Tuesday, November 26, 2024

A $97-Trillion Exchange of ideas

 

by Brock d'Avignon
Ms. Koch,
If you want a seeming exclusive no other reporters seem smart or wise enough to see as all politicians say they do not want to touch Social Security, they've actually been raiding its SSA "Trust Fund" for most of 83 years replacing it with IOUs (fancier term in the Congressional Budget Office that ignores the time value of money at $97-Trillion)  that are spent in either the General Fund or for specific agencies. Try this: None of the agencies nor Congress has ever repaid the "Trust Fund". Outfits like the PeterG. Petersen Foundation whine about the operational budget debt annually going over $30T to $34T but seem to miss the IOUs in the SSA Trust Fund, and the similar time value of money lost to spending sprees since LBJ since 1965 raiding the Medicare Trust Fund to about $80T. The principal amounts having never been repaid have either interest due or the equivalent of interest due. The Ponzi scheme set up by FDR and LBJ are neither insurance nor a contribution as in the phrase Federal Insurance Contribution Act FICA. I've told the Petersen Foundation to get real but their Executive director JRosen@pgpf.org keeps ignoring this, even as they do a nice job of the debt clock. If you'd like information on the 27 federal Government Special Entities (tax-payer supported banks) that now own 92% of the mortgages in America since 2008, let me know.

You might contact Jim Mietus, Executive Branch Office of Management and Budget retired (Reagan to Obama) 703-759-3007, Tell him I sent you for advice. One suggestion is freeze, lower, or eliminate various federal departments or agencies' budgets, with the requirement that 10% per year of it will be returned to the SSA fund. No more talk of cutting down the seniors, but the bureaucracy that had a wild time with retirement funds and medical funds. Indict every Congress person who ever voted for spending SSA or Medicare Trust Funds on anything else as racketeers. (Probably 2/3rds of them of all parties). Try Institute of Justice or pacific Legal Foundation for that should make more headlines than the nonsense. Or you might discuss the cracking of the supergene on ageing or something intelligent. Jeff Bezos dropped $3B on cracking 1600 genomic diseases including ageing, so that might factor into future calculations to not rip off the elders until they get their booster spice and rejoin the workforce. All arguments are irrelevant to money retained and or invested for the purpose intended, the rest is a smokescreen. 

If you want a contrast to this fraud, see the French who do not let their politicians touch one centime of their mandated (forced) retirement or medical savings or accounts. France invests it all in the French stock and bond markets. As a result, the French senior and disabled are the most solvent in the world while Americans are the most broke. The French have about 11 different kinds of pensions based on the occupation from chef to railroad engine driver. Check it out, its on Wikipedia. Americans would say to you," Don't be stupid." the French would say, "Be wiser."

$97-Trillion

Thursday, November 7, 2024

A Short Commentary on the Election for President, 2024

 

Donald Trump won the presidency. This is a fact, and the event shocked the group who all too often identify themselves as “Liberals.” 

Biden and Harris were never liberals, the meaning of that word having been in long and consistent usage for centuries, as you see below. But by nature, and ideology, never opposed to theft, they have shamelessly misused the word, once the battle-cry for individual freedom.

From the Wiki – “Liberalism, the belief in freedom, equality, democracy and human rights, is historically associated with thinkers such as John Locke and Montesquieu, and with constitutionally limiting the power of the monarch, affirming parliamentary supremacy, passing the Bill of Rights and establishing the principle of "consent of the governed". The 1776 Declaration of Independence of the United States founded the nascent republic on liberal principles without the encumbrance of hereditary aristocracy—the declaration stated that "all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".[1] A few years later, the French Revolution overthrew the hereditary aristocracy, with the slogan "liberty, equality, fraternity" and was the first state in history to grant universal male suffrage. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, first codified in 1789 in France, is a foundational document of both liberalism and human rights, itself based on the U.S. Declaration of Independence written in 1776. The intellectual progress of the Enlightenment, which questioned old traditions about societies and governments, eventually coalesced into powerful revolutionary movements that toppled what the French called the Ancien RĂ©gime, the belief in absolute monarchy and established religion, especially in Europe, Latin America and North America.
William Henry of Orange in theGlorious Revolution, Thomas Jefferson in the American Revolution and Lafayette in the French Revolution used liberal philosophy to justify the armed overthrow of what they saw as tyrannical rule. The 19th century saw liberal governments established in nations across Europe, South America, and North America.[2] In this period, the dominant ideological opponent of classical liberalism was conservatism, but liberalism later survived major ideological challenges from new opponents, such as fascism and communism. Liberal government often adopted the economic beliefs espoused by Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and others, which broadly emphasized the importance of free markets and laissez-faire governance, with a minimum of interference in trade.”


The practiced rebranders of words, for the moment defeated, by Trump, closer to real "Liberalism", today expressed as Conservative, Libertarian, or Free Market, will be leaving office in January 2025. I personally hope they take their Fascism and Communism with them. But it is likely there will be more confrontations. I listened to her concession and the twisting of reality was clearly expressed, though she used the freedom terms shamelessly, as usual.


The three terms in the paragraph above, Liberalism, Conservative, and Libertarian, are the bedrock of thought that resulted in the rejection of top-down dictatorships, such as we experienced with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during WWII and later.

Operating on the well-proven theory that a lie can be converted to ‘truth’ if you say it often enough and loudly enough, the departing cadre of Not-Liberals, Biden and Harris, were practiced experts for asserting that lie. This assault on our individual rights began in 1912 and included the grab of the Hetch Hetchy by San Francisco. America has been rapidly descending into fascism/communism during the Biden Administration, this beginning in 1912. For this election round, Americans of all ages and other descriptions noticed this through the inflation and tightening bondage that they were experiencing and voted for Donald Trump.

Also note that Union Blue, the color for more than a century always associated with the Republican Party. Red is historically the color associated with the 'Democratic Party'. These colors became identified with the two political parties during the Civil War, when the North fought to end slavery, and the South fought to continue it.  This switch was carried out, I believe by CNN about 20 years ago. 

Friday, September 6, 2024

The Magical Equation for Needy Spouses in Santa Barbara County

 The answer will be up here on September 11, 2024 because the two stories have some curious linkages.  

How About Some Forbidden History today?

 Facebook did not like what I had to say, claimed what is below is spam, and deleted this cute little article.  I disagree.  A Pox on Zuckerman, or berg, or whatever his name is.  MP-F

by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

This morning, I visited this cheesy website, hosted at winred.com, and realized this is just a con job for building up their email list.  You are donating to the campaign of Mike Rogers, not his smiling companion Donald Trump, the GOP Candidate for President.  

(Don’t even mention the outrage of having the Republican Party’s Official Color changed from Union Blue, in commemoration of the Civil War battle for ending slavery, to RED, the Official Color for the Confederacy, which had adopted the Socialist paradigm promoted by George Fitzhugh in his book, Sociology for the South, or, the Failure of Free Society (1854).     

Did Mike Roger produce this idea, or did he remember a similar, but very different, idea presented on DebateTourney.com? 

Three  years ago, we  provided a page for each candidate for President who registered with us to debate other candidates, now routinely ignored by the MSM, not only real debates on real issues, but a full page showing the faces and qualifications for every member of their Cabinet if that Presidential Candidate were to be elected.  This was to be viewed as a promise, not a come-on.

All of us need to tie candidates down, guaranteeing their performance in office.  I realized this in 1992 while looking at an old pot holder and suggested a different solution, Honesty Bond as a way to hold those running for office to their campaign promises.  Naturally, it would work, so it was ignored.  I had originally floated the idea to Republicans, because at the time I had left the LP, from frustration with the approach of LP presidential candidates who insisted on focusing on raising small amounts of money from loyalists and never challenging the media and the anointed MSM candidates. 

If the idea, faintly, reminds you of the idea Newt Gingrich floated for Contract ON America, you are correct.  I was surprised to learn one of the pieces of literature on Honesty Bond, I passed out at the California Convention that year was handed to Gingrich by John Fund, who was then in a relationship with my daughter, Morgan Pillsbury.  It was Morgan who revealed this to me when she asked some years later, “What was that idea you had, remember? The one about the pot holder?” 

It was educational, and I left with not a moment of regret, as much was revealed to me.    

The number of people running for the Presidency today is not two or three, but about 1,400, duly registered with the FEC.

My thought was that for generations now we have been forced to buy a pig in a poke, as we decide who to support for the Office of President of the United States. 

Firm commitments on who will be entrusted with the growing number of ways government now rules over us could provide a real sense of confidence in a presidential candidate who is asking for our vote.  But it would have to be a real pledge from the candidate for president. Obviously, in this instance, Donald is not promising anything.

Now, if a presidential candidate nominated a highly qualified free market economist, such as Walter Block, for Secretary of the Treasury, which would mean something. 

Right now, our only registered candidate is Jennifer Nicole Alameda, who would certainly be happy to let you know the make up of her cabinet, if asked. 



Get in touch, folks for freedom need to listen to each other and then enact the principles!

oun

  1. A basic truth, law, or assumption.
    "the principles of democracy."
  2. Actually, for me it is agency, spelled large.  

Thursday, August 8, 2024

Auschwitz 2.0: The Zionists' despicable "Summer of Cruelty" in Gaza

 By Jane Stillwater  https://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2024/08/auschwitz-20-zionists-despicable-summer.html


     My Aunt Doris from Detroit married a survivor of Auschwitz.  Could anything be worse than a Nazi concentration camp as grim as Auschwitz?  Apparently so.  Zionists are currently competing for the title of having created the Worst Concentration Camp Ever -- almost like it was some kind of Olympic event and they were striving for a gold metal in bestiality, trying to beat Auschwitz' previous record of being the most cruel place on earth.

     My Aunt Doris from Detroit married a survivor of Auschwitz.  Could anything be worse than a Nazi concentration camp as grim as Auschwitz?  Apparently so.  Zionists are currently competing for the title of having created the Worst Concentration Camp Ever -- almost like it was some kind of Olympic event and they were striving for a gold metal in bestiality, trying to beat Auschwitz' previous record of being the most cruel place on earth.

    Here's even more history of the 100-year ongoing massacre of Palestinians by Zionists:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjGFH1Le3gA 
 
For those of you who still read stuff, Paul Larudee pleads with the Zionists to give America back our country:  https://paullarudee.substack.com/p/open-letter-to-israel-i-want-my-country
 
And we are being duped about Venezuela's elections too -- because gold and oil are involved (of course):  https://www.youtube.com/live/_x1JN-uuxww

America, just wait until "your boy comes home in a box" after defending the Zionists' right to commit genocide:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws0DLWApHko

How to Start the Final World War

 

L. Reichard White
©August 17, 2023 (21:55p),

The bureaucrats in charge after WWII, fearing a return to the banker/government-caused Great Depression, made a fatal decision. Since it had apparently finally gotten the U.S. out of that disaster, enshrined in National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68), signed by president Harry S Truman on September 30, 1950, they decided to continue using the manufacture of military materials to pump the economy.

Ten years later, President and Five-star General Dwight Eisenhower caught a glimpse of the result and warned us like this - - -

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial-congressional complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." --Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address 1961, Public Papers of the Presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960, p. 1035- 1040

Called "Military Keynesianism," political scientist and ex-CIA consultant Chalmers Johnson was among those who solidly nailed the long-term dangers and consequences of using war production to stimulate the economy.

It was clear that the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) required an enemy, a dastardly villain, as an excuse. They managed to create North Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and a few lesser excuses into that needed commodity but these all eventually fell short and fizzled out.

You can find a list of seven potential replacements HERE.

And how about that old stand-by, the Soviet Union? But it had broken up. On the other hand, public opinion polls showed that most Americans hadn't separated modern Russia from that intimidating image of the old Soviet Union as our evil enemy. All those decades of propaganda were still in place, especially in the minds of us Baby Boomers. Especially Hollywood propaganda. You know, James Bond and all.

So, a ready-made villain on the cheap!

The Main-Stream Media (MSM) had completely failed to notice that the Russians had learned the hard way that socialism/communism "promised workers paradise but delivered the other place instead." They'd also learned -- the hard way -- that voluntary market exchange kicks booty.

So, under the guidance of Vladmir Putin and his cronies, they'd been promoting trade with other folks in other countries, including selling massive amounts of natural gas to Europe through their twin billion-dollar under-sea pipelines, Nord Stream I and soon, II. They'd been promoting Sochi as a resort town and host to major international events. Etc.

The Russians were making money hand over fist and loving it. And Putin was regularly referring to "Our friends and partners in the West." Meaning us.

But That Thing That Lives in Washington D.C. and its minions (the U.K. for example) needed that Essential Villain and guess who they chose?

The C.I.A. has a lot of experience assassinating folks, overturning governments, fomenting violence and revolution, that sort of thing. President Harry S. Truman, who created the C.I.A., described things this way - - -

"Now, as nearly as I can make out, those fellows in the CIA don't just report on wars and the like, they go out and make their own, and there's nobody to keep track of what they're up to. They spend billions of dollars on stirring up trouble so they'll have something to report on. They've become ... it's become a government all of its own and all secret. They don't have to account to anybody." --Pres. Harry S. Truman

And so they got to work, first by refurbishing the narrative.

Exactly what you'd expect since, exposed by the Sen. Frank Church Committee, most savvy folks know that Western Main Stream Media (MSM) is a fully owned and integrated subsidiary of the C.I.A.

By this time I was finally beginning to get it. SOMEBODY was setting up Putin and the Russians for SOMETHING.

"SOMEBODY" was likely the CIA and I started looking for signs.

A big one was the 2014 CIA-engineered Ukrainian Maidan coup, spearheaded by U.S. operative Victoria Nuland and abetted by Hilary Clinton. It ousted Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych in favor of several U.S. puppets, ending up with former comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The CIA also planned to get Ukraine into NATO.

I started listening to Putin's speeches whenever I could. I heard things like this (notice the date) - - -

- "We must get back to the international law instead of might makes right. ... U.S. approach, one step forward, one step back gets nowhere. ...There has to be a dialog, I don't think there is any other way." --Vladimir Putin Thursday, April 25, 2019 5:25 AM, media event during Kim Jon Un/Putin summit in Vladivistok

It gradually became clear that Putin and the Russians were as paranoid of NATO as we Baby Boomers had been of the old Soviet Union.

I was a teen during the Cuban Missile Crisis. That was when U.S. President J.F. Kennedy prepared to invade Cuba if the Soviet Union didn't remove its missiles.

We were planning to hang out in neighboring quarry tunnels to outlast the nuclear fallout. That wouldn't work, but it was better than the school instructions, "Hide under your desk, and put your head between your knees." We added the realistic part: "... and kiss your butt goodby."

Even though those missiles were only 90 miles from our shores, Cuba was a sovereign nation and so Kennedy did not have the right to make that demand. Regardless, the Soviets listened, and luckily for the human race, removed their missiles.

Whether Russian or American, you can't argue with that kind of deep-seated fear and that goes for the Russians today. And this isn't just Putin -- he has plenty of company.

But even worse than the Cuban Crisis, Ukraine in NATO would put NATO missiles directly on Russia's border -- and only 5 minutes travel time to Moscow.

That would automatically put Russian nuclear forces in " launch on warn" mode, meaning no time to straighten out any mistakes or glitches. That means no brakes on Russia's retaliation nukes and any mistake or glitch pretty much the end of the world.

That made Ukraine joining NATO a national security red-line for the Russians. And, if the rest of the world had any sense at all, a red-line for all of us.

Of course, Putin had no more right to demand Ukraine pledge not to join NATO than J. F. Kennedy had for demanding Soviet missiles be removed from Cuba.

So Putin sent very short and clear warnings to the U.S., NATO, the UN, UK, etc. They ignored him entirely, so he tried again. And again.

Apparently, he thought putting 100,000 Russian troops on Ukraine's border and leaving them there would finally "send a message" they couldn't ignore.

As Anatol Lieven wrote in the January 25, 2022 TIME, Russia Has Been Warning the West About Ukraine for Decades. The West Should Have Listened.

The Russian troops were there for three months -- December 2021 until Feb. 24, 2022 -- before what Putin called the "special military operation" (SMO) began.

The Russians claimed during that three months on the border that they did not intend to invade. Indeed, what military in its right mind would telegraph an invasion, giving the enemy three months to prepare?

It seems Putin was just attempting to emulate U.S. officials who are always sending (often rude) messages to everyone, lately using so-called "sanctions" which, incidentally, are endangering the U.S. dollar's status as the world's reserve currency.

But now it's Feb. 25, 2022 and what's done is done. Putin had to call his own bluff. So the "Special Military Operation" has begun. Now what?

Here's what the Russians had in mind according to Olexii Arestovich, Zelensky's former 'spin doctor' and adviser. He described the circumstance of the Russian SMO first entry into Ukraine like this:

It was conceived as a bloodless mission and should have passed without casualties, he says. "They tried to wage a smart war… Such an elegant, beautiful, lightning-fast special operation, where polite people, without causing any damage to either a kitten or a child, eliminated the few who resisted. They didn't want to kill anyone: Just sign the renunciation".... Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture, February 14, 2023

That from the top of, not Russian, but Ukraine, public relations. It also perfectly jibes with the presentation Putin gave just before he triggered the "SMO."

Clearly Mr. Putin miscalculated. Or perhaps the C.I.A. threw sand in the gears again.

It's clear this whole MIC/C.I.A. concocted mess could have been quite easily avoided in the first place. And, while not nearly as easily, probably still wound-down even now.

Respected weapons inspector Scott Ritter put it something like this: "To avoid the whole Ukraine Fiasco, all Ukraine had to do was to agree not to join NATO."

Once you know the facts, it's hard not to reach that same rational, logical, conclusion. These folks did - - - Ron Paul, and Prof. John Mearsheimer, and Jimmy Dore with Matt Tiabbi. And Elon Musk joined the rational crowd.

You may not be aware because others who reached the same conclusion were disappeared, censored and otherwise dissed and cancelled for undermining the C.I.A. narrative. Remember, the MSM , now including GOOGLE, Facebook, before-Musk-twitter, etc. are fully owned C.I.A. subsidiaries.

For example, GOOGLE SEARCH disappeared all direct links to "Tips on How to Start the Final World War," the original publication of this piece, and took the added precaution of heading any search for it with the mis-direction below - - -



In fact, the logical, rational, solution was so obvious that Turkey's president Erdogan and Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, both offered to negotiate peace, and initially Putin and Zelenskyy both agreed to talk. Until SOMEBODY got word to The Comedian that peace wasn't the goal and he backed out.

Blinken Dismisses Calls for a Ceasefire, Says US Must Build Up Ukraine's Military, The Secretary of State called for Washington to continue to put militarism before diplomacy

And SOMEBODY blew up the Russian's Nord Stream pipelines.

The Thing Living In D.C. is warning China not to supply Russia with "lethal weapons" because it will "prolong the war and cause more misery and death." But, of course, the "lethal weapons" supplied by the U.S. will have no such effect. Right?

In an interview (Feb 19, 2023), General Mille, echoing the back-room consensus, observed that the Ukrainians aren't likely to make anymore battlefield gains and it was time for them to move to the negotiating table. The MIC pulled strings somewhere and the negotiating table suggestion disappeared.

The MIC needs its essential villain. So, as the quip goes, "it's determined to fight the Russians down to the last Ukranian."

Putin and company have repeatedly warned that if Russia believes it faces an "existential threat," they will use nukes.

Keeping in mind that when push came to shove, when nailed to the wall, Putin called his own Ukraine border bluff, what do you make of the 8 Russian fighter jets on Alaska's border two days in a row?

US intercepts 8 Russian fighter jets near Alaska in 2 days

US Air Force fighter jets conduct back-to-back intercepts of Russian aircraft near Alaska

And prequels like this - - -

F-16s intercept Russian bombers flying near Alaska | Stars and Stripes

On Feb. 27, 2022, just three days after he pulled the Ukraine invasion trigger (Feb. 24) Russia's Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert | Reuters

And more recently, directly out of "Games Theory" basic strategy, a Moscow foreign policy magazine suggested limited tactical nuclear strikes on Europe to convince "The West" Russia was nuclear serious.

In addition to recently placing tactical nukes on Belarusian territory - - -

Russia Puts Its Longest Range Nuke-Capable Missile On Combat Duty, Nicknamed 'Satan II', Saturday, Sep 02, 2023 - 12:45 AM

It was NATO that christened it with the apt nic, "Satan II."

Via a huge Wikileaks dump, we know the U.S. and NATO both knew Ukraine in NATO was Russia's Bright Red Line. Even Biden specifically recognized that, just as in the Cuban Missile Crisis, this was Armageddon time - - -

Biden Says Risk of Nuclear 'Armageddon' Is Highest Since 1962 [Cuban Missile] Crisis --The New York Times

Clearly they don't need my tips, they've already aced How to Start the Final World War.

So the burning question: "Is That Thing Living in Washington D.C. suicidal?"

HERE for updates, additions, comments, and corrections.

AND, "Like," "Tweet," and otherwise, pass this along!

= = = =

L. Reichard White [send him mail] taught physics and the philosophy of science, designed and built a house, ran for Nevada State Senate, served two terms on the Libertarian National Committee, managed a theater company, etc. For the next few decades, he supported his writing habit by beating casinos at their own games. His hobby, though, is explaining things he wishes someone had explained to him. You can find a few of his other explanations listed here.

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Saturday, February 24, 2024

Who we are and the lessons we learned


Libertarian Party History

The Old Timers Series


More than a full generation has passed since that small but determined band of mostly young people came together to form what we all hoped would become the right political tool for renewing the battle for individual freedom.

We all know it started in David Nolan's living room. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, as the saying goes. Some who were there then to witness what happened are now dead. Others are still in there working for freedom either in the LP or in related fields.

I started out in West Los Angeles where I had been born and raised and where I met my first mentor on the ideas of Liberty, James Dean. Where did you start out? Where are you now? What happened in the middle?

This is about the past we share and about reconnecting to each other.

The Old Timer's Series will feature short biographical sketches of Old Timers to appear on these pages and on a blog we will set up for that purpose. If you are an Old Timer I have not yet found, get in touch. It will be great to reconnect even if we didn't talk back then. We will have a lot in common, no doubt.

As I am contacting Old Timers I am also compiling a list of contact information and each Old Timer will have the option of getting in touch with other Old Timers, if they wish to be contacted. I'm hoping everyone does. Think about other Old Timers and about those Old Timers who are not with us any more. I will be doing sketches for Roger MacBride, William Hunscher, Mike Hall, Bob Lehman, and others who can't be interviewed. I know there are more.

These individual stories will help us all understand the past we share. Eventually, it would be lovely to have a get together so we can see each other again.

Consider what kind of reunion we could have. Cruises are fun but there are endless possibilities. In the meanwhile, start rifling through those dusty mementos and through your mind. It is amazing how much you remember when you start thinking about it.

Look forward to chatting. Melinda