Great AmericaCultural Suicide Is Painless The story of all Dark Ages is that when civilizations finally prefer suicide, they do it easily, and the remnants flock to the countryside to preserve what they can—allowing the cities go on with their ritual self-destruction.
By Victor Davis Hanson • August 30, 2020 In February, New York was the world’s most dynamic metropolis. By August, the city was more like the ruins of Ephesus. It is not all that hard to blow up a culture. You can do it in a summer if you haven’t much worry about others. When you loot and burn a Target in an hour, it takes months to realize there are no more neighborhood Target-stocked groceries, toilet paper, and Advil to buy this winter. You can in a night assault the police, spit at them, hope to infect them with the coronavirus, and even burn them alive. But when you call 911 in a few weeks after your car is vandalized, your wallet is stolen, and your spouse is violent, and no one comes, only then do you sense that you earlier were voting for a pre-civilized wilderness. You can burn down a Burger King in half an hour. But it will take years to find anyone at Burger King, Inc., who would ever be dumb enough to rebuild atop the charred ruins—to prepare for the next round of arson in 2021 or 2023. Today’s looter carrying off sneakers and smartphones in 10 years will be tomorrow’s urban activist, understandably but in vain demanding stores return to a charred no man’s land, to do their fair share, and to help restore the downtown, neighborhood, inner-city, or the “community.” Old Liberal Ideas Are Being DestroyedWe are living in the most racially polarized climate since the 1960s. America’s past, present, and future are in the process of being recalibrated entirely through the lens of one’s skin color. Columbus is reduced to nothing more than another racist white Italian sailor of a half-millennium past. Grant might as well have fought for slavery in the mind of today’s campus ignoramus. Apparently, the Antifa thug thinks he could just as easily have written the Gettysburg Address or sculpted a statue of Frederick Douglass. The old liberal ideas of assimilation, integration, and intermarriage are being destroyed by the Left under the specious doctrines of cultural appropriation, or “acting white” or “how we look is who we are.” A new fuzzy Jim Crow returns with racially segregated campus safe spaces and theme houses or the race-based reeducation and training sessions in the workplace—all predicated to stop racism! Somehow selecting strangers on the basis of their race to bully in a restaurant, or targeting old anonymous men and women to beat up in the street by their race, or singling out suburbanites by their race for racial taunts and profanity is redefined as reparatory justice or overdue payback—on the assumption that no one would dare say that the arson, looting, and rhetoric are descending into ever more hate-filled nihilism. Our collective future of nationalized tribalism will become what always results when citizens identify by superficial appearance or shared religion. Just go to Lebanon, the Balkans, or Iraq to see what is in store first hand. Tribalism RisingTo survive, all groups will self-identify, at first quietly, but eventually unapologetically. Some will form alliances of self-preservation, others will war with each other. Tribal gangs, as they already do now in our streets of fire and looting, will assume they are exempt from consequences; and so will their antitheses of vigilantes who band together to guard their stores in the absence of a defunded police. Liberal elite whites themselves are now uneasy, since the abstract doctrines they so nihilistically advocated, from defunding the police to recalibrating looting as “redistribution,” are now becoming reified and closer to home. They see that when BLM protestors jam a restaurant to demand fealty or lecture on “white privilege” or march into a suburb to wake up the commuter to apprise him of his immorality, the racialists will not qualify their agendas with “except for woke whites.” When tribalism is distilled to its innate and terrifying essence, there are never exemptions for individuals: you are reduced to what you appear superficially as to strangers. The white felon is no different than the white Harvard president, the black shoplifter is the same as the black physicist. We are all condensed to a sort of collective nothingness, or rather a racial “allness.” The Self-Immolation of Pro SportsProfessional sports, once an integral part of American life, appears to be nearly in ruins. Professional baseball, basketball, and football might have survived the virus, the lockdown, and the recession—and then maybe they might not have. After all, millions of the bored more quickly than expected got acculturated to the idea of soon not listening to a boring rant from LeBron James or the sad confessionals of Drew Brees. But what the NBA and NFL, and perhaps MLB won’t survive is cultural suicide as players fragment into causes. The NBA existed on the premise that billionaires were willing to pay multimillionaires to lose billions as a prestige lark—as a franchise became a sort of a huge, showy Louis Vuitton bag. But even billionaires have limits. Snobbery and appearing cool do not always trump losing the equivalent of a Ferrari every hour or a Gulfstream each week. The NBA, we are told, is a woke industry. But it’s also the strangest, most nondiverse, right-wing, money-obsessed woke institution in America. More than three-quarters of the multimillionaire players are African-American. Over 90 percent of the billionaire team owners are white. Yet the entire industry—players, coaches, owners, staff—lecture Americans ad nauseam about their supposed sins. The monotonous sermons have become transparent medieval redemptions—given the mortal sin that the NBA sold its very soul to a racist, genocidal, and totalitarian China—to recover billions abroad for the billions lost in viewership and attendance at home. Nondiverse multimillionaires, working for even less diverse billionaires, finger-pointing at middle-class Americans on the evils of privilege, in the pay of the Chinese Communist Party, is not a way to win back fans. Institutional Crack-UpsUniversities are in for hard times. The federal government eventually will get out of the $1.5 trillion student loan subsidy business, and force spendthrift colleges to accept their own self-created moral hazards. Charging $30,000-40,000 for tuition over Zoom is a bad business model in a recession. And the alphabet soups after the names of professors and deans will not make a bit of difference. Thousands of college-educated protesters and rioters are not especially good advertisements for the building of lifelong character on woke university campuses. Once undergraduate institutions decided to make students socially conscious rather than educated, and once their graduates seem to be neither, then who really finds their mentors essential? Our major cities, emerging from lockdown, and on the edge of nightly violence, remind us of what Procopius, the Byzantine historian, saw of Rome in AD 538, once the cultural and political megalopolis of the world: a mostly deserted shell of weeds, deserted streets, collapsed stone, choked fountains, and fortified villas where lawlessness reigned and feuding tribes were what was left of a government that once had enshrined habeas corpus. No city gets a pass from history, not Athens, not Rome, not Alexandria—not Detroit, Baltimore, or Chicago. After all, there is no rule that just because Bill Gates and Amazon headquartered in Seattle that its mayor, city council, and state governor will not abandon its signature downtown. What once made Portland great can be undone in a few weeks. Wall Street may run the world, but it certainly does not run the New York City government. Electronic capital really does still have human legs and when the proverbial suited investor thinks he will be infected, short of toilet paper, or assaulted on the street, he leaves, taking his laptop with him. Bill de Blasio is left to govern, like a horned and bearded Visigoth, over an increasing shell of former grandeur. To venture into San Francisco is to return in a time machine to 1855, a boomtown based on silicon chips, not gold dust, but one likewise lawless, fetid, and safe only for those with private security guards. To the casual visitor, it appears a lunatic place now recalibrated for the homeless, the looter, the assaulter—and the very rich. Crimes like public defecation and drug use, or shattering the windows of a parked car window to steal its contents are not crimes unless the targets are the well-connected. The story of all Dark Ages is that when civilizations finally prefer suicide, they do it easily, and the remnants flock to the countryside to preserve what they can—allowing the cities to go on with their ritual self-destruction. So it has begun to seem this endless summer. 
George Soros, 89, is still on a quest to destroy America
By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times Saturday, January 25, 2020 ANALYSIS/OPINION: George Soros is 89 years old, but by gosh, before he dies, he’s going to see to the internal destruction of America. At least that’s how it seems. How else can we listen to his words in Davos, Switzerland, track his funding of American political races and pay attention to what he says about President Donald Trump, capitalism, and the leftist causes he backs and the leftist Open Society Foundations he runs, and come to any other conclusion? In the last few years, Soros has taken to trying to take over local law enforcement agencies by pumping massive amounts of money into candidates he favors in key district attorney races. “George Soros’ quiet overhaul of the US justice system,” Politico reported, way back in August of 2016. It continues in present day. “PAC funded by George Soros pumps nearly $1 million into local races for prosecutor,” The Washington Post reported in June, about the money from the Justice and Public Safety PAC that went to the left-leaners of both Arlington County, Virginia, and Fairfax County, Virginia, commonwealth’s attorney races.’ “Soros Adds Intrigue and $800,000 to D.A. Race, Backing Progressive,” The New York Times reported in November. The district attorney’s office is one of the first local lines of defense of the Constitution and the rule of law. That means the potential for immediate progressive impact is huge — and it’s an impact that can be had without all that costly political fighting over, say, a senator’s seat, or a Supreme Court slot. Buying D.A. seats gives you good bang for the buck, in other words. And oftentimes, quietly, unbeknownst to those who might oppose. That doesn’t mean Soros isn’t busily buying into congressional races, too. or the media. Or — and this, particularly in recent months — the grassroots. Democracy Alliance, a nonprofit founded in 2005 to advance a progressive vision throughout America, and funded by wealthy elites, recently shifted its charitable giving strategy from think tanks in high-powered Washington, D.C., to small, mostly unknown groups in various communities. Why? Call it — once again — under-the-radar influence. Politico in 2018 described the process: “Kevin Rodriguez, a 19-year-old aspiring singer in tight jeans and gray-and-white Nike high tops, had never heard of the powerful progressive donor group Democracy Alliance. But he is a key part of the secretive billionaire club’s plot to flip the Sun Belt. The donor clique, which counts George Soros and Tom Steyer among its members, is quietly giving funds to a handful of local grassroots groups like Rodriguez’s employer, Living United for Change in Arizona.” It’s a strategy aimed at quietly taking down President Donald Trump, one “new voter in rapidly diversifying states across the southern U.S.” at a time, as Politico wrote. It’s a strategy that skirts the enemy’s knowledge, and therefore, oftentimes, the enemy’s win. And it’s a strategy that takes full advantage of dark money-type donations that are difficult to track and even more difficult to thwart. It’s one thing for Soros to take his hatred of this president and his disdain for free market America to the public stage — as he just did in Davos, when he criticized Trump as a “con man” whose “narcissism” has turned “into a malignant disease,” as CNBC reported. It’s another for Soros to slide, on the sly, his anti-American influences deep into America’s politics and culture. And now: education. In Davos, he announced the infusion of $1 billion into a new Open Society University Network to fund schools around the world — to “educate against nationalism,” is how the Financial Times reported it. In other words: to train the next generation in the evils of sovereignty — to teach the emerging youth how to become good obedient citizens of the world. Soros calls it his “most important and enduring project” ever. No wonder. It truly could be. If successful, it could mean the collapse of borders, the implementation of world government, the end of America as we know it. If children are the hope of the future, America’s children must be educated on the greatness of America — before it becomes too late and America, as a sovereign nation, hasn’t any future at all. __________________________ 
June 29, 2019
Islam, Terrorism, and Censorship By Janet LevyI n his newest book, Paul Cliteur, author and jurisprudence professor at Leiden University, examines a largely forgotten 1987 German television comedy skit that sparked Muslim protests. Cliteur asserts that the incident, involving Dutch comedian Rudi Carrell, became the forerunner for other protests, many of them deadly violent, that now characterize the ongoing conflict between Islamic theoterrorism and Western free speech. In Theoterrorism v. Freedom of Speech: From Incident to Precedent (Amsterdam University Press, 2019), Cliteur calls the Carrell incident a turning point in global politics. It made the West conclude that offending Islam was a global capital offense and it brought about the start of a precipitous decline in Western civil liberties. Born in the Netherlands, Carrell began appearing on German television in the mid-1960s, ultimately attracting 20 million viewers. In 1987, eight years after the Ayatollah Khomeini established an anti-Western theocracy in Iran and instituted strict Islamic sharia, Carrell depicted women throwing their underwear at Khomeini’s feet. The sketch poked fun at the Ayatollah’s edict forbidding Iranian women to show their hair or body shape. After the show aired, an Iranian ambassador complained to the German government that Muslims “all over the world” had hurt feelings. Iranian consulates in West Berlin and Hamburg closed. A Frankfurt-to-Tehran flight was delayed for six hours while the ground crew, under Tehran’s command, protested. Iran expelled two West German diplomats and Iranian students demanded an apology during a government-incited protest at the West German Embassy. Carrell received death threats and required police protection. The German Foreign Ministry apologized for Carrell’s insensitivity but restated the German government’s commitment to freedom of the press and artistic expression. The entertainer feared for his life and issued a public apology, saying he hadn’t meant to “offend the feelings of believers.” He also expressed regret to the Iranian ambassador. The Carrell broadcast also impacted the Netherlands. Eight days after the German program, Dutch radio scheduled a rebroadcast. Minutes before it began, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs asked the broadcaster to reconsider, even though shutting down the program violated Dutch laws guaranteeing freedom of the press from government interference. The Dutch Minister was concerned a rebroadcast would cause repercussions, especially for Dutch citizens living in Tehran after the Dutch embassy had said embassy workers were at risk. In his comprehensive analysis of the incident, Cliteur examines the impact of appeasing Iran’s theocratic dictatorship. He asserts it validated the assumption that insulting the Iranian regime was an insult to all Islam and was, in effect, a capitulation to sharia blasphemy laws. Cliteur asks if appeasing Muslim sensitivities and bowing to threats set a precedent for other nations to follow, thereby altering culturally acceptable norms of Western behavior. “What is the appropriate response when a foreign power threatens violence to one of your citizens when nothing has been done to violate national law or when the event is protected by national law?,” Cliteur writes. Are national sovereignty, civil liberties, free speech, and the safety of citizens within the borders of threatened nations undermined, Cliteur asks? In the Carrell case, a fanatical religious leader essentially set TV programming standards for a free nation in which freedom of the press is essential to democracy. A foreign power issued threats, causing a faraway democracy to willingly disavow its own constitution. Cliteur then examines other incidents. In 2004, Theo Van Gogh, an Islamic critic since 9/11, and Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim who denounced Islam’s anti-feminist doctrine, co-produced a film exposing Islam’s subjugation of women. The film, which depicted a veiled actress on whose naked body verses from the Koran were painted, drew praise and anger. A few months later, Van Gogh was shot to death and his body left with messages denouncing Hirsi Ali, Jews, and Western democracies. The murder sent a clear message to Europeans that mocking the prophet and criticizing Islam was a death penalty offense. Did Van Gogh’s assassination reveal the true nature of jihadist ideology or did Van Gogh cause his death by coarsely criticizing a religion? According to Cliteur, these questions after Van Gogh’s murder revealed a cleavage in Dutch society mirrored in other western European countries. Cliteur also analyzes controversial cartoons of Mohammed published in Jyllands-Posten in 2005. The publisher wanted to advance the debate about criticism of Islam and self-censorship. When only 12 out of 42 cartoonists queried by the publisher agreed to depict Mohammed, it proved that cartoonists engaged in self-censorship. The subsequent destruction of property and deaths of over 200 people after the cartoons’ publication clearly demonstrated the need for such concern. It also ironically supported the idea that so offended Muslims: that Islam is violent and related to terrorism. Although some critics rebuked the cartoons as a “senseless provocation” like shouting “fire” in a crowded theater, Cliteur writes that Islam is in fact a real “fire” and that people needed to be warned. The author also examines in depth what was considered a supreme test of the commitment of western democracies to free speech: the 1988 publication of Salman Rushdie’s novel, The Satanic Verses. Khomeini issued a fatwa that included a $1.5 million reward for killing the author. The book was banned in India, South Africa, Venezuela, and eight other countries. Protestors burned the book in England and the publisher, Penguin, was petitioned to cease publication. Despite Muslim demands, the British government announced that blasphemy laws would not be changed. Rushdie went into hiding, eventually issuing an apology that was rejected with his death sentence reconfirmed. Massive rioting took place in Bombay, demonstrations occurred in New York City, two Berkeley bookstores were firebombed and 50,000 Muslims protested in London. The Rushdie incident illustrated the contradiction between secular constitutions and Islamic blasphemy laws, Cliteur says. The author maintains that eliminating offensiveness in a free society is not possible and asks, if a religion can be offended, then how about a philosophy, a political ideology or a scientific theory? He also asks that if respect is required for all religions, even cults and satanic beliefs, is it legitimate to discriminate? He astutely observes that Rushdie and his work would not have been criticized if a fatwa hadn’t been issued. Cliteur asserts that Rushdie’s critics, primarily multiculturalists, rejected The Satanic Verses based on the interpretations and feelings of others. Many critics denounced Rushdie for offending Muslims and failing to consider their response, mistakes that justified the call to violence. They viewed consciousness raising and critical discussion of religious beliefs as misguided and felt that Western liberal thinkers needed to “learn to reach out more” and be less “self-satisfied.” They focused on understanding the terrorists and not the cartoonists, novelists and artists threatened by religious zealots. The author asks if by calling for “respect for Muslims,” multiculturalists were, in fact, condoning Islamic violence. Furthermore, the novel’s publication was completely legitimate under the legal system where Rushdie resided. Was it fair for him to be punished under the laws of an unknown and foreign legal system by a self-appointed judge with no respect for national sovereignty? Common to all incidents cited by the author in Theoterrorism is that “Islamophobia” accusations and retaliation threats can be instruments of hostage-taking of entire populations, spreading fear among targeted citizens, entire societies and governments. They impose Islamic blasphemy laws or sharia on non-Muslim societies, democracies that honor citizen rights to free expression without censorship or restraint. Cliteur wonders if the careers of cartoonists and political satirists could end as a result of Muslim appeasement. A fatwa of unknown duration creates fear everywhere when people realize they lack government protection in their own lands under their own laws. Can hurt feelings by any group be a precondition to undermine core values of free speech, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion by democratic societies? If so, the creep of sharia law will surely annihilate these western values. 
CAL THOMAS:
Why socialism fails March 14, 2019 One of the rotten fruits produced by what passes for today’s American education system is the ignorance some young people have about socialism. According to a new Harris Poll given exclusively to Axios, the news and information website, Generation Z (comprised of those born in 1995 or later), “has a more positive view of the word ‘socialism’ than previous generations, and — along with millennials — is more likely to embrace socialistic policies and principles than past generations.” This ignorance is a direct threat to the future of the country, because, according to Bloomberg research, “Gen-Z will surpass millennials in 2019 as the most populous generation, comprising roughly 32 percent of the population.” For young people who weren’t alive during the Cold War and the horrors that came from socialism and its evil twin, communism, the notion that they can get free stuff from the government is addictive. Having sacrificed little for their country (members of the military excluded), too many young people have bought into the idea that rich people and big corporations are evil because they have “stolen” money from others, especially the poor. According to Mark J. Perry, Ph.D., a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan’s Flint campus, and a scholar at American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., socialism fails “because it’s a flawed system based on completely faulty principles that aren’t consistent with human behavior and can’t nurture the human spirit.” Accurate polling results depend on how a question is asked, as well as a person’s level of understanding of the subject. AEI research reveals that while a majority of younger people like the idea of Medicare for all — just one of the issues they say is important to them — “that support turns to opposition if people would have to pay more in taxes, if private health insurance were eliminated, if it threatened the current Medicare program, or if it led to delays in medical tests or treatment.” All of these outcomes are likely if socialism replaces capitalism. Ironically, one of the top issues for Generation Z is the national debt, now at $22 trillion. Have young people considered that socialist programs will significantly add to the debt? Apparently not, because to them, it seems that feelings are more important than observable results. Socialist policies, in one form or another, are part of the platforms of some of the announced Democratic presidential candidates, especially Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). Vermont was once conservative, but now appears to be occupied by left-leaning radicals. Retreating fast into history is the notion “we can’t afford it,” an economic mantra accepted and taught to children by a previous and experienced generation that believed in living within one’s means. The rapid demise of socialist Venezuela has apparently had little impact on younger Americans who think the U.S. government is a large ATM and all they need do is insert a card and money will slide out. How unaware young people are about the effects of socialism was revealed early on by Jake Tapper of CNN when he noted that even left-leaning organizations have calculated that the proposals of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) would cost $40 trillion. When he interviewed her during the 2016 campaign, Tapper said that since her proposed tax increases would raise just $2 trillion, how would the then-candidate make up the difference? She launched into a non-answer answer. Watch it and weep for the nation, if she has her way. Ronald Reagan said: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” Will this be the generation that fulfills his prophecy? Much is riding on the 2020 election. __________________________ |
 Photo by Swapnil Bhagwat on Unsplash
1/12/2020, 12:24PM
Opinion: Freedom of speech is necessary for a truly inclusive campus atmosphere Writer Reid Scott makes a case for protecting the freedom of speech on campus. By REID SCOTT Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of a truly free society - it is the ability to freely exchange ideas with one another. Having freedom of speech is the ability to express yourself and be comfortable with yourself; free speech helps people find out who they are and their place in life. This great freedom comes with great responsibility, as it calls for individuals to respect other opinions and associate with people who do not hold the same views.Creating an atmosphere of free exchange of ideas and truly in favor of freedom of speech is very beneficial. When people are able to exercise their freedom of speech and feel comfortable doing so, they are able to find out about themselves more easily - it is mentally beneficial to do so. It also makes people feel more accepted; there is a lot of talk about inclusion, and the ultimate inclusion would be to embrace students' free speech and encourage them to look at all sides and views. The slogan of Eastern Michigan University is 'You Are Welcome Here' - diversity is very important to this university and the students who call it home. In order to truly fulfill this slogan, diversity in viewpoints needs to be held equal in importance to cultural diversity. To create a truly great campus and college experience for all, free speech has to be respected. When we all get along and are able to connect and talk to each other like adults, we all benefit. Being around people with different viewpoints helps you grow as a person; if you surround yourself with people too similar to you, you are doing a disservice to yourself and mentally stunting yourself. Exposing yourself to different views helps sharpen your own view and how you look at the situation at hand. You will greatly benefit in both knowledge and debate by being around opposing views, as it provides an opportunity to understand and defend your own. Freedom of speech is the most beautiful thing I can think of - more beautiful than words could ever explain. The true test of how someone stands with liberty is their willingness to defend the speech they may not agree with. We can create a much better society by respecting freedom of speech and by not suppressing people’s views. This suppression can make people feel as if they shouldn’t speak at all or that they don’t matter if they don’t see something a certain way. The freedom of speech is the cornerstone of the United States of America, and it is a truly wonderful thing that we must not take for granted. It is a right our country introduced to the world 244 years ago which changed humanity forever. It is our duty to make sure this fundamental right does not perish or cease to exist. Freedom of speech is a beautiful gift to be able to pass down to future generations. As long as the righteous automatic right of free speech is respected and practiced in this country, we will prosper.  William Gustvason
William Rants - I’ve reached the point, that my background noise at home is Fox Business. I can no longer listen to “fair and balanced” idiots. So tonight my wife wanted to watch the Democrat debates. Ok, I am watching.
If I didn’t know better, I would think the democrat debates were an episode of Saturday Night Live. What a bunch of pandering idiots. Spartacus Booker speaking in spanish. Beto speaking in spanish. The host asking questions in spanish. What country are we in? Press 1 for idiot. And they are only sone of the comedians. Frankly, if these idiots think that children shouldn’t be separated from their parents, I am waiting for them to support placing the families of convicted felons, like murderers and rapists, in prison with their beloved felons so that families won’t be separated. How can a reasonable American not understand the difference between someone who comes to America legally and one who crosses the border illegally? How can a reasonable American blame the President for some foreigner who illegally brings his child to America when they are not treated like the Hollywood elite? Why don’t the leftists with such a big heart invite these illegal immigrants to live on their property? Oh, yeah, they did-take a look at the current condition of Paris, Los Angeles, San Francisco. I live in the woods in Ohio. Sorry for those of you who live in sanctuary cities. (P.S. So, after 40 years as a lawyer, some of which as a prosecutor, I think the Attorney General ought to indict the the mayor and city councils, governors and state legislators, and members of Congress who support and defend illegal aliens in violation of federal criminal laws. Where is he? Oh no, it is not politically correct! I guess it is a good thing that I am not the Attorney General). Wow, now Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow as questioners. About guns. Warren: we should treat the gun collector who has had the guns for decades and never fired them should be treated differently. Huh? The Second Amendment protects wall hangers? Nobody will answer the question which was what are you going to do about all the guns in America. Chuck Todd: What do you say to those who say if I vote for a dim, they will take my guns away? Beto, Assault guns should be on the battle field, and red flag laws are good, everyone I talk to agrees in Texas. Todd, confiscation? Booker: 70% of Americans agree, if you need a license to drive, why don’t you need a license to own a gun. DiBlasio: I have had to have a serious conversation with my son about police. Climate Change: Inslee: take away the filibuster from Mitch. Huh? I must have been asleep. PLEASE take away the filibuster so Mitch can get something done. If you listen to these idiots, would you feel safe and comfortable having them in control of America and the US military. Can you believe that Putin or Xi Jinping being intimidated by any of them. To me, it is really scary that one of these anti-American, anti-rule of law, wannabes might become president. As a 70 year old, I think of 40 somethings as children. Some are much older. But, age is no indication of sanity. These people make me sick. I can’t listen to another minute. God help America if one of these politicians ever gets elected president. William M. Gustavson Gustavsonlaw.com 
Not too shabby for a place with no natural resources…
Simon Black June 10, 2019 Hong Kong There are truly so many things to love about Hong Kong. Most visitors would probably gush about the exotic night life or legendary cuisine (the Cantonese, they say, eat anything with four legs… except the table.) All of those things are fine and good. But at the top of my own list of things that I love about Hong Kong is that this place is a veritable monument to the awe-inspiring forces of capitalism. When Hong Kong was handed over to the British in 1897, it was nothing more than a remote fishing village with a handful of illiterate peasants. Within a few decades it would grow to be one of the most modern and prosperous places on planet. There’s no secret its success: Hong Kong has long been famous for being one of the freest places in the world, where free market capitalism reigned supreme instead of bureaucratic stooges. Talented entrepreneurs came here because they knew they would be unconstrained to build, achieve, and create value, where the only limitation was the extent of their own ambition. You can still see it everywhere; Hong Kong has the highest concentration of skyscrapers in the world with world-leading infrastructure that cuts through mountains and beneath the sea with ease and sophistication. And the prosperity here is boundless. Hong Kong enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world and one of the highest GDPs per capita. Banks here are extremely liquid and well-capitalized. Plus the government has minimal debt and is awash with cash despite having one of the world’s lowest tax rates. That’s not too shabby for a place that has virtually zero natural resources. All of this success is due in large part to Hong Kong’s freedom; and that freedom has become a cultural value here, something that people cherish. When it’s under threat, they protect it. Over the weekend while I was here, people in Hong Kong staged a MAJOR protest, estimated at more than 1 million people. That’s more than 10% of the entire population. They were out in the streets protesting against a new law that will make it easier to extradite political dissidents to mainland China– something the locals here find morally reprehensible. They’ve been fighting against growing influence from the mainland ever since the British handed control back to China in 1997. China promised to keep its hands off for at least 50 years, but they haven’t kept that promise, and the communist party has been slowly sinking its teeth into Hong Kong ever since. Every time that happens, people in Hong Kong fight back, en masse, to safeguard their prized freedoms. But as hard as they fight, they can also see the writing on the wall: the Chinese government is not going to stop chipping away at the liberties that made Hong Kong what it is. So they instinctively know that they need a Plan B. Having a Plan B is not about Doom and Gloom. It’s an insurance policy against future risks, no different than insuring your home against a fire. Obviously no one expects their home to catch fire, or lies awake at night terrified that everything is going to burn to the ground. We purchase insurance policies because it’s a sensible thing to do. And then we go on with our lives. That’s a Plan B. And for many people, a big part of that is having a second residency– so that if things ever take a turn for the worst in their home country, they have a place to go with their families to live, work and continue prospering. People understand that intuitively here. Even the weekend edition of the local paper had a front-page report about real estate in Canada– which is a popular investment here. They buy overseas property as an investment… and a way to obtain residency (there are many countries where buying real estate entitles you to residency) So if things in Hong Kong remain good, their foreign investment property will generate cash flow and appreciate in value. That’s a win. But if things take a turn for the worst, they already have a place to go– a home, with legal residency, where they can relocate in a matter of hours. That’s an even bigger win. This is an absolutely sensible precaution that anyone in the world who has the means should consider. And to continue learning how to ensure you thrive no matter what happens next in the world, I encourage you to download our free Perfect Plan B Guide. Because... If you live, work, bank, invest, own a business, and hold your assets all in just one country, you are putting all of your eggs in one basket. You’re making a high-stakes bet that everything is going to be ok in that one country — forever. All it would take is for the economy to tank, a natural disaster to hit, or the political system to go into turmoil and you could lose everything—your money, your assets, and possibly even your freedom. __________________________ 
We are being hoodwinked by our own government and their complicit media, who are dividing us into groups for the sole purpose of hating or envying one another
I Hate You! By Fredy Lowe —-- Bio and Archives--March 23, 2019 Cover Story 63Could we, the American people, be this foolish? As soon as we allowed our politicians to refer to our nationality by whatever hyphenated European, Asian or African nation our ancestry originated from—American—we unwittingly allowed them the first small step toward losing our national unity. First, through our cultural differences, then race, religion, and now, more so than ever, our political persuasion, to eventually become a conquered state where we find ourselves today. Whatever happened to America’s greatest strength as the world’s melting pot with millions of diverse people working together, sharing their many diverse talents? . Ongoing objective to divide us is at near-fever-pitch, where basic truths have become hate-speechThe simplest answer to my rhetorical question above is, not only yes, we can be this foolish. However, as we watch with little to no corrective action plan like barnstorming the comfy little offices of our representatives, we are being hoodwinked by our own government and their complicit media, who are dividing us into groups for the sole purpose of hating or envying one another—most times with our full knowledge and consent of what they are doing, how they are doing it, and most importantly why they are doing it. Which is, as known by all, foolishly allowing them to divide and conquer We The People. Hopefully, we are not too late, but their ongoing objective to divide us is at near-fever-pitch, where basic truths have become hate-speech, where intellectual discourse or debate has been effectively eliminated and replaced by hate, envy and anger, boiling over into violence against one another. A large number of democrats actually believe that it is nearly impossible for a good person to also be a republican. Meanwhile, recent studies have shown that approximately 42 percent of the people in both political parties view the members of the other party as being thoroughly-evil-people. And, to add to the potential brewing of upcoming violence, nearly 20% of democrats and 15% of republicans say—should their party lose the 2020 presidential elections, then violence against the members of the other party would be justified. Preparation is of the essence. When we are divided we are weak. When we are united we are strong. The government fears the potential strength in our numbers. Never lose sight of the fact that they are even more fearful of our guns and our numbers of trained marksmen. It is true that the Second Amendment gave us the right of self-defense, but more so the right to defend against a tyrannical government such as we observe today, crossing the no-return-lines-into- battle. For it was written that, “When the government fears the people, there is liberty, but where the people fear the government there is tyranny.” Our time as a Constitutional Republic of representative government is all but overDo any of you still question why our forefathers gave our nation the title – “The United States of America” - where our battle cry will forever be USA! USA! USA!? As many of you know in your gut, our time as a Constitutional Republic of representative government is all but over, with what we are told are now just discarded words, printed on old, outdated sheets of paper. We may very well be at the threshold of the very period of time in our nation’s history, where Thomas Jefferson warned that, “...from time to time, the tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” We will let others go deep into the weeds of how three freshman Democratic-Marxist-Representatives came to power, and very much the same way BHO was scripted word-for-word from a Teleprompter, except when we were allowed to ridicule his natural stuttering nonsensical babble. But, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib are one hundred percent the same political puppets, funded, scripted and spewing their anti-American, anti-Capitalism venom, by the same NWO money cabal for the identical purpose of spreading-the-hate. We are told Omar learned to hate as a child, and therefore hated all those who hated her; and so the congressional leaders have said that the retaliation for her hate has been declared acceptable. Got it. You hate me. I hate you. Another example of their never-ending-plans to divide and hate one another can be found in the recent discussions of reparation monies for the descents of slaves. This latest scheme, similar to their global warming fraud, is nothing more than another twist to redistribute wealth, which would in no way heal old wounds, but purposely increase a-victimhood-ideology and widen the divide between blacks and whites. We seem to have painted ourselves into a “damned-if-we-do-and-damned-if-we-don’t-corner.”As if in a contest for which local municipality can do the most wrong-headed-things, we need only look at the city of Portland, Oregon and how they can be found descending more rapidly from Democrat to Marxist. We are told that more than 50 of the city’s Police Officers recently resigned as the city council began consulting with a Baltimore based Black Lives Matter activist, DeRay McKesson, to strategize over how the next police contract should be written, which, in essence, is identical to asking the fox to design the security system for the hen house. There has never been a more fitting contest-winner for Forrest Gump’s infamous words - “Stupid is what stupid does.” We seem to have painted ourselves into a “damned-if-we-do-and-damned-if-we-don’t-corner.” If Attorney General Barr does indict HRC and BHO, as he should, there will be, for a short period of time, a guaranteed period of civil unrest with the US Military in the streets working to enforce Martial Law in nearly every large metropolitan area to minimize the loss of lives and damage to properties. But, on the other hand, should AG Barr not even indict the FBI’s treasonous Andrew McCabe or any of the major players, President Trump might seriously consider not running again in 2020 where much of his populous base have grown tired of waiting for justice to be served. President Trump’s supporters are fully aware of the potential for civil unrest should any of the top tier criminals be arrested; but also know it is our only way forward. On the other hand, we should not lose sight of the militia groups of American Patriots rising up throughout the country, who in a post election loss, know full well that without President Trump as our Commander-in-Chief, our Constitution will be ripped to shreds. And, with the Marxists in full control come January, 2021, gun confiscation will regrettably become their first order of business. Whether we are looking forward to the inevitable or not, any one of these groups may unwittingly give us our Fort Sumter moment that truly set the fire alight. --- Advertisement ---There is no more time left for warning you of the potential violence and bloodshed in our near future. Trouble is just over the horizon whether you made plans or not. It may also be too late to begin developing local plans to address your grievances on the steps of your state capitol, or the offices of your representatives. Realizing that it might make you ‘feel’ as if you are doing something by making phone calls or writing letters to your congressman, please know that these actions are a total waste of your time and energy. Also know in your heart that the unchallenged-to-date-corruption of our representatives is the greatest problem we all face as a nation; where on their part, there is little fear of ever being legally charged and convicted. Their inner-most-fear is of you rising up, as local citizen groups become once again the militia, taking up arms against a tyrannical government, which is good reason for them to hate you, especially as a united people, in fear of what We The People might be capable of doing to save and protect our beloved country. So, as we wait for that other shoe to drop, we ask again for your prayers for our President Donald J. Trump. Please Lord keep him safe. And, prayers for our country. Please schedule a time each day to pray, or better yet each hour, to first ask for God’s forgiveness and then for His hand in guiding His ‘one (and only) nation under God’ to our successful rebirth, where you and I will once again stand shoulder-to-shoulder as the United States of America. __________________________ Economist Thomas Sowell on some of the common economic myths and fallacies and the potential long-term economic impact of the rising popularity of socialism. Thomas Sowell said of the U.S. economy, "I do have a great fear that in the long run we may not make it.
Conservatives, Republicans & Independents - DO NOT LET YOUR GUARD DOWN.. Step it up - Protect and Stand up for your Country.. They are Killing us...
Democrats are not to be trusted .. their agenda is to destroy America for a One World Government.. They have disrespected your Vote and Decision To Elect Donald Trump as the President of these United States.. I do not want Hate or Violence I want Solutions and Stop the destruction of Donald Trump and his agenda to #MAGA "Vigilant Voters Value - Vocal Visible Victories" - Aileen Milton ________________________ 
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From the Editor’s Desk, Michael Matt takes a look at some good news regarding the Covid recovery rate before exploring what’s really going on with the global pandemic. To understand this, he takes us to Switzerland—to the World Economic Forum—where the movers and shakers of the world have been meeting on a regular basis, especially since January 2020, to plan ‘The Great Reset’ at the Davos 2021 Summit in January. Using multiple video clips, Michael shows how everyone from Soros, to Gates, to Schwab, to Al Gore and the Secretary-General of the United Nations are only too eager to admit that Covid offers them a rare opportunity to reset the world economy, population control, global commerce, climate change regulation, education and the UN Sustainable Development Goals in order to “reorder,” “reimagine” and fundamentally transform every aspect of life as we know it. Is this the rest of the story behind the Russia hoax, Ukraine, the phony impeachment and all the other deep state attempts to cripple Trump’s efforts to ‘make America great again"? The folks at Davos want a new world order, and the only thing standing in their way at the moment is US. And if they get their New Normal, nothing will be the same ever again...unless, perhaps, if Donald Trump wins in November.
2/4/2020, 10:21AM
Opinion: Students need to recognize the importance of their rights and liberties Students often use the liberties they're granted without giving them due diligence and taking personal responsibility about how they use them. By REID SCOTT Liberty is a very beautiful thing; it is the very foundation on which all of our lives as Americans depend. We are incredibly lucky to live under the very root of the idea. To have freedom and to be able to exercise liberty is the greatest thing to be able to do, because from it stems many other amazing things and experiences. Liberty and freedom allow you to live your life as you wish - to be able to find yourself and what excites you. This makes life an exhilarating journey. More importantly, liberty is being able to live your life without fear of government repression. It is being able to literally shout expletives in public about the government in protest, knowing you will not face any penalty for doing so. We must never take this for granted or allow it to be taken away from us. We are so used to our freedoms and style of government that it’s easy to forget how amazing and unique they are. But with this American individualism and remarkable set of rights comes great personal responsibility. We must be able to take responsibility for our rights and personally look out for each other, helping each other out voluntarily. We must be able to take personal responsibility for our actions and how we treat others. To respect the individualism and rights of another person is to respect their entire being and existence; to respect the sovereignty of an individual and their rights is the ultimate acceptance of others. The true test of maturity is the ability to sit down with someone and be able to talk, no matter the disagreements, and to respect their rights and views. Liberty means a lot to me. It is very important, and I do my best to show that through my actions - through how I interact with and treat others. I try my best to walk the walk on freedom and liberty with how I carry out my duties as a student senator - I’m always open and honest, I keep student media in the loop, and I’m always available. I try not to give off the vibe of not being willing to talk or mingle with students. I really do try my best to follow up my views and stances with how I live my day to day life; I back up what I say with how I live. Leading by example is the best way to spread your message and to get your views across to others. We, as students and Americans, must remember to recognize and utilize our liberties by treating each other with respect regardless of our differences. We should all walk the walk, take responsibility for our actions and lead by example. ___________________________ T’was the vote for impeachment - author anonymous
T’was the vote for impeachment, and all through the House The Dems called him a liar, a scoundrel, a louse. The witnesses were questioned, their answers unclear But the Dems were incensed and just didn't care. They made up some stories, they ignored many facts They misled with their words, while they pressed their attack. And Schiff with his bug eyes, and Nadler with his naps Pushed their agenda, while looking like saps. Then Articles were crafted with no criminal base And passed unanimously by every Dem in the place. The Republicans played a part in this farce as well By attending and legitimizing what the Dems tried to sell. And out on the lawn at a White House presser, There was a lady reporter, so Trump stood to address her. He led with a smile, and the gleam in his eye Made it clear to the press corps he wouldn't be shy He was calm and sincere when he called it a scam, All he wanted was justice and to expose this Dem sham. "So on to the Senate, let's see where this leads. I've done nothing wrong; I've made no misdeeds." And he smiled and he waved, and he turned then to leave, But turned back with a twinkle, touched his head, said "believe." Then quick as a flash the names were there on his lips, Each with a nickname, now familiar old quips. "Now, Nancy, now Adam, now Jerry and Val, Now Sheila, and Eric, and Maxine you old gal, There have been lots of bills, so you could have passed plenty, But instead you've now ruined your chances for '20. "So just bring it on, let's get this thing done, But remember this day, when in November I've won. It's been a fight for three years, and you've landed no blows So, I can weather five more... I might have to, who knows? "Still history will show I accomplished a lot, Despite the resistance your Party has wrought. So, embellish your stories, cast me a villain, I'll be in the Oval Office, smiling and chillin'. ________________________ 
THE BRAINWASHING OF A NATION
From campus identity politics cults to the media, brainwashing is bigger than ever. May 6, 2019 Daniel Greenfield Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism Brainwashing isn’t a secretive event that takes place in hidden rooms. No hypnotists or vials full of chemicals are required. It takes place every day on a massive scale across the United States. Unlike Raymond Shaw in The Manchurian Candidate, brainwashing does not turn people into hypnotized zombies who would be ready to kill a presidential candidate at a command. Instead, it transforms them into the sort of people who would be willing to kill someone for political reasons. The distinction is why so few people understand the sources of political radicalism and violence. Brainwashing isn’t magic, but it can look like magic. The sleight of hand that causes us to think so is our firm belief in our reason and free will. It’s easier to believe in changing minds through hypnotism and drugs, than to understand, what the successful practitioners of brainwashing do, that the human mind is more malleable than we like to think, and that the subconscious is more powerful than the conscious. The art and science of brainwashing is well known. We don’t know it because we choose not to. Brainwashing happens every day. It doesn’t have to mean a complete transformation of identity. On the simplest level, it means compelling someone to believe something that isn’t true. It’s as simple as two cops browbeating an innocent suspect into believing that he’s guilty. The officers and the suspect won’t see their interaction as brainwashing. The officers can honestly believe in his guilt. And, at the end of the process, the suspect will also believe that he committed the crime. He will even be able to describe in great detail how he committed it. That’s common, everyday brainwashing. The key elements of brainwashing are present in that cold room with the peeling paint on the walls. Those three elements are control, crisis and emotional resonance. To successfully brainwash someone, you have to control their environment, force a crisis on them, and then tap into core emotions, fear, love, guilt, hate, shame, and guide them through the crisis by accepting and internalizing a new belief. The belief can be anything, but the pseudo-religious ritual taps into an emotional core requiring them to believe that they were bad people, and that by accepting this new belief, they are now good people. This false conversion is the essence of brainwashing and of leftist political awakening narratives. The human mind, like the human body, adapts to a crisis with a fight-or-flight response. Brainwashing forces the mind into a flight response. Once in flight mode, the mind can rationalize a new belief as a protective behavior that will keep it safe. Even when, as in the case of the suspect, the new belief will actually destroy his life. Fight or flight mode inhibits long term thinking. In panic mode, destructive and suicidal behaviors seem like solutions because they offer an escape from unbearable chemical stresses. There’s a good biological reason for that. Our minds stop us from thinking too much in a crisis so that we can take urgent action, like running into a fire or at a gunman, that our rational minds might not allow us to do. But that same function can be ‘hacked’ by artificially putting people into fight-or-flight mode to break them down and shortcut their higher reasoning functions. Decisions reached subconsciously in fight-or-flight mode will then be rationalized and internalized after the initial crisis has passed. When that internalization happens, then the brainwashing is real. Almost anyone can be compelled to say anything under enough stress. Many can be forced to believe it. The acid test of brainwashing is whether they will retain that belief once fight-or-flight mode passes. Cults, abusive relationships and totalitarian movements maintain ‘total crisis’, shutting down higher reasoning, creating a permanent state of stress by triggering fight-or-flight responses unpredictably. This leads to Stockholm Syndrome, where the captive tries to control their fate through total emotional identification with their captor, pack behavior, loss of identity and will, and eventually suicide or death. Total crisis leads to burnout, emotional exhaustion, detachment from friends and family, and violence. How do you brainwash a nation? Control the national environment, force a crisis on the country, and tap into their fear and guilt. And then you can outlaw planes, cows, skyscrapers, straws, plastic bags and the rest of the Green New Deal. The environmental crisis is just one example of how leftist movements can brainwash a nation. The growing number of millennials who say that they will not have children because of environmental panic is an example of how brainwashing can make suicidal behavior seem like self-preservation. Since the Left still lacks total control over the United States, it relies on repetition, itself a form of control and stress, to create fear and panic. It makes up for its lack of physical control by bombarding Americans with messages meant to inspire fear, love, hate and guilt through the media, through the educational system, through entertainment and through every possible messaging channel. Global Warming panic is one of a succession of manufactured leftist crises in America that began with a class crisis. transitioned to a racial crisis, and then to an environmental crisis. Each of the crises claimed that society was on track to an inevitable apocalypse, that the nature of the crisis, economic, racial or environmental, had been verified by experts, that we were all complicit in the crisis, and that the only solution was radical change administered by the crisis experts. The panic over Trump is a micro-crisis of the sort that leftists detonate in the political opposition, but the fear, anger, terror, stress and violence on display are typical of the crisis mode of fight-or-flight. The “Resistance” isn’t a political movement. It’s a political cult whose crisis was the 2016 election. Its irrational belief that Trump is a Russian agent is typical of the conspiratorial mindset of cults. Its inability to understand that its convictions are completely irrational show how brainwashing works. The 2016 election inflicted on its members a loss of control. Trump became the crisis embodying their loss of control. Their fear, guilt and anger induced stress that altered their behavior and beliefs. And, within the very recent past, millions came to believe that Trump was really working for Moscow. This is brainwashing on a timescale so immediate that we can easily recall it. Yet most of us have trouble understanding how it works and why it works. And that lack of understanding is holding us back. How can smart people fall for minor variations of the same lie in generation after generation? Smart people make the best brainwashing targets. Cults recruit bright students on college campuses, they target aspiring executives looking for leadership training, and dissatisfied professionals searching for meaning. Cults are rarely made up of stupid people. They’re made up of smart, vulnerable people. Human beings don’t behave rationally. We rationalize our behavior. The more people rationalize, the more they can be brainwashed. Your old Casio digital watch can’t be hacked. Even if it were hacked, there’s not much it could be made to do. Your smartphone can be hacked and made to do more. Your desktop can be hacked and made to do even more. Intelligence doesn’t make us less vulnerable to being manipulated, it leaves us much more vulnerable. The political brainwashing campaign in this country targets the upper class and the middle class. The best subjects for brainwashing are intelligent and emotionally vulnerable. They’re easier to manipulate by using the gap between their emotions and their reason, and their emotional instability makes it easier to force them into crisis mode. The ideal subjects are in their teens and their early twenties. In modern times, that’s a period in which identity is still developing, and can be fractured and remade. That’s why the Left aims most of its brainwashing efforts at high school and college students. It’s why it prioritized control of the educational system and the entertainment industry above all else. Both of these have become highly profitable brainwashing industries: one sugar-coated, and one bitter. Classrooms and campuses provide physical control over students for nearly two decades of their lives. That control was initially used for simple dogmatic preaching. Then it escalated to cult behavior with classroom role-playing rituals encouraging mass expressions of love and hate, transformations of sexual and gender identity, detachment from friends and family, and violent displays of pain and rage. The modern American identity politics campus looks a whole lot like Jonestown or a Hitler Youth rally. Exploiting sexuality, triggering guilt and shame in children, to transform their identity was usually the work of the lowest savage tribes and the vilest cults. It’s now the American education system. The techniques aren’t new. They’re as evil and old as time itself. Like every cult, the modern campus claims to serve an educational purpose, helping students find meaning and purpose, but insisting that they must first be cured of the subconscious evils such as white privilege and toxic masculinity that are holding them back through a process that deconstructs their barriers, encourages confession, expressions of trauma, shame and guilt, to create new identities. This isn’t education. It’s not even dogmatic lecturing. It’s the same basic set of techniques used by any major cult in the country. Once colleges began trying to cure their students of subconscious evils at closed sessions, under the guidance of unlicensed therapists associated with a movement, there was no longer any difference between them and that of any cult, except billions in taxpayer dollars. The sessions at which white privilege or toxic masculinity can be cured, or at which students are put in touch with the trauma of their oppression as minorities, duplicate cult indoctrination in every regard. They’re the successors of consciousness raising groups whose name even signaled their cultish nature. Despite attempts to wrap leftist politics in the objective garb of the expert, the scientist, the scholar and the bureaucrat, its heart lay in its spiritual narrative of a struggle between an altruistic good and a materialistic evil, the inevitable historical triumph of progress over reaction, and the pseudo-religious induction of new recruits into the gnostic revelation of our oppressive world with its layered conspiracies of capitalism, sexism and racism. The original ‘red pill’. Or, ‘little red book’. To non-cult members, it’s brainwashing. To cult members, it’s revelation. The distinction may seem like a matter of perspective between believers and non-believers, but it lies in the question of consent. Brainwashing always relies on removing control from the victim. The control may be taken openly, by force. It can be taken covertly through manipulation and deceit. But there is always a loss of control. The victim does not understand the process by which they are being taken apart and put back together until much later. And if the process works as intended, he or she may never realize it happened at all. Brainwashing’s cruelest trick lies in using the intelligence of its victim as its greatest ally in building a trap for its own ego and its consciousness that it cannot escape from without a great deal of determination. Like drug addiction, the aftermath of brainwashing transforms the mind into a convoluted maze of rationalizations for self-destructive behavior that are guarded by biology and the subconscious. It cannot be escaped without breaking down the defense mechanisms that were put into place to avoid reexperiencing the original trauma, and without examining the emotions behind the mechanisms. Brainwashing can create new ideas and realities, but it can’t create new emotions. All it can do is amplify them and use them to induce in its subject a new belief in an altered reality. It doesn’t create guilt, shame, fear, love or hate. It amplifies, exploits them and uses them as tools to create stress, force a crisis, and then transform a single belief or an entire identity. That is why the Left cannot be defeated through policy debates and intellectual abstractions. It is a belief system. Though it traffics in seeming abstractions, these are a language, but not the meaning. The esoteric languages of policy and pop culture in which it speaks are vehicles for a deeper language of primal emotions. Behind the theories and manifestos is a great darkness of fear and terror, of love and hate, of emotional instability and vulnerability on which its lies and propaganda are built. And it is within that primal darkness out of which all evil is born that the brainwashing does its work. _________________________ Baby Harvesting Must Be Stopped
Jordan Peterson debate on the gender pay gap, campus protests and postmodernism
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The Best Thing I Have Ever Read on 401Ks: Why Your 401K Is A Scam
Why Your 401K Is A Scam
By James Altucher
I hate writing about finance. The most violent, ugly people in the world work in the traditional finance industry.
I write something and instead of responding with a well-reasoned argument, they write things like "James Altucher is a wacko" or "James Altucher is a scumbag".
I've written for or appeared on the Wall St Journal, the Financial Times, CNBC, Fox Business, ABC, and many other finance sites. I've run hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, I've day traded, i've run a VC fund.
I see what happens inside the system. It's ugly. And they don't like you.
Almost 100% of financial journalism is BS, written by people who don't know anything about finance.
Almost everyone writing in the finance world has an agenda.
For instance, the last time I wrote about why a house is a bad thing to buy, someone wrote an article, "James must be an idiot."
I looked him up. He was a VP at the "National Association of Realtors" or some organization like that.
And when I wrote that kids shouldn't pay $200,000 on an education, another group wrote an article saying I was completely wrong and gave "proof" (they made every statistics mistake possible).
The authors: a research team at Georgetown University.
And when I recently wrote that 401k plans (retirement plans set up by corporations for their employees) were a scam, MANY people wrote very nice emails to me saying I verified their own private concerns.
But then a surprising thing happened. A lot of people, many I considered friends in the finance industry, wrote again that I was totally off the deep end this time.
They never disclosed that their businesses depend on investing 401k funds or somehow obtain fees because of 401k plans.
So maybe every Friday I'm going to write a little about finance if you think this is a good idea.
I stopped writing about it over five years ago because A) finance is boring and B) it has nothing to do with increasing someone's power over their own lives (in most cases).
People want more out of life than knowing what direction Apple stock is going. They want to fulfill their dreams and their passions, not just survive in the drudgery of a cubicle.
I have no agenda. I am not pushing any 401k product, or house, or fund, or anything.
But I just want to light up the facts about things people are lying to you about. Then you can decide.
Next Friday, if I continue doing this, I'm going to write about why and when you should stop paying back your credit card debt.
But I still feel an itch to address 401ks.
Listen: they are scams. This is another trillion dollar industry that has a lot of money at stake if people stop believing in the mythology bolted to the scam.
Let's go over the pros and then the cons:
The PROS of a 401k
You put money away before it is taxed. This has the benefit of encouraging you to save starting at a young age.
Often your employer will match what you put in your 401k. So it's "free money" (ask yourself: why is this the only example of free money in the entire world?).
When you are 59.5 years old you are allowed (like a parent allows a child) to take money out. It's taxed then but now you've benefited from the 7% per year that, by law (kidding) the stock market goes up.
I can't really think of any other pros. If you can think of some, please put in comments and I will try to address.
CONS of 401Ks
Let's look at it conceptually for a second and then I will look at the cons.
You are paid money by an employer. You have that money in your hands for five seconds, and then it is whisked away into this account and you can't look at it again for another 20-35 years unless you want to pay a massive penalty.
Will you be alive in 30 years? Hopefully! Else you will never see that money again.
Ok, that's my first problem with 401k. I like to have total control over money that is called mine.
Ok, let's look at the cons:
1) You can't predict your tax rate 30 years from now.
This completely destroys the whole "tax-deferred" argument.
Let's say you put money in your 401k at the age of 29. You are making much less money than you probably will be at the age of 59.
So your tax rate is less than your tax rate at 59, forgetting completely that taxes might be raised also (we just don't know) between now and then.
So we don't really know if you are saving money on taxes or not. You are simply having your money taken from you for 30 years.
Also, when you take money out of your 401k, you are taking out more than you put in (chances are, because your expenses are higher). So your tax rate will almost certainly be higher. Again, ruining the entire point of putting in pre-tax income.
2) The Employer Match
Do you think companies really pay you free money?
Companies that don't have an employer-match pay higher salaries. The Center for Retirement Research did a study based on tax data and showed that for every dollar an employer (on average) contributes to a 401k match, they pay 99 cents less in salary.
Big savings!
Also employers don't give you all the money at once. They spread it out over 4-6 years (six years is the regulated max or they would spread it out longer is my guess).
If you leave before the six years, you often don't get the match. So employers actually save money in the long run by installing a 401k plan.
How many employees stay at their jobs for six years? Not that many. The average is 4.6 years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic.
Goodbye employer match.
3) Fees
People don't manage 401k plans for free. There is a cost. Then there is a cost in the mutual funds they put their money in.
Then there is revenue-sharing between employers and 401k plan managers. Is this legal? Yes. It might not always be but it is now and it is how employers make some of the money back on matching what you put in.
Is this transparent? Of course.
Does the average person look at all the fine print detailing fees? Of course not. I don't. (I have a 20 year old 401k account).
Then there is the fine print on each mutual fund the 401k manager has allocated the money to. Do I look at that fine print? No.
Many mutual funds charge extra marketing fees. Do yours? I have no idea. Most people don't. Which is how they get away with it on a trillion dollars.
Which is part of the reasons 86% (!) of mutual fund managers underperform the market.
Now, in many cases you can say, "I want to put in a low-fee exchange traded fund" but a) will you do that? and b) they still have some fees.
4) Assumption on market returns.
The market has returned somewhere between 7-10% per year depending on what time period you look at, what index, etc.
The average investor has returned 1.8% per year over the past 40 years. The psychology of investing is very difficult. In 2009, many investors pulled out of the market, right before a 100% upward move.
And when I say, "many investors", I'm not talking about you - I'm talking about the best mutual fund managers in the business.
5) More on taxes.
Yes, you save tiny amounts on taxes when you are young. But this is also the period when you have the biggest tax write-offs relative to your income (dependents, business expenses, etc).
So you don't really need the extra minor savings on taxes. Trust me, you will be fully taxed at the highest rate when you pull money out 30 years from now.
So why not use that "extra" money to invest in yourself right now. Invest in skills that can benefit you or experiences that you can enjoy and make you happier.
---
401k plans have been around for decades. And yet the average retiree does not have enough savings for retirement.
So the evidence is fully in. 401k plans did not help.
So how does one save?
The average multi-millionaire, according to tax data, has at least 7 different sources of income.
You can keep your job. But think about how to make money on side jobs. It doesn't have to be tomorrow. Just think about it and start coming up with ideas.
Or take a job where you financial success is more in tune with the financial success of the company.
With industry being outsourced and knowledge being outsourced, the best investment is in yourself.
This might mean take courses that you can later monetize (photography, wordpress development, copywriting, freelance writing, etc).
Or it might mean studying investments. The best investors are usually the top hedge fund managers. Study their investments. Copy what they do (but don't invest in them. Ugh!).
Anyway, I don't like writing about finance. But I can assure you I have no agenda on 401k plans.
I get emails every day from people who are scared and frustrated.
They have reached their retirement page and everyone up until now has lied to them about the benefits of 401ks. So they are worried about how they will survive.
My agenda is to try and help. A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine says I was a waste of flesh because I was against 401ks. Guess what he does for a living? He manages 401k plans!
Perhaps the main point of this article is that one way to choose yourself is to look at the agendas of people selling you something.
It's ok for them to make money. I don't blame these people. Maybe some of them are good. But get all the facts so YOU can choose instead of THEM.
Question ALWAYS the trillion dollar industries that are paying millions to fool you (finance industry, housing industry, college industry, etc).
Why Your 401K Is A Scam
By James Altucher
I hate writing about finance. The most violent, ugly people in the world work in the traditional finance industry.
I write something and instead of responding with a well-reasoned argument, they write things like "James Altucher is a wacko" or "James Altucher is a scumbag".
I've written for or appeared on the Wall St Journal, the Financial Times, CNBC, Fox Business, ABC, and many other finance sites. I've run hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, I've day traded, i've run a VC fund.
I see what happens inside the system. It's ugly. And they don't like you.
Almost 100% of financial journalism is BS, written by people who don't know anything about finance.
Almost everyone writing in the finance world has an agenda.
For instance, the last time I wrote about why a house is a bad thing to buy, someone wrote an article, "James must be an idiot."
I looked him up. He was a VP at the "National Association of Realtors" or some organization like that.
And when I wrote that kids shouldn't pay $200,000 on an education, another group wrote an article saying I was completely wrong and gave "proof" (they made every statistics mistake possible).
The authors: a research team at Georgetown University.
And when I recently wrote that 401k plans (retirement plans set up by corporations for their employees) were a scam, MANY people wrote very nice emails to me saying I verified their own private concerns.
But then a surprising thing happened. A lot of people, many I considered friends in the finance industry, wrote again that I was totally off the deep end this time.
They never disclosed that their businesses depend on investing 401k funds or somehow obtain fees because of 401k plans.
So maybe every Friday I'm going to write a little about finance if you think this is a good idea.
I stopped writing about it over five years ago because A) finance is boring and B) it has nothing to do with increasing someone's power over their own lives (in most cases).
People want more out of life than knowing what direction Apple stock is going. They want to fulfill their dreams and their passions, not just survive in the drudgery of a cubicle.
I have no agenda. I am not pushing any 401k product, or house, or fund, or anything.
But I just want to light up the facts about things people are lying to you about. Then you can decide.
Next Friday, if I continue doing this, I'm going to write about why and when you should stop paying back your credit card debt.
But I still feel an itch to address 401ks.
Listen: they are scams. This is another trillion dollar industry that has a lot of money at stake if people stop believing in the mythology bolted to the scam.
Let's go over the pros and then the cons:
The PROS of a 401k
You put money away before it is taxed. This has the benefit of encouraging you to save starting at a young age.
Often your employer will match what you put in your 401k. So it's "free money" (ask yourself: why is this the only example of free money in the entire world?).
When you are 59.5 years old you are allowed (like a parent allows a child) to take money out. It's taxed then but now you've benefited from the 7% per year that, by law (kidding) the stock market goes up.
I can't really think of any other pros. If you can think of some, please put in comments and I will try to address.
CONS of 401Ks
Let's look at it conceptually for a second and then I will look at the cons.
You are paid money by an employer. You have that money in your hands for five seconds, and then it is whisked away into this account and you can't look at it again for another 20-35 years unless you want to pay a massive penalty.
Will you be alive in 30 years? Hopefully! Else you will never see that money again.
Ok, that's my first problem with 401k. I like to have total control over money that is called mine.
Ok, let's look at the cons:
1) You can't predict your tax rate 30 years from now.
This completely destroys the whole "tax-deferred" argument.
Let's say you put money in your 401k at the age of 29. You are making much less money than you probably will be at the age of 59.
So your tax rate is less than your tax rate at 59, forgetting completely that taxes might be raised also (we just don't know) between now and then.
So we don't really know if you are saving money on taxes or not. You are simply having your money taken from you for 30 years.
Also, when you take money out of your 401k, you are taking out more than you put in (chances are, because your expenses are higher). So your tax rate will almost certainly be higher. Again, ruining the entire point of putting in pre-tax income.
2) The Employer Match
Do you think companies really pay you free money?
Companies that don't have an employer-match pay higher salaries. The Center for Retirement Research did a study based on tax data and showed that for every dollar an employer (on average) contributes to a 401k match, they pay 99 cents less in salary.
Big savings!
Also employers don't give you all the money at once. They spread it out over 4-6 years (six years is the regulated max or they would spread it out longer is my guess).
If you leave before the six years, you often don't get the match. So employers actually save money in the long run by installing a 401k plan.
How many employees stay at their jobs for six years? Not that many. The average is 4.6 years according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic.
Goodbye employer match.
3) Fees
People don't manage 401k plans for free. There is a cost. Then there is a cost in the mutual funds they put their money in.
Then there is revenue-sharing between employers and 401k plan managers. Is this legal? Yes. It might not always be but it is now and it is how employers make some of the money back on matching what you put in.
Is this transparent? Of course.
Does the average person look at all the fine print detailing fees? Of course not. I don't. (I have a 20 year old 401k account).
Then there is the fine print on each mutual fund the 401k manager has allocated the money to. Do I look at that fine print? No.
Many mutual funds charge extra marketing fees. Do yours? I have no idea. Most people don't. Which is how they get away with it on a trillion dollars.
Which is part of the reasons 86% (!) of mutual fund managers underperform the market.
Now, in many cases you can say, "I want to put in a low-fee exchange traded fund" but a) will you do that? and b) they still have some fees.
4) Assumption on market returns.
The market has returned somewhere between 7-10% per year depending on what time period you look at, what index, etc.
The average investor has returned 1.8% per year over the past 40 years. The psychology of investing is very difficult. In 2009, many investors pulled out of the market, right before a 100% upward move.
And when I say, "many investors", I'm not talking about you - I'm talking about the best mutual fund managers in the business.
5) More on taxes.
Yes, you save tiny amounts on taxes when you are young. But this is also the period when you have the biggest tax write-offs relative to your income (dependents, business expenses, etc).
So you don't really need the extra minor savings on taxes. Trust me, you will be fully taxed at the highest rate when you pull money out 30 years from now.
So why not use that "extra" money to invest in yourself right now. Invest in skills that can benefit you or experiences that you can enjoy and make you happier.
---
401k plans have been around for decades. And yet the average retiree does not have enough savings for retirement.
So the evidence is fully in. 401k plans did not help.
So how does one save?
The average multi-millionaire, according to tax data, has at least 7 different sources of income.
You can keep your job. But think about how to make money on side jobs. It doesn't have to be tomorrow. Just think about it and start coming up with ideas.
Or take a job where you financial success is more in tune with the financial success of the company.
With industry being outsourced and knowledge being outsourced, the best investment is in yourself.
This might mean take courses that you can later monetize (photography, wordpress development, copywriting, freelance writing, etc).
Or it might mean studying investments. The best investors are usually the top hedge fund managers. Study their investments. Copy what they do (but don't invest in them. Ugh!).
Anyway, I don't like writing about finance. But I can assure you I have no agenda on 401k plans.
I get emails every day from people who are scared and frustrated.
They have reached their retirement page and everyone up until now has lied to them about the benefits of 401ks. So they are worried about how they will survive.
My agenda is to try and help. A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine says I was a waste of flesh because I was against 401ks. Guess what he does for a living? He manages 401k plans!
Perhaps the main point of this article is that one way to choose yourself is to look at the agendas of people selling you something.
It's ok for them to make money. I don't blame these people. Maybe some of them are good. But get all the facts so YOU can choose instead of THEM.
Question ALWAYS the trillion dollar industries that are paying millions to fool you (finance industry, housing industry, college industry, etc).
