HAPPY THANKSGIVING

RULED BY FEAR: GUN CONFISCATIONS HAVE BEGUN

Gun confiscations have begun, and they have already claimed the life of one victim. According to news sources, police went to the home of Gary J. Willis at 5:17 am. The suddenly woken man retrieved a handgun and answered the door, not certain who it was at such an early hour. When police identified themselves, he put down his weapon. However, when informed they were there to confiscate his weapons under Maryland's Red Flag law, a struggle ensued and a weapon was reportedly discharged. At which point, an officer fired his service weapon, killing Gary Willis.

So far, everything seems to be going according to plan. The state creates a law that allows interested third parties to petition the courts to confiscate the firearms of someone that is possibly dangerous, and the police can show up at all hours and save the day.  However, it seems a few points have been missed in this scenario.The law allows the courts to order the confiscation of person's personal property, based on the word of a third party. This law is open ended and a bit vague, meaning it will create nightmare scenarios for accused gun owners that are completely innocent of any crime.

 Let's take a moment to envision a hypothetical situation that is quite plausible, given the nature of the law and judicial system.
A gun owner and his ex-girlfriend have an argument, the ex-girlfriend feels scared because the man has several guns. The gun owner has never committed a crime, nor is he known to be violent, but he is quick tempered and can be argumentative and loud. So she turns to the courts, in order to calm her fears. The court determines there is reasonable grounds to confiscate the man's weapons, and the police quickly carry out the court's order. The man must now hire lawyers to represent him in court, in order to prove that he is not threat to anyone and is a responsible gun owner.  He wins his case and  receives his firearms from the police, in addition to a bill from his lawyer that adds up to thousands of dollars.

Who besides the man's attorney benefited from the above example? The courts and police have wasted precious time and money chasing an innocent man. The accused has lost time, his reputation, and lots of money, all because an ex-girlfriend was frightened by his demeanor. The ex-girlfriend has neither gained nor lost; she was honestly frightened by his demeanor, and is thus innocent of perjury, but was never in any real danger. The only ones that benefit from such laws are the trial lawyers that charge hundreds of dollars an hour.

In the example above, I could have been the gun owner in question. I am large, loud, emotional, argumentative, quick tempered, and I have been known to inadvertently frighten people with my demeanor.  I happen to be of Greek ancestry, being loud and quick tempered is a cultural thing. I know lots of other people that are also loud and quick tempered, and most of them are of varied backgrounds. Do we qualify as being a threat to society because we are men, or because we are loud and emotional? 

Some folks make the argument that this law will help prevent mass shootings, suicides, and other violent crimes, by allowing the courts to confiscate firearms based on the word of family members or closely associated persons. There is some merit to that argument, many crimes could have been prevented if the courts had been allowed to act proactively against troubled individuals. There is no doubt in my mind that the Maryland state legislature was focused on the safety of it's citizens when it passed this law; however, I don't believe this law is the correct solution.
 

 I do not know what the correct answer is, but I do know that we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty and that a whole lot of innocent people will have their property confiscated based on other people's fear. Fear is a powerful emotion, and people can act rashly when they are afraid. This law plays on the public's fear, and when a government uses fear as a tool to implement policy it becomes tyranny. Let's hope that cooler heads will eventually prevail, and draft laws that are based on reason instead of fear.

EVERYONE IS SO VERY EXCITED ABOUT THE ELECTION

Everyone is so very excited about the election, but nobody has considered if this election will actually change anything. After careful examination, we must realize there is absolutely zero difference between the two parties at the national level. Whether the one or the other party won or lost will make no difference, it will be business as usual in Congress. The Global Elite will continue to control everything, and the public will remain as unaware as always. Americans have lost their liberty, but they gladly cheer whenever they are told the next election will make all the difference.

AMERICANS WITHOUT LIBERTY

"Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it."

President Woodrow Wilson, 1912

Welcome to the Imperial States of America, where the people are servants of a limitless government. A government that has given itself, and it's agents, the authority to impose tyrannical controls on the public in the name of safety, fairness, and equality. This did not happen overnight. It has taken many years for the power hungry Elite to transform the nation.

Thought Control

The most important instrument in a tyrant's toolbox is thought control, this includes censorship of the news and information available to the public. Today we have Congress demanding social media sites impose controls and limits on the use of their products. With the reasoning that Russian agents managed to influence the 2016 US Presidential election through the use of "fake" news, Congressional representatives from both parties wanted to know how Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter planned to stop the spread of such fake news stories. The Congressional committee had "expert" witnesses testify how social media could be used as a tool to foment a revolution against the US government. The social media companies, under direct pressure from Congress, acted swiftly and capriciously blocking and banning several prominent individuals and organizations.

The first target of this social media censorship was Alex Jones and his site InfoWars. Alex Jones has been spreading his brand of conspiracy theories for about twenty years, first on the radio and later from his website. Many have accused him of racism, sensationalism, and fake news reporting. On the other hand, his website has millions of loyal subscribers that are convinced he's right. A discussion on the merits of his reporting and analysis is irrelevant. What is relevant is that he has the Right to express himself, to say what he believes is the truth. Nobody is qualified to determine if Alex Jones, or anyone else, is right or wrong. That determination is best left to consumers, who decide these things by spending their money.

 Education Becomes Indoctrination

When education becomes indoctrination, both the past and the future are lost. It's been said many times, American high schools and universities have failed in their primary mission to educate students. Instead of intellectually challenging courses that impart some form of knowledge, wisdom, or practical usefulness, students are attending classes filled with strange, politically motivated, or even false content.  Students are graduating from high priced universities and lack the basic skills needed to succeed in the workforce. School administrators, librarians, and other staff, have turned to banning books, banning the American flag, banning the wrong opinion, and have stopped teaching history or teach politicized versions of history. Of course, academicians have their favorite authors or subjects, for example almost all colleges teach Keynesian economics to the exclusion of all else; however, there needs to be some room for debate or at least an honest representation of alternative viewpoints. By limiting the exchange of ideas and teaching politically motivated doctrines, school are in effect brainwashing students. What will happen in the coming decades with our children being given a twisted understanding of the world and society? How will they be able to think for themselves, when they are constantly pressured to accept only certain ideas?

It is said that education starts at home, and if that is the case, a great many parents have failed to raise their children properly.  It is not enough that schools push certain ideas onto their students, now we have multiple generations of college students that have been raised in an environment of fear and apprehension. In a recently published work "The Coddling of the American Mind", authors Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt explore the recent phenomenon of "safe spaces" and other strange occurrences on college campuses across the nation. Many college students have been sheltered to such a degree they feel their safety is threatened if they are faced by an idea they do not agree with. How can such individuals engage in an any sort of legitimate academic debate, if they feel threatened by the opposing opinions of other students? What will happen when such individuals enter the workforce and must discuss difficult topics with customers or other stakeholders?  It seems Allan Bloom was correct when he published his famous work "The Closing of the American Mind" in 1987. The higher education system has failed our nation, and the students it was supposed to educate. 

 Hate Speech

 Perhaps this is in the nature of a rhetorical question, but there is a correct answer. What is Hate Speech? It can be just about anything, or anything the Left decides it is. The definition is completely subjective, and recognizing Hate Speech is dependent on the beholder. One person's truthful and honest answer is another person's Hate Speech. This is the essence of political correctness; the truth is no longer good enough, we must sugar coat everything in order to make it acceptable to everyone, except to those that are interested in hearing the actual truth. It has become a slogan, or a rallying cry, to many well intentioned people on the Left to stop the dissemination of Hate Speech. Whether such speech is on social media, or in a debate in a college campus, or if it is a statement issued by a public figure, anything and everything can be declared Hate Speech if it does not conform to those viewpoints favored by progressives and liberals. Admittedly, there are many cases in which boorish individuals will say something obnoxious, rude, racist, or stupid; however, even the most innocent or factual statement can be declared Hate Speech if it does not conform to the certain subjective parameters set forth by people with a progressive agenda. 

My own Facebook account was recently suspended, after I responded to a friend's post with a comical meme. My comment was declared to be Hate Speech by the Facebook department of totalitarian censorship. With no opportunity to respond, appeal, or argue my case, I have been declared a publisher of Hate Speech. I do not have the money nor the inclination to hire an attorney and fight this out in a court, but if I did I would win my case. It is very easy to declare something is Hate Speech, but it is much more difficult to actually prove it. 

There is at least on ray of sunshine that has not been blocked by this dark cloud of politically correct Hate Speech hysteria, the Supreme Court has always declared the US Constitution protects the public from any Government limitation of Free Speech. The politicians may work through third parties, such as the aforementioned banning of Alex Jones by Facebook and other social media sites, but the Government is still prohibited from directly limiting Free Expression. The Court has unanimously declared Hate Speech is protected speech. The Justices in their wisdom realize that once started on this dark path of prohibiting speech because it may cause someone to feel uncomfortable, there will be no limit to such prohibitions. Perhaps it would be of great benefit to our society if the US Constitution and the concept of individual liberty were to once again become required reading in our high schools and colleges.

The Loss of Liberty, one step at a time 

Government sanctioned Thought Control, Education that has become Indoctrination, and the new trend of declaring everything to be Hate Speech, are all forces that are eating away at the Freedom that Americans have taken for granted. The Founding Fathers of this nation, in their great wisdom, understood that without individual liberty a republic will quickly give way to kings, tyrants, and other forms of authoritarian governments that will put their own good before the good of the people. The people of the United States have enjoyed a degree of liberty and freedom that is unique to our nation, we must not allow misguided people and ideas to erode those freedoms in the cause of some imagined egalitarian future. 

HUMOR IS NO LONGER PERMITTED ON FACEBOOK

The twisted progressive tyrants at Facebook have exceeded their previous narrow-minded record, by blocking me for SEVEN days. This may not seem like a big deal, others have been blocked for longer or even banned.  However, in my case the suspension has come for a trivial piece of humor.


Apparently, the numbskull progressives at Facebook simply do not comprehend the idea of humor and sarcasm. I am no longer certain what to post or how to comment, in order to avoid the nitwits running Facebook. This is not funny nor is it a trivial matter. This is a clear indication that our society and education system are breeding a generation of brainless fools that will seek to censor and eliminate any thought or idea which they do not understand.

At this point I will cease using any memes on Facebook. My account is important to me for several reasons, and I do not wish to lose access to all the contacts I have made on social media.

JOHN BOLTON = A WARMONGERING MANIAC IN THE WHITE HOUSE

John Robert Bolton, born November 20, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland. Attended Yale, graduated with a JD in 1974. Joined the National Guard in 1970, as a means of avoiding the draft for a war he believed to be already lost. Served a total of six years between the National Guard and Army Reserve. Worked in a variety of positions throughout Washington DC, in the private sector for a short time, but was involved with political positions for the majority of his early career. He joined all the insider clubs: the Council on Foreign Relations, the Federalist Society, the Project for a New American Century, the National Policy Forum, and several other think tanks. He held several positions during the George W. Bush administration, the most prestigious of which was as Ambassador to the United Nations. It was John Bolton that drew up the plans for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In 2018, Donald Trump selected John Bolton to be his National Security Adviser.  Basically, the man is a perfect example of the ultimate DC insider.

This man would probably not have gained much notoriety if conditions were different, there are many people in DC with backgrounds very similar to his own. However, there is one aspect to his career that has made him famous(perhaps infamous is the better term), his belief in a forceful or even military response to almost every problem in the world. He constantly advocates for the US to enter into armed conflicts with differing nations. From the Middle East, to Asia, to Russia, and even to South and Central America, no nation is safe from his conflict-centered vituperation.  Any act, policy, statement, or attitude by a foreign nation that is cause for offense in DC, is enough to earn the wrath of warmonger Bolton. The offending nation will be painted with a giant bullseye for his carefully crafted diatribes.

However, he has not gone unnoticed to the folks in the media that pay close attention to DC chatter. People from both sides of the political divide have denounced John Bolton. Websites from the most liberal to the most conservative have featured articles attacking his constant calls for expanded wars. It should be noted that this is not a new occurrence, the media was denouncing his ideas when he was still employed by the George W. Bush administration. His reputation for careless and  bloodthirsty rhetoric should have served as a warning to the Trump White House, before they brought him in as National Security Advisor.

As National Security Advisor he has certainly made his presence felt, getting into a shouting match with White House Chief of Staff  John Kelly. John Kelly, a retired US Marine Corps General, reportedly had a strong objection to Bolton's insistence on a heavy- handed military response to issues on the US-Mexican border. Going back to his days in the George W. administration, Bolton threatened the family of a Brazilian diplomat in 2002. The Brazilian diplomat Jose Bustani, was serving as the director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. His efforts to peacefully convince Iraq and Libya to allow chemical weapons inspectors into their respective nations did not please warmonger Bolton. Bolton's first response to anything is open warfare, all other strategies or policies have no value in his twisted mind.

Why is this man allowed to run freely in our nation's capital? His insane drive for constant warfare borders on the psychotic. Perhaps the nation would be better served if he was transferred directly from the White House to the nearest mental institution.

THE KAVANAUGH CONFIRMATION HEARING: A SAD DAY FOR OUR NATION

 

 

 

As I feared, this process has turned into "she said, he said", her word against his. Regardless of whom you believe or which side you support, this confirmation process has become a debacle and has made our nation's government into a mockery of what it should be.

 

 

Sexual assault is a crime and must not be tolerated. If Dr. Ford was truly assaulted, she has my deepest and utmost sympathy. On the other hand, this is something that occurred long ago, no physical evidence remains of this purported assault. Judge Kavanaugh's guilt or innocence can NOT be established; the confirmation process can only act to ruin his reputation and harm his family. The United States is a nation of laws, if someone is accused of violating the law there is a legitimate legal system that can be used to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. This situation can never be tried in a criminal court, the court would quickly dismiss this case for a lack of evidence.

 

 

Have we reached the point in our society that someone can make an unsubstantiated claim against another person, and completely ruin that person? This is terrifying new day in our nation's history. The Senators that have permitted this insanity should be quickly voted out of office, and replaced with people of greater foresight and less political ambition. 

 

 https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/28/politics/kavanaugh-blasey-ford-hearing/index.html

IS THIS THE RIGHT THING TO DO?

95 year old Jakiw Palij being taken by stretcher

 Is this the right thing to do?

I feel compelled to ask the most basic of questions after reading this story on CNN. The accused is Jakiw Palij, born in Ukraine 1923 in an area that is now part of Poland, a 95 year old man who is suspected of being a Nazi collaborator or prison guard. Nobody is absolutely certain what his role was during the Second World War. He apparently lied to US immigration officers when he arrived in the US during the 1950's. In 2001 he admitted he had worked in a German labor camp, but he claimed that he and other young men were coerced into working for the Germans.

Obviously the US immigration authorities did not believe his claims of innocence,  and thus deported him.They loaded him into a stretcher and sent him to Germany. If he was indeed a merciless Nazi camp guard that killed thousands of people, all well and good. But the records are few and poor, these events happened a long time ago and there are no witnesses. In the camp in which he is accused of having served, the records were never kept or were destroyed, and the prisoners were all killed. There are no eye witnesses. What evidence is being used against this man? Is the evidence factual, or is it based on assumptions, rumors, or innuendo? Lastly, and most importantly, what possible outcome can be derived from deporting and prosecuting a 95 year old man?

The Holocaust was a terrible part of human history, millions of people were systematically wiped out. Evidence taken at the various concentration camps can freeze the heart: photographs of starved people and thousands of bodies stacked in piles. The American soldiers that initially entered those camps became sick at the sight of the atrocities, and these were battle hardened men that has seen some of the fiercest fighting of WWII. Even the crusty General George S. Patton was left in a state of shock at the sight of what was discovered. 

German civilians being forced to tour a liberated concentration camp viewing stacks of dead bodies

Malnourished concentration camp survivors

There can be no doubt that those responsible should face the most severe of penalties. On the other hand, there is limited evidence against Jakiw Palij. He may also have been a victim of the ruthless Nazi war machine, his service may have been coerced. Any trial against him could take years, years he does not have.  Putting him in a prison cell at his age is simply ludicrous.  He is 95 years old, he could die at any moment. We may never learn the truth.

 What is the point of deporting him and attempting to prosecute someone at death's door? I'm not sure we are doing the right thing in this case.

RISING GDP- A TOOL FOR POLITICIANS AND LIARS

source: mises.org

Many of us took a course or two, perhaps more, of Economics as undergraduates.  Everything taught in those foundational courses is known as Keynesian Economics, and as students we are led to believe that it's the only proper way to understand economic phenomenon. One of the things we learned about is something called "Gross Domestic Product". This number attempts to measure how much the economy has produced over a given period of time, usually on an annual basis. The media, politicians, authors, and various television "experts", constantly discuss how vital it is for the GDP to increase in order for the nation to be prosperous and avoid disaster. On any given day, the media will have extensive coverage of Congress and it's actions in regards to the government's budget, the decisions made at the Federal Reserve, and a mention will be made about Wall Street and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. This has convinced entire generations of people that government has a vital role to play in the economy, and without an ever increasing GDP the world will end. However, the truth is something altogether different. The GDP is a tool of politicians and politics, not economics.

We must understand that the economy is made up individuals and businesses making decisions that will affect their daily lives. Government has very little to do with the economy on a daily basis. Government imposes taxes, laws, and regulations that can certainly affect people's lives, but these things do not make economic choices. People make economic choices. People can decide to buy a used vehicle instead of a brand new vehicle, or they can buy a house, or they can decide to spend their money on illegal activities: drugs, gambling, etc. In a free society, people are allowed to spend their money as they see fit. And it should not be a surprise to anyone that when allowed to make choices most people will usually make good economic choices.



Most everyone is probably asking: how is all of this connected, and what does it have to do with anything? GDP fails to account for several very important factors. First, illegal activities are not taken into account. In the US, hundreds of billions of dollars worth of illegal drugs are bought and sold every year, but these activities are not measured. Second, the market for used goods is ignored. In 2016, 41 million used cars and trucks were sold in the US, at an average price of  $19,227. This comes to roughly $788 Billion worth of sales just in the used car industry, and none of it is considered part of GDP. Last, and most importantly, GDP fails to accurately account for the change in the value of money, also know as Inflation. Inflation can raise or lower prices, having a significant impact on how GDP will be measured. The Bureau of Economic Analysis is responsible for measuring GDP in the US, yet they depend on the Federal Reserve to provide information in regards to inflation. The Federal Reserve has many detractors that argue it's models and ideas are outdated, some of those detractors are found within the Federal Reserve itself.

I have mentioned this before, inflation is the giant monster hiding in the basement that nobody wants to acknowledge. To quote the great economist Ludwig Von Mises, "The great inflations of our age are not acts of God. They are man made or, to say it bluntly, government made. They are the off shoots of doctrines that ascribe to governments the magic power of creating wealth out of nothing and making people happy by raising the "national income".

Let's replace the term "national income" with something used in current society: GDP. Congress and the Federal Reserve have to simply push more money and credit into the marketplace, by either borrowing trillions of dollars as does Congress or by the various creative tricks employed by the Federal Reserve. In either case, they are creating wealth out of nothing, and it appears as if the economy is strong and growing. Politicians can then make televisions appearances and make grand proclamations at election time.

The Lying Politician

 There is an important question which nobody wants to ask. If the GDP is measuring the output of the economy, and a positive number indicates the economy is growing, why hasn't everyone gotten wealthier? If the nation is getting wealthier, as indicated by GDP, why does Congress feel the need to continue a "War on Poverty" that began during the 1960's, has cost trillions of taxpayer dollars, and has no end in sight? For the simple reason that government can not create wealth, government can only create inflation. People create wealth by making good economic choices. A government handout may help some folks pay bills just to get by, but ultimately it is up to the individual to build their own wealth by making good choices in life. Any person, regardless of their income level, has the ability to save and spend wisely, and to make other choices in life that will decide the outcome of their lives.



https://mises.org/library/gdp-tool-politics-not-economics

https://www.businessinsider.com/where-drug-money-goes-2016-3

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/05/used-vehicle-sales-look-set-to-hit-all-time-high.html

https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/11/07/bullard.pdf

 https://thetruthstillmatters.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-economy-is-still-sluggish.html

ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTING BY A DISTURBED TEENAGE COPYCAT KILLER

Another terrible tragedy has struck our schools, this time in Santa Fe, Texas.

The tragedies do not occur in a vacuum. Mentally disturbed or antisocial teenagers see other such events on the news and decide they want to have five minutes of fame for themselves. 

There is just one way to end these tragedies: the news media must stop covering these stories.

 Gun control, metal detectors, armed guards, transparent backpacks, or any other ideas will not be effective. The only way to resolve this problem is to stop making these people famous.

Limiting the use of anti-psychotic drugs, such as certain anti-depressants, may also help as almost all of the mass shooters of the past 20 years have been users of anti-depressants. Holding the parents accountable may also help, but just a little bit.

For the sake of our future generations, I hope our society will have the wisdom to do what be done in order to end these tragedies.

SOCIALIST VENEZUELA IS BREATHING IT'S LAST

I have been covering the story of Venezuela rather closely over the past year, some of my previous posts can be found here and here, and in short articles for those that follow me on Facebook. To review some pertinent facts: Venezuela is governed by incompetent Socialist dictators that have ruined the nation and it's economy. The misguided dictators have nationalized private property and control almost all the means of production within the nation, and they compounded their foolish decisions by setting price controls and creating massive hyperinflation. The situation is so terrible, Venezuelans are fleeing their country by the hundreds of thousands.

 The only hope the Venezuelan government ever had at accomplishing anything with their economic boondoggle was the money brought in by PDVSA, the state owned oil company. However, even that has been a complete failure. The state owned oil company owes many of it's assets to properties seized from private businesses. Many of the skilled laborers and technical experts needed to run the company departed when the government began seizing properties, and they were replaced by overwhelmed, incompetent, and starving, ruling party favorites. As a result of this total calamity, Venezuela's oil production has fallen from 3.4 million barrels a day to less than 1.4 million barrels a day. But, the situation has only gotten worse. In a first of it's kind legal action, ConocoPhillips has seized properties owned by PDVSA. The US and other nations froze various assets owned by the Venezuelan government, and Venezuela's creditors are now filing lawsuits in order to gain access to those assets.

The mindless idiots of the Socialist party that control Venezuela have made a great many stupid decisions, and have left the nation, it's economy, and it's people in a state of ruin and despair. They owe billions of dollars to individuals and companies from whom they seized assets, in what can be compared to armed robbery. It is most likely that money will never be paid back, and what properties were seized by the power hungry Socialists will be lost forever. Perhaps the only chance Venezuela has for any sort of positive future is for the public to realize how badly the Socialists have botched the situation, and to unite and vote them out of office. However, things have been so bad for so long, it will take several decades for Venezuela to recover from the last 19 years of bungled government.

WHO CAN AFFORD THESE SUPER CURES??

Who can afford a one time medical treatment that costs hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars?
Almost nobody.
Only the most wealthy in society have the resources to pay for some of these whiz-bang George Jetson futurist cures at millions of dollars per treatment. Private health insurance and government funded Medicare will never cover the cost of these technological marvels.

What has caused this situation?
In a word, Inflation. The US and the Western World in general, are being destroyed by inflation. Inflation is a condition in which the value of currency is reduced, thereby giving the appearance of rising prices. It is NOT healthy for any society to have a period of prolonged inflation, because prices will rise faster than wages and the public will become impoverished. Let's look at the rising cost of living in this country, it has risen exponentially over the past 40 years, but wages have been stagnant. The cost of medical care and education have reached levels that would have been unimaginable thirty years ago. These new medical breakthroughs are following the same trend of rising prices, only in this case the government is actively pushing them along. I think the best explanation was given by the great economist Ludwig Von Mises over sixty years ago, he said

"The great inflations or our age are not acts of God. They are man-made, or to say it bluntly, government made. The are the off shoots of doctrines that ascribe to governments the magic power to create wealth out of nothing and making people happy by raising the national average." 

Moonshot Medicine: Who Can Afford It?

HOW POLITICAL CORRECTNESS DESTROYS PEOPLE'S LIVES

I found this on social mendia and decided to copy it verbatim. Political correctness is a destructive ideology that is being used to silence creativity, personal opinions, and the Truth. There is no better way to silence the Truth, than through public shaming and peer pressure.

It snowed all night long, so the morning went like this:
8:00: I made a snowman
8:10: A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn’t make a snow woman.

8:15: So, I made a snow woman.
8:17: The neighbors’ nanny complained about the snow woman’s voluptuous chest.
8:20: The gay couple living nearby grumbled that it could have been two snowmen instead.
8:25: The vegans at No. 12 complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and not to decorate snow figures with.
8:28: I was called a racist because the snow couple is white.
8:31: The Muslim gent across the road wanted the snow woman to wear a headscarf.
8:40: Someone called the cops who showed up to see what was going on.
8:42: I was told that the broomstick of the snowman needs to be removed because it could be used as a deadly weapon. Things got worse after I mutter : “Yeah, if it’s up your a**”
8:45: Local TV news crew showed up. I was asked if I knew the difference between snowmen and snow-women? I reply, “Snowballs” and am called a sexist.
8:52: My phone was seized and thoroughly checked while I was blindfolded and flown to the police station in a helicopter.
9:00: I’m on the news as a suspected terrorist bent on stirring up trouble during this difficult weather.
9:10: I was asked if I have any accomplices.
9:29: A little known jihadist group has claimed it was their plot.
There is no moral to this story. It’s just the America we live in today!

MIRACLES HAPPEN, CNN JUST PRAISED RAND PAUL

Senator Rand Paul, son of the famous libertarian Ron Paul, has once again committed an act of heroism by lambasting his own party, and CNN loved him for it. We've said it many times, there is no difference between the two parties at the national level. When Democrats are in power the Republicans talk conservative fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets, when Republicans are in power the roles are reversed. The ONLY exception to this was back during the 1990's when Newt Gingrich rammed the first balanced budget in many years right down everyone's throat. The media, and both parties, hated Gingrich for doing his job the right way. I imagine that Rand Paul will soon come under fierce scrutiny by everyone  in the media and politics, including his own party and his closest friends in the Senate. Nobody likes it when the ugly Truth is exposed.

THE MARKETS ARE FALLING AS PREDICTED

The financial markets around the world have finally begun to drop, as I have been saying they would. Why are they doing this? The reasons are complex, but easy to understand. To put it briefly, the Federal Reserve and Congress have abandoned their duty of ensuring the safety of our money and instead focused all their attention on scoring political points by convincing everyone that the government can create jobs and cause economic growth. This is a complete fabrication or lie. The only thing governments can do is to collect taxes, and create laws and regulations which affect the economy in the long term. However, a century ago during the First World War, governments realized they could borrow money from the future or just print it, and then spend almost limitless amounts of money which they created out of thin air. This spending pattern creates inflation. Inflation is defined as a period of rising prices, but this is caused due to a drop in the value of money. Putting excess amount of money into an economic system will always reduce the value of the given currency and thus raise prices.

This leads us to our current situation. The financial markets have tumbled because of fear that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates. The Fed should have raised interest rates during the George W. Bush administration, right after 9-11. It's become too late to try to combat inflation, it is beyond control. I wrote about this on 01/20/2017, specifically I said:

"The amount of monetary inflation in the economy is beyond belief; it has become a super-sized bubble waiting to burst. When the inflation bubble finally bursts, the Federal Reserve will scramble to find enough cash to keep the banking system "liquid". During the 2007 Recession, Congress stepped in and put hundreds of billions of dollars in to the system in order to keep it moving. Basically, taxpayer money was used to prop up privately owned businesses. The taxpayers will never see that money again; it has disappeared into the TARP program. Over the past ten years, the Federal Reserve has pushed Trillions of dollars into the economy hoping it would stimulate a bit of economic growth. Their plan failed"

Now the chickens have come home to roost. Trump can not do anything about this, nor could any other resident of the White House. Congress is powerless, they've already put us in $20 TRILLION debt, they simple don't have any more money to waste. The Federal Reserve is also helpless, their policy of Quantitative Easing failed, and they have no other tools that will help.

What will happen next? An economic disaster the likes of which we have never seen.


http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/06/investing/stock-market-turmoil-global/index.html
https://thetruthstillmatters.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-hubris-of-janet-yellen-federal.html
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/inflation.asp
https://thetruthstillmatters.blogspot.com/2017/01/our-money-is-not-safe-hungry-sharks-are.html

CAN CUCKOLDING BE GOOD FOR RELATIONSHIPS?

Photo from CNN.com

Apparently some psychologists have gone off the deep end, and may require some psychotherapy of their own. They now claim cuckolding can be good for some relationships. This kind of thing is beyond my understanding. Perhaps I've been fortunate enough to have a loving marriage, we make sacrifices for each other; but I can honestly claim that I am happily married. The thought of my wife engaging in sexual relations with some other man is abhorrent to me, it would immediately end our relationship. My wife thinks the same way, she would leave if I had relations with some other woman. Are we a couple of old fogies that are behind the times? Were we born in the wrong century? I often get lectured by people wanting me to change my ways and become more in tune with the times. I tend to reject their ideas, on the basis that those ideas simply don't work. Many of those same people come from broken homes, and have experienced multiple divorces in their lives.

I've always believed that sex is something that is best when it is between two people that love and care for each other.  To quote Eugen Levy from American Wedding "It's called making love because you have to make love happen". The sort of sex dramatized in porn films is pure fantasy; a loving couple does not require kinky or strange acts in order to enjoy a healthy sex life. Random hookups may be exciting, but they offer nothing in terms of long term value; and they can bring about unexpected and unwanted results.

The notion that cuckolding may be healthy for some relations borders on the absurd. If a couple feels the need to add partners to their sex life, they have much bigger problems in their relationship.

ENOUGH WITH THE LIES, DISTORTIONS, AND EXAGGERATED CLAIMS

The government has closed down, pending a budget agreement. SO WHAT? This does not have a real affect on the public. In previous decades, the government would be shutdown on a frequent basis. Nobody ever noticed until it became something for the media to salivate over.

A random perusal of the mainstream press will find any number of media "experts" declaring the end of the world has arrived. These experts discuss doomsday scenarios, which will never occur, while keeping a straight face and serious expression. The more creative and nonsensical the fantasy, the higher the ratings.

Two things will happen, before this government shutdown is finished. Congress will pass a budget of some sort, and government employees WILL get paid for the hours they lost during the shutdown. In the end, life will continue as it always has.

WHAT IS THE TRUTH???

 

How is anyone supposed to know what is really going on, if people can bend, stretch, or completely fabricate the things that go on behind closed doors? Would Trump describe third world nations as "shitholes"?  Perhaps, he would. I believe he is arrogant enough to use such a vulgar term for entire societies. However, I believe in giving people the benefit of doubt, in case they are being unjustly accused, and Senator Richard Durbin has a rather sordid history of his own.

 

Other Senators that attended that meeting have claimed that Trump did NOT use such terminology. Of course, CNN quickly dismissed those Senators as having questionable or ulterior motives.

The truth is that it is unwise to trust any politician, including Trump. Politics is all about compromise, and an effective politician will sell his (or her) own mother in order to get what they want. This is nothing new, politicians have been crooked since the beginning of time. This recent scandal of who said what, and which countries are "shitholes", will soon be forgotten in favor of the next big story.