Authored by Carey Carlisle via The Mises Institute,

July 4 is upon us, and many Americans are excited to celebrate their so-called independence.

Why?

How will this July 4 be any different from that of 2020?

Haven’t the past three years revealed that Americans not only take liberty for granted but readily reject it?

Is it not the least bit curious that some, if not most, of those who’ll be setting off fireworks also begged to be locked down and masked?

Yes, the frauds that are “public health” and “democracy” have been exposed over the past three years, but what’s changed?

Doubling down on idiocy seems just as politically profitable as exposing it, so perhaps the talking heads have no interest in solutions. Their acolytes, who’d rather be coddled than be free, likewise have no interest in solutions beyond believing whatever makes them feel comfortable.

How many more decades or centuries must pass before the following thoughts are understood:

“The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” —H.L. Mencken (1880–1956)

“Humanity does not care for freedom. The mass of the people realize that they are not up to it: what they want is being fed, led, amused, and above everything, drilled.” —Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950)

“Persons who are afraid to take on independent responsibility that necessarily goes with liberty . . . want to be told what to do and when to do it; they seek order rather than uncertainty, and order comes at an opportunity cost they seem willing to bear.” —James M. Buchanan (1919–2013)

“Most people quite like being afraid of something, and many dislike freedom and the responsibility that comes with it.” —Peter Hitchens

What began in 1776 as a manifesto for preserving voluntary exchange—capitalism—has been mutilated beyond recognition. The Declaration of Independence said: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Today, however, it’s painfully obvious that our government, which was intended to “secure these rights” and is allegedly “from the consent of the governed,” truly acts as if some are created “more equally.” The Declaration of Independence goes on to say that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” However, the majority don’t wish to “alter or to abolish” the government; they wish to augment it.

Unfortunately, for the reader and me, the “long train of abuses and usurpations” over the past three years weren’t abusive enough for the majority. Sure, I could contact my elected representatives, but it seems that the past three years are no different from the past two and a half centuries: “Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”

Experts in injustice—lawyers—will say that the Declaration of Independence isn’t legally binding, but what about the oath of office that politicians, bureaucrats, and members of the military swore to uphold? “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Protecting Americans from foreign enemies is to be congratulated, but killing domestic enemies is now seen as treasonous? I fail to see the consistency. No, I’m not advocating violence; I’m simply pointing out the hypocrisy. In the “land of the free,” only the experts in injustice are allowed to interpret the Constitution.

It turns out that democracy is even worse than what Benjamin Franklin believed. Democracy is two lambs eagerly electing a wolf, which proves—to me, at least—that politics is worse than worthless (like masks “fighting” respiratory viruses). Politics is the poison that degrades everyone—even those who don’t consume it. There are no quick fixes—libertarian or otherwise. Since no one but the parasites can decide to change the manner in which they lord it over everyone else, the only solution to the malignant state is its implosion. It’s not just that the president is too old; it’s that we’re all too old to care anymore. Our once-great nation can no longer afford the incessant whining. Though it’s also quite old, the Declaration of Independence provides the path to prosperity. Why has it been shunned? Yes, “live and let live” died long ago, but isn’t it preferrable to “kill or be killed”? Our “leaders” think we’re stupid. When will we prove them wrong?

Robert Higgs concluded his article “Can the Rampaging Leviathan Be Stopped or Slowed?”: “Ultimately this criminal enterprise will attain such bloated size and scope that its own survival will no longer be possible, and it will implode, as the Soviet Union and other similarly overreaching politico-economic orders have imploded.”

Before that glorious day arrives, I wish to declare independence from the geriatric parasites—federal, state, and local—who serve only themselves, not me nor my neighbors. Other than parasitize us “peasants,” the government no doubt wishes to have nothing to do with us. The tax-fed seem to have forgotten that without taxes, they don’t eat. It’s long past time that the host shows the parasites who’s boss.

The win-win scenario seems to be peacefully separating from each other. That’s something I’d like to celebrate on the Fourth of July. For those who seek domination over peace, comforting lies over inconvenient truths, or censorship over free expression, do us all a favor and #StayHome.

Authored by Egon von Greyerz via GoldSwitzerland.com,

The time has now come for the 99.5% of financial assets which are not invested in gold, silver or precious metals mining stocks to grab both the investment and wealth preservation opportunity of a life time. 

Making that decision before it is too late is likely to determine your financial and also general wellbeing for the rest of your life! 

If you have already joined that exclusive group of 0.5% of global financial assets which are invested in precious metals, you understand what is coming. 

But if you belong to the group that neither understands precious metals nor holds any, it might be worthwhile to continue reading. 

More about this opportunity later in the article.

FROM A DEBT BASED WEST TO A COMMODITY BASED EAST AND SOUTH

As the Western Empire is breaking up currently, the Eastern & Southern Empire is gaining ever more significance. More than 30 countries want to join the BRICS and many also the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation). There is also the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) which exists since 2014 and consists of several ex Soviet Union States. 

The enlarged group will consist of more than 40 countries and represent around 2/3 of global population and 1/3 of global GDP. As I have written about in the article “A disorderly reset with gold revalued by multiples”, this is the area which will experience the fastest growth in coming decades as the West gradually declines/collapses under its own deficits and debt burden together with political and moral decay. 

The Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has just announced that Iran will join the SCO on July 4  and that Belarus will also become a full member. There is a virtual SCO meeting on July 4 chaired by India. It seems like more than a coincidence that the meeting takes place on the US Independence Day!

The BRICS meeting in Johannesburg takes place on Aug 22-24 with Macron trying to gatecrash. But he was rejected. Macron is devious and has always tried to ride several horses simultaneously. 

But BRICS is not interested in opportunists happy to turn with the wind of success.

At some point, these three groupings might be merged into one, with gold playing a central role. I don’t expect that there will be one gold backed currency at a fixed parity but rather that gold will float at a much higher value than currently with a link to BRICS currencies. 

So as the West and especially the US licks its mortal wounds the East is looking forward to the coming feast. 

THE DOLLAR IS NO LONGER AS GOOD AS GOLD

There was a time when the US dollar was “As Good as Gold” and until 15 August 1971, sovereign nations could exchange dollars for gold at $35 per ounce. 

But sadly most leaders whether of countries or corporations eventually resort to GREED when real money runs out. So this is what Nixon did in 1971 when he closed the gold window. 

In spite of falling 98% in real terms since 1971, the dollar has remained both the preferred reserve currency and also the currency of choice for global trade.  

The two principal reasons why the dollar hasn’t yet died is that virtually all other currencies have declined by similar percentages. Also the astute introduction of the Petrodollar in 1973-4, the brainchild of Nixon’s secretary of state Henry Kissinger, played an important role in convincing Saudi Arabia ( the dominant oil producer at the time) to sell oil in dollars against a package of US weapons and protection. 

As the West now sinks in a quagmire of debt, corruption and decadence, the world will experience a tectonic shift away from fiat/fake money with zero intrinsic value to currencies backed by commodities with gold playing a central role. 

WHERE HAVE ALL THE STATESMEN GONE

The West has not got one single statesman who can pull it out of the swamp. Many countries are now turning to the right like Italy with Meloni and Spain also probably swinging right in July with the Partido Popular and the far right Vox party. Macron is extremely unpopular and Le Pen now leads the opinion polls with 55%. Scholz in Germany has also failed badly and the Nationalist AfD is now ahead of the ruling social democrats in the polls. 

The UK is currently the only major country that is likely to turn to the left at the next election in 2025. No one believes in the weak Sunak and Labour leader Kier Starmer is the clear favourite to win. But sadly he is not a statesman either.

So with a motley crew of weak leaders in Europe, things don’t look any better if we look west to the US. Sadly, the US hasn’t got a leader at all. It seems that Biden has got his strings pulled by an unelected and unaccountable team around him. This is an extremely vulnerable situation for what has been the mightiest country in the world. A major military power without a leader is very dangerous. 

As President Eisenhower said in the 1950s:

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial 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.”

As empires die, weak leaders are the norm and seem a necessary condition to exacerbate  the inevitable collapse. 

So we can all speculate about the outcome of the current crisis in the West and how it will all end. These situations seldom consist of individual events but are normally processes that take a number of years or even decades. 

We must remember that we have already seen half a century of decline since 1971 so we are now likely to experience an acceleration of the process. As I have pointed out above, it is not just the decline of the West which is happening in front of our eyes, but also the emergence of an extremely powerful cooperation of 40 plus countries which will drive a global commodity based expansion on a scale never seen before in history. 

Just take Russia. With $85 trillion of natural resource reserves, they will play a major role in this real physical asset expansion as long as the country holds together politically, which I would expect. 

Remember that the massive global shift which is about to start is not based on personalities. Leaders are instruments of their time and the right leaders will emerge in most countries to bring about this tectonic shift. 

DON’T TOUCH SOVEREIGN DEBT, EVEN WITH A BARGEPOLE 

So how will ordinary investors in the West protect and enhance their assets in a world which is on the cusp of major shifts financially, economically and politically?

Well let’s first look at what not to do.

As I have stressed for many years, it is not a matter of maximising returns but minimising risk. After the biggest global asset bubble in history, the everything collapse will be  vicious and take down many investments that have been regarded as safe as sovereign debt. See my article “First gradually and then suddenly – the Everything Collapse”.

Take US government bonds or treasuries. For years I have never understood how someone can invest in a “security” which is created by just snapping your fingers. This is how a senior Swedish Riksbank  (central bank) official described to a journalist where money comes from. So whether we call it mouse-click money like my good colleague Matt Piepenburg or finger-snapping money, both expressions clearly tell us that we live in a hocus-pocus world where money is unlimited and can be created by snapping your fingers.

Oh yes, we mustn’t forget the additional $2+ quadrillion of quasi debt or liabilities in the form of derivatives.  I have argued many times that a big part of these derivatives are likely to become debt as central banks create liquidity to save the financial system from a an implosion of these financial instruments of mass destruction as Warren Buffett calls them. 

I have long argued that holding Western sovereign debt is financial suicide. Lately some big names agree with me whether it is Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan- “Don’t touch US bonds”- or Ray Dalio the very successful hedge fund investor – “It would take 500 years to get the money back”. Yes, but what money I wonder??

Firstly, whether it is the Fed or the ECB, their balance sheets are insolvent and no one can ever get real money back. At best it would be another worthless debt/money instrument like CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) that would lose 99-100% over 1 to 50 years. Not the best of odds to say the least. 

The US 10 year treasury bond peaked in 1981 at just below 16% after a 39 year downtrend it bottomed in 2020 at 0.55%. That was the bottom of the interest and inflation  cycle. We will now see higher inflation and rates for decades. But it obviously won’t be a move without major corrections and volatility.

As major central banks are pressing for higher rates, one wonders if  they are aware of the consequences. Because in a debt infested world, higher rates mean a high risk of default, both private and sovereign. 

But in their normal style, central banks will be behind the curve and realise their misdemeanours once the system has collapsed. 

NB: The only buyer of US treasuries will be the Fed as the rest of the world runs away from the US poisonous debt chalice. It’s like passing the parcel when you can only pass it to yourself. 

OPPORTUNITIES OF A LIFETIME COMING

So buying anything commodity based will be a clear growth area for decades. In this group is not just commodity businesses but companies that supply the commodity companies with software or hardware.  

In addition to the precious metals market whether physical or stocks, we see the potentially most interesting areas being oil and uranium. 

We have been in the physical precious metals market for almost 25 years for wealth preservation purposes. During that time gold has gone up 6-12 times in most Western currencies and silver slightly less. 

As the premier company for bigger wealth preservation investors in physical gold and silver, outside the financial system, we have had a very exciting journey so far.

But looking at the last 23 years I am very clear that in spite of greater returns in physical gold than most investment classes and much lower risk, the real moves haven’t even started yet.

I have never seen a more obvious situation during my soon 60 years in investment markets. 

Although some of the precious metals mining stocks will vastly outperform physical gold and silver, we will stick to what we know best in order to serve our esteemed clients as well as future wealth preservation investors. 

In coming years, most investors will lose a major part of their investments and net worth as they hold on to their conventional investments.

For a quarter of a century I have been standing on a soap box, imploring investors to protect their wealth. During that time we have seen The Nasdaq lose 80% in the early 2000s and the financial system being a few minutes from implosion in 2008. 

But with the help of finger-snapping $10s of trillions into existence, most markets have remained strong.  Still,  the (almost) Everything Collapse is hanging over us and this time finger-snapping money into existence is unlikely to help. 

WHEN SHOULD YOU NOT HOLD GOLD?

You should not hold gold when:

• There are no deficits and there is a balanced budget

• There is negligible or no inflation 

• There is no debasement of currencies

• There is strong statesmanship based on real longterm values 

When that day comes, we will also see flying elephants as well as flying central bankers with wings! 

But just like Icarus, the son of Daedalus in the Greek mythology, these bankers will crash!

Anyone who has held a major part of his wealth in physical gold, in any country, in this century has achieved an excellent return and still has his gold asset intact. He has also been able to sleep well at night. 

Although picking the right precious metals stocks can lead to an opportunity of a lifetime, we will still recommend that investors keep the majority of their funds in physical gold and silver, stored in the right jurisdiction and in the safest vaults with direct access to your metals. 

That way investors avoid many risks like:

• Custodial risk, your shares held in a fragile financial system

• Political risk, mines are often in risky countries), 

• Fraud, corruption, Doug Casey can tell you about this. Read his book Speculator 

• Financial risk, many companies will run out of cash

Still I would advise even the cautious investor to hold some gold and silver stocks or a fund or an index, since the upside is substantial. 

NO MAJOR GOLD DISCOVERY FOR YEARS

There has not been a major gold discovery for 4 years. 

Major gold discoveries over 1 million ounces:

• 1990s – 180

• 2000s – 120

• 2010 to 2018 – 40

• 2019 to date – 0

Not only do we have peak oil but also peak gold. So the world is facing a vicious  a cycle of increasing energy costs leading to higher costs of extracting precious metals and other commodities. 

This confirms that high inflation is here to stay, leading to higher interest rates and very high risk of debt defaults within the private and sovereign sectors. 

To hold US dollars is to hand your wealth to the state which is likely to either debase it, lose it, spend it, confiscate it or misappropriate it in any other way.  

Why would anyone trust a government like the US which currently is doing all of the above things. 

And don’t believe that the Euro will fare better.

The only way to be in control of your own money is to hold it in physical gold outside your country of residence in private vaults. 

The trust in the US and the dollar is now coming to an end after the confiscation of all Russian assets. Who would want to hold their assets under the control of a government what can just steal it at will. 

So we are not facing a dollar crisis. Instead, the dollar and its issuer is the crisis. No one who is worried about preserving his wealth would ever consider holding it in a crisis currency, controlled by a crisis government. 

I find it fascinating that the JP Morgan who has become a joint custodian of the GLD gold ETF is  planning to move the gold to Switzerland. This confirms my strong view that Switzerland will further strengthen its position as a major gold hub. Currently 70% of all the gold bars in the world are refined in Switzerland which also have more major private gold vaults than any other country. 

Also, as I discussed in a recent article, no central bank will want to hold its reserves in US dollars with to a capricious US government that can steal it at will. The only money that could mantle the role as a reserve asset as the dollar fades away is obviously gold. 

TOO LATE TO JUMP ON THE GOLD WAGON?

Nobody should believe that it is too late to jump on the Gold Wagon. It has hardly started yet.  

Even if the percentage invested in physical precious metals and precious metals stocks, goes from 0.5% to only 1.5%, there will not be enough metals or stocks available to satisfy a fraction of that increase at current prices for the metals. 

So the only way that the increased money flows into metals can be satisfied is through vastly higher prices. 

AND AS I HAVE OUTLINED IN THIS ARTICLE, THE SCENE IS NOW SET FOR SUCH A MAJOR REVALUATION OF GOLD AND SILVER AND THE WHOLE PRECIOUS METALS SECTOR

Authored by Denes Albert via Remix News,

The German opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won its first mayoral election in a municipality in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the small town of Raguhn-Jeßnitz.

Its candidate, Hannes Loth, won with 51.13 percent of the vote, according to the official preliminary results. His opponent, the independent Nils Naumann, won 48.87 percent of the vote in Sunday’s second and final round of the local election, according to the Hungarian publication Mandiner.

The town is located in the former GDR, which was East Germany during communist rule; the AfD enjoys its highest support in this region. Although the town has only 9,000 people, the breakthrough victory comes on the heels of the AfD winning its first district election just last week.

Die Politikwende beginnt im Rathaus!
Hannes Loth steht am 2. Juli in der Stichwahl um das Amt des Bürgermeisters in Raguhn-Jeßnitz!

Bitte unterstützen Sie unseren Wahlkampf JETZT mit einer Spende!
Gemeinsam werden wir Veränderung!

Paypal:https://t.co/GXzW7RWJOo pic.twitter.com/wrM4NxWiW1

— AfD Kreisverband Anhalt-Bitterfeld (@AfD_KV_ABI) June 21, 2023

The district administrator of the Anhalt-Bitterfeld district, where the town of Raguhn-Jeßnitz is located, Andy Grabner (CDU), said further successes from the AfD are likely.

“If the policy that the traffic light government is currently implementing remains in place, this will not be the last mayor and the last district administrator of the AfD,” he said to the German press service dpa. He stated that these types of victories may not only become common in former East Germany but also nationwide.

Saxony’s Minister-President Michael Kretschmer, who also belongs to the CDU, echoed the statements of Grabner, stating:

“Something is slipping in this country… The energy transition, the heating law, the refugee policy and the Russian embargo brought victory to the AfD. These issues threaten to tear society apart.”

The AfD, to the right of the center Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) party alliance, has been steadily gaining strength in recent months, with national electoral support of 19-20 percent, ahead of the largest governing party, the Social Democrats (SPD), which has 18-19 percent. The AfD has thus become Germany’s second-largest political force, with only the opposition CDU/CSU having higher support, at 26-28 percent.

Founded in 2013, the party entered the Bundestag in 2017 and achieved its biggest municipal election success to date a week ago. At the end of June, an AfD candidate was elected as the head of the administration (Landrat) in the Sonneberg district, also in the former GDR, which borders Saxony-Anhalt.

Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin had strongly hinted that corruption charges against Wagner chief Evgeny Prigozhin could be on the horizon, given the mercenary firm had received billions in state funds. Putin said this while explaining in a speech that the treason charges against him were essentially forgiven, as he was exiled to Belarus.

Putin further specified in the days following the brief uprising attempt of June 23-24 that Wagner had long been supplied and financed from the state budget and Defense Ministry. This large investment perhaps explains why the group became so indispensable to operations in Ukraine. But it is all now being investigated.

The president affirmed, in statements made to high-ranking officers, according to state media translation that Between May 2022 and May 2023, the Russian authorities allocated 86.26 billion rubles ($1.04 billion) for wages and incentive payments for the Wagner fighters, the president revealed. Additionally, Wagner founder Evgeny Prigozhin, who also co-owns the Concord catering company, earned billions of rubles on state contracts, Putin added.

“When the upkeep of the Wagner Group rested on the shoulders of the state, the Concord owner received… 80 billion rubles ($960 million) from the state in a year by supplying food products to the army,” Putin said. “I hope that no one stole anything while fulfilling these [contracts],” Putin had said, emphasizing that authorities will “certainly dig into it.”

Other Russian officials have since provided further details which reveal the extent of Prigozhin’s vast wealth and holdings. 

Dmitry Kiselyov, the head of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, said in a Sunday interview which was subsequently translated and featured in state sources that in total Wagner “has received a little more than 858 billion rubles ($9.8 billion) under the contracts it signed with the state.”

That totals just under $10 billion worth of just defense-related contracts. There’s a similar, separate sum being estimated additionally through his catering company, Concord (also referenced in the above Putin quote)…

Russian state TV ways Wagner got 858bn rubles in state contracts and Concord, Prigozhin’s catering company, got a further 845bn.

That’s a total of $19bn at today’s exchange rate, though given how it’s way more than Putin said it may be an all-time figure. A huge sum either way pic.twitter.com/cFfgVEEdVb

— max seddon (@maxseddon) July 2, 2023

In total that’s equivalent to $19 billion. “This does not mean that they have earned so much, but it is still indicative of the scale of the business and the scale of ambitions,” Kiselyov qualified, however. He assessed further:

He went on to point out that Prigozhin’s company had a strong media clout, adding that some people might have had the impression that the Wagner Group was the most capable frontline unit Russia had. 

Stressing that he did not want to “detract from anybody’s merits,” Kiselyov recalled that regular Russian units had been faster in capturing the heavily defended city of Mariupol than Wagner troops were in seizing the Donbass stronghold of Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine).

Kiselyov’s words are important and are a likely direct reflection of Kremlin thinking and consensus on the matter, given that as head of the large state-run Rossiya Segodnya media group, he was directly appointed by Putin (starting in 2013). Rossiya Segodnya owns and operates Sputnik, RIA Novosti, inoSMI, and multiple other entities overseen by the state.

Currently it looks like Wagner’s assets in Russia will be absorbed by the defense ministry and government; however, there remains speculation over what will become of the St. Peterburg-based group’s foreign contracts and assets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov days ago said that contracts signed between Wagner and African states will be up for the respective governments to decide the future of. So far there’s been no sign that Wagner has abandoned its extensive dealings and presence in Africa.

Authored by Michael Senger via The Brownstone Institute,

‘All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.’

– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Over the weekend, former UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who advocated and led the use of terror messaging to drive support for and compliance with lockdown measures throughout 2020, choked back tears as he told the Government’s official COVID Inquiry that he is ‘profoundly sorry’ for each and every COVID death and hopes lockdowns will be ‘much earlier’ and ‘more stringent’ during the next pandemic.

One need not have a background in law enforcement to recognize that these are the words of an entirely unrepentant sociopath. Hancock’s testimony seemed to confirm sceptics’ worst fears that the COVID Inquiry is being used as a pretext to institutionalise lockdowns, and it marked an astonishing new low for the COVID Inquiry, which so far has revealed little of value and assiduously avoided asking officials why they found the horrific decision to copy China’s lockdown policy remotely appropriate—though the officials have openly admitted lockdown wasn’t part of any Western country’s pandemic plan and have pondered whether any country would have done it had it not been for China.

Worst of all may be the fact that 17 members of the pro-lockdown pressure group ‘Independent SAGE’ have been asked to give evidence at the COVID Inquiry. For those who’ve been paying attention, this is a far cry from how optimists hoped the aftermath of the COVID response would eventually play out.

‘Independent SAGE’ is not a legitimate political body. ‘Independent SAGE’ is nothing but a questionably-funded group of extremists with no relevant credentials proselytizing the dubious goal of ‘Zero Covid,’ while hijacking the name of an official Government body to fool the public into believing they have some legitimacy.

In short, ‘Independent SAGE’ is nothing but a disinformation organisation that caused unfathomable harm by convincing citizens and officials to pursue an illusory goal using illiberal methods with very real and catastrophic costs. To have Independent SAGE give evidence at the COVID Inquiry means the potential criminals have, quite literally, been given a role in prosecuting the case. The members of Independent SAGE are the ones who should be facing an inquiry; given the scale of the harm, the UK could do worse than to have them all banged up in the Tower of London—at least until we know more.

For the UK Government to stack the official COVID Inquiry with the members of an obvious disinformation group is deeply insulting to the public’s intelligence, and an unsettling glimpse into the lengths the Government has gone to manipulate the perception of public opinion since the response to COVID began. The public did not ask them to put all these members of ‘Independent SAGE’ on the Inquiry, nor can this decision be written off as a mistake.

Rather, it reveals that many Members of Parliament are deliberately working to manipulate public perceptions to prevent the question of whether the UK should have imposed a lockdown from ever being asked—and it begs the troubling question of just how many of these MPs are not mere incompetents, but rather knowing accomplices to the crime. To be frank, it evidences just how vast the communist conspiracy which may have given birth to Western lockdowns may in fact be.

That so many MPs may be knowing accomplices to the crime of lockdown helps explain why such transparently-questionable characters as 40-year British Communist Party Member Susan Michie; China admirer Neil Ferguson; Lancet Editor-in-Chief Richard Horton, who wrote that ‘public health’ is the ‘midwife of Marxism;’ lead lockdown advisor Chris Whitty; and lead lockdown scientist Jeremy Farrar were all able to play leading roles in the response to COVID and significantly advance their careers in its catastrophic aftermath without scrutiny.

To see the leading instigators of lockdown getting away with all this, at least so far, is admittedly a bit deflating. But ultimately, there is an objective reality, and the reality is that these policies destroyed countless millions of lives and transferred trillions in wealth from workers to the very richest for virtually no human benefit.

As Hannah Arendt so beautifully described, this, in the real world, is how evil works: the mass abdication of reality in favor of a fantasy that befits one’s own personal comfort and prurient self-interest. The wide embrace of this fantasy by those in power only deepens the moral imperative to insist on the admission of the objective reality of the devastation that lockdown in fact caused.

Further, that so many MPs are knowingly acting as accomplices to the crime of lockdown doesn’t necessarily mean they’re knowingly advancing China’s interests. To be sure, lockdown propaganda was extremely effective, and all one has to do is talk to ordinary people in liberal cities to realize that many of them honestly seem to think these policies were hunky dory. Some MPs may thus be rationalising their actions as simply telling the public what they want to hear.

When I argue that creating this rift between the ruling class’s self-interest and objective reality may have been the goal of China’s lockdown propaganda from the very start, some fellow commentators such as Will Jones, a good bloke at the Daily Sceptic, like to reply that it all sounds ‘too clever by half.’

But it’s really not terribly original. This is how organised crime organisations have always recruited—albeit on a much larger scale. In general, criminal organisations don’t recruit through applications and interviews; rather, they recruit through a process of manipulation and entrapment, gradually estranging individuals from what they believed to be their values, until all that’s left is nihilism, self-interest, and complete loyalty to the organisation.

And, with its century of history, no one has more experience in this process than the Chinese Communist Party. In that sense, the response to COVID may be seen as the CCP’s largest-ever recruiting event. And without a doubt, Xi Jinping couldn’t be more proud of the performance of the Freshman class.

Authored by Kyle Anzalone via The Libertarian Institute,

Human Rights Watch found that Ukrainian troops have been using scatter mines. The anti-personnel weapons are internationally banned, including by Kiev, because of their devastating impact on civilians. 

HRW reports uncovered several instances where Ukraine used anti-personnel scatter mines. The human rights monitoring group first made the allegation in a January report, but a press release issued on Friday says more evidence was found recently. 

The evidence shows Ukrainian forces fired rockets carrying thousands of PFM-1 anti-personnel mines, also called “petal” or “butterfly” mines, according to the press release. The submunitions are pressure activated, meaning they linger on the ground until someone steps or drives upon them. 

HRW “verified 11 civilian casualties from the mines, including one death and multiple amputations of lower legs, based on interviews with victims and their family members,” the press release said. 

Russia has also used anti-personnel weapons. However, unlike Moscow, Kiev has ratified an international treaty outlawing their use.

The Ukrainian government responded to the HRW report by saying it will “study” the claims but maintains Kiev has a right to defense. 

Additionally, Washington is close to approving the transfer of cluster bombs to Kiev. Like scatter mines, the submunitions dropped by cluster bombs will remain on the ground well after the war ends, killing civilians for years to come. 

“Ukrainian forces appear to have used rockets to scatter stacks of internationally banned, hand-size antipersonnel land mines over Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine, according to evidence collected by @hrw.”

Give us more, Ukraine pleads! https://t.co/6xBL2IOI46

— Jeffrey Kaye (@jeff_kaye) July 2, 2023

There is an international treaty outlawing cluster bombs. However, the US, Russia and Ukraine are not parties to the agreement. Both Moscow and Kiev have used cluster bombs on the Ukrainian battlefield.

Authored by CJ Hopkins via The Consent Factory,

Greetings from Thoughtcriminal 231Js1736/23!

That’s my official Thoughtcrime Case Number, which my attorney needs to reference in all our official correspondence with the New Normal Thoughtpolice. I think I’m going to silk-screen it on a T-shirt and wear it on my first day in Moabit Criminal Court, “the largest criminal court in Europe with 340 judges and 360 prosecutors.”

That’s right, the Berlin State Prosecutor’s office is pursuing its criminal investigation of me for allegedly “disseminating propaganda, the content of which is intended to further the aims of a former National Socialist organization,” which according to Germany’s Grundgesetz could send me to prison for up to three years.

My attorney wrote to them and politely explained how ridiculous their investigation is and why they should summarily drop the charges, but New Normal Germany has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to Thoughtcrime, especially Thoughtcrime involving any kind of Covid-denying propaganda.

The “propaganda” in question is these two Tweets.

Which, OK, I just disseminated them again, so there’s another three years in prison. Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s six years in prison, i.e., three years for each separate count of Thoughtcrime.

I wrote those Tweets in German, so let me translate.

The one on the left reads, “The masks are ideological-conformity symbols. That is all they are. That is all they have ever been. Stop acting like they have ever been anything else, or get used to wearing them.” The hashtag translates as “Masks are not a benign measure.”

The one on the right is a quote by Karl Lauterbach, the Minister of Health of Germany, tweeted by Die Welt, a national newspaper.

It reads “The masks always send out a signal.” And, yes, Karl, that’s exactly the point I was making.

The image is from the cover art of my book The Rise of the New Normal Reich: Consent Factory Essays, Vol. III (2020-2021), which was banned in Germany by Amazon, Inc. two days after I tweeted the above Tweets. (It appears to also be banned for sale in German bookstores, but I don’t have confirmation of that.)

My attorney just received the screenshots of these Tweets from the Berlin State Prosecutor a few days ago. Up to then, we didn’t know what they were, and we couldn’t find them, because they have been censored by Twitter, presumably on the orders of the German Thoughtpolice. We knew they featured the cover art of my book, because the Prosecutor’s office described it, but we didn’t know about the “Covid denial.”

So, essentially, I’m facing criminal charges, and being threatened with who knows how many years in prison, or thousands of Eurodollars in fines, for (a) stating what has now been widely acknowledged, and what was generally understood by every serious epidemiologist until the Spring of 2020, namely, that mask-mandates do not work, and thus are nothing but symbolic measures designed to generate and enforce mass obedience, and (b) insulting the Minister of Health of Germany, who happens to be a fanatical serial liar who is directly responsible for the serious injury and death of … well, we’ll never know how many people.

Neither of which are actual crimes. Not even in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The pretext for the charges I am facing is the swastika behind the mask, which, as I noted in a recent essay, is a play on the international bestseller, The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich, by William Shirer, which you can buy in any bookshop in Berlin.

Incidentally, my book has also been a bestseller, at least on Amazon (in countries where it’s not banned) and Barnes & Noble, but I’ve still got a little ways to go before I get to Shirer territory.

So, there you are … those are my Thoughtcrimes.

I’ve been writing about the “New Normal” as a new form of totalitarianism for several years now. I wrote about it in one of my essays, The Criminalization of Dissent, in May of 2021. Some of my colleagues rolled their eyes. They thought I was being hyperbolic again. I wasn’t. This is what I meant. It is literally the criminalization of dissent.

I wasn’t the only one covering the story of the criminalization of dissent in Germany. The New York Times reported on it in April of 2021 …

“The country’s domestic intelligence agency says it will create a new department to deal with extremism among conspiracy theorists.” (German Intelligence Puts Coronavirus Deniers Under Surveillance)

As did Aljazeera …

“For intelligence officers to be legally allowed to start observing parts of the anti-lockdown movement, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) had to create an entirely new category of groups because the ‘Querdenkers’ do not fit neatly into the existing classifications of right-wing or left-wing. The new category is for groups suspected of being ‘anti-democratic and/or delegitimizing the state in a way that endangers security.’ The designation allows intelligence officers to gather data about individuals and their activities, and could in a further step include shadowing people and tapping their communications.” (German Spy Agency to Monitor Some Anti-Lockdown Protesters)

I was not a member of the “Querdenker” movement, or any other movement for that matter, but I doubt that makes any difference to the BfV or the Berlin State Prosecutor. Anyone even vaguely prominent who spoke out against the “Corona measures” is fair game for threats and prosecution. The beneficent-sounding Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV, is basically Germany’s FBI. It’s now two years after the above stories were published, and they are still on the hunt for “Covid deniers,” “conspiracy theorists,” and other such persons suspected of “delegitimizing the state” … whatever that Orwellian language means.

Of course, it doesn’t matter what it means. It means whatever they say it means. That’s what it means. It means it doesn’t mean anything, and they do not have to pretend it means anything. It means, “Shut the fuck up. Get in line. Do what we tell you. Say what we tell you. Think what we tell you. Or we will fucking get you. We will make up some charges and prosecute you. We will censor you into Internet oblivion. We will shut off your fucking bank account. We’ll send the IRS to your house. We’ll ruin your career. We’ll hurt your family. We will extradite you to the USA and lock you up in Supermax prison for 175 fucking years.”

How am I doing? Do I sound hyperbolic?

And, no, of course I’m not just talking about Germany. The criminalization of dissent is being rolled out everywhere. Ireland is just the latest of dozens of countries all throughout the West that are criminalizing so-called “hate speech.” The specifics are different but the message is the same, “Watch what you say, or we will prosecute you, or otherwise seriously fuck you up.”

Oh, and also, I should probably mention, my lawyer advised me not to republish those Tweets. He completely understands where I am coming from, but it is his job to look out for me and to try his best to … you know, keep me out of German prison, which I’m not making easy for him.

Now, I want to be very clear about this. I have no desire to go to German prison. I am about to turn 62 years old. I’m not at all interested in tossing anyone’s salad or having my salad tossed by anyone, especially not a pumped-up, tattooed member of some local Turkish drug gang, or an actual German neo-Nazi, but I’m not going to be intimidated into shutting up or toning my act down to placate the New Normal Thoughtpolice.

The thing is, I don’t respond well to bullies. I feel a particular antipathy toward them. I’m not very fond of liars either. And totalitarians … there’s another group of people I don’t like. I am not ashamed to admit my bias against such people. I wish them ill. I am sorry about whatever vicissitudes of fortune or experience turned them into lying, bullying, totalitarian creeps, but they can suck foul wind out of my ass if they think I am going to bow down to them. They can do what they want to me. They have that power. They can silence me for a while if they want. But they cannot make me silence myself.

And they cannot make me pretend to respect them.

The Germans are real big on respecting authority. So am I. But authority is earned. It does not stem from a title or a uniform. It stems from knowledge, experience, integrity, and honorable behavior, not from brute force. Fascists, totalitarians, and the like do not deserve our respect. They deserve our scorn. They deserve our derision. I have plenty of it for them.

Also, there are the kids to think about. I don’t have any, but other people do. What kind of an example are we setting for the kids if we start censoring (or “sensitivity-editing”) ourselves every time some fascist bully threatens to put us in jail if we don’t? A lot of the young people are already pretty pussified as it is these days. I’m certainly not a tough guy or anything, but sometimes, in life, you have to fight, and it doesn’t really matter if you get your ass kicked.

Oh, and, if you’re contemplating writing to me and telling me to “get the hell out of Germany” or inquiring as to why I haven’t “gotten the hell out of Germany,” please do not do that. I am extremely tired of hearing it. Instead, just wire a high six-figure sum into the Swiss account I will be setting up shortly, and, I promise you, I’ll get the hell out of Germany, and send you a postcard from an undisclosed location somewhere in the Ionian Sea.

In the meantime, I’ll definitely keep you posted on Case 231Js1736/23, and maybe I’ll go ahead and do up that T-shirt. Wait, what am I thinking? This is New Normal Berlin! I could find a VC, round up some 20-year-old, transgender, Ayahuasca-guzzling tech bros (or “tech persons with penises” or whatever the proper “non-harmful” nomenclature is at the moment), and start up some type of totally Bitcoined bespoke Thoughtcriminal T-shirt business!

The way things are going, I’ll probably make a killing … or at least I’ll be able to cover my legal costs, which, after that last little gratuitous outburst, Lord knows what kind of new charges I’ll be facing!

Authored by Jane Nguyen via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

According to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center, a record number of 40-year-old Americans who have never been married reached a record high in 2021.

A quarter of 40-year-olds in the United States have never been married, Pew Research reported on June 28. Most lived alone, with just 22 percent of never-married 40- to 44- year-olds living with a romantic partner.

The findings revealed a downward trend of delaying marriage or foregoing it altogether among people born during or after the 1960s, according to the report. In 1980 only 6 percent of 40-year-olds had never been married. That increased by five percentage points per decade until 2021.

The trend is “notable because the share of 40-year-olds who had completed at least a bachelor’s degree was much higher in 2021 than in 1980,” 39 percent versus 18 percent, said Richard Fry, a Pew senior researcher.

“More-highly educated 40-year-olds are more likely to have married, but the growth of this group has not reversed the overall trend of delaying or forgoing marriage,” Fry added.

The Pew report found that 40-year-old men were more likely not to have been married than women in 2021, with 28 percent of men and 22 percent of women falling into this category.

The Pew analysis noted that many unmarried 40-year-olds in previous decades ultimately married later in life. About 1 in 4 of the 40-year-olds who were not yet married in 2001 had wed by the time they turned 60.

If the pattern continues, the research center predicts that “a similar share” of never-married 40-year-olds would also get married in the coming years.

The research center conducted the analysis to look at how marriage rates have changed among 40-year-olds in the United States from 1850 to 2021. The report comes as birth rates and marriage rates in the United States have declined for decades.

Meanwhile, a 2022 report from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project found the median age of first marriage has increased over the last 50 years, “from 23 in 1970 to about 30 in 2021 for men, and from 21 in 1970 to 28 in 2021 for women.”

But a later marriage may not necessarily mean a better one: 81 percent of husbands who married earlier said they were satisfied in their marriages, compared to 71 percent of those who married later, the report found. There were similar results among women, though with a smaller difference–73 percent of earlier-married women were satisfied, compared to 70 percent of later-married women, the report said.

The Rise of Single People

The decreasing marriage rate has led to a spike in the number of people living alone. As of 2021, 37 million Americans live alone, according to census data.

There are various reasons marriage is losing ground in America. Some of them are societal; there is very little public stigma around being single. Other factors include the sexual revolution, the feminist movement, and declining rates of religious observance.

However, this phenomenon is not confined to the United States, as marriage and birth rates have fallen in much of the world, including Europe and Japan.

While not all adults living alone are lonely, many are, and these individuals are more likely to lack significant social connections, which can be deadly.

According to a recent report from the U.S. surgeon general titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” loneliness is more than just a bad feeling, it harms individual and societal health. It’s associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, infection, anxiety, and premature death.

According to the report, the effect on mortality of being socially disconnected is similar to that of smoking up to 15 cigarettes per day and is even greater than those of obesity and physical inactivity.

Large population studies have documented that among initially healthy people tracked over time, those who are more socially connected live longer, and those who experience social deficits, including isolation, loneliness, and poor-quality relationships, are more likely to die earlier, regardless of the cause of death, according to the report.

Thousands of hotel industry workers in Southern California went on strike over the Fourth of July weekend in hopes of gaining a new contract with higher wages and benefits, according to the employees’ union.

Cooks, dishwashers, servers, room attendants, bellmen and other non-managerial hotel staff from UNITE HIRE Local 11, which represents over 32,000 hospitality workers in California and Arizona, were seen picketing outside major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties the morning of July 1, according to the union’s Twitter account.

Last month, 96% of union members voted in favor of authorizing the strike after negotiations – which began on April 20, stalled out, according to CNBC.

Hotel worker strike: Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott LA Live, Beverly Hilton, Fairmont Miramar, Anaheim Hilton, and Four Seasons Regent Beverly Wilshire, and Sheraton Universal City workers need a $5 increase to afford SoCal cost of living. @UNITEHERE11 pic.twitter.com/dUqz6P0oLP

— Heather Parker Penzkofer (@hparker) July 2, 2023

The union says that around 15,000 workers at 65 hotels represented by Local 11 in LA and Orange counties saw their current contract expire midnight on June 30.

Affected hotels include Hyatt properties, Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International. One day before the strike, the union struck a deal with the Westin Bonaventure in Downtown Los Angeles.

Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, and luxury hotels like the Westin Bonaventure in Downtown Los Angeles and the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.

The primary reason for the strike is the cost of living, as raging inflation means that workers – who often live far from their places of employment – can no longer afford to make ends meet. They are demanding an immediate $5 per hour boost in wages and a $3 boost annually for the next three years.

The union points out that while hotels themselves were bailed out during the pandemic, the industry has exceeded pre-pandemic levels of profit, while wages have not kept up with the pace of inflation.

The City of Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board said that tourism is back to 91 percent of 2019’s pre-pandemic levels, while visitors spent $21 billion locally in 2022.

Labor representatives said that housekeepers were making between $20 to $25 an hour, and they estimated that $39.31 an hour was needed to afford rent a two-bedroom apartment in greater Los Angeles.

UNITE HERE Local 11 says 53 percent of the workers it is representing have moved or are planning to move outside of Los Angeles. –Epoch Times

“Workers have been pent up and frustrated and angry about what’s happened during the pandemic combined with the inability to pay their rent and stay in Los Angeles,” said Kurt Peterson, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, in a statement.

“So people feel liberated, it’s Fourth of July, freedom is reigning in Los Angeles and hotel workers are leading that fight.”