The US Constitution (2015 Edition)

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Former Senator Slams Washington As Corrupt "Sewer", Calls For Outraged Young Americans To Revolt

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

On a more personal level, how can public service be promoted as an ideal to young people when this sewer corrupts our Republic? At this point in early twenty-first-century America, the greatest service our nation’s young people could provide is to lead an army of outraged young Americans armed with brooms on a crusade to sweep out the rascals and rid our capital of the money changers, rent seekers, revolving door dancers, and special interest deal makers and power brokers and send them back home to make an honest living, that is, if they still remember how to do so.

Our ancestors did not depart Europe and elsewhere to seek freedom and self-government alone. They came to these shores to escape social and political systems that were corrosive and corrupt. Two and a quarter centuries later, we are returning to those European practices. We are in danger of becoming a different kind of nation, one our founders would not recognize and would deplore.

In addition to the rise of the national security state, and the concentration of wealth and power in America, no development in modern times sets us apart more from the nation originally bequeathed to us than the rise of the special interest state. There is a Gresham’s law related to the republican ideal. Bad politics drives out good politics. Legalized corruption drives men and women of stature, honor, and dignity out of the halls of government. Self-respecting individuals cannot long tolerate a system of election and reelection so dependent on cultivating the favor of those known to expect access in return. Such a system is corrosive to the soul.

– From the Gary Hart article, Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption
A former senator from Colorado, Gary Hart, has written an extremely powerful and accurate critique of the unfathomably corrupt and crony state of the U.S. government in 2015. It covers several very important angles, including how appalled and disgusted our founders would be at the current state of affairs. How a once great republic has devolved into a thieving oligarchy in which the pursuit of money at power at the expense of the public good has been elevated into something that’s not just tolerated, but actually celebrated and encouraged amongst an ethics deprived status quo.

Don’t take it from me though, here are several of my favorite excerpts:

By that standard, can anyone seriously doubt that our republic, our government, is corrupt? There have been Teapot Domes and financial scandals of one kind or another throughout our nation’s history. There has never been a time, however, when the government of the United States was so perversely and systematically dedicated to special interests, earmarks, side deals, log-rolling, vote-trading, and sweetheart deals of one kind or another.

What brought us to this? A sinister system combining staggering campaign costs, political contributions, political action committees, special interest payments for access, and, most of all, the rise of the lobbying class.

Worst of all, the army of lobbyists that started relatively small in the mid-twentieth century has now grown to big battalions of law firms and lobbying firms of the right, left, and an amalgam of both. And that gargantuan, if not reptilian, industry now takes on board former members of the House and the Senate and their personal and committee staffs. And they are all getting fabulously rich.

Frustrated, irate discussions of this legalized corruption are met in the Washington media with a shrug. So what? Didn’t we just have dinner with that lobbyist for the banking industry, or the teachers’ union, or the airline industry at that well-known journalist’s house only two nights ago? Fine lady, and she used to be the chairman of one of those powerful committees. I gather she is using her Rolodex rather skillfully on behalf of her new clients. Illegal? Not at all. Just smart . . . and so charming.

There is little wonder that Americans of the right and many in the middle are apoplectic at their government and absolutely, and rightly, convinced that the game of government is rigged in favor of the elite and the powerful. Occupiers see even more wealth rising to the top at the expense of the poor and the middle class. And Tea Partiers believe their tax dollars are going to well-organized welfare parasites and government bureaucrats.
Never forget this Venn diagram:



The advent of legalized corruption launched by the Supreme Court empowers the superrich to fund their own presidential and congressional campaigns as pet projects, to foster pet policies, and to represent pet political enclaves. You have a billion, or even several hundred million, then purchase a candidate from the endless reserve bench of minor politicians and make him or her a star, a mouthpiece for any cause or purpose however questionable, and that candidate will mouth your script in endless political debates and through as many television spots as you are willing to pay for. All legal now.

To compound the political felony, much, if not most, campaign financing is now carried out in secret, so that everyday citizens have a decreasing ability to determine to whom their elected officials are beholden and to whom they must now give special access. As recently as the 2014 election, the facts documented this government of influence by secrecy: “More than half of the general election advertising aired by outside groups in the battle for control of Congress,” according to the New York Times, “has come from organizations that disclose little or nothing about their donors, a flood of secret money that is now at the center of a debate over the line between free speech and corruption.”

Of this handful, the largest by far is WPP (originally called Wire and Plastic Products; is there a metaphor here?), which has its headquarters in London and more than 150,000 employees in 2,500 offices spread around 107 countries. It, together with one or two conglomerating competitors, represents a fourth branch of government, vacuuming up former senators and House members and their spouses and families, key committee staff, former senior administration officials of both parties and several administrations, and ambassadors, diplomats, and retired senior military officers.

WPP has swallowed giant public relations, advertising, and lobbying outfits such as Hill & Knowlton and BursonMarsteller, along with dozens of smaller members of the highly lucrative special interest and influence-manipulation world. Close behind WPP is the Orwellian-named Omnicom Group and another converger vaguely called the Interpublic Group of Companies. According to Mr. Edsall, WPP had billings last year of $72.3 billion, larger than the budgets of quite a number of countries.
I’m not sure exactly where this number came from, as I’ve seen numbers around $15 billion thrown around, but not $72 billion.

With a budget so astronomical, think how much good WPP can do in the campaign finance arena, especially since the Citizens United decision. The possibilities are almost limitless. Why pay for a senator or congresswoman here or there when you can buy an entire committee? Think of the banks that can be bailed out, the range of elaborate weapons systems that can be sold to the government, the protection from congressional scrutiny that can be paid for, the economic policies that can be manipulated.

The lobbying business is no longer about votes up or down on particular measures that may emerge in Congress or policies made in the White House. It is about setting agendas, deciding what should and should not be brought up for hearings and legislation. We have gone way beyond mere vote buying now. The converging Influence World represents nothing less than an unofficial but enormously powerful fourth branch of government.
America’s founders knew one thing: The republics of history all died when narrow interests overwhelmed the common good and the interests of the commonwealth.

What would our founders make of this nightmare of corruption? We only know, in Thomas Jefferson’s case, for example, that his distrust of central government had to do with the well-founded and prescient suspicion that its largesse would go to powerful and influential interests, especially financiers, who knew how to manipulate both the government and the financial markets. In particular, Jefferson envisioned sophisticated bankers speculating in public-debt issues with some if not all the interest incurred going into their pockets.

The scope and scale of this genuine scandal (as distinguished from vastly more mundane behavior that passes for scandal in the media) is the single greatest threat to our form of government. It is absolutely incompatible with the principles and ideals upon which America was founded. At the very least, we Americans cannot hold ourselves up to the world as the beacon of democracy so long as we permit, as long as we acquiesce in, corruption so far beyond the standards of the true republic that our government cannot be proclaimed an ideal for other aspiring nations.

On a more personal level, how can public service be promoted as an ideal to young people when this sewer corrupts our Republic? At this point in early twenty-first-century America, the greatest service our nation’s young people could provide is to lead an army of outraged young Americans armed with brooms on a crusade to sweep out the rascals and rid our capital of the money changers, rent seekers, revolving door dancers, and special interest deal makers and power brokers and send them back home to make an honest living, that is, if they still remember how to do so.
When a former senator accurately notes that the best thing young Americans can do is instigate a successful rebellion against the incredibly corrupt and powerful monied interests running the county into the ground, you know things are very bleak.

A harsh judgment? Indeed. But it is impossible to claim to love one’s country and not be outraged at how corrupt it has become. For former senators and representatives to trade a title given them by the voters of their respective states and districts for cash is beyond shameful. It is outrageous.

“I tremble for my country when I contemplate that God is just.” Those words of Thomas Jefferson, enshrined on the walls of his memorial, referred to the institution of slavery. Today he might readily render the same judgment about corruption in and of the American Republic.

It is an error of serious proportion to dismiss corruption in twenty-first-century American democracy on the grounds that this has all been going on from the beginning, that boys will be boys, that politicians are always on the take. Past incidents of the violation of public ethics provide no argument fozr accepting the systemic and cancerous commercialization of modern American politics.

Our ancestors did not depart Europe and elsewhere to seek freedom and self-government alone. They came to these shores to escape social and political systems that were corrosive and corrupt. Two and a quarter centuries later, we are returning to those European practices. We are in danger of becoming a different kind of nation, one our founders would not recognize and would deplore.

Even as politicians and pundits alike pummel the fiscal deficit, we are developing an integrity deficit of mounting proportions. And one is not disconnected from the other. Because of the erosion of the integrity of our governing system, and the principles and ideals underlying it, the fiscal deficit increases. The government spending so many conservatives claim to abhor includes not only the social safety net of Roosevelt and Johnson, but also the war-making excursions of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. It is all government spending. And it includes favorite pork-barrel projects of every member of both houses of Congress of both political parties, and every one of those most loudly condemning “wasteful government spending.” Those projects are produced by the lobbying interests that raise money for those members of Congress in direct proportion to their effectiveness at bringing government-financed projects to their states and districts. By definition, if it is a project in my state or district, it is not wasteful.

We were not created to be like other nations. We were created as an alternative to monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, and corrupt political systems. The more we follow the easy path, the one paved for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful, the more we stray from our originally intended purpose and the more we lose our unique purpose for existence.

In addition to the rise of the national security state, and the concentration of wealth and power in America, no development in modern times sets us apart more from the nation originally bequeathed to us than the rise of the special interest state. There is a Gresham’s law related to the republican ideal. Bad politics drives out good politics. Legalized corruption drives men and women of stature, honor, and dignity out of the halls of government. Self-respecting individuals cannot long tolerate a system of election and reelection so dependent on cultivating the favor of those known to expect access in return. Such a system is corrosive to the soul.
As bad as things are, the fact a former senator is not only aware of the problem, but is willing to publicly write a scathing article condemning it, is ultimately a very good thing.

The world is not going to end. It already has, and you have not noticed

Dear CIGAs,

The world is not going to end. It already has, and you have not noticed.

They will never learn, but why should they? These institutions are gambling with your money, not theirs. They win and they whack it up between themselves. They go wrong you lose in the trillions. There is a potential for an uncontrolled nuclear financial reaction in this outrageous form of greed driven madness. No longer does the Edison and Tesla of the world seek to invent a better world, just a better way to beat the markets using universal energy of the leverage in OTC derivatives via super computers. This is going misfire very badly. Each generation is crazier than its predecessor in their greed and penchant for money and power. The builders of real businesses are frowned upon. Our financial kids are downright dangerous. They seek not to better the world but to destroy all that is good in it for personal profit. The only invention welcome is one that means more paper profit. They have no limits on their desires. They cannot be satisfied by any amount. Their battle cry is "More at any Cost." They will cause a chain reaction financial dark energy that cannot be stopped by any central bank or all central banks together. Maybe we are going into a Super Financial Nova followed by a permanent Economic Black Hole where prosperity once existed? Maybe the rebellious IMF knows this.

OCC’s Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities
First Quarter 2015


Highlights:


· JPM and Citi are still competing for top derivative gambler at about $56 Trillion each

· At table 2, tiny Morgan Stanley has a derivative book of $35.2 Trillion

· At graph #12, (other) precious metals derivatives (i.e. silver) jumped from about $22.4 Billion in Q4’2014 to about $75.6 billion in Q1’2015

· At table 9, Citi’s (other) precious metals derivatives (i.e. silver) jumped from about $3.9 Billion in Q4’2014 to about $53 billion in Q1’2015!

It's NOT the rule of law or even the majority that are running this country anymore its the money who are fronting mob rule, anarchy is sure to follow!

Voting-Rights Advocates Get Win at Supreme Court - Voting! You don't need any "Stinking ID to vote in communist USA"

By Simone Pathé
Posted at 3:57 p.m. 06/29/15

Monday’s big election law news came from the Supreme Court’s penultimate decision of the term upholding Arizona’s congressional districts.

But before handing down its last three decisions, the court made voting-rights advocates happy by deciding not to review a different election case.

“Arizona citizens can continue to participate in voter registration drives without worrying about not having proof of citizenship documents,” Shirley Sandelands, of the League of Women Voters of Arizona, said in a statement Monday.

The case, Kobach, et al. v. Election Assistance Commission, et al., was about whether Arizona and Kansas could require voters to prove their citizenship when registering to vote with the so-called “federal form.” Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach led the suit against the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which was an appeal of a lower court decision.


Both Kansas and Arizona have state laws that require applicants to prove their citizenship when applying to vote with state forms (for state or federal elections). But the U.S. EAC denied the states’ requests to have their citizenship laws applied when would-be voters use the standardized federal form.

The Supreme Court had already ruled in 2013 that state proof-of-citizenship laws couldn’t be applied when people try to register with the federal form. The states’ direct request to the EAC was a last-ditch effort to get around that.

By not hearing the case, the Supreme Court effectively upheld the decision of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against Arizona and Kansas in November 2014, saying the EAC did not have to modify its form to meet state laws. Under the federal form, would-be voters need only swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens.

“This is a very big deal,” University of California Irvine Law Professor Rick Hasen wrote on his election law blog Monday. “Kobach had the potential to shift more power away from the federal government in administering elections toward the states,” he added.

In a joint statement, the League of Women Voters of Arizona and Kansas and the Brennan Center for Justice praised the court for “reaffirming the important role Congress plays in preserving a fair voter registration process across the country.” The LWV, represented by the Brennan Center and several law firms, was a defendant in the case with the EAC.

“This is an important win for the National Voter Registration Act and an important step forward in making sure that all that are eligible are registered to vote,” President of the League of Women Voters of the U.S. Elisabeth MacNamara said in a statement.

But Kobach still hopes states’ authority will be recognized.

“Our position in court is that we’re exercising our state’s right to define the qualifications of electors,” Kobach told CQ Roll Call Monday afternoon. “By creating this loophole, the federal agency is interfering,” he said in reference to the EAC.

Kobach emphasized the court’s decision not to review the case does not reflect its opinion on the issues of the case.

“The Supreme Court decision not to review was not particularly surprising given the fact that there was no circuit split yet,” the secretary of state said.

Typically, Kobach continued, “the Supreme Court favors reviewing decisions where one circuit has gone one way and another circuit has gone another way. It appears that the Supreme Court is waiting for another circuit to weigh in.” He expects the 11th circuit, which he said has jurisdiction over two states with similar proof-of-citizenship laws, to eventually get involved.

The Kansas and Arizona laws stand, meaning that people wishing to register to vote with state forms are required to show proof of citizenship. Kobach said more than 99 percent of Kansans use the state forms. “But because of the Supreme Court decision not to review the case,” he added, “we do have a small limited loophole.” The slim majority that uses the federal form can “refuse to provide proof of citizenship,” he said, “but that will only suffice for federal elections.”

Kobach said he’ll be sending another request to the EAC, but that that request will be presented differently from the state’s previously denied request.

“Every time an alien votes, it may not steal an election, but it will cancel out a vote of a U.S. citizen,” Kobach said.

OBAMA SIGNS BILL GIVING HIMSELF FAST-TRACK POWERS FOR TRADE DEALS

President can now present trade bills to Congress for up or down vote...
by RT.COM | JUNE 29, 2015

President Barack Obama signed a bill giving him “fast-track” powers to conduct and conclude trade legislation. The bill was approved by Congress last week after months of contentious debate and several difficult votes.

In addition to the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), as the fast-track bill is officially called, the president signed the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) act, extending aid to US workers who might lose their jobs as a consequence of free-trade deals.

The two bills were originally bundled together in both the Senate and the House of Representatives as a way of securing bipartisan support. However, Obama faced an uphill battle within his own party, as the House Democrats rejected TAA in order to hold TPA hostage.

After weeks of talks with party leadership and several close roll calls in both the House and the Senate, the bills were voted on separately and approved last week. Most Republican lawmakers backed the president, whose insistence on the trade deals strained relations with the Democrats’ traditional power base of labor unions and environmental groups.

10 Principles for Escaping the Matrix and Standing Up to Tyranny

By John W. Whitehead

Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled, they cannot become conscious.— George Orwell

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

It’s a shell game intended to keep us focused on and distracted by all of the politically expedient things that are being said—about militarized police, surveillance, and government corruption—while the government continues to frogmarch us down the road toward outright tyranny.

Unarmed citizens are still getting shot by militarized police trained to view them as the enemy and treated as if we have no rights. Despite President Obama’s warning that the nation needs to do some “soul searching” about issues such as race, poverty and the strained relationship between law enforcement and the minority communities they serve, police killings and racial tensions are at an all-time high. Just recently, in Texas, a white police officer was suspended after video footage showed him “manhandling, arresting and drawing his gun on a group of black children outside a pool party.”

Americans’ private communications and data are still being sucked up by government spy agencies. The USA Freedom Act was just a placebo pill intended to make us feel better without bringing about any real change. As Bill Blunden, a cybersecurity researcher and surveillance critic, points out, “The theater we’ve just witnessed allows decision makers to boast to their constituents about reforming mass surveillance while spies understand that what’s actually transpired is hardly major change.”

Taxpayer dollars are still being squandered on roads to nowhere, endless wars that do not make us safer, and bloated government agencies that should have been shut down long ago. A good example is the Transportation Security Administration, which, despite its $7 billion annual budget, has shown itself to be bumbling and ineffective.

And military drills are still being carried out on American soil under the pretext of training soldiers for urban warfare overseas. Southeastern Michigan, the site of one of the many military training drills taking place across the country this summer, has had Black Hawk helicopters buzzing its skies and soldiers dressed for combat doing night combat drills in abandoned buildings around the state.

In other words, freedom, or what’s left of it, is being threatened from every direction. The threats are of many kinds: political, cultural, educational, media, and psychological. However, as history shows us, freedom is not, on the whole, wrested from a citizenry. It is all too often given over voluntarily and for such a cheap price: safety, security, bread, and circuses.


This is part and parcel of the propaganda churned out by the government machine. That said, what we face today—mind manipulation and systemic violence—is not new. What is different are the techniques used and the large-scale control of mass humanity, coercive police tactics and pervasive surveillance. As we have seen with the erection of the electronic concentration camp, there is virtually no escaping the invisible prison surrounding us. Once upon a time, one could run and hide or duck into a cave, but that is no longer feasible as caves are quite scarce, and those running the camp have their eyes watching everything.

Moreover, we are presented with the illusion that we act of our own volition when most of the time we are being watched, prodded, and controlled. “The nature of psychological compulsion is such that those who act under constraint remain under the impression that they are acting on their own initiative,” Aldous Huxley stated. “The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him, the walls of his prison are invisible.”

In fact, with the merger of the Internet and the corporate state, unless you are alert and aware, it will be increasingly difficult to discern the difference between freedom and enslavement. With the methods of mind manipulation available to the corporate state, the very nature of democratic government has been changed. Again, as Aldous Huxley writes:
[T]he quaint old forms—elections, parliaments, Supreme Courts and all the rest will remain. The underlying substance will be a new kind of nonviolent totalitarianism. All the traditional names, all the hallowed slogans will remain exactly what they were in the good old days. Democracy and freedom will be the theme of every broadcast and editorial . . . Meanwhile the ruling oligarchy and its highly trained elite of soldiers, policemen, thought-manufacturers and mind-manipulators will quietly run the show as they see fit.
To many, the situation seems hopeless. But is it?

From the day you’re born until the day you die, the choices you exercise are very limited. You don’t choose to be born or choose what sex you are or who your parents are or where you live. When you are a child, you are told what to do, and when you enter school, you sit plastered to a desk and are taught what others demand you should know. Yes, the indoctrinating process begins on day one.

Then there are the rules, the endless rules. If you say the wrong word, write the wrong story or wear the wrong clothes, you can get thrown out of school or even arrested. You live where you are told and eat what others think you should eat. As you grow older, this list expands into employment, marriage and so on. In other words, your so-called reality is socially constructed. It is predetermined for you, and if you step out of line and disagree with what the current society deems proper, you will be ostracized. If you speak your mind to the governing authorities, you might find yourself behind bars.

The point is that in order to develop a compliant citizenry, people must be forced to live in a mental matrix of words, ideas, ideologies, and teachings that are designed to make us conform. “As the Matrix in the movie was used to facilitate the exploitation of humans,” writes author Henry H. Lindner, “so the current ideological Matrix was created for, and serves to exploit us, turning us into unthinking workers and consumers—slaves of the ruling elite who themselves are trapped in the Matrix.” In fact, “few of us are able to escape the Matrix. We do not even know it exists.”

For there to be any hope of real change, you’ll have to change how you think about yourself, your fellow human beings, freedom, society, and the government. This means freeing your mind, realizing the truth, and unlearning all the myths you have been indoctrinated with since the day you were able to comprehend language.

The following principles, taken from my new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, may help any budding freedom fighters in the struggle to liberate themselves and our society.

First, we must come to grips with the reality that the present system does not foster freedom. It denies freedom and must be altered. “Our authoritarian system is based on cruelty and control—it increasingly drives natural love and feelings from our society and produces violence and greed,” Lindner recognizes. “Our society is deteriorating morally and intellectually. This system cannot be reformed.”

To start with, we must recognize that the government’s primary purpose is maintaining power and control. It’s an oligarchy composed of corporate giants wedded to government officials who benefit from the relationship. In other words, it is motivated by greed and exists to perpetuate itself. As George Orwell writes:
We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship. . . .. The object of power is power.
Second, voting is practically worthless. “In principle, it is a great privilege,” Aldous Huxley recognized. “In practice, as recent history has repeatedly shown, the right to vote, by itself, is no guarantee of liberty.”

We live in a secretive surveillance state that has virtually no accountability, transparency, or checks and balances of any kind. As Jordan Michael Smith, writing for the Boston Globe, concludes about the American government:
There’s the one we elect, and then there’s the one behind it, steering huge swaths of policy almost unchecked. Elected officials end up serving as mere cover for the real decisions made by the bureaucracy.
How many times have the various politicians, when running for office, lied about all they were going to do to bring hope and change to America? Once they get elected, what do they do? They do whatever the corporate powers want. Yes, the old boss is the same as the new boss. The maxim: power follows money.

Moreover, voting is a way to keep the citizenry pacified. However, many Americans intuitively recognize that something is wrong with the way the electoral process works and have withdrawn from the process. That’s why the government places so much emphasis on the reassurance ritual of voting. It provides the illusion of participation.

Third, question everything. Don’t assume anything government does is for the good of the citizenry. Again, that is not the purpose of modern government. It exists to perpetuate a regime. Remember the words of James Madison, considered the father of the U.S. Constitution: “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.” Power corrupts. And as the maxim goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Fourth, materialism is a death knell to freedom. While it may be true that Americans are better off than citizens of other nations—we have jobs, food, entertainment, shopping malls, etc.—these are the trappings meant to anesthetize and distract us.

Like the dodo, any “bird that has learned how to grub up a good living without being compelled to use its wings will soon renounce the privilege of flight and remain forever grounded,” Huxley warned. “Same thing is true of human beings. If bread is supplied regularly and capaciously three times a day, many of them will be perfectly content to live by bread alone—or at least by bread and circuses alone.” Free as a bird, some say, but only if you’re willing to free your mind and sacrifice all for a dangerous concept—freedom.

In other words, the hope is that the cry of “‘give me television and hamburgers, but don’t bother me with the responsibilities of liberty,’ may give place, under altered circumstances, to the cry of ‘give me liberty or give me death.’” This is indeed dangerous freedom.

Fifth, there is little hope for any true resistance if you are mindlessly connected to the electronic concentration camp. Remember, what you’re being electronically fed by those in power is meant to pacify, distract, and control you. You can avoid mind manipulations to a large degree by greatly limiting your reliance on electronic devices—cell phones, laptops, televisions, and so on.

Sixth, an armed revolt will not work. Although we may have returned to a 1776 situation where we need to take drastic actions to restore freedom, this is not colonial America with its muskets and people’s armies. Local police departments have enough militarized firepower to do away with even a large-scale armed revolt. Even attempting to repel a SWAT team raid on your home is futile. You’ll get blown away.

Seventh, be wise and realize that there is power in numbers. Networks, coalitions, and movements can accomplish much—especially if their objectives are focused and practical—and they are very much feared by government authorities. That’s why the government is armed to the teeth and prepared to put down even small nonviolent protests.

Eighth, act locally but think nationally. The greatest impact can be had at local governing bodies such as city councils. Join together with friends and neighbors and start a Civil Liberties Oversight Committee. Regularly attend council meetings and demand that government corruption be brought under control and that police activities be brought under the scrutiny of local governing bodies and, thus, the citizenry.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, for example, police were involved in 39 shootings dating back to 2010. After a 2014 police shooting of an unarmed homeless man camped out in a public park, residents engaged in nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to disrupt the normal functioning of the city government and demand that the police department be brought under control. Community activists actually went so far as to storm a city council meeting and announce that they would be performing a citizens’ arrest of the police chief, charging him with “harboring fugitives from justice at the Albuquerque police department” and “crimes against humanity.”

In Davis County, California, in August 2014, after a public uproar over the growing militarization of local police, council members ordered the police to find a way of getting rid of the department’s newly acquired MRAP tank. One man at the council meeting was quoted as saying: “I would like to say I do not suggest you take this vehicle and send it out of Davis, I demand it.”

Ninth, local towns, cities and states can nullify or say “no” to federal laws that violate the rights and freedoms of the citizenry. In fact, several states have passed laws stating that they will not comply with the National Defense Authorization Act which allows for the military to indefinitely detain (imprison) American citizens. Again, when and if you see such federal laws passed, gather your coalition of citizens and demand that your local town council nullify such laws. If enough towns and cities across the country would speak truth to power in this way, we might see some positive movement from the federal governmental machine.

Tenth, understand what freedom is all about. “Who were the first persons to get the unusual idea that being free was not only a value to be cherished but the most important thing that someone can possess?” asks Professor Orlando Patterson. “The answer in a word: slaves.”

Freedom arose from the hearts and minds of those who realized that they were slaves. It became a primary passion of those who were victims of slavery.

Some Americans are beginning to realize that they are slaves and that if they don’t act soon, they will find themselves imprisoned in the electronic concentration camp indefinitely. Mind you, there may not be any chains hanging from the dungeon walls, but it is a prison nonetheless, and we are, without a doubt, inmates serving life sentences.

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute, where this article first appeared. He is the author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto.

This article may be re-posted in full with attribution.

The Marxist Agenda Behind the Rainbow

There is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

June 29, 2015: If you think Friday’s Supreme Court decision was about equality or equal rights for the three percent of the American population (at the expense of the 97 percent), you couldn’t be more wrong. If you think that Friday’s decision has no impact on you because you don’t care what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms, you couldn’t be more wrong. If you think the homosexual agenda is about tolerance, diversity or other slick marketing buzzwords, you are not only wrong, but sorely misinformed, misguided or you are purposely facilitating a lie.

America has a huge problem right now. Multiple problems, in fact, but like the victims of a train wreck, we must do triage so we can apply treatment in order of importance. The blunt force trauma inflicted upon America by five rogue members of our judiciary, redefining marriage as a result of a highly potent cabal of activists intent on America’s destruction, certainly moves this problem up the list of importance.

In order to know how to fix the problem, however, you’ve got to know as much about the problem as possible. You need accurate information, not the spin of some morally bankrupt politician or the spin of agenda-driven talking heads who confine their discourse to the captive narrative of the archaic and completely fictitious right-left political paradigm. The next federal election will not solve our problems, for our problems are so threatening to our life and liberty, we might have the time.

As I’ve already suggested, those reveling in the rainbow of diversity and whose chests swell with pride at the luminous display at the seat of American power fall into one of two groups: the ignorant, misguided, brainwashed and/or spiritually, morally and selfishly decadent (i.e. unwitting dupes), or the facilitators of one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated on our nation. What we have witnessed is not the beginning of tolerance and diversity, but its unceremonious demise through the completion of one giant step in the orchestrated dismantling of our country that is part of a much larger plan. It is a critical and vitally important step toward the formation of a “new world order” that no “dignified” journalist or syndicated talk show host will ever acknowledge exists.

The destruction of the moral fabric of America was set in motion generations ago under not a rainbow flag, but a Communist flag. Who better to usher in this mortal wound to our nation than the Manchurian Marxist Messiah of mystery and dubious origin and his cabal of renegade abettors?

What we see taking place today might not have been completely stopped, but it might have been slowed had those who held the attention of Christian conservatives pressed the legitimate issue of the eligibility and allegiance of Barack Hussein Obama as a candidate for the highest office in America. Alas, it was not to be, as those most revered by the conservative right dutifully parroted the lie that the background, origin and constitutional eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama, or Barry Soetoro, perhaps, was nothing but a distraction.

Over the din of their vocal objections, or in some instances, assurances and more lies, those of us in search of the unadulterated truth can hear the unmistakable sickening sound of our freedoms, liberties and rights Cheyne-Stoking as their traumatic death approaches. Yet, those who fought us then continue to dismiss us today. They adhere to a choreographed narrative that fits within the script of the big lie, and one that is as shrewdly narrow as it is factually shallow. For this, it appears, requires less intellectual aptitude of the entranced American than the necessary first steps of a full recovery would require.

Meanwhile, Americans are served their daily portion of the big lie – in this case, sold under the pretext of diversity and tolerance and illustrated by the silly mantra “love wins.” Love, much like equal rights, has absolutely nothing to do with the larger agenda of rending America’s moral fabric. Redefining marriage and the traditional family is a well-documented plank of the Communist takeover of America, a tactic to destroy our Constitutional Republic, and an admission requirement to enter a system of global government.

The Homosexual Agenda is rooted in Communism

The activist homosexual agenda in America has its roots in Communism. On January 10, 1963, Representative A. S. Herlong, Jr. of Florida read 45 goals of Communism in America into the Congressional Record. Listed at #26 was to “present homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as normal, natural and healthy.” What was considered abhorrent behavior and a sin by all of the world’s major religions only a half-century ago is not only accepted and ostensibly “legitimized” today, but is being openly celebrated at the White House and state houses across America.

Why is virtually no one asking how approximately three-(3) percent of our population has seemingly succeeded in changing the moral and legal landscape for 97 percent of the population? How did this change happen so quickly? It nearly mirrors the meteoric rise of Barack Hussein Obama from a virtual unknown to the putative President.

The answers exist in history. The promotion of the fraudulent research of Alfred Kinsey, the highly organized and well-funded efforts of Marxist Harry Hays, founder of the Mattachine Society in 1950, the effective use of Hollywood and Madison Avenue, to the refinement of the homosexual agenda by homosexual activists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen in the 1980’s – when they made public their very specific tactics in their book, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the ’90s, were all cogs in the larger mechanism designed to destroy the morality of America.

When you read the dissenting opinions of Justices Thomas and Scalia in last Friday’s SCOTUS decision, you will see some very chilling statements, including these from Justice Clarence Thomas (Please read and consider these in the context of the above):

“The Court’s decision today is at odds not only with the Constitution, but with the principles upon which our Nation was built. Since well before 1787, liberty has been understood as freedom from government action, not entitlement to government benefits.”

“Aside from undermining the political processes that protect our liberty, the majority’s decision threatens the religious liberty our Nation has long sought to protect.”

“Our Constitution—like the Declaration of Independence before it—was predicated on a simple truth: One’s liberty, not to mention one’s dignity, was something to be shielded from—not provided by—the State. Today’s decision casts that truth aside. In its haste to reach a desired result, the majority misapplies a clause focused on “due process” to afford substantive rights, disregards the most plausible understanding of the “liberty” protected by that clause, and distorts the principles on which this Nation was founded. Its decision will have inestimable consequences for our Constitution and our society.”

The end of the beginning

Many people believe that this ruling will remedy perceived injustices against a (falsely) significant segment of our population. These same people believe that this ruling marks the end of a long and arduous journey for equal rights. They are wrong, for this is merely the end of the beginning. The global activists, the Marxists and Communists propelling this agenda don’t care about rights, despite the pretty packaging. There is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

Having been empowered by SCOTUS, enablers and abettors at the Executive branch and others in power, they are now “all in” to complete the destruction of our nation. The agenda is as big as the lie.

Barring any immediate intervention and unified civil disobedience, what will follow will be exponentially worse to what will be left of our nation. Unless immediate action is taken, the mortal blow that was delivered to our country last week will become fatal.

It is imperative that we understand the depth, breath and scope of the lie and the globalist, Communist agenda behind it. It is important we identify the agents of destruction. They, and their agenda, must be fully exposed.

Alternatively, the Cheyne-Stoke respirations of our liberties and freedoms we (still) enjoy under our Constitutional Republic will cease. Not because of their recovery, however, but due to their death.

Pray. Prepare.

By Douglas J. Hagmann

Unmasking the "gay" agenda

By J. Matt Barber

Balance of Power

Americans who self-identify as "gay" or lesbian comprise roughly one to three percent of the population. Yet the homosexual movement — led by extremist homosexual pressure groups like the so-called Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — represent, per capita, one of America's most powerful and well-funded political lobbies. Consider that HRC and the HRC foundation alone have an annual budget in excess of 50 million.

Through a carefully crafted, decades-old propaganda campaign, homosexual activists have successfully cast homosexuals — many of whom enjoy positions of influence and affluence — as a disadvantaged minority. They have repackaged and sold to the public behaviors which thousands of years of history, every major world religion and uncompromising human biology have long identified as immoral and sexually deviant.

The Goal

As with every major political movement, the homosexual lobby is pushing a specific agenda. It is often called the "gay agenda." At its core is a concerted effort to remove from society all traditional notions of sexual morality and replace them with the post-modern concept of sexual relativism. That is to say, when it comes to sex, there is never right or wrong. All sexual appetites are "equal." If it feels good, do it.

Ultimately, the homosexual lobby's primary objective is to radically redefine our foundational institutions of legitimate marriage and the nuclear family by unraveling God's natural design for human sexuality. In so doing, they hope to elevate their own spiritual and biological counterfeit and establish a sexually androgynous society wherein natural distinctions between male and female are dissolved.

This creates cultural and moral anarchy.

Plan of Attack

Ironically, sexual relativists are anything but relative. They are quite affirmative in principle. But the principles they foist demand comprehensive acceptance of homosexual conduct — by force of law — through federal edicts such as "hate crimes" legislation, the so-called "Employment Non-Discrimination Act" (ENDA) and by imposing government sanctioned "same-sex marriage." All such government mandates grant special protected "minority" status to those who define themselves by aberrant sexual preferences and changeable sexual behaviors. These laws put people with traditional values directly in the crosshairs of official government policy.

Throughout society, homosexual activists demand that homosexual behaviors not only be "tolerated," but celebrated. (That's what the euphemistic slogan "celebrate diversity" supposes). They have masked their true political agenda by hijacking the language of the genuine civil rights movement and through the crafty and disingenuous rhetoric of "tolerance" and "diversity."

Anyone who believes the Biblical directive that human sexuality is a gift from God, to be shared between man and wife within the bonds of marriage, is branded "homophobic," "hateful" or "discriminatory." They are to be silenced by all means possible.

In Their Own Words

What you are about to read is just a quick, though disturbing, glance behind the homosexual lobby's lavender curtain.

Below are two of the central demands put forth by homosexual activists in their "1972 Gay Rights Platform":

"Repeal all laws governing the age of sexual consent." (This should send a chill down the spine of any parent. It would legally allow pedophiles, and homosexuals who were so inclined, to access your children and teens for their own predatory sexual gratification — so long as those children "consented" to having sex.)

"Repeal all legislative provisions that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit." (Once marriage is redefined, there can be no logical or ethical objection to any conceivable "marriage" combination, including polygamous "marriages." By watering down marriage, "gay" activists and like-minded politicos [usually activist judges] remove this foundational institution's intrinsic value.)

Here are just a few of the demands the homosexual lobby put forth during the 1987 (Homosexual) "March on Washington":

"The government should provide protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, public accommodations and education just as protection is provided on race, creed, color, sex, or national origin." ([ENDA] This would force all religious business owners, landlords and schools to abandon — under penalty of law — sincerely held and constitutionally protected religious beliefs and adopt a view of sexual morality that runs entirely counter to central teachings of every major world religion.)

"Anti-homophobic curriculum in the schools." (Translation: pro-homosexual, government-mandated indoctrination. This is already occurring in thousands of public schools throughout America. Children are being force-fed the absurd notion that male-male anal sodomy is a perfectly acceptable, "alternative" sexual "orientation." This calculated propaganda continues to expand, despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has acknowledged that such behaviors place participants at extremely high risk for dangerous and often deadly infectious disease.)

"The government should ensure all public education programs include programs designed to combat lesbian/gay prejudice. ... Institutions that discriminate against lesbian and gay people should be denied tax-exempt status and federal funding." (This means churches, religious schools and religious businesses. Some jurisdictions, such as the state of New Jersey, have already begun removing tax-exempt status from church related ministries that refuse to provide "commitment ceremonies" to homosexuals.)

"Public and private institutions should support parenting by lesbian or gay couples." (This is now being mandated in many states such as California and Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, Catholic Charities' adoption service was recently forced to close down because it refused to assign children to homosexuals for adoption.)

The push for federal "hate crimes" legislation is another activist tool intended to silence traditional views on human sexuality and sexual morality. Similar laws have already been used around the world, and even right here at home, to persecute Christians and other traditionalists. For example, in 2004, 11 Christians were arrested in Philadelphia and charged with a "hate crime" for merely preaching the Bible at a public homosexual street festival. They could have served up to 47 years in prison.

More recently, a Christian photographer was dragged before the New Mexico Human Rights Division for refusing to photograph a "commitment ceremony" for a lesbian couple because lesbian behavior is inconsistent with Christianity.

Such stark examples of homofascist persecution continue to mount. And they're by design. Noted homosexual activist and pornographer Clinton Fein addressed the "gay" agenda in a 2005 article candidly titled, "The Gay Agenda":

On "hate crimes" laws: "Hate Crime laws are just the beginning. Once those are passed either federally or in all 50 states, begin campaign to eliminate homophobia entirely."

On "hate thoughts" and "hate speech" laws: "Homophobic inclinations alone, even without any actions, should be criminal and punishable to the full extent of the law."

On influencing public policy: "Make sure that gay representation permeates every level of governance."

On "same-sex marriage": "Demand the institution and then wreck it. James Dobson was right about our evil intentions. We just plan to be quicker than he thought."

On "gays" in the Church: "Reclaim Jesus. He was a Jewish queer to begin with, and don't let anyone forget it."

The homosexual lobby's goals have been clearly defined for decades. But for any goal to be successfully achieved, clever stratagem and sound methodology must be diligently applied.

In their manuscript, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90's (1989, Doubleday/Bantam), Harvard educated marketing experts Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen meticulously laid out the homosexual lobby's blueprint for success in what is widely regarded as the handbook for the "gay" agenda.

They devised a three-pronged approach that the homosexual lobby has masterfully implemented in subsequent years: Desensitization, Jamming and Conversion.

Kirk and Madsen summarized their approach this way:

Portray gays as victims, not as aggressive challengers.

Give potential protectors a just cause.

Make gays look good.

Make victimizers look bad.

Desensitization

"Desensitization," wrote Kirk and Madsen, means subjecting the public to a "continuous flood of gay-related advertising, presented in the least offensive fashion possible. If 'straights' can't shut off the shower, they may at least eventually get used to being wet."

As previously stated, glamorizing and normalizing homosexual conduct in our public schools is a full time endeavor. But the schools represent only one field of battle in the war over America's body, mind and soul.

With the aid of a willing mainstream media and a like-minded Hollywood, societal desensitization has been largely achieved. Blockbusters like Tom Hanks' Philadelphia, the late Heath Ledger's Brokeback Mountain, and television programs like Will and Grace and Ellen represent a modern-day fairy tale, creating a dishonest and sympathetic portrayal of a lifestyle which is emotionally, spiritually and physically sterile.

Reality is replaced with fantasy. Gone are references to, or images of, the millions of homosexual men wasting away in hospice due to behaviorally related diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and Syphilis. (Unnatural behaviors beget natural consequences. As Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death.")

And gone are references to, or images of, men and women trapped in the homosexual lifestyle who aimlessly seek to fill a spiritual and emotional void through promiscuous and meaningless sexual encounters.

The homosexual group, GLAAD, even offers awards to the television networks that most effectively carry the homosexual lobby's water. The more distorted and positive the portrayal of homosexual conduct and the more frequently the networks shows such portrayals; the more likely networks are to win the coveted awards.

As Kirk and Madsen put it, homosexuals should be portrayed as the "Everyman." "In no time," they said, "a skillful and clever media campaign could have the gay community looking like the veritable fairy godmother to Western Civilization."

Prophetic words from two very smart men.

Jamming

"Jamming" refers to the public smearing of Christians, traditionalists or anyone else who opposes the "gay" agenda. "Jam homo-hatred (i.e., disagreement with homosexual behaviors) by linking it to Nazi horror," wrote Kirk and Madsen. "Associate all who oppose homosexuality with images of 'Klansmen demanding that gays be slaughtered,' 'hysterical backwoods preachers,' 'menacing punks,' and a 'tour of Nazi concentration camps where homosexuals were tortured and gassed.'

"In any campaign to win over the public, gays must be portrayed as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to adopt the role of protector ... The purpose of victim imagery is to make straights feel very uncomfortable," they suggested.

But, perhaps Kirk and Madsen's most revealing admission came when they said, "[O]ur effect is achieved without reference to facts, logic, or proof."

And so words like "homophobe" and "heterosexism" were pulled from thin air, not because they had substance, but because they were effective jamming tools. Anyone who holds traditional values relative to human sexuality suddenly became a "homophobe," a "hatemonger," a "bigot."

Not even churches are safe.

"Gays can undermine the moral authority of homo-hating churches over less fervent adherents by portraying [them] as antiquated backwaters, badly out of step ... with the latest findings of psychology. Against the atavistic tug of 'Old Time Religion' one must set the mightier pull of science and public opinion. ... Such an 'unholy' alliance has already worked well in America against the churches, on such topics as divorce and abortion. ... [T]hat alliance can work for gays."

And, oh, how it has.

Conversion

"Conversion" means, in the words of Kirk and Madsen, "conversion of the average American's emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media."

"In the early stages of any campaign to reach straight America, the masses should not be shocked and repelled by premature exposure to homosexual behavior itself. Instead, the imagery of sex should be downplayed and gay rights should be reduced to an abstract social question as much as possible. First let the camel get his nose inside the tent — and only later his unsightly derriere!"

So, as Kirk and Madsen both astutely understood and surprisingly admitted, homosexual activism is really a big game of "hide the ball." In order to achieve widespread acceptance of "gayness," they had to remove the focus from what homosexuality really is (deviant sexual conduct) and shift it onto the craftily manufactured specter of "gay civil rights."

In order to cut through much of the propagandist sugarcoating, one need only consider what two men must actually do in order to "consummate" a so-called "gay marriage." Kirk and Madsen understood that. Most people are repulsed by the mechanics of homosexual conduct, but everyone is for "civil rights." Of course, in reality, the homosexual lifestyle has nothing to do with civil rights and everything to do with conduct.

Therein lies the deception.

But There's Hope

There's hope for people who are trapped in the homosexual lifestyle or who suffer from unwanted same-sex attraction. Part of our fallen condition as humans is that we are all subject to sin. Those who know the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, are no better or worse than those who engage in homosexual sin.

But through the loving and redemptive power of Jesus Christ, we can all find salvation from sin. So can homosexuals. "Gayness" is not an "immutable" or unchangeable condition as homosexual apologists would have you believe. People can find freedom from homosexual behaviors and even from same-sex attractions. It's not easy, but untold thousands of former homosexuals have done it.

There's also hope in the ongoing battle between the "gay" agenda and our national moral integrity. Concerned Women for America (CWA) endeavors on a daily basis to counter this destructive movement throughout all facets of culture and public policy.

With God's help, we can turn back the tide of sexual and moral relativism that has both permeated our society and offended our founding principles.

(For more information about Concerned Women for America and to learn how you can be part of unmasking the "gay" agenda, please call us at (202) 488-7000 or visit CWA's website at www.cwfa.org.)

Rand Paul: Government Should Get Out of the Marriage Business Altogether

June 28, 2015



While I disagree with Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage, I believe that all Americans have the right to contract.

The Constitution is silent on the question of marriage because marriage has always been a local issue. Our founding fathers went to the local courthouse to be married, not to Washington, D.C.

I’ve often said I don’t want my guns or my marriage registered in Washington.

Those who disagree with the recent Supreme Court ruling argue that the court should not overturn the will of legislative majorities. Those who favor the Supreme Court ruling argue that the 14th Amendment protects rights from legislative majorities.

Do consenting adults have a right to contract with other consenting adults? Supporters of the Supreme Court’s decision argue yes but they argue no when it comes to economic liberties, like contracts regarding wages.

It seems some rights are more equal than others.

Marriage, though a contract, is also more than just a simple contract.

I acknowledge the right to contract in all economic and personal spheres, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a danger that a government that involves itself in every nook and cranny of our lives won’t now enforce definitions that conflict with sincerely felt religious convictions of others.

Some have argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling will now involve the police power of the state in churches, church schools, church hospitals.

This may well become the next step, and I for one will stand ready to resist any intrusion of government into the religious sphere.

Justice Clarence Thomas is correct in his dissent when he says: “In the American legal tradition, liberty has long been understood as individual freedom from governmental action, not as a right to a particular governmental entitlement.”

The government should not prevent people from making contracts but that does not mean that the government must confer a special imprimatur upon a new definition of marriage.

Perhaps the time has come to examine whether or not governmental recognition of marriage is a good idea, for either party.

Since government has been involved in marriage, they have done what they always do — taxed it, regulated it, and now redefined it. It is hard to argue that government’s involvement in marriage has made it better, a fact also not surprising to those who believe government does little right.

So now, states such as Alabama are beginning to understand this as they begin to get out of the marriage licensing business altogether. Will others follow?

Thomas goes on to say:

To the extent that the Framers would have recognized a natural right to marriage that fell within the broader definition of liberty, it would not have included a right to governmental recognition and benefits. Instead, it would have included a right to engage in the very same activities that petitioners have been left free to engage in — making vows, holding religious ceremonies celebrating those vows, raising children, and otherwise enjoying the society of one’s spouse — without governmental interference.

The 14th Amendment does not command the government endorsement that is conveyed by the word “marriage.” State legislatures are entitled to express their preference for traditional marriage, so long as the equal rights of same-sex couples are protected.

So the questions now before us are: What are those rights? What does government convey along with marriage, and should it do so? Should the government care, or allocate any benefits based on marital status?

And can the government do its main job in the aftermath of this ruling — the protection of liberty, particularly religious liberty and free speech?

We shall see. I will fight to ensure it does both, along with taking part in a discussion on the role of government in our lives.

Perhaps it is time to be more careful what we ask government to do, and where we allow it to become part of our lives.

The Constitution was written by wise men who were raised up by God for that very purpose. There is a reason ours was the first where rights came from our creator and therefore could not be taken away by government. Government was instituted to protect them.

We have gotten away from that idea. Too far away. We must turn back. To protect our rights we must understand who granted them and who can help us restore them.

"Don’t push a bad position"!

Dear CIGAs,

"Don’t push a bad position"! This is good advice in many varied quests. It is good advice in games like chess or poker. Good advice in sports, business, politics, geopolitics and certainly in militarily ventures. Today we will look at two separate issues where "bad positions" are being pushed to the wall!

First, we have an insane situation brewing in COMEX silver. The open interest finally exceeded 200,000 contracts (1 billion ounces). I believe the only other time this much open interest existed was back in 1980 or ’81. This makes no sense whatsoever, the price is again plumbing 4 year lows yet open interest has moved to record highs? The fact open interest has expanded while price has declined is proof positive the "initiation" of this expanded open interest has been by "shorts" but absorbed by "someone" on the other side of the trade. Total global production of silver is only 800 million ounces or thereabouts so COMEX shorts have contracted to deliver 25% more silver than will even be produced globally over the next 12 months. Silver available for COMEX delivery only totals 57 million ounces so they sit on a naked short time bomb of more than 950 million ounces!

If we look at the July silver contract, there are 55,000 contracts still open with only 4 days remaining before first notice day. This is 275 million ounces still open with only 57 million ounces available to deliver. This is truly fraudulent sales of metal because the metal does not exist to deliver. Yes I know, the apologists will say "this always happens and the shorts will decline into first notice day and evaporate throughout the delivery month". I agree, this "has" always happened in the past but something is changing now. In the past, total open interest always dropped going into FND, now it is not. Not only are all July contracts closed out being rolled into September, the total is rising rather than declining sharply.

I first wrote last August about the situation where huge open interest in the September contract dwarfed the available silver for delivery. My speculation then as it is now, I believe somehow the bulk of the open interest in the nearby month is of Chinese origin. I called it a "Kill Switch" then and still believe this to be the case. The shorts have had their way with silver but I believe "pushing a bad position". They are "making" price by contractually selling silver which does not exist. This travesty was recently called out by Keith Neumeyer, CEO of First Majestic Silver corp., http://www.mineweb.com/news/silver/silver-manipulation-first-majestic-question-cftc/. Bravo! and you are exactly correct. Then of course we must wonder of JP Morgan reportedly accumulating millions of silver ounces, what of this?

To finish this section, there is NO market anywhere on the planet where the amounts of futures dwarf the physical product so overwhelmingly than in silver. Why is silver so important? Why has it been bludgeoned so badly and even priced below the cost of production? You must understand how small the silver market is. Total global production is less than $15 billion per year …"but", silver cannot be left alone because high silver prices do not jibe with low gold prices. …And gold MUST be kept down and out of the limelight because high gold prices do not fit with low interest rates …which are an absolute must in an effort of reflation. You see, in no way can interest rates be allowed to rise with the amount of global debt outstanding. Higher interest rates will crush the debt outstanding, the silver market is at the VERY BEGINNING of the "food chain" that keeps the lid on interest rates. I believe the Chinese hold this market in their back pocket paid for with "pocket change", they will use is it at their own discretion!

Another "bad position" is the stance the U.S. is taking with Russia (and the rest of the world for that matter). We have placed economic and financial sanctions on Russia in an effort to bankrupt them. It has been speculated the Saudis opened the oil spigots to lower energy and break Russia as was done in the 1980′s. So far there has been more stress in the U.S. fracking sector than damage done to Russia. This may have originally been the case, however, Russa and Saudi Arabia just signed six separate deals just last week. A case can be made, the sanctions meant to hurt Russia have hurt the German, French and other Euro economies just as much. The IMF has said they will fund Ukraine even after a default …but not Greece, they need some of that "austerity stuff" that no one wants. Greece has turned back and forth playing nice with Russia in an on again off again type romance.

The scary part is the military buildup of U.S. hardware in Eastern Europe. Mr. Putin has a "limit" to what he will tolerate just as anyone else. The danger to the U.S. is not just World War III, it may be the lengths Mr. Putin will go to avoid a war. I have speculated Russia (Mr. Putin) will drop a "truth bomb" in order to cripple the U.S. financially by breaking confidence in any and all things American. I believe Russia (via Snowden) has enough evidence of various false flags, fraudulent deals and U.S. scam tradings to "shame" the U.S. into retreat. When I say "shame", I am talking about the dollar being undermined by a break of confidence.

We have pushed and shoved our way around for years while "losing friends and not influencing people". In trying to isolate Russia, we have succeeded in isolating ourselves as the rest of the world prepares avoiding the dollar. Just look around, the U.S. has steadily lost allies in meeting after meeting. We have been in a bad position for at least 15 years, our manufacturing base is gone. Yet we have pushed our position harder and harder? You see, we have had to "push" because what was once "earned" and deserved is no longer true, we now must demand our place at the table to sit at it …and mostly unwelcome.

Let me finish with this thought, just as the high school football star is always invited to the parties, the invitations become less and less if he becomes conceited or if his skills diminish. In this analogy, the U.S. has not only become conceited but crossed the line well into arrogance. As for "skills"? These were shipped overseas just as Ross Perot said they would. Unfortunately, the U.S. has pushed itself from a bad position into one worse than anyone could imagine 20 years ago!

Regards, Bill Holter
Holter-Sinclair collaboration

Hegelian Dialectic

by KIT DANIELS | INFOWARS.COM | JUNE 25, 2015
If you want to know why Republicans just gave President Obama more power to ram through the Trans-Pacific Partnership via the Trade Promotion Authority, just study the Hegelian Dialectic.

By passing the TPA on Wednesday, the Republican-controlled Senate gave Obama authority to negotiate trade deals such as the TPP under fast-track measures which denies Congress the right to change or delay international economic agreements promoted by the White House.

“…The GOP establishment has consistently failed to show any backbone when it comes to fighting Obama,” Red State reported. “They’re constantly telling us that the good, responsible thing is to pass this bill [the TPA], but we’ll fight the next time.”

“Only, next time never comes.”
The reason why can be found in the Hegelian Dialectic.
Formulated by German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, the Hegelian Dialectic says the human mind can’t understand anything unless it can be split into two polar opposites, i.e. Left / Right.
“For example when people are talking about two political parties, [Republican or Democrat], what they’re actually referring to, without realizing it, is the thesis and the antithesis based off the Hegelian Dialectic,” General Maddox with realnewsaustralia.com wrote. “The only real debate that occurs is just the minor differences between those two parties.”
“Nothing is said or done about the issues that neither left or right is discussing.”
And establishment insider Carroll Quigley revealed why there doesn’t appear to be much difference between Republican and Democrat presidents, such as Obama and George W. Bush.
“The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers,” Quigley advocated in his book Tragedy and Hope. “Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy.”

In other words, Republicans and Democrats will publicly debate minor issues, but when it comes to the TPP, which was drafted by the transnational interests who control both parties, many of the Republicans and Democrats will toe the line and serve their master’s agenda.

Obama Care Upheld at SCOTUS, Trade Treason Now Law, Lost Lerner Emails Destroyed-WNW 196

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (6.26.15)

The huge concocted lie that is Obama Care was upheld by the Supreme Court. The majority opinion simply reworded the law because it did not want to stop subsidies to more than 8 million people. They are involving themselves in policy instead of interpreting the law. Now, there is talk of a bill in the House that will force the Supreme Court onto Obama Care by taking away their exemption. Obama Care is the biggest policy lie in U.S. history, and we know that to be fact because of MIT professor Jonathan Gruber who bragged on several videos about how the Obama Care lies were crafted with top Democrats including the White House. The Obama Administration said Gruber was not a key player in Obama Care, but that too is a big lie as new emails were released this week showing he was, according to published reports, “frequently consulted by staffers and advisers for both the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) about the Affordable Care Act.” Obama says it’s “here to stay,” and the Republicans say Obama Care will be a campaign issue once again in 2016.

The trade treason known as the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) have passed. You think I am too harsh saying this is trade treason? What do you call legislation that is totally secret? If lawmakers say what is in this legislation they can be prosecuted for a felony. They call this so-called “fast track” legislation, but it should be called neuter Congress legislation. There can be no debate, no amendments or no filibuster. The President negotiates a deal, and Congress votes Yes or No. The Republicans are handing this kind of power over to the same President they are currently suing in federal court because of his overreach on other issues such as immigration. I cannot make this stuff up. Oh, “We the People” can find out about what is in the legislation 4 or 5 years from now—when it’s declassified. As I said in the past, evil is done in the dark and good is done in the light. This is being done in the dark. One last thing, the biggest money supporter of the TPP, according to ZeroHedge.com, is Goldman Sachs, but many other companies pushed for this too. Zero Hedge figures corporate backers paid an average of $17,600 per Yes vote. Most of the Yes votes came from Republicans, but the Democrats had some key votes to get this secret legislation passed. I also say the Democrats and Republicans just take turns ripping us off.

The IRS now says it has accidentally erased Lois Lerner’s emails—all 24,000 of them!! She was at the center of the IRS scandal where the tax agency thwarted political opposition from conservatives. Originally, the head of the IRS testified in Congress that the emails were lost. In fact, they were not lost, and during the investigation, they were being destroyed. Did I say the IRS claims it was an accident? Just more of lawless government of men and not laws.

The Iran deal is going south as I predicted, and 5 top former Obama Administration officials and advisors say the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Even former General and CIA Chief David Petraeus says it is not in the best interests of the U.S., and he and others say the deal should be much tougher. Iran says it will not agree to inspections of its military installations, and it also wants to have the sanctions when a deal is signed. I don’t think Congress is going to let that happen, and therefore, I stand by my prediction that there will be no deal.

Join Greg Hunter as he talks about these stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up.

ROTHBARD HAS THE LAST WORD ON THE CONFEDERATE “FALSE FLAG” ISSUE

by CHARLES BURRIS | LEWROCKWELL.COM | JUNE 25, 2015
Although for twenty years Murray Rothbard’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave, his truth goes marching on.

The Union was taken, by its Northern worshipers, from a contractual institution that can either be cleaved to or scrapped, and turned into a divinized entity, which must be worshipped, and which must be permanent, unquestioned, all-powerful. There is no heresy greater, nor political theory more pernicious, than sacralizing the secular. But this monstrous process is precisely what happened when Abraham Lincoln and his northern colleagues made a god out of the Union. If the British forces fought for bad King George, the Union armies pillaged and murdered on behalf of this pagan idol, this “Union,” this Moloch that demanded terrible human sacrifice to sustain its power and its glory.

For in this War Between the States, the South may have fought for its sacred honor, but the Northern war was the very opposite of honorable. We remember the care with which the civilized nations had developed classical international law. Above all, civilians must not be targeted; wars must be limited. But the North insisted on creating a conscript army, a nation in arms, and broke the 19th-century rules of war by specifically plundering and slaughtering civilians, by destroying civilian life and institutions so as to reduce the South to submission. Sherman’s infamous March through Georgia was one of the great war crimes, and crimes against humanity, of the past century-and-a-half. Because by targeting and butchering civilians, Lincoln and Grant and Sherman paved the way for all the genocidal honors of the monstrous 20th century. There has been a lot of talk in recent years about memory, about never forgetting about history as retroactive punishment for crimes of war and mass murder. As Lord Acton, the great libertarian historian, put it, the historian, in the last analysis, must be a moral judge. The muse of the historian, he wrote, is not Clio, but Rhadamanthus, the legendary avenger of innocent blood. In that spirit, we must always remember, we must never forget, we must put in the dock and hang higher than Haman, those who, in modern times, opened the Pandora’s Box of genocide and the extermination of civilians: Sherman, Grant, and Lincoln.

Perhaps, someday, their statues, like Lenin’s in Russia, will be toppled and melted down; their insignias and battle flags will be desecrated, their war songs tossed into the fire. And then Davis and Lee and Jackson and Forrest, and all the heroes of the South, “Dixie” and the Stars and Bars, will once again be truly honored and remembered. The classic comment on that meretricious TV series The Civil War was made by that marvelous and feisty Southern writer Florence King. Asked her views on the series, she replied: “I didn’t have time to watch The Civil War. I’m too busy getting ready for the next one.” In that spirit, I am sure that one day, aided and abetted by Northerners like myself in the glorious “copperhead” tradition, the South shall rise again.

Scientists: Earth Endangered by New Strain of Fact-Resistant Humans

BY ANDY BOROWITZ
MINNEAPOLIS (The Borowitz Report) – Scientists have discovered a powerful new strain of fact-resistant humans who are threatening the ability of Earth to sustain life, a sobering new study reports.

The research, conducted by the University of Minnesota, identifies a virulent strain of humans who are virtually immune to any form of verifiable knowledge, leaving scientists at a loss as to how to combat them.

“These humans appear to have all the faculties necessary to receive and process information,” Davis Logsdon, one of the scientists who contributed to the study, said. “And yet, somehow, they have developed defenses that, for all intents and purposes, have rendered those faculties totally inactive.”

More worryingly, Logsdon said, “As facts have multiplied, their defenses against those facts have only grown more powerful.”

While scientists have no clear understanding of the mechanisms that prevent the fact-resistant humans from absorbing data, they theorize that the strain may have developed the ability to intercept and discard information en route from the auditory nerve to the brain. “The normal functions of human consciousness have been completely nullified,” Logsdon said.

While reaffirming the gloomy assessments of the study, Logsdon held out hope that the threat of fact-resistant humans could be mitigated in the future. “Our research is very preliminary, but it’s possible that they will become more receptive to facts once they are in an environment without food, water, or oxygen,” he said.

Collapse, Part 4: Loss Of Faith In Public Institutions

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

Public institutions are now devoted to serving their own vested interests or the interests of private financial Elites.

Though we may think of collapse in terms of ATMs not working and rampaging mobs, collapse actually starts with the intangible loss of faith in public institutions: elected officials, law enforcement, the justice system and the agencies of financial regulation (anti-trust, etc.).

Unsurprisingly to those who discern the structural rot of the status quo, Americans No Longer Believe In Their Institutions:
“Americans’ confidence in most major U.S. institutions remains below the historical average for each one,” a Gallup spokesman said in a news release. All in all, it’s a picture of a nation discouraged about its present and worried about its future, and highly doubtful that its institutions can pull America out of its trough.
Only 8 percent have confidence in Congress, the lowest of all institutions rated. No wonder, given the Congressional credo that we have to pass this bill to find out what's in it.The latest monstrosity that is cloaked in secrecy and mumbo-jumbo is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Ellen Brown rightly describes as Straight out of Alice in Wonderland:
The terms of the TPP and the TiSA are so secret that drafts of the negotiations are to remain classified for four years or five years, respectively, after the deals have been passed into law. How can laws be enforced against people and governments who are not allowed to know what was negotiated?
If the Trans-Pacific Partnership is so good for the average American, then why not let us read it and be persuaded by the document itself? Instead, the vast machinery of the American central state is devoted to maintaining the secrecy of the bill and crushing all opposition with threats that are no longer even veiled.

One of the 39 senators who voted against the TPP, Jeff Sessions, concluded "They Won The Vote, But Lost The Trust Of The American People"
Americans increasingly believe that their country isn’t serving its own citizens. They need look no further than a bipartisan vote of Congress that will transfer congressional power to the Executive Branch and, in turn, to a transnational Pacific Union and the global interests who will help write its rules.

The same routine plays out over and again. We are told a massive bill must be passed, all the business lobbyists and leaders tell how grand it will be, but that it must be rushed through before the voters spoil the plan. As with Obamacare, the politicians meet with the consultants to craft the talking points—not based on what the bill actually does, but what they hope people will believe it does.

And when ordinary Americans who never asked for the plan, who don’t want the plan, who want no part of the plan, resist, they are scorned, mocked, and heaped with condescension.

Washington broke arms and heads to get that 60th vote--not one to spare--to impose on the American people a plan which imperils their jobs, wages, and control over their own affairs. It is remarkable that so much energy has been expended on advancing the things Americans oppose, and preventing the things Americans want.
No wonder Americans have lost faith in their institutions: those institutions are now devoted to serving their own vested interests or the interests of private financial Elites.

This same loss of trust is underway in Europe. The entire Greek debt issue could have been resolved with fewer losses and much less suffering if Greece had defaulted on the private bank debt in 2010.

But with the complicity of the public institutions that were supposed to serve the citizens' interests, private banks quickly shifted the vast majority of the Greek debt to the taxpayers: If Greece Defaults, Europe's Taxpayers Lose.

Here is the debt in 2009--mostly private:



Here is the debt in 2015--almost all public debt on the backs of taxpayers:



When institutions serve the interests of the few at the expense of the many, democracy is just a label slapped on financial totalitarianism. In case you missed it, here is Smith's Neofeudalism Principle #1:: "If the citizenry cannot replace a dysfunctional government and/or limit the power of the financial Aristocracy at the ballot box, the nation is a democracy in name only."