The Fake News

Guest Post by The Zman

There’s not much new under the sun. Governments have been putting out propaganda to fool the public since the first guy figured out he could order some other guys to stack one rock on another. The trick is for the people in charge to appear to believe their own bravo sierra, but not actually believe it. If a ruler begins to think he is actually a god, for example, he is going to start making terrible errors. He needs the people to think he is a god, but he has to know he is a man and vulnerable to all the same defects as any other man.

Put another way, rulers must never get high off their own supply. A good example of this is the agit-prop about the Russians hacking the election. Polling shows that close to 60% of the public thinks the “Russians hacked us” stories are ridiculous. About 20% seem to think it happened and matters. That 20% is most assuredly the back benchers from the Cult of Modern Liberalism. That would not be a big deal, except the news media and the White House, at least for a few more weeks, are run by these people.

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Muck’s Minute #35

Achieving Peace with Change

This Muck’s Minute is a wee bit off track the current economic, political, fiscal, monetary idiocy that I usually comment on. Hope you like it.

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde once said, “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.”  Mr. Wilde is better know by shedding the middle three names and is just known as Oscar Wilde, a world class novelist, playwrite and poet. (1854-1900).  Truer words were never spoken.

And since I’ll begin my 80th year on 1 January, 2017, I am continuously searching for any short, worthwhile wisdom that I may have been lucky enough to pick up  (like beggar’s lice or cockle burrs) as I’ve waded through life so far.

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After Aleppo: We Need a New Syria Policy

Guest Post by Ron Paul
undefinedOver the past week, eastern Aleppo was completely brought back under control of the Syrian government. The population began to return to its homes, many of which were abandoned when al-Qaeda-linked rebels took over in 2012. As far as I know, the western mainstream media did not have a single reporter on the ground in Aleppo, but relied on “activists” to inform us that the Syrian army was massacring the civilian population. It hardly makes sense for an army to fight and defeat armed rebels just so it can go in and murder unarmed civilians, but then again not much mainstream reporting on the tragedy in Syria has made sense.
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Never pay full price for anything!

Why should you? Never pay full price!

With the exception of either “emergency” things like repairs, or “bare essentials” like fuel or commodities like perishable food – there is no reason to pay more than you should. Never pay full price for anything!

Always shop sales, clearances or end of season events

When you look at many of these stupid holiday season sales events – it should open the eyes of EVERYONE who has paid more for said products in the past.

Everyone should be asking – “wait a minute – maybe I should always wait for these blockbuster events to buy anything like this!”

Why don’t all of us do that? To postpone a purchase until a known “mega sale” comes?

Is it urgency? Hardly ever.

Is it instant gratification? Sometimes.

Is it marketing manipulation? Usually.

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Be There Or Be Square

THE  ISRAEL LOBBY AND AMERICAN POLICY

March 24, 2017 at the National Press Club, Washington, DC

Keynote Speakers

HA JM IP
Hanan Ashrawi John Mearsheimer Ilan Pappé

Growing numbers of Americans question massive, automatic and unconditional U.S. support for Israel. The American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy will host anhistoric fourth annual conference on March 24, 2017 at the National Press Club in Washiington, DC focusing on the key issues.

Expert keynote speakers and panelists will present their analysis of:

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The Deep State Blues

Guest Post by Jim Kunstler

Lest you wonder, not only did I not vote for Mr. Trump (or Hillary), but I relished heaping opprobrium on him during the election campaign. Just so you know, I’m not advocating for him, but I’m alarmed that the Deep State (the White House + the Intel Agency gang) now appears to be trying to hack the electoral college vote against him.

The headline deployed everywhere last week, “Russia Hacks Election,” was designed by the Deep State players to deviously lead the broadly dim public to think that Russia somehow interfered with the balloting process, which was not possible since voting machines are not hooked up to the internet. And then it was repeated endlessly by the cable news networks and the newspapers, under the number one rule of propaganda: that if you repeat something often enough, the public will swallow it.

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On the 225th Anniversary of the United States’ Bill of Rights

Guest Post by Antonius Aquinus

the-bill-of-rights

This December, 2016, marks the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the first ten amendments to the US Constitution which would become known as the “Bill of Rights.”  To secure passage of the Constitution, the framers of the document (the Federalists) had to agree that it would contain explicit language on individual rights.

Ever since its ratification, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution in which it is a part, has been hailed as one of the seminal achievements in the annals of human history while the political arrangements prior to it (primarily monarchy and aristocratic rule) have been sneered at and belittled by the Constitution’s hagiographers.   Moreover, the American Constitution has provided a model for the emergence of the nation state which came into its own after the French Revolution and the tragic breakup of Christendom.

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Are You A Deplorable?

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Regardless of your ethnicity, class or religion, if you perceive the institutions that govern American life as corrupted, riddled with favoritism and spin or as broken, you’re a Deplorable.

Are you a Deplorable? The answer might surprise you. Take this short quiz to find out.

1. If you agree with this characterization of American Elites: “The self-satisfied cosmopolitan culture that sprang up among the affluent 20% or so of the industrial world’s population, who became convinced that the temporary ascendancy of policies that favored their interests was not only permanent but self-evidently right and just.” (The Fifth Side of the Triangle The Archdruid Report)

You’re a Deplorable.

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The Striking Audacity of the Coup-in-Process

Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts

Unsubstantiated stories have been planted throughout the presstitute media by anonymous CIA officials that Donald Trump’s electoral victory was the result of Russian intervention. This absurd claim has now been elevated to the even more absurd claim that Putin himself oversaw and even conducted the manipulation of the US presidential election.

No evidence has been provided for these amazing claims. The presstitutes are reporting unsubstantiated wild accusations that portend both a constitutional crisis in the US and a crisis with Russia. We know that the presstitutes lie. The presstitutes lied when they reported contrary to the weapons inspectors in Iraq that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. They lied about fake evidence of yellowcake and alumninum tubes. They lied about Saddam Hussein’s al-Qaeda connections. They lied about Iranian nukes despite the unanimous report of all US intelligence agencies that Iran had abandoned interest in nuclear weapons years ago. The presstitutes lied about Assad using chemical weapons against the Syrian people. They lied about Gadaffi. They lied about Russian invasion of Ukraine. They lied about the cause of the Russian/Georgian conflict. They lied about the Sochi Olympics. Now the presstitutes are claiming that Russian interference determined the outcome of the US presidential election and the Brexit vote.

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Australia Looking Into Cancelling the $100 Bill

Guest Post by Martin Armstrong

a100The Australian federal government is planning a full assault on the black or underground economy by appointing a taskforce who will consider the future of the $100 note and bans on cash payments over a certain level. Australia, like everyone else, is facing a monetary crisis whereby the current system of taxes and social programs with pensions are colliding and will simply collapse. This idea of perpetual borrowing cannot be sustained. Instead of reforming the system, they prefer to attack the people, as always — we are just the enemy.

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Ron Paul: What’s Missing From The Russian Hack Argument?

Guest Post by Ron Paul
Without any proof or evidence being presented that Russia interfered with our election, we’re just seeing political grandstanding at this point by both President Obama and Secretary Clinton. Have you noticed that there’s never any mention or concern about Secretary Clinton having a private server in her home? If anything, that server would have made it much easier for Russia (or anyone else) to know what was going on with our government. I  discuss this, our CIA’s shenanigans, and much more below: