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Today marks the 32nd year anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which was carried out by followers of The Blind Skeikh.  The convicted bomb-maker, Ramzi Yousef, entered the United States in 1992 with alleged Mossad mole Ahmed Ajaj, who was arrested at JFK Airport.   Ajaj was carrying multiple passports, videos of suicide bombings, documents on fabricating fake IDs, and plans for constructing bombs.  From prison, Ajaj played a major role in facilitating the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing.

Robert I Friedman reported in The Village Voice that Ajaj was a possible Mossad mole according to Israeli intelligence sources.  Ajaj was identified by the FBI as a senior intifada activist and according to federal sources and the Israeli police, Israel expelled Ajaj in 1991 to Jordan for conspiring to smuggle weapons to Palestinian militant groups.  However, according to an Israeli newspaper, Ajaj was never involved in intifada activities or with militant groups.  Instead, Ajaj was a small-time criminal who was arrested in 1988 for counterfeiting U.S. dollars and was convicted and sentenced to prison.   During his prison stay, the Mossad apparently recruited him per Israeli intelligence sources.  Friedman wrote, “By the time he was released after having served just one year, he had seemingly undergone a radical transformation. The common crook had become a devout Muslim and hard-line nationalist. Soon after, he was arrested for smuggling weapons into the West Bank, allegedly for El Fatah.”

According to Friedman, Israeli intelligence sources asserted that the arrest for weapons smuggling, and Ajaj’s torture and deportation, “were staged by Mossad to establish his credentials as an intifada activist.” Also, the Mossad allegedly “tasked” Ajaj to infiltrate militant Palestinian groups operating outside Israel and to report back to Israel and that it is common for the Mossad to recruit common criminals.

Friedman wrote, “If Ajaj was recruited by Mossad, it is not known whether he continued to work for the Israeli spy agency after he was deported. One possibility, of course, is that upon leaving Israel and meeting radical Muslims close to the blind Egyptian sheikh, his loyalties shifted.  Another scenario is that he had advance knowledge of the World Trade Center bombing, which he shared with Mossad, and that Mossad, for whatever reason, kept the secret to itself.  If true, U.S. intelligence sources speculate that Mossad might have decided to keep the information closely guarded so as not to compromise its undercover agent.”

The post Alleged Mossad Mole and the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing appeared first on LewRockwell.

Thanks, John Frahm.

Weston A. Price Foundation

The post Gut Recovery After Antibiotic appeared first on LewRockwell.

Trump Gaza (Rhymes with Trump Plaza).

The post Trump’s Plan for Gaza? appeared first on LewRockwell.

Thanks, Rick Rozoff.

The post U.S., Russia to share $7 trillion dollars of rare earth elements in Donbas? appeared first on LewRockwell.

Writes Vicki Marzullo:

This is a wonderful video from Brion McClanahan,”Trump the Wrecking Ball.”  I learned quite a few things in this video.  I highly recommend it.

The post Trump the Wrecking Ball appeared first on LewRockwell.

Click Here:

Ben Bartee

The post Trump Admin Stonewalls Epstein Doc Revelations —Why the Limited Hangout? appeared first on LewRockwell.

House Republicans passed a budget that includes spending cuts and tax cuts. But is also raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. Only the heroic, principled Thomas Massie (R-KY) voted against it. Why do Republicans need to raise the debt ceiling unless they plan on a spending orgy like when Trump was president the first time?

The post The Heroic, Principled Rep. Thomas Massie appeared first on LewRockwell.

Writes Gail Appel:

Europe has only itself to blame. We don’t owe them anything. They’re so rabidly Russophobic that they’re commiting suicide within their own borderless caliphate.

See here.

The post Another beautiful day in Austria appeared first on LewRockwell.

Thanks, John Smith. 

972 Magazine

The post When a Jew shot by another Jew cries ‘Death to Arabs!’ appeared first on LewRockwell.

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di David Stockman

(Versione audio della traduzione disponibile qui: https://open.substack.com/pub/fsimoncelli/p/stabilire-la-tregua-in-ucraina-poi)

Esattamente 177 giorni dopo aver prestato giuramento, il più grande presidente pacifista degli Stati Uniti, Dwight D. Eisenhower, annunciò che l'opera di demolizione nella penisola coreana sarebbe stata interrotta e che da quel momento in poi sarebbe stato stipulato un armistizio, armistizio che è in vigore ancora oggi.

Sfortunatamente la tregua di Ike non si è mai tradotta in un trattato di pace permanente, o nella normalizzazione delle relazioni tra le due Coree, o tra gli Stati Uniti e la Cina comunista.

Inoltre non c'è alcun mistero sul perché: Washington ha mentito sul fatto che stesse combattendo una guerra nobile contro la diffusione del comunismo mondiale, quindi ciò che è diventato l'Impero domiciliato sulle rive del Potomac non era sul punto di riconoscere un governo comunista al nord o di abbandonare il suo governo fantoccio al sud.

E intendiamo per davvero un governo fantoccio. Poco dopo che la penisola fu arbitrariamente divisa in due da Roosevelt, Churchill e Stalin alla conferenza di Yalta nel gennaio 1945, l'esercito statunitense insediò Syngman Rhee come presidente nell'area a sud del 38° parallelo. Tuttavia quel particolare patriota coreano stava vivendo una vita comoda come espatriato negli Stati Uniti a quel tempo, e lo aveva fatto sin dal 1904, quando era arrivato per la prima volta negli Stati Uniti per studiare a Princeton. Di conseguenza non c'era la minima possibilità che sarebbe stato scelto dal popolo coreano per gestire quella che sarebbe diventata una tirannia brutale sostenuta da Washington.

Nonostante le sue migliori intenzioni, Eisenhower fu circondato dai deplorevoli fratelli Dulles alla CIA e al Dipartimento di Stato e in particolar modo dalla cosiddetta China Lobby promossa da Henry Luce di Time-Life. Quest'ultima attirò un rumoroso gruppo di combattenti rossi a Washington, tra cui il vicepresidente Richard Nixon, il senatore William Knowland, il senatore Joe McCarthy e il deputato Walter Judd, tra molti altri, e non erano intenzionati a tollerare la normalizzazione delle relazioni con il vincitore della guerra civile cinese: Mao Tse-tung.

Così la linea di contatto militare fu congelata nel tempo e gli Stati Uniti iniziarono ad armare pesantemente la Corea del Sud e a sostenere la sua indipendenza dal regime comunista a nord e dalla Cina comunista sul fianco.

Eppure, a posteriori, a cosa è servita la morte di quasi 45.000 militari americani e di altri 35.000 feriti, alcuni dei quali ancora oggi ricevono assistenza medica e sussidi di invalidità? In che modo è stata utile alla sicurezza interna? Per non parlare del milione di combattenti coreani uccisi da entrambe le parti in guerra e dei 2-3 milioni di civili le cui vite sono state anch'esse stroncate.

Inutile dire che né la Cina né la Corea rappresentavano una minaccia militare per gli Stati Uniti all'epoca. E non lo era nemmeno la Russia stalinista, che, in ogni caso, aveva messo in guardia la Corea del Nord dal superare il 38° parallelo.

Tuttavia Washington intraprese un percorso dopo il 1953, fondando una nazione artificiale permanente a sud della zona demilitarizzata, e poi l'ha armata fino ai denti e l'ha portata sotto l'ombrello militare degli Stati Uniti. Il valore di quelle spese negli ultimi sette decenni ammonta a $500 miliardi attuali, il che significa che il complesso militare-industriale degli Stati Uniti per 75 anni ha venduto armi a un governo che altrimenti non sarebbe esistito o ha armato più di 100.000 soldati statunitensi di stanza a volte in Corea e Giappone che altrimenti non sarebbero mai stati radunati.

Poiché è evidente che non c'è stato alcun guadagno per la sicurezza militare nordamericana dalla creazione, dal mantenimento e dalla protezione della Corea del Sud da parte di Washington, la conclusione è inevitabile: Washington ha speso più di cinquecento miliardi di dollari, esattamente per cosa?

Per quanto ne sappiamo tutti quei soldi dei contribuenti sono stati spesi per garantire agli attuali 52 milioni di cittadini della Corea del Sud uno standard di vita leggermente migliore, pari a $33.000 pro capite, rispetto ai cittadini di Shanghai, la cui cifra è di $27.000; e anche un po' più di libertà rispetto ai loro omologhi altrettanto prosperi dall'altra parte del Mar Giallo.

In fin dei conti è questo che ha rappresentato tutto questo sbuffare e ansimare durante la Guerra Fredda: sangue e occasionali rischi di confronto nucleare negli ultimi 75 anni; una probabilità leggermente più alta di essere arrestati per dissenso politico a Shanghai che a Seul.

Né si tratta di un'esagerazione controfattuale. Se Washington fosse stata abbastanza astuta da consentire ai coreani e ai cinesi di risolvere le proprie divergenze nel giugno del 1950, senza dubbio la Corea sarebbe finita per essere un satellite della Cina, il che significa che la penisola avrebbe avuto un inizio tardivo verso la modernizzazione, ma sarebbe uscita a razzo dai blocchi di partenza come parte della macchina per l'esportazione globale di Deng dopo il 1990.

E, no, non stiamo trascurando gli orrori della famiglia criminale Kim Sung II/Kim Jong II/Kim Jong Un che dalla fine degli anni '40 ha tiranneggiato la gente del nord e di recente ha brandito armi nucleari verso l'occidente. Infatti questo è proprio il nostro punto: non crediamo nemmeno per un secondo che l'austera tirannia dei Kim sarebbe durata 70 anni se Ike fosse stato in grado di ottenere un trattato di pace adeguato, lasciando così la Corea ai coreani e ai cinesi, che sicuramente sarebbero giunti a un qualche modus vivendi pratico.

Dopotutto c'è una lunga storia di sovranità cinese sulla penisola che risale allo status della Corea come stato tributario della Cina durante la dinastia Ming (1368-1644) e la dinastia Qing (1644-1912). Pertanto, anche se in assenza delle macchinazioni politiche, monetarie e militari di Washington, la Corea fosse finita come la ventitreesima provincia o la sesta regione autonoma della Repubblica Popolare Cinese, la sicurezza nazionale e la libertà dei cittadini statunitensi da Miami a Seattle non sarebbero affatto cambiate.

Detto in altri termini, non c'è nulla nella Costituzione degli Stati Uniti che autorizzi Washington a diffondere, sottoscrivere e garantire militarmente la democrazia in tutto il mondo. E come questione di sicurezza militare, l'unica cosa richiesta anche ora, nel 2025, è una deterrenza nucleare che costa circa $75 miliardi all'anno secondo i calcoli del CBO, e una difesa convenzionale delle coste e dello spazio aereo nordamericani, che probabilmente costerebbe qualche centinaio di miliardi in più.

Ma ciò di cui non avrebbe bisogno è una Marina degli Stati Uniti che copre tutto il globo e le attuali forze di spedizione americane, sia aeree che terrestri, per rafforzare alleanze complicate e impegni inutili come quelli con la Corea del Sud.

Tutto questo ci porta alle notizie del giorno, ovvero che l'amministrazione Trump è sulla buona strada per un accordo di pace in Ucraina. Se realizzato nei prossimi 100 giorni, come sperato, potrebbe persino superare il risultato di Ike per quanto riguarda la fine della guerra di Corea ereditata dal presidente Harry Truman.

I piani non confermati riportati dalla stampa indipendente in Ucraina, vale a dire l'USAID, indicano che potrebbe esserci un cessate il fuoco entro il 20 aprile che...

• congeli la costante avanzata della Russia lungo le attuali linee di contatto

• impedisca all'Ucraina di aderire alla NATO

• chieda a Kiev di accettare la sovranità russa sui territori annessi nel Donbass, in Crimea e lungo la costa del Mar Nero

• ordini alle truppe ucraine di lasciare la regione russa di Kursk, dove hanno lanciato una controffensiva lo scorso agosto

• installi un contingente di soldati europei, non americani, per pattugliare una zona demilitarizzata

• chieda all'UE di assistere l'Ucraina nei suoi sforzi di ricostruzione che potrebbero costare fino a $486 miliardi nel prossimo decennio, secondo un think tank tedesco

Riteniamo che Donald e Putin potrebbero raggiungere un accordo in tal senso nel giro di pochi giorni, in qualche oasi dell'Arabia Saudita, mentre Zelensky se ne starà tranquillo in una tenda lì accanto.

Ma se il risultato a lungo termine non è quello di un ennesimo e costoso “alleato” sostenuto in una nazione fittizia e armato fino ai denti dal complesso militare-industriale degli Stati Uniti, Donald deve prestare molta attenzione al fallimento del generale Eisenhower dopo aver stipulato la tregua in Corea. Vale a dire, l'equivalente odierno della lobby cinese è il nido di vipere dei guerrafondai neocon domiciliati tra i think tank, le ONG, le agenzie dello Stato profondo, i media finanziati dallo stato e le ancelle del complesso militare-industriale nel Congresso degli Stati Uniti.

Eserciteranno una pressione insopportabile sulla Casa Bianca per trasformare l'Ucraina nell'ennesimo “alleato” sovvenzionato. Ma Trump non deve dar loro tregua, e deve farlo prendendo spunto dal saggio senatore George Aiken del Vermont, che consigliò a LBJ nel 1966, in merito alla guerra del Vietnam, di “dichiarare vittoria e tornare a casa”.

Vale a dire che, dopo la firma del trattato di pace, l'Ucraina dovrebbe essere lasciata ai suoi stessi mezzi, incluso trovare modi per riconciliarsi col Cremlino. Quindi non dovrebbe esserci nessun governo fantoccio a Kiev, nessun alleato informale, nessun proxy militarizzato, nessuna discarica di armi per il complesso militare-industriale statunitense alle porte della Russia.

Infatti date a Zelensky la sua sinecura e la sua lussuosa fuga in Costa Rica e sarà molto probabile che i suoi successori politici a Kiev troveranno il modo e i mezzi per andare d'accordo con il vicino e ricostruire il loro Paese basandosi sulle proprie risorse e sulla filantropia che si può ottenere dal resto del mondo.

In breve, Washington deve tagliare i ponti e tornare a casa. Inoltre, nonostante i suoi difetti, Donald Trump ha abbastanza credibilità presso il popolo americano per dichiarare che l'abissale fallimento dell'Unipartito nella sua inutile avventura in Ucraina è una “vittoria”, attestata dal fatto che l'Ucraina potrebbe probabilmente conservare il 75% del suo ex-territorio.

Ancora più importante, una “vittoria” in stile Aiken in Ucraina sarebbe anche un'eccellente opportunità per gli Stati Uniti di uscire dalla NATO e di porre fine a tutte le basi e agli impegni remoti di Washington in tutta Europa. Vale a dire, riportare a casa i 65.000 soldati americani ancora in Europa perché non avrebbero mai dovuto esserci in primo luogo, a maggior ragione dopo che il vecchio impero sovietico è scomparso nella pattumiera della storia 34 anni fa.

E per quanto riguarda lo status dell'Europa dopo un trattato di pace con l'Ucraina e il ritiro degli Stati Uniti dalla NATO, dubitiamo che Putin abbia alcun interesse a occupare la Polonia o a sfondare le porte di Brandeburgo a Berlino. I Paesi europei hanno un PIL di oltre $20.000 miliardi, o 10 volte i $2.000 miliardi di quello russo. Se non riescono a provvedere alla propria difesa su questo, anche se ciò significa ridurre un po' i loro Stati sociali, allora qualsiasi cosa possa accadere è colpa loro.

Ike fermò l'orribile massacro in Corea, ma sfortunatamente non pose fine alla guerra. Se Trump vuole davvero passare alla storia come il Presidente della Pace, ora ha un'opportunità per porre fine davvero all'ultima guerra inutile dell'America e diventare il Presidente della Pace che persino il grande generale Eisenhower non è mai stato.

Truppe USA in Europa:

1. Germania: 35.068
2. Italia: 12.405
3. Regno Unito: 9.949
4. Spagna: 3.212
5. Turchia: 1.778
6. Belgio: 1.105
7. Paesi Bassi: 425
8. Grecia: 368
9. Polonia: 216
10. Romania: 133
    

[*] traduzione di Francesco Simoncelli: https://www.francescosimoncelli.com/

Supporta Francesco Simoncelli's Freedonia lasciando una “mancia” in satoshi di bitcoin scannerizzando il QR seguente.

In the history of the world, nations and even empires have risen, then declined and were lost to time, leaving only artifacts behind for archaeologists to piece together what happened.  From our vantage point, it’s easier to see what happened, the slow decline in so many areas that finally led to a collapse.  Fortunately, we understand today many of the factors that have to be in place.  Unfortunately, even knowing these signs of decline may not be enough to slow or stop the momentum of your nation’s collapse.  In this video, we will lay out the eight signs of imminent collapse.  You may recognize one or all eight in your country’s recent history.  Having them all doesn’t guarantee that a collapse is inevitable, but it makes it more probable, especially if you have them all to a high degree. Here are the eight signs of imminent societal collapse.

1. Financial Decay

One of the most visible outward expressions of a collapse is the bottom falling out of the financial system.  From double, triple, or higher-digit inflation pricing people out of basic necessities to dramatic market declines evaporating a lifetime’s accumulated wealth instantly, economic collapse can aggravate other conditions that can domino into a full-on failure.  Many market collapses actually have a long build-up.  The housing bubble, the commercial real estate bubble, trade wars, and the loss of faith over time in a single fiat currency all happen slowly over the years and then reach a tipping point.  In some cases, the ultra-wealthy cheer on the decline in some ways as they profit off selling short and feel that they can maintain profits by shifting their money to other assets or more stable countries.  However, that doesn’t always work as assets are often frozen, withdrawal limits are established, or the currency becomes so devalued that it doesn’t retain any fluidity.  Nobody wants it nor transacts in it anymore.

The financial decay is often preceded by a growing income gap, enormous corporate profits at the same time everyday consumer goods become luxury items for the masses, and wages that fail to keep pace with the nation’s prior growth.  Economic inequities breed resentment in the citizens, resulting in high crime, fraud, and eventually protests, looting, rioting, and even revolutions like the French Revolution.  You may recognize several of these indicators of financial decay in your nation.  While it’s not a guarantee of a coming collapse, you must continue to monitor.  Your insulation from it starts with recession-proofing your life. Still, it continues with increasing your skills and abilities to sustain yourself independent of the commerce system, like growing your food instead of expecting to purchase it at the grocery store after having traveled 5,000 miles from where it was grown.

2. Agricultural Decline

The rise of agriculture also gave rise to cities, states, and nations.  Without harnessing nature in agricultural practices, thereby increasing yield and concentration of food sources, nations would have never formed out of nomadic, hunter-gatherer groups.  While weather patterns may be perfect for agriculture in a particular area for several centuries, they can change.  The lack of floods in the Nile contributed to a dramatic decline in food production in the 13th century.  Excessive rain in 14th-century Britain caused massive crop failures that resulted in massive food shortages.  The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, began in 1845 when a mold caused a destructive plant disease that spread rapidly throughout Ireland.  While the Egyptians, British, and Irish survived the downturn, they all suffered through what can only be described as a period of collapse.

I often point out that while some plants have thousands of varieties, societies tend to gravitate to the most prolific single cultivar.  They then also open themselves up to large-scale crop failure when disease or blight strikes that monoculture.  There are 1,000 different types of bananas worldwide, but we only mass-produce one variety- the Cavendish.  What happens when the Cavendish succumbs to a plant fungus that the Blue Java banana has resilience against?

Sometimes agricultural decline isn’t a result of weather or blight but merely a result of economics.  As the Great Depression took hold in the United States in the late 1920s, many farmers saw their milk prices drop, and by 1933, prices were less than half what they had been just three years prior. Farmers reacted with milk strikes, and the protests often turned violent.  Raiding parties stopped trains laden with milk and dumped it into the ground.  A cheese factory was attacked, and the angry mob poured kerosene on 600 pounds of cheese.  An even more extreme impact on agriculture can be war.  From scorched earth to land left fallow as wars rage to starvation of the masses and even cannibalism, a more significant societal collapse could be imminent when agricultural output is threatened or in decline.

3. Health Decline

The health of a nation can also be measured by the health of its people.  There are obvious factors like plague, disease, wars, and pandemics, but more subtle indicators like lifestyle and environmentally induced illnesses exist.  From lead pipes used in Rome to cancer-causing pesticides to industrial, even nuclear waste, there are several environmental factors that lead to medical issues that sap a nation’s resources and workforce.  There are also lifestyle choices that can contribute to a more significant decline in overall health.  Refined sugars, preservatives, highly processed foods, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and all those other things we now know have to be taken in moderation or not at all lead to health issues like obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, cancer, high blood pressure, and the list goes on from there.

Increased health issues overburden the established medical care system.  Diseases, famines, and wars can completely obliterate any national healthcare system.  As people turn to blame the established government for their problems, they can sometimes riot against the established order and plunge their nation deeper into a spiraling decline.

4. Decline in Birth Rate

A decline in the birth rate indicates a nation’s decline.  While environmental and social factors can impact fertility and fertilization rates, it is more indicative of a general lack of faith in the future.  The future may appear too uncertain, chaotic, or rife with conflict that raising a child is just too difficult.  Or, the future’s financial prospects are so dismal, and the current economic situation would only result in poverty for anyone trying to raise a family.  Birth rate and fertility rate are helpful in analyzing and understanding a nation’s replacement rate.  Populations that increase can put a strain on economies and infrastructure.  Populations that don’t replenish themselves can experience slowed services, a decline in transactions and commerce, or even be left unable to defend themselves from foreign adversaries.

Birth rates are falling in the U.S. after experiencing a high with the Baby Boom in the mid-20th century and a low from the Baby Bust in the 1970s, birth rates were relatively stable for nearly 50 years. That all changed with the Great Recession, from 2007-2009. Birth rates have declined sharply since then.  Russia’s birth rate has declined since 1994, just after the official fall of the Soviet Union.  Obviously, there is a correlation between societal collapse and birthrate in Russia’s history.  China reported in January that its population had fallen for the first time in 60 years. In 2022, there were just 6.77 births per 1,000 people in China.  India’s General Fertility Rate has declined by 20% over the past decade.  Japan’s birthrate is so dire that the Prime Minister warned, “Japan is on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society.”  With all these superpowers and super economies experiencing declining birth rates, they cannot replenish their aging populations and maintain their traditional systems.  This can contribute to a more significant societal collapse.

5. Misinformation & Rumor As Fact

There are signs of decline that are less obvious than a financial collapse, unhealthy people, and declining birthrates.  Sometimes it’s what you know, don’t know, or think you know that can destroy a population.  During the First Inquisition, created by religious courts to combat heresy and witchcraft, Pope Gregory IX ordered the witch’s familial animal, the cat, especially black cats, to be burned and killed with the witch.  Hundreds of thousands of cats were killed, leading to the rapid proliferation of rodents, particularly a bacterium carried by rats.  That bacterium was ultimately the source of the Black Plague.  From prescribing opiates for crying babies to sanitized tapeworms to lose weight, it’s often the misinformation informing medical practices that can cause death rates to go up in society.

Rumors that lack substantiating facts can also erode accepted norms that cement stability in culture.  When one class or group of people labels another an enemy or dehumanizes the other, and rumors and stories, and a whole narrative spring up to support that contempt, a society loses its unified sense of forward progress and erodes from within.  Misinformation and assumptions about race, ethnicity, religion, politics, caste systems, and even governing philosophies between rural and urban areas can all foment contempt among people.  When people act upon or react to this misinformation, false narratives, and pseudo-facts, societies move from a desire for unity to a culture of discord.

While these society-altering flare-ups have led from the extremes of concentration camps to minor confrontations in communities, we collectively live now in a time where complete false narratives can be established and erroneously supported through word-of-mouth, the internet, doctored images and photos, deep fakes, and even Artificial Intelligence.  Often, you can see governance based on misinformation or an assumed interpretation of data and information.  Often you see a dismissal of data and facts because it conflicts with the more extreme narrative.  Even state-sponsored propagandists, internet trolls, and sensationalist pundit entertainers profit from spreading controversial misinformation.  All of it signifies a lack of cohesive unity in a society, which is a sign of a possible more significant collapse in the future.

Read the Whole Article

The post First Stages of Civilization’s Collapse appeared first on LewRockwell.

Yesterday Trump began the task of his first term–the normalization of relations with Russia–which was blocked by the corrupt FBI’s “Russiagate” hoax, an act of treason for which executions should take place and, indeed, the utterly corrupt agency abolished.

The United States, to the chagrin of USAID-supported CNN, voted with Russia against a UN General Assembly revolution condemning Russia’s “invasion” of Ukraine.

CNN true to its reputation as the worst liar on earth found it “shocking” that the US aligned with Russia against the “free world” and aligned with “the aggressor in the war on the three-year anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”

 It seems that CNN is going to continue lying for the military/security complex even after CNN’s funding courtesy of the US taxpayers has been halted.  

Everyone knows that Russia did not invade Ukraine and limited its intervention to the two Russian break-away republics in Donbas.  Everyone knows that Russia tried for eight years to keep Donbas in Ukraine with the Minsk Agreement.  Everyone knows that the West used the Minsk Agreement to deceive the Kremlin while the US trained and equipped a large Ukrainian army to invade Donbas and subdue the break-away republics.  Everyone knows that the US, NATO, and EU flatly refused Russia’s request for a mutual security agreement.  Everyone knows that the US forced Putin’s hand to intervene in Donbas.

Yet the CNN excrement continues to lie through its teeth.

CNN is nothing but a lie factory.  Shouldn’t the lie factory be sanctioned or abolished for fomenting war by lying and intentionally spreading misinformation, a charge that the lie factory leveled at every truth-teller?

How can anyone be sufficiently stupid and corrupt as to rely on CNN?

The US-orchestrated conflict with Russia cannot be ended on the basis of total lies about the cause of the conflict.  Acknowledgement of the truth is required, and the truth is on Russia’s side.  President Trump realizes that.  He knows that he cannot end the conflict by imposing lies on Putin.

It is extraordinary that the dumbshit Europeans want war with Russia.  It would mean the total destruction of all of Europe.  European industry is dying because the fools have cut themselves off of Russian energy. European economies are dying because the fools have cut themselves off from a large and natural market.

Europe has been totally misgoverned since the end of WW II.  Indeed, European misgovernment caused WW II.  In the postwar period, Charles de Gaulle was the only European leader.  All the others were US puppets who sold out their peoples.  

The rise of AfD in Germany and Marine Le Pen’s party in France are efforts to reestablish the sovereignty of Germany and France.  But the German and French people have been so brainwashed and indoctrinated that they associate sovereignty with nationalism an nationalism with Nazism. Consequently, nationalist parties that actually represent the people cannot get into office.

Trump is right that Europe is finished.  Europeans have lost self-belief. European politicians are long accustomed to being on the payroll of USAID, National Endowment for Democracy, and the US military/security complex.  

Europe is exhausted, murdered by its own left-wing. Russia and China are on the rise. Trump intends to restore America, about which the American Establishment, CNN and the media whores are up in arms.  

Hopefully President Trump will understand that he needs peace and cooperation with China just as much as he needs peace and cooperation with Russia.  If the Trump administration tries to wedge the US between Russia and China, conflict will be perpetrated. 

Was USAID Using Our Taxpayer Dollars to Pay for CNN’s Propaganda Rants Against America? See this.

It seems so.

The post A Change in US Foreign Policy from Lies to Truth, from War to Peace appeared first on LewRockwell.

At the time of this writing, Pope Francis is in critical condition at Gemelli University Hospital in Rome with a complex case of pneumonia in both lungs and early-stage kidney failure. Before all else, we pray for his well-being and peace. But death is in the air. The Swiss Guard have held funeral rehearsals. The pontiff has shared his plan to relinquish the papal triple-interlocking casket and confided that he doesn’t believe he will survive this bout. Even before this decline in his fragile health, however, political preparations for the pope’s passing had begun.

For those who haven’t seen the Oscar-nominated Conclave, that flashy film is a startling instance of how important the papacy has become to the powers that be. It is fascinating that such a film exists and has received such attention in its creation and criticism. Though it may easily be passed off as an ideological cloak-and-dagger thriller, Conclave betrays a serious concern that the world has for the Church, though it often acts with dismissive indifference of such stifling religious spiritualism.

Conclave is not as prophetic as it is perceptive, expressing a deep apprehension about the Church both by its existence and its acclaim. It bespeaks a dread that the liberals will lose their foothold after Pope Francis dies. Bishop Robert Barron said that Catholics should “run away” from Conclave—and perhaps they should. But the film provides, in its warning, a revealing glimpse into an acknowledged significance of the Catholic Church, and it is interesting to witness such a compliment from the Hollywood mouthpiece of the cunning enemy.

Liberals are fearful to surrender the territory they see as held by the attitude and atmosphere of Pope Francis’ “who-am-I-to-judge” papacy. It’s true that this pope has not been a strong defender of the deposit of faith—for all the good and true that he has stood for—and in that, the Left has often hailed him as an ally for their progressive agenda, insidiously interpreting his casual comments to support suggestions of the Church moving toward things like the acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, transgenderism, and religiously-inclusive pachamama worship.

There is an apologia brewing for the spirit of the Francis papacy as secular stakeholders recoil to lose his fast-and-loose presence in the Vatican with the same vehemence as they recoil at Donald Trump’s fast-and-furious return to the White House. There is a warning sounding about the influence of the papacy and the power of Catholics that could usher a backward slide to a neolithic idiocy that hates homosexuals and loves dead languages. The prospect of a pope getting explicit about the woke agenda, or freeing the Latin Mass from its restrictions, or recommitting Catholics to the bedrock of traditional Church teaching is a horror that Conclave captures, and one that is swirling in the political storm gathering over Francis’ sickbed in anticipation of a deathbed.

Pope Francis is well aware of his danger and the danger of the political situation. He initially resisted going to the hospital for his respiratory infection but was informed that he would risk dying if he remained in his Vatican apartment. Facing the possibility of his imminent passing, the pope has made several appointments and arrangements that might prove sympathetic to his inclusive legacy—a legacy that has caused much division and complaint from conservative Catholics.

One of the moves Pope Francis made before his hospitalization was unilaterally extending the term of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re as the Dean of the College of Cardinals. This is the prelate who will oversee the preparation and the performance of the conclave after the pope passes away, as well as the funeral rites for Francis. This decision was controversial as it canceled a scheduled vote for a new dean by certain high-ranking cardinals—but Francis explained that he wanted to keep Re in the position because he would be, reportedly, “kinder” to him than others.

This unconventional reappointment, and the 163 appointments Francis has made to the 252-member college (138 of whom are eligible to vote at the conclave), seems to suggest his own preparations regarding the selection of the next pope—and his efforts to ensure that the papacy will carry on according to his intentions. While Cardinal Re is too old to be a part of the conclave, he is an influential figure close to Francis, who will almost certainly be concerned to see his legacy conserved and continued. The conclave that elected Pope Francis was allegedly swayed by a group of older, non-voting cardinals, and the lobbying is, no doubt, well underway. The next pope may already be earmarked for all intents and purposes.

Such power-leveraging machinations may not be new to the papacy, but their clear presence is symptomatic of one of the largest problems with Pope Francis’ pontificate: namely, it has been too political. From his off-the-cuff comments that seemed to legitimize Left-leaning relativists, both within and without the Church, to his overt antagonism toward tradition and continuous political posturing, Francis has given far too much fodder to the world to paint him and the “changing Church” in their rainbow colors. It is remarkable how light Francis has been on theology and how heavy he has been in the tabloids.

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On nuclear war and expensive pennies

Trump’s assault on USAID is more than an exposure of its alignment with far left narratives. It raises the question: How far will he go in dealing with its perceived waste and abuse?

It looks like he won’t be satisfied with merely slashing jobs and the agency’s budget.  Republican Representatives Chip Roy and Majorie Taylor Greene have already introduced legislation to permanently abolish USAID.  And what about this proposed legislation would make it permanent, should it become law?

Absolutely nothing.

Government has been at odds with its Constitution since the establishment of the First Bank of the United States in 1791.  In a letter to President Washington Thomas Jefferson said the Twelfth Amendment should be the final word on the issue of a national bank, that “to take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.”  Twenty years later Congress failed to renew its charter but only by the tie-breaking vote of VP George Clinton.  President Madison reluctantly signed the bill authorizing the creation of The Second Bank of the United States in 1816, President Jackson fought to prevent renewing its charter in 1836, but the final blow came in 1913 when President Wilson signed the Federal Reserve into law, and monetary recklessness proceeded uninterrupted, often with favor.

If the central bank’s history is a bellwether, and it’s one of countless examples, nothing exists to prevent USAID II being passed by some future administration.

Changing governments

The Second Continental Congress announced its creation of the United States of America on July 4, 1776 with John Dunlap’s publication of the Declaration of Independence.  Earlier that year, a 50-page pamphlet became a bestseller, arguing for American independence from England in bold language most literate Americans could understand, thus creating a groundswell of support and pressuring Congress to do what it had been fearful to do before then.

Thomas Paine, in writing the incendiary Common Sense, presented a rich treatise on government, how England came to be ruled, and how the American colonies suffered from it.  Estimates vary as to the number of copies sold, but Constitution Center claims “An estimated 20 percent of colonists owned a copy of the revolutionary booklet,” which in current-day figures would amount to sales of 60 million, not including overseas sales.  Not bad for someone who quit school at age 13.

Even John Adams, who hated Paine, decades later admitted “I know not whether any man in the world has had more influence on its inhabitants or affairs for the last thirty years than Tom Paine,” concluding, referring to the Revolutionary era, “Call it then the Age of Paine.”

In Common Sense, Paine’s thoughts on government preceded any commentary about the English government in particular or his reasons for American separation.   In the introduction he writes [from Philip S. Foner, Complete Writings],“Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.”

Two points stand out immediately: (1) That government is a necessary evil, and (2) that in its worse state is like “a country without government.”

Certainly, most people would agree to at least part of (1), that government of some kind is necessary.  As for a country without government, it all depends on how people understand and value property rights.  As Robert Murphy writes in Chaos Theory,

The path taken by North Korean market anarchists will no doubt differ from the course of similarly minded individuals in the United States.  In the former, violent overthrow of unjust regimes may occur, while in the latter, a gradual and orderly erosion of the State is a wonderful possibility. The one thing all such revolutions would share is a commitment by the overwhelming majority to a total respect of property rights. [Emphasis Murphy’s]

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson included the idea that when government is destructive of our inalienable rights the people should act to form a new government which to them “shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Comforting, but what if all known governments are found wanting?  And what if the current government threatens to kill you if you try?

Notwithstanding Trump’s efforts, government is and always has been our enemy masked as our savior.  Every bit of its revenue is obtained through force, either by direct theft (taxes) or sleight of hand (monetary inflation).  Theft should be punishable, yet it’s the essence of government.  Because of government’s power over money there’s almost nothing it can’t get away with, including nuclear war.

One of the most telling features of our overlords is the recent fate of the US penny.  Trump has called on the Treasury to stop the minting of pennies because it cost too much to make them.  What?  As a popular meme states, with Ben Bernanke’s proud face peering out at us:  What’s less valuable than a penny today?  That same penny tomorrow.

The USAID corruption is a consequence of the coercive form of government that we and almost every other society has suffered under.

People didn’t vote for it, politicians did.  If Trump cans it, some other administration could bring it back, perhaps worse the second time, as the history of the central bank shows us.

Market forces would provide a far better way to govern, including defending ourselves from foreign states — and preventing such corruptions as USAID and an ignominy like expensive pennies.  More about that in a future article.

The post On Nuclear War and Expensive Pennies appeared first on LewRockwell.

About half the time gunshot wounds are fatal or permanently crippling even in the best of emergency care and follow up surgeries. Without good follow up treatment–especially with infections–gunshot fatalities increase to almost 90%.

Those are not ‘betting’ odds under any circumstances.

In the first part of this topic we covered bare essentials of gunshot wound first aid with a slant on the KISS principle for untrained preppers when no paramedics or professional emergency services are immediately available. But this is also good procedure to know even where there are emergency trauma hospitals available but the ambulance or first responders might not get there in time, or you have to personally transport the injured to the ER.

In the Boston Marathon bombing attack, if it were not for average people and event organizers in the crowd knowing these basic wound trauma principles, and responding quickly to help to stop bleeding and keep them in respiration, many more would have died from bleeding out.

To Fight or Not to Fight?

In a firefight you must expect the worst even while trying damn hard to avoid it, which means if you are preparing for a gunfight, then you must also prepare for wound repair and treatment. Otherwise, you can‘t justify calling yourself a true prepper.

{adinserter aliveafteramerika}The dirty little survival secret is that many full blown armed to the teeth preppers will never get into a survival firefight! Think about it.

The whole idea of bugging out from a rapidly disintegrating social breakdown–especially in major metropolitan areas–and hiding out in your safe-retreat is to avoid this type of violent encounters in the first place.

So if you’re a ’good’ prepper you are more likely to survive by avoiding all possible potential fights, and not to get involved in a gunfight, as a basic foundation of your emergency preparations and strategies.

The other reality is that unless you’ve been in serious combat or a long time big city police officer, you likely just don’t understand the true nature of shootouts other than your experience with incorrect movie perceptions. Which almost always is not the way a true combat operator/gunfighter would handle it.

If you are unfortunate enough to get attacked where no pragmatic safe fall back is an option, you increase your odds of receiving wounds or dying by 50%, no matter how skilled you are.

Tactics and strategies are everything in gunfights. In an all-out anarchy breakdown with no rules, no limits of violence, and no ’law’, this is even more critical.

Hopefully this intro to wound first aid and how savagely brutal these wounds usually are will motivate serious preppers to adopt a correct mindset on gunfights and shootouts. That being to AVOID them at all costs in the first place. NOT thinking like it’s going to be a ’cool’ thing while you’re surviving to have some fun popping bad humans during your bug out party game.

And here are some examples of how ’bad’ it can get.

The Sucking Chest Wound (SCW)

This is probably a more common wound than people think because it is the primary target area on the human body known as ’center mass’. If bullet strikes the heart directly or ruptures an aortal artery or blows out the spleen there’s not much you’re going to do without major surgical resources even if the person is still alive.

The problem is that a large area of lung mass also is a part of this ’center mass’ section and when a bullet punctures the lung the breathing is immediately dangerously affected on top of everything else. As opposed to ’extremity’ hits, which can get very ugly and damaging but where breathing is not relatively affected, even a small less powerful bullet through the lung will be deadly if not properly treated.

Before level 4 body armor and better surgical evac resources, the military lost far too many people from SCW’s in combat. However, wounds from a SCW are often not immediately fatal and can be treated adequately in the field to prolong the likelihood of survival if additional emergency follow up can eventually be obtained.

Much of the bleeding from a SCW will be internal once the wound bleeding is stopped. So while the wound itself might not be a big problem to patch up, just stopping the bleeding won’t be good enough to save the victim’s life.

A lung penetration is bad because any air that can get into the hole in the lung will disrupt the breathing and cause foaming bubbles from the body fluids which can sometimes suffocate the victim depending on the location of the hit. This is also why it’s called a ‘sucking’ chest wound. When the person is trying to breathe through the mouth, the lungs can’t work correctly because the air is getting sucked in or right out of the bullet wound.

A certain type of dressing/bandage should be used to help prevent this and potential lung collapse.

Occlusive dressings like the Bolin Chest Seal are preferred. These are fast repair patches with a special adhesive that can be applied in one step to provide a total seal from air and liquid.

There are built in ’valves’ in some occlusive dressings to help prevent pneumothorax, or the presence of air in the pleuro-cavity which is the area between the body wall and the lungs which allows the expanding and contraction of the lungs.

But this is only a temporary ‘fix’ until further advanced treatment can be administered. If the bullet struck ribs or sternum bone and fragments are in the lungs surgery must commence asap or the person will not likely survive.

Otherwise, even if the victim looks stable, the lungs eventually fill with fluids and cause pulmonary collapse, loss of breathing function, and death.

The idea is to keep outside air from getting into the pleuro cavity from the wound but allow any excessive air or fluid build up in the space between the lungs and body to escape. In old pressure bandage closing of a SCW you had to intermittently ‘burp’ the wound by removing the bandage to allow excess air/gas to escape and drain fluids.

With a SCW the breathing and airway must be constantly monitored. And paramedics at the scene usually immediately get ready to aspirate the airway with a trachea tube so that can begin resuscitation quickly.

The other thing is that depending upon the angle of the bullet entry it can hit the spine either upon entry or exit, and this complicates the damage to a very serious extent. The gunshot victim will likely be paralyzed and any transportation movement is dangerous without trained handling.

Head Wounds

These are among the ‘ugliest’ of hits because of the shock effect of seeing a commonly viewed part of the human anatomy which we relate to directly on a daily basis suddenly deformed and mutilated to a point beyond recognition. Especially if it is a bad facial area wound.

If it is a skull/brain hit the usual assumption is that this would be fatal.

Amazingly this is not always true especially if it was a glancing wound, and some bullet hits to the head have been fully recoverable with no, or relatively little brain damage.

However if it is a skull penetration and you are successful in stopping the bleeding, and the patient seems to be doing okay, except for intense head pain, there is the likelihood of a subdural hematoma causing pressure inside the skull and this would require immediate ER treatment or the patient will die.

After a head hit if the victim is still alive and conscious the following must be done immediately:

• Try to position the person to be sitting up slightly forward to keep blood lower in the body away from the head wounds.
• Immediately apply direct pressure bandages to stop the bleeding being observant that the airway is not being bled into to cause choking if it is a facial or neck wound.
• Depending upon the hit point and peripheral air way damage, a tracheotomy or an airway tube insertion might have to be performed to keep them from choking and to ensure respiration, BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT YOU NEED MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE TO PERFORM IT, so don’t try it if you never did it before.
• Make sure the carotid arteries are still supplying blood to the brain. If one of these is ruptured, apply soft direct pressure or an occlusive bandage.

Head/face wounds are bad. They are also very painful. Do your best to keep the person comfortable and medicated.

Abdominal Wounds

Abdominal wounds can look extremely ‘gross’ and shocking if the wound is pushing out internal organs like the intestines. The lower torso has a lot of center of gravity fluid pressure and if a gunshot victim is hit obliquely from say, a side of the waist entry hit over the hip and creates a larger exit wound around the belly button there’s often a string of bloody intestine blurting out of the muscle tissue.

In the case of a larger piece of bomb fragment/shrapnel that cuts across the front of the abdomen sideways like a chain saw, you’ll see quite a grotesque mass of guts and ‘stuff’ strewn out.

I’ve seen a couple bad ones like this in my time and even a side hit by a shotgun blast I once saw left a large part of the intestine evacuated in the dirt next to the downed victim, now screaming and writhing in pain on the ground.

First of all large wounds require large bandages. If you don’t have the proper medpac supplies this one is harder to DIY on an improvise.

So lay the person on his back and get some water and antibiotic disinfectant (but don’t wait if it is not immediately available). Depending upon the extent of the intestinal mass evacuation from the abdominal cavity, try to gently gather and place/push what is hanging out back into the abdominal cavity through the wound while you are splashing/rinsing any dirt off of it.

(Do not use your 190 proof wonder juice in your flask for this one).

If you know that professional medical help is on the way or you can get to a functioning hospital, then sometimes it’s better to just leave any escaped intestines on the abdomen after you’ve inserted some blood clotting bandages/material in the wound opening and cover the whole thing with a larger bandage or towel for the transport.

Then put a sufficient wrap gauze on this wound and prepare to tape it tightly around the entire midsection around from the back if it is a hole larger than the palm of your hand.

This must be done rapidly as large abdominal wounds bleed copiously. Gut wounds where the intestines are lacerated are highly ‘infectious’ and immediate follow up surgery and antibiotics must be obtained for the victim otherwise death is imminent.

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When I was a boy, cartoonist Charles Schulz introduced a new comic strip called Peanuts. Its central premise was children having the same problems as adults, and it was an instant hit.

There were several recurring themes and, each autumn, the cartoonist would have his main character, Charlie Brown, attempt to fly a kite. At first all would go well, and Charlie Brown would build up his hopes, only to have them dashed when a tree would snag his kite and eat it.

This theme was endlessly enjoyable, as it reflected a syndrome familiar to all adults. The cartoonist was careful to ensure that he could do new variations on the theme every autumn, due to the fact that Charlie Brown never succeeded. At the end of the strip, the tree always ate his kite.

And so it often goes in the adult world. Albert Einstein famously said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

And, yet, in every era, we can see this strange behaviour play itself out, time and again.

People go to casinos, imagining that, somehow, the casino will lose and they will win. They buy lottery tickets with odds of hundreds of thousands to one against them.

And, amazingly, they invest in the stock market, not just badly, but in the very same pattern that has historically proven to virtually guarantee loss. More amazingly, this is not the behaviour of the occasional loser; it’s the approach adopted by the great majority of investors and is one that they staunchly defend as “wise and informed investing,” right until the crash that cleans them out.

So what, then, is this pattern? Well, generally, a potential investor contacts his broker and asks him if there’s anything he can recommend. The broker virtually always says yes—that whilst some stocks do not earn his endorsement, there are others that he feels are almost certain to go up.

Should the investor then buy, he can count on the broker to push the prospect of further investment, whenever one of his recommendations has risen in value. (He’s less likely to get in touch if his recommendations go down.)

As each bull market unfolds, the broker advises his clients that, if they don’t continue to buy, they’ll be “missing out,” and the opportunity for enrichment will pass them by.

Each investor who’s roped in by this spiel reinforces the broker’s prediction, expanding the bull market and attracting more and more investors to get into the game.

Then, something very interesting happens.

In a major bull market, when investors have reached their limit, they’re advised that they can buy on margin and increase their position. This is acknowledged as being risky in normal times, but these are not normal times. This is the mother of all bull markets, and “the sky’s the limit.” The investors dive in.

When they become so strapped that they cannot buy on margin any further, many investors, believing that they’re on the cusp of getting rich, borrow money privately to buy on margin and, in so doing, become dramatically leveraged, but they do so because the broker promises that the bull market is going “to the moon.”

But, like all bubbles, this one, too, eventually pops. Naturally, Wall Street doesn’t want an uncontrolled collapse of the market (after all, they wish to get themselves out before a crash), so, their ideal scenario is to create a controlled crash. Once the writing is on the wall, they themselves sell out, just prior to a trigger that will collapse the market.

In 1929, this was achieved through a sudden raise in interest rates. Since investors were up to their eyes in debt, any rise in interest rates meant that they’d default on their loans. The brokers would then unilaterally sell off their clients’ portfolios (as they are entitled to do in a margin call). They, of course, hope to salvage the maximum amount possible for themselves, so they do their best to liquidate everything overnight.

The customary reaction by investors is to be stunned that a crash occurred that they didn’t see coming and that they woke up one morning to find that they’d sustained a massive loss.

In the early 2000s, a small number of people (myself included), predicted a stock market crash. I estimated its occurrence to be in 2007, so, in order to be out well ahead of time, I was out in 2006. (As it transpired, I was out earlier than necessary, for which I had no regret.)

Prior to the crash, I warned friends and associates, who invariably said, “All indicators say that the market’s still going up. If it starts to slide downward, then I may sell.”

I repeatedly reminded them that a major bull market never ends with a whimper. It invariably ends with a major upside spike, before it suddenly plummets downward.

And this is not a coincidence. It’s based upon the behaviour stated above.

What I find truly amazing is that most investors never learn. Even after they’ve been cleaned out once, they simply find another “better” broker and start all over. Incredibly, the average investor will work hard at his regular job and do all he can to get better at it, then, whatever savings he can create that year, he hands over to someone else to manage. He makes little or no effort to educate himself in the patterns of bull and bear markets so that he can avoid another failure.

He repeatedly takes his kite out to fly it amongst the trees.

Many investors make the same mistake over and over, throughout their careers, working hard for their pay, then literally throwing away their savings.

Today, we’re approaching the end of a major bull market. This one is especially interesting, in that, since 2008, we’ve been in a depression that virtually no one acknowledges. Those on Wall Street state with confidence that, despite increased unemployment, manufacturers leaving the country in droves, diminishing GDP, extensive business closures, etc., “This can’t be a depression if the market is up.”

Unfortunately, what we’re really witnessing is the world’s longest sucker-rally.

In the 1930s, a popular, if bitter-tasting, joke was that, “When every shoeshine boy is offering stock tips, it’s time to get out of the market.” That advice arrived too late.

We’re presently at that point again, except that the profession of shoeshine boy has disappeared.

Incredibly, even heads of banks and Wall Street firms are now warning that the end could be near. Perhaps the most unlikely expert of all to join this group is Lord Jacob Rothschild, who has now said, in a semi-annual report,

We do not believe this is an appropriate time to add to risk. Share prices have in many cases risen to unprecedented levels at a time when economic growth is by no means assured.

Clearly, he was careful not to employ phrasing that would be overly alarming, but he did make the quote to explain why he has dumped massive amounts of US assets (i.e., he’s getting out before the crash).

Meanwhile, the average investor, who contributes the oxygen to create all bubbles, is once again flying his kite, convinced that the tree will not once again eat his kite.

Reprinted with permission from International Man.

The post Kite in a Tree appeared first on LewRockwell.

(Cheyenne, Wyoming – February 24th, 2025) — A groundbreaking bill to establish a strategic gold reserve has just become law in Wyoming.

Senate File 96 – also known as the Wyoming Gold Act – requires the Wyoming Treasurer to diversify the state’s holdings by acquiring no less than $10 million in “specie and specie legal tender” as part of the state’s Permanent Mineral Trust Fund.

After the bill passed overwhelmingly through both chambers, Governor Mark Gordon – who once held a position at the anti-gold Federal Reserve and previously served as state treasurer – today begrudgingly allowed SF 96 to become law without his signature and wrote a letter expressing his personal skepticism about protecting taxpayer funds with a gold allocation.

Lead sponsor Sen. Bob Ide said, “At present, Wyoming sadly doesn’t own a single ounce of gold, placing our state’s finances and citizens at substantial risk. This new law forces the Wyoming Treasurer’s office to get off the dime and get itself educated on how to use physical gold to protect the state.”

Wyoming’s Permanent Mineral Trust Fund has been invested in conventional investments but has remarkably never included any physical gold, even as gold has more than doubled in its dollar price during the five years since similar proposals had been floated in the Wyoming legislature – with gold bullion vastly outperforming the state’s existing investments over many years.

Many of Wyoming’s investment holdings, especially its allocation to Third World debt, are exposed to counterparty risks. And several asset classes have seen their value decline in real terms when adjusting for inflation.

SF 96 would integrate gold and silver into the state’s finances and provide a hedge against dollar devaluation, debt default, market drawdowns, and other risks.

A 2018 law defines “specie legal tender” as coin having gold or silver content and defines “specie” as refined gold or silver bullion which is coined, stamped, or imprinted with its weight and purity valued primarily on its metal content and not its form.

“States all over the country are considering and establishing gold reserves. Wyoming will finally now begin to establish a gold reserve and better protect itself against financial turmoil and the corrosive effects of the Federal Reserve’s overt policy of currency debasement,” said Jp Cortez, executive director of the Sound Money Defense League.

The required $10 million investment in specie is merely a floor. Given the size of Wyoming’s investment portfolio, experts such as Money Metals Exchange CEO Stefan Gleason and Joe Cavatoni of the World Gold Council (who both testified in favor of SF 96) advise that a much larger allocation to physical precious metals would likely be appropriate.

Senate File 96 also directs Wyoming’s Department of Revenue to conduct a study exploring how the state can better integrate gold and silver into the state’s finances, including potentially accepting the monetary metals as payment for taxes and fees. This study’s findings are to be reported to the legislature no later than October 1, 2025.

Wyoming joins many other states in embracing sound money policy through tax exemptions, establishment of gold reserves, and more.

The State of Utah recently acquired $50 million in physical gold currently, and Texas and Ohio have invested in gold as well. Similar legislation is under consideration in several other states this legislative session.

Central banks around the world have been stockpiling gold at record rates over the past several years, an indication of high global tensions and concerns about devaluation of the unbacked Federal Reserve Note “dollar” as well as its weaponization.

Wyoming currently ranks first on the 2025 Sound Money Index with a score of 56%. Enactment of SF 96 will help solidify the Cowboy State’s standing as the best sound money state in the country.

This originally appeared on Sound Money.

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The high-level talks in Saudi Arabia last week between senior Russian and American officials have tantalizing potential to end the conflict in Ukraine.

The high-level talks in Saudi Arabia last week between senior Russian and American officials have tantalizing potential to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Both sides agreed that the opening negotiations were productive. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, noted that the U.S. side was in listening mode to comprehend the root causes of conflict, which, if genuine, marks a major improvement in the attitude of the Americans.

It is surely a huge relief that the world’s superpowers are engaging in dialogue and diplomacy and stepping back from the brink of an all-out global war that would inevitably turn into a nuclear conflagration.

Nevertheless, it is too early to celebrate. The opening of negotiations is just a cautious start in a long process that could easily come undone with yet catastrophic consequences.

President Trump says he wants to end the war in Ukraine quickly. His spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said with unrealistic optimism: “The president and his team are very much focused on continuing negotiations with both sides of this war to end the conflict, and the president is very confident [that] we can get it done this week.”

This week? The hastiness of the Trump administration is cause for skepticism that the White House actually understands the root causes of the conflict.

Trump has talked about Ukraine not gaining membership in NATO, which, of course, is an essential component of any peace agreement.

But talk can be cheap. More than peace in Ukraine, Trump seems to want a piece of Ukraine – indeed, a very big piece, amounting to $500 billion.

The notoriously transactional president is obsessed with “getting back” alleged American money from Ukraine.

Trump claims that since the war erupted three years ago this week, the U.S. has given Ukraine up to $300 billion in financial and military aid. The way he talks about it, Trump has converted voluntary U.S. donations into an eye-watering debt.

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into Ukraine in a calculated bet to strategically defeat Russia.

The war was bankrolled by Washington and Europe. They are responsible for the carnage and destruction. They are instigators and protagonists, and they should pay financially and legally through war crimes prosecutions. The U.S. and the European Union have lost their nefarious bet. Russia has beaten the proxy war and is wearing down the NATO-backed Kiev regime.

Instead of accepting the atrocious financial losses incurred by reckless U.S. warmongering, Trump is making out that all the aid was some kind of loan that he is entitled to now extract from Ukraine through access to the country’s mineral resources. Trump thinks he can strong-arm the corrupt Kiev regime into signing over access to $500 billion worth of minerals and rare-earth metals.

There is more than an even chance that Ukraine doesn’t have the mineral wealth it is speculated to have. The Kiev regime seems to have hyped up the supposed treasure of rare-earth metals to leverage Western support. In any case, the territory that is supposed to have valuable mining deposits now belongs to Russia.

In other words, Trump’s haste to cobble together a peace settlement in Ukraine is primarily motivated by his ambition to exploit Ukraine’s natural resources. The president’s attitude is likely to sour big time once it dawns on him that Ukraine does not have the pay-back potential he is supposing.

Another factor that could scuttle a potential peace deal with Russia is the scorned Europeans. Trump’s engagement with Russia has shocked America’s European allies, who feel sidelined and snubbed. There are echoes of how they felt when the Biden administration abruptly pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021 without notifying NATO partners.

Europe’s international image has been battered by Trump’s dismissive conduct. Its leaders are desperate to claw back a semblance of relevance.

This week, a procession of European figures is in Washington. French President Emmanuel Macron is followed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas.

It is reported that they will propose to Trump a role for European troops to deploy to Ukraine as a “peacekeeping force.” Trump is said to be open to the idea. He has been haranguing the Europeans to take care of their own security, and it suits Trump’s agenda of withdrawing American troops from Europe to deploy elsewhere on the globe, such as Asia-Pacific, to confront China as many of the anti-China hawks in his administration are calling for.

Russia has warned that it is unacceptable for Ukraine to become a frozen conflict with NATO troops present under the guise of peacekeepers.

If the Europeans push ahead with their military adventurism in Ukraine, then all bets are off for a peace settlement with Trump.

And if Trump feels he is being burned for $500 billion, then his mercurial mood is bound to turn foul and nasty.

Thus, the peace prospects of U.S.-Russia negotiations may turn out illusory and merely a pause in the proxy war.

Trump may sound well-intentioned about ending the war. But it is concerning that his administration does not take any responsibility for starting it. He comes across as an opportunist whose lack of principles is problematic at best and treacherous at worst.

Russia would be better off finishing the NATO proxy war on its terms, securing its territories, and demolishing the NeoNazi Kiev regime. If the Americans want peace, then let them deal with a decisive Russian victory.

The views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.

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