US: Thank you Mr. President

As we approach the end of your first term in office, it is worth taking stock of your major achievements in that time.

The first to note, is that you actually attempted to implement the policies on which you were elected - an increasingly rare event these days, and one of the many reasons that a record number of Americans voted for you to be returned as president.

You made great efforts to extend the wall on the southern border, and, despite the many objections to its construction, it is difficult to see how else your country can protect itself, unless and until its involvement and support of corrupt and violent regimes is ended.

No new wars in four years is also a remarkable achievement, and this despite unremitting pressure to engage in such follies, from inside and outside government. These pressures had the additional effect of preventing action on much of the other work that needed doing, but this is not a time for making excuses, because your greatest achievement is unfolding right now, for all to see.

By your strength and character, you have drained the swamp and left all those who dwelt there exposed and floundering in the light of public scrutiny. It is true that they have not been removed, but they are now visible and vulnerable in a way that seemed impossible just a couple of months ago.

Whatever happens over the next days and weeks, even the next few years, never again can those with vested interests in the demise of freedom and prosperity for the people, say that they are working in our best interests, and expect to be believed.

Know your enemy is the first requirement in any conflict, and we now know who they are, and what they are capable of, and for that, Mr. President, once again, thank you.

   

US: Biden team under investigation

 Election Special

Now that Attorney General Barr has authorised a federal investigation into the allegations of widespread and coordinated fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election, the two camps are squaring up for the legal and propaganda fight while the world outside USA waits to see what happens next.

Although US politics has been riven with claims of corruption and voter intimidation for many years, until now this was seen as a problem restricted to individual States, but what is now unravelling looks like the systematic and coordinated corruption of the actual US democratic process, and it is this continued threat which has prompted such an early investigation.

Investigators will start with the many claims and witness statements of irregular and illegal activity during counting and even before, when millions of unsolicited ballots were sent out across the country, the potential for fraud following this was highlighted by Barr back in September, but investigators will also want to know how high and wide this goes.

For example, when Nanci Pelosi boasted to CNBC back in June that Trump would be leaving White House "whether he knows it yet or not", was she just being an arrogant and partisan politician, or was she confident of plans already in place to rig the election? And Hillary Clinton also seemed to have some very accurate fortune telling abilities when, in August, she described the situation in which Trump would win the election but insisted that Biden should not concede, "under any circumstances" (why should that be, was it because she knew that extra votes would magically appear?).

But the real interest will be on Joe Biden himself.

Much has been made of his apparent admission to having put together the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics, although we suspect that was an unintended assertion, the question remains, was it an innocent or a Freudian slip of the tongue.

Covid-19: Conspiracy and the War on Bugs

In this age of conspiracy theories, we shouldn't be even slightly surprised that the unprecedented reaction to a virus that was declassified as an HCID back on March 19th., has generated so many questions as to what is going on, and why.

Huge chunks of the world's economies have experienced shut-down with entire populations placed in lock-down, and the the freedom of association and ability to even cross the street, is now at the discretion of law enforcement. All this with barely a whimper from our banner waving anti-establishment liberals and socialists.

If that's not worthy of a decent conspiracy theory, then nothing is.

So what's happened, what could have caused such global insanity over a nasty cold that is hastening the demise of those already sick and vulnerable with a few (but highly publicized) exceptions?

Firstly, the virus is either natural or engineered, and, if manufactured for whatever reason, it either escaped or was released into the general population. Note also that 'natural' in this context also includes what many of us regard as decidedly unnatural, culinary customs.

The options:

A deliberate release must be the greatest stretch of plausibility, what could anyone hope to gain from such an outrage, and how could they hope to evade discovery or control the spread and consequences? This idea, is a complete non-starter for me.

An accidental release from a research lab or some other bio-technological operation is possible, and the resulting attempts at cover up allowed the spread to go unchecked, and this is the preferred theory among many observers, but there's another possibility.

A naturally occurring new strain of the Coronavirus, possibly caused by bringing animal carriers into unhygienic food markets where they lived in close contact with humans and other food animals, is the least conspiratorial and also most likely in my view.

But how did this develop into the situation that the world finds itself in today?

Here is where conspiracy meets its match, for the word that nobody wants to hear, and the word that rarely means what it says, is coincidence.

What? You say, there's no such thing as coincidence in matters like these. But there is, and this may be it.

Consider the reaction in Wuhan Institute of Virology to news that local people were dying with an unrecognisable viral infection, and they undoubtedly would have known. As the first BSL-4 laboratory built in mainland China, they should have had strict procedures in place for monitoring and containment in the event of an accidental release from any of their sites (one of which is only 280 meters from the now infamous seafood market. Suspecting the worst (an outbreak of something deadly and traceable to them), they responded as only a communist state could - lockdown, police and soldiers on the streets, reporting restrictions; the whole 9 yards.

Tragedy and farce seldom travel apart, and as the virus spread, so the Chinese 'method' of containment became the norm, and once copied in Italy, itself a destination hub for countless Chinese workers, this became the accepted way, demanded by many whose real intention is to sow fear and division among their own populace, to destroy our economies (for the furtherance of socialism and the good of the planet), and to generally make life difficult for ordinary hard working people.

And there we have it, like a bonfire next to a dynamite factory, one simple coincidence and the world struggles to prevent economic meltdown. Not the most dramatic theory, but the most likely, for now at least.

 

CV: Financing the War on Bugs

Continuing the discussion on WoB , perhaps the best news comes last.

10. Capital
Saying that world currencies have coped well with this crisis would be what is euphemistically termed as under-reporting of the facts.

As world trade collapses and billions, even trillions, are earmarked for bailouts, we should be witnessing the final days of Fiat currencies, but the magic money promised out of thin air, or more correctly, out of electronic bits and bytes, has brought stability, not chaos.

Of course, the ideological Capitalists are already complaining about Who will pay for all this? And it's a valid question, but Pay for what? Is also a valid reply.

What service has been provided for these vast sums of money? Only that they allow business to continue and for life to go on, so our governments have effectively spent it on themselves.

There is also a fear that taxes will need to be raised, but there is no tax regime on earth that could realistically pay for the current and projected world debt, so why bother? We found this magic money to bail out the banks after 2008, and continued with QE until now, when we are bailing out businesses and supplementing their wage bills, perhaps next we will bail out the people.

It's only money.

The difference between using capital for trade, and the ideology of Capitalism, is difficult for many to grasp yet the invention of money is perhaps the most underrated achievement in our collective history, and without it civilization as we know it would have been impossible.

When trade was based on barter and exchange, each party needed to have something of value to the other, which prevented expansion beyond a very local and limited marketplace. The first intermediaries were probably manufactured goods, tools, pottery, trinkets and the like, which allowed towns to grow, but only when coins of exchange arrived was it possible to develop large cities and trading empires; the agricultural revolution was also an enabler, but capital was the driver and the complex systems required to keep the city functioning were only possible via the medium of money.

It would not have taken long for this coinage to take on a life of its own, to be hoarded and traded as an end in itself and most of us, religious or not, know the story where Jesus purged the temple of money lenders and merchants, we should also remember that the love of money is at the root of many evils, so the dangers of deifying capital are long known and well established and we should not fall into that ancient trap in this age of impending enlightenment.

Imagine a world where taxation of income is non-existent, and governments instead harvest their needs from this invisible money tree, accounts are reconciled annually and a balance maintained. Trade between nations is established so that no country falls into debt or accumulates surplus, but rather, as accounts are settled each country's value is reflected in the purchasing power of its (crypto-?)currency. I would also imagine that each country might hold two such currencies, one for internal use, and one for international trade and travel.

Since abandoning the Gold Standard, money is a concept only, a matter of confidence and convenience, and we should treat it as such, write off world debt and start again. 

CV: Winning the War on Bugs.

Contd.

While the world waits and wonders whether we all die from Climate Change or Coronovirus, there are some very positive signs.

Aside from those who have been taken ill and are suffering, most healthy people seem to be coping with fairly minimal symptoms and we should all hope that situation remains - although most of the partisan media and Globalist politicians appear saddened by this lack of mortality and public disorder.

It's not all bad news.

7. The Economy
The potentially good news is that we still have an economy, despite the determined attempts of the aforementioned media and Globalists, the markets were spectacularly stable with loses little more than common sense adjustments after more than 10 years of QE inflation. One thing is clear, the trading algorithms seem to have been fixed or managed to prevent a total sell off and force exchanges to close until now, at least, and there have even been a few minor rallies so some trading has happened.

But politicians cannot help themselves from interfering, and we are about to see how much damage they are capable of.

It has been noted by many observers that share prices were being maintained artificially high, and the eventual fall would be quick and hard, but the initial tumble has been relatively gentle, however, the effects of ministerial determination to scare the public and to shut down trade, is something that nobody can accurately predict and where we go from here is very much in the balance. Do markets collapse, or hold their nerve? We should soon find out.

8. Gold
Another good sign is that precious metals have not unduly escalated, so panic is not overriding common sense.

When currencies were backed by gold, it made sense for this commodity to rule in times of trouble, but now its intrinsic value is what appears to be determining price, it may even be that the recent years of price manipulation weren't even needed.

9. Bitcoin 
Another indicator that sanity is in control, is the moderate trading in crypto currencies which have previously been the target of much speculation and hype. This is the first time they've been tested in an extreme real world scenario and, again, good sense seems to be the victor.

Bitcoin is an interesting phenomenon, but it's real value is in the underlying technology and Blockchain is where the potential lies.

A way of visualizing this is to imagine when the wheel was first invented and our hero, or heroine, first showed this marvel to a gathering of villagers who immediately set to work producing and distributing wheels, and of course it was not long before wheels increased in price and were hoarded, so to prevent theft the villagers built sturdy huts with stone walls, rather than the usual wooden construction, which became known as wall-huts.

One day a rival tribe arrived in fast chariots and large carts made with wheels, either bought or copied. This was obviously a raid of robbers with ill intent, so the villagers quickly surrounded their wall-huts and vowed that none on their wheels would be stolen, but the raiders laughed and shouted.

 "We don't want your stupid wheels." They then loaded all the villager's crops and livestock onto their wagons, and left the way they had come.

For me, the biggest problem with Crypto lies in its limitations as a store of wealth, which has been ably highlighted in our current predicament. Because when power is down these digital currencies cease to exist, and while it has been observed that in times of extreme crisis Fiat currency is only as valuable as the paper it is printed on and that you can't eat gold, what we have recently discovered is that you can't even wipe your arse with Bitcoin.

When the world's economies are ready it will likely be USCoin, ChinaCoin, BritCoin and the like, that will drive trade while Bitcoin, although remembered with great fondness, will have limited value, not unlike an old vinyl collection of 60s classics.

CV-19: The continuing War on Bugs

Following my earlier ramble here are some more thoughts:-

4. Globalization is bad.
If one lesson can be learned at this early stage it is surely this.
The outsourcing of essential production to foreign manufacturers has historically been seen for the folly that it is, but outsourcing almost everything to countries half a world away is closer to insanity than stupidity and we are witnessing how big the resulting potential for disaster is.

In particular, for the manufacture of basic medicines and supplies to be handed to foreign actors is inexplicable, no matter how many pennies it pretends to save. Given the size and structure of our NHS who compete with nobody and spend taxpayer's money, there is no excuse for allowing the nation's health to be put in such jeopardy.

Regardless of how quickly this pandemic is contained, we can all see just what is almost bound to happen in the future if we do not reverse the current madness.

5. Globalization is very bad.
The abdication of responsibility from elected national government, to global 'institutions' and corporations is the unpaved road to disaster, and it gets bumpier and more dangerous every time it is travelled.

When unwillingness to challenge our Chinese 'partners' over their claims about the outbreak for fear of upsetting those on whom we are so dependant, was clearly instrumental in not taking early and adequate precautions, we should reconsider this state of reliance and trust in foreign entities, especially those whose priorities are to save face, and maintain control of their population.

It may well be that this virus needs to simply run its course, and we should just try to slow down the infection rate to manageable proportions, but another strain may arrive far more deadly and infectious, and in that circumstance borders will need to be shut quickly, but it appears this is not the way we do things any more. Our government must abandon this nonsense and protect our interests, not those of people whose interests we do not even comprehend.

6. Globalization is very, very, bad.
How can any government plan effectively for a national emergency or epidemic, when it doesn't even know how many people reside here? And this is not a question of being out by a few hundred thousand, or even a million, because official figures may be out by anything up to 10 millions.

Imagine living in a house and paying for the food and services, but not knowing who or how many people were living upstairs, and it being illegal to ask.

The mindset that pervades the Globalist ideology is damaging to the extent of producing a form of collective mental illness that prevents rational thought and overrides even the most basic self interest of preservation for ones own being, or family, friends or country.

CV19: The War on Bugs

It is seldom wise to address something as fluid as the COVID-19 outbreak at this early stage, but if we can't get a decent vision of what's happening in 2020, when will we be able to?

There are already several interesting points to note:-

1. Newts.
Fake news has moved over the years, from the on-line fringes to the Mainstream broadcasters who seem now to have developed an aversion to objective truth. It appears that they no longer lie just to bolster their socio-political aims, but because they are no longer capable of telling the truth, such that we can confidently predict that reported events are Never Ever What They Say, and the problem now, as the pandemic takes hold, is that if MSM presented us with concrete evidence that it was under control, who would believe them?

2. Social collapse is dangerously close.
For many years we have been assured that diversity is our strength, but what has been promoted as diversity has been nothing less than creeping genocide. In a world where order and cooperation between nations is vital to the flow of goods and services, and very few countries are self-sufficient in the essentials for their survival, we are now so dependant on infrastructure and electricity, that interruption of either would lead to dire and completely unpredictable consequences.

Civil society has taken centuries to get where it is today, and it is built on trust and consent, but importing large numbers of people from places where aggression and intimidation are used to control populations and maintain patriarchal supremacy, has had a devastating effect on much of western civilian life and continues unabated via the studious non-reporting of facts.

Anyone worried by the levels of vicious and wanton violence on our streets today, should consider what these knife-wielding, acid-throwing gangs and their enablers would do if there is ever a shortage of food and water and our fingernail painting police are all that separates them from us.
Which brings me to another point highlighted by CV19.

3. There are too many people in the world.
The proverbial elephant in the room is really more akin to an alligator in the swimming pool, and there are few in the public eye, and far less in authority, who will even make this observation much less attempt to deal with it. Using Western countries as a form of overspill car-park while we wait for the world to become unviable is not the solution, any more than is paying billions of dollars to corrupt and despotic 'leaders' to keep them in power and privilege.

The greatest tragedy for the Third World, is that, while education is the first step to improving their lot, it is their educated few who are most able to leave and who we are most often willing to receive.