Debt Follies

In Memoriam, Dodger Pink & Saint Fentanyl

Memorial Day is a time to mourn U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

In light of that, to wish someone, especially a grieving relative, a ‘happy’ Memorial Day never seemed the appropriate precursor. Perhaps reflective or grateful, but neither of those exactly flow off the tongue. Whatever you decide on, please make it meaningful above the hot dogs, beer and sunshine. Enjoy the weekend, but take a moment to honor those who served our nation and are no longer with us.

Personally, both my grandfathers (below) and my father were proud veterans. I strive each day to honor their sacrifices, aiming to fill the immense footprints they've left behind, through a life lived with a sense of purpose and dignity. I am fortunate to have shared the better part of my existence with these three remarkable men, profoundly impacted by the roles they played and the indelible marks they left on my life.

I am awash with gratitude for my present abundance, a glimpse of which lies below. I am thankful, too, for the tribulations I've weathered, for they've revealed a resilience in me that I was previously blind to and provided perspective on life's true essentials.

A sage, certainly wiser than I, once remarked, "Tomorrow is promised to no one." It is this truth that prompts us to cherish and celebrate today, for we are privileged to have this opportunity. By living our lives with unwavering decency and positivity, we commence the repayment of an enormous debt of gratitude we owe to our servicemen and women, both past and present. Our every breath, every step forward, is a salute to their indomitable spirit.

This week will be a somewhat abbreviated version of Sovereign Sunday as I enjoy a nearby lake and focus on nature and my girl. I had grand plans earlier this year to ‘Murph’ it up, but an 8 day stay in the hospital for a bad case of rhabdo this March led me to put it off until next year. So time to kick back and enjoy the sun, a good book and stay off the devices while remembering Freedom Isn’t Free.

Here are two articles that put the holiday in its proper frame. The debt we owe these men is incalculable. 🇺🇸

https://aclj.org/us-military/memorial-day-why-we-remember-those-who-died-for-our-nation

https://thejeffreylord.com/happy-memorial-day-dad-and-thanks/

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Mystery Deficit Theater 3000

In an telenovela that would make P.T. Barnum blush, the Swamp Creatures are staging a theatrical performance, parading their mock concern for our government's ballooning bloat and financial gluttony. They're wooing every camera lens with the determination of a peacock in a bird show.

This puppet theater would make Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock look like a nuanced piece of Ibsen.

Tales spun by the media's spinning wheel paint a picture of Republicans "holding the line", planning a grand guillotine for dear grandma's social security. Meanwhile, Democrats are pleading for another hike in our charmingly flexible "debt ceiling" - a feat performed no less than 78 times since 1960.

As the debt-o-meter climbs past $30 trillion, you'd expect our democratically-elected custodians to buckle down.

Ah, but that's a brand of logic only shared by a meager 2-4% of the 535 big wigs on the Hill. The remainder of our ruling aristocracy is merrily infected with a pathogen known as high time preference - a malaise rather encouraged by our fiscal infrastructure, and one from which Congress is glaringly unvaccinated.

Word on the street is that our distinguished legislators are nigh on a deal to slash spending by a dizzying 0.2%. Please don't adjust your screens, that is not a typo. Yes, they plan to dial back to a mere 99.8% of their usual exuberance.

In 2022, Uncle Sam managed to burn through $6.3 trillion, a staggering 50% leap from the pre-plague days. The annual federal deficit casually reached $1.4 trillion.

In the panic-filled days of Covid, the White House and Congress masterfully crafted a narrative that now considers a $6 trillion-plus annual splurge as the new normal. Both parties play along within the ever-shifting confines of this fiscal fantasy.

The Biden brigade now dreams of a $6.9 trillion shopping spree for the year. The Republicans, eager for a photo-op victory, offer a 'cut' from the mind-boggling $6.3 trillion figure of yesteryear - a cut so slender it's practically Karen Carpenter.

The rumor mill has it that they're inching towards a "compromise" that involves an almost invisible reduction (circa 0.2% of GDP) in return for a nod to a debt ceiling upgrade. This still catapults us into trillion-dollar annual deficits, pushing the national debt bubble to dizzying new altitudes, all to a resounding bipartisan applause.

Peter St Onge, economist with the Heritage Foundation, captured the futility perfectly in his tweet: "Slow the train from 80mph to 79.8 mph."

From my vantage point, it's a spectacle of dazzling clarity - the puppet masters are infatuated with this incessant pantomime. As the hourglass drains, one of three realities will rise from the dust: (1) the almighty dollar crumbles; (2) inflation re-ignites like a rocket, and/or (3) the interest on our monumental debt gobbles up every penny earmarked for non-discretionary spending. Suddenly, the same maestros who posed for the cameras and clinked glasses backstage will be aghast, exclaiming with rehearsed incredulity, "But how could this have occurred?"

The harsh truth is, there's no genuine appetite in the D.C. circus to grapple with the deficit or rampant spending. It's simply antithetical to the golden rule of Democracy.

As Socrates and others presciently discerned, Democracy (or, more accurately, our Constitutional Republic) harbors a ticking time bomb.

Inevitably, citizens discover they can vote themselves more perks, and political hopefuls realize they can secure their electoral victories by doling out those very goodies. Thus begins a self-propelling carousel of indulgence that typically culminates in bankruptcy, collapse, or fiat devaluation - the fate met by every fiat currency over the past millennium.

That's why there's an enduring romance with gold. Bitcoin, as it happens, may just be the next torchbearer in this Lindy lineage of financial security. Both of these mediums are beyond the sticky fingers of the state and shielded from the tyranny of the majority. They share an enviable stock-to-flow ratio, implying that new supply isn't created easily. In short, they're scarce - a stark contrast to fiat currency like the dollar, which can be multiplied ad infinitum if the Fed's 'Shift+P' button gets stuck.

One doesn't simply stumble upon a new gold deposit and spring up a mine overnight, just as you can't hasten the rigidly scheduled release of Bitcoin's rewards, tied as it is to its untamperable code, and forever capped at 21 million. The stage is set, and the actors are in place - let the games begin.

The safest wager in the political casino? They'll do everything except address the debt or deficit. They'd rather kick the can down the road and try to run out the clock. So, spare us the theatrical flair and dispatch the so-called 'negotiators' back to their patios. Let them bask in the Memorial Day sunshine - one of the remaining occasions where unshackled patriotism and adoration for one's homeland (and its fallen heroic preservers) is still permitted.

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How Bad Was the Gaslighting during Covid?

Pretty f’n bad. David Strom nicely sums up my thoughts on the subject:

“Most people have blotted out just how vile the gaslighting during COVID was.

The political, cultural, academic, and media Elite literally promoted the idea that anybody who was skeptical about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID vaccine was a murderer and deserved to die.

Deserved to die. Not just that they were placing themselves at risk, but that their failure to comply with the diktats of others made them worthy of death.

It is impossible to overstate the level of evil involved. And yes, it was not just wrong, but evil. The primary justifications behind the propaganda effort were manifestly false: unvaccinated people somehow magically endanger people who themselves are totally incapable of either getting or transmitting the virus itself.

This idea is absolutely irrational. If the vaccine worked as advertised, nobody who chose to be unvaccinated presented a moment’s danger to anybody who was vaccinated. After all, if you were vaccinated you were protected, right? That was the point. You could neither get nor spread the virus.

Of course, that claim was untrue. The COVID-19 vaccine was simply a form of “pre-treatment” for a virus that you would inevitably contract. Ironically, a Cleveland Clinic study confirmed what other studies already had detected: you are in fact MORE likely to contract COVID if you are vaccinated than if you are not. The more vaccinated the patient, the higher the incidence of COVID infections. More than 3x as likely, in fact.

This doesn’t mean that for a certain cohort of the population–those most likely to be killed by the virus–it was irrational to get the vaccine. It does appear to work as a pre-treatment for severe disease for at least a few months. What it doesn’t do is prevent infection or transmission.

Based on this simple and, by 2021 obvious fact, the push to vaccinate everybody with an experimental vaccine of an entirely novel construction was not just unnecessary, but itself harmful. Most vaccines have serious complication rates of about 1 in a million; the COVID vaccine is closer to 1 in 800, and for younger people, the risk/reward profile is entirely negative. The vaccine will much more likely harm them than help them.

None of those facts mattered. There was a full-blown campaign to destroy anybody who decided that the risk/reward profile wasn’t favorable.

The Elite deployed lies, demonized people, and longed for the death–yes, the literal DEATH–of skeptics. They demanded that people actively remain ignorant of the facts: “DON’T RESEARCH!”

Matt Taibbi has a wonderful piece that accompanies Matt Orfalea’s video. In it he notes that every single person screaming at you to remain ignorant was, in fact, utterly ignorant themselves–and proudly so. Journalists who insisted you don’t do your research did not, in fact, do any research themselves. Upon what basis did they decide that you should die? That you were a dirty, infectious virus spreader?

None at all.

Elites made an appeal to authority, not facts or reason. Given that basically everything that was known about the vaccine was from very incomplete research from the vaccine manufacturers–nobody else had done any studies, and the studies done by the vaccine manufacturers never even tested for transmission–anybody who relied upon these studies and made claims that infection and transmission were prevented either misread the actual science, or just lied about it.

The Tobacco Institute was filled with scientists who claimed to prove that cigarettes don’t cause cancer. Should we have “trusted the science?” Or are Pfizer and Moderna scientists somehow magically different from every other type? They are neither influenced by their employment nor fallible?

The very kindest thing you can say about the people who were pushing these evil narratives is that they were stupid and sadistic.

That is the KINDEST thing you can say. The more likely explanation is that they were fascistic–desperate to force people to comply with irrational diktats, the irrationality itself being part of the point. Turning people into dancing monkeys ensures enduring power in a way that persuading them doesn’t. 

COVID policies were about training the public to give up their freedom and their ability to think for themselves. You are neither free, nor even able to discern how unfree you are.

Dissenters must be crushed, in the way that Mao’s cultural revolution created a society of mindless compliant sadists and cultural outcasts who were literally sent out into the countryside to force repentance. Comply or die, or at the very least be cast out.

It is telling that the COVID fascists are if anything more elevated than ever. Not only have they not apologized, but they remain lionized. They are prepared to do it again, too.

Expect the climate “emergency” to repeat the process, complete with similar irrationalities.

John Kerry just explained that we must close farms to reduce climate change, or else people will starve. The Dutch have been actually closing the farms, to the delight of the Elite and the horror of the Dutch farmers, who are among the most productive in the world. The court battles and protests have been epic.

Make of that what you will.

Some of you think I am a conspiracy theorist, because no exalted group of people could be so cruel and destructive. Watch the video above and tell me what you see. Is anything they said to justify their cruelty and destruction actually true? Was wishing for the death of the unvaccinated justified?

If not, rethink your skepticism.”

Before the imposition of the lockdowns, public health experts championed moderation and scientific rationality, firmly opposing measures such as forced lockdowns, mandatory masking, and school closures.

Indeed, as we recall, in early March, notable figures such as Gregg Gonsalves, Rochelle Walensky, and 800 other scholars lent their names to a letter echoing the sentiments of the Great Barrington Declaration.

Yet, a seismic shift occurred by mid-March. Chinese-style lockdowns, along with compulsory masking and school closures, became the new fashion.

These erstwhile moderate principles, now jettisoned by our authorities, continue to find robust support in the data accumulated during the pandemic's course.

What spurred our learned class to renounce science so abruptly?

What triggered such a radical shift in consensus over merely a week or two?

Now, let's attempt to render the subsequent questions with greater clarity and intelligence:

What's stalling our collective return to the fundamental realization that these drastic measures have wreaked havoc on our society?

Why do we falter in acknowledging that individuals like Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, and Sunetra Gupta were not extremists, but simply espousing viewpoints that were in line with the moderate pre-pandemic consensus?

What unfathomable forces were at play in March 2020? How did we, as a society, lose our collective sanity? More importantly, how can we ensure the prevention of such a scenario in the future?

And for those who like to virtue signal with the hashtag #NeverAgain, remember that every time Adolf Hitler took away the rights of citizens, he told people it was for 'public safety'.

You can interpret this two ways.

1) He actually cared about public safety, or

2) He was looking for an excuse to seize absolute power.

In 1930s, it was typhus. In 2020, it was Covid.

We can add many names to this list.

Stalin, Mao, Nero ... from ancient times onward, every dictator who tyrannizes his citizens has told them he is doing it 'for their own protection'.

It’s 2023: Name something more embarrassing than being ADAMANTLY pro vax ⬇️ (Drop in comments)

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Dodgers Instant Replay

Last week I noted: In the grand tapestry of American politics, Los Angeles stands out as an oasis of fervent and deranged leftism. Yet, it appears the city's beloved Dodgers have managed to traverse a bridge deemed too far even for their bathsit crazy leftist residents.

The team was forced to walk back an invitation to the Blasphemous Nuns, a trans group who dress up queer nuns in creepy clown makeup to mock the Church and normies.

Of course, this ‘victory for virtue’ didn’t sit well with the Rainbow Mafia who made a stink and the Dodgers flip flopped back to their original position.

I’m sure the Hispanic Catholics who make up a big part of the Dodger’s crowd will appreciate their artistic flair.

Normies are asking did this dollar weaponization appear out of nowhere? Truth is, it’s been a long time coming.

In February of 2021 I wrote the following which reflected a commitment I made in 2020 to shop local, and only give my dollars to people and brands that align with my values and vision:

“I made a personal pledge towards the end of 2020 to do everything I can to stand in alignment with my commitment to spend my money with local shopkeepers and buy American.

God awful public policy decisions around the pandemic combined with hostile technological, demographic and political trends have put local mom and pop businesses behind the 8 ball.

So apart from my efforts in the decentralized space, I’m taking deliberate steps to do what I can to support Main Street including avoiding Amazon, Walmart and their ilk where possible and eating/shopping local (google 'CSA' or community supported agriculture).

Hyper-local spending keeps those dollars recycled in our respective communities and makes sure they don't go to cheap Chinese goods or multinationals that piss on our country and values.

Tangible, deliberate action everyday to spread love to Mom and Pops and local American businesses.

In sum, I'm making a big Bet on Main Street. And that means whenever possible:

1. Buy local

2. Tip generously

3. Pay or tip in cash when convenient

We can either lament the demise of American small business or we can do something about it.

The choice is ours. Let’s #BetOnMainStreet and #ShopLocal. Do what you can to support local small businesses.

Keep your eyes peeled for other hyper-local measures like New Hampshire's recently started "Support Local - Go the extra mile" program.

Americans have spent the better part of the last 3 decades believing politicians, industrialists and technocrats telling us buying Chinese and importing endless cheap labor would be great for the country. The reality is these devastating policies destroyed jobs, destroyed American manufacturing, and enriched our sworn enemy.

The Covid mess left us vulnerable and illustrated how much of our pharmaceutical, rare earth metals and other supply chains are all totally dependent on China for sourcing. It's time to rebuild America, and redirect the energy back to America, businesses, jobs and innovation.”

LOLOLOLOL!

DC Draino also offers a decent explanation of, “Why now?”

So many Americans were taking a “live & let live” mentality when it came to the trans movement

But once everyone learned that teachers were targeting kids to change their genders w/o parent consent and doctors were sterilizing little kids with puberty blockers and genital mutilation, people started to push back

“This is going too far - leave the kids alone”

State laws were passed to ban this school targeting and permanent mutilation

Then the Nashville Trans Terrorist killed kids and adults in a Christian school and that changed *everything*

People woke up to how radical this movement had become

And what did Bud Light do that same week while families were grieving?

They released an ad affirming their support for the *trans movement* not the families

What did Target do weeks later? Released Satanic children’s clothing saying “Satan respects Pronouns”

People were furious and rightfully so

Millions of us realized we could no longer sit back and hope this radical agenda faded

We knew we had to fight back and fight HARD

Elections may be every 2-4 years, but we can vote with our wallets every day

So that’s what we’re doing

We are going to protect our children from a dangerous ideology that has grown far too radicalized

Once the propaganda in your movement leads to insane people shooting and mutilating children, the gloves come off

That’s why our boycotts will not stop

As I wrote back in March of 2021: If we check out, starve the beast, align with like minded communities and continue to sow the seeds of growth of a new coalition and political and financial system based on decentralization, voluntaryism and innovation, we win in the end.

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The Top 10 Headlines the Media Didn’t Tell You This Week

10. 60,000 lbs of explosive ammonium nitrate still missing from cargo train.

9. Target took over $9 billion loss, pulled their pride display from stores after parents pushed back.

8. WHO Chief warned of 'EVEN DEADLIER' virus than COVID-19.

7. FDA warns of elevated myocarditis in children post Pfizer's COVID vaccination.

6. DeSantis announced his candidacy live on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk, despite technical difficulties.

5. Polls show majority of voters want FBI officials prosecuted for interference in Donald Trump's 2020 election.

4. George Floyd autopsy confirms there were no ‘life threatening injuries.’

3. Ukraine loses control of city Bakhmut to Russia, despite continued US aid.

2. New Poll finds nearly two out of three Americans believe the media is the enemy of the people.

1. Speaker McCarthy caves to Democrats in negotiations to end debt standoff.

Easier to find Waldo than one of these headlines in the NY Times or Washington Post.

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George Floyd

The complete autopsy report for George Floyd made its debut this week, finally shedding light on the ‘puzzle’. As predicted by many after the sneak previews released last year, it was the toxic cocktail of drugs in Floyd's system, which included a fatal dose of fentanyl, that likely sent him to his untimely end. The report, in no uncertain terms, revealed a stark lack of "life-threatening injuries". Thus, Derek Chauvin's knee, contrary to popular belief, wasn't the grim reaper here.

Now, does this jive with the narrative spun by the mainstream media and left-wing militants over the past few years?

The left spent the entire Summer of 2020 looting, destroying, murdering and burning down cities…all over a lie.

If there's a silver lining to this dark cloud, it's the fact that such a masquerade will be hard to stage again. The Left's attempts to whip up a frenzy over recent incidents like "Michael Jackson" doppelganger Jordan Neely have largely been met with a collective yawn. The tide, it seems, is starting to turn.

As Roger Daltrey and The Who said, “We won’t get fooled again.”

Here’s the actual autopsy document you can read for yourself.

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Black Lives in the Red

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation could soon be going bankrupt after piling up an $8.5 million deficit last year, according to financial disclosures reviewed by The Washington Free Beacon. The organization has been scrutinized for its use of donor funds, including purchases of multi-million dollar residential properties and 7-figure payments to the co-founders' family members.

Having raised well over a $100 million dollars, it’s remarkable to see how fast the leadership burned through the money by paying off their family and friends while accomplishing nothing of substance.

Not a bad grift for a neo-marxist race hating organization that wants to destroy the nuclear family is it?

Things I’m Reading and Watching…

A16z shares their AI Canon, a curated list of resources we’ve relied on to get smarter about modern AI. They call it the “AI Canon” because these papers, blog posts, courses, and guides have had an outsized impact on the field over the past several years.

Victor Davis Hanson on The Absurdities of Our Age.

Not the Bee asks the question that is on a lot of our minds: What's with the huge increase in Chinese migrants hopping across our southern border?

Daniel Horowitz adds some additional color on the question above.

Putin Tells it Like it Is

"The west is a tragedy unfolding, and western leaders insist on giving Putin the greatest gift of all: a reason to rally his people behind his leadership.  We are a cultural disaster. Yet we have conservative political leaders in North America downplaying the importance of fighting the culture war.  Yes, it’s always about the economy, but there won’t be much of an economy if we don’t stop the Marxification and deprivation of our culture."

--Chris ‘Billboard Chris’ Elston, Canadian activist fighting pediatric sex change surgeries

Here’s the Putin video he’s referring to. It’s worth a watch. This isn’t an endorsement of Putin in any way. But tell me where he’s wrong here. Vet the message, not the messenger.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/YJBqNNp7s4RX/

Extreme Federalism - reading it now and impressed so far. It’s one of the few paths forward for this country that doesn’t end in secession, civil war or digital slavery.

Here’s an excerpt: Nearly all that once stood as the common understandings that stitched the fabric of our union into one has fallen under the microscope that is the religion of politics.  Qualifications and exceptions abound.  No longer is it sufficient to love; you should only love those who agree with your dogmas, whether they be right or left.  Neither the inherent love that accompanies friendships nor family can survive the judgement of this new religion.  Hate has fared no better than love. 

What once was a corrosive force that destroys the vessel that holds it is now a virtue if directed at the proper non-believers.  Special scorn is reserved for the apostates of each side that dare to find common ground.  If the concepts of love and hate be not immune to this new religion of politics, what chance do other, once wholly accepted, founding principles have of survival.

Freedom of religion has long been portrayed as freedom from religion.  Freedom of speech is no longer a protected right in today’s digital town squares.  Freedom of the press is a meaningless phrase as it would require an actual unbiased press rather than the dogmatic propagandists that cater to the left or right.  Even the freedom to assemble is viewed as just or unjust depending on the purpose and grievance of those assembling. 

All these rights, and more, which were once universally praised and defended, regardless of agreement to the merits of its purpose, are now subject to qualifications, exceptions, and even outright rejection based on their alignment with left or right dogmas.

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Taste of Tweeter

Nice forehead. Is that a mask malfunction or a new clone?

Here’s the article he’s referring to: The War in Ukraine was Provoked

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Memetic Warfare

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Parting Words….

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Whereas the supreme and selfless sacrifice of those who gave their lives on the field of honor have made it possible for succeeding American generations to remain free and enjoy the spiritual and material blessings of our free society; and

Whereas the courage and ideals of our noble dead have contributed to the advancement of the cause of world freedom and stand as an inspiration to us all; and

Whereas in our time we face a challenge which demands of us the same virtues of loyalty, courage, and devotion to country that characterized our fallen heroes; and

Whereas Memorial Day each year provides a fitting occasion upon which Americans may not only pay tribute to our honored dead but also unite in prayer for success in our search for a just and lasting peace; and

Whereas to this end the Congress, in a joint resolution approved May 11, 1950 (64 Stat. 158), requested the President to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe each Memorial Day as a day of prayer for permanent peace:

Now, Therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, do hereby urge the people of the United States to observe Memorial Day, Wednesday, May 30, 1962, by invoking the blessing of God on those who have died in defense of our country, and by praying for a new world of law where peace and justice shall be assured for all; and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at eleven o'clock in the morning of that day as the time to unite in such prayer.

I also urge the press, radio, television, and all other media of information to cooperate in this observance.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this Eighteenth day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-sixth.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

By the President

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That’s it for this week freedom fighters. See you next Sunday!