lewrockwell--2020-01-23--Guide to Nutraceuticals for Heart Health

I have written extensively about non-drug approaches to heart health .
I have written about : ( 4 ) Blood clots within coronary arteries and how to dissolve them .
( 6 ) Resveratrol and its amazing ability to prevent damage from heart attacks and to develop collateral circulation around blockages of coronary arteries .
Why Animals Donu2019t ... Matthias Rath Best Price : $ 2.34 Buy New $ 24.80 ( 7 ) Why resveratrol should replace aspirin to prevent heart attacks .
( 8 ) That calcification of coronary arteries is a better predictor of a future heart attack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mortal heart attack over the next 10 years of your life is near zero if the measure of calcium in your coronary arteries is zero .
( 9 ) A blood cholesterol/protein called lipoprotein ( a ) is a “ risk factor in adults that is very high , considerably higher than blood pressure , blood serum cholesterol and C-reactive protein.
” The threat posed by lipoprotein ( a ) is countered by vitamin C. ( 10 ) Both high blood levels of lipoprotein ( a ) and arterial calcifications are accompanied by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with IP6 rice bran extract helps to lower iron storage ( ferritin ) levels .
( 11 ) There is more evidence that zinc can reduce mortality rates for coronary artery disease than there is for statin cholesterol-lowering drugs .
( 12 ) Garlic ( allicin ) works better than three classes of heart drugs ; removes calcifications .
For readers searching for non-drug answers to these issues often have difficulty sorting out priorities and may eventually end up with a grab-bag of dietary supplements because cardiologists are not well-versed in their use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , vitamin C , fish oil , resveratrol , zinc , thiamine/vitamin B1 , garlic , chondroitin sulfate , all may be helpful for different types of heart problems .
But when and why to use them ?
Here are my suggestions ( not prescriptions for any individual as I can ’ t practice medicine ) : • First priority : prevent sudden-death heart attacks by supplementing the diet with electrolyte minerals , namely magnesium and potassium .
Modern medicine completely overlooks this .
• Prevent 1st-event heart attacks by inhibiting blood clots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , garlic , vitamin C , in lieu of aspirin ; and/or widen ( dilate ) blood vessels via activation of nitric oxide with resveratrol , garlic , beet juice , citrulline ( works like a nitroglycerin tablet ) .
• Prevent 2nd-event heart attacks , relieve angina and/or repair scarred heart muscle or diseased coronary arteries by taking chondroitin sulfate + vitamin C and resveratrol .
• Prevent or dissolve calcifications that stiffen coronary arteries with Vitamin D , vitamin K , magnesium and IP6 rice bran .
• In the event @ @ @ @ @ @ @ heart attack or among diabetics ) , restore energy to mitochondria in heart muscle cells with use of magnesium , coenzyme Q10 , resveratrol , vitamin B1 thiamine as benfotiamine .
These remedies should help increase the blood pumping ( ejection fraction ) of the heart .
Labeling and advertising of dietary supplements are limited to promote heart health and can not make statements they prevent , diagnose or treat disease .
But there is a tremendous body of data showing nutraceuticals exert the same or superior biological action as Rx drugs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ making disease-related claims on their product labels or advertising , structure ( heart ) and function claims ( example : supports healthy blood circulation in coronary arteries ) can be made .
An independent journalist can say anything without threat of sanction by the FDA .
It is a travesty that dietary supplements which have the same or superior biological action to prescription drugs can not make any claims they resolve diseases , even say they prevent deficiency diseases such as scurvy ( vitamin C ) , pellagra ( niacin ) , rickets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anemia ( vitamin B12 ) .
Practicing Medicine Wi ... Owen Fonorow Best Price : $ 15.20 Buy New $ 26.25 There are no prescription drugs that are marketed to restore and repair damaged heart tissue ( like vitamin C ) , activate internal antioxidant defenses prior to a heart attack ( like resveratrol ) , or increase cell energy to heart muscle ( like magnesium and coenzyme Q10 ) .
Nutraceuticals are not 2nd-line measures for heart health .
In fact , many of the nutrients that are beneficial for heart health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the red wine molecule resveratrol counters narrowed or blocked arteries by creation of alternate collateral circulation around these blockages in what Harvard Medical School calls “ do-it-yourself bypass.
” You ’ ve probably never heard about this from any cardiologist .
Resveratrol activates internal antioxidants BEFORE a heart attack occurs , minimizing the area of damage of a heart attack .
No cardiac drug does this .
Modern cardiology gives lip service to reduction of lipoprotein ( a ) levels in the blood circulation , but lipoprotein ( a ) is not a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Most animals internally produce vitamin C via conversion of blood sugar ( glucose ) in the liver to ascorbate ( vitamin C ) on a continual basis .
Humans have genetically lost the ability to do this .
So , lipoprotein ( a ) takes vitamin C ’ s place and is a “ sticky bandage ” that attracts blood platelets to induce blood clots .
This is why humans have heart attacks but animals don ’ t .
Blood tests to measure Lp ( a ) levels in blood circulation are useless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lp ( a ) ’ s incorporation into the wall of coronary arteries .
A published report says “ lipoprotein ( a ) is a risk factor in adults that is very high , considerably higher than blood pressure , blood serum cholesterol and C-reactive protein.
” Elevated Lp ( a ) levels can cause arterial disease ( atherosclerosis ) without elevated total cholesterol .
Vitamin C is rapidly excreted and should be taken every 4-6 hours for optimal protection .
A novel vitamin C supplement that restores vitamin C levels 24/7 is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ levels of Lp ( a ) rise with the accumulation of iron in the body .
Particularly in adult males it is best to limit red meat which provides highly absorbable iron .
High iron levels increase the risk for an severe heart attack by 572 % !
( High iron levels are also associated with arterial calcification. )
.
IP6 rice bran extract is the best natural molecule to reduce high iron levels and IP6 also eradicates arterial calcifications .
The top three nutraceuticals to take for heart health would be ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resveratrol ; ( 3 ) vitamin C. For heart failure the top 4 supplements would be : ( 1 ) magnesium ; ( 2 ) vitamin B1 ; ( 3 ) resveratrol ; ( 4 ) coenzyme Q10 .
If taking statin drugs , the top three supplements to overcome drug-induced side effects would be ( 1 ) vitamin D ; ( 2 ) coenzyme Q10 and ( 3 ) resveratrol .
FDA limits potassium to 99 mg in dietary supplements for fear of overload when using potassium-sparing diuretics .
Cardiology ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reduction which does not prevent mortal heart attacks .
Circulating cholesterol is not equivalent to cholesterol plaque which is oxidized cholesterol .
Given that statin drugs commonly induce untoward side effects that cause many patients to cease taking them , this often leaves patients with no real measures beyond counterproductive aspirin or problematic blood thinners to prevent 1st or 2nd heart attacks .
Furthermore , as many adults experience a heart attack with low cholesterol as high .
This becomes very confusing for the patient who often does not have time or energy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ To add to the confusion , 50 million Americans have habitually been taking aspirin to prevent blood clots from forming in coronary arteries which the American Heart Association no longer embraces .
Lp ( a ) - Lipoprotein ( a ) , a form of cholesterol that substitutes for vitamin C within coronary arteries , inducing blood clots and circulatory blockages ( strokes , heart attacks ) .
Calcification– hardening and stiffening of tissues by insoluble calcium Electrolyte– A mineral that has the capacity to conduct electricity ; controls the current that facilitates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way of mimicking biological stress signals that in turn activate internal antioxidant defenses to limit damage from a heart attack .
The red wine molecule resveratrol is the most widely tested molecule that produces cardiac preconditioning .
Heart failure- failure of the heart to pump oxygenated blood due to lack of cellular energy ; measured by ejection fraction ( % of blood pumped )

I have written extensively about non-drug approaches to heart health. I have written about:
(1) Sudden death heart attack.
(2) Statin cholesterol-lowering drugs only prevent non-mortal heart attacks.
(3) The Dr. Lester Morrison chondroitin sulfate remedy for heart health;
(4) Blood clots within coronary arteries and how to dissolve them.
(5) The Drs. Linus Pauling/Matthias Rath vitamin C/lysine remedy for heart disease.
(6) Resveratrol and its amazing ability to prevent damage from heart attacks and to develop collateral circulation around blockages of coronary arteries. Why Animals Don’... Rath, Matthias Best Price: $1.48 Buy New $40.35 (as of 08:10 UTC - Details)
(7) Why resveratrol should replace aspirin to prevent heart attacks.
(8) That calcification of coronary arteries is a better predictor of a future heart attack than cholesterol. The risk of a mortal heart attack over the next 10 years of your life is near zero if the measure of calcium in your coronary arteries is zero.
(9) A blood cholesterol/protein called lipoprotein(a) is a “risk factor in adults that is very high, considerably higher than blood pressure, blood serum cholesterol and C-reactive protein.” The threat posed by lipoprotein(a) is countered by vitamin C.
(10) Both high blood levels of lipoprotein(a) and arterial calcifications are accompanied by elevated iron levels. Blood-letting and/or supplementation with IP6 rice bran extract helps to lower iron storage (ferritin) levels.
(11) There is more evidence that zinc can reduce mortality rates for coronary artery disease than there is for statin cholesterol-lowering drugs.
(12) Garlic (allicin) works better than three classes of heart drugs; removes calcifications.
For readers searching for non-drug answers to these issues often have difficulty sorting out priorities and may eventually end up with a grab-bag of dietary supplements because cardiologists are not well-versed in their use. Nutraceuticals like coenzyme Q10, magnesium, vitamin C, fish oil, resveratrol, zinc, thiamine/vitamin B1, garlic, chondroitin sulfate, all may be helpful for different types of heart problems. But when and why to use them?
Here are my suggestions (not prescriptions for any individual as I can’t practice medicine):
PRIORITIZATION OF HEART REMEDIES
First priority: prevent sudden-death heart attacks by supplementing the diet with electrolyte minerals, namely magnesium and potassium. Modern medicine completely overlooks this. Prevent 1st-event heart attacks by inhibiting blood clots with use of resveratrol, fish oil, garlic, vitamin C, in lieu of aspirin; and/or widen (dilate) blood vessels via activation of nitric oxide with resveratrol, garlic, beet juice, citrulline (works like a nitroglycerin tablet). Prevent 2nd-event heart attacks, relieve angina and/or repair scarred heart muscle or diseased coronary arteries by taking chondroitin sulfate + vitamin C and resveratrol. Prevent or dissolve calcifications that stiffen coronary arteries with Vitamin D, vitamin K, magnesium and IP6 rice bran. In the event of heart failure (common after a heart attack or among diabetics), restore energy to mitochondria in heart muscle cells with use of magnesium, coenzyme Q10, resveratrol, vitamin B1 thiamine as benfotiamine. These remedies should help increase the blood pumping (ejection fraction) of the heart.
Labeling and advertising of dietary supplements are limited to promote heart health and cannot make statements they prevent, diagnose or treat disease. But there is a tremendous body of data showing nutraceuticals exert the same or superior biological action as Rx drugs. While dietary supplement makers are forbidden from making disease-related claims on their product labels or advertising, structure (heart) and function claims (example: supports healthy blood circulation in coronary arteries) can be made. An independent journalist can say anything without threat of sanction by the FDA.
It is a travesty that dietary supplements which have the same or superior biological action to prescription drugs cannot make any claims they resolve diseases, even say they prevent deficiency diseases such as scurvy (vitamin C), pellagra (niacin), rickets (vitamin D), or pernicious anemia (vitamin B12). Practicing Medicine Wi... Fonorow, Owen Best Price: $19.30 Buy New $25.73 (as of 05:10 UTC - Details)
There are no prescription drugs that are marketed to restore and repair damaged heart tissue (like vitamin C), activate internal antioxidant defenses prior to a heart attack (like resveratrol), or increase cell energy to heart muscle (like magnesium and coenzyme Q10). Nutraceuticals are not 2nd-line measures for heart health. In fact, many of the nutrients that are beneficial for heart health are essential for life.
Remarkably, the red wine molecule resveratrol counters narrowed or blocked arteries by creation of alternate collateral circulation around these blockages in what Harvard Medical School calls “do-it-yourself bypass.” You’ve probably never heard about this from any cardiologist. Resveratrol activates internal antioxidants BEFORE a heart attack occurs, minimizing the area of damage of a heart attack. No cardiac drug does this.
Modern cardiology gives lip service to reduction of lipoprotein(a) levels in the blood circulation, but lipoprotein(a) is not a problem if there is sufficient vitamin C. Most animals internally produce vitamin C via conversion of blood sugar (glucose) in the liver to ascorbate (vitamin C) on a continual basis. Humans have genetically lost the ability to do this. So, lipoprotein(a) takes vitamin C’s place and is a “sticky bandage” that attracts blood platelets to induce blood clots. This is why humans have heart attacks but animals don’t. Blood tests to measure Lp(a) levels in blood circulation are useless. Just take vitamin C to block Lp(a)’s incorporation into the wall of coronary arteries. A published report says “lipoprotein(a) is a risk factor in adults that is very high, considerably higher than blood pressure, blood serum cholesterol and C-reactive protein.” Elevated Lp(a) levels can cause arterial disease (atherosclerosis) without elevated total cholesterol.
Vitamin C is rapidly excreted and should be taken every 4-6 hours for optimal protection. A novel vitamin C supplement that restores vitamin C levels 24/7 is also now available.
Also, blood levels of Lp(a) rise with the accumulation of iron in the body. Particularly in adult males it is best to limit red meat which provides highly absorbable iron. High iron levels increase the risk for an severe heart attack by 572%! (High iron levels are also associated with arterial calcification.). IP6 rice bran extract is the best natural molecule to reduce high iron levels and IP6 also eradicates arterial calcifications.
The top three nutraceuticals to take for heart health would be (1) magnesium; (2) resveratrol; (3) vitamin C. For heart failure the top 4 supplements would be: (1) magnesium; (2) vitamin B1; (3) resveratrol; (4) coenzyme Q10.
If taking statin drugs, the top three supplements to overcome drug-induced side effects would be (1) vitamin D; (2) coenzyme Q10 and (3) resveratrol.
FDA limits potassium to 99 mg in dietary supplements for fear of overload when using potassium-sparing diuretics.
Cardiology’s sole focus is on statin drug cholesterol reduction which does not prevent mortal heart attacks. Circulating cholesterol is not equivalent to cholesterol plaque which is oxidized cholesterol. Given that statin drugs commonly induce untoward side effects that cause many patients to cease taking them, this often leaves patients with no real measures beyond counterproductive aspirin or problematic blood thinners to prevent 1st or 2nd heart attacks. Furthermore, as many adults experience a heart attack with low cholesterol as high. This becomes very confusing for the patient who often does not have time or energy to get educated about heart health.
To add to the confusion, 50 million Americans have habitually been taking aspirin to prevent blood clots from forming in coronary arteries which the American Heart Association no longer embraces.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Lp(a)- Lipoprotein(a), a form of cholesterol that substitutes for vitamin C within coronary arteries, inducing blood clots and circulatory blockages (strokes, heart attacks).
Calcification– hardening and stiffening of tissues by insoluble calcium
Electrolyte– A mineral that has the capacity to conduct electricity; controls the current that facilitates heart pumping.
Collateral circulation– alternate circulation around a blocked artery.
Cardiac Preconditioning– a molecular way of mimicking biological stress signals that in turn activate internal antioxidant defenses to limit damage from a heart attack. The red wine molecule resveratrol is the most widely tested molecule that produces cardiac preconditioning.
Blood clots- accumulation of blood platelets that block coronary arteries
Heart failure- failure of the heart to pump oxygenated blood due to lack of cellular energy; measured by ejection fraction (% of blood pumped)
Fibrosis- scarring of heart muscle tissue


lewrockwell--2020-01-23--Making Sense of the Impeachment Charges

Making Sense of the Impeachment Charges

Prior to the impeachment of Trump , not by Congress as presstitutes report but by self-interested House Democrats , during the entirety of US history there have been only two attempts to impeach a president—Andrew Johnson in 1868 and 130 years later Bill Clinton in 1998 .
Clinton was impeached by House Republicans when he clearly lied under oath by denying his sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky , a White House intern .
The Senate refused to convict him .
Enough Senators had enough sense to know that lying about a sexual affair , even under oath , did not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Moreover , Senators understood that few men would be inclined to embarrass their wife and daughter , or few women their husband and daughter , by admitting publicly to a sexual affair .
Andrew Johnson , a Tennessee Democrat , stood with the Republican Union of Abe Lincoln .
Consequently , Lincoln chose Johnson as his Vice President in his 1864 reelection campaign .
When Lincoln was assassinated , Johnson became president .
President Johnson took to heart Lincoln ’ s emphasis on restoring comity between North and South .
Consequently , Johnson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demeaning policies of the Republican Congress during Reconstruction .
He didn ’ t see how the Union could be restored on the basis of dispossession of Southerners , rape of Southern women , and the infliction of general humiliation on a conquered people .
The Tyranny of Good In ... Paul Craig Roberts , La ... Best Price : $ 6.96 Buy New $ 8.95 The fanatical Republican Congress , however , was set on punishment and humiliation of the South .
By blocking some of the most extreme Reconstruction measures , Johnson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Republicans had toward the South .
A series of disputes between the President and the Republican Congress led to a resolution of impeachment drafted by the Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction .
The charges against Johnson were contrived , a product of emotion , like the ones against Trump , and Johnson ’ s conviction failed by one vote in the Senate .
After his term ended in 1869 , Johnson ran for the US Senate and won .
Bill Clinton is the only one of the three to be impeached by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senators realized that the cause was not a high crime and refused to convict .
The three presidents who have been impeached are much less guilty of impeachable offences than many who have not been impeached .
For example , George W. Bush took America to war based on lies—for example , Saddam Hussein ’ s weapons of mass destruction .
These lies are much more serious than Clinton ’ s denial of a sexual affair .
Bush failed to uphold his duties and violated the US Constitution by suspending habeas corpus and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ process of law .
Obama intended to invade Syria on the basis of a lie , for example , Assad ’ s use of chemical weapons , but was prevented by Russia .
Obama escalated Bush ’ s attack on Constitutionally protected civil liberty by declaring his right to execute US citizens without due process of law .
Franklin D. Roosevelt kept knowledge of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor from the US Navy in order to have an infamous event that would allow him to enter the war against Germany .
Even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights set out in the Constitution and launching a war of aggression in order to preserve the empire .
There are more examples .
It is paradoxical that real crimes provide less inclination for impeachment than orchestrated fake crimes .
There were 11 contrived articles of impeachment against Johnson .
Against Trump there are two .
One is that he abused his power as president by asking the president of Ukraine to reopen the investigation of the energy company , on which Obama ’ s Vice President Biden had placed his son as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Biden had forced the previous president of Ukraine to shut down the investigation by firing the prosecutor or otherwise forfeit $ 1 billion in US aid .
The Democrats have no evidence that Trump offered the Ukrainian president US aid in exchange for political dirt against Biden , and the president of Ukraine said there was no such offer .
What would be the point of Trump asking for dirt against Biden when Biden himself boasted before the Council on Foreign Relations that he had forced the Ukrainian President to fire the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ https : //www.nysun.com/editorials/well-son-of-a-bitch-ukraine-scandal-is-about-biden/90846/ This is common knowledge .
Why should Trump have to pay Ukraine for it ?
Vice President Biden ’ s clear , open admission that he did what Democrats falsely accuse Trump of doing is total proof of the utter corruption of the Democratic Party .
Now , let ’ s suppose the Democrats are correct in order to see how inconsequential and commonplace the charge against Trump would be even if true .
The United States government has historically , has always , and is forever telling foreign governments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ won ’ t get any money .
This is the commonplace behavior of the United States in its foreign policy , which is not based on normal diplomacy but on bribes , sanctions , threats , and , if the country does not comply , bombings and invasions .
Trump did not tell Ukraine that he was going to sanction , bomb , or invade if Ukraine did not reopen an investigation that was closed entirely on the basis of Biden ’ s threat to withhold US aid money .
If anyone should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden .
The second charge in Trump ’ s impeachment is “ obstruction of Congress.
” The US Constitution gives the President the power to obstruct Congress .
Every time a President vetoes a bill , he obstructs Congress .
The idea that obstructing Congress is an impeachable offense is insane nonsense .
It works only because Americans are ignorant .
They do not know what the Constitution says or anything about the balance of powers the Constitution establishes between executive , legislature , and Judiciary .
Similarly , Congress has the power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ratify his treaties , by rejecting his budget and spending priorities and by refusing to confirm his appointees in office .
How America Was Lost : ... Dr. Paul Craig Roberts Best Price : $ 5.35 Buy New $ 4.58 What is the real basis of the obstruction charge ?
I will tell you .
It means that the House Democrats could not find anything on Trump , so they charge that Trump obstructed them by hiding the evidence and not letting executive branch officials testify who would have ratted him out .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ The charge is that the exercise of executive privilege , which every president has used , is an obstruction of Congress .
That is all the charge means .
How did such an absurd charge become an impeachable offense ?
In the Senate the fight over “ the rules ” is a fight over whether Democrats will be able to reproduce in the Senate , in place of what is supposed to be a trial based on the evidence that led to the House ’ s impeachment charge , a continuation of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ charges , more orchestrated “ evidence.
” In other words , the Democrats intend to use the trial as a continuation of the soap opera hoping to extend it long enough that some of the mud will stick to Trump and defeat his reelection .
We must ask ourselves how American politics has degenerated to such a comical level .
How can the US be taken seriously as a world leader when for the entirety of a presidential term one of the two political parties has done nothing but to try to destroy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Is the US going to have its own Hutu-Tutsi genocide ?
This question is unrelated to whether or not we approve of Trump or think that he is a good President .
An unapproved President is simply not reelected .
He does not need to be impeached .
Obviousy , it is Trump ’ s reelection that Democrats fear , and they are using impeachment to try to prevent Trump ’ s reelection .
This is not the function of a political party .
A political party is supposed to represent the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time , the Democrats ’ constituents were the working class .
The Republicans represented business interests .
There was countervailing power bewteen the two .
Sometimes business interests got the upper hand .
Sometimes the working class got the upper hand .
But the system worked and served both parties .
What , who , does the system serve today ?
The Best of Paul Craig Roberts

Prior to the impeachment of Trump, not by Congress as presstitutes report but by self-interested House Democrats, during the entirety of US history there have been only two attempts to impeach a president—Andrew Johnson in 1868 and 130 years later Bill Clinton in 1998.
Clinton was impeached by House Republicans when he clearly lied under oath by denying his sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. The Senate refused to convict him. Enough Senators had enough sense to know that lying about a sexual affair, even under oath, did not rise to a “high crime.” Moreover, Senators understood that few men would be inclined to embarrass their wife and daughter, or few women their husband and daughter, by admitting publicly to a sexual affair.
Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat, stood with the Republican Union of Abe Lincoln. Consequently, Lincoln chose Johnson as his Vice President in his 1864 reelection campaign. When Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson became president.
President Johnson took to heart Lincoln’s emphasis on restoring comity between North and South. Consequently, Johnson opposed the harsh, exploitative, and demeaning policies of the Republican Congress during Reconstruction. He didn’t see how the Union could be restored on the basis of dispossession of Southerners, rape of Southern women, and the infliction of general humiliation on a conquered people. The Tyranny of Good In... Paul Craig Roberts, La... Best Price: $6.96 Buy New $8.95 (as of 07:10 UTC - Details)
The fanatical Republican Congress, however, was set on punishment and humiliation of the South. By blocking some of the most extreme Reconstruction measures, Johnson aroused the same enmity against himself as the Republicans had toward the South. A series of disputes between the President and the Republican Congress led to a resolution of impeachment drafted by the Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction.
The charges against Johnson were contrived, a product of emotion, like the ones against Trump, and Johnson’s conviction failed by one vote in the Senate. After his term ended in 1869, Johnson ran for the US Senate and won.
Bill Clinton is the only one of the three to be impeached by the House for cause, but enough Senators realized that the cause was not a high crime and refused to convict.
The three presidents who have been impeached are much less guilty of impeachable offences than many who have not been impeached. For example, George W. Bush took America to war based on lies—for example, Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. These lies are much more serious than Clinton’s denial of a sexual affair. Bush failed to uphold his duties and violated the US Constitution by suspending habeas corpus and detaining citizens indefinitely without evidence and due process of law. Obama intended to invade Syria on the basis of a lie, for example, Assad’s use of chemical weapons, but was prevented by Russia. Obama escalated Bush’s attack on Constitutionally protected civil liberty by declaring his right to execute US citizens without due process of law. Franklin D. Roosevelt kept knowledge of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor from the US Navy in order to have an infamous event that would allow him to enter the war against Germany. Even Lincoln was guilty of destroying states’ rights set out in the Constitution and launching a war of aggression in order to preserve the empire. There are more examples.
It is paradoxical that real crimes provide less inclination for impeachment than orchestrated fake crimes.
There were 11 contrived articles of impeachment against Johnson. Against Trump there are two. One is that he abused his power as president by asking the president of Ukraine to reopen the investigation of the energy company, on which Obama’s Vice President Biden had placed his son as a very highly paid director. Vice President Biden had forced the previous president of Ukraine to shut down the investigation by firing the prosecutor or otherwise forfeit $1 billion in US aid.
The Democrats have no evidence that Trump offered the Ukrainian president US aid in exchange for political dirt against Biden, and the president of Ukraine said there was no such offer. What would be the point of Trump asking for dirt against Biden when Biden himself boasted before the Council on Foreign Relations that he had forced the Ukrainian President to fire the prosecutor or forfeit $1 billion. https://www.nysun.com/editorials/well-son-of-a-bitch-ukraine-scandal-is-about-biden/90846/ This is common knowledge. Why should Trump have to pay Ukraine for it?
Vice President Biden’s clear, open admission that he did what Democrats falsely accuse Trump of doing is total proof of the utter corruption of the Democratic Party.
Now, let’s suppose the Democrats are correct in order to see how inconsequential and commonplace the charge against Trump would be even if true. The United States government has historically, has always, and is forever telling foreign governments to do this or that or you won’t get any money. This is the commonplace behavior of the United States in its foreign policy, which is not based on normal diplomacy but on bribes, sanctions, threats, and, if the country does not comply, bombings and invasions.
Trump did not tell Ukraine that he was going to sanction, bomb, or invade if Ukraine did not reopen an investigation that was closed entirely on the basis of Biden’s threat to withhold US aid money. If anyone should be facing a charge, it is Biden.
The second charge in Trump’s impeachment is “obstruction of Congress.” The US Constitution gives the President the power to obstruct Congress. Every time a President vetoes a bill, he obstructs Congress. The idea that obstructing Congress is an impeachable offense is insane nonsense. It works only because Americans are ignorant. They do not know what the Constitution says or anything about the balance of powers the Constitution establishes between executive, legislature, and Judiciary.
Similarly, Congress has the power to obstruct a President by refusing to ratify his treaties, by rejecting his budget and spending priorities and by refusing to confirm his appointees in office. How America Was Lost: ... Roberts, Dr. Paul Craig Best Price: $5.35 Buy New $2.99 (as of 10:30 UTC - Details)
What is the real basis of the obstruction charge? I will tell you. It means that the House Democrats could not find anything on Trump, so they charge that Trump obstructed them by hiding the evidence and not letting executive branch officials testify who would have ratted him out. That is all the charge means. The charge is that the exercise of executive privilege, which every president has used, is an obstruction of Congress. That is all the charge means. How did such an absurd charge become an impeachable offense?
In the Senate the fight over “the rules” is a fight over whether Democrats will be able to reproduce in the Senate, in place of what is supposed to be a trial based on the evidence that led to the House’s impeachment charge, a continuation of the House circus with more witnessess, more charges, more orchestrated “evidence.” In other words, the Democrats intend to use the trial as a continuation of the soap opera hoping to extend it long enough that some of the mud will stick to Trump and defeat his reelection.
We must ask ourselves how American politics has degenerated to such a comical level. How can the US be taken seriously as a world leader when for the entirety of a presidential term one of the two political parties has done nothing but to try to destroy the President of the other political party? Is the US going to have its own Hutu-Tutsi genocide?
This question is unrelated to whether or not we approve of Trump or think that he is a good President. An unapproved President is simply not reelected. He does not need to be impeached. Obviousy, it is Trump’s reelection that Democrats fear, and they are using impeachment to try to prevent Trump’s reelection. This is not the function of a political party.
A political party is supposed to represent the interests of its constituents. At one time, the Democrats’ constituents were the working class. The Republicans represented business interests. There was countervailing power bewteen the two. Sometimes business interests got the upper hand. Sometimes the working class got the upper hand. But the system worked and served both parties.
What, who, does the system serve today?
The Best of Paul Craig Roberts


lewrockwell--2020-01-23--Whistleblower Was Overheard in ‘17 Discussing With Ally How To Remove Trump

Barely two weeks after Donald Trump took office , Eric Ciaramella – the CIA analyst whose name was recently linked in a tweet by the president and mentioned by lawmakers as the anonymous “ whistleblower ” who touched off Trump ’ s impeachment – was overheard in the White House discussing with another staffer how to remove the newly elected president from office , according to former colleagues .
Sources told RealClearInvestigations the staffer with whom Ciaramella was speaking was Sean Misko .
Both were Obama administration holdovers working in the Trump White House on foreign policy and national security @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s new “ America First ” foreign policy , a sea change from President Obama ’ s approach to international affairs .
“ Just days after he was sworn in they were already talking about trying to get rid of him , ” said a White House colleague who overheard their conversation .
“ They weren ’ t just bent on subverting his agenda , ” the former official added .
“ They were plotting to actually have him removed from office.
” Against the Left : A Ro ... Llewellyn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 13.57 Buy New $ 8.00 Misko left the White House last summer to join House impeachment manager Adam Schiff ’ s committee , where sources say he offered “ guidance ” to the whistleblower , who has been officially identified only as an intelligence officer in a complaint against Trump filed under whistleblower laws .
Misko then helped run the impeachment inquiry based on that complaint as a top investigator for congressional Democrats .
The probe culminated in Trump ’ s impeachment last month on a party-line vote in the House of Representatives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week delivered the articles of impeachment to the Senate , and are now pressing the case for his removal during the trial , which began Tuesday .
The coordination between the official believed to be the whistleblower and a key Democratic staffer , details of which are disclosed here for the first time , undercuts the narrative that impeachment developed spontaneously out of the “ patriotism ” of an “ apolitical civil servant.
” Two former co-workers said they overheard Ciaramella and Misko , close friends and Democrats held over from the Obama @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out , ” or remove , the new president from office within days of Trump ’ s inauguration .
These co-workers said the president ’ s controversial Ukraine phone call in July 2019 provided the pretext they and their Democratic allies had been looking for .

Barely two weeks after Donald Trump took office, Eric Ciaramella – the CIA analyst whose name was recently linked in a tweet by the president and mentioned by lawmakers as the anonymous “whistleblower” who touched off Trump’s impeachment – was overheard in the White House discussing with another staffer how to remove the newly elected president from office, according to former colleagues.
Sources told RealClearInvestigations the staffer with whom Ciaramella was speaking was Sean Misko. Both were Obama administration holdovers working in the Trump White House on foreign policy and national security issues. And both expressed anger over Trump’s new “America First” foreign policy, a sea change from President Obama’s approach to international affairs.
“Just days after he was sworn in they were already talking about trying to get rid of him,” said a White House colleague who overheard their conversation.
“They weren’t just bent on subverting his agenda,” the former official added. “They were plotting to actually have him removed from office.” Against the Left: A Ro... Rockwell Jr, Llewellyn H Best Price: $2.85 Buy New $8.00 (as of 07:59 UTC - Details)
Misko left the White House last summer to join House impeachment manager Adam Schiff’s committee, where sources say he offered “guidance” to the whistleblower, who has been officially identified only as an intelligence officer in a complaint against Trump filed under whistleblower laws. Misko then helped run the impeachment inquiry based on that complaint as a top investigator for congressional Democrats.
The probe culminated in Trump’s impeachment last month on a party-line vote in the House of Representatives. Schiff and other House Democrats last week delivered the articles of impeachment to the Senate, and are now pressing the case for his removal during the trial, which began Tuesday.
The coordination between the official believed to be the whistleblower and a key Democratic staffer, details of which are disclosed here for the first time, undercuts the narrative that impeachment developed spontaneously out of the “patriotism” of an “apolitical civil servant.”
Two former co-workers said they overheard Ciaramella and Misko, close friends and Democrats held over from the Obama administration, discussing how to “take out,” or remove, the new president from office within days of Trump’s inauguration. These co-workers said the president’s controversial Ukraine phone call in July 2019 provided the pretext they and their Democratic allies had been looking for.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-01-23--Deadly Distractions: Laying the Groundwork for the Next Civil War

And so it continues .
This impeachment fiasco is merely the latest in a never-ending series of distractions , distortions , and political theater aimed at diverting the public ’ s attention from the sinister advances of the American Police State .
Don ’ t allow yourselves to be distracted , diverted or mesmerized by the cheap theater tricks .
This impeachment spectacle is Shakespearean in its scope : full of sound and fury , signifying nothing .
Nothing is the key word here .
Despite the wall-to-wall media coverage , nothing will change .
Battlefield America : T ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10.95 Buy New $ 18.80 Mark my words : the government will remain as corrupt and self-serving as ever , dominated by two political factions that pretend to be at odds with each other all the while moving in lockstep to maintain the status quo .
So President Trump ’ s legal team can grandstand all they want about the impeachment trial being “ an affront to the Constitution ” and “ a dangerous perversion of the Constitution , ” but that ’ s just smoke and mirrors .
You know what is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” ?
The U.S. government .
We ’ ve been losing our freedoms so incrementally for so long—sold to us in the name of national security and global peace , maintained by way of martial law disguised as law and order , and enforced by a standing army of militarized police and a political elite determined to maintain their powers at all costs—that it ’ s hard to pinpoint exactly when it all started going downhill , but we ’ re certainly on that downward trajectory now , and things are moving fast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to take over America has succeeded .
The American system of representative government has been overthrown by a profit-driven , militaristic , corporate oligarchy bent on total control and global domination through the imposition of martial law here at home and by fomenting wars abroad .
Even now , we are being pushed and prodded towards a civil war , not because the American people are so divided but because that ’ s how corrupt governments control a populace ( i.e.
, divide and conquer ) .
These are indeed dangerous times but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remains at an all-time low , or because of terrorism , which is statistically rare , or because the borders are being invaded by foreign armies , which data reports from the Department of Homeland Security refute .
No , the real danger that we face comes from none other than the U.S. government and the powers it has granted to its standing armies to rob , steal , cheat , harass , detain , brutalize , terrorize , torture and kill American citizens with immunity .
The danger “ we the people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government payroll who crash through our doors in the dark of night , shoot our dogs , and terrorize our families .
This danger comes from militarized henchmen on the government payroll who demand absolute obedience , instill abject fear , and shoot first and ask questions later .
This danger comes from greedy , power-hungry bureaucrats on the government payroll who have little to no understanding of their constitutional limits .
This danger comes from greedy politicians and corporations for whom profit trumps principle .
You want to know about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s downright scary .
Consider , if you will , all of the dastardly , devious , diabolical , dangerous , debilitating , deceitful , dehumanizing , demonic , depraved , dishonorable , disillusioning , discriminatory , dictatorial schemes inflicted on “ we the people ” by a bureaucratic , totalitarian regime that has long since ceased to be “ a government of the people , by the people and for the people.
” Americans have no protection against police abuse .
It is no longer unusual to hear about incidents in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ questions later , such as the 16-year-old teenager who skipped school only to be shot by police after they mistook him for a fleeing burglar .
Then there was the unarmed black man in Texas “ who was pursued and shot in the back of the neck by Austin Police… after failing to properly identify himself and leaving the scene of an unrelated incident.
” And who could forget the 19-year-old Seattle woman who was accidentally shot in the leg by police after she refused to show her hands ?
What is increasingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the officers involved in these incidents get off with little more than a slap on the hands .
Americans are little more than pocketbooks to fund the police state .
If there is any absolute maxim by which the federal government seems to operate , it is that the American taxpayer always gets ripped off .
This is true , whether you ’ re talking about taxpayers being forced to fund high-priced weaponry that will be used against us , endless wars that do little for our safety or our freedoms , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ National Security Agency with its secret budgets , covert agendas and clandestine activities .
Rubbing salt in the wound , even monetary awards in lawsuits against government officials who are found guilty of wrongdoing are paid by the taxpayer .
Americans are no longer innocent until proven guilty .
We once operated under the assumption that you were innocent until proven guilty .
Due in large part to rapid advances in technology and a heightened surveillance culture , the burden of proof has been shifted so that the right to be considered innocent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new norm in which all citizens are suspects .
This is exemplified by police practices of stopping and frisking people who are merely walking down the street and where there is no evidence of wrongdoing .
Likewise , by subjecting Americans to full-body scans and license-plate readers without their knowledge or compliance and then storing the scans for later use , the government—in cahoots with the corporate state—has erected the ultimate suspect society .
In such an environment , we are all potentially guilty of some wrongdoing or other .
Americans no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the wake of various shootings in recent years , “ gun control ” has become a resounding theme .
Those advocating gun reform see the Second Amendment ’ s right to bear arms as applying only to government officials .
As a result , even Americans who legally own firearms are being treated with suspicion and , in some cases , undue violence .
In one case , a Texas man had his home subjected to a no-knock raid and was shot in his bed after police , attempting to deliver a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was in legal possession of a firearm .
In another incident , a Florida man who was licensed to carry a concealed firearm found himself detained for two hours during a routine traffic stop in Maryland while the arresting officer searched his vehicle in vain for the man ’ s gun , which he had left at home .
Incidentally , the Trump Administration has done more to crack down on Second Amendment rights than anything the Obama Administration ever managed .
Americans no longer have a right to private property .
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ break down your doors , kill your dog , damage your furnishings and terrorize your family , your property is no longer private and secure—it belongs to the government .
Likewise , if government officials can fine and arrest you for growing vegetables in your front yard , praying with friends in your living room , installing solar panels on your roof , and raising chickens in your backyard , you ’ re no longer the owner of your property .
Americans no longer have a say about what their children are exposed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government continues to insist that parents essentially forfeit their rights when they send their children to a public school .
This growing tension over whether young people , especially those in the public schools , are essentially wards of the state , to do with as government officials deem appropriate , in defiance of the children ’ s constitutional rights and those of their parents , is reflected in the debate over sex education programs that expose young people to all manner of sexual practices and terminology , zero tolerance policies that strip @ @ @ @ @ @ @ let alone parental involvement in school discipline , and Common Core programs that teach students to be test-takers rather than critical thinkers .
Americans are powerless in the face of militarized police .
In early America , citizens were considered equals with law enforcement officials .
Authorities were rarely permitted to enter one ’ s home without permission or in a deceitful manner .
And it was not uncommon for police officers to be held personally liable for trespass when they wrongfully invaded a citizen ’ s home .
Unlike today , early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officer tried to restrain them without proper justification or a warrant—which the police had to allow citizens to read before arresting them .
( Daring to dispute a warrant with a police official today who is armed with high-tech military weapons and tasers would be nothing short of suicidal . )
As police forces across the country continue to be transformed into outposts of the military , with police agencies acquiring military-grade hardware in droves , Americans are finding their once-peaceful communities transformed into military outposts , complete with tanks , weaponry , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Americans no longer have a right to bodily integrity .
Court rulings undermining the Fourth Amendment and justifying invasive strip searches have left us powerless against police empowered to forcefully draw our blood , strip search us , and probe us intimately .
Accounts are on the rise of individuals—men and women—being subjected to what is essentially government-sanctioned rape by police in the course of “ routine ” traffic stops .
Remember the New Mexico man who was subjected to a 12-hour ordeal of anal probes , X-rays , enemas , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through a stop sign ?
Americans no longer have a right to the expectation of privacy .
Despite the staggering number of revelations about government spying on Americans ’ phone calls , Facebook posts , Twitter tweets , Google searches , emails , bookstore and grocery purchases , bank statements , commuter toll records , etc.
, Congress , the president and the courts have done little to nothing to counteract these abuses .
Instead , they seem determined to accustom us to life in this electronic concentration camp .
Americans can no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out justice .
The U.S. Supreme Court was intended to be an institution established to intervene and protect the people against the government and its agents when they overstep their bounds .
Yet through their deference to police power , preference for security over freedom , and evisceration of our most basic rights for the sake of order and expediency , the justices of the Supreme Court have become the architects of the American police state in which we now live , while the lower courts have appointed themselves courts of order , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s agenda , no matter how unjust or illegal .
Americans no longer have a representative government .
We have moved beyond the era of representative government and entered a new age , let ’ s call it the age of authoritarianism .
In fact , a study conducted by Princeton and Northwestern University concluded that the U.S. government does not represent the majority of American citizens .
Instead , the study found that the government is ruled by the rich and powerful , or the so-called “ economic elite.
” Moreover , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this governmental elite nearly always favor special interests and lobbying groups .
It is not overstating matters to say that Congress , which has done its best to keep their unhappy constituents at a distance , may well be the most self-serving , semi-corrupt institution in America .
In other words , we are being ruled by an oligarchy disguised as a democracy , and arguably on our way towards fascism : a form of government where private corporate interests rule , money calls the shots , and the people are seen as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assured that when and if fascism finally takes hold in America , the basic forms of government will remain : Fascism will appear to be friendly .
The legislators will be in session .
There will be elections , and the news media will continue to cover the entertainment and political trivia .
Consent of the governed , however , will no longer apply .
Actual control will have finally passed to the oligarchic elite controlling the government behind the scenes .
Sound familiar ?
Clearly , we are now ruled by an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We have moved into “ corporatism ” ( favored by Benito Mussolini ) , which is a halfway point on the road to full-blown fascism .
Corporatism is where the few moneyed interests—not elected by the citizenry—rule over the many .
History may show that from this point forward , we will have left behind any semblance of constitutional government and entered into a totalitarian state where all citizens are suspects and security trumps freedom .
Even with its constantly shifting terrain , this topsy-turvy travesty of law and government has become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clinton to Bush , then Obama and now Trump , it ’ s as if we ’ ve been caught in a time loop , forced to re-live the same thing over and over again : the same assaults on our freedoms , the same disregard for the rule of law , the same subservience to the Deep State , and the same corrupt , self-serving government that exists only to amass power , enrich its shareholders and ensure its continued domination .
A Government of Wolves ... John W. Whitehead Best Price @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Elections will not save us .
I haven ’ t even touched on the corporate state , the military industrial complex , SWAT team raids , invasive surveillance technology , zero tolerance policies in the schools , overcriminalization , or privatized prisons , to name just a few , but what I have touched on should be enough to show that the landscape of our freedoms has already changed dramatically from what it once was and will no doubt continue to deteriorate unless Americans can find a way to wrest back control of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There can be no denying that the world is indeed a dangerous place , but what the president and his cohorts fail to acknowledge is that it ’ s the government that poses the gravest threat to our freedoms and way of life , and no amount of politicking , parsing or pandering will change that .
It is easy to be diverted , distracted and amused by the antics of politicians , the pomp and circumstance of awards shows , athletic events , and entertainment news , and the feel-good , wrapped-in-the-flag @ @ @ @ @ @ @ What is far more difficult to face up to is the reality of life in America , where unemployment , poverty , inequality , injustice and violence by government agents are increasingly norms , and where “ we the people ” are at a distinct disadvantage in the face of the government elite ’ s power grabs , greed and firepower .
The Constitution doesn ’ t stand a chance against a federalized , globalized standing army protected by legislative , judicial and executive branches that are all on the same side , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to : suffice it to say , they are not on our side or the side of freedom .
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America : The War on the American People , the powers-that-be want us to remain distracted , divided , alienated from each other based on our politics , our bank accounts , our religion , our race and our value systems .
Yet as George Orwell observed , “ The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.
” You either @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t .
It ’ s that simple .
Everything else is just a deadly distraction .
As Orwell observed in 1984 : The Best of John W. Whitehead

And so it continues.
This impeachment fiasco is merely the latest in a never-ending series of distractions, distortions, and political theater aimed at diverting the public’s attention from the sinister advances of the American Police State.
Don’t allow yourselves to be distracted, diverted or mesmerized by the cheap theater tricks.
This impeachment spectacle is Shakespearean in its scope: full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Nothing is the key word here.
Despite the wall-to-wall media coverage, nothing will change. Battlefield America: T... John W. Whitehead Best Price: $10.95 Buy New $18.80 (as of 10:15 UTC - Details)
Mark my words: the government will remain as corrupt and self-serving as ever, dominated by two political factions that pretend to be at odds with each other all the while moving in lockstep to maintain the status quo.
So President Trump’s legal team can grandstand all they want about the impeachment trial being “an affront to the Constitution” and “a dangerous perversion of the Constitution,” but that’s just smoke and mirrors.
You know what is really “an affront to the Constitution”? The U.S. government.
We’ve been losing our freedoms so incrementally for so long—sold to us in the name of national security and global peace, maintained by way of martial law disguised as law and order, and enforced by a standing army of militarized police and a political elite determined to maintain their powers at all costs—that it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when it all started going downhill, but we’re certainly on that downward trajectory now, and things are moving fast.
The republic has fallen.
The Deep State’s plot to take over America has succeeded.
The American system of representative government has been overthrown by a profit-driven, militaristic, corporate oligarchy bent on total control and global domination through the imposition of martial law here at home and by fomenting wars abroad.
Even now, we are being pushed and prodded towards a civil war, not because the American people are so divided but because that’s how corrupt governments control a populace (i.e., divide and conquer).
These are dangerous times.
These are indeed dangerous times but not because of violent crime, which remains at an all-time low, or because of terrorism, which is statistically rare, or because the borders are being invaded by foreign armies, which data reports from the Department of Homeland Security refute.
No, the real danger that we face comes from none other than the U.S. government and the powers it has granted to its standing armies to rob, steal, cheat, harass, detain, brutalize, terrorize, torture and kill American citizens with immunity.
The danger “we the people” face comes from masked invaders on the government payroll who crash through our doors in the dark of night, shoot our dogs, and terrorize our families.
This danger comes from militarized henchmen on the government payroll who demand absolute obedience, instill abject fear, and shoot first and ask questions later.
This danger comes from greedy, power-hungry bureaucrats on the government payroll who have little to no understanding of their constitutional limits.
This danger comes from greedy politicians and corporations for whom profit trumps principle.
You want to know about the state of our union? It’s downright scary.
Consider, if you will, all of the dastardly, devious, diabolical, dangerous, debilitating, deceitful, dehumanizing, demonic, depraved, dishonorable, disillusioning, discriminatory, dictatorial schemes inflicted on “we the people” by a bureaucratic, totalitarian regime that has long since ceased to be “a government of the people, by the people and for the people.”
Americans have no protection against police abuse. It is no longer unusual to hear about incidents in which police shoot unarmed individuals first and ask questions later, such as the 16-year-old teenager who skipped school only to be shot by police after they mistook him for a fleeing burglar. Then there was the unarmed black man in Texas “who was pursued and shot in the back of the neck by Austin Police… after failing to properly identify himself and leaving the scene of an unrelated incident.” And who could forget the 19-year-old Seattle woman who was accidentally shot in the leg by police after she refused to show her hands? What is increasingly common, however, is the news that the officers involved in these incidents get off with little more than a slap on the hands.
Americans are little more than pocketbooks to fund the police state. If there is any absolute maxim by which the federal government seems to operate, it is that the American taxpayer always gets ripped off. This is true, whether you’re talking about taxpayers being forced to fund high-priced weaponry that will be used against us, endless wars that do little for our safety or our freedoms, or bloated government agencies such as the National Security Agency with its secret budgets, covert agendas and clandestine activities. Rubbing salt in the wound, even monetary awards in lawsuits against government officials who are found guilty of wrongdoing are paid by the taxpayer.
Americans are no longer innocent until proven guilty. We once operated under the assumption that you were innocent until proven guilty. Due in large part to rapid advances in technology and a heightened surveillance culture, the burden of proof has been shifted so that the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty has been usurped by a new norm in which all citizens are suspects. This is exemplified by police practices of stopping and frisking people who are merely walking down the street and where there is no evidence of wrongdoing. Likewise, by subjecting Americans to full-body scans and license-plate readers without their knowledge or compliance and then storing the scans for later use, the government—in cahoots with the corporate state—has erected the ultimate suspect society. In such an environment, we are all potentially guilty of some wrongdoing or other.
Americans no longer have a right to self-defense. In the wake of various shootings in recent years, “gun control” has become a resounding theme. Those advocating gun reform see the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms as applying only to government officials. As a result, even Americans who legally own firearms are being treated with suspicion and, in some cases, undue violence. In one case, a Texas man had his home subjected to a no-knock raid and was shot in his bed after police, attempting to deliver a routine search warrant, learned that he was in legal possession of a firearm. In another incident, a Florida man who was licensed to carry a concealed firearm found himself detained for two hours during a routine traffic stop in Maryland while the arresting officer searched his vehicle in vain for the man’s gun, which he had left at home. Incidentally, the Trump Administration has done more to crack down on Second Amendment rights than anything the Obama Administration ever managed.
Americans no longer have a right to private property. If government agents can invade your home, break down your doors, kill your dog, damage your furnishings and terrorize your family, your property is no longer private and secure—it belongs to the government. Likewise, if government officials can fine and arrest you for growing vegetables in your front yard, praying with friends in your living room, installing solar panels on your roof, and raising chickens in your backyard, you’re no longer the owner of your property.
Americans no longer have a say about what their children are exposed to in school. Incredibly, the government continues to insist that parents essentially forfeit their rights when they send their children to a public school. This growing tension over whether young people, especially those in the public schools, are essentially wards of the state, to do with as government officials deem appropriate, in defiance of the children’s constitutional rights and those of their parents, is reflected in the debate over sex education programs that expose young people to all manner of sexual practices and terminology, zero tolerance policies that strip students of any due process rights, let alone parental involvement in school discipline, and Common Core programs that teach students to be test-takers rather than critical thinkers.
Americans are powerless in the face of militarized police. In early America, citizens were considered equals with law enforcement officials. Authorities were rarely permitted to enter one’s home without permission or in a deceitful manner. And it was not uncommon for police officers to be held personally liable for trespass when they wrongfully invaded a citizen’s home. Unlike today, early Americans could resist arrest when a police officer tried to restrain them without proper justification or a warrant—which the police had to allow citizens to read before arresting them. (Daring to dispute a warrant with a police official today who is armed with high-tech military weapons and tasers would be nothing short of suicidal.) As police forces across the country continue to be transformed into outposts of the military, with police agencies acquiring military-grade hardware in droves, Americans are finding their once-peaceful communities transformed into military outposts, complete with tanks, weaponry, and other equipment designed for the battlefield.
Americans no longer have a right to bodily integrity. Court rulings undermining the Fourth Amendment and justifying invasive strip searches have left us powerless against police empowered to forcefully draw our blood, strip search us, and probe us intimately. Accounts are on the rise of individuals—men and women—being subjected to what is essentially government-sanctioned rape by police in the course of “routine” traffic stops. Remember the New Mexico man who was subjected to a 12-hour ordeal of anal probes, X-rays, enemas, and finally a colonoscopy—all because he allegedly rolled through a stop sign?
Americans no longer have a right to the expectation of privacy. Despite the staggering number of revelations about government spying on Americans’ phone calls, Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, Google searches, emails, bookstore and grocery purchases, bank statements, commuter toll records, etc., Congress, the president and the courts have done little to nothing to counteract these abuses. Instead, they seem determined to accustom us to life in this electronic concentration camp.
Americans can no longer rely on the courts to mete out justice. The U.S. Supreme Court was intended to be an institution established to intervene and protect the people against the government and its agents when they overstep their bounds. Yet through their deference to police power, preference for security over freedom, and evisceration of our most basic rights for the sake of order and expediency, the justices of the Supreme Court have become the architects of the American police state in which we now live, while the lower courts have appointed themselves courts of order, concerned primarily with advancing the government’s agenda, no matter how unjust or illegal.
Americans no longer have a representative government. We have moved beyond the era of representative government and entered a new age, let’s call it the age of authoritarianism. In fact, a study conducted by Princeton and Northwestern University concluded that the U.S. government does not represent the majority of American citizens. Instead, the study found that the government is ruled by the rich and powerful, or the so-called “economic elite.” Moreover, the researchers concluded that policies enacted by this governmental elite nearly always favor special interests and lobbying groups. It is not overstating matters to say that Congress, which has done its best to keep their unhappy constituents at a distance, may well be the most self-serving, semi-corrupt institution in America.
In other words, we are being ruled by an oligarchy disguised as a democracy, and arguably on our way towards fascism: a form of government where private corporate interests rule, money calls the shots, and the people are seen as mere subjects to be controlled. Rest assured that when and if fascism finally takes hold in America, the basic forms of government will remain: Fascism will appear to be friendly. The legislators will be in session. There will be elections, and the news media will continue to cover the entertainment and political trivia. Consent of the governed, however, will no longer apply. Actual control will have finally passed to the oligarchic elite controlling the government behind the scenes. Sound familiar? Clearly, we are now ruled by an oligarchic elite of governmental and corporate interests. We have moved into “corporatism” (favored by Benito Mussolini), which is a halfway point on the road to full-blown fascism. Corporatism is where the few moneyed interests—not elected by the citizenry—rule over the many.
History may show that from this point forward, we will have left behind any semblance of constitutional government and entered into a totalitarian state where all citizens are suspects and security trumps freedom. Even with its constantly shifting terrain, this topsy-turvy travesty of law and government has become America’s new normal. From Clinton to Bush, then Obama and now Trump, it’s as if we’ve been caught in a time loop, forced to re-live the same thing over and over again: the same assaults on our freedoms, the same disregard for the rule of law, the same subservience to the Deep State, and the same corrupt, self-serving government that exists only to amass power, enrich its shareholders and ensure its continued domination. A Government of Wolves... John W. Whitehead Best Price: $1.16 Buy New $2.99 (as of 10:15 UTC - Details)
Elections will not save us.
I haven’t even touched on the corporate state, the military industrial complex, SWAT team raids, invasive surveillance technology, zero tolerance policies in the schools, overcriminalization, or privatized prisons, to name just a few, but what I have touched on should be enough to show that the landscape of our freedoms has already changed dramatically from what it once was and will no doubt continue to deteriorate unless Americans can find a way to wrest back control of their government and reclaim their freedoms.
There can be no denying that the world is indeed a dangerous place, but what the president and his cohorts fail to acknowledge is that it’s the government that poses the gravest threat to our freedoms and way of life, and no amount of politicking, parsing or pandering will change that.
It is easy to be diverted, distracted and amused by the antics of politicians, the pomp and circumstance of awards shows, athletic events, and entertainment news, and the feel-good, wrapped-in-the-flag evangelism that passes for religion today.
What is far more difficult to face up to is the reality of life in America, where unemployment, poverty, inequality, injustice and violence by government agents are increasingly norms, and where “we the people” are at a distinct disadvantage in the face of the government elite’s power grabs, greed and firepower.
The Constitution doesn’t stand a chance against a federalized, globalized standing army protected by legislative, judicial and executive branches that are all on the same side, no matter what political views they subscribe to: suffice it to say, they are not on our side or the side of freedom.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the powers-that-be want us to remain distracted, divided, alienated from each other based on our politics, our bank accounts, our religion, our race and our value systems. Yet as George Orwell observed, “The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.”
You either believe in freedom or you don’t. It’s that simple.
Everything else is just a deadly distraction. As Orwell observed in 1984:
“All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.”
The Best of John W. Whitehead


lewrockwell--2020-01-23--What Happens Next: The Singularity or a New Dark Ages?

International Man : After the Fall of the Roman Empire , Europe experienced the Dark Ages .
It was a thousand years of demographic , cultural , and economic decline .
Similarly , today , Western civilization seems to be going downhill economically , politically , and culturally .
In a lot of ways , the trajectory looks grim .
But at the same time , science and technological developments are compounding .
It seems every week there is a fantastic breakthrough .
How do you rationalize these seemingly countervailing trends ?
Doug Casey : Technology is clearly advancing in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rate of Moore ’ s law .
That ’ s wonderful .
On the other hand , understanding of ethics and moral behavior hasn ’ t improved at all .
As a matter of fact , you could argue that it ’ s gone downhill .
That makes for a set of very dangerous possibilities .
Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 10.00 Now , I ’ m all for technology advancing as far and as fast as possible , because technology is the friend of the average guy .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ has taken us from grubbing in the dirt for roots and berries to conquering outer space .
Technology empowers individuals and advances freedom .
That ’ s why science fiction as a literary genre is extremely libertarian .
The problem is that culture and wisdom evolve very , very slowly .
Over generations .
The danger is that technology and ethics are not evolving at the same rate .
Even worse , people are putting more emphasis on politics—organized coercion—today than has ever been the case in the past .
In the past @ @ @ @ @ @ @ individual lives and surviving .
Now they seem more concerned with things they can ’ t control .
Mass media and the internet have brought politics into everybody ’ s living room .
The problem is that politics is all about force and coercion .
Tech can enhance the effect of politics , just as it can enhance personal freedom .
It ’ s a double-edged sword in that regard .
In other words , it ’ s very dangerous to combine Stone Age ethics with Space Age technology .
International Man : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for many years about the coming singularity .
He believes by the middle of the 2020s , artificial intelligence ( AI ) will have the ability to exhibit the same intelligence as a human .
Is it likely , in your opinion , that the Singularity and tech advancement will eclipse or outpace the rate at which the West declines ?
Doug Casey : That ’ s the $ 64,000 question .
The Singularity will give humanity godlike powers in many regards .
It ’ s going to sprinkle pixie dust on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the West is pivotal .
That ’ s because it ’ s the only civilization in history that enshrines the individual , as opposed to the collective or the State .
It emphasizes things like free thought , free speech , free markets , reason , and individual liberty .
These are historically alien concepts .
All of the good things we have come out of those values .
It ’ s why almost all the world ’ s great literature , music , art , and science has also originated in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ values of the West—which is exactly what the “ woke , ” PC , and socialist movements are in the process of doing—you ’ ll also destroy what it has created .
The question is whether the fruits of civilization will survive the death of the tree that grew them .
We might wind up as being very intelligent , clever chimpanzees with nuclear weapons .
Will computers that monitor everybody kill things like free thought , free speech , and free markets ?
Will real-life terminators be used to keep the plebs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can happen at this point .
Although technology always turns out in the long run to be the friend of the average man , I ’ m afraid that over the short and medium term , the issue is in doubt .
International Man : What do you think will happen to this trend in tech if we have an unprecedented collapse of the entire financial system ?
Doug Casey : Technology is now very capital intensive , much more than it ’ s ever been in the past .
It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Newton , and Einstein didn ’ t need expensive technology to make the advances that they did .
It ’ s also true that the personal computer revolution didn ’ t require massive capital , at least after a certain point .
Steve Jobs founded a giant company in his garage .
Biotechnology , which is the next tech stage , can be equally cheap .
For example , a high school kid can do gene-editing with CRISPR with money from his allowance .
It ’ s possible to make technological advances with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advanced technology is highly capital intensive .
We ’ re talking about billions of dollars for single machines—things like the Hubble space telescope , quantum computers , the International Space Station , the Large Hadron Collider , and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor .
These are all multibillion-dollar projects .
Most of them are so expensive that the main source of funding for science today is government .
Government tends to do things for political , often military , reasons .
That corrupts the entire process .
The collapse of the financial system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ technology .
The financial system was almost irrelevant to science before the mid-20th century .
The Wright brothers didn ’ t need a sophisticated financial system to invent the airplane .
But now it ’ s critical because of the size of the projects that need funding .
International Man : The Western world isn ’ t alone in their push toward technological advancement .
President Xi has emphasized China ’ s aggressive plans to dominate AI , 5G , quantum computing , and other innovative technologies .
What ’ s your take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dominance ?
Doug Casey : To start with , it ’ s long been acknowledged that the Chinese have about five IQ points on Europeans .
That tilts the playing field in their direction , now that they ’ re no longer held back by the ideals of people like Chairman Mao .
The huge advances that they ’ ve made over the last 30 years are breathtaking and real .
It ’ s gone from a primitive country of ignorant , penniless peasants to one of the most advanced societies in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the people running the Chinese government are geniuses , however .
It ’ s because the average Chinese person works hard and saves most of what he earns .
That ’ s built up a huge pool of capital .
That ’ s the good news .
The bad news is that that capital all flows through the Chinese banking system—which is used as a political vehicle .
Many of the loans that Chinese banks have made are , therefore , uneconomic .
As a result , either the banks are going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their currency as they try to bail them out .
That said , China will nonetheless dominate the 21st century—if only because the West is in such a severe decline .
That ’ s true even though the Chinese will go through a very rough patch .
There are lots of financial distortions that have been cranked into the system in the very quick expansion that they ’ ve made .
Capital was created by individual Chinese citizens , but much of it has been misallocated by the state .
International Man : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would the US have to do to beat China in this race ?
Doug Casey : The problem everywhere—in both China and the West—is the state .
Government .
But the problem , believe it or not , is probably bigger in the West .
If the West is to survive , it has to regain the things that made it successful .
That means 90 % of the government should be eliminated .
There ’ s very little need for organized coercion in a high tech world .
In fact , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Society would get on much better if economic regulations ceased to exist .
The Federal Reserve is unnecessary ; gold should be reinstituted as day-to-day money .
The US should withdraw its military from its 800 or so bases around the world .
By simply eliminating these things—not by doing more—the US economy and technology would boom .
But because the opposite is happening , the US is declining .
I ’ m not optimistic about the coming confrontation with China .
That ’ s also from a military point of view , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Why ?
That ’ s a long story .
But one reason is that the Chinese military isn ’ t viewed as a welfare program for so-called “ defense ” corporations .
It ’ s much more cost efficient than that of the US .
A lot of people believe that China has a communist system—where the state owns and controls everything .
They call it Communist China .
That was the case 40 years ago .
But today it ’ s complete and utter nonsense to believe that .
In fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ free-market country at this point—with much less regulation on economic activities and restrictions on businesses—than the US .
I realize that will come as a shock to most Americans , but it ’ s true .
Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 25.00 It ’ s true that China has an authoritarian government , but it ’ s not a communist country .
The fact that people call it a communist country—and that it ’ s been so successful—makes it seem like communism might be a good thing .
Apparently a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least its kinder and gentler relations , socialism and the welfare state—is a good idea .
I say that , based on the widespread support of people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren .
China has embraced the economic concepts of the West , but they haven ’ t embraced the other types of freedom from the West .
It ’ s hard to say how it ’ ll all turn out .
Will China be a country of science nerds and engineers , with no domestic literature , music , art @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be full of lotus eaters , living off the accumulated capital of their ancestors until it ’ s all gone ?
Will the arrival of the Singularity make many things that seem important today be trivial tomorrow ?
The good news is that technology has a life of its own .
Even if financing for megaprojects dries up over the next few years in either the West or China , I suspect tech progress will still continue at the rate of Moore ’ s Law .
Progress has been exponential for about 200,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trend more likely to accelerate than reverse .
If so , the Singularity may change the world so totally and unrecognizably that we may have to rethink almost everything .
My conclusion is that when the Singularity happens , there ’ s a good chance all the dysfunctional political structures that the world is currently burdened with are going to dry up and blow away .
The Best of Doug Casey

International Man: After the Fall of the Roman Empire, Europe experienced the Dark Ages. It was a thousand years of demographic, cultural, and economic decline.
Similarly, today, Western civilization seems to be going downhill economically, politically, and culturally. In a lot of ways, the trajectory looks grim.
But at the same time, science and technological developments are compounding. It seems every week there is a fantastic breakthrough.
How do you rationalize these seemingly countervailing trends?
Doug Casey: Technology is clearly advancing in a hyperbolic curve, at least at the rate of Moore’s law. That’s wonderful.
On the other hand, understanding of ethics and moral behavior hasn’t improved at all. As a matter of fact, you could argue that it’s gone downhill. That makes for a set of very dangerous possibilities. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $10.00 (as of 08:25 UTC - Details)
Now, I’m all for technology advancing as far and as fast as possible, because technology is the friend of the average guy. It’s very liberating. Technology has taken us from grubbing in the dirt for roots and berries to conquering outer space. Technology empowers individuals and advances freedom. That’s why science fiction as a literary genre is extremely libertarian.
The problem is that culture and wisdom evolve very, very slowly. Over generations. The danger is that technology and ethics are not evolving at the same rate. Even worse, people are putting more emphasis on politics—organized coercion—today than has ever been the case in the past.
In the past, people were mainly worried about their individual lives and surviving. Now they seem more concerned with things they can’t control. Mass media and the internet have brought politics into everybody’s living room. The problem is that politics is all about force and coercion. Tech can enhance the effect of politics, just as it can enhance personal freedom. It’s a double-edged sword in that regard.
In other words, it’s very dangerous to combine Stone Age ethics with Space Age technology.
International Man: Legendary futurist Ray Kurzweil has been speaking for many years about the coming singularity. He believes by the middle of the 2020s, artificial intelligence (AI) will have the ability to exhibit the same intelligence as a human.
Is it likely, in your opinion, that the Singularity and tech advancement will eclipse or outpace the rate at which the West declines?
Doug Casey: That’s the $64,000 question. The Singularity will give humanity godlike powers in many regards. It’s going to sprinkle pixie dust on the nature of reality.
What happens in the West is pivotal. That’s because it’s the only civilization in history that enshrines the individual, as opposed to the collective or the State. It emphasizes things like free thought, free speech, free markets, reason, and individual liberty. These are historically alien concepts.
All of the good things we have come out of those values. It’s why almost all the world’s great literature, music, art, and science has also originated in the West.
If you destroy the underpinning values of the West—which is exactly what the “woke,” PC, and socialist movements are in the process of doing—you’ll also destroy what it has created. The question is whether the fruits of civilization will survive the death of the tree that grew them.
We might wind up as being very intelligent, clever chimpanzees with nuclear weapons.
Will computers that monitor everybody kill things like free thought, free speech, and free markets? Will real-life terminators be used to keep the plebs under control? Possibly.
Almost anything can happen at this point. Although technology always turns out in the long run to be the friend of the average man, I’m afraid that over the short and medium term, the issue is in doubt.
International Man: What do you think will happen to this trend in tech if we have an unprecedented collapse of the entire financial system?
Doug Casey: Technology is now very capital intensive, much more than it’s ever been in the past.
It’s true that scientific geniuses like Aristotle, Newton, and Einstein didn’t need expensive technology to make the advances that they did. It’s also true that the personal computer revolution didn’t require massive capital, at least after a certain point. Steve Jobs founded a giant company in his garage. Biotechnology, which is the next tech stage, can be equally cheap. For example, a high school kid can do gene-editing with CRISPR with money from his allowance.
It’s possible to make technological advances with relatively low capital. But today most advanced technology is highly capital intensive. We’re talking about billions of dollars for single machines—things like the Hubble space telescope, quantum computers, the International Space Station, the Large Hadron Collider, and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. These are all multibillion-dollar projects.
Most of them are so expensive that the main source of funding for science today is government. Government tends to do things for political, often military, reasons. That corrupts the entire process.
The collapse of the financial system is not going to be good for technology. The financial system was almost irrelevant to science before the mid-20th century. The Wright brothers didn’t need a sophisticated financial system to invent the airplane. But now it’s critical because of the size of the projects that need funding.
International Man: The Western world isn’t alone in their push toward technological advancement.
President Xi has emphasized China’s aggressive plans to dominate AI, 5G, quantum computing, and other innovative technologies.
What’s your take on China’s race for tech dominance?
Doug Casey: To start with, it’s long been acknowledged that the Chinese have about five IQ points on Europeans. That tilts the playing field in their direction, now that they’re no longer held back by the ideals of people like Chairman Mao.
The huge advances that they’ve made over the last 30 years are breathtaking and real. It’s gone from a primitive country of ignorant, penniless peasants to one of the most advanced societies in the world.
It’s not because the people running the Chinese government are geniuses, however. It’s because the average Chinese person works hard and saves most of what he earns. That’s built up a huge pool of capital. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that that capital all flows through the Chinese banking system—which is used as a political vehicle.
Many of the loans that Chinese banks have made are, therefore, uneconomic. As a result, either the banks are going to collapse, or the Chinese will destroy their currency as they try to bail them out.
That said, China will nonetheless dominate the 21st century—if only because the West is in such a severe decline. That’s true even though the Chinese will go through a very rough patch.
There are lots of financial distortions that have been cranked into the system in the very quick expansion that they’ve made. Capital was created by individual Chinese citizens, but much of it has been misallocated by the state.
International Man: What is at stake? And what would the US have to do to beat China in this race?
Doug Casey: The problem everywhere—in both China and the West—is the state. Government. But the problem, believe it or not, is probably bigger in the West.
If the West is to survive, it has to regain the things that made it successful. That means 90% of the government should be eliminated. There’s very little need for organized coercion in a high tech world. In fact, it greatly compounds dangers in every way.
Society would get on much better if economic regulations ceased to exist. The Federal Reserve is unnecessary; gold should be reinstituted as day-to-day money. The US should withdraw its military from its 800 or so bases around the world. By simply eliminating these things—not by doing more—the US economy and technology would boom. But because the opposite is happening, the US is declining.
I’m not optimistic about the coming confrontation with China. That’s also from a military point of view, not just an economic point of view. Why? That’s a long story. But one reason is that the Chinese military isn’t viewed as a welfare program for so-called “defense” corporations. It’s much more cost efficient than that of the US.
A lot of people believe that China has a communist system—where the state owns and controls everything. They call it Communist China. That was the case 40 years ago. But today it’s complete and utter nonsense to believe that.
In fact, China is much more of a free-market country at this point—with much less regulation on economic activities and restrictions on businesses—than the US. I realize that will come as a shock to most Americans, but it’s true. Amazon.com Gift Card i... Buy New $25.00 (as of 06:10 UTC - Details)
It’s true that China has an authoritarian government, but it’s not a communist country. The fact that people call it a communist country—and that it’s been so successful—makes it seem like communism might be a good thing. Apparently a lot of Americans think today that communism—or at least its kinder and gentler relations, socialism and the welfare state—is a good idea. I say that, based on the widespread support of people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
China has embraced the economic concepts of the West, but they haven’t embraced the other types of freedom from the West.
It’s hard to say how it’ll all turn out. Will China be a country of science nerds and engineers, with no domestic literature, music, art, or philosophy? Will the West be full of lotus eaters, living off the accumulated capital of their ancestors until it’s all gone? Will the arrival of the Singularity make many things that seem important today be trivial tomorrow?
The good news is that technology has a life of its own. Even if financing for megaprojects dries up over the next few years in either the West or China, I suspect tech progress will still continue at the rate of Moore’s Law. Progress has been exponential for about 200,000 years, and that’s a trend more likely to accelerate than reverse. If so, the Singularity may change the world so totally and unrecognizably that we may have to rethink almost everything.
My conclusion is that when the Singularity happens, there’s a good chance all the dysfunctional political structures that the world is currently burdened with are going to dry up and blow away.
Reprinted with permission from International Man.
The Best of Doug Casey


lewrockwell--2020-01-23--Smart City Planners Confirm Bluetooth and WiFi Devices Transmit Data Even When Disconnected

According to a 2018 survey , 66 % of Americans don ’ t want to live in “ Smart Cities @ @ @ @ @ cybersecurity concerns .
Another downside – “ Smart Cities ” require countless wireless radiation transmitting @ @ @ @ @ Americans object to being involuntarily exposed to harmful radiation .
No safe level of wireless @ @ @ @ @ children or pregnant women .
American Academy of Pediatrics and other health experts also warn @ @ @ @ @ to exposure .
Regardless , several communities in Florida seem to be considering becoming a @ @ @ @ @ , this elaborate online document wouldn ’ t have been created .
It provides all @ @ @ @ @ Bluetooth and wireless WiFi devices transmit even when disconnected ( page 22 ) .
Amazon.com @ @ @ @ @ New $ 10.00 Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 25.00 Amazon.com Gift Card @ @ @ @ @ 15.00 Amazon.com Gift Card i ... Buy New $ 15.00

According to a 2018 survey, 66% of Americans don’t want to live in “Smart Cities” because of privacy and cybersecurity concerns.

Another downside – “Smart Cities” require countless wireless radiation transmitting devices operating 24/7. Many Americans object to being involuntarily exposed to harmful radiation. No safe level of wireless radiation has been determined for children or pregnant women. American Academy of Pediatrics and other health experts also warn that children are more vulnerable to exposure.
Regardless, several communities in Florida seem to be considering becoming a “Smart Cities.” Otherwise, this elaborate online document wouldn’t have been created. It provides all kinds of details including that Bluetooth and wireless WiFi devices transmit even when disconnected (page 22).

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