COVID-19 And Failed States

The Fund for Peace has developed twelve failed state indicators, ten of which are shown here:

Pay particular attention to the "demographic pressures" and "public services" listings. Both are pertinent to what we're already seeing in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Very soon we're going to realize the US is an abject failure in these areas, perhaps even worse than many other developed nations. And if economic upheaval should affect the other ten indicators, we may be well on our way to becoming a truly failed state.

You may think such a thing impossible, but trust me ... it can happen in a New York minute.

Do you really think the Trump administration and the Pelosi congress can work together to overcome this? I sincerely doubt it. "Our" government's systemic rot is both deep and extensive.

Community Outbreak On West Coast ???

The latest COVID-19 cases in CA, OR, and WA suggest community outbreak / spreading of the virus:

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/new-coronavirus-cases-california-oregon-washington-suggest-community-spread-officials

How might this be happening?

I would guess through our banking / debt payment systems; i.e., passing around physical money and using ATM/POP touch screens. Since one or the other (or both) are ubiquitous, once the virus enters a community it will spread like wildfire.

And there's really not much we can do to stop this. Even if you stay at home, someone has to deliver your food, and can you trust them to be virus free? I don't think so. Very few facilities for production, storage, and delivery are sterile.

NSA Bloopers

Here is yet another agency which wastes our money:

In yet more absurdity and confirmation that Edward Snowden was never an “enemy of the state” - as top intelligence officials and some congressional leaders have charged for years - it’s been revealed that the latest National Security Agency (NSA) program to analyze logs of phone calls and text messages made by Americans was an utter failure and waste, yielding exactly zero arrests from 2015 to 2019, despite having swept up some trillion US phone records.

It cost taxpayers $100 million and was reported to produce a mass amount of redundant information, revealing information that the FBI didn’t already know only twice, resulting in only one investigation which led to no charges.

You can read the rest @

https://www.technocracy.news/nsa-phone-surveillance-program-produced-zero-arrests/

Jeez Louise !!!

By the way, how did the FBI already know all this stuff? Who gave THEM the authority to spy on us?

Twitter Under Attack

Billionaire Paul Singer is attempting to oust the CEO of Twitter:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/billionaire-paul-elliot-seeks-kick-out-twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey

I disagree with Tyler Durden's claim that Singer's actions will do anything to make Twitter more "unbiased". It's just likely to tip the bias in a direction acceptable to Elliott Management.

And this report perhaps gives an indication of what that new bias might be:

https://www.mintpressnews.com/neocon-billionaire-paul-singer-driving-outsourcing-us-tech-jobs-israel/259147/

The Oldest Companies In The World

You can find them all here:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/oldest-companies/

Seems like many are related to booze, food, and money. No surprise there.

Q And A For The Day - 2/29/2020

THE HARVARD GAZETTE: When does an epidemic become a pandemic? We’ve had several sizable outbreaks in countries outside of China.

LIPSITCH: The terminology is almost unhelpful, I think. A pandemic is sustained transmission of an infection in multiple locations around the globe, and with Iran, Italy, China, Japan, and South Korea, we have that. It’s unnecessary to keep debating the name. I wrote a piece in Scientific American last week about three categories of ideas, ranging from hard facts to fact-based inference to speculation and opinion. When I said I thought there was a pandemic going a few weeks ago, that was fact-based inference. Now, I think, it’s a fact.

You can read the rest @
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/02/key-coronavirus-question-how-are-children-affected/

By the way, is Wall Street behind the reluctance of the WHO and CDC to call COVID-19 a "pandemic"? Granted, it's a bit far-fetched, but certainly within the realm of possibility:

https://www.mintpressnews.com/wall-street-behind-delay-declaring-coronavirus-outbreak-pandemic-bonds/265264/

Chris Matthews

Why hasn't this man been fired?

https://www.gq.com/story/chris-matthews-experience

Helping Starve The World

Here is a report about how poor farmers are being forced to buy patented seeds:

https://www.globalresearch.ca/tanzanian-farmers-facing-heavy-prison-sentences-they-continue-their-traditional-seed-exchange/5704922

This is not only stupid, it's dangerous. We should NEVER allow corporations to control anyone's food supply. It's the ultimate symptom of "profits over people".

Professor Doom - RIP

Here is a poem by Professor Doom
(published posthumously)

Allow today’s post as a poem I wrote:

Every day is cancer day, every single day
Every day is cancer day, it never goes away
Cancer in the morning, afternoon and night
Cancer in the darkness, cancer in the light

Cancer treatments, cancer pain
Cancer just comes back again
Cancer life is constant fright
This is not a cancer fight

Cancer hokum, cancer lies
Ev’ry one with cancer dies
“Trust me,” says another doc
But it’s just another crock

Cancer doctor wrong again
Cancer doctor rakes it in
Cancer doctor never right,
Cancer doctor just a blight

“Don’t give up” they do refrain
But the cancer’s back again
Kill my future, kill my past,
Doctors now kill me at last

CancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancerCancer

,,,,

Every day was cancer day, every single day
Every day was cancer day, it never went away…

Source - http://professorconfess.blogspot.com/

I found Professor Doom's blog by accident, but you may have noticed that I quoted him several times on mine.

As you probably have guessed, he died of cancer a few days ago - a cancer which was misdiagnosed and/or mishandled for a long time until it took his life.

I have heard others complain about MD Anderson in Houston, TX and would never go there myself for treatment. I get the impression they think you're going to die no matter what they do, so they use your "treatment" as an opportunity to experiment. At least that's what the wife of a former MDA patient told me, and I have no reason to doubt her.

Goodbye, Professor Doom. We're really gonna miss you.

Who Infected Iran ???

It looks like some top Iranian officials have been infected with COVID-19. You can read about it here:

https://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/502544/Iran-Corona-Virus-infiziert-Staatsspitze-erster-Politiker-tot [translation required]

Although there are many possible routes via which the virus could have travelled to Iran, not all of them lead to the top officials.

Unless ... someone deliberately sent it that way. I wonder who that could be?

Do The Math

Here is a brief explanation of why the economic cataclysm is just getting started:

http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-economic-cataclysm-ahead.html

And I was just beginning to enjoy retirement ...

The Real World

THIS is what President Trump's "deal of the century" really looks like:

Source - https://www.972mag.com/israel-issawiya-police-repression/

So spare me your platitudes about children, because you really don't give a damn.

US Courts Authorize Social Media Censorship

According to this report social media outlets are NOT public forums, so our First Amendment "rights" don't apply to them:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/youtube-isnt-public-forum-prageru-loses-conservative-censorship-case

Just another case of the living dead (corporations) telling us what we can say, think, and do. And this is somehow NOT interference in our electoral process?

By the way, as corporations like Amazon and Google take over more and more of what the government used to do, we can expect our "rights" to no longer apply in those realms, either.

Are you happy now?

Pity The Nation

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Source - https://uucpalisades.org/pity-the-nation-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/#.XlaEBSFKipo

Open Borders Death Wish

How is the EU responding to COVID-19?

Even as the coronavirus begins to spread around the continent, EU officials have steadfastly refuse to implement border controls, insisting that the sanctity of open borders is more important.

Source - https://summit.news/2020/02/25/eu-officials-refuse-to-implement-border-controls-to-stop-coronavirus/

How about the sanctity of human life? These people are nuts.

I always thought that in a democracy the people decided what should or should not be done. How many of you are in favor of "open borders", even to the point of allowing disease carriers to freely cross our borders? I certainly am not.

Profits and globalism are NOT more important than the health and safety of We the People. Anyone who does not understand that should NOT be in charge of our future.

Big Lie Of The Day ???

Which of these two statements, if either, is a lie?

"The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security. So do the Palestinian people. I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights."

Bernie Sanders

"We don't intervene in the internal American electoral process, which is splendid."

Israeli FM Israel Katz

AIPAC is not required to register as a foreign agent, because technically it doesn't meet the requirements of the applicable rules/laws. But by any stretch of the imagination, does AIPAC benefit the USA? I don't see how.

My personal belief is that Bernie is absolutely right. Unfortunately for all concerned, my beliefs don't count for much. And if Bernie is denied the presidency on this issue, then our "internal electoral process" is a joke.

Proof The US Economy Has Been Gutted

This report reveals the astounding number of products sold in the US which originate in China:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/disruption-escalates-proctor-and-gamble-says-over-17000-products-potentially-impacted

Think how many more jobs we would have if these products were made here. And P-G is just one company among many who offshored their supply chains.

The only "benefit" from globalisation of the world's economy is the ability of the rich to pay as little as possible to source their products while selling them where they make the most profit.

Can you spell E-N-R-O-N ???

It would be nice if COVID-19 disruption became our wakeup call, but I tend to doubt it. We're too deep in the coma which is keeping us trapped in this miserable system to do anything to extract ourselves from it.

Is America Your Enemy ???

Here is an interesting claim by Eric Zuesse:

If your country is friendly toward Russia, China, or Iran, then today’s American Government is probably applying subversion, economic sanctions, or maybe even planning a coup, or (if none of those will succeed) probably is war-gaming now for a possible military invasion and permanent military occupation, of your country.

These things have been done to Russia, Iran, China, Yugoslavia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Ukraine, Georgia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and some other countries.

However, after the 9/11 attacks in America, the U.S. Government has added another system for selecting countries to immiserate, and those are mainly the countries that already suffer the most misery - some of them are countries that were listed above, but others (many others) are not, and are selected instead largely because they are already in misery, and also because America - that is, the Deep State which controls it, America’s hundreds of billionaires, who control international corporations and the press in America, and not just control the politicians who win public offices - wants to control the given target country in order to extract its natural resources or simply in order to place some of U.S. military bases there so as to be better able to invade other countries.

You can read the rest @
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/02/24/how-to-know-if-america-is-your-enemy/

You may not want to believe him, but I think the sad truth is that he is right on the money. We're not bringing freedom or justice to the world, we're just helping the rich get richer ... and making people miserable in the process.

Smedley Butler was right - war is a racket.

Medical Insanity On Parade

Does anyone other than the WHO and CDC think "self-quarantine" without testing or enforcement is going stop the spread of COVID-19? I sure don't:

https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-02-24-8000-californians-under-self-quarantine-for-coronavirus.html

Clearly their strategy is "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". Why are we even paying these guys if they're not going to do anything useful?

Letting The Fox Run The Henhouse

According to this report, three women are vying to head the House Appropriations Committee:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/24/dems-battle-lead-spending-panel-116619

I simply cannot believe that Debbie Wasserman Schultz is not in jail. It is almost certain she was running an espionage ring which spied on her fellow members of Congress, an apparent crime which either was not properly investigated or which for some reason was swept under the rug along with the Clinton Crime Family's shenanigans:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankminiter/2017/11/13/congress-it-scandal-is-being-kept-behind-closed-doors/#48e9a0333fc7

DO NOT LET THIS PERSON GET HER HANDS ON THE FEDERAL PURSE. She cannot be trusted.

Petroleum Wars In Canada

Native Americans are resisting Canada's confiscation of their lands for a gas pipeline:

https://theintercept.com/2020/02/23/wetsuweten-protest-coastal-gaslink-pipeline/

Not mentioned is the FACT this pipeline will serve the energy needs of China.

An alternative to its construction would be to lift the punitive, nonsensical sanctions against Iran, which then could provide unlimited gas to China and make the Canadian pipeline unnecessary.

Another would be to wait for the final COVID-19 impact on the Chinese economy. Maybe they won't need this gas after all.

Climate Change Run Amok

I believe we'll see this in our lifetimes:

The Technocrat tango is shifting into high gear to force the world to dump Capitalism and Free Enterprise and adopt Sustainable Development in its place. Global warming deniers would face penalties comparable to war crimes.

You can read the rest @
https://www.technocracy.news/unesco-climate-denial-to-be-criminalized-and-prosecuted/

Please note that ACTUAL war crimes are not being punished, but the exercise of free speech rights definitely is.

So who is more screwed up, the promoters or the deniers?

Is Judge Judy Relevant ???

Millionaire TV personality Judge Judy says she will fight Bernie to the death:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/america-doesnt-need-revolution-judge-judy-says-shell-fight-bernie-sanders-campaign-death

Yes, she is a perfect example of "the American dream", which enables some people to be "haves" while many remain as "have nots". Obviously there are many reasons why this occurs, but in the final analysis what is more important:

a. Giving everyone a chance to succeed, or
b. Using our collective wealth to help those who are sick, hungry, and homeless?

And as far as our need for revolution goes, Judy clearly has forgotten JFK's wise admonition:

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

Get Your Masks Now

Here is why I think we should start wearing facemasks:

A 20-year-old woman, who showed no symptoms of the new coronavirus and had normal chest CT imaging results but ended up passing the infection to five of her relatives. Ever since scientists have been asking if a person can have this infection and not be ill. The new case study offers decisive evidence that the virus can be spread asymptomatically, which could make efforts to curb the outbreak even more challenging, say experts. The researchers of the current study are calling it the first documented case of transmission from an asymptomatic person with normal chest CT findings.

You can read the rest @
https://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2020/02/24/first-documented-case-20-year-old-asymptomatic-woman-infects-5-members-of-her-family/

Yes, wash your hands. Yes, stay away from crowds. These indeed are important.

But what we really need to know is the answer to this question - Which of these two options is a more effective way of controlling the spread of COVID-19?

a. Wearing a mask BEFORE you get infected, or
b. Wearing a mask AFTER you get infected.

What do YOU think?

Where Is Our Smedley Butler ???

"Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service."

MG Smedley Butler

Apparently that suspended animation not only affects our active duty generals and admirals, it continues well into their retirement. Almost none of them are speaking out about our futile forever wars which are bankrupting the nation:

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176665/tomgram%3A_danny_sjursen%2C_why_no_retired_generals_oppose_america%27s_forever_wars/

I suppose this is due in part to what Donald Rumsfeld did to Major General Antonio Taguba after the general's report on Abu Ghraib became public:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/06/25/the-generals-report

... and no doubt in part to the lucrative gigs which compliant generals and admirals can receive after leaving the service:

https://www.salon.com/2020/01/23/how-the-military-industrial-complex-gets-away-with-murder-in-contract-after-contract_partner/

One would have thought our military leaders would have been more courageous than that, but it definitely appears they are not. The love of money is indeed the root of all evil, and war remains the worst of its rackets.

So, no Smedley Butler for us. Just a constant drumbeat to war after war, as the national treasury gets flushed down the toilet.

Is US Pandemic Inevitable ???

Here are some of the reasons I believe a COVID-19 pandemic in the US is inevitable:

1. No one can agree whether quarantines are effective, and this uncertainty is hindering efforts to contain the virus:

a. In the YES camp -

https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/21/coronavirus-wuhan-quarantine-bought-world-time-to-prepare/

b. In the NO camp -

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/23/808574917/quarantine-for-diamond-princess-cruise-didnt-stop-spread-of-covid-19

c. And now US courts are interfering in the process, which ought to have been a cut-and-dried public health matter [HINT - most federal judges probably are not infection control experts]:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/feb/23/costa-mesa-california-coronavirus-quarantine-block/

2. Most carriers of the virus probably are not being detected:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/two-thirds-of-virus-carriers-from-china-were-not-detected-by-countries-new-study-estimates_3246396.html

3. In spite of having adequate warning (e.g., the recent Ebola scare), the federal government and most states are totally unprepared for this outbreak. Apparently only California, Illinois, and Nebraska are even capable of testing people for the virus, and many test kits are flawed:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/21/only-three-us-states-can-test-for-coronavirus-says-public-lab-group.html

4. The US at all levels (government, corporate, and personal) is on the edge of financial meltdown. Supply chain disruption is going to make matters worse, and the potential for both a lack of funds and a shortage of material might easily push us over the edge. We cannot even properly respond to a single hurricane, let alone a pandemic which might affect all states, cities, and towns.

Yeah I know no one wants more doom and gloom, but we have painted ourselves into a corner on this one. If we really want the sun to shine again, we need to pull our heads out of the sand and get to work TOGETHER to solve our problems ... PRONTO !!!

And continuing to blame everything on the Russians just ain't gonna get us there:

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/02/21/apparent-us-intel-meddling-in-us-election-with-report-russia-is-aiding-sanders/

Debunking COVID-19 Debunking

According to this screed, COVID-19 did NOT originate inside a bioweapons lab:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/scientists-debunk-coronavirus-conspiracy-say-it-threatens-to-undermine-global-efforts-to-stop-it-220044983.html

Here is the rationale:

The lab itself is classified as BSL-4 - or biolevel security 4 - one of just 50 worldwide. BSL-4 status is reserved for the work with the most dangerous pathogens and operates with the highest security possible. Individuals working there are required to wear hazmat suits and use ventilated workspaces that are fully enclosed. In order to exit the lab, scientists must go through a chemical shower (which disinfects the suit), then enter a room to remove the suit and, finally, a third room where they immediately shower.

Given these precautions, scientists say it would be near impossible for contaminants to make it outside the facility.

"Near impossible"?

This argument ignores something which happened at the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit in New Haven, CT in 1994:

Shope's lab was thrust into the news last summer when a visiting researcher accidentally infected himself with a rodent-borne virus from Brazil called Sabia. Separate federal and university investigations later found several lapses in safety knowledge and procedures at the lab.

Source - https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1995-02-20-9502200124-story.html

I listened to an interview with Shope in which he described what happened in that incident. The visiting researcher dropped and broke a container of the virus, cleaned up the mess himself, and then went home without telling anyone what had happened. When he became sick, he went to a hospital emergency room in New Haven for treatment, potentially exposing medical personnel and patients, and STILL did not tell anyone what had happened.

Granted, the Yale lab wasn't a BSL-4 lab, but this incident proves that "near impossible" events can and do happen.

By the way, after this happened Shope moved to the UT facilities in Galveston, TX where it appears current research with COVID-19 is being conducted in a BSL-4 lab. Is a release of COVID-19 from THAT facility "near impossible"? Maybe, but as Dr. Ian Malcolm observed in Jurassic Park, "life, uh … finds a way."

These labs should NOT be in populated areas, if they should be allowed to exist at all.

Nukes In The Middle East

As you probably know, Israel and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons. And as I have mentioned before, Saudi Arabia appears to have a nuclear weapons development program (possibly assisted by Israel):

https://sainthoward.blogspot.com/2018/06/will-saudis-get-nukes-from-israel.html

Now there is evidence Turkey also wants nukes:

When last year, Recep Tayyip Erdogan President of Turkey spoke in favour of producing nuclear weapons at a party convention, the US media pointed out the possibility of Turkey having a nuclear bomb project. The Pak-Turkey clandestine collaboration in nuclear and missile fields appears to be growing very fast. The role appears to have been reversed. While earlier Turkish companies were importing material from Europe and providing them to Pakistan, now Pak is illegally importing nuclear related material from China for Turkey.

Source - https://greatgameindia.com/china-secretly-shipping-nuclear-arms-to-pakistan/

Our focus on Iran, to the exclusion of these other states, is a big mistake. And it comes on the heels of a gigantic mistake - allowing Israel to obtain nuclear weapons in the first place.

The only way for this to stop is for ALL nuclear weapons to be banned. The likelihood of that happening is near zero, so it's very likely there is a nuclear war in our future.

How To Pronoun "Buttigieg"

There seems to be some confusion about how to pronounce Pete Buttigieg's name.

To simplify things, I suggest we pronounce it "Butt-head". After all, there is a resemblance:

The COVID-19 Circle Jerk

Here is a partial description of how COVID-19 is being mishandled by the US:

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/cases-covid-19-south-korea-double-overnight-alarming-prison-outbreak-reported-china

Yes, we are going to have a problem. No one knows for sure how bad.

But we definitely are getting off on the wrong foot.

A Ukrainian Footnote

Here is the story of a group allegedly involved in Ukrainian money laundering:

https://forward.com/news/longform/440219/florida-chabad-lubavitch-miami-charities-money-laundering-optima-schemes/

We should NEVER give money to messed up regimes like the one we helped create in Ukraine. The same applies to Iraq, Venezuela, Ecuador, and all the other places we supported regime change that led to catastrophe.

Everything Will Be Remembered

Here is a lyrical poem of note:

Kill us, we will become ghosts and write
of your killings, with all the evidence.
You write jokes in court;
We will write ‘justice’ on the walls.
We will speak so loudly that even the deaf will hear.
We will write so clearly that even the blind will read.
You write ‘black lotus’;
We will write ‘red rose’.
You write ‘injustice’ on the earth;
We will write ‘revolution’ in the sky.
Everything will be remembered;
Everything recorded
So curses may be sent to you;
So your faces may be smeared;
Your names and your faces will be remembered;
Everything will be remembered;
Everything recorded.

Aamir Aziz

Source - https://dissidentvoice.org/2020/02/you-write-injustice-on-the-earth-we-will-write-revolution-in-the-skies/

Student Loans Should Be Cancelled

This report says taxpayers are on the hook for student loan forgiveness:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-taxpayers-face-200-billion-bill-student-loan-forgiveness-plans

This is a totally wrong approach to the problem.

My suggestion - Sue the universities and lenders for fraud and/or racketeering and put them out of business without paying them a cent.

Should this seem unreasonable to you, please recall that abortion protestors have been successfully prosecuted using the RICO statutes.

Questionable Use For US Subs

According to this report, US subs soon may carry hypersonic weapons:

https://news.yahoo.com/one-pentagon-first-hypersonic-weapons-151100072.html

Hopefully such weapons will be safer to store and use than the torpedo which exploded and sank the Kursk:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a23494010/kursk-submarine-disaster/

By the way, supposedly these new US weapons will be used "against fleeting targets, such as terrorist meetings, or an enemy headquarters". That's about the dumbest thing I ever heard, and a very questionable use for a multi-billion dollar weapons platform.

If this is the way our subs are now employed, I'm very happy I no longer serve on them.

Judge Jackson Vs. Roger Stone

What's up with Judge Jackson? Her sentencing statements sound like something you'd expect to hear at the Oscars:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/20/politics/amy-berman-jackson-quotes/index.html

What was Stone's crime? Lying to Congress and threatening a witness, or so they say.

Here are some other notable people who appear to have lied when questioned, including under oath, but suffered no repercussions:

• James Clapper, DNI
• Andrew McCabe, FBI

Why the double standard?

Judges are supposed to be impartial. When they make sentencing statements like Judge Jackson did, it strongly implies they are biased. And if such bias stems from the nonsensical belief the Russians altered the results of the 2016 election, she should be removed from the bench.

Or are we going to allow this horseshit to obscure the reality of the 2020 election as well?

And by the way, the FBI's primary modus operandi appears to include threatening witnesses. If we want truth and justice, reining them in would be a good place to start.

Do We Want Socialism ???

This article asks whether we're ready for "a socialist President":

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/20/politics/sanders-bloomberg-socialist-president/index.html

This question seems to ignore at least two important facts:

1. All of FDR's "New Deal" programs were socialist, and very popular.

2. LBJ's "War on Poverty" was socialist, and also popular.

The "voters" who DON'T like socialism are the rich, who don't want to be taxed to pay for it ... and the middle class, who realize they'll be the ones who pay for it, since the rich don't ever pay for anything.

Ask yourself this - is socialism really unworkable, or does it fail because the organs of state controlled by the rich FORCE it to fail?

'Everything Pete Is Pushing' Is 'Anti-God'

According to his brother-in-law, Mayor Pete's agenda is 'anti-God':

"Yeah, in the height of intellectual dishonesty for Pete to make claims that there's no compatibility with being a Christian and voting for Trump, [when] Pete, in fact, is the one who is pushing agendas and rhetoric that is against, clearly against Scripture," Glezman said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Wednesday.

"Just everything that Pete is pushing is, it's anti-God. I'm just gonna be honest with you," Glezman said. "Nothing lines up with Scripture for him to make cases like to say that you cannot be a Christian and vote for Trump. He's the one that is openly contradicting God's word over and over."

Source - https://www.foxnews.com/media/buttigieg-brother-in-law-pastor-rhyan-glezman

I suppose it's dogma for many in the USA that religion does not belong in politics. But I would argue that America's founders and early leaders were deeply spiritual and/or religious, a quality which fundamentally shaped the political system they created.

Of course, 'modern' Americans often argue that was a bad thing. But how many of you think the US is a better place for having driven G-d out of our schools and public places? I sure don't.

What's Going On In Texas ???

According to this report, researchers in Texas are either working with the actual COVID-19 virus or have created portions of it in their labs:

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3051482/coronavirus-breakthrough-us-scientists-announce

There are two BSL-4 labs in Texas, one in Galveston and one in San Antonio:

https://fas.org/programs/bio/research.html

Assuming that's where this research is being conducted AND assuming the Chinese were NOT particularly sloppy in the operation of the Wuhan BSL-4 lab, the research in Texas places the following populations at risk:

Houston/Galveston metro area - 6.8 million

San Antonio metro area - 2.5 million

By the way, did anyone ask the people in those cities whether they wanted biowarfare labs in their backyard? The NIMBY crowd gets all bent out of shape when a nuke plant is being built, but I lived in Austin, Texas (a beehive of NIMBY fears) for 18 years and never read or heard a single word about these labs.

Patient Zero

The first known patient to suffer from COVID-19 had NO LINK to the Wuhan seafood market. He was bedridden and confined to his dwelling:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/first-coronavirus-patient-had-no-link-to-wuhan-seafood-market-report_3241872.html

This implies someone or something else brought the virus to him and/or that long-range transmission of the virus is possible.

I'm guessing the Chinese aren't trying too hard to find a link to the BSL-4 lab.

The Last Safe Haven ???

Mirabile visu !!! Russia now appears to be one of the last safe havens on the planet:

https://intellinews.com/russia-becomes-a-safe-haven-in-an-increasingly-turbulent-world-176774/

Note well this amazing contrast:

a. The US works mightily to destroy nations, steal their wealth, do the nefarious bidding of Israel, and totally ignore the welfare of its own citizens - and is fast becoming a social and economic basket case.

b. Russia, on the other hand, works steadfastly to preserve the sovereign rights of nations, works with China to help all nations develop their resources, stands up to the bullying of the US and Israel (as best they can), and appears to be genuinely concerned about the welfare of its citizens - and is fast overtaking the US as a stable society and economy.

And we're supposed to believe Putin is a monster? Get real !!!

The Russians are doing what we should be doing, and it's working wonderfully for them. What the hell are we doing that makes any sense?

Trump And Assange

Now we're hearing that Trump offered Julian Assange a pardon on a quid pro quo basis:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/19/donald-trump-offered-julian-assange-pardon-russia-hack-wikileaks

It seems to me that presidents cannot possibly know everything about how our government works or what resources are available to them. Obama ad-Dajjal obviously had good advisors in that regard, while Trump obviously does not.

The FBI could have proven what really happened in Russiagate (i.e., hack or leak), but they refused to subpoena and examine the DNC servers. The NSA also could have discovered the truth (and probably did), but they are saying nothing about it in public. Is their failure to help due to their involvement in a coup against Trump, or because he is just too naive or uninformed to direct them to solve the case?

I suspect it's the former, since at least the FBI seems to have no problem with interfering in things they're not asked to do. Comey proved that. I'm not sure about the NSA, but I get the impression they're worried as hell about the agency's reputation in light of revelations by William Binney and other whistle blowers. Maybe that's the problem with the FBI, too.

Bottom line? For some reason our intelligence (sic) and security (sic) agencies do not serve the needs of We the People. Just who they serve is open to question, a question which may never be fully answered. But I bet that if a Democrat gets elected in 2020, they'll all be fully weaponized and used to drive whatever remains of the Trump scourge off the face of the earth.

And that's how our democracy died.

Bad News For Syria

In the name of defeating Iran, the US, Israel, and Turkey have decided it's time for Syria to be destroyed. You can read about it here:

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-step-offensive-action-syria-will-create-iranian-vietnam-israels-defense-chief

and

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/erdogan-threatens-imminent-turkish-invasion-idlib-halt-syrian-russian-advance

Our entire involvement in the Middle East is a crime which rivals the aggressive war making of Nazi Germany. What right does ANYONE have to destroy a sovereign nation? The worst part (at least for us) is that no one will realize this or do anything to stop it.

By the way, the problems in Syria have NOTHING to do with climate change or chemical weapons. Please stop believing that crap.

10 More Questions About COVID-19

You can find them here:

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/10-very-important-questions-that-the-mainstream-media-should-be-asking-about-this-coronavirus-outbreak

The MSM is WORTHLESS !!!

They're more concerned with spewing absolute nonsense about Trump and Sanders than about anything of real importance.

Oh well ... you reap what you sow. Or as Forrest Gump said, "stupid is as stupid does".

Survivor - Real World Version

Here is a report about an underground bunker which the rich intend to use to survive whatever catastrophe may befall the rest of us:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/heres-look-inside-15-story-163900260.html

Pretty cushy digs, no?

I've got a question - Assuming they will be the only survivors, is this the best the human race can do to ensure its continuation?

I mean, are these the "best" humans? What characteristics do they have, other than fierce ambition and rapaciousness? And how will such characteristics serve them well in a world with no one to prey upon except each other?

This may mean humanity has no future.

Global Supply Chain Disruption

It appears the looming COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting supply chains around the world. Here are three reports on that phenomenon:

https://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/502357/Apple-war-erst-der-Anfang-In-den-globalen-Lieferketten-bricht-Chaos-aus [translation required]

and

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/shocking-new-study-says-the-coronavirus-could-impact-more-than-5-million-businesses-worldwide

and

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/which-supply-chains-are-most-risk-answer-one-chart

We have "globalism" to thank for this, a system which benefits mainly the rich and powerful at the expense of the rest of us. Is there any meaningful reason why the US and other countries could not produce everything needed to sustain their own economies? I don't have a problem with global trade per se, but when we become dependent on it we become susceptible to the very things we're now experiencing.

Are we going to learn ANY lessons from this? So far all we're getting is "don't be racist" and "don't worry, be happy".

Sustainable Living

Here is a report about sustainable living:

https://www.technocracy.news/data-drives-autonomous-control-for-sustainable-living/

A truly "sustainable" system will drastically limit our choices. But is that necessarily a bad thing? With the proper training (e.g., the nonsense they're drilling into our kids' heads at school), we can be persuaded to embrace our imprisonment.

Philly Cops Arrest Jesus

A man dressed like Jesus was arrested in a Philadelphia church:

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2020/02/18/they-dragged-my-feet-philly-jesus-michael-dennis-grant-handcuffed-kicked-out-of-philadelphia-archbishop-nelson-perezs-installation-mass/

By the way, there was a similar Jesus-like figure who appeared in the West Hazleton, PA area many years ago. I was working in the area around that time, but missed the opportunity to see him by a few months. Although he was welcomed by some, he apparently was reviled by others.

Realistically, in spite of all our churches Jesus would be no more welcome in "official" USA than he was in the Holy Land of His time:

https://youtu.be/EDS00Pnhkqk