Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Anothe One Bites The Dust

 Witnessing History,


  Simplicius engages the meme of cascading global political transformation.  Another One Down: Anti-Globalist Maelstrom Sweeps Away Trudeau as Larger Storm Looms
It simply cannot be swept under the rug or sugar-coated any longer: the Western order is in literal crisis. The people have had enough, and the avalanche is picking up inertia because the process is a self-reinforcing feedback loop: the more wanton elites fall, the more that citizens are energized to rise up against them. And when that happens, the elites are forced to clamp and double down on their lies, hypocrisy, and repressions in a futile attempt to stem the flow; this leads to even more ill-will, resentment, and revolt against their destructive policies...
..For all his faults, we must admit what Elon Musk has been doing on social media of late is a brilliant and revolutionary sally against globalist forces in this vein. For those in the dark, Musk has been on an absolute tear on his X platform against all the establishment figureheads of Europe—namely Starmer in the UK and Scholz in Germany.
  Musk has called them to task in a way that’s actually moving the needle politically, not only because of the nature of the X platform’s monumental reach, but for an even more important reason. It is something I’ve highlighted repeatedly here: the globalist apparatus of control is designed to appear like an impenetrable iron curtain, but is in reality a gossamer thing, fragile to the touch, existing entirely through sheer dint and din of fear used as an oppressive prod to keep us from raising our voices. But what Musk has done is simply shown that if you call them out loudly, they begin to wither and wilt, not to say panic—which is what they’re currently doing...
..It’s a difficult concept to grasp at first: that the elites’ entire paradigm of control over us is in actuality a fragile mental prison, and that we’re cowed into submission merely through their regime of fear-propaganda. But once the first loud voice bellows his defiance to the warders, the rest of the slaves quickly take notice that there’s not as much to fear as they thought, that those in charge are more vulnerable than they put on... In short: he’s making it “okay” to speak up and resist, and that’s a powerful memetic catalyst...
..Now Musk has scheduled a pivotal interview with the AfD’s Alice Weidel that’s already being hailed as driving major influence toward the ascendant party...
​..It’s all generating intense discussion throughout Europe, which is opening sutures the elites desperately wanted to keep buttoned up. You can feel the global changes on the wind, the unexpected fresh energy that Trump has brought has stirred things up, thrown the establishment into disarray... Trump’s seeming tongue-in-cheek forays against Greenland have generated shocking reverberations... Weeks after Trump ribbed Canada about becoming the 51st state, Trudeau is packing his bags, and Trump immediately signaled an unexpected doubling down on his earlier proposal...
..As bonkers as this all may seem, it merely proves the point that global currents are truly in flux, the brash debutantes are taking advantage of this historical rift where the power balances have been thrown off, global institutions of order are in retrograde, and now it feels like anything and everything is up for grabs; wilted power structures lie paralyzed from their rebuffs, and incapable of keeping order... Those who follow the Fourth Turning theory know it explains events well, which I’ve previously enlarged on here. The short of it is that a predicted 20-25 year-long ‘crisis period’—or fourth turning—is set to take us to roughly 2030, which should culminate in some kind of grand climax, perhaps a war or system reset.
​  For now we watch and wait for the next pieces to fall. On the docket appears to be Austria, with the empire in tatters over the FPO’s ‘right wing, pro-Putin’ figure Herbert Kickl’s ascendance... Kickl’s FPÖ won the latest elections, and is one of Europe’s up-and-coming far-right parties​. Two “right-wing” resistance sphere, Putin apologists with Orban in Hungary and Kickl in Austria, you say?​ ... Watch out Ukraine, here comes the Hungaro-Austrian Empire!   https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/another-one-down-anti-globalist-maelstrom

​  N​ow we ALL have to watch it.  EU commission threatens Musk ahead of interview with conservative leader
The European Commission warns it will take action If Elon Musk's conversation with Alice Weidel gains above-average visibility on X​   https://rmx.news/germany/eu-commission-threatens-musk-ahead-of-interview-with-conservative-leader/

​  ‘The firewall will not last!’ — Weidel defiant as AfD hits highest polling in a year ahead of Germany’s election next month
A new poll shows the AfD surging to 21.5% — its highest vote share in a year — with just weeks until Germany's hotly contested federal elections​   
https://rmx.news/article/the-firewall-will-not-last-weidel-defiant-as-afd-hits-highest-polling-in-a-year-ahead-of-next-months-election/

​  Maybe take some lithium twice a day Donald?  President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would not rule out the possibility of using military force to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, emphasizing their strategic significance to U.S. national security.   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-not-ruling-out-using-military-force-reclaim-panama-canal-greenland

God's chosen one with a nicked right ear. Ugh!   Preemptive Strikes On Iran Will Be A 'Real Possibility' Under Trump: Officials​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/preemptive-strikes-iran-will-be-real-possibility-under-trump-officials

​  Stand and be counted on this moral issue.   Senate Democrats Consider Support For RFK Jr. As Health Secretary Amid Controversy
​  Despite considerable backlash from many in the Democratic Party due to Kennedy's controversial views on vaccinations, a few Senate Democrats are reportedly keeping an open mind about voting for him. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and John Fetterman (D-PA) may throw support behind Kennedy, according to The Hill. They share Kennedy's criticisms of heavy corporate influence over the food industry and advocate for a shift towards less chemical-laden approaches in America...
..The nomination has placed Democrats in a difficult position. Many spent the last election distancing themselves from Kennedy after his switch from the Independent party, wary of his ability to draw third-party support that could impact general election outcomes. His nomination by Trump has forced them to reassess their stance, especially as Kennedy reemerges in the political spotlight.​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/senate-democrats-consider-support-rfk-jr-health-secretary-amid-controversy

  ​Fingers in the political wind?  The INSIDIOUS Anthony Fauci mass-murdered HUNDREDS of orphans to help Big Pharma test and market new drugs, according to RFK Jr. and a BBC film   https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-01-06-insidious-tony-fauci-murdered-orphans-big-pharma.html

Bet the Whole Stack on Red!  (right?) Trump backs massive single bill for taxes, border and energy   https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-backs-massive-single-bill-031431700.html

​Is the CIA on this Bandwagon​? 'Fact-Checkers Too Politically-Biased' - Zuckerberg Abandons Facebook Censorship For X-Like Community Notes​   https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/zuckerberg-nukes-facebook-fact-checkers-favor-community-notes-following-musks-lead-x

Another DEI-mino Falls: McDonald's Latest To Bail On Diversity Goals​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/another-dei-mino-falls-mcdonalds-latest-bail-diversity-goals

  ​Charles Hugh Smith,  I Quit! The Tsunami of Burnout Few See
That's the problem with deploying play-acting as "solutions:" play-acting doesn't actually fix the problems at the source, it simply lets the problems run to failure.​   https://charleshughsmith.substack.com/p/i-quit-the-tsunami-of-burnout-few

​God created Bannon to keep Musk humble  ;-)   Bannon Goes Off On Musk Over "Social Credit Score" Changes On X   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bannon-goes-musk-over-social-credit-score-changes-x

Emmanuel Macron joins growing criticism of Elon Musk in Europe​  French president accuses world’s richest man of intervening directly in continent’s democratic processes​  https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/06/emmanuel-macron-joins-growing-criticism-elon-musk-europe

​  ‘Special Relationship’ Between UK and US Under Threat Due to Musk’s ‘Incendiary’ Rhetoric on Grooming Gangs
According to BBC Newsnight, there is “absolute horror at the highest levels of government at the incendiary language we have seen from Elon Musk.”
​  Apparently, there’s little ‘horror’ at the industrial-scale grooming and rape of young white girls by Muslim men, and the biggest outrage is directed at Elon Musk for daring to talk about it.​   https://modernity.news/2025/01/07/special-relationship-between-uk-and-us-under-threat-due-to-musks-incendiary-rhetoric-on-grooming-gangs/

  ​The "Beeb":  Starmer attacks those 'spreading lies' on grooming gangs
The prime minister has attacked politicians and activists "spreading lies and misinformation" over grooming gangs.
​  It comes after multi-billionaire Elon Musk accused Sir Keir Starmer of being "complicit in the rape of Britain" during his tenure as director of public prosecutions (DPP) between 2008 and 2013, for failing to tackle grooming gangs.
Alongside Musk's comments, senior Conservatives and Reform UK MPs have also spent the week calling for a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation.
But Sir Keir accused opposition MPs of "jumping on a bandwagon" and "amplifying what the far-right is saying" to gain attention.

Sir Keir said Labour was addressing child sexual abuse after Conservative inaction "for 14 long years".
Online debate around grooming gangs had now "crossed a line", resulting in threats against MPs, including Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips, he said.
"We have seen this playbook many times - whipping up of intimidation and of threats of violence, hoping that the media will amplify it," Sir Keir said.
"Those who are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they're interested in themselves," he added.​   
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75wp53vk1lo

Migrants 3.5 Times More Likely to Be Arrested For Sex Crimes in UK Than British Citizens​  In some areas, figure is over 50 per cent.​   https://modernity.news/2025/01/06/migrants-3-5-times-more-likely-to-be-arrested-for-sex-crimes-in-uk-than-british-citizens/

​  UK navy ‘gang bangs’ exposed by whistleblower – media​   “We had a rape list on my submarine,” an insider has told the paper
British Royal Navy personnel have been accused of drug use and abusive behavior on board the nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard. The claims, published on Tuesday by the Daily Mail, stem from accounts provided by a whistleblower, who detailed incidents involving crew members.
​  The former member of the submarine’s crew alleged that some sailors engaged in “gang bangs” while on duty, and that “the lunatics are in charge at the asylum.”
“We had a rape list on my submarine. There was a 19-year-old kid [on it]. When he realised he was on it, he was s***ing his pants. Everyone wanted to rape him. He was petrified,” the whistleblower told the paper.​   
https://www.rt.com/news/610220-british-royal-navy-drugs-accusations/

​Paul Craig Roberts arrives at the party.  The Despicable British Government Gave Immigrant-invaders the Right to Rape Underage British Girls   https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2025/01/06/the-despicable-british-government-gave-immigrant-invaders-the-right-to-rape-underage-british-girls/

Farmers' convoys head for Paris to restart protest movement​   https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/farmers-convoys-head-paris-restart-protest-movement-2025-01-05/

​  Orban and Fico have a new ally in the EU: far-right forces win mandate in Austria for the first time
​  Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen announced that he had given far-right leader Herbert Kickl a mandate to form a new government. This became known on January 6 after a meeting between the president and the leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which won the elections.​   https://en.topcor.ru/55323-v-avstrii-mandat-vpervye-poluchajut-krajne-pravye-sily.html

​  Pfizergate: What is EC Chief Von Der Leyen Accused of?​ 
In 2022, US media reported that von der Leyen had communicated with Albert Bourla, chief executive of the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, about clinching a long-term contract to purchase 1.8 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines worth €35 billion ($37.6 billion), even before they passed clinical trials.
​  Negotiations on the deal were conducted informally in late 2020 via SMS messages and without prior consent of EU member states.
The European Commission President also texted her husband, Heiko von der Leyen, who serves as the medical director at Orgenesis, a company that collaborates with Pfizer​ All the messages were then accidentally deleted, Ursula von der Leyen claimed.​   
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250106/pfizergate-what-is-ec-chief-von-der-leyen-accused-of-1121367442.html

​  Good Germans must disarm bad Germans?  Germany’s gun grab? Saxony-Anhalt begins disarming AfD members
AfD members in many German states are stripped of many of their rights, including the right to privacy and lawful gun ownership​   https://rmx.news/article/germanys-gun-grab-saxony-anhalt-begins-disarming-afd-members/

​  Larry Johnson,  What Does Russia Mean by “Demilitarize and Denazify?”
​  When Donald Trump takes office on January 20, Ukraine’s military will be in worse shape and Russia will have captured more territory. The only way Trump can make good on his promise to end the war in Ukraine is to terminate all aid and withdraw US military and intelligence personnel from Ukraine. Otherwise, the war will continue until Ukraine is no longer able to sustain combat operations.​   https://sonar21.com/what-does-russia-mean-by-demilitarize-and-denazify/

​  Die in the bitter cold or surrender?  TASS: After failed counterattacks in Kursk region, many Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers surrendered
Ukrainian servicemen deployed in the Kursk region, after a series of unsuccessful counterattacks in large groups, prefer to surrender to Russian forces.​   https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/7422009?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

​  Ukraine failed to gain territory in Kursk mini-offensive and Kellogg cancelled his visit. Lost Cause. Trump’s Ukraine aide postpones trip to Kiev – Reuters
Keith Kellogg will reportedly visit the city and other European capitals after the US president-elect’s January 20 inauguration​   https://swentr.site/news/610527-kellogg-ukraine-trip-postponed/

​Are these shiploads of equipment All for the American GIs? Any going for a Ukrainian offensive? Huge US Army movement: M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams and JLTVs in Poland​   https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2025/01/06/huge-us-army-movement-m1a2-sepv3-abrams-and-jltvs-in-poland/

​Remember that "BOE Still Needs World War Three":  "Smells Like A 'Truss Moment'" - UK Gilt Yields Hit 16 Year High, Stocks & Cable Tumble   https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/smells-truss-moment-uk-gilt-yields-hit-16-year-high-stocks-cable-tumble

​  Andrew Korybko,  Lavrov Elaborated On Russia’s Approach To The Global Systemic Transition
It envisages helping developing countries rebalance their relations with the West while avoiding the neocolonial pitfalls for the ‘green agenda’ that’s being weaponized as a ploy to entrap them...
​..A lot of Western wealth is derived from lopsided deals with the Global South, which is being exploited through neocolonialism. For example, only 2.6% of the US’ $2.5 billion worth of aid to Haiti after its 2010 earthquake reached companies and organizations there while the rest went into the pockets of American contractors. Another damning statistic that he cited is how African countries only get 10% of the global coffee industry’s profits...
​..The IMF and WTO have been politicized by the West in order to keep developing countries at a disadvantage. Despite high-sounding rhetoric on occasion, the West has yet to meaningfully reform these institutions and won’t ever do so willingly.​..
​..Putting everything together, Russia’s approach to the global systemic transition as elaborated by Lavrov envisages developing countries collectively reforming existing financial institutions while avoiding the neocolonial trap that the West is setting for them through its ‘green energy agenda’. The first will deprive the West of the wealth that it extracts from the latter, thus speeding up their long-overdue rebalancing, while the second will prevent any serious reversal on the progress that they make in this respect.
​  Any reduction in the West’s overall influence and power brought about by the aforementioned rebalancing will work to Russia’s advantage by weakening its rivals. They’ll correspondingly find it more difficult to destabilize Russia, wage proxy wars against it, and obstruct its Afro-Eurasian grand strategy. What’s good for the Global South is therefore naturally good for Russia, thus making them equally important for one another, and wider awareness of this should serve to further expand their ties.​   
https://korybko.substack.com/p/lavrov-elaborated-on-russias-approach

Indonesia joins Brics as newest full member, Brazil foreign ministry says
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the world’s fourth-most populous nation, has become the newest member of Brics.​   https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3293658/indonesia-joins-brics-newest-full-member-brazil-foreign-ministry-says

Dollar’s Share Of Global Reserves Hits 30-Year-Low As Central Banks Pile Into Gold, and Alternates​   https://endtimeheadlines.org/2025/01/dollars-share-of-global-reserves-hits-30-year-low-as-central-banks-pile-into-gold-and-alternates/

With ​the CIA​s blessings, no doubt.  Ukraine To Be First European Country To Establish Diplomatic Ties With HTS-Led Syria​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-be-first-european-country-establish-diplomatic-ties-hts-led-syria

​  Iran has been very slow to reply militarily to the last Israeli attacks, but said they would at the right time.  Can True Promise III reshape Iran’s geopolitical fate?
A likely but for-now hypothetical military operation, True Promise III presents Iran with a critical opportunity to neutralize US and Israeli overreach in West Asia and secure a decisive settlement for its domestic challenges.​   https://thecradle.co/articles-id/28324

  He created some video evidence himself.  ​Vacationing IDF Soldier Flees Brazil As He's Pursued For Gaza 'War Crimes'
​  The court's move came in response to a complaint filed in Brazil by the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF). The pro-Palestinian group, named after a five-year-old girl said to have been killed by an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) tank firing on her family's car, had reportedly submitted substantial documentation to the court, including photos, videos, and geolocation identifiers. Taken together, they were offered as proof that IDF soldier Yuval Vagdani has placed explosives that were used to level "entire neighborhoods" in Gaza last November.​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/vacationing-idf-soldier-flees-brazil-hes-pursued-gaza-war-crimes

​  Israeli soldiers face 50 global charges for Gaza crimes: Israeli media​  Global investigations into Israeli soldiers have been mounting following incriminating footage published documenting their involvement in war crimes in Gaza.​   https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-soldiers-face-50-global-charges-for-gaza-crimes--isr

Israeli army admits ambulance use in West Bank raid​   Surveillance footage showed Israeli soldiers exiting ambulance and firing at bystanders in Nablus​   https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/israeli-army-admits-ambulance-use-in-west-bank-raid-3696811

Breaking: Israeli prosecutor says state has no rape cases against Palestinians from 7/10 raid​   https://skwawkbox.org/2025/01/05/breaking-israeli-prosecutor-says-state-has-no-rape-cases-against-palestinians-from-7-10-raid/

​  Protests break out across Israel as thousands of Israelis demand Donald Trump steps in to 'end this f***ing war now', with fiery clash erupting between demonstrators and police
​  Tensions amongst large cohorts of the Israeli public had already reached boiling point over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the conflict, but the release of a new Hamas hostage video of 19-year-old Liri Albag has sparked fresh calls for his removal from power.
​  In the emotive video, Liri, who is the youngest remaining female captive held by Hamas, could be seen shaking and crying as she pleaded with Israeli authorities to do more to secure her and the other hostages a safe release.​   
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14250507/tel-aviv-protests-israelis-donald-trump-war-clash-demonstrators-police.html

​  A new budget for the Israeli Foreign Ministry includes $150 million for what Israel calls “Hasbara,” or consciousness warfare. According to the Times of Israel, the new budget is a 20-fold increase from the previous spending level.​   https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/israel-to-surge-funding-for-global-influence-operations/

​  Palestinian human​-rights are ​"holocaust denial​", now, even for Israeli Jews.  Germany defunds 2 Israeli human rights groups
The German government has quietly cut funding for Zochrot and New Profile, following an earlier defunding of Palestinian NGOs. Some observers fear the move will shrink space for those critical of the Israeli government.​  https://www.dw.com/en/germany-defunds-2-israeli-human-rights-groups/a-71217628

​  The US is manufacturing doubt about Gaza’s famine​   
The Biden administration is attempting to foster a fake dispute over famine numbers in Gaza to obscure the reality of genocide.​  https://mondoweiss.net/2025/01/the-phony-dispute-about-famine-in-northern-gaza/

​  Victoria Australia’s Proposed Anti-protest Law a Fundamental Attack on Civil Liberties
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s announcement on December 17 of “strong action” supposedly needed “to fight hate” is a declaration of war against all supporters of free speech and the right to protest.
​   It is the latest in Victorian Labor’s attempt to repress the Pro-Palestine movement. In September, it authorised police to use excessive force against protesters during the anti-war protests at the Land Forces weapons’ conference.​   
https://www.asia-pacificresearch.com/victoria-australia-proposed-anti-protest-law/5632542

​  Protesters gather in New York in support of Gaza hospital director​   [Israelis torture and murder their hostages.]
The demonstrators, including health care workers, protested outside NYU Tisch Hospital to demand the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was detained last month.
​  They carried banners that said "Not another child, Not another hospital," "Gaza forever” and "We are sick from genocide.”
Abu Safiya was detained by Israeli forces along with others during a raid on the hospital on Dec. 27.​   
https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/protesters-gather-in-new-york-in-support-of-gaza-hospital-director-3696810

​  The objective is to keep Syria full of desperate people.  Syria unable to import wheat or fuel due to US sanctions, trade minister says..
The US is set to announce an easing of restrictions on providing humanitarian aid and other basic services such as electricity to Syria while maintaining its strict sanctions regime, people briefed on the matter told Reuters on Monday.​   https://www.arabnews.com/node/2585498/middle-east

US to 'ease restrictions' on Syria, keep sanctions in place: Report
The US imposed the 'Caesar Sanctions' on Syria in 2019, crushing the country's economy and preventing reconstruction​   
https://thecradle.co/articles/us-to-ease-restrictions-on-syria-keep-sanctions-in-place-report

​  HTS Terrorists Close Symbolic Church in Syrian Christian Town Sparking Fear and Controversy
CIA-MI6-Mossad-MIT terrorism is changing the face of Syria through violence, intimidation and ethnic cleansing
​  The Hagia Sophia Church in the northern Hama Syrian Christian town of Al Sqeilbiyyeh (also spelled As Suqalibiyah) has been closed by the terrorist gangs affiliated with the HTS Junta regime in Damascus.
​  The move comes after armed gangs set fire to the Christmas tree in the centre of Al Sqeilbiyyeh during Christmas celebrations. During the December attacks on Christian communities the same gangs had also entered the church and desecrated the icons, holy scriptures and stunning murals.​   
https://www.globalresearch.ca/hts-close-symbolic-church-syrian-christian-town/5876561

​  More than 100 combatants were killed over the last two days in northern Syria in fighting between Turkish-backed groups and Syrian Kurdish forces, a war monitor said on Sunday.​   https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250105-syria-monitor-101-killed-in-battles-between-pro-turkey-kurdish-forces

Turkey’s carrier battlegroup takes shape​,  Turkey starts building aircraft carrier, destroyer and sub, underscoring great power ambitions in Middle East, beyond​   https://asiatimes.com/2025/01/turkeys-carrier-battlegroup-takes-shape/

​  North Korea's Kim says new hypersonic missile can deter Pacific 'rivals'
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) his country tested Monday would help deter its enemies in the region — a veiled reference to the U.S., Japan and South Korea — state-run media reported Tuesday.​   https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/01/07/asia-pacific/north-korea-hypersonic-irbm/

​  Taiwan unleashes ramjet-driven hypersonic missile production​   
In a bold move that underscores its growing military prowess, Taiwan has officially rolled out its Qingtian hypersonic missile, a state-of-the-art weapon capable of striking targets over 2,000 kilometers away.​   https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2025/01/06/taiwan-unleashes-ramjet-driven-hypersonic-missile-production/

​  (​This phrase is like a declaration of war.)  "Never Accept This": Nippon Steel CEO Will Fight Biden's Blocked US Steel Deal
Japan's Nippon Steel CEO Eiji Hashimoto told reporters on Tuesday that President Joe Biden's decision to block its $14.9 billion acquisition of US Steel was politically motivated. Hashimoto added that the company would pursue legal action to salvage the deal.
​  "A review of the deal by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was not properly conducted due to President Biden's illegal intervention," Hashimoto told reporters at a press conference in Tokyo, as quoted by Kyodo News. He emphasized: "We can never accept this."​   
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/never-accept-nippon-steel-ceo-will-fight-bidens-blocked-us-steel-deal

​This is a really interesting case study in cutting out the rungs you just climbed up the ladder.  Why the U.S. Can’t Build Icebreaking Ships, Construction Physics   https://www.construction-physics.com/p/why-the-us-cant-build-icebreaking

  Meryl Nass MD,  WHO makes nice to US government in bid to avoid being cancelled by Trump,  Article dated December 24, 2024. Provides many reasons to leave the WHO.   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/who-makes-nice-to-us-government-in

  ​Meryl Nass MD,  Elderly, co-morbid Louisiana woman dies, allegedly of bird flu
STAT has no additional information on the patient. Even though the Privacy Act no longer applies after death, info on her age, co-morbidities and causes of death are being withheld​   
https://merylnass.substack.com/p/elderly-co-morbid-louisiana-woman

​  First US bird flu death announced in Louisiana
Health officials have said the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock. They also said a genetic analysis had suggested the bird flu virus had mutated inside the patient, which could have led to the more severe illness.​   
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3293663/first-us-bird-flu-death-reported-louisiana-state-health-officials-say

​Meryl Nass MD,  14 state Attorneys General write to Sec. Becerra asking why the CICP functions so poorly at adjudicating and compensating COVID vaccine victims   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/14-state-attorneys-general-write

Not Sick With Bird Flu (pictured in composted winter garden after removing frozen tomato plants.)


Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Hitting Bottom

 Agents Of Change,


  A new year may engender false hopes, but it is also true that societies hit-bottom sometimes, and refuse to proceed in the same dysfunctional spiral, particularly when they see obvious paths to immediate and longer term improvements in the manner in which political economy is conducted. 
  I'm not making any predictions, but there does appear to be an opening for western and BRICS political economies to incorporate better efficiencies in order to meet the human needs of human societies. 
  The failings of the directions taken since the 2008 global financial crisis have been made more clear by the extreme swings of the narratives during the COVID pandemic, and the revelations that much of this was manipulated to stabilize global financial interests, and that the various strains of coronavirus showed genetic evidence of gain-of-function manipulation in bioweapons labs, funded by the US, China and Canada. 
  The insult, added to those injuries, appears to be that the gene-therapy "vaccine products", promoted as the solution to the lab-leak problem, carried the most toxic element of the virus, the spike-protein, as the core mRNA protein-product to be produced in the treated human cells. This has resulted in considerably greater harm than the leaked viruses, as shown by increases in excess deaths in "vaccinated" populations, beginning with the months that treatments began, and still continuing at the present time. The definition of "vaccinated" began 2 weeks after the second injection, which caused most of the immediate deaths to be recorded in the "unvaccinated" cohort, a handy trick. The further waves of excess deaths, notably in workers with employee life-insurance policies, have been dramatic, but more from strokes, autoimmune disease, cancers, myocarditis and heart attacks. They are simply denied by governments, and the recorded evidence is obscured and misinterpreted, but not addressed in detail. This stonewalling defense is beginning to crack in a few public sectors, a few US states, like Florida, for instance. The indignant cohort of society is not lessening with time, rather the vaccination-control-narrative is becoming progressively untenable. 
  The real, productive economy is enabled by energy and resources, especially oil, but also coal, natural gas, mined resources and farm products. This is the real arbiter of societal wealth, and subject to physical and environmental constraints, particularly as easily obtained fuels and ores are depleted, and many forms of pollution build up. Financial economy is supposed to be the management ledger of real economy, but has been separately gamed in a way which has caused financial ledgers to reflect something like 7X the amount of wealth which real economy embodies, or will ever be able to provide in the near future. This gross mismatch demands that reality be acknowledged, and losses assigned. Most of us would choose to assign the bast book-losses to the ultra-wealthy, who would still survive comfortably, rather than to ordinary people who might well die as a result. The desires of the ultra-wealthy are the opposite, and are better represented in the halls of power, but paradoxically, if the real economy ceases to function, they lose all of their wealth.
  This is a moment in history where talented politicians can be helpful in distributing benefits and losses in a society, as fairly as possible, and so facilitate a societal unity of purpose, within an equitable social contract, such as was the case in the US after World War-2.
  Looking at all parts of the world, excess debt-service, which parasitizes real economy, needs to be shed, and the perverse-incentives which cripple nations by extracting what is needed for life-support, such as food, fuel, housing, medical care and social health, and giving it to elites, needs to be renounced. The needs of human societies need to be respected first and foremost, for political economy to adapt to the new and less permissive conditions which we now face, and which will tighten further going forward.
  Existing political structures can do this and have done it before, but the controlling cultures within them will need to change by eliminating perverse incentives to feed the rich, starve the workers, and maintain the status-quo, which is further extracting wealth from the real economy, weakening it over time. Certain powerful and obviously corrupt people might be made examples of...

  Tim Morgan at Surplus Energy Economics presents,  Predicament, not outcome

  What we’re witnessing is the inflexion of the economy from growth into contraction, and this will apply leveraged pressure on the markets for discretionary (non-essential) products and services upon which so many corporate behemoths rely.....As is surely self-evident, energy, resources and environmental tolerance can’t be lent into existence by the banking system, or conjured out of the ether by central bankers. When we allow the supply of credit-money to expand at rates exceeding the current or forward claim-honouring capabilities of the material economy, we set up stresses which can have only one outcome.
  This brings us to the inevitability of a much larger “GFC II” sequel to the 2008-09 global financial crisis.
  Although the available data is neither complete nor timely, we can estimate that, stated at constant values, worldwide financial assets have increased by at least USD 450 trillion, or 150%, during a twenty-year period in which global real GDP grew by only 70%, or USD 44tn... The apparent implication – which is that more than $10 of new financial claims have been created for each dollar of growth – is a serious understatement of the true severity of the situation...                                                    ..
Today’s over-centralized, top-down systems and institutions are likely to be replaced by decentralized, bottom-up alternatives operating at a more human scaleBefore any of this can happen, though, we have to navigate a financial crisis on a scale that will dwarf the events of 2008-09. Whilst the sheer chaos likely to be caused by this event is apparent, a less obvious consequence will be the destruction of large swathes of what is currently understood as “wealth”.  “GFC II” could turn out to be, as the first global financial crisis never was, a great leveller, resetting the relationship between wealth and incomes...                                                                            ..SEEDS analysis indicates that, other than in the very weakest economies, the provision of the essentials to everyone can remain affordable well into the 2040s, by which time the definition of ‘essential’ will have changed. In other words, if the trend towards the immiseration of millions continues, it will have done so as a matter, not of necessity, but of choice.   https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/2025/01/06/296-predicament-not-outcome/

  Michael Hudson: Cracks in the Empire – Is the American Superpower Fading?
  I’ve been thinking what a good title for the show should be, and I think it should be, “Today’s world economy is as good as it gets.” I think the United States, Europe, and the Near Eastern economic and political situation is, obviously, it’s unstable. And almost any specific forecast we make is likely to be wrong because there are so many variables at work and competing interests at play. But actually, this is what mathematicians call an optimum position. That may sound optimistic, and I’m never one to be optimistic, but an optimum position is technically one that, wherever you move, it’s going to be worse.
  This is mathematically as good as it is. And that’s pretty much the situation you have today. You could say we’re now in the best of all possible worlds, given the policies that have led to the conflicts that we’re seeing: the conflict of national interest, the conflict of domestic interest, the conflict between the United States and Europe, and the United States against all the rest of the world. And I think that this year is going to be more than just change. I think that chaos is now official US policy. And that’s what you do when you’re trying to stop the world from moving in a direction that’s not in your interest... 
 And the basic aim of the U.S. policy is to keep an optimum position from changing by creating such chaos that there’s not going to be an alternative... 
..I think there are two areas that we have to concentrate on. One is gas, and the other is debt. And the most immediate problem is gas right now, because that’s the political key as well as the economic key. The United States foreign policy for the last century has been to try to control Near Eastern oil and gas production, because energy is the key to economic production. And the reason the U.S. wants to control it is to prevent other countries from having it if these countries act in a way that the United States opposes...
..United States strategists are, on the one hand, they’re saying, well, we’re going to insist in exporting more to Europe. President Trump is insisting that Europe buys more American LNG, liquefied natural gas, at four times the price it was paying Russia. But if it does this, then that’s going to create shortages in the US and US gas prices will go up. And if US gas prices go up, then the US consumer price index is going to go up. And that’s what the Republicans are in Congress opposing...
..You’re having gas prices now going up for the whole rest of the world. And that includes the global South countries. So something has to give because Africa, Latin America, other very heavily indebted countries can’t afford both to pay more for their gas these days and still keep up with their foreign debt service in hard currency, in US dollars. So the US selling more gas to Europe at high prices is going to create a rise in the dollar...  And the US foreign policy doesn’t think of the world economy as a whole system. It’s tunnel vision. How do we hurt Russia? Let’s do that first. And then we’ll think of the rest of the world. So this is why the US policy is creating chaos in the rest of the world...
..I don’t see anyone except the right-wing parties opposing this. The left is completely on board with the U.S. Cold War because the left-wing parties, as I think we’ve discussed before, have been staffed by politicians who have been dependent on very heavy subsidy and grants from non-governmental organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy to build up. So you really don’t have a domestic formulation of what would a rational European economic policy be to restore prosperity, and in fact, is there a way to restore the dismantling of heavy industry, steel industry, automobile industry, manufacturing industry, even fertilizers and chemicals that have already been dismantled? Or does Europe have to go the way that the Baltics have gone? ... The Eurozone, as we’ve discussed before, is basically dominated by NATO and by the United States indirectly. I don’t see much of a solution except poverty for Europe...
..This is an Orwellian 1984 world that we’re seeing in Europe. And I don’t see… it  is obviously worst of all in England under Starmer and the Labour Party. But what’s happening to the Labour Party is the same thing that’s happened to the German Social Democratic Party that’s now fallen behind the Alternative for Deutschland in the polls and is going to be pretty much wiped out in this month’s election. And you’re going to have one European country after another going the way of Romania. What are you going to do when people do not vote for the United States, but vote for their own national welfare? ...
..The first aim is you need to cope with the foreign debt problem. There is no way that the BRICS countries can grow and at the same time pay the foreign debts that they’ve been saddled with for the last 100 years and especially since 1945 by the neoliberal philosophy that’s been pushed by the United States and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
  The policies that have been imposed on the BRICS countries have forced them into a chronic balance of payments and trade deficit as a result of their dependency on the United States and its allies that have made them not viable countries. That means that the loans that were made to these countries have no chance of being paid...
..And the fact is that the people that hold these dollar bonds are client oligarchies who don’t want to hold their own currencies because the global south countries and their oligarchies realize the debts can’t be paid... And this is a problem for the BRICS countries. On the one hand, the BRICS countries, in order to grow, have to write down their debts... So the vested interests in many of the BRICS countries are not favoring the national interests. That’s the big conflict you have between the fact that these countries are bifurcated between a U.S.-centered elite and the country as a whole...
..What are you going to do about the fact that as a result of the debt crisis, these countries have been driven by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and U.S. policy to sell off their oil, mineral rights, their natural resources, their natural monopolies of public infrastructure to foreign investors?  How on earth can they grow if all of their national patrimony and all of the revenue, the land rent, the raw materials rents, the monopoly rents from this national patrimony is paid to foreigners? Well, you could look at the BRICS countries in very much the same way as Russia under the kleptocrats...
..The whole logic of industrial capitalism was to free economies from the landlord class and its land rent, to free economies from economic rent. And that was what classical value theory from Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Marx, the American economists all said, “we want to prevent rent seeking... to bring prices in line with actual cost of production.” That’s what enabled England first to become the workshop of the world, and then enabled the United States and Germany to replace England by creating a mixed public-private economy with its own national control of money.  
  The BRICS countries could follow this policy that made first England and then America and Germany able to organize their industrial takeoff. But in order to do that, you have to have a concept of freeing economies from economic rent. You have to have a concept that basically goes back to Adam Smith. His idea of a free market was a market free of economic rent...
..So, if the BRICS economies said, we’re going to recover our natural patrimony from the kleptocrats, not our own kleptocrats only, but the foreign companies that have bought our oil and gas, we’re going to use that as our natural, our fiscal base. And that we’re going to use that fiscal base to finance our own economic development. Well, then you’re going to essentially be able to do in this century what the late 19th century European countries did... And what they do see is China’s remarkable economic takeoff.  And China calls this socialism with Chinese characteristics, but it could be called the American economics takeoff with Chinese characteristics, because that’s the American economic takeoff...
..And there’s a third aim that the BRICS countries should have, and that has to be to raise living standards and raise labor productivity. Because you can’t have a class war against labor and expect labor to be highly educated, well-fed, well housed, and productive. If you want productive labor, you’re going to have to raise living standards. And the vested interests in most of these BRICS countries want to keep wages low. If they have factories or whatever their business is, they look at labor’s wages as being antithetical to themselves. And the way that the United States solved this problem was to say, okay, we know that you industrialists don’t want to pay high wages to labor. But what we’ll do is have the government pick up many of the costs of living for labor. The cost of education, the cost of health care, the cost of low-priced transportation, communications. And so that you don’t have to pay labor high enough wages to pay for its own health care, education, and all of that. Well, obviously that’s not what the United States is doing today. You’re having just the opposite...
..Again, you need an economic theory and economic doctrine for this. The doctrine was what 19th century classical economics was all about... The way to create a prosperous economic growth is to avoid private debt. Keep debt and money creation domestic. The debts you owe are in your own currency and you control your own currency in the same way China does, through a public bank, not through private commercial banks. You want to tax economic rent and unearned income to encourage earned income by actually being part of the production process, not part of the rent-seeking... superstructure... And you want to create a prosperous domestic labor force so that it can become high-productivity.
  That’s how the United States developed a high productivity labor force itself. The way in which the BRICS countries can follow their national interest is clear, but you need a doctrine for that and an economic philosophy. That’s the missing element that I see right now.   
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/01/michael-hudson-cracks-in-the-empire-is-the-american-superpower-fading.html

  Jim Rickards,  Trump’s Plan to End Currency War 3.0
  As reported in The Washington Post, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance and other outlets, Trump is working on a secret plan to devalue the U.S. dollar. The goal would be to cheapen U.S. exports and thereby help the U.S. balance of trade and create exported-related jobs...
..The critics are wrong and don’t understand what Trump is actually trying to do. Trump is not trying to start a currency war; he’s trying to end it once and for all... 
..Far from the reckless, inflationary process the media claim, Trump’s actual plan is based on the highly successful model developed by James Baker for Ronald Reagan and implemented in the Plaza Accord of 1985 and the Louvre Accord of 1987...  The parties reached a joint agreement that would devalue the U.S. dollar in an orderly fashion versus the French Franc, Japanese Yen, UK pounds sterling, and the German Deutschemark. Once the targeted level for the dollar was achieved, the parties would use their best efforts, including market intervention as needed to maintain those levels within narrow bands.
  A separate meeting in Paris at the Louvre in 1987 agreed that the devaluation phase was over, and the dollar would be maintained at the new parities. This was not currency war; it was currency peace achieved by agreement and implemented in a cooperative fashion...
..Trump’s goal is to repeat the success of the Plaza and Louvre Accords. Trump’s advisor on this is Robert Lighthizer, who is one of the most brilliant financial minds around and was Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative (2017-2021).  Lighthizer was also USTR for Ronald Reagan from 1983 to 1985 so he’s a veteran of prior currency wars and was in the administration around the time the Plaza Accord was being developed. Lighthizer is the perfect individual to help Trump achieve the kind of success that Reagan and Baker had in the 1980s. The media are trying to portray Trump as reckless when in fact he’s proposing something highly beneficial for U.S. jobs and U.S. industry. https://dailyreckoning.com/trumps-plan-to-end-currency-war-3-0/  

  Alex Krainer,  The political tides in Europe are turning against the Empire
  It seems that the same cultural countercurrents seem to be gripping many nations as the recent elections in the United States, Slovakia, Romania, Georgia, Hungary, France, Germany, Croatia and Moldova have shown (yes, Moldova too).
  It may be that in spite of the loud banging of the war-drums in mainstream media, and among our political class, very different currents are gathering below the surface. These currents might continue to gain strength; it’s what our ruling establishments like to label as Russia's malign influence. More likely, the truth is that ordinary people got tired of the lies, hatred, hostility and the wars, as well as the intellectual and cultural junk food that's become the pervasive staple among Western nations. This is a hopeful sign, because escalating the wars could prove difficult for the imperial establishment. What if peace starts to break out all over the place in 2025? It’s a worthwhile idea to pray for and struggle for.​   
https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/the-political-tides-in-europe-are

​  Trudeau Out: Canadian Prime Minister Quits
Trudeau, 53, currently the longest-serving leader of any G-7 country, announced Monday he plans to step down as head of the governing Liberal Party. He will remain as prime minister until a new leader is selected, and parliament has been suspended until March 24 while that process is underway. The winner of the Liberal leadership contest is set to become Canada’s 24th prime minister and will have to quickly prepare for an election, which the Conservative Party is the clear favorite to win, according to public opinion polls.​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trudeau-out-canadian-prime-minister-likely-resign-week

​  Elon Musk exposes the pack raping of a quarter of a million English school girls​, Declan Hayes
Elon Musk threw the cat among the pigeons when he recently highlighted the pack raping of over 250,000 English school girls by packs of middle aged Pakistani menwho got away with their crimes for over a quarter of a century, thanks to the collusion of the British judiciary, the British constabulary, the British social services and the British political system, which are now all trying to squirm their way out of taking responsibility for the rankest of crimes they are all fully complicit in.​..
..Heads have to roll, literally, and the first head on the chopping block must be that of British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer (who was the Director of the Crown Prosecution Service during these grooming gang rape gang revelations, who was the boss of the CPS lawyer who originally dropped the prosecution of Kabeer Hassan because he believed the 15 year old girl made “a choice to be a prostitute” and who discredited her as a witness even after reviewing DNA evidence and hours of testimony), followed by King Charles, who is not only the brother of Jeffrey Epstein sidekick, Prince Andrew, but who recently knighted Peter Mandelson, another key Epstein (and Tony Blair) conspirator, and who, in his role of Prince of Wales, was also bosom pals with Sir Jimmy Savile, the BBC’s child rapist in chief.​..
..Not that there is anything new or novel in these crimes. The Pall Mall Gazette, to its eternal credit, exposed the white slave trade in Victorian Britain and, though it is a half a century ago since I first read of it, the crimes they uncovered still sicken me to my core. Then there is the Paedophile Information Exchange and the North American Man/Boy Love Association, both of which were very active in the 1970s and both of which enjoyed widespread political support from senior politicians who remain active to this day.​..
..Although Musk has probably his own libertarian agenda afoot in turning his guns on the Pakistani pack rapists, they deserve all the incoming Musk gives them and their equally vile white collar collaborators... But Musk, at day’s end, is irrelevant in all of this, at least until the great and the good of Germany and England wrest power away from the Pakistani pack rape enablers. Though Musk has rattled our overlords’ cages, until the great unwashed can storm those gilded cages and finish off what Musk has started, Musk’s protestations, like those of others before him, will only amount to so much hot air that will get lost in the bread and circuses.​   https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/01/05/elon-musk-exposes-pack-raping-of-quarter-million-english-school-girls/

​  Musk renews attack on British PM over mass-rape scandal
The US-based tech billionaire has slammed Keir Starmer as a “national embarrassment” and said he “must go”
​  Gangs across the UK, involving men of predominantly Pakistani origin, rape-tortured vulnerable girls on an industrial scale over the last thirty years, with multiple independent inquiries indicating systemic failures to investigate the crimes. According to three separate reports published in 2013, 2014, and 2015, local politicians and police alike opted to cover up the rapes partly out of fear that bringing the perpetrators to justice would be seen as “racist.”​   https://swentr.site/news/610476-musk-attacks-british-pm/

​  UK's Starmer Dismisses Rape Gang Outrage As "Far-Right Bandwagon"
​  After news broke that UK's 'safeguarding minister' Jess Phillips blocked a public inquiry into the country's prolific rape gangs, Prime Minister Keir Starmer - who allegedly covered for Jimmy Savile, went into victim mode - dismissing the outrage as simply part of the "playbook" of the "far right" - the same thing he said after a Muslim radical stabbed 8 children, killing 3, in the Southport Massacre.​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/uks-starmer-dismisses-rape-gang-outrage-far-right-bandwagon

​  UK responds to Musk’s criticism over child rape scandal
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said the government is willing to work with the tycoon to tackle sexual abuse of minors
​  Musk, who is known for his stance against illegal immigration, has been particularly vocal about the scandal, calling it a case of “state-sponsored evil.”​   https://swentr.site/news/610434-uk-grooming-scandal-rape-musk/

Elon Musk calls for King Charles to dissolve parliament over ‘grooming gangs’

​  Biden Regime behind massive child trafficking networks in Guatemala, hidden by NGOs that front as “humanitarian aid”  to “save” the kids of this sex slave trade​ 
The Guatemalan Secretary General, Angel Pineda, says the Biden Administration is running the world's largest child sex trafficking ring. He says, “They’re harvesting the victims from Guatemala. They’re picking them out like they’re going shopping for shoes.”...
Angel Pineda claims the Biden Administration is responsible for running the world's largest child sex trafficking ring, involving the trafficking of victims from Guatemala.
​  The U.S. government, particularly the Department of Homeland Security, is alleged to be working with Mexican Cartels and NGOs to create a public/private partnership for child trafficking. Over $800 million from the U.S. has reportedly been used to fund these NGOs in Guatemala over the past four years.
​  More than 291,000 unaccompanied alien children (UACs) have gone missing or are exploited under the Biden administration. The issue was highlighted in a joint House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on November 21, 2024.​   https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-01-04-biden-regime-behind-massive-child-trafficking-networks-guatemala.html

​  Trump Border Czar: Mass Deportations Of Illegals Starts Day One
President Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan unequivocally outlined that mass arrests and deportations of illegal immigrants inside the US will begin on day one of Trump’s second term and will not be delayed under any circumstances.​   https://modernity.news/2025/01/06/trump-border-czar-mass-deportations-of-illegals-starts-day-one/

​  OpenAI whistleblower death: Autopsy suggests murder, not suicide
Former OpenAI employee Suchir Balaji made headlines for his revelations about ethical concerns surrounding generative AI
​  The parents of Indian-American techie Suchir Balaji, who was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on 14 December 2024, have rejected the official suicide ruling, alleging that their son was murdered.
​  Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI employee, had made headlines for his whistleblowing revelations about the ethical concerns surrounding generative AI. In an interview with NDTV, his parents claim that the second autopsy report indicates "signs of struggle," including a head injury and trauma, which contradict the suicide verdict by the medical examiner's office. Suchir's mother, Poornima Ramarao, expressed disbelief at the suicide ruling, citing the absence of a suicide note and the findings of the second autopsy.
​  "We have facts with the second autopsy — head trauma and signs of struggle. This is not a suicide; it's a murder," she stated.
​  His father, Balaji Ramamurthi, recounted their last conversation on 22 December 2024, when Suchir returned from a trip to Los Angeles in good spirits. "He seemed happy," he said.​   
https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/international/autopsy-reveals-struggle-not-suicide-but-murder-say-parents-of-openai-whistleblower

​  US-based tech mogul Elon Musk has likened liberal billionaire George Soros to Emperor Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious, the principal villain in the Star Wars movie series. The barb followed Joe Biden’s decision to bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom on the powerful financier.​   https://swentr.site/news/610467-musk-compares-soros-emperor-palpatine/

​  ‘Don’t feed the troll’ – Scholz on Musk
The German chancellor has called the Tesla CEO’s support for Germany’s AfD party “troubling”​   
https://swentr.site/news/610459-dont-feed-troll-scholz-about-musk/

​  US Deep State: Its Roots, Tools and Enablers
The "deep state", never part of the Founding Fathers' design, has turned US democracy into fiction, former US assistant treasury secretary and renowned economist Dr Paul Craig Roberts says. What does he mean?
​  The deep state, described by US political scientist Francis Fukuyama as a network of "unaccountable professional bureaucrats," is really a far more extensive entity.
According to Dr Roberts, it encompasses not only bureaucrats but also elected officials, Wall Street, major corporations and even foreign government lobb
yists​.
​  The modern-day Leviathan is deeply embedded within the structure of the US government, with professional bureaucrats serving merely as pawns in the games of their overlords, the economist says. But the game begins long before governance — it starts at the very phase of elections.​..
.."The power that the Constitution gave to individuals now belongs to interest groups that determine elections with campaign contributions," the former assistant treasury secretary in Ronald Reagan's government stresses.​..
..He explains that as a result, elected representatives are beholden to the individuals and interest groups who funded and supported them.
​  Those include the influential Israel lobby, arms manufacturers, intelligence agencies, pharmaceutical companies, agribusiness corporations, Wall Street and others, all of whom provide funding and favorable publicity to those they help elect.​ Intelligence agencies also occasionally provide staged false flag events to give a candidate or a policy a boost, he notes.​..
..For nearly a century, various measures were enacted to curb the influence of big money on the US political system, particularly during elections.
​  But those efforts were effectively overturned in 2010 by a landmark US Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which paved the way for unlimited corporate funding of political campaigns.
​  That same year, a related federal court decision in the case of Speechnow.org versus the FEC further expanded the influence of money in politics by allowing unlimited contributions to political action groups who distribute the donations to candidates — ostensibly isolating the candidate from receiving funds directly from a donor.
​  Roberts says that those decisions gave corporations, the Israel lobby and the super rich the power to purchase the US government. "For American democracy to be restored, money must be taken out of politics," he argues.​..
..Roberts recalls that last month Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr — nominated for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services — had dinner with Big Pharma executives, including Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Lilly CEO David Ricks and Steve Ubl, CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
​  The economist highlights how RFK Jr previously condmened the same Big Pharma firms, accusing them of producing unsafe COVID-19 vaccines that harmed millions and creating treatments that undermined the health of American children.​ "In other words, even private interests that are harmful have to be negotiated with. This doesn't leave much room for reform to reach very far," Dr Roberts says.​   
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250105/us-deep-state-its-roots-tools-and-enablers-1121363450.html

​  Israeli lawmakers demand military destroy all food and energy resources in Gaza
Israeli lawmakers are urging the military to intensify the genocide in Gaza by destroying any possible sources of energy, food, and water in the territory.​   
https://mondoweiss.net/2025/01/israeli-lawmakers-demand-military-destroy-all-food-and-energy-resources-in-gaza/

IOF destroyed 815 mosques, 19 cemeteries, 3 churches in Gaza in 2024​   https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iof-destroyed-815-mosques--19-cemeteries--3-churches-in-gaza

​  Heavy Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill More Than 90 Palestinians

​  Waleed al-Bardaweel, a survivor of the attack, lost three of his sons in the attack: Mohammed, 13, Ahmed, 11, and Abdul Rahman, seven. “The Israeli army called this place a safe zone. Their claims are all lies and slander,” al-Bardaweel told Middle East Eye.
​  Ziad al-Lulu, another survivor of the attack, told MEE the tent camp was hit at 1 am without any warning. “The next thing we knew, our world was engulfed in flames. Children were torn apart, women were torn apart, it was like the day of judgment,” al-Lulu said. 
  https://scheerpost.com/2025/01/05/heavy-israeli-attacks-on-gaza-kill-more-than-90-palestinians/

​  Eighth infant dies from hypothermia amid Israeli genocide in Gaza
The infant's grieving mother describes the unbearable conditions her family faces, borrowing bedding and blankets from other displaced families who are themselves struggling to keep their children warm.   
​  In a heart-wrenching video shared by a Palestinian journalist on social media, the grieving mother, overcome with tears, described finding her child frozen, saying, "It was as if he had been placed in a freezer."​   https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/eighth-infant-dies-from-hypothermia-amid-israeli-genocide-in

​  Israel denies knowledge of Gaza hospital director’s whereabouts
​  The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) has voiced grave concerns over the fate of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, especially after the Israeli occupation military denied having any record of his detention.
​  Abu Safiya was detained on Saturday after occupation forces raided and forcibly evacuated the hospital. Video footage later released by the occupation army showed Abu Safiya entering an Israeli military vehicle and being greeted by occupation forces.​   
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250103-israel-denies-knowledge-of-gaza-hospital-directors-whereabouts/

​  UNIFIL accuses Israeli army of deliberately destroying property in southern Lebanon
  The UN Interim Force in Lebanon on Saturday accused the Israeli army of deliberately destroying its property and critical infrastructure in southern Lebanon, leading to a serious escalation in tensions along the border.
​  In a statement on Saturday, UNIFIL said: “This morning, peacekeepers witnessed an Israeli army bulldozer destroying a blue barrel marking the withdrawal line between Lebanon and Israel in Al-Labbouneh, as well as a watchtower belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces adjacent to a UNIFIL site in the area.”
​  The blue barrels, which are markers for the withdrawal line — commonly referred to as the Blue Line — delineate the boundary established after Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.   
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2585251/middle-east

No deal until Israel agrees to quit Gaza, end war: Hamas​   https://www.gulf-times.com/article/697918/region/no-deal-until-israel-agrees-to-quit-gaza-end-war-hamas

The US confirmed on Saturday, that the American aircraft carrier​ (Truman) in the Red Sea was out of service, coming days after it was targeted by Yemeni forces.​   https://alkhabaralyemeni.net/2025/01/05/286866/

​  Quiet Part Out Loud: Trump Admits Hiring Hawkish Mideast Envoy Because GOP's Neocon Wing Wanted It
Donald Trump has tapped another neoconservative for his cabinet, selecting Morgan Ortagus, his previous administration’s ex-State Department spokeswoman, to serve as deputy envoy of his Middle East peace team.
​  The president-elect made the announcement in an oddly resentful manner on his social media platform Friday.
​  “Early on Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson. These things usually don’t work out, but she has strong Republican support, and I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for them. Let’s see what happens,” Trump wrote.​   
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250104/quiet-part-out-loud-trump-admits-hiring-hawkish-mideast-envoy-because-gops-neocon-wing-wanted-it-1121351232.html

​Can you guess? Thanks Charles.  How & Why Government, Universities, & Industry Create Domestic Labor Shortages of Scientists & High-Tech Workers​    https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/how-why-government-universities-industry-create-domestic-labor-shortages-of-scientists-high-tech-workers

​  Norway Doubles Down on Oil and Gas
Norway's oil and gas investment is expected to reach a record high in 2025, driven by new exploration activity and increased demand for Norwegian gas.
​  While Norway is a leader in renewable energy, it continues to invest heavily in oil and gas production, raising concerns about its climate commitments.
Norway aims to balance its oil and gas production with decarbonization efforts​   
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Norway-Doubles-Down-on-Oil-and-Gas.html

​  Pesticide Banned in Europe But Widely Used in U.S. Makes Brain Cells Age Faster
Exposure to atrazine can make nerve cells age faster and harm the hypothalamus
, an essential part of the brain, increasing the risk of neurodegenerative disease, according to a recently released study in mice.​  
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/atrazine-neurodegenerative-disease-study-mice/

​  Catastrophic Neurological and Psychiatric Damage from COVID-19 'Vaccines'
Increased risks of ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, transient ischemic attack, myelitis, myasthenia gravis, Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive impairment, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders.​   
https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/catastrophic-neurological-and-psychiatric

​  The "vaccines" help the virus, not you.  63 Peer-Reviewed Studies Link COVID-19 'Vaccination' to the Emergence of Vaccine-Resistant Viral Variants
Variants emerged in temporal and geographic proximity to clinical trials or mass 'vaccination' campaigns.​   https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/63-peer-reviewed-studies-link-covid

​  Just stop now - COVID-19 mRNA Injections Dose-Dependently Increase Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection by Up to 121%
Findings reinforce evidence of negative efficacy with repeated doses.​   
https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/new-study-covid-19-mrna-injections

​  "No" means "yes, if we want to".  Vermont Supreme Court Ruling Allows Schools to Administer COVID Vaccines Without Parents’ Consent,  by John Klar
Despite mainstream media reports to the contrary, a ruling in August 2024 by the Vermont Supreme Court effectively gives schools a free pass to administer COVID-19 vaccines to children even if parents request their children not receive the vaccine.​   
​  Numerous mainstream media outlets are deliberately lying to American parents about the law regarding COVID-19 vaccines.​                                                                               In August, Vermont’s Supreme Court that ruled a 6-year-old boy administered a COVID-19 vaccine against his parents’ specific instructions that he not be jabbed has no state tort remedies, and that the family’s sole recourse is a federal claim requiring proof of serious bodily harm or death to proceed.​                                                      All other traditional causes of action for violating these parents’ rights, and fundamental constitutional informed consent protections for patients, are extinguished completely.  https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/vermont-supreme-court-schools-covid-vaccines-no-parental-consent/

​  FDA lab uncovers excess DNA contamination in COVID-19 vaccines
Explosive revelations as a study conducted at FDA's own lab found residual DNA levels exceeded safety limits by 6 to 470 times. Experts say it's a 'smoking gun.'​   
https://blog.maryannedemasi.com/p/exclusive-fda-lab-uncovers-excess

​Organic Gardener (pictured in freshly composted garden before the winter freeze we just got)