased hero friend. Good on all of them! Parents and other adults (if any): vote this garbage out of office and run them out of the State.

 

Caesar Gets Zilch

13 Monday May 2019

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Sayeth the Lord. Jeffery Barr explains away any confusion about what Jesus said to the Rabbinate in re allegiance (and taxes).

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The Catholic Church considers Herself the authoritative interpreter of Sacred Scripture. The 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church “is a statement of the Church’s faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition, and the Church’s Magisterium.”

The 1994 Catechism instructs the faithful that it is morally obligatory to pay one’s taxes for the common good. (What the definition of the “common good” is may be left for a different debate.) The 1994 Catechism also quotes and cites the Tribute Episode. But the 1994 Catechism does NOT use the Tribute Episode to support the proposition that it is morally obligatory to pay taxes. Instead, the 1994 Catechism refers the Tribute Episode only to justify acts of civil disobedience. It quotes St. Matthew’s version to teach that a Christian must refuse to obey political authority when that political authority makes a demand contrary to the demands of the moral order, the fundamental rights of persons, or the teachings of the Gospel. Similarly, the 1994 Catechism also cites to St. Mark’s version to instruct that a person “should not submit his personal freedom in an absolute manner to any earthly power, but only to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Caesar is not u2018the Lord.‘” Thus, according to the 1994 Catechism, the Tribute Episode stands for the proposition that a Christian owes his allegiance to God and to the things of God alone. If the Tribute Episode unequivocally supported the proposition that it is morally obligatory to pay taxes, the 1994 Catechism would not hesitate to cite to it for that position. That the 1994 Catechism does not interpret the Tribute Episode as a justification for the payment of taxes suggests that such an interpretation is not an authoritative reading of the passage. In short, even the Catholic Church does not understand the Tribute Episode to mean that Jesus endorsed paying Caesar’s taxes.

V. CONCLUSION

St. John’s Gospel recounts the scene of a woman caught in adultery, brought before Jesus by the Pharisees so that they might “test” Him “so that they could have some charge to bring against Him.” When asked, “u2018Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say,’” Jesus appears trapped by only two answers: the strict, legally-correct answer of the Pharisees, or the mercifully-right, morally-correct, but technically-illegal answer undermining Jesus’ authority as a Rabbi. Notably, Jesus never does overtly respond to the question posed to Him; instead of answering, “Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.” When pressed by His inquisitors, He finally answers, “u2018Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her,’” and, of course, the shamed Pharisees all leave one by one. Jesus then refuses to condemn the woman.

The scene of the woman caught in adultery and the Tribute Episode are similar. In both, Jesus is faced with a hostile question challenging His credibility as a Rabbi. In each, the hostile question has two answers: one answer which the audience knows is morally correct, but politically incorrect, and the other answer which the audience knows is wrong, but politically correct. In the scene of the woman caught in adultery, no one roots for Jesus to say, “Stone her!” Everyone wants to see Jesus extend the woman mercy. Likewise, in the Tribute Episode, no one hopes Jesus answers, “Pay tribute to the pagan, Roman oppressors!” The Tribute Episode, like the scene of the woman caught in adultery, has a “right” answer – it is not licit to pay the tribute. But Jesus cannot give this “right” answer without running afoul of the Roman government. Instead, in both Gospel accounts, Jesus gives a quick-witted, but ultimately ambiguous, response which exposes the hypocrisy of His interrogators rather than overtly answers the underlying question posed by them. Nevertheless, in each instance, the audience can infer the right answer embedded in Jesus’ response.

Read the whole thing and what brought him to this sound, extraordinarily well-researched conclusion. Taxation is more than theft, it’s slavery. Show me the money!

Facebook’s Constitutional Convention

13 Monday May 2019

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To all the libertarians and conservatives, who from time to time make mention of an Con-Con, please have a gander at what Farcebook is doing:

All that said, serious concerns remain. For example, how might a 40 person board adequately represent the concerns of the thousands of groups across the globe? How might a set of “universal” rules address the significant disparities in belief and practice by the billions of people who use or will soon use the platform? How might a company firmly committed to American ideals not end up exporting those ideals, or enforcing such social values over and against smaller states? It’s a dizzying miasma of problems for which solutions are not merely difficult to find, but perhaps impossible.

That difficulty seems inherent to what Facebook is actually doing: in essence, writing a constitution for the global moderation of speech. That it is doing so at all is a recognition of what is at stake on its platform. Yet, sitting and listening to Facebook dutifully receive and genuinely listen to feedback, the absurdity of the situation was also hard to ignore. Here was a private company with historically unprecedented reach trying its best to do the right thing, in which the “right thing” was to find the right way to govern speech on the world’s largest democratic platform. It is indicative of the fact that the company is a kind of supra-state unto itself, significantly more powerful than most countries across the globe, and with enormous influence.

This is what you might reasonably expect, regarding Article Five: a group of anonymous, SJW control freaks trying to impose “American values” – what those are, outside of usury, sodomy, and obesity, isn’t clear – on everyone, everywhere, under every circumstance.

Get off social media. Get off the Parchment.

Shouting About The Big Stick

13 Monday May 2019

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So much for avoiding foreign entanglements. USSOCOM is advising and bragging about overthrowing governments.

No kidding – this is not our headline, but Newsweek’s: “US Special Forces School Publishes New Guide For Overthrowing Foreign Governments” – and as far as we can tell they are the only major mainstream outlet to have picked up on the fact that the US military is now essentially openly bragging on past and future capabilities to foster covert regime change operations.

The 250-page study entitled “Support to Resistance: Strategic Purpose and Effectiveness” was put out by the Joint Special Operations University under US Special Operations Command, which is the Army’s official unified command center which overseas all joint covert and clandestine missions out of MacDill AFB, Florida.

“This work will serve as a benchmark reference on resistance movements for the benefit of the special operations community and its civilian leadership,” the report introduces.

The study examines 47 instances of US special forces trying to intervene in various countries from 1941-2003, thus special attention is given to the Cold War, but it doesn’t include coups which lacked “legitimate resistance movements” — such as the case of ‘Operation AJAX’ in 1953 which overthrew Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.

Read all about it, HERE.

Screenshot 2019-05-13 at 5.36.34 AM

Bu, bu, but, muh Russians…

Winged Justice From Cuba: A Tom Ironsides Story

12 Sunday May 2019

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Recycled due to positive feedback, etc. Someone told me the flight sequence gave him goosebumps. A very straight fellow confessed to a “man crush” of Ironsides. A sweet woman I know said I have a vivid imagination. [I do but this is cobbled FACTS, for the most part]. There was mention of having “a gift.” Thanks, here’s your gift:

perrinlovett's avatarPERRIN LOVETT

As originally published at TPC

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Winged Justice From Cuba

A Tom Ironsides Story

Author’s Note: The following is partly based on true events, a blended, fictional account of several independent and real stories. Names have been changed, omitted, or dramatized so as to protect the innocent, the guilty, and the dead. The resemblance of any character or entity in this tale, to any person or entity, living or dead, is mere semblance only. Please, enjoy.

Sometimes the mind wanders. In daydreams, a man can relive what he found harrowing as well as those pleasant times that feel now, as they did then, just like dreams. Sometimes, if one isn’t careful, the two meld together. Tom’s brain turned back the calendar to another stage in his life’s journey.

Tom stood in the door of “his” Dassault Falcon 7X, peering into the gloom above a dark, tropical landscape. The absence of…

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Economic Absolution

12 Sunday May 2019

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PCR writes about an ancient practice, one we could sorely use today in America.

In actual fact, these civilizations were more advanced and more humanitarian than our own. They were more advanced because the rulers were focused on ensuring the society’s longevity by maintaining a livable balance between debtors and creditors. It has all been downhill ever since.

The rulers maintained social balance and, thereby, the life of the society by periodically cancelling debts. The rulers understood that compound interest resulted in debt growing faster than the economy. The consequence would be foreclosures on agricultural land, which would shift riches and power into a small oligarchy of creditors. The ruler and the society would be deprived of a self-supporting population on the land which provided tax revenues, soldiers for the military, and corvee labor to maintain public infrastructure. Disaster would follow. A grasping oligarchy could overthrow the ruler or the dispossessed population could flee to a potential invader offering their military services in exchange for debt forgiveness.

To protect their societies from dissolution by unpayable debts, rulers periodically cancelled agrarian debts owed by the citizenry at large, but not mercantile debts among businessmen.

The reason for debt forgiveness was stability, not egalitarianism.

One difference between the debts of then, there, and now and here, is that the ancients generally had debts based in actual currency, debased to a degree perhaps, but based nonetheless. Ours, in contrast, is pure fiat, wished into being by a cartel of financial criminals. What can be made with a wish, could easily be wished away. But, that’s wishing for a lot.

In America today the population is drowning in unpayable debts—student loan debt, credit card debt, home mortgage debt, state and local government debt, and business debt—but policymakers have reserved forgiveness only for the debt associated with the bad and irresponsible investments of the big banks and financial institutions. The Federal Reserve printed $4 trillion to buy up the banks’ bad debt while permitting ten million homeowners to be foreclosed. Student loan debt prevents university graduates from forming independent households. Mortgage and credit card debt prevents households from having discretionary income with which to drive retail sales. But modern day economics has no prescription for preventing our society from failing from debt overload.

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In the US today we have a situation in which the New York banks control Federal Reserve policy and financial legislation—the deregulation of the banking system and its subsequent bailout, for example. We have a situation in which monopolies, monopsonies, and oligopolies are stronger than the central government, which is unable to rein them in or act against them in any way. Corporations dispossess citizens of their jobs by offshoring the jobs. Creditor demands prevent university graduates from forming households. Debt service preempts retail demand except by further debt expansion.

This is an economy headed down, not up. Clearly, Hammurabi did far better for the Babylonians than Washington can do for Americans.

Cue Darth Sidious: “Wipe [the debts out]. All of them.” Make debt illegal, usurious lending a capital felony.