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As the weeks go by, I’ve grown accustomed to a new normal here in Beijing. In my neighborhood, the whirring of passing cars has been replaced by wind whispering through alleyways. Without the loud honking of delivery scooters, I can hear birds chirping for the first time. Many stores and restaurants remain closed, but life is slowly coming back to many of Beijing’s major areas.
Residents are used to constantly wearing masks, sanitizing, and going through multiple temperature checks. Parks have been one of the few distractions that are still open to the public, and on a rare blue-sky day last week, I saw groups of families walking through the park and elderly folks resuming their outdoor exercise and ping pong tournaments (all with masks on, of course. Watch a video here).
Some locals I’ve talked to in Beijing have cautiously started to return to work, taking comfort in strict health checks across the city and the slowdown in reported cases across China. Others are more skeptical of the official numbers and concerned that infections will spike again as more people come back to the city, so they continue to self-quarantine.
- Coronavirus Edges Closer to Pandemic
I tire of the narrative that this COVID-19 is just “another everyday flu” and that I am being “irresponsible” in saying that it is a biological weapon.
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The trail of “coincidences” in favor of it being so is so outrageously obvious and stunning in it’s implications, it is a crime to consider anything else.
I made the statement "It's like a Horror Movie".
Online comment: "No it's not."
-A response on LinkedIN when I reported that China went to DEFCON ONE on CNY eve and drones were telling everyone to say inside and quarantine roadblocks were being set up everywhere.
That's the arrogance of Americans. If you do not experience it yourself, it does not exist.
Couple that with China going into a war-footing DEFCON ONE on Chinese New Years Eve is quite telling.
It is equivalent to having the 9-11 event on Christmas eve. There while you and your family are drinking egg nog and hanging out by the Christmas tree, the TV and cellphones all light up showing the planes crash into the skyscrapers.
Then, when the government declares the military go onto high alert. It goes to DEFCON ONE and all the reservists are called to duty...
But...
...the news media repeats the mantra 'It's only one or two planes, World War I was much worse.".
You do not do this with “the flu”. Couple that with the “on the street” Tiktok videos – videos that the military has forbidden American soldiers from viewing…
…really makes a thinking-person ponder.
Time will tell if I am correct, or if I am wrong.
Time will tell.
I would suggest that everyone take the necessary preparations and follow strict safety protocols at this time. Be safe, and let’s all be optimistic.
Be like the Chinese during this emergency.
The Chinese are taking COVID-19 very seriously. I would suggest that everyone take the necessary preparations and follow strict safety protocols at this time. Be safe, and let’s all be optimistic.
Anyways…
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 is a very interesting pathogen. That’s because it has a double whammy punch, and no one is talking about this.
Well, we will do so here.
This is an interesting article pulled from HERE. It’s titled ” Chimeric virus – “Combining two pathogenic viruses increases the lethality of the new virus”. as well as the follow up article “I told you so” And while it is short, it is really interesting. I edited to fit within this venue, and all credit should go to the author.
I told you so.
So, what’s the story of this virus? It consistently bypasses conventional wisdom.
The R0 was obviously greater than 2.6 from the start, my original estimate was 8.
[1] Asymptomatic transmission, [2] unusually long length of incubation, [3] surface survival duration, [4] numerous modes of transmission including airborne…
…the virus smells like “intent”.
In other words, it’s a hack; it was designed by a hacker mentality. It was designed to do exactly what it’s doing, circumventing the normal channel of control.
Authorities claim a 3% mortality rate but that’s a lie.
That 3% is only achievable with extreme methods that won’t scale up in an epidemic.
The real rate will probably fall into the 10-15% range for the initial pneumonia phase.
But…
But… NOBODY is talking about the secondary phase after a victim heals from the flu, the heart attack (“drop dead in your tracks”) phase.
There’s no numbers on this at all.
Gee, I wonder why.
Combining two pathogenic viruses increases the lethality of the new virus
This chart shows diseases according to their mortality (deadliness) and mobility (contagiousness). The COVID-19 coronavrus (the Wu Flu) is shown in green.
This chart shows diseases according to their mortality (deadliness)
and mobility (contagiousness). This is a classic X * Y = K graph
depicting an environmental constraint. High mortality reduces mobility
and vice versa.
If you’re a bioweapon designer, though, your goal is that empty upper right quadrant, i.e. maximum mortality AND mobility.
How can you reach that goal?
From an algebraic view, assume X * Y = 100:
Maximum mobility would be (2 * 50 = 100)
OR
Maximum mortality would be (50 * 2 = 100)
Assume a typical virus at 10 * 10 = 100
Now assume we can design the behavior by separating it into two phases:
Phase 1, maximum mobility: 2 * 25 = 50
Phase 2, maximum mortality: 25 * 2 = 50
So
we’re still within the original constraint (100) but increased
mortality from 10 to 25 and mobility from 10 to 25. In other words,
traditional virologists are now dealing with something TOTALLY outside
of their models.
Let’s look at one ramification of the new model.
COVID-19 mortality over time.
To maximize mobility, the weapon should minimize mortality at first. It will look deceptively innocuous for most of its life.
But mortality will rise drastically at the end.
The average virologist could be baffled by its behavior because it violates the well-known viral model.
Right now, the COVID-19’s rate is reported as 3%, 15% or 55% mortality rate, depending on when its measured and who is measuring it.
Think about that.
Behavior is not natural.
A natural virus does TWO things poorly ALL the time, mobility and mortality.
This virus does ONE thing well for MOST of the time… mobility.
And then it switches and does a DIFFERENT thing well… mortality.
If this is a chimeric virus, I’d expect the final rate to be closer to 55% than 3%.
Which is why the Chinese government made wearing masks MANDATORY all over China. You cannot enter a building, ride in a car, or purchase anything unless you are wearing a mask. They are taking this very, very seriously.
What do they know?
The Chinese government is taking this COVID-19 coronavirus very seriously and has made it a law that everyone must wear masks if they go in public.
Now for something truly frightening…
I read this and yes, things are frightening. If you are not petrified, then you are NOT paying attention.
The World Health Organization says the coronavirus has the potential to become a pandemic and is now at a "decisive stage". But some health experts say that the markings of a pandemic are already clear, and containment is not possible anymore.
- Coronavirus Edges Closer to Pandemic
Man gets stricken by the COVID-19 virus while riding a bus.
So much for this not being as serious as “the flu”…
Marc Lipsitch, an infectious disease epidemiologist from Harvard, predicts that within the coming year, some 40-70% of the global population will be infected with the coronavirus - though most will likely have mild disease or no symptoms. A growing number of epidemiologists say that the coronavirus could become a regular part of the cold and flu season.
- Coronavirus Edges Closer to Pandemic
All of this is very, very serious.
Especially so when I see Americans being so nonchalant about this virus. They are acting as if they are immune and that the stuff in China is just a communist nation over-reacting…
Americans are not at all worried about COVID-19. They are just going about their normal day-to-day activities. No one is wearing a mask. No one is stocking up on supplies. No one is taking this seriously. “It’s not as bad as the flu”, don’t you know.
COVID-19; What you’re NOT Being Told by Officials or Media: This will be Survival of the Fittest. The rest will die.
Since the outbreak of a “novel coronavirus” in Wuhan, China in Mid-December, the disease has spread wildly, killing many who become infected. A LOT has been learned about this illness, but YOU [if you are an American] are not being told.
Here’s what YOU need to know . . . because your LIFE depends on you knowing:
This coronavirus, now named COVID-19, is the worst public health crisis since the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.
Almost no one alive today has lived through anything like this.
[It is a possibility that] literally MILLIONS worldwide, will NOT LIVE through this.
DISEASE FACTS:
This disease has an eighty-three percent (83%) infection rate. This means that if 100 people are merely EXPOSED to it, 83 will get sick.
Of those who get sick, about half will get so sick, they will need hospital care. [This is debatable. It’s a substantial number, but varies from 20% to 50%.]
Of those who need a hospital, about half will end up needing INTENSIVE CARE due to fluid build-up in their lungs (Pneumonia). [Of those that go into a hospital, a substantial will need to go into intensive care. Figures on this are hard to come by.]
Of those who need INTENSIVE CARE, and who GET THAT CARE, fifteen percent (15%) will die. [Also difficult to come up with a decent percentage.]
So, using the example above of 100 people exposed, we get 83 who get
sick, about half (40) need a hospital, half of those (20), need ICU,
and of those, 3 die.
Woman thought that she could handle this sickness at home like she would the flu. Not so. This is a very dangerous and lethal sickness. That is why the Chinese set up complete quarantine centers for people to go to, and be monitored.
ULTRA CONTAGIOUS
This new disease is an absolute NIGHTMARE in its ability to spread. It’s horrifying.
It spreads the way other diseases can, through coughing, sneezing,
and the like. So if you are walking down the street, and an infected
person a block away sneezes or coughs, the wind can carry that virus
right to . . . YOU.
Similarly, if you’re in a store shopping, and an infected person
coughed or sneezed minutes earlier, and several store aisles away, the
heating and air conditioning system can blow that virus all over the
store, and as you are minding your business, it blow onto YOU.
This virus can live OUTSIDE A PERSON, in the air or on surfaces, for upwards of nine days!
That means the counter at a store cashier, or in a restaurant, or at a
bank teller, or at an ATM can be contaminated as well. Worse still,
door handles. You’re out doing business and pull open the door to a
company or store, and you have no way on knowing that an infected person
grabbed that same handle a day earlier. Now, his virus is on YOUR
hand. When you touch your face, blow your nose, grab a hamburger, hot
dog or sandwich and eat it without washing your hands, POW, you’re
infected.
INFECTING OTHERS WITHOUT SYMPTOMS
A number of people who contract this virus start shedding it to
others BEFORE THEY GET SYMPTOMS. So the infected person DOES NOT KNOW
he’s sick, but begins spreading it to other people!!!
Doctors measure how many people are typically infected by one sick person, and they record that as R0 (pronounced “R naught”). The R naught for this virus is between R4 and R6. So one infected person can be expected to infect between four and six other people! That is a catastrophic level of contagiousness.
Here’s where things get absolutely nuts:
This disease also “sheds” from infected people via urine and feces. So, when an infected person goes to the bathroom and flushes, the swirling toilet water thrusts a small torrent of tiny mist all over the place and in that mist . . . . is virus! You walk into the bathroom and smell another person’s “stink” and POW, you’re infected.
As the toilet contents go down into the sewers and head out to the
sewer treatment plant, some of the water evaporates and comes out the
holes in manhole covers across town. In that water vapor . . . is
virus. So people on ONE side of town, can get a blast of virus because
another person on the OTHER side of town, took a dump while infected,
and flushed, and the virus comes out of the sewer!
In one apartment building in Hong Kong, a sewer vent pipe in a wall
had a crack in it. Virus went up that vent pipe, got out a crack, and
infected people in apartments several floors away from an infected
family! (STORY HERE)
Here is where things get REALLY UGLY . . .
Military decontamination squad going building by building to eradicate the virus.
HOSPITAL FACTS:
In the United States, there are only 2.4 hospital beds per 1,000 people. (SOURCE)
So, using the numbers above about the 83% infection rate, if 1,000
people get exposed, 830 will get sick. About half, 400, will need
hospital, and half of those, 200, will need ICU. But there are only 2.4
hospital beds per 1,000 people.
Now, you’re a smart person. How many people can the 2.4 hospital beds hold? Yep, 2.4.
So when we have 400 people sick with this COVID-19 virus who need hospital, and the 2.4 beds are full, that leaves 398 who CANNOT GET HOSPITAL CARE.
In Wuhan, China, the epicenter of this outbreak, people who needed hospital care, but who could not get it because the hospitals were full, suffered a death rate of 61.5% (Source)
If that just sent shivers up your spine, it should have. This is a terrible reality. And it’s here; in America, now.
Because when you apply the fatality rate for those who died in Wuhan because they could not get care, the numbers then look like this per 1,000:
1000 exposed = 830 Infected.
Half need hospital = 400
Half of those need ICU = 200
Only 2.4 beds = 397 WITHOUT CARE
of the 397 who need care but cannot get it because hospitals are full, 61.5% die = 244 DEAD, per 1,000 infected.
This is why a LEAKED Government document in the United Kingdom, shows the UK government making plans for MASS GRAVES!
This is also why China recently bought — and deployed — forty (40) portable cremation furnaces for Wuhan. Each furnace can cremate 50 people per day. Times forty furnaces equals 2,000 bodies PER DAY.
Chinese military decontamination trucks in action.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS:
Since the outbreak began, scientists have studied this virus like no other, and what they’re finding is that the virus appears to be “bi-phasic.”
It happens in TWO phases, similar to the way ANTHRAX happens. (STORY)
The first phase causes fever, cough, congestion in the lungs, and myalgia (muscle twitches and pain). Then, it **** seems **** to go away….
… But it doesn’t go away.
People who have been released from hospitals, showing NO TRACE of active virus, suddenly drop dead on the streets from heart failure.
That’s the SECOND phase of the virus.
It attacks the vital organs, kidneys mostly. The person feels achy again, feels tired again, figures it will pass and keeps on about their daily life. But what’s actually taking place inside them is the disease is sending them into Sepsis, and they drop dead from Septic Shock and organ failure.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
We are in for a terrible, life altering, situation. Many, many,
people are going to get terribly sick and DIE. Almost none of us has
ever lived through a real pandemic like this before. It’s going to be
heart-breaking to see the level of suffering and death.
We will see, firsthand, with our own eyes, nature’s primary law: Survival of the fittest.
Not just the physically fittest, but the mentally fittest as well. A lot of people in America are going to die because mentally, they cannot or will not see the facts as they are. They will REFUSE to plan with emergency food and water. They will refuse to wear filter masks. They will refuse to comply with Quarantines. The mentally unfit will likely die-off at larger levels than the physically unfit. Their tombstones should read “Died because he was stupid.”
Government is not telling you this because they don’t want you to panic. Noble goal, but misplaced.
We’re adults. We not only have a right to know the facts, we MUST
know in order to make informed decisions about our own safety.
Conclusion
Some basic math skills and deductive reasoning can clearly show that this COVID-19 is a serious virus. It is also deceptive. It masquerades as something innocuous, and then hits with a sudden ferocity.
Please take note of all the videos taken in China of the sudden onset of this illness. And also take note of the car accidents that just happened suddenly when the driver collapsed at the steering wheel.
Contrary to the seemingly popular narrative in the United States, that the Chinese are stupid, dirty, and over-reacting for this virus the opposite is true. They are taking serious immediate steps to control it.
We can only see just how successful the United States is when it strikes. Let’s watch how the “talented” leadership in the USA handles it…
Take note;
This just came in on my WeChat. Translated from Chinese. It states that the ground zero carrier for the COVID-19 virus was found and identified. He got the virus from an American while in Hawaii.
Funny thing. According to the US Government, no one in Hawaii has the COVID-19.
New Italian coronavirus carrier found
According to the latest reports from the Italian media, patient number 1 has now been found in Italy. The large-scale outbreak of the new crown in Italy is directly related to the trajectory of patient No. 1. Prior to the diagnosis, the patient had participated in many sporting events, such as the 10,000-people marathon and the football match, and had breakfast with friends many times. .
Within half a month, patient No. 1 affected 50,000 people and 10 cities. It is worth noting that the Italian patient No. 1 was infected with the new coronavirus after taking a vacation in Hawaii, USA, and had no history of residency in China. So, from this perspective, the outbreak of the Italian epidemic has nothing to do with China.
Not only does the epidemic in Italy have nothing to do with China, but other infected countries do not have a direct relationship with China.
Researchers in the United States have re-investigated people who died from the flu, and most have died from the new coronavirus. An elderly person infected with the new coronavirus has never contacted strangers in rural Japan, and there are also cases in Spain and Iran. Then the origin of the new coronavirus is not China! !! .
One last thing…
Oh, and you can get COVID-19 from a mosquito bite. Think about that, will you.
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Everyone seems to be confused with the role that America has in the world. Is it a force of stability, and a leader offering geopolitical guidance (and inspiration), or is it something else?
Long since President Trump came on the picture, these questions have been swirling around in people’s minds, and “muddying up” their opinions of the United States.
Just what kind of “neighbor” is America?
Is America a partner, or is it a threat?
Can America be counted on to contribute to the stability of the world?
Is America a destabilizing factor that might become a large problem in the future?
Here is an article that sorts this entire situation out.
It explains the military doctrine that was established during the Bush Administration, and how it has evolved into the totalitarian Military Empire America is today.
This is a reprint of an article titled “The Pentagon’s New Map: How to Know if America Is Your Enemy”. It was published on February 27, 2020 by Enrique Suarez and printed within “Global Research” on February 26, 2020. It was initially released on the “Strategic Culture Foundation” on the 24 February 2020. All credit to the authors. Please kindly note that it was edited to fit this venue, but every effort has been made to keep the content as pristine as possible.
The Pentagon’s New Map: How to Know if America Is Your Enemy
If your country is friendly toward Russia, China, or Iran, then today’s American Government is probably applying subversion, economic sanctions, or maybe even planning a coup …
… or (if none of those will succeed) probably is war-gaming now for a possible military invasionand permanent military occupation, of your country.
These things have been done to Russia, Iran, China, Yugoslavia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Ukraine, Georgia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and some other countries.
A Second Justification for war…
However, after the 9/11 attacks in America, the U.S. Government has added another system for selecting countries to immiserate…
… and those are mainly [1] the countries that already suffer the most misery, some of them are countries that were listed above…
… but others (many others) are not, and are selected instead largely because they are [2] already in misery, and also because America…
.... that is, the Deep State which controls it, America’s hundreds of billionaires, who control international corporations and the press in America and not just control the politicians who win public offices...
…. wants to [3] control the given target country in order to extract its natural resources …
…. or [4] simply in order to place some of U.S. military bases there so as to be better able to invade other countries.
The New Category for war…
This relatively new category of America’s targeted enemies was invented, mainly, in 2003 and 2004, by Thomas P. M. Barnett.
Thomas P. M. Barnett is a professor at the U.S. Naval College and columnist and writer for various popular magazines, as well as of best-selling books.
His 2004 book The Pentagon’s New Map, presents that map, to show the areas, mainly around the Equator and including all of Central America; plus all of South America except Chile, Argentina, and Brazil; plus all of Africa except South Africa, all countries of which are supposedly not connected to globalization…
i.e., they are Third World instead of First World.
…and he says that they are unstable and therefore need to be policed by the world’s policeman, which is the U.S. Government.
The United States, to serve there as the judge, jury, and executioner, of anyone who lives there.
And those who resists that judge, jury, and executioner.
His key statement is on page 227,
“A country’s potential to warrant a U.S. military response is inversely related to its globalization connectivity.”
Here is the map, which shows which countries are supposedly high globalization connectivity and therefore inappropriate for America to sanction, coup, or invade and occupy; and which countries are supposedly low globalization connectivity and therefore appropriate for America to sanction, coup, or invade and occupy:
Map of American Control freedom.
As
can be seen there, the following countries are not to be policed by the
U.S. Government: Canada, U.S., Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, UK,
Greenland, Iceland, EU, Switzerland, Ukraine, Georgia, South Africa,
Russia, Mongolia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, N.Z.
He calls those the “Globalized Functioning Core.”
All others are “the Non-Integrated Gap” countries, America’s virtual free-fire zones, to control (at will) so as to ‘prevent terrorism’.
America makes the rules.
Instead of international law being what the United Nations says it is, this “new map” theory says that international law in the “Non-Integrated Gap” countries should be what the U.S. Government says it is.
The Reasoning.
According to Barnett’s theory, as he expressed it in its original version in an Esquire magazine article titled “Why the Pentagon Changes Its Maps: And why we’ll keep going to war,”.
He listed these countries as “THE GAP” or third-world countries, “My list of real trouble for the world in the 1990s, today, and tomorrow, starting in our own backyard”.
And these are listed here by the names that he gave to them:
Haiti,
Colombia,
Brazil
Argentina
Former Yugoslavia
Congo
Rwanda/Burundi
Angola
South Africa
Israel-Palestine
Saudi Arabia
Iraq
Somalia
Iran
Afghanistan
Pakistan
North Korea
Indonesia.
Then he listed “CORE MEMBERS I WORRY WE MAY LOSE:”;
China
Russia
India.
So, if you live in any of those countries, then [1] Barnett, and [2] the many U.S. generals who respect his theory, and [3] the U.S. billionaires, who want the resources in those countries or else just want military bases there…
…view you as an enemy, not as a citizen of a sovereign foreign country.
This is very DANGEROUS thinking.
His Esquire article says,
“it is always possible to fall off this bandwagon called globalization. And when you do, bloodshed will follow. If you are lucky, so will American troops.”
He assumes that you need a “policeman” from America because what your own country provides is too primitive.
And,
“Conversely, if a country is largely functioning within globalization, we tend not to have to send our forces there to restore order or eradicate threats.”
On 22 August 2017, Thierry Meyssan at Voltairenet headlined “The US military project for the world” and gave his progressive critical interpretation of Barnett’s theory by placing it into the long-term evolution of U.S. geostrategy.
On 26 September 2004, Razib Khan gave his admiring racist-fascist or ideologically nazi interpretation of it, under the headline “IQ And The Non-Integrating Gap”.
He assumed there that lower-income countries are “lower IQ” and therefore need to be directed according to the master’s whip, not as sovereign countries.
The book’s publisher places online an informative excerpt from the work. under the headline “An Operating Theory of the World” and Barnett says there:
As the “vision guy,” my job was to generate and deliver a compelling brief that would mobilize the Defense Department toward generating the future fighting force demanded by the post-9/11 strategic environment.
Over the next two years, I gave that brief well over a hundred times to several thousand Defense Department officials.
Through this intense give-and-take, my material grew far beyond my original inputs to include the insider logic driving all of the major policy decisions promulgated by the department’s senior leadership.
Over time, senior military officials began citing the brief as a Rosetta stone for the Bush Administration’s new national security strategy.
The strategy remains in force, though there now is a return to focusing on the main enemies being Russia, China, and Iran.
The “gap” countries are currently viewed not only according to the “gap” but also according to their relationships to Russia, China, and Iran.
Conclusions and Thoughts
As with most policy papers and briefs, they are written with long run-on sentences, and jargon. They remain ensconced within an elite and tight circle of leadership due to the often impenetrability of their writings. But if you take the time to look into their ideas, their narratives, and their beliefs, the picture becomes quite clear.
Frighteningly clear.
America is not a nation that wants to work with other nations.
America does not trade on a “win – win” relationship. America intends to rule, and it will devote all of it’s energies to rule the world and stomp on and extinguish any person, nation or organization that stands in it’s way.
You might be ok with this if you are a 20-something gung-ho American cannon fodder type… Or if you are living inside the bubble of “American Greatness”….
While I find Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump enjoyable as entertainment, the extent of my beliefs on their abilities end there. Seriously, the idea that other people, children and families need to be killed so that “American Democracy” prevails is an idea that is dangerously sick.
I am not alone.
The rest of the world agrees with me.
The American military ARE NOT considered “freedom fighters”. They are considered to be the “strongmen for the local dictator”.
That includes the billions and billions of people in India, China, and China. All who are holding on to nuclear weapons and all of which see the behaviors of America with great ALARM.
What do you do?
When you have a rabid dog running around your neighborhood, what do you do?
You call the dog catcher, and he utilizes the best equipment and techniques at his disposal to control the dangerous beast.
But…
What if he cannot control the beast…
…then what?
Well…
…sometimes they just simply have to put it down.
America has become the rabid dog.
Do you want to see similar posts?
I hope that you found this post curious. Please take care. You can view other similar posts in my SHTF Index, here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
After around three decades of increasing progressive Marxism and “Woke” nonsense, the assaults seem (or appear) to have subsided somewhat. It’s no longer “in your face” as badly as it was under the Obama Administration. But, I am here to tell you that it has not subsided, that it is not going away. It is only in remission, and we can expect that the dangerous stew that is brewing inside our schools, inside our institutions, and inside our government is going to boil-over. Maybe not now, and maybe not under a Trump Presidency, but it will decidedly boil-over and it will affect YOU.
Here is an interesting article from a Russian Immigrant that is in the university setting and comments on what it is like being around all these “woke” progressive Marxist idealists… the very ones that will be running America very shortly. Please pay attention, and understand that America is destined for change…
It might be calm and methodical, or radical and abrupt with many painful days. But whatever form it takes, it will be uncomfortable. Read this and consider what it means when every company, every school, every bureaucracy, every organization and at every government level these people are in control…
Woke! ‘The fanatical glimmer in their eyes really scares me’
Last year, I spoke to a Soviet-born scholar who teaches in an American public university. I’m using a quote from our discussion in my forthcoming (September) book, Live Not By Lies. This morning, she sent me this e-mail, which I reproduce here with her permission:
I know from your blog that the work on your new book is going well and I’m glad because, boy, it’s so needed.
I’m observing some disturbing developments on my campus, and we are really not one of those wokester schools for spoiled brats one normally associates with this kind of thing.
This academic year I’ve had an opportunity to work with some early-career academics. These are newly-minted PhDs that are in their first year on the tenure-track.
What’s really scary is that they sincerely believe all the woke dogma.
Older people – those in their forties, fifties or sixties – might parrot the woke mantras because it’s what everybody in academia does and you have to survive.
But the younger generation actually believes it all.
Transwomen are women, black students fail calculus because there are no calc profs who “look like them,” ‘whiteness’ is the most oppressive thing in the world, the US is the most evil country in history, anybody who votes Republican is a racist, everybody who goes to church is a bigot but the hijab is deeply liberating.
I gently mocked some of this stuff (like we normally do among older academics), and two of the younger academics in the group I supervise actually cried…
Because they believe all this so deeply, and I’d even say fanatically, that they couldn’t comprehend why I wasn’t taking it seriously.
The fanatical glimmer in their eyes really scared me.
Back in the USSR in the 1970s and the 1980s nobody believed the dogma.
People repeated the ideological mantras for cynical reasons, to get advanced in their careers or get food packages. Many did it to protect their kids. But nobody sincerely believed.
That is what ultimately saved us.
As soon as the regime weakened a bit, it was doomed because there were no sincere believers any more.
Everybody who did take the dogma seriously belonged to the generation of my great-grandparents.
In the US, though, the generation of the fanatical believers is only now growing up and coming into its prime.
We’ll have to wait until their grand-kids grow up to see a generation that will be so fed up with the dogma that it will embrace freedom of thought and expression. But that’s a long way away in the future.
I’m mentoring a group of young scholars in the Humanities to help them do research, and I’m starting to hate this task.
Young scholars almost without exception think that scholarship is entirely about repeating woke slogans completely uncritically.
Again, this is different from the USSR where scholars peppered their writing with the slogans but always took great pride in trying to sneak in some real thinking and real analysis behind the required ideological drivel.
Every Soviet scholar starting from the 1970s was a dissident at heart because everybody knew that the ideology was rotten.
All of this is sad and very scary.
I never thought I’d experience anything worse, anything more intellectually stifling than the USSR of its last two decades of existence. But now I do see something worse.
The book you are writing is very important, and I hope that many people hear your message.
Folks, Americans are extremely naive about what’s coming. We just cannot imagine that people who burst into tears in the face of gentle mockery of their political beliefs can ever come to power.
They are already in power, in the sense that they have mesmerized leaders of American institutions.
I’m telling you, that 2015 showdown on Yale’s campus between Prof. Nicholas Christakis and the shrieking students was profoundly symbolic.
Christakis used the techniques of discursive reason to try to establish contact with these young people.
None of it mattered.
They yelled and cursed and sobbed.
The fact that he disagreed with them, they took as an assault on their person.
And Yale University caved to them!
This stuff is so outrageous that we can’t wrap our minds around how these people will ever come to rule us. Listen to what these people who grew up under communism are saying!
Nadine Gordimer said:
“All the young are candidates for the solutions of communism or fascism when there are no alternatives to despair or dissipation.”
The
religion of social justice is rushing in to fill the vacuum. Nice
liberals, and nice conservatives, cannot allow themselves to think of
where this might go. Solzhenitsyn knew better:
If the intellectuals in the plays of Chekhov who spent all their time guessing what would happen in twenty, thirty, or forty years had been told that in forty years interrogation by torture would be practiced in Russia;
…that prisoners would have their skulls squeezed within iron rings, that a human being would be lowered into an acid bath; that they would be trussed up naked to be bitten by ants and bedbugs; that a ramrod heated over a primus stove would be thrust up their anal canal (the “secret brand”); that a man’s genitals would be slowly crushed beneath the toe of a jackboot; and that, in the luckiest possible circumstances, prisoners would be tortured by being kept from sleeping for a week, by thirst, and by being beaten to a bloody pulp…
… not one of Chekhov’s plays would have gotten to its end because all the heroes would have gone off to insane asylums.
So did Dr. Silvester Krcmery, a Slovak Catholic lay leader in the underground church, who suffered isolation and torture in a communist prison for his faith and resistance.
In the memoir he wrote after communism’s fall, Krcmery warned future generations that the past could be prelude to the future if they were not vigilant:
We are so often naive in our thinking. We live, contented and safe, with the idea that in a civilized country, in the mostly cultured and democratic environment of our times, such a coercive regime is impossible.
We forget that in unstable countries, a certain political structure can lead to indoctrination and terror, where individual elements and stages of brainwashing are already implemented.
This, at first, is quite inconspicuous.
However, often in a very short time, it can develop into a full undemocratic totalitarian system.
Hannah Arendt, in her 1951 study The Origins of Totalitarianism, said these factors in German and Russian society made them susceptible to Nazism and Bolshevism, respectively:
Loneliness
Social Atomization
Loss of Faith In Hierarchies And Institutions
The Desire To Transgress And Destroy
Indifference to Truth, and the Willingness To Believe Useful Lies
A Mania for Ideology
A Society That Values Loyalty More Than Expertise
The Politicization of Everything
If you think we’re not going on full-tilt on these things, you aren’t paying attention.
Some people seem to think that the Arendt list is somehow faulting the Left. It’s not, at least not intentionally. She said these factors were present in both Germany, which went to the hard right, and Russia, which went to the hard left. I think these factors are present in our society, period. Some of them are stronger on the Left, it is true, but I think they’re all simply present. Is loneliness a Right or a Left thing? Is social atomization?
Conclusion
I read this article with a great degree of sadness. Americans are within a propagandized bubble. Outside of that bubble, everything is dark, evil and dangerous. Inside that bubble you are either ‘woke” or an enemy.
Americans live within an artificial bubble. The inside of the bubble is a narrative that is increasingly defined by the American mainstream press. Many can see what bullshit is is, so they try to find other sources for news. Outside the bubble is a complete fabrication that the mainstream media controls. It’s all a big lie.
I am outside the bubble and I see all of this quite clearly.
Outside the Bubble
I am in Communist China, but it doesn’t resemble anything like what Americans fear it to be.
Yet, it almost went off-the-cliff.
There was a big show-down between the hard-line Communist / Marxist elements and their armies of progressive idealists during the “cultural revolution” and it could have gone downhill really fast.
Instead they embraced other things… like traditional conservative Chinese values, the idea of working hard and achieving things through merit, and contributing instead of fighting the government.
And..
… and now today, China is a nation of traditional conservative pragmatists, and all those Marxist idealists are off in re-education camps. Like the Falin Gong, the “pro-democracy” pawns, and the Muslim religious extremists.
You don’t hear about all that.
America is about “democracy!” China doesn’t have it. So it’s bad.
People! The world is not what CNN, and FOX tell you. It is something all together different. Now, I can talk until I am blue in my face, but you will never be convinced until you experience things FIRST HAND. I implore you to do just that.
So, just recognize that the world “outside” of America is not what you are led to believe and expect.
Meanwhile… on the inside of this bubble….
Inside of the Bubble
Radical idealists are now infiltrating all the organs of power. The government and the political factions are permitting this, and soon, once they have regained full control of the levers of power, they will implement their ideology.
First will be the disarming.
Then will be the collections of people on the lists.
Then will be the FEMA camps.
What comes next will not be recorded for history.
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And now, as we start to enter periods of quarantine and self-isolation – as nations, communities, and individuals – all that should be so much clearer. It has taken a virus to show us that only together are we at our strongest, most alive and most human.
In being stripped of what we need most by the threat of contagion, we are reminded of how much we have taken the community for granted, abused it, hollowed it out. We are afraid because the services we need in times of collective difficulty and trauma have been turned into commodities that require payment, or treated as privileges to which access is now means-tested, rationed or is simply gone. That insecurity is at the root of the current urge to hoard.
-Pulse
Whether you believe that the COVID-19 coronavirus is a biological weapon or just a virus that isn’t as bad as the flu, you should treat it as something to avoid getting. Right? You all don’t want you or your family to have this bug. Here I will lay out the precautions that I, and most of the others in China are taking to keep this bug out of our home. I strongly recommend that you follow similar procedures in your home.
Face mask – Always on – no exceptions.
When the first news started to hit China in December, we were all aware that you should wear a mask and be extra careful. So when we went out we would wear a mask.
But the thing is that we were not all that serious about it. We would pull it under our noses and allow it to wrap around our necks. Or we would take it off completely.
Then when the Chinese government went DEFCON ONE and everyone started to see alerts on their cell phones, drones telling everyone to stay inside, and Army troops with police setting up roadblocks, things suddenly took on a very serious face. We like the rest of China “got with the program.”
Since then, you never go outside without a mask on.
And not only that, you must always wear it. You wear it when you are around others, and when you are doing things. If you are in your car, you wear the mask. If you are walking down the street you wear the mask. If you are anywhere where others might have walked you wear the mask.
This virus can live on top of a surface for twelve hours. Twelve hours!
Which means that if you are eating a Big Mac on a park bench, an infected person from last night, who might have sat on that very same bench, could still infect your burger and fries.
Wear the mask or do not go outside. Period.
Avoid people.
The best way to avoid this virus is to stay inside and isolated in self quarantine. This is what China mandated, and it is working. In China, there are building quarantines, within block quarantines, within community quarantines, within town quarantines. There are multiple quarantine levels.
Do not go outside of your house unless it is absolutely an emergency.
If you can, work from home on your computer. Use the cell phone to talk to other people. Have food delivered to you and dropped outside your door and you get it when the person leaves.
HEPA Air purifier
Using a HEPA air purifier will really cut down on family cross-contamination. The machines themselves are not that expensive, but the filters are. However they are really worth it. I strong recommend an investment in a good rooms sized HEPA air purifier. You can find them at most retailers.
Wear gloves or do not touch things directly.
I have worn gloves, but you do not need to.
What you do need to do is avoid toughing things, and this is really difficult. We touch everything. And it is a real problem. We touch the buttons to get on the elevator, we touch the door handles to get into the car. We open the doors to our house, and get the mail from our mail box.
The problem is that there are evil rascals that take an evil pleasure in spreading their sickness around. Only this time, it’s not fun and games. People can die, and the death is particularly terrible.
I have videos where an infected person is walking in the mall coughing intentionally within a large group of people. I have other videos where they are spitting on elevator buttons, on door handles, and on mailboxes. I have videos where these crazy people are spitting on postage boxes and handrails.
So…
Assume that there are a few bad people near you, and that they have this illness. Do not take any chances. Protect yourself. Do not touch anything, and if you are not using gloves, then use a tissue.
Sanitize everything you come in contact with.
You can use alcohol, or a disinfectant, but you must use it.
That means everything. That means your shoes, your door handles, your keys, your cell phone and you “everyday carry”. Everything must be disinfected.
You cannot control the rest of the world, but you can control your life. Everything that you or your family touches must be disinfected daily. that means trash-bins, cars, lawn implements and everything inside the house.
To keep this work load down, you need to control who goes in and out of the home. Keep the movement low. Everyone should stay inside and if there are visitors they must stay outside.
Wash – wash – wash.
After you return home , you must take off your clothes and take a very hot shower. Scrub your body and perform hospital-level arm washes. Make sure that your fingernails are clipped short.
In public do not touch your eyes or your face, and absolutely do not eat anything with your hands. Use an utensil.
When you wash, you must use soap. It doesn’t matter what type, but you must use it.
Isolate and wash outside clothes apart.
You should have inside and outside clothes. Once you go outside and wear those clothes, they are to be considered contaminated and to be cleaned. You throw them in to the hamper and wash them immediately. Make sure your wash them with hot water, and then let them dry.
Shoes must always be disinfected once you arrive inside. That means you must spray the bottoms and the sides and the interiors of the shoes. It’s not a big deal once you make it a habit.
Grocery sanitation.
When you get groceries, spray the bag with disinfectant. Also make sure that you wash all the vegetables in warm soapy water. This includes the lettuce, tomatoes and apples. Make no exceptions.
Dogs and Cats stay inside.
Finally, the critters won’t understand, but they have to stay inside. While Fido is out vacuuming up every scent he is also vacuuming up other things and bringing them into your house. You must not take that risk and allow that you happen. You must be careful.
These rules are not really prohibitive. For most people it just means that you need to change some habits and avoid people. It’s just more of a hassle.
Cleanliness is very important.
Your life might depend on it.
And by the way, that nonsense that the COVID-19 is not serious is just American propaganda. China did not go into DEFCON ONE on a trivial runny nose. It’s a really bad illness.
Unlike the flu, you cannot stay at home and try to ride it out. If you try, WILL die.
Right now, at the time of this writing, there is a solid 80% chance of you getting over this, provided you go to a hospital and they take care of you. If you don’t the mortality is very, very high.
According to Chinese CDC data on COVID19, while mortality rate in general in China is 2.3%, but mortality rate for patients with severe COVID19 infection symptoms is 49%.
Mortality rate for COVID19 infection patients died of other complications are:
Cardiovascular disease: 10.5%
Diabetes disease: 7.3%
Chronic respiratory disease: 6.3%
High blood pressure: 6.0%
Cancer: 5.6%
These are very scarily high mortality numbers. Complacency kills people. Urgency saves lives.
COVID-19 has a ten times higher mortality rate than cancer.
I hope that this post was of use and interest to you. You can find more in my Trump Trade Wars Index, here…
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off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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Those that promote the benefits of “democracy” leave one thing out; it is always replaced with an oligarchy. Where the wealthy people control the government and eventually reduce the rest of society to slave or serfs serving them. Here, we take a look at the Athenian “democracy” and as we read about it, keep in mind the terrible parallels between it and America.
What is amazing to me is that our Republic was changed to a democracy by the 12th amendment, and those changing it KNEW HISTORY. They knew that democracies always… 100% always… always without fail… become oligarchies of the wealthy.
Here we look at the “gold standard” for “democracy; Athens. This is the standard that all the pro-democracy advocates cite. And the one that became an oligarchy before it’s eventual collapse.
Introduction
In the year 507 B.C., the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or “rule by the people” (from demos, “the people,” and kratos, or “power”).
It was the first known democracy in the world.
This system was comprised of three separate institutions:
The ekklesia, a sovereign governing body that wrote laws and dictated foreign policy;
The boule, a council of representatives from the ten Athenian tribes
The dikasteria, the popular courts in which citizens argued cases before a group of lottery-selected jurors.
Although this Athenian democracy would survive for only two centuries, its invention by Cleisthenes, “The Father of Democracy,” is considered to be one of the best contributions Greek made to the world. The Greek system of direct democracy would pave the way for representative democracies across the globe.
Which is a mystery to me.
As they all failed.
Each one, in turn, becoming a nation ruled by the wealthy and one that abused it’s poor.
Who Could Vote in Ancient Greece?
One of the things that everyone omits is that in a democracy, not everyone could vote. In fact only a handful of people were ever permitted to vote, and their selection… wouldn’t you know it… was influenced (if not decided) by the wealthiest inhabitants.
“In a democracy,” the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, “there is, first, that most splendid of virtues, equality before the law.”
However, the “equality” Herodotus described was limited to a small segment of the Athenian population in Ancient Greece.
For example, in Athens in the middle of the 4th century there were about 100,000 citizens (Athenian citizenship was limited to men and women whose parents had also been Athenian citizens), about 10,000 metoikoi, or “resident foreigners,” and 150,000 slaves.
Out of all those people, only male citizens who were older than 18 were a part of the demos, meaning only about 40,000 people could participate in the democratic process.
The Ekklesia (the assembly)
Athenian democracy was a direct democracy made up of three important institutions.
The first was the ekklesia, or Assembly, the sovereign governing body of Athens.
Any member of the demos–any one of those 40,000 adult male citizens–was welcome to attend the meetings of the ekklesia, which were held 40 times per year in a hillside auditorium west of the Acropolis called the Pnyx.
Important point; The actual voters could directly make laws. They did not need to vote for a "representative" who would vote for them.
That was great on paper, but not really all that functional. For only about 5,000 men attended each session of the Assembly. The rest were serving in the army or navy or working to support their families.
At the meetings, the ekklesia made decisions about war and foreign policy, wrote and revised laws and approved or condemned the conduct of public officials.
The group made decisions by simple majority vote.
The Boule (The Council)
The second important institution was the boule, or Council of Five Hundred.
This could be considered the "Deep State" or the bureaucracy.
The boule was a group of 500 men, 50 from each of ten Athenian tribes, who served on the Council for one year.
Unlike the ekklesia, the boule met every day and did most of the hands-on work of governance.
It supervised government workers and was in charge of things like navy ships (triremes) and army horses. It dealt with ambassadors and representatives from other city-states.
Its main function was to decide what matters would come before the ekklesia. In this way, the 500 members of the boule dictated how the entire democracy would work.
Positions on the boule were chosen by lot and not by election.
This was because, in theory, a random lottery was more democratic than an election: pure chance, after all, could not be influenced by things like money or popularity.
The lottery system also prevented the establishment of a permanent class of civil servants who might be tempted to use the government to advance or enrich themselves.
However, historians argue that selection to the boule was not always just a matter of chance. They note that wealthy and influential people–and their relatives–served on the Council much more frequently than would be likely in a truly random lottery.
In actual function, the selection of membership was determined by the wealthy and influential.
The Dikasteria (The Judges / Courts)
The third important institution was the popular courts, or dikasteria.
Every day, more than 500 jurors were chosen by lot from a pool of male citizens older than 30. Of all the democratic institutions, Aristotle argued that the dikasteria “contributed most to the strength of democracy” because the jury had almost unlimited power.
There were no police in Athens, so it was the demos themselves who brought court cases, argued for the prosecution and the defense and delivered verdicts and sentences by majority rule.
There were also no rules about what kinds of cases could be prosecuted or what could and could not be said at trial, and so Athenian citizens frequently used the dikasteria to punish or embarrass their enemies. It became a tool of the wealthy.
Jurors were paid a wage for their work, so that the job could be accessible to everyone and not just the wealthy (but, since the wage was less than what the average worker earned in a day, the typical juror was an elderly retiree).
Since Athenians did not pay taxes, the money for these payments came from customs duties, contributions from allies and taxes levied on the metoikoi.
The one exception to this rule was the leitourgia, or liturgy, which was a kind of tax that wealthy people volunteered to pay to sponsor major civic undertakings such as the maintenance of a navy ship (this liturgy was called the trierarchia) or the production of a play or choral performance at the city’s annual festival.
The End of Athenian Democracy
Around 460 B.C., under the rule of the general Pericles (generals were among the only public officials who were elected, not appointed) Athenian democracy began to evolve into something that we would call an aristocracy.
This was the rule of what Herodotus called “the one man, the best.”
This has lead to all democratic nations evolving into one of the following forms…
Oligarchy
Plutocracy
Aristocracy
Conclusion
When some mindless clone voices the idea that “democracy” is the best, you should rest assured that they are either [1] ignorant of history, or [2] a shrill for the wealthy. Historically, all democracies evolve into rule by the wealthy and well-connected. There are NO EXCEPTIONS.
America was set up as a Republic, but was quickly changed into a democracy with the 12th amendment, and evolved over time to the oligarchy it is today.
Can you do anything about it?
No, you cannot.
Unless you want to get involved in armed insurrection (always a nasty business), I would advise moving somewhere else where the “grass is greener”. I have other posts on this subject and I would suggest you all take a look at them. Here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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The writings of John Whitehead are all quite good. He voices the American anguish and feelings of helplessness of us serfs working for the American military oligarchy. And people! You cannot vote your way out of this situation. You have to fight your way out. There are no other remaining options.
In this article he ties the personal finances and budget of a typical American to the actions of our “elected” officials. It’s a good read, not that he says anything that we are not aware of, but that he gives voice to the impossibility and unsustainability of the situation.
The article is titled “The Looming Financial Nightmare: So Much for Living the American Dream” and it was published on February 26, 2020 by John Whitehead the President at The Rutherford Institute. Please give him every credit for this article. I edited it to fit this venue, but aside from that, pretty much left everything else pristine.
The Looming Financial Nightmare: So Much for Living the American Dream
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”
― Frédéric Bastiat, French economist
The national deficit (the difference between what the government spends and the revenue it takes in) is projected to surpass $1 trillion every year for the next 10 years.
Folks, if you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re not living the American dream.
We’re living a financial nightmare.
The
U.S. government—and that includes the current administration—is
spending money it doesn’t have on programs it can’t afford, and “we the
taxpayers” are the ones who will pay for it.
Could it happen here? Could the government actually seize private funds for its own gain?
Look around you. It’s already happening.
In
the eyes of the government, “we the people, the voters, the consumers,
and the taxpayers” are little more than pocketbooks waiting to be
picked.
Consider: The government can seize your home and your car
(which you’ve bought and paid for) over nonpayment of taxes. Government
agents can freeze and seize your bank accounts and other valuables if
they merely “suspect” wrongdoing. And the IRS insists on getting the
first cut of your salary to pay for government programs over which you
have no say.
America is NOT a Democracy.
We have no real say in how the government runs, or
how our taxpayer funds are used, but we’re being forced to pay through
the nose, anyhow.
We have no real say, but that doesn’t prevent
the government from fleecing us at every turn and forcing us to pay for
endless wars that do more to fund the military industrial complex than
protect us, pork barrel projects that produce little to nothing, and a
police state that serves only to imprison us within its walls.
If
you have no choice, no voice, and no real options when it comes to the
government’s claims on your property and your money, you’re not free.
It
didn’t take long, however—a hundred years, in fact—before the American
government was laying claim to the citizenry’s property by levying taxes
to pay for the Civil War. As the New York Times reports, “Widespread resistance led to its repeal in 1872.”
Determined
to claim some of the citizenry’s wealth for its own uses, the
government reinstituted the income tax in 1894. Charles Pollock
challenged the tax as unconstitutional, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
in his favor. Pollock’s victory was relatively short-lived. Members of
Congress—united in their determination to tax the American people’s
income—worked together to adopt a constitutional amendment to overrule
the Pollock decision.
On the eve of World War I, in 1913, Congress instituted a permanent income tax by
way of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution and the Revenue Act of
1913. Under the Revenue Act, individuals with income exceeding $3,000
could be taxed starting at 1% up to 7% for incomes exceeding $500,000.
It’s all gone downhill from there.
Government took and repurposed the tax monies…
Unsurprisingly, the government has used its tax powers to advance its own imperialistic agendas and the courts have repeatedly upheld the government’s power to penalize or jail those who refused to pay their taxes.
You cannot fight the beast alone…
Irwin
A. Schiff was one of the nation’s most vocal tax protesters. He spent a
good portion of his life arguing that the income tax was
unconstitutional, and he put his wallet where his conscience was: Schiff stopped paying federal taxes in 1974.
Schiff paid the price for his resistance, too: he served three separate prison terms (more than 10 years in all) over his refusal to pay taxes. He died at the age of 87 serving a 14-year prison term. As constitutional activist Robert L. Schulz noted in Schiff’s obituary,
“In a society where there is so much fear of government, and in particular of the I.R.S., [Schiff] was probably the most influential educator regarding the illegal and unconstitutional operation and enforcement of the Internal Revenue Code. It’s very hard to speak to power, but he did, and he paid a very heavy price.”
It’s still hard to speak to power, and those who do are still paying a very heavy price.
Out of Control…
All
the while the government continues to do whatever it likes—levy taxes,
rack up debt, spend outrageously and irresponsibly—with little thought
for the plight of its citizens.
To top it all off, all of those wars the U.S. is so eager to fight abroad are being waged with borrowed funds. As The Atlantic reports,
If Americans managed their personal finances the
way the government mismanages the nation’s finances, we’d all be in
debtors’ prison by now.
Still, the government remains unrepentant, unfazed and undeterred in its money grabs.
Santa Claus America.
While
we’re struggling to get by, and making tough decisions about how to
spend what little money actually makes it into our pockets after the
federal, state and local governments take their share (this doesn’t
include the stealth taxes imposed through tolls, fines and other fiscal
penalties), the police state is spending our hard-earned tax dollars to
further entrench its powers and entrap its citizens.
That
translates to roughly $23,000 per taxpayer to wage wars abroad, occupy
foreign countries, provide financial aid to foreign allies, and fill the
pockets of defense contractors and grease the hands of corrupt foreign
dignitaries.
Mind you, that staggering $6 trillion is only a portion of what the Pentagon spends on America’s military empire.
In
this way, the military industrial complex will get even richer, and the
American taxpayer will be forced to shell out even more funds for
programs that do little to enhance our lives, ensure our happiness and
well-being, or secure our freedoms.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. […] Is there no other way the world may live?
This is still no way of life.
Yet it’s not just the government’s endless wars that are bleeding us dry.
Wars at home too…
We’re
also being forced to shell out money for surveillance systems to track
our movements, money to further militarize our already militarized
police, money to allow the government to raid our homes and bank
accounts, money to fund schools where our kids learn nothing about
freedom and everything about how to comply, and on and on.
Are you getting the picture yet?
We are cash-cows.
The government isn’t taking our money to make our lives
better. Just take a look at the nation’s failing infrastructure, and
you’ll see how little is being spent on programs that advance the common
good.
We’re being robbed blind so the governmental elite can get richer.
This is nothing less than financial tyranny.
“We the people” have become the new, permanent underclass in America.
It’s tempting to say that there’s little we can do about it, except that’s not quite accurate.
What we can do…
There
are a few things we can do (demand transparency, reject cronyism and
graft, insist on fair pricing and honest accounting methods, call a halt
to incentive-driven government programs that prioritize profits over
people), but it will require that “we the people” stop playing politics
and stand united against the politicians and corporate interests who
have turned our government and economy into a pay-to-play exercise in
fascism.
We’ve become so invested in identity politics that label
us based on our political leanings that we’ve lost sight of the one
label that unites us: we’re all Americans.
The powers-that-be want
to pit us against one another. They want us to adopt an “us versus
them” mindset that keeps us powerless and divided.
Trust me, the only “us versus them” that matters anymore is “we the people” against the police state.
We’re all in the same boat, folks, and there’s only one real life preserver: that’s the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The Constitution starts with those three powerful words: “We the people.”
The message is this: there is power in our numbers.
That
remains our greatest strength in the face of a governmental elite that
continues to ride roughshod over the populace. It remains our greatest
defense against a government that has claimed for itself unlimited power
over the purse (taxpayer funds) and the sword (military might).
This holds true whether you’re talking about health care, war spending, or the American police state.
And a final comment from John…
While
we’re on the subject, do me a favor and don’t let yourself be fooled
into believing that the next crop of political saviors will be any
different from their predecessors. They all talk big when they’re running for office, and when they get elected, they spend big at our expense.
George Harrison, who would have been 77 this year, summed up this outrageous state of affairs in his song Taxman:
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street,If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat.If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat,If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.Don’t ask me what I want it forIf you don’t want to pay some moreCause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxmanNow my advice for those who dieDeclare the pennies on your eyesCause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxmanAnd you’re working for no one but me.
Source: https://bit.ly/2PpPFOk
My Conclusions
Pretty brilliant eh?
Well… he’s right that we can do what he suggests…
Demand transparency
Reject cronyism and graft
Insist on fair pricing
Insist on honest accounting methods
Call a halt to incentive-driven government programs
And stop playing politics
And how are we going to do that? Vote for an elected official to represent our needs? Are we going to start a “movement” like the BLM, the “Tea Party”, Antifa, or “Put America First”? Is that how it’s going to work?
No one is talking about the REAL changes that needs to be made. Like gutting all amendments since 1789, or giving States back their individual power, or tossing the 16th amendment into the dustbin of history. It's all just cosmetic changes...
... a wall here. More "rights" there...
The moment any individual or group of people becomes successful at taking any quantitative action, the DHS will put us on a “watch list” and we…
… will get shot dead by SWAT that raids our homes later in the dead of night (Stalin and Hitler style).
So what is it, then?
Shot dead in the dead of night by SWAT by trying to peacefully upend a corrupt system…
or…
Shot dead when you try to forcefully remove those rascals from Washington?
Not much of a choice, I am afraid.
For those puzzled by the appeal of Sanders, there’s your answer. American politics is controlled by an elite that keeps one large swath of voters in one party and another large swath in another party, then makes them fight one another. In 2016, the voters in one camp revolted against their camp guards. In 2020, the other camp is staging a revolt. In both cases, it is a revolt against legacy code that appears to be beyond reform. We are living in legacy code that must be replaced, if it cannot be patched.
-Z Man
The ONLY option remaining to make the necessary fundamental changes involve armed conflict. And soon… very soon you all will be disarmed and that option will no longer be available to you.
I hope that you enjoyed John’s commentary on life in America today. I have other posts in my SHTF index here…
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Trump, you can love him or hate him. I personally believe that America needs him domestically; the United States is in a real mess and needs a tough “pit-bull” to sort things out. However, that being said, his international leadership has been an absolute fiasco. The world-wide global stability has fallen in every indicator, all across the board. This is not just my opinion, it is all very well documented. I fear that, and history confirms, that if not properly corralled war will be the ultimate result.
I do not want that.
War will not be anything like anyone expects. It will be a nasty, nasty business. America will suffer the most, and most Americans will not be “happy campers”.
This is a reprint of an article titled “America in Distress: The Challenges of Disadvantageous Change” written by ambassador Chas Freeman on 2020-02-20. He makes some very good points (even if he is in the State Department). I have edited his article to fit this forum, but aside from that, I pretty much left it unadorned. I added formatting, and pull-quotes. Please give it a read and kindly note that all credit goes to the author.
America in Distress: The Challenges of Disadvantageous Change
Remarks to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) Senior Fellow, Watson Institute, Brown University 20 February 2020, Providence, Rhode Island
The 21st century arrived belatedly – but with a bang – on September 11, 2001. When aircraft repurposed as improvised cruise missiles blew up the World Trade Towers and part of the Pentagon.
In the two short decades since the shock and awe of that attack, most of the previous century’s American efforts to bolster peace and prosperity have been undone.
Gone are the constraints on the strong bullying the weak provided by international law, multilateral institutions, and plurilateral and bilateral commitments to mutual aid and cooperation.
The norms that long moderated international and domestic behavior have been largely erased. Incivility is now ubiquitous.
Political systems everywhere have been overtaken by socioeconomic and technological change.
There is no sign they are catching up.
In the United States and other democracies, political and economic systems still work in theory, but not in practice.
Democracies work in theory but not in practice.
In some ways, the scene in Washington now resembles that in Saint Petersburg in the last days of the Tsar, with sycophants and charlatans running amok and government capacity in rapid decline.
…And like Tsarist Russia, America is losing its aura of imperial purpose and invincibility.
America is starting to resemble Tsarist Russia before the revolution.
American media and public discourse are dominated by bogus narratives and frenzied bigotry. Nothing seems true, but everything seems plausible.
Almost everyone acknowledges that there are serious unattended problems, but no one seems able to do anything about them.
All this has spawned an age of soul-sickening worry.
Both abroad and at home, the signposts of the past provide no reassurance. We have become pathfinders in the gloom, fumbling our way toward a better future that may or may not exist.
Many analysts attribute the current global and American despondency to President Trump.
Many analysts blame Trump.
Trump, a self-centered sociopath whose incorrigible ignorance, relentless pettiness, and winner-take-all approach to international negotiations…
… have catalyzed the deconstruction of the global political economy…
… and the established legal order.
But the trends that underlay the shocks we are experiencing began long before anyone other than Deutsche Bank, Russian oligarchs, or Gary Trudeau had even heard of Mr. Trump.
Trump is not the cause. Trump is a symptom.
Trends initiated by Trump
Here are some notable trends that have culminated under the current administration…
Diplomacy
Washington has given up on diplomacy.
Instead has turned to an aggressive reliance on exclusively coercive means to exercise influence abroad.
Instead, turning instead to taunts, threats, unilateral sanctions, ultimatums, cyber-warfare, drone and missile attacks, assassinations, proxy warfare, and military invasions and pacification campaigns.
And I would add, germ warfare.
Might once again makes right.
The United States now has over thirty active financial and trade sanctions programs, which it can and does impose on friends and foes alike.
The Trump administration is averaging 1,000 new sanctions on countries, companies, and individuals per year.
The United States currently allocates almost 5 percent of GDP to military and related budgets for past, present, and future wars, a total of $1 trillion. (This is about one third more than the usually cited U.S. “defense budget,” which fails to include many categories of spending accounted for in other countries’ defense budgets.)
Money spent on warfare amounts to about two-thirds of all “discretionary” spending in the federal budget. This doesn’t leave much for investment in anything else…
America is a military empire pushing everyone around.
War on Terrorism
The ill-conceived “Global War on Terrorism” has continued to snowball.
In 2001, anti-American terrorists with global reach were found in only one or two countries.
Today, according to the Watson Institute’s Cost of War project, the United States is engaged in combat with terrorists in 80 nations.
America is fighting in 80 nations.
We respect no sovereignty other than our own and are currently bombing at least seven nations without their permission.
The military operations kicked off by the “Global War on Terrorism” have so far cost $5.4 trillion, plus another $1 trillion in veterans’ care.
No end is in sight.
The relatives and friends of the more than half-a-million Muslims killed since the U.S. anti-terrorist campaign began in 2001 continue to queue up for revenge…
There are many, many people who just hate the United States and what it has done to them, their families and their societies.
American Military Forces
Despite the immensity and prowess of the American war machine, the United States has lost, or is clearly losing, every conflict it has fought in this century.
America’s military reputation is out of touch with reality.
With no fixed objectives or termination strategies for any of these wars, they go on forever…
…And history strongly suggests that once American troops establish a presence in a country, they do not withdraw.
Seventy-five years after defeating Germany and Japan, the U.S. still garrisons them, as it does Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
In the months before the bonfire of takes surrounding the recent crisis with Iran, America’s national security and military establishment wrestled publicly with a different cause for alarm: in wargame after wargame pitched against Moscow and Beijing, the U.S. players wound up, according to one RAND researcher, “getting their asses kicked”—so much so that often games were simply halted midway through.
- You Win or You Die?
Washington has sneered at recent Iraqi demands that it remove American troops from Iraq; it has instead promised to punish Iraq if it persists in pressing for U.S. withdrawal.
This is the behavior of an imperial occupying force, not the deference to local pride and sovereignty characteristic of an ally.
Such arrogance makes the humiliating expulsion of U.S. forces or terrorism by local nationalists inevitable…
Honor and Respect
Once famous for steadfastness and the value of our word, the United States has definitively repudiated the long-established principle of PACTA SUNT SERVANDA (“agreements must be kept”)…
… and replaced it with capricious abrogation of treaties, arbitrary withdrawal from accords, wanton sabotage of multilateral compacts, and money-grubbing hedging of security commitments.
Examples include arms control treaties, the UN Security Council-approved nuclear deal with Iran, the Paris climate accords, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Arms Trade Treaty, and previously unquestioned commitments to defend allies in Europe and Northeast Asia.
The United States has not just forsaken, but in some instances sought to hamstring the multilateral institutions engaged in global governance and cooperative rule-setting it once sponsored…
… setting their mechanisms for dispute resolution aside…
… in favor of bilateral confrontations and tests of strength.
Examples include the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), UNESCO, and the UN Human Rights Commission.
America has been breaking agreements and well established rules. Thus, it is viewed as unreliable.
Trade
Washington has replaced market-driven trade based on comparative advantage with the tariffs, quotas, and government-managed exchanges characteristic of mercantilism.
Trade policy is now a national security function…
… embodying economic nationalism…
… and the vested interests of the corporate and military-industrial elites.
As China has continued to cut tariffs and eliminate quotas for other trading partners, U.S. tariffs on imports from China have risen from an average of 3.1 percent to 19.3 percent…
… a level last seen in the Smoot-Hawley tariffs that helped bring on the Great Depression.
America prefers to put coercive and punitive measures on nations, rather than to work with allies.
America’s other major trading partners are on notice to expect protectionist pressures like those imposed on China.
Overseas Commitments
Rapacious rent-seeking is replacing the national interest as the justification for U.S. overseas military commitments.
The Trump administration has begun to demand that U.S. military installations and troop deployments be paid for by the nations they help defend.
This is a significant contributor to the growing dissensus in U.S. alliances.
It treats the U.S. armed forces as mercenaries rather than the defenders of U.S. national security.
The US military are used as proxy mercenaries instead of defensive forces.
As U.S. defense commitments originally formulated to assure strategic denial of defeated adversaries to the Soviet empire erode, these former adversaries – nations like Germany and Japan – have been left with no choice but to rebuild their capacities…
… to act independently of the United States.
De-dollarization
Finally, U.S. unilateralism threatens to bring about de-dollarization of the global economy.
The dollar is used everywhere as a unit of account, store of value, and medium of exchange.
Roughly 90 percent of global foreign exchange transactions currently involve a dollar leg.
About 40 percent of global trade outside the United States is still invoiced and settled in dollars.
Almost 60 percent of U.S. dollar banknotes circulate internationally, generating seignorage revenues that the Federal Reserve transmits to the Treasury. (Seignorage is the difference between the face value of dollar bills and the negligible cost of printing them.)
The universal use of the dollar as a global currency has meant lower transaction costs for U.S. businesses engaged in international commerce, lower financing costs for borrowers of dollars, and lessened sensitivity to global economic fluctuations for the U.S. economy.
These “exorbitant privileges” (as a French finance minister once called them) have been a significant U.S. competitive advantage.
But, as the United States increasingly restricts the international use of the dollar through unilateral sanctions, the dollar is ceasing to be usable everywhere.
Dollar dominance has enabled the United States to wield enormous extraterritorial influence in support of its geopolitical objectives.
But there is growing international resistance to Washington’s now routine abuse of dollar sovereignty to turn foreign banks into instruments of punitive U.S. policies opposed by their own governments.
America’s friends and foes alike are considering how best to end the dollar’s central role in global trade settlement…
The supremacy of the US Dollar is coming to an end.
No one can now take the primacy of the dollar in international trade (and investment and the American geopolitical hegemony) it has underwritten for granted.
Foreign Reactions to America
These changes in U.S. policies and practices and their impact on the evolving international system are inevitably eliciting foreign reactions and counteractions…
…many of them detrimental to American interests.
Each implies a very different set of world orders than the one we have known.
And each entails a diminished role for the United States in decisions that affect global stability and prosperity.
American adjustments to these changes.
Sadly, there is now no policy process in Washington capable of considering how to shape the American and global futures.
Congress has unconstitutionally delegated most of its authorities relating to peace, war, and foreign affairs to the executive branch.
Congress is not doing it’s job.
But the great departments and agencies of that branch are no longer effective participants in national decision-making.
Given other historical precedent, there’s nothing wrong with our current government leaders that wouldn’t be solved far more rapidly, by simply chopping 342 of them open with tomahawks and hurling them into the Potomac river-since Boston Harbor is kinda far to toss the bodies.
-Starving Larry
They have become little more than stages on which political performers sing the president’s praises and strut their stuff in hopes of celebrity, future riches, higher office, or all three.
Fiscal Inabilities…
The U.S. ability to adapt to change is severely constrained by fiscal incapacity. Tax revenues are chronically short of expenditures.
The last time Washington balanced a budget was in 2001.
“…and the sad truth is that 95% of the problems we have in this country could be solved tomorrow, by noon… simply by dragging 100 people out in the street and shooting them in the fucking head.”
– An anonymous US Marine.
The federal revenue shortfall (i.e. the budget deficit) is now about $1 trillion annually – about the same size as overall military spending – and it’s destined to grow.
Roughly 40 percent of any U.S. deficit is currently borrowed abroad.
There is no money for the maintenance of human and physical infrastructure, let alone new initiatives to enhance economic competitiveness or project American power abroad.
Sixty percent of the world’s reserves are held in dollars.
…But some day…
… a few astute foreigners will notice that the United States has no plan to finance its mounting debt with anything but further credit rollovers and borrowing.
Those foreigners will then switch to currencies more likely to hold value than the dollar.
Those nations that continue to use the US Dollar might experience financial ruin if the rest of the world decouples from it.
America’s Diplomatic Ability
Meanwhile, years of diplomacy-free foreign policy and rampant militarism have gutted American diplomatic capacity.
This has left the U.S. military to manage America’s international relations.
But the generals and admirals have no answers to the dilemmas their own regime-change interventions and forever wars have created…
… let alone the pressing economic, technological, global governance, and financial challenges now facing the country.
The deficit-induced inability of the United States to invest in human and physical infrastructure…
… science or medical services at home…
…or anything other than military activities abroad continues to erode American competitiveness.
China and other rising or resurgent powers are building rival competencies as American non-military capabilities erode.
So, China and other nations are likely to play a larger role than the United States in determining what is to come.
You get what you can pay for…
… not what you believe past leadership entitles you to.
American leadership on all fronts are sun-setting. Other nations are taking the lead in areas formerly occupied by America.
Democracy!
After 9/11, Americans began a program of hit-and-run attempts to democratize other countries.
As America’s founders had warned, such military and ideological adventurism is lethal to democratic constitutionalism.
U.S. regime-change policies have stimulated smaller powers to develop their own means of striking back at the United States from afar…
… including with nuclear weapons.
North Korea is the prime example of this. But, given recent events, it is hard to imagine that Iran and others will be far behind.
America’s amazing global success derived less from our military might…
… than from our embrace of equality of opportunity…
… and shaping of the world’s multilateral institutions…
… our openness…
… and our ability to constantly redefine ourselves as we assimilated and were changed by successive waves of immigrants.
These were qualities that others everywhere admired and aspired to emulate. Border walls, Muslim bans, and the mean-spirited refoulement (or turning back) of refugees tell the world that the United States has set aside the values that long made it internationally inspiring to others.
And if democracy means citizen participation in setting policies, budgets, and national priorities…
…it is hard for foreigners to find much evidence of it in the contemporary United States…
… a nation now led by plutocrats…
… and manipulated by deceptive media.
Instead, they see American politics as both cynically venal and indecisive.
The United States is now a nation in which intransigent partisanship appears to have succeeded the separation of powers as the basis of decision-making about public policy and personnel.
To many abroad, America has lost its mojo.
American “democracy” is a failure and everyone notices it.
Use of military might.
It is against this unpromising background that the United States has decided that the only way to influence foreign nations is to use economic sanctions and military power to bring them to their knees.
The Trump administration has leavened this approach to problematic opponents by coupling what it calls “maximum pressure” on them…
… and their national interests…
… as they see them with transparently insincere flattery of their leaders and appeals to their greed.
So far, however, the application of this bizarre approach to U.S. relations with nations like China, Iran, north Korea, Pakistan, and Turkey, as well as to Europe, has yielded nothing but pushback.
America is considered a global bully deserving of some comeuppance.
Maximum pressure without the flattery has done nothing to advance U.S. interests in Cuba or Venezuela, while flattery without pressure has gained America nothing with Israel, Russia, or Saudi Arabia.
Clearly, the United States needs to revamp its diplomatic doctrine.
The rest of the world is reacting…
In the meantime, Americans must expect increased hedging on the part of their traditional security partners.
Even Britain now seeks to reduce dependence on the United States and its military technology.
Germany and Japan are cautiously rebuilding the capacity to act on their own interests internationally without regard to the United States.
As they do so, they are rearranging their strategic environments.
It is unlikely that any foreign nation will attack the United States, since the consequences for an attacker would be too severe.
But in time, many of America’s erstwhile military allies and protected states will reemerge as at least limited rivals of U.S. power in third countries and regions.
Their previously confident dependence on the defense capabilities of the United States had successfully precluded this.
Nations are taking things into account that do not include American interests.
But as they look only to their own interests, they will be ever less likely to make common cause with the U.S. on matters that concern them less than Americans.
That is unfortunate.
For decades to come, both the security of Americans abroad and their safety at home are almost certain to be imperiled by delayed reactions from the relatives, friends, and coreligionists of the many dead in our so-called Global War on Terrorism.
International cooperation is essential to manage and mitigate these threats, which are largely of our own making.
Given U.S. self-centeredness and unilateralism, cooperation by other countries will be significantly less forthcoming than it might have been.
Meanwhile, the foreign adversaries of the United States will begin to subject Americans to the deadly techniques Washington has devised to kill presumed terrorists since 9/11 – assassinations, cyberwar, drone attacks, and the like.
The Good News…
The good news is that the “attack surface” – the bases and deployments accessible to enemy attack – that the United States presents to foreign foes will shrink as American forces are brought home either at U.S. initiative or at that of the countries they have garrisoned.
Circumstances have changed.
In the Cold War, a U.S. military presence was valued by other countries as both a deterrent and a tripwire against foreign attack.
Now a continuing U.S. presence is likely to be seen as both an attractive nuisance…
… and an impediment to the negotiated resolution of the issues dividing nations…
… by the peoples of those nations themselves.
Examples include Afghanistan, Iraq, China, and Korea. The tension between the U.S. focus on deterring changes in the status quo and host-country citizens’ eagerness for the restoration of national unity makes longstanding military deployments increasingly precarious.
Some U.S. overseas presences seem certain to generate unwelcome surprises.
Nations no longer want American troops to be stationed there.
Afghanistan.
The ill-considered U.S. pacification campaign in that fractious country has failed.
There has been neither clarity nor fixity about our objectives there.
The main American goal now seems to be to withdraw without having to admit defeat.
For now, however, U.S. and NATO forces remain a feature of the politico-military landscape…
… to be exploited by all sides in their ongoing ethnic and religious conflicts and struggles…
… to siphon off foreign aid and control the drug trade.
As long as foreign troops remain in their country, Afghan factions will avoid the compromises with each other that the foreign presence enables them to sidestep or delay.
The withdrawal of U.S. and other Western forces would remove a key impediment to peace.
Afghanistan wants the United States to leave.
The United States should let Afghans work out Afghanistan’s problems even as we retain the ability to return to Afghanistan if it once again becomes a haven for terrorists with global reach.
Iraq.
The Shi`ite Arab majority in the Baghdad parliament has now formally demanded the departure of U.S. and other foreign forces.
But the Kurds and many Sunni Arabs in Iraq view a continuing U.S. military presence as essential to preserve their ability to defy the authorities in Baghdad.
The United States has inadvertently become the essential bulwark of the ethno-religious divisions that its invasion and occupation of Iraq energized.
It’s withdrawal would force Kurds, Sunnis, and Shi`i to attempt to hammer out a modus vivendi of some sort within a more unified Iraq.
If successful, this would dilute Iraq’s sectarianism…
… deprive the so-called Islamic State of space to maneuver in a divided Iraq…
…revive Iraqi nationalism as the antidote to Iranian domination of Iraqi politics…
…and reopen the possibility that Iraq might once again balance Iran.
Iraq wants the United States to leave.
Taiwan.
The separation of the island from the rest of China resulted from a civil war among Chinese that was suspended but not ended by U.S. naval intervention in June 1950.
Taiwan has since emerged as a far more attractive society than that on the mainland.
Bullshit. Maybe twenty years ago. Not today.
But this is not my article, so...
But the military balance in the Taiwan Strait has shifted overwhelmingly against it. In this context, the Taiwan Relations Act’s vague unilateral U.S. undertaking to help defend the Chinese on Taiwan from those across the Strait provides Taiwanese with a persuasive rationale to avoid pursuing an agreed relationship with Chinese on the mainland.
As frustration with the direction of Taiwan’s politics and American policy mounts in Beijing, a resumption of the Chinese civil war is becoming more rather than less likely.
Again. Complete nonsense.
Less, rather than more U.S. military involvement would arguably both improve prospects for a negotiated resolution of Taiwan’s status by the Chinese parties themselves and eliminate the most likely casus belli between China and the United States.
An active conflict over Taiwan could easily escalate to the level of a nuclear exchange. U.S. policies that sustain involvement in the latest phase of China’s civil war are long overdue for some sort of strategic triage.
I do agree here. Any attempt to conduct military operations regarding Taiwan will see New York City vaporized.
Taiwan can trigger a nuclear conflict.
Korea.
It’s intervention in 1950 successfully prevented Korea’s unification under Pyongyang.
The Korean War resulted in an armistice but no peace. In the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, a large U.S. troop presence was almost certainly the principal deterrent to renewed attack on the South by the North.
But, the balance of power on the peninsula has long since shifted decisively in favor of the South, which has become one of the most successful societies on the planet.
Today, South Korea’s economy is fifty times bigger than that in the North. Its armed forces are also vastly better equipped .
In this century, an increasingly self-confident Seoul has begun to explore the possibility of peace with Koreans north of the 38th parallel.
But the United States has remained focused solely on the north Korean military threat.
Seoul and Washington are no longer in sync, still less in lockstep. “Kachi kapsida” – “we go together,” the US-ROK alliance slogan – rings increasingly hollow.
Some South Koreans favor a continuing U.S. military presence in their country but ever more seem to view it as humiliating.
Despite President Trump’s three meetings with Kim Jong-un, the United States continues to reject addressing North Korea’s security concerns as a prerequisite to facilitating arms control, including denuclearization, and intra-Korean détente.
The American warfare state is adamantly opposed to any troop drawdown in Korea.
Korea wants Americans to leave.
But the possibility that South Koreans will insist on such withdrawals is increasing.
This is in part because they do not want to be caught up in escalating Sino-American tensions and in part because they want a free hand to craft a relationship with their fellow Koreans to the North.
The consequences for the U.S. position in Northeast Asia of a falling out over troop withdrawals could be as strategically damaging…
….as north Korea’s unbroken drive to acquire a nuclear deterrent capable of striking the continental United States.
America is becoming isolated.
As Washington replaces staunch commitments to other countries with noncommittal stands…
… and U.S. alliances decay…
… the risks of American self-isolation from multilateral bodies are also becoming ever more apparent.
American repudiation of multilateral agreements like TPP and the Paris climate accords did not kill these institutions or cause others to discard their objectives.
Japan took the lead in refashioning TPP into an eleven-member grouping that others now seek to join.
It is now forging a loose Japanese-led order in East Asia to balance China.
When Syria belatedly signed on to the Paris accords, the United States became the only nonmember on the planet.
As these groups agree on programs and rules, Americans have no say in them.
Indeed, there is a real danger that compensatory tariffs will eventually be applied to imports from countries that are not in compliance with multilaterally agreed rules about carbon emissions.
The main, if not the only target of such tariffs would be the United States.
America is isolating itself from the rest of the world.
Time for new relationships…
Washington’s efforts to incapacitate the WTO are now spurring the creation of more efficient tribunals for trade and investment dispute resolution.
At the end of January, the EU, China, Brazil, South Korea, and twelve others agreed on a system to stand in for the WTO appellate process, which the United States had hamstrung.
Another example is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU.
CETA eliminates tariffs on 98 percent of EU-Canada trade, harmonizes standards for regulated professions, facilitates staff transfers between companies operating in multiple jurisdictions, and stiffens the enforcement of intellectual property rights.
It contemplates the establishment of a permanent multilateral investment court with improved rules for its members.
By contrast, the so-called “phase one” trade deal with China…
…entrenches U.S. protectionism…
… and leaves future disputes to be resolved through bilateral tests of strength that amount to renewed trade wars.
The EU has adopted CETA as a model for future free trade agreements (FTAs).
China’s Belt and Road Initiative similarly eliminates barriers to trade as well as transit and creates special courts to resolve trade and investment disputes among its participants.
The new African Continental Free Trade Area does the same.
The biggest things these initiatives have in common are [1] their affirmation of multilateralism and [2] their exclusion of the United States.
The world is inventing post-WTO arrangements to expand trade and investment. It is doing so both despite America and without it.
America is divorcing itself from the rest of the world.
America’s economic warfare.
Meanwhile, the United States has stepped up its use of the dollar as an instrument of economic warfare.
America’s unilateral application and enforcement of dollar-based sanctions…
… including secondary sanctions that penalize third countries and their banks and companies for dealing with any country backlisted by Washington…
… reflects open U.S. contempt for the United Nations, international law, and other countries’ sovereignty.
It is deeply resented internationally.
This has driven the world’s major trading nations into a serious search for ways to end dollar supremacy.
Without other nations using the US Dollar, the gigantic US financial debt would really start to affect the United States.
Their efforts have included the creation of alternatives to SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) to handle money transfer instructions.
Keeping away from America’s grasp…
The Russian “System for Transfer of Financial Messages” (STFS) has already de-dollarized 70 percent of trade within the Eurasian Economic Union.
China’s UnionPay still uses dollars when converting currencies but, later this year, Beijing is expected to expand its Cross-Border International Payments System (CIPS) to connect some twenty banks in a worldwide payments superhighway for clearing and settling transactions in yuan.
It will link up with the Russian STFS and an Indian system now being designed.
Earlier, the EU established a “special vehicle” to conduct trade with Iran outside SWIFT.
The BRICS group of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) is joining forces to create a single payment system – BRICS Pay.
The People’s Bank of China recently announced plans to issue a digital (blockchain-based) version of the Chinese yuan, allowing the world’s largest non-dollar economy to extend its almost cash-free domestic systems for settling transactions to the world.
The link-up between a digitized yuan and emerging alternatives to SWIFT represents a major threat to the dollar’s continued near-monopoly of international trade settlement.
It also threatens traditional banking because it promises a faster, much cheaper way to handle international transactions.
Still the main driver of this and other new clearance mechanisms is the desire to evade the extraterritorial enforcement of U.S. policies that most of the world considers both illegal and obnoxious.
The USA treats the rest of the world as poor-versions of America. The first step to stop this is to sever the banking and financial ties to America.
An erosion of dollar primacy would have profound effects on American hegemony. The U.S. ability to print money and exchange it for foreign goods and services would be reduced, if not ended.
Dollar notes held overseas represent interest-free loans to the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.
Lessened demand for dollars overseas would lower the dollar’s value in relation to other currencies, reduce its credibility as a vehicle for storing value, and negate the rationale for its continued dominant role in foreign exchange reserves.
The consequences…
The emergence of digital alternatives to the dollar in the global economy would lead to less liquid capital markets in the United States and increased costs to participants in them.
In these circumstances, America could no longer run persistent balance of trade and payments deficits.
The overvaluation of the dollar that its primacy has sustained would end.
The American standard of living would plunge.
Decoupling from the US Dollar would crash the American economy.
Degradation of the dollar’s status would greatly erode U.S. global influence.
In short, the confluence of foreign resistance to U.S. bullying and the emergence of new fintech has created the possibility of a devastating monetary earthquake.
The causes and catalysts of the many nasty possibilities before us are, for the most part, decisions made in Washington, not abroad.
The rise of China and India and the resurgence of Russia are not irrelevant but hardly central to what is happening.
When one creates a strategic vacuum, it’s easier to blame the powers that are sucked into it than oneself.
The rest of the world has had enough!
But it is not China that has substituted the use of force and the pursuit of regime change for diplomacy.
Other countries are not engaged in global drone warfare or “forever wars.”
They do not occupy or maintain multiple bases in lands far from their borders or bill other countries for contributions to the common defense.
They have not felt free to repudiate treaties and agreements to which they are party.
Neither China nor other countries are trying to destroy the institutions of global governance or replace free-market transactions with government-managed trade.
With the notable exception of Israel, other countries are not asserting a right to assassinate foreign officials.
And they are not imposing unilateral sanctions or waging financial warfare on others.
All these things are examples of American self-sabotage, not predatory foreign behavior. Curing these deviations from past practice and their pernicious consequences requires introspection and reform in Washington more than anywhere else.
Nations consider America to be dangerous, and harmful. It is considered to be unreliable and potential threat to local stability.
What to expect…
If no such introspection and reform are forthcoming, the United States will have to compete with others under the law of the jungle that it has reintroduced.
It will face mounting opposition from a loose coalition of resistance to its faltering hegemony.
At the moment, America is trying to best China by pushing it into economic stagnation rather than acting to enhance U.S. economic dynamism.
This is not working, and there is no reason to believe it ever will.
In the end, America can be competitive only if it does what is necessary to rectify home-grown deficiencies and strengthen domestic capabilities and competencies.
This means addressing obvious areas of weakness and the trends that cause them, including:
A continuing refusal to raise taxes to fund the government. This guarantees competitive incapacity. Budget deficits preclude maintenance of existing infrastructure, let alone new initiatives to improve competitiveness at home and abroad.
An undemanding educational system that is content with mediocrity in both world knowledge and vocational training. (Siemens reports that to make American workers competitive with German workers, it must give them six months of remedial training in math and other basic skills.)
Domestic opposition to science and rejection of its findings, coupled with declining funding for basic scientific research and bans on the publication of politically unwelcome scientific data.
Disinvestment in what have long been the world’s best universities and their increasing subjection to national security-derived restrictions on international collaboration.
Visa bans and disapprovals that discourage foreign students, visitors, and investors.
Inadequate and often irrelevant retraining of workers displaced by automation, foreign competition, or changes in industrial structure.
Complacent but mistaken assumptions of superiority to other societies, which remain uncorrected out of disinterest in examining and adopting foreign best practices. (Recall the sneer with which Hillary Clinton dismissed Bernie Sanders’ 2016 suggestion that America might have a thing or two to learn from Denmark.)
A tax structure that directs wealth to the plutocracy at the expense of both the middle class and an increasingly disaffected working class, and that hinders rather than supports socioeconomic mobility. (Among European countries, only Slovenia, Italy, and the U.K. now have less movement between classes than the contemporary United States.)
Racial prejudice and growing barriers to the admission and absorption of foreigners and their ideas.
An economy dominated by uncompetitive oligopolies, in which laws and regulations protect vested interests at the expense of new market entrants, and in which – contrary to the conventional wisdom – innovation is in secular decline.
Disdain for expertise and a marked decline in the competence of government officials.
Many Americans know what we need to do to up our game. Still, there
is next to no public discussion of our competitive weaknesses, their
causes, or their remedies. We are in an election year. But few
candidates have offered anything other than vague, cost-free
prescriptions for restoring American competitiveness.
On one issue – the costs of war – the Watson Institute has stepped up to collect the data and raise the issues the Congress should have but hasn’t.
There is a role for our great universities in stimulating the debate about the state of the nation and its future that the vested interests that dominate Washington have stifled. And there is a long list of neglected issues for the academy to choose from. Is it too much to hope that American civil society will intervene where an increasingly ineffectual government has failed to?
Conclusion
A bit wordy, and long.
…And he doesn’t understand modern contemporaneous China AT ALL, but…
…he does have some good points.
Americans are unaware of how the rest of the world views America. Nor do we understand how the rest of the world are treating the behaviors of America on the global stage. This is independent of whether the president is Bush, Obama or Trump.
“The U.S. government now poses the greatest threat to our freedoms. More than terrorism, more than domestic extremism, more than gun violence and organized crime, even more than the perceived threat posed by any single politician, the U.S. government remains a greater menace to the life, liberty and property of its citizens than any of the so-called dangers from which the government claims to protect us.”
– John W. Whitehead
We live in some kind of fantasy, and it’s going to get everyone hurt unless everyone “suddenly snaps alert” and wakes up.
Changes are coming, and they all are a back-lash against the American policies of the last five or so decades.
Now, America can do one of only two things…
Work with other nations as equals. And come up with methodologies and systems that provides American advantage.
Demand that everyone follow America and do as we say.
Which course do you think America is on today?
This is what I am most concerned about. While the rest of the world are putting their nations first. The American empire will shrink. To prevent that shrinkage, America might do something dangerous and worse that what it has already been involved in.
Worse.
Thank you for reading this. I have other posts in my SHTF Index. You can see it here…
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No it’s not like television. It’s horrible, and nasty, and the rivers do actually flow red with blood.
I am fascinated by stories of the Mongol invasions and the stories of Genghis Khan. These excursions of empire relive the horror and nightmares of a time long ago, and well forgotten. They happened thousands of years ago, and no one can image the carnage and the horrors inflicted upon the citizenry who suffered through those invasions. All we can do is dig up some bones and try to interpret what it must have been like.
And while World War I and II were horrific, they were NOTHING like the in-your-face and up-close personal horror that the Mongol invasions were.
I argue that we need to be constantly reminded that war, real winner-take-all war, is a very ugly and nasty business. And it should be kept fore-front in our minds. Because every four generations or so, humanity forgets and resets itself in some kind of glorious bloodbath. A bloodbath with few survivors.
Someone should remind the American neocons of this fact.
Because I am constantly reminded of the stories (from this time period) where a city would send out 20,000 well equipped knights in shiny pristine armor to confront 500,000 aggressive, fierce, and battle-trained mongols on the field of battle.
It was always a slaughter.
It never went well. For them, and for their defenseless families back behind the massive city walls; walls that soon fell…
The following article is from the Vintage News. It is titled “Mass Family Graves Found in Russia a Grim Reminder of Mongol Invasions”. It was written on Sep 21, 2019 by Ian Harvey. All credit to the author. It was reformatted for this venue, but for the most part very little editing was required.
Mass Family Graves Found in Russia a Grim Reminder of Mongol Invasions
Many people feel we are witnessing grim times these days. But at least there are no Mongol invasions on horseback coming from the mysterious steppes of Central Asia like back in the 13th century.
What with civil wars, hurricanes, and other disasters, man-made or natural, dominating headlines around the world. Sometimes it seems we are living in a particularly violent time as social media carries bad news at an instantaneous speed with humanity’s inhumanity seeming to have no bounds.
But examining any period in history reminds us that, in relative terms at least, we are living in a more or less peaceful time.
Overall, with the exception of localized wars in various countries, we are enjoying global peace. At least we are not mired in world wars, as our forefathers were in the early and mid-20th century.
A Russian archaeological excavation is finding out just how violent and inhumane invasions could be.
Like, for example, the graves of three generations of one family recently uncovered in Yaroslavl, Russia.
Yaroslavl on a map of Russia.
Several burial pits have been found, and one of them contained a tangle of 15 bodies.
Researchers, upon examining these remains, realized they were looking at the skeletons of three generations of one family – a grandmother, a mother, and her son.
(Investigations identified their demise.) They were slaughtered by Mongol invaders in the area in the 13th century.
The remains of one entire family; three generations all slaughtered after torturing during the Mongolian invasion(s).
The Mongols invaded Russia in 1238, under the leadership of Batu Khan, grandson of the notorious leader Genghis Khan.
The Mongol invasions of Russia. Once they invaded, they destroyed everything. Then they remade it in their image… culturally, economically, and (yes) biologically as well (no women were spared).
Asya Engovatova, a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology in Russia notes that the remains have indications of gruesome torture, including piercings and severe cuts and blows, giving the picture not only of the fall of a whole city, but the sad ending of one family.
The discovered remains all buried and unearthed for study. It is a horrible and tragic way to die.
Historians have known for some time that Yaroslavl fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century.
However, the level of violence inflicted upon civilians has not been as well known, or understood, until the last decade or so.
The city’s Assumption Cathedral was razed in 1937, but mass graves were not found beneath it until 2005; the graves contained the remains of more than 300 people.
This latest discovery is just more evidence of the brutality the town suffered.
Skulls from the mass grave in Yaroslavl show signs of extreme violence.
Engovatova stated,
“What we now know about those raids suggests that chronicle descriptions of ‘a city drowned in blood’ were not merely a figure of speech.”
Science is uncovering the grim reality about how this city fell to its invaders, and it is an ugly reminder of just how lawless and cruel those invaders were.
She continued,
“Batu Khan’s conquest of Russia was the greatest national tragedy, surpassing any other event in cruelty and destruction. It is not by chance that it is among the few events that made its way into the Russian folklore.”
Every child understands stories of the “boogeyman” and tales about dark forces that hide under the bed or in a closet.
Russia, perhaps more so than other nations in this respect, has good reason for dark tales about bad spirits; after all, historians estimate that over the course of its two-centuries long rule, the Mongol Empire invasions killed as many as one million civilians across Europe.
And while historical texts indicate that most people submitted to their rule without argument, this new evidence suggests that many atrocities were committed during their conquests.
This family, for example, recently uncovered: researchers say the bodies were first merely chucked into the snow. (After a spell during the Spring thaw…) They were buried for health reasons, finally, and likely because of the stench.
Evidence suggests that the Mongols sacked the city in the dead of winter. The people were pulled out of their warm homes and thrust into the brutal Russian winter where they were killed and left to rot in the snow.
And so, while it is easy to get carried away about the troubles facing our modern world, we must remember that, by and large, these days civility reigns supreme, at least in most countries.
What happened in Russia during that 13th century invasion puts the world’s current troubles into some kind of perspective.
Commentary
This is horrific, but there’s more. There are other digs and other discoveries of others who have also died during this sequence of events. It’s not just one of two families. It’s an entire regions of cities, towns, and culture. No one was spared. No one survived.
Researchers Uncover Horrors Of Russian ‘City Drowned In Blood’ By The Mongols In 1238″
More than 300 bodies were buried across nine death pits of 15 people each. One contained three generations of one family.
An archeologist examines the remains at the Yaroslavl massacre site.
When the Mongols invaded the Russian town of
Yaroslavl in 1238, almost nobody was spared. Hundreds were slaughtered
brutally and dumped into mass graves as the town was completely sacked.
Nearly 800 years later, researchers have given us a chilling glimpse of
the victims left behind.
After the slaughter, Mongol raiders buried the dead in pits by the dozens with no markers to distinguish who these poor victims even were, wrote LiveScience.
But one pit of the dead in particular stood out after scientists of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology began genetically analyzing three of its 15 corpses.
Researchers found that the three murdered townsfolk buried together in the dirt were a woman, her daughter, and her grandson. Moscow’s research team found that the eldest of the three corpses was at least 55 years old before she died.
Her daughter was between 30 and 40, while her grandson was younger than 20.
The young girls and women were missing. As were all the men.
One could imagine that the men were killed trying to repel the invaders.
As for the women, we can only speculate. If there is a son younger than 20, were are his 20-something sisters?
They were buried in one of nine pits found at Yaroslavl, which altogether held more than 300 bodies.
The biological relation between three of the bodies found at Yaroslavl first became apparent after researchers noticed similar features on the skulls. All three family members also showed signs of spina bifida, which is hereditary.
As for Yaroslavl as a whole, Mongols led by Genghis Khan’s grandson Batu Khan destroyed the town not long after advancing into Russia. Nonetheless, enough buildings and artifacts survived to tell us a little something about the area, namely that it was a wealthy one.
Paintings can only give us a small flavor of what it must have been like to approach your conquers and to beg to be killed swiftly.
Scientists determined this by noting the tooth decay present in the three bodies in question and noting that the honey and sugar that could cause this were only available to those with substantial means at the time.
Beyond the three generations of one family left slaughtered in a pit,
the scene at Yaroslavl showed just how brutal its conquest was. Batu
Khan invaded towns like Yaroslavl with utter indifference, ultimately
taking more than a dozen places in present-day Russia.
In just five years, he wiped out seven percent of Russia’s
population. When the Russian Grand Prince refused to submit to the
Mongols, Genghis Khan’s grandson simply burned the capital city to the
ground — with the royal family and every inhabitant inside.
Nearly 300 bodies were buried across nine pits. The son, mother, and grandmother were buried in a pit of 15 people.
For Asya Engovatova, deputy director of the Institute of Archaeology
at the Russian Academy of Sciences and head of the Yaroslavl excavation,
the evidence uncovered there clarifies why the story of its conquest
became common knowledge among Russians.
“Batu Khan’s conquest was the greatest national tragedy, surpassing
any other event in cruelty and destruction,” she said. “It is not by
chance that it is among the few such events that made its way into the
Russian folklore.”
The brutality that has made the conquest of Yaroslavl unforgettable
for many Russians was certainly on display in the way the victims’
bodies were treated after death.
Genrikh Semiradsky, ‘Alexander Nevsky in the Horde’. 1876. The Russian Museum.
Prior analysis suggested that the three family members, for example,
were buried in February 1238. But recent evidence in the form of
preserved maggots in their remains indicated otherwise. In fact, new
evidence shows that the bodies were probably decomposing in the open air
for months before they were buried.
“These people were killed, and their bodies remained lying in the snow for a fairly long time. In April or May, flies started to multiply on the remains, and in late May or early June, they were buried in a pit on the homestead, which is where they probably had lived.”
Fittingly, Engovatova described Yaroslavl after the attack as a “city drowned in blood.” The skeletons of the three family members as well as the remains of the other victims — including punctured, broken, and burned bones in the hundreds of buried bodies — certainly suggest that to be true.
Conclusion
We, as Americans, picture war from the lens of the television screen. We picture sleek state-of-the-art jet aircraft (or drones) firing high-technology missiles into mud huts, and an occasional Toyota pickup truck. We imagine well equipped soldiers with kelvar armored vests over their desert camo clothing. We see them firing assault guns and wearing high-technology wrap around black sunglasses.
We watch the news reports on Facebook and Google up some pictures on the Internet. Then we go through the drive through and get a number #3 with a large Coke at Burger King.
That’s not war.
That’s a police action by proxy being observed by disinterested spectators.
The most anyone is going to do is type up a snide comment in the comment section.
That is not war.
American soldiers in Afghanistan.
War, real war, is a deeply personal matter.
You and your family can lose everything, and very few people escape it without having family members killed, homes and livelihoods destroyed and your culture and society thrown into the dustbin.
War is not like a Hollywood Zombie movie. It is ugly and nasty. Everything is destroyed. Entire buildings burned up into charcoal and all vehicles inoperable. Stores looted, and women forced to choose between rape or death. When you are not picking the maggots off of a dead cat, you are trying to stop throwing up blood from your lungs. Real war is a nasty, nasty business. It is up front and personal. DO NOT BRING IT TO AMERICA.
The neocons of America are living a Hollywood constructed fairy tale. I warn everyone that you should not play around thinking that everyone else shares your views. They do not, and they are only getting pissed. Take heed.
America is not viewed as a white knight in shining armor. It is viewed as a corrupt bully that is completely out of control and needs a good slap-down.
Americans are just like those poor slobs in Russia that believed that their knights in shining armor would protect them. That those high city walls, and long-standing history of literature and culture somehow made them special. It didn’t. They were killed without mercy.
I hope that you found this post to be of interest. I have other posts in my SHTF Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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When confronted with different theories, scientists use a system of analysis to determine which theory has the most merit. This is a deductive reasoning process, and one that is used daily by engineers all over the globe. You look at all the theories, you provide weighed analysis and come up with the “best fit” theory for a given situation. Here, we will apply it to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak during the 2020 CNY new year.
Currently there are four theories on the origin and causes for the COVID-19 coronavirus. They are;
Natural. The virus sprung up naturally.
Bioweapon – The Chinese stole it from America (CIA narrative).
Bioweapon developed by China to kill Chinese (CIA narrative).
Bioweapon used by the Trump Administration to suppress China.
You will note that of the four theories, two of them are from the American CIA. Both of those two theories originated from Radio Free Asia; a (former) CIA operation outsourced, but still run by, the head of the CIA.
... upon further examination of the sourcing for this serious claim,(That the Chinese biological lab in Wuhan released this bioweapon)...
... the first outlet to report on this claim was Radio Free Asia, the U.S.-government funded media outlet targeting Asian audiences that used to be run covertly by the CIA and named by the New York Times as a key part in the agency’s “worldwide propaganda network.”
Though it is no longer run directly by the CIA, it is now managed by the government-funded Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which answers directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was CIA director immediately prior to his current post at the head of the State Department.
In other words, Radio Free Asia and other BBG-managed media outlets are legal outlets for U.S. government propaganda.
(But why not the CIA directly?)
Notably, the long-standing ban on the domestic use of U.S. government propaganda on U.S. citizens was lifted in 2013, with the official justification of allowing the government to “effectively communicate in a credible way” and to better combat “al-Qaeda’s and other violent extremists’ influence.”
- Bats, Gene Editing and Bio Weapons: Recent DARPA experiments Raise Concerns Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
If you pay attention to the American media you will aware of the the first three theories. The fourth theory, the idea that the biological weapon was used as an on-going suppression as part of the Trump Trade War is noticeably absent.
Seeing that the American government controls all American media; [1] Mainstream, [2] Alt-Left and [3] Alt-Right, this omission should tell you (the reader) something.
The analysis
Below is a comparison matrix. Scientists, and engineers will recognize this table immediately. It is used all the time and is very helpful in determining the “price points” to set on new products, the comparative benefits and pitfalls of a given production decision, as well of the merits of an investment decision.
At the top of the table you can see the four theories presented. While on the left side you can see all the circumstances that contribute to the theories as presented.
Theory comparison on the causes of the COVID-19.
Another Opinion
You all do not have to come to the same conclusion that I have. Other people have come to similar conclusions. Here’s one…
If the current state of global affairs reminds you of an over-the-top plot by a white-cat-stroking James Bond villain, you’re not far off. When it comes to nuclear policy, we are closer than ever to a real-life movie disaster.
- By Olivia Alperstein
America has a president that is currently using biological weapons against it’s economic foes instead of trying to make peace treaties. As well as deploying “low yield” nuclear weapons across the entire spectrum of the Armed Forces.
To me it seems like anything is possible with this President. And, that is quite scary.
Conclusion
A theory comparison matrix clearly shows that the circumstances supporting a biological weapon release by America…
… in support of the Trump Trade Wars…
… is by far (by a factor of three times) the most plausible theory regarding the origination of this event.
I take no great satisfaction in support of this conclusion. Instead, I am petrified by it. For it means that the Trump administration is actively using weapons of mass destruction against the civilians of a nuclear-armed nation and is not expecting any consequences for doing it.
Either the administration are idiots or they are evil. No other answer is possible.
I hope you are all ready to pay the price for this malfeasance.
Final note.
Oh, and by the way…
Fun Fact: China and Russia have been giving everyone smallpox vaccinations for decades now. While America stopped doing so in the early 1970’s.
When was the smallpox vaccine discontinued in the United States?
Because of vaccination programs and quarantine regulations, the risk of importation of smallpox into the United States was reduced by the 1960s. As a result, routine vaccine vaccination was discontinued in 1971.
I hope that you found this post curious. If you want to read more on this subject check out my Trump Trade Wars index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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The top three nations, in deaths by COVID-19, are China, Iran and North Korea. All of these nations have the dubious distinction that they are all America’s enemies in some capacity or the other. What a coincidence.
The top three, in ranking from most deaths to least as of 25FEB20 are;
A purist would say that you shouldn’t include North Korea because you don’t have “official” numbers. OK, then, we can bump up the number four spot, South Korea. Combined North and South Korea is competing against Iran for the number two spot.
Next is Italy, followed by Hong Kong.
What do all these nations have in common? Anyone? Can anyone tell me what they all have in common?
That’s right. They are all enemies of the United States. Either economically (as in the case with China) or global threats, as are Iran and North Korea.
It does seem curious. And, of course, according to most Americans impossible. You see that America would never get involved in global germ warfare. America is the best and would never do that and anyone even considering it is a terrible communist enemy!
Don’t believe me? You can go ahead and read the comments sections on the UNZ Review and Free Republic to observe that narrative and belief manifest.
America is the best. Anything that says otherwise is evil, Satanic, and Communist. And they have bad writing style, copies the work of others, and has horrible body odor!
I am not the only one to notice that this virus seems to be tailor made to achieve United States objectives.
While charges that the Coronavirus outbreak in China was bioengineered by the United States are unsubstantiated, “it looks as if it was tailor-made to achieve Washington' objectives," according to Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs.
Etler, a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday while commenting on the virus outbreak that has resulted in 213 deaths in China and more than 130 cases have been reported in at least 25 other countries and regions.
...
“On the other hand, many people are suspicious of the viruses' origins and attribute it to US sabotage. Charges that it is a biowarfare attack are, however, unsubstantiated. Until there is a smoking gun that shows there was a human-engineered component to the virus it is pure speculation,” he said.
“Nonetheless, there is good reason to be suspicious of a US role in the origin of the Wuhan coronavirus. The US is a bad actor, its word cannot be trusted and it has a history of engaging in illegal and immoral clandestine actions, both at home and abroad. The US also has the motive to engineer and spread a virus of this sort in China. It has used every stratagem it can think of to try and destabilize China and disrupt its economy. It has also launched an incessant propaganda campaign to demonize and ostracize China. Whether or not it engineered the outbreak it is taking advantage of it to advance its anti-China agenda,” he noted.
...
“US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has gone so far as to say the virus could help bring jobs back home to the US, which is a disgraceful and callous statement that shows his disdain for the lives, health, and safety of the Chinese people,” Etler said.
“The virus outbreak thus looks as if it was tailor-made to achieve Washington’s objectives. The virus is mild enough not to have apocalyptic consequences but severe enough to warrant extreme and aggressive measures to contain it. China is especially vulnerable at this time, during the annual Spring Festival celebrating the Chinese New Year,” the analyst noted.
“Whether or not the virus is a mutant strain of a naturally occurring coronavirus or a genetically engineered biological weapon is a moot question. China has to focus on one thing and one thing only, containing the outbreak to protect not only its own people but the people of the world. Its valiant efforts to do so, at great cost and sacrifice, should be welcomed and appreciated the world over,” he concluded.
Some Observations
At the exact same time as the coronavirus hit, the anti-Chinese propaganda campaign by America went into overdrive. All of the on-line sources tied to the (former) CIA had non-stop anti-China articles. The Alt-Right copied and disseminated these articles. It was a scream-fest of the highest order.
To an outsider this is what it appears as…
While China is fighting this most serious virus and people are dying, instead of lending helping hands and assistance, the United States government launched an anti-China propaganda assault of unparalleled ferocity.
You know, is that what America is?
As the usual suspects fret over the “stability” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Xi Jinping administration, the fact is the Beijing leadership has had to deal with an accumulation of extremely severe issues: a swine-flu epidemic killing half the stock; the Trump-concocted trade war; Huawei accused of racketeering and about to be prevented from buying the U.S. made chips; bird flu; coronavirus virtually shutting down half of China.
Add to it the incessant United States government Hybrid War propaganda barrage, trespassed by acute Sinophobia; everyone from sociopathic “officials” to self-titled councilors are either advising corporate businesses to divert global supply chains out of China or concocting outright calls for regime change – with every possible demonization in between.
There are no holds barred in the all-out offensive to kick the Chinese government while it’s down.
- No Weapon Left Behind: The American Hybrid War on China
Is that what America stands for?
America as historically portrayed is one of a “God Fearing Nation”, one that “Lends hands to those in need”. Not one that “kicks you when you are down”, like some out-of-control tyrannical Empire. But that is not what we are seeing.
What does this mean?
It could mean nothing. It could all be a coincidence.
Or it could mean that the Untied States is utilizing Weapons of Mass Destruction on a host of it’s enemies to achieve global nationalistic objectives without declaring a state of war through Congress.
If this is the case…
And, it doesn’t matter what you or I think, all that matters is what the leaders in these respective governments think…
Neocons running American Foreign Policy
Yes, if you start to play with matches you could get burnt. I think that this is something that most Americans realize. Therefore they make the assumption that the American government would never do something as risky as to precipitate a global thermonuclear back-lash.
No one would be that stupid.
Right?
Trump has not drained the swamp, in fact he has filled his administration with war hawks, bankers, Zionists and the Neoconservatives (Neocons) who are all inter-connected to various corporations and special interests.
-Silent Crow News
Hey! Have you seen the neocons that surround President Trump?
Do you think that these guys have any idea of what they are dealing with? In their mind China is a cartoon image and is harmless and would never align with Russia. It would never happen.
Right?
What could happen
Well, contrary to what the neocons want, we are seeing China and Russia forging trade and self-defense treaties. We are also seeing them in combined military exercises.
This was one month ago, when the coronavirus started to hit…
And all these drills continued into and throughout 2018 and 2019. All during the Trump Trade War. Most Americans were oblivious to this. Especially on the Alt-Right side of things. You would think that they would be able to “connect the dots” and see the relationship. Eh?
And the thing about all this is that these are not drills using conventional weapons, or engaging in exercises to secure trade or strategic resources. These are exercises in which tactical, and global nuclear weapons, as well as full NBC environment is taking place! Yes, that’s right boys and girls.
The joint Russia and Chinese drills are about using nuclear weapons against America.
You do not need to fear though. The American (former CIA) propaganda ministry is countering all this with the idea that Russia and China can never forge any kind of relationship to counter the USA…
So you all can rest easily. America could fight both Russia and China, with Iran and North Korea “with one arm tied behind it’s back”. Not a problem. Go ‘Merica! So now you just go back to work and report for your “white privilege meeting” held by the company “Diversity Officer”. And do make sure that you have all your tax documentation when you report your personal papers next month to your “government”.
Nothing to see here.
‘Merica!
Conclusion
America appears to be waging germ warfare with all of it’s enemies in the world. It is doing so under the guidance of the neocons in control of Washington DC. They do not believe that anyone would ever counter this aggression. So you can expect them to “ratchet up” the extent of belligerent actions to counter the rise of Asia.
We’re deep into a vicious intel war.
From the point of view of Chinese intelligence, the current toxic cocktail simply cannot be attributed to just a random series of coincidences. Beijing has serial motives to piece this extraordinary chain of events as part of a coordinated Hybrid War, Full Spectrum Dominance attack on China.
Enter the Dragon Killer working hypothesis: a bio-weapon attack capable of causing immense economic damage but protected by plausible deniability. The only possible move by the “indispensable nation” on the New Great Game chessboard, considering that the U.S. cannot win a conventional war on China, and cannot win a nuclear war on China.
A biological warfare weapon?
On the surface, coronavirus is a dream bio-weapon for those fixated on wreaking havoc across China and praying for regime change.
- No Weapon Left Behind: The American Hybrid War on China
Meanwhile, both Russia and China have been conducting joint military planning exercises involving NBC. (Nuclear – Biological – Chemical warfare.)
You would think that Washington “would take a hint”. Apparently not. Unfortunately not.
Knowing what I know about China, and Russia, do not expect World War III to be isolated and take place in a small out-of-the-way third-world-shithole. Expect it to occur on American soil, and involve Americans, American cities and American people.
If you were aware, you would be taking notes at just how well organized and direct China has handled the COVID-19 biological attack. I can tell you that America would flounder helplessly. It would not take much to reduce America to a pre-industrial agrarian society. And that’s a fact, Jack.
Are you willing to take that risk?
I ask this because apparently Washington DC believes that you are fine with this. That you are absolutely are fine with using germ warfare against other global powers, and that you are not worried about the consequences.
American germ warfare targets map.American nuclear warfare targets map.
I hope that you enjoyed appreciated this post. I did spend some time on it, and I hope that it helps add clarity into what is going on today. You can see more in my Trump Trade Wars Index, here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Noharmwillcometome. TheAssemblyispreparedtotreatusleniently.
- Marie Antoinette
I’ve been musing about the direction that America is moving towards for some time now. In these musings I wonder what it must have been like for other oligarchies and their leadership when the torches and pitchforks came out. Let’s recall what happened in France to the wealthy living within their comfortable bubble of security.
Let’s look at what it was like for Marie Antoinette. One day, eating cake on fine china, surrounded by attendants in opulent attire, and the next day sitting in a dingy dungeon awaiting death.
In 1793, she was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason and was executed by guillotine on October 16, 1793.
The days preceding Marie Antoinette’s execution were excruciating. She was imprisoned, endured allegations of incest, and her hair went white overnight from shock. All the time, the entire nation loathed her, for she became the image of everything that was wrong with France at that time. She was the scapegoat.
True or not. Justified or not. It does not matter. She was used as the scapegoat, and suffered for her position and role within society.
The anti-Marie Antoinette propaganda was uniform and relentless. She couldn’t do anything right. If she wore lavish clothing, she was considered to be “out of touch”. When she wore “commoner clothing” she was considered to be “fake and insulting”.
It was a lose-lose proposition.
Much like the anti-China narrative going on now out of the American Media during the Trump Trade War.
Marie Antoinette – the final moments.
Marie Antoinette: the very name of the doomed queen of France, the last of the Ancien Régime, evokes power and fascination. Against the poverty of late 18th-century France, the five syllables evoke a cloud of pastel-colored indulgence, absurd fashions, and cruel frivolity, like a rococo painting sprung to life.
The real life, and death, of Marie Antoinette is certainly as fascinating. Falling from the Olympus-on-earth of Versailles to the humble cell of the Conciergerie and ultimately the executioner’s scaffold, the last days of the last real Queen of France were full of humiliation, degradation, and blood.
Life At The Conciergerie
Tucked away in its cavernous halls, Marie Antoinette’s life at the
Conciergerie couldn’t have been more divorced from her life of luxury in
Versailles. Formerly the seat of power for the French monarchy in the
Middle Ages, the imposing Gothic palace lorded over the Île de la Cité
in the center of Paris as part administrative center, part prison during
the reign of the Bourbons (her husband’s dynasty).
The final 11 weeks of her life were spent in a humble cell at the
Conciergerie, much of which she likely spent reflecting on the turns her
life — and France — took to bring her from the top of the world to the
guillotine’s blade.
Marie Antoinette being taken to the Conciergerie.
Marie Antoinette wasn’t even French. Born Maria Antonia in 1755
Vienna to Empress Maria of Austria, the young princess was chosen to
marry the dauphin of France, Louis Auguste, when her sister was found an
unsuitable match. In preparation to join the more formal French court, a
tutor instructed young Maria Antonia, finding her “more intelligent
than has been generally supposed,” yet also warned that “She is rather
lazy and extremely frivolous, she is hard to teach.”
The Years Preceding Marie Antoinette’s Death
Marie Antoinette embraced the frivolity that came so naturally to her
in a way that stood out even in Versailles. Four years after coming to
the heart of French political life, she and her husband became its
leaders when they were crowned king and queen in 1774.
She was only 18, and was frustrated by her and her husband’s polar
opposite personalities. “My tastes are not the same as the King’s, who
is only interested in hunting and his metal-working,” she wrote to a
friend in 1775.
As King and Queen they enjoyed different interests, different personalities and different habits. They were truly the “odd couple”.
Marie Antoinette threw herself into the spirit of the French court —
gambling, partying, and purchasing. These indulgences earned her the
nickname “Madame Déficit,” while the common people of France suffered
through a poor economy.
Madame Deficit
During her reign, Marie Antoinette became a hate symbol for those wishing to overthrow the privilege and power of the French Aristocracy. French society suffered from a deep class divide and she became known as Madame Deficit for her lavish spending. She was especially hated for the money she spent refurbishing the Palace of Versailles, particularly, her mini-estate, the Petit Trianon. Even though it had been built for the previous King’s mistress, it became associated with the Queen, and how out of touch with reality she was.
Yet, while reckless, she was also known for her good heart in personal matters, adopting several less fortunate children.
A lady-in-waiting and close friend even recalled: “She was so happy at doing good and hated to miss any opportunity of doing so.”
Smear Campaign
Prior to Louis XVI, the politically themed pornographic pamphlets and books that circulated through France would focus on the King’s mistresses, who were subject to ridicule, and considered promiscuous for their part in the King’s affairs. Louis had no mistresses, and therefore, critics unfairly turned their attention towards the Queen. Creating propaganda that portrayed the Queen as immoral was a way for revolutionaries to “prove” that the monarchy was corrupt, and they insinuated that she slept with several men and women, including her brother-in-law.
Whether deserved or not. The government running France for decades had plundered it. The wealthy elites treated the peasants as deplorable peasants not worthy of spitting upon. They considered them rabble.
Marie became the face for all the hate and anger.
The Monarchy And Revolution
However soft her heart was one-on-one, to the underclass of France
grew to consider her a scapegoat for all of France’s ills. People called
her L’Autrichienne (a play on her Austrian heritage and chienne, the French word for bitch).
The “diamond necklace affair”
made matters even worse, when a self-styled countess fooled a cardinal
into purchasing an exorbitantly expensive necklace on the queen’s behalf
— even though the queen had previously refused to buy it. When news got
out about the debacle in 1785, and people thought Marie Antoinette had
tried to get her hands on a 650-diamond necklace without paying for it,
her already shaky reputation was ruined.
Affair of the Diamond Necklace
In 1785, a scandal known as “The Affair of the Necklace” shocked the French court, and it would eventually be used as an example to discredit the French Monarchy. It began with the procurement of a diamond necklace worth 1,600,000 livres (about $10,000,000 USD) by the Comtesse de La Motte, supposedly for the Queen. In reality, it was for herself and her associates. Though the fraud was eventually exposed and the Queen proved innocent, the damage was done, and became one of the factors leading to the dissolution of the old order, and to the French Revolution.
Affair of the Diamond Necklace . A large and expensive necklace with a dark history was a PR disaster for the French monarchy
Inspired by the American Revolution — and the fact that King Louis XVI put France into an economic depression in part by paying to support the Americans — the French people were itching for a revolt.
And while it simmered for a spell. It eventually exploded into the open.
Madame Veto
With the country straining under the pressure of debt and a stagnating economy, Louis XVI proposed reforms to end the worst of the excesses, and to impose a more progressive taxation system. The reforms were blocked by clergymen and the nobility, but the press blamed Marie Antoinette, labeling her “Madame Veto.” There’s little evidence to prove whether or not she ever did veto the proposals.
Then came the summer of 1789. Parisians stormed the Bastille prison,
freeing political prisoners from the symbol of Ancien Régime power. In
October of that year, the people rioted over the exorbitant price of
bread, marching 12 miles from the capital to the golden gates of
Versailles.
The French Revolution had been simmering for decades, and finally it burst all over France in a glorious orgy of death and destruction.
Legend has it that a frightened Marie Antoinette charmed the
mostly-female mob from her balcony, bowing to them from above. The mob’s
threats of violence turned into shouts of “Long live the queen!”
But the queen wasn’t soothed. “They are going to force us to go to
Paris, the King and me,” she said, “preceded by the heads of our
bodyguards on pikes.”
She was prescient; members of the crowd, carrying pikes topped with
the heads of the royal guards, captured the royal family and took them
to Tuileries Palace in Paris.
The French Revolution had been simmering for decades, and finally it burst all over France in a glorious orgy of death and destruction.
The royal couple wasn’t officially arrested until the disastrous Flight to Varennes
in June 1791, in which the royal family’s mad-dash to freedom in the
Austria-controlled Netherlands crumbled thanks to poor timing and a
too-large (and too-conspicuous) horse-drawn coach.
The royal family was imprisoned in the Temple and on Sept. 21, 1792
the National Assembly officially declared France a republic. It was a
precipitous (albeit temporary) end to the French monarchy, which had ruled over Gaul for representing the fall of a nearly a millennium.
The French Revolution had been simmering for decades, and finally it burst all over France in a glorious orgy of death and destruction.
The Death Of Marie Antoinette
In January 1793, King Louis XVI was sentenced to death for conspiring
against the state. He was allowed to spend a few short hours with his
family until his execution before a crowd of 20,000.
Marie Antoinette, meanwhile, was still in limbo. In early August she
was transferred from the Temple to the Conciergerie, known as “the
antechamber to the guillotine,” and two months later she was put on
trial.
Death Of Marie Antoinette
She was only 37 years old, but her hair had already turned white, and
her skin was just as pale. Still, she was subjected to an excruciating
36-hour trial crammed into just two days. Prosecutor Antoine Quentin
Fouquier-Tinville aimed to denigrate her character so that any crime she
was accused of would seem more plausible.
Thus, the trial began with a bombshell:
According to Fouquier-Tinville, her eight-year-old son, Louis Charles,
claimed to have had sex with his mother and aunt. (In reality,
historians believe he made up the story after his jailer caught him
masturbating.)
Marie Antoinette replied that she had “no knowledge” of the charges,
and the prosecutor moved on. But minutes later a member of the jury
demanded a response to the question.
Surrounded by people who hated and loathed her, she found herself alone and stripped of all that she knew and loved.
“If I have not replied it is because Nature itself refuses to answer such a charge laid against a mother,” the former queen said. “I appeal to all mothers here present – is it true?”
Her composure in court may have ingratiated her with the audience,
but it didn’t save her from death: In the early hours of October 16, she
was found guilty of high treason, depletion of the national treasury,
and conspiracy against the security of the state. The first charge alone
would have been enough to send her to the guillotine.
Her sentence was inevitable. As historian Antonia Fraser put it,
“Marie Antoinette was deliberately targeted in order to bind the French
together in a kind of blood bond.”
In the early hours of October 16, Marie Antoinette was found guilty of high treason, depletion of the national treasury, and conspiracy against the security of the state.
Shortly before she met the guillotine, most of her snow-white locks were cut off.
At 12:15 p.m., she stepped on the scaffold to greet Charles-Henri Sanson, the notorious executioner who had just beheaded her husband 10 months earlier.
Though the man in the black mask was an early supporter of the
Guillotine machine, he probably never dreamed he’d have to employ it on
his former employer, the queen of France.
Marie Antoinette, clad in simple white so different from her signature powder-blue silks and satins, accidentally stepped on Sanson’s foot. She whispered to the man:
“Pardon me sir, I didn’t mean to.”
Those were her last words.
After the blade fell, Sanson held up her head to the roaring crowd, which shouted “Vive la République!”
Marie Antoinette’s remains were taken to a graveyard behind the
Church of Medeleine about half a mile north, but the gravediggers were
taking a lunch break. That gave Marie Grosholtz — later known as Madame
Tussaud — enough time to make a wax imprint of her face before she was
placed in an unmarked grave.
Some death masks of those executed during the French Revolution.
Decades later, in 1815, Louis XVI’s younger brother exhumed Marie Antoinette’s body and gave it a proper burial at the Basilica of Saint-Denis. All that remained of her, besides her bones and some of her white hair, were two garters in mint condition.
It Wasn’t Her Fault
Despite claims from sources such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Thomas Jefferson, Marie Antoinette’s excessive spending was not the true cause of the French Revolution. When she and Louis XVI took the throne, the country was already broke, and the treasuries were empty.
While her spending certainly didn’t help France’s economic problems, it didn’t break the proverbial bank. Louis’ unpopular and expensive decision to send troops to America to help with the American Revolution was a much bigger cost, but Marie Antoinette made an easy scapegoat.
Conclusion
When society is stratified, it historically collapses as the “have nots” kill (and in this case, decapitate) the wealthy “haves”.
If America somehow escapes this cycle of events, it will be a miracle. All and every tell-tale are screaming “ALARM! ALARM!” at what is right down the tracks. My own predictions place some near catastrophic events in the 2024 / 2025 time period. Let’s see what happens.
Keep in mind that history repeats. And no… America is NOT special. It is following the historical precedents.
If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to read others in my SHTF index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
That being said, we shouldn’t be distracted away from his other deeds. Overall, this man is often referred to as pure evil. But, then again, I don’t really know. I do not know him personally. I can’t imagine him being any worse than Hillary Clinton. Can you?
The only white man you can trust is a dead white man.
-Robert Mugabe
Anyways, these quotes are golden. I guess that even the most reprehensible person can come up with one-liners, eh?
Who is Robert Mugabe?
Robert Mugabe has been the president of Zimbabwe since 1987. He attained his job after leading bloody guerrilla warfare against the white colonial rulers of what was then Rhodesia.
Mugabe lead the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front, a socialist party founded in 1987. Mugabe and his party are also heavily nationalist with left-wing ideology, favoring land seizures from white Zimbabweans while claiming that doing so counters the nation’s imperialist past.
Mugabe holds seven degrees from South Africa’s Fort Hare University. In 1963 he was secretary general of the Maoist Zimbabwe African National Union.
In 1964, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “subversive speech” against the Rhodesian government. Once released, he fled to Mozambique to launch a guerrilla war for independence.
He returned to Rhodesia 1979 and became prime minister in 1980; the next month, the newly independent country was renamed Zimbabwe. Mugabe assumed the presidency in 1987, with the prime minister role being abolished.
Under his rule, annual inflation has soared to 100,000%.
Hilarious quotes from the ex-President of Zimbabwe:
When your clothes are made of cassava leaves, you don’t take a goat as a friend.
If you are ugly, you are ugly. Stop talking about inner beauty because men don’t walk around with X-ray machines to see inner beauty.
When one’s goat gets missing, the aroma of a neighbour’s soup gets suspicious.
Treat every part of your towel nicely because the part that wipes your buttocks today will wipe your face tomorrow.
Sometimes you look back at girls you spent money on, rather than send it to your mum, and you realize witchcraft is real.
Cigarette is tobacco rolled in a piece of paper with fire on one end and a fool on the other end.
Racism will never end as long as people still use black color for bad luck and white for peace… But I don’t care as long as I still use the white tissue paper to wipe my ass!
No African girl will choose six pack over six cars.. So stop going to the gym and go to work!
It’s better to sit in a bar thinking about God than to sit in a church thinking about beer.
He who swallows a complete coconut has absolute trust in his anus.
The only warning Africans take seriously is LOW BATTERY.
It is not possible that women can be at par with men.
Conclusion
You can be reprehensible and still have some good things to say. You do not have to like or admire a person to learn from them.
I get that from time to time. People accuse me of being the spawn of Satan because I happen to like to drink red wine and live in China.
Well, at which I can only respond with “ok.”
Life is too short to worry about what other people are doing with their lives.
Dionysus Cat.
A little weekend humor
A pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the next race, and it won again.
The local newspaper read: PASTOR’S ASS OUT FRONT.
The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.
The next day, the local newspaper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR’S ASS.
This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey. The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.
The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.
The Bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10.
The next day the paper read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.
This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild.
The next day the headlines read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.
The Bishop was buried the next day.
The moral of the story is: Being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery and even shorten your life. So be yourself and enjoy life. You’ll be a lot happier and live longer!
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have others in my Happiness Index, over here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Here’s a bunch more videos taken during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in China during the 2020 CNY holiday and going into February of that year. These videos are very interesting. Please check them out. They all tend to be short, but since there are so many… around 20… they might take some time to load.
So…
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Keep reloading as necessary to collect the videos. If you are watching on a computer put this in a separate tab and allow it to load at it’s own speed. Depending where you live it might take up to an half hour, though most people shouldn’t have to wait nearly so long.
Sorry about this.
Video 1 – Breaking Quarantine
China is an enormous nation. There are all kinds of people in it. No matter how serious the emergency, there will be that 1% of Jack-Offs that think that the rules do not apply to them and they can do as they please. When this happens, the police need to step in and isolate the malcontents. Because all it takes is but one person and he can infect three hundred others in a matter of hours, and then suddenly the entire city starts to collapse.
Here we have a Jack-ass trying to break through a quarantine check point. These road-blocks are everywhere and you must obey them. Some are set up by local communities. Some by local police. Some by military, and some by local industry. If you try to run through, you will be stopped. You will be apprehended, and you will go to prison.
Video 2 – Breaking Quarantine 2
Here’s another one. This is a checkpoint at a highway. It’s been my experience that these checkpoints are at every toll booth and at every road-side rest area. You must obey them.
They are staffed by police, traffic police and military. You do not mess around. This is a serious, and very serious illness and containment is crucial.
Video 3 – Breaking Quarantine 3
Here’s another example of a person trying to break quarantine. You can see that not only is he not obeying the check-point, but he is taking it on himself to be a one-man wrecking-crew and starts to tear apart the entire road-block setup.
Video 4 – Shutting down a roadblock
All things end. Now certain areas are easing up on their quarantine restrictions. Thus, it means that things are starting to return to normal in certain areas. Here we have a video of a policeman shutting down one of the quarantine roadblocks.
Video 5 – Collapse 1
Medical worker collapses or almost collapses in a hospital. This is beginning to become rather common in the various hospitals that work with this virus. It’s a very serious and lethal viral agent and every care must be taken to control it.
I have all sorts of videos about the dressing and undressing procedures in this highly lethal environment. But you know, if you accidentally touch an infected article of clothing during the undressing procedure, you too could become infected.
Video 6 – Collapse 2
Here is the inside of a bank. In the lower part of the screen we can see a person just collapsing on to the floor. This kind of collapse is rather common with this illness. When it strikes it hits you suddenly and strongly.
Video 7 – Policeman Collapse
Here’s a police man that collapses in one of the police stations. All people who are out and dealing with the public are starting to see their ranks decrease and more and more members contract the illness.
It’s horrible.
Video 8 – Street Collapse
The Western media narrative is that it only strikes the old and the feeble. It’s amazing that they still maintain this fantasy. Especially the American media. Most everyone can contact this illness, and there are patients as young as ten months and as old as 95 years getting sick and ill from it. here we have a young chick getting struck down at a gas station.
Video 9 – Discovering you have the virus and being told you must go into isolation.
So imagine what it must be like. You are not feeling well, so you have some suspicions and you go to the the hospital. They run a few tests and then discover that you have COVID-19; the coronavirus. At first you would be in a state of shock and denial. Then you might panic and flee. You do not want to spend the time in the hospital. Like this poor girl.
Video 10 – Going into Quarantine.
And this is what it is like when you are sick and told to go into Hospital Isolation. You are collected and driven to an isolation ward. Then you are assigned a room, and some gear. The rest of your belongings are sterilized or incinerated and you are held there in isolation until you get better, or off to the hospital if you get decidedly worse.
Video 11 – The coronavirus hits suddenly.
This coronavirus is hitting everyone suddenly. You are just doing your job when suddenly you feel woozy. You start to wobble, and you get tunnel vision. Then the world goes black. This is what it is like.
But not to worry. CNN and FOX says the Flu is much worse.
Video 12 – Infected trying to break out of quarantine.
In this video we have a community that is infected. Large numbers of people have been taken into the various hospitals in the surrounding region. Those that remain were not tested to be sick… two weeks ago. But might actually be sick.
Here we have a fellow trying to run the gauntlet and escape from the quarantine.
Video 13 – Arrest for not wearing a face mask.
During this DEFCON ONE emergency you cannot go outside unless you wear a mask and are scanned for a fever. No exceptions. Everyone in China knows this. Yet there are those miscreants that think that the law does not apply to them and when they are refused to board public transportation they fly into a rage and cause all sorts of turmoil.
Video 14 – Refusing to go into Quarantine.
Here’s a chick who was tested to have a fever. She wants to break out of the quarantine area and go her own way. She does not want to go into isolation. But the illness is so very serious that she doe not have that option. So she is taken down and hauled off to the isolation ward.
Video 15 – The virus hits with a sudden ferocity.
This is what it is like. You are having a dinner. You drank a coke and ate some pork and suddenly you are not feeling well. While some people just get tunnel vision and black out, others just go into seizures and all sorts of bad things start to happen. Like this poor fellow….
Video 16 – Virus wipes out a hospital staff member.
Many hospital personnel are ending up catching the virus. It’s a terrible thing and they are working long hours and tirelessly to fight this conflagration. But they can get sick, and when you start to see one of the nurses or doctors starting to wobble and lose control, you need to help them out quickly. This is a serious and lethal virus.
Video 17 – This is what it is like all over China.
This is how you go onto the public buses. This is how you enter your apartment building. This is how you enter your place of employment. This is how you enter public buildings such as police stations, hospitals or transportation hubs.
Everyone must wear a mask. There are no exceptions.
Everyone must take a temperature reading, and spray their clothing with disinfectant solution. Everyone must abide to the rules or you will get arrested. There is zero tolerance for non-compliance. PERIOD.
Video 18 – Pretty Girl
This is why it is absolutely critical to stay in isolation and not get this virus. You are getting ready to go out with your friends and suddenly you do not feel well. You have a seizure, black out. You regain composure and then have another seizure. Than you black out again. It repeats over and over…
But don’t worry. The flu is far worse, don’t you know. That’s what CNN and FOX all are saying. You can go on Drudge and What-Finger-News and it’s all the same MONOLITHIC narrative. Funny that! So believe them.
Or see the reality with your own two eyes…
Video 19 – Building multiple hospitals.
When I check out the comments on social media there’s a bunch of detractors complaining about China-this and China-that. Oh, Xi Peng didn’t do enough. Oh, the Chinese stole a biological weapon and is trying to kill their own people. All sorts of just bullshit nonsense. All of which is supremely irritating.
Donald Trump would not be able to build an emergency hospital in ten day, let alone three of them So shut the flying fuck up.
Check out this, the third hospital being built in Wuhan to help handle this emergency.
Conclusion
This is a serious illness. All evidence points of a biological warfare event. At least that is exactly how the Chinese government is treating it. While the American main-steam and (alt) media are all treating it as not as serious as the flu. Well, you you ever see the flu do what you see on these videos, then go ahead and make up your own post explaining to the world that this is a big ol’ “nothing burger”.
More to follow. Please be safe.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have other posts that you might be interested in that can be found in my Trump Trade Wars index, here…
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any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
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necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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America today does not resemble anything that is found on the original 1776 United States Constitution. In fact, in many ways, it is the exact opposite of what it was founded as. This is an open fact, and only the most ignorant disagree on this.
Today, the United States is a real mess. It really is. It is an enormous, out of control beast, and no one can tame it. It’s a snarling, nasty critter that is harmful to Americans, and a threat to the rest of the world.
Here, we talk about how America came to be what it is today.
For there are five distinct separate evolutionary periods of American governance. Each one is distinct for all the others before it. They are…
Founded as a Republic.
Changed to a Democracy with the 12th amendment.
Centralized Federal Democracy during the Civil War.
Progressive Social Democracy under President Wilson.
Military Oligarchy under President Lindon Johnson.
Corrupt Military Totalitarian Empire today.
Here we will discuss each time period in turn. What it was like, the benefits, or liabilities, and why it was changed into something different.
We will begin with the start….
Founded as a Republic. (1776)
There is no question that America was founded as a Republic. It is clearly specified as such within the Constitution itself. And the “Federalist Papers” which described (in depth) the reasoning used in the creation of the Constitution.
They abhorred a Democracy and they absolutely did not want America to ever become a Democracy. For they viewed it as “mob rule”, or rule by easily-manipulated rabble.
Their vision was one where the individual States would continue to operate as independent nations. They would have their own flags, their own military, their own laws, and the citizens would be in complete control of their state government.
The Federal Government was intended to be small. It was only intended [1] to be necessary in the case of an external military threat, and to [2] assist in the regulation of trade between the different States.
Nothing Else.
The Federal Government, through the Bill of Rights would establish the framework of “protections” that the various Federal and State governments were forbidden to touch.
The Bill of Rights listed the “untouchable” Rights, and the Ninth Amendment stated that Americans had many, many other Rights. And none of them can be legislated or rules made to curtail them. Thus, the Federal and State governments were limited to what they could do. They could only to what was IMPLICITLY STATED within the Constitution.
America was set up as a Republic. There the Individual was supreme. Second came the States Governments. The Federal Government was intentionally weak and small.
America was a Republic for only a mere 28 years.
Changed to a Democracy with the 12th amendment. (1804)
Well, that did not set well with ambitious and evil men. These people felt that they were better than other people.
Well, they did. (Read their writings.)
They felt that they were smarter, and more capable, and thus should be deserving of extra privileges. And so they strove to change the United States from a Republic into a Democracy.
This is because it is easy to manipulate mobs of people.
Through the manipulation of people, they would increase their power, through the systems inherent in the Constitution.
And this is exactly what happened.
During the first one hundred years, all of the amendments to the Constitution, and the rules and laws laid down in Congress was devoted to four main objectives…
Diluting the voting power of a citizen. (The more people allowed to vole, the less power the individual had.)
Control of the mass “mobs” of citizenry. (Control of the news media meant control of the people.)
Reduction of the influence of State Government.
Increasing Federal Control over the States.
America become a Democracy. And Controls over the manipulation of the citizenry grew, as did the size and scope of the Federal Government.
America was a Democracy for 57 years. The entire time the Federal government grew and grew and grew…
Centralized Federal Democracy during the Civil War. (1861)
This continued for many decades up until the push by the Federal Government became far too large. They kept pushing and pushing, and sooner or later someone was going to get hurt.
The States argued that they had their own sovereignty through the Tenth Amendment.
The Federal Government argued that that was no longer true. That the Bill of Rights was meaningless when you have a strong central federal Government.
They were wrong, of course.
But it did not matter. They were strong and powerful.
When the Southern States banded together to fight the Federal monster, a long Civil War broke out. It lasted four years. And while there were many cries to “free the slaves’, at the root of the matter was whether or not a State can make it’s own laws. (And the ownership of slaves is a State law issue.)
The Civil War settled that.
The individual States no longer were autonomous, and must follow the dictates of the Federal Government.
Thus, the American Government became a singular Federal Government over regional “territories” known as States.
America was a Central Federal Democracy for 52 years.
Progressive Social Democracy under President Wilson. (1913)
Now, For around sixty years or so, the Federal Government grew in size, scope and ambitions. The ideas and the systems laid out in the 1776 Constitution were not sufficient to implement any of the “new” and “progressive modern” ideas. Ideas that were being considered in the elite schools and halls of the “power brokers”. They wanted and felt that some serious structural changes needed to occur.
They longed for the power held by the Kings during the middle ages. They wanted a new and modern version; a Feudal Kingship under the guise of “democracy”. New, modern and progressive; to usher in a new utopia of man over nature.
That’s how they thought.
Enter President Wilson.
President Wilson was the President that extinguished the flame of liberty.
To make a long story short, he was the architect for what America is today. And under his leadership we now have the following realities that are permanently affixed in America today…
Government owns and controls all money.
Citizens are permitted to rent the money.
Ownership of all property belongs to the government.
Making laws and rules were handed over to “agencies”.
The Bill of Rights is just a list of “privileges”.
Americans must work to feed the government.
Yeah it sounds really bad, and it is. But if you distill all the flowery rhetoric and babble-speak, and get down to the raw meat of the issues, that is what it distills into to. And, yes, it’s horribly and very ugly.
But hey! Everyone else was doing it. From Russia, to France, to China. Every ruler wanted full control of their subjects.
America became a Feudal Kingship. People were taught to serve the Federal Government without question. And efforts to spread this type of government around the world began. For “democracy“.
America was a Feudal Kingship under the guise of “democracy” for 50 years. Then it got really bad…
Military Oligarchy under President Lindon Johnson. (1963)
We now know, through the release of the Kennedy Assassination Transcripts that a military coup occurred in 1962. President Lyndon B. Johnson, along with a hodge-podge of other Washington “interests” assassinated a “democratically elected” president.
Immediately after killing the President, America went full-on “HOT” war with Vietnam.
America became the foremost military power in the world and started to exert that power everywhere.
Then they immediately went to war fighting battles all over the world, and funneling money into an Military-industrial organization. An organization that became enormous and powerful.
America became a Military Oligarchy. Much like Hitler and his Nazi’s and Genghis Khan and his hoards of warriors.
America has been a Military Oligarchy for 38 years.
Its’ so out of control, that today we are currently fighting eight simultaneous far-flung wars.
Which brings me to today…
Corrupt Military Totalitarian Empire today. (2001)
It wouldn’t be too bad if it were “out of sight and out of mind”, but events came about that brought war, and military power and control home.
It’s been 19 years since the events of 9-11. We have been a military totalitarian empire ever since.
As America fought these various wars, simultaneous efforts were being made to "bring the Military-Industrial" complex control home domestically. We all can thank President George Bush for this.
Thus America rapidly became a full-on police / surveillance state.
America today is a wild rampaging out-of-control monster that if not contained, will plunge the world into global thermonuclear armageddon.
Domestically, the Bill of Rights no longer functionally exist. Alphabet agencies operate independently and run rough-shod over Americans with impunity. A military organization known as the DHS, operates with the NSA, and CIA / FBI to control the American citizenry. Congress has become outrageous media entertainment. Public works projects have ground to a halt, and the media (from alt-left to alt-right) are controlled by the government and manipulate with impunity.
International efforts are now all centered in [1] controlling strategic materials by proxy (Bolivia, Syria), [2] subduing other nations that might be economic threats (China, and Russia), and [3] fighting other nations wars (Yemen, Liberia) following a for-profit model.
America today is a corrupt Military Totalitarian Empire.
Conclusion
To really change the direction that America in involved in… and it needs to be changed, least the world collapse under the weight of World War III…
…we need to recognize what America is today.
We need to see what it was set up as, and how it was changed, and to put systems in place so that this will NEVER happen again.
And, America must change. This path that it is on is not sustainable.
And, tweaking things to undo the policies of Obama is not enough. We need to undo two centuries of policy changes. And this needs to be supervised by people that understand what “liberty” and “freedom” really are…
…and reporting what you did all year to a government agency is NOT freedom. Nor is asking permission to withdrawal your savings from a bank, wearing a seat-belt, or being forbidden from smoking or drinking large-size sodas. If you need to ask permission to do something or are fearful of government consequences, you are NOT living in freedom.
Any person who does not understand this MOST BASIC of understandings shouldn’t be permitted anywhere near the levers of power.
Real patriots need to take control of this situation, and it will not be organic. It’s not going to “just happen”. Like how each of the five stages of American Governance were well-planned in advance and executed, the same must occur by American patriots. This situation needs to change, and it needs to change soon.
Do not place all your hopes and beliefs on a Trump Presidency. While he is doing some good things Domestically, his International policy is driven by neocons and could actually result in World War III. This would be horrific for everyone.
Nor should you put your hopes in the other end of the spectrum. The Bernie Sanders crowd and all their ilk are dangerous idealists. They want to wind the clock back to feudal serfdom under a modern “enlightened” totalitarian social utopia. This would be horrific for many Americans.
The alternatives are far too frightening to contemplate.
Which is why we need to erase all the changes made since 1789 (The Bill of Rights) and start all over with a “clean slate”.
I hope you enjoyed this little narrative. You can find more, and better, discussions on other SHTF posts, Accessed here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Think about it. What benefit does the United States Federal Government provide that the State governments cannot?
And, is that benefit worth the extra multiple layers of taxation?
I strongly believe that it is not worth it at all. The United States today is an out of control corrupt empire, and almost everything it does benefits a mere handful of people, while Joe and Suzy Average derives very little benefit. I would like to expound on this, through the lens of history.
The following article; “The Antifederalists Were Eerily Prophetic” is a most excellent article from the Mises Institute. Written 17NOV19. All credit to the author; Gary M. Galles.
The Antifederalists Were Eerily Prophetic
What the Antifederalists predicted would be the results of the 1776 Constitution turned out to be true…
Most school kids are left with the impression that the US
Constitution was the inevitable follow-up to the Declaration of
Independence and the war with King George. What they miss out on is the
exciting debate that took place after the war and before the
Constitution, a debate that concerned the dangers of creating a federal
government at all.
The Antifederalist Movement
Everyone knows about the Federalists who pushed the Constitution. But far less known are the Antifederalists who warned with good reason against the creation of a new centralized government, and just after so much blood had been spilled getting rid of one.
The first of the Antifederalist Papers appeared in 1789.
The Antifederalists were opponents of ratifying the US Constitution as (they feared) it would create what would become an overbearing central government.
What the Antifederalists predicted would be the results of the Constitution turned out to be true in most every respect.
As the losers in that debate, they are largely overlooked today. But that does not mean they were wrong or that we are not indebted to them.
Those that fight the Deep State are antifederalists.
Confusing nomenclature.
In many ways, the group has been misnamed.
Federalism refers to the system of decentralized government. This group defended states’ rights—the very essence of federalism—against the Federalists, who would have been more accurately described as Nationalists. Nonetheless, what they predicted would be the results of the Constitution turned out to be true in most every respect.
The Antifederalists warned us that the cost Americans would bear in both liberty and resources for the government that would evolve under the Constitution would rise sharply.
That is why their objections led to the Bill of Rights, to limit that tendency.
Their Oppositions to the Constitution
Antifederalists opposed the Constitution on the grounds that its checks on federal power would be undermined by expansive interpretations…
… of promoting the “general welfare” (which would eventually be claimed for every law)…
… and the “all laws necessary and proper” clause (which would be used to override limits on delegated federal powers)…
… thus creating a federal government with unwarranted and undelegated powers that were bound to be abused.
One could quibble with the mechanisms the Antifederalists predicted would lead to constitutional tyranny.
For instance, they did not see that the Commerce Clause would come to be called “the everything clause” in law schools...
...justifying almost any conceivable federal intervention...
...because the necessary distortion of its meaning was so great even Antifederalists couldn’t imagine the government could get away with it.
It merits remembering the Antifederalists’
prescient arguments and the virtual absence of modern Americans who
share their concerns.
And they could not have foreseen how the 14th Amendment and its interpretation would extend federal domination over the states after the Civil War.
But despite that, it is very difficult to argue with their conclusions in light of the current reach of our government, which doesn’t just intrude upon, but often overwhelms Americans today.
We need to listen to the Anti-federalist argument.
Therefore, it merits remembering the Antifederalists’ prescient arguments…
… and how unfortunate is the virtual absence of modern Americans who share their concerns.
One of the most insightful of the Antifederalists was Robert Yates, a New York judge who, as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, withdrew because the convention was exceeding its instructions.
Yates wrote as Brutus in the debates over the Constitution.
Given his experience as a judge, his claim that the Supreme Court would become a source of almost unlimited federal overreaching was particularly insightful.
Expanded Judicial Power
Brutus asserted that the Supreme Court envisioned under the Constitution would become a source of massive abuse…
… because they were beyond the control “both of the people and the legislature,” …
…and not subject to being “corrected by any power above them.”
When the opportunity arises the corrupt officials will spring into action and restricts the rights of Americans so that they can gain personally.
As a result, he objected to the fact that its provisions justifying the removal of judges didn’t extend to rulings that went beyond their constitutional authority…
…thus, leading to judicial tyranny.
Brutus argued that when constitutional grounds for making rulings were absent…
… the Court would create grounds “by their own decisions.”
He thought that the power it would command would be so irresistible that the judiciary would use it to make law, manipulating the meanings of arguably vague clauses to justify it.
America today.
Expanded judicial power would empower justices to shape the federal government however they desired.
The Supreme Court would interpret the Constitution according to its alleged “spirit”…
… rather than being restricted to just the “letter” of its written words (as the doctrine of enumerated rights, spelled out in the 10th Amendment, would require).
Further, rulings derived from whatever the court decided its spirit was would effectively “have the force of law,”…
… due to the absence of constitutional means to “control their adjudications” and “correct their errors.”
This constitutional failing would compound over time in a “silent and imperceptible manner,” through precedents that build on one another.
Expanded judicial power would empower justices to shape the federal government however they desired…
… because the Supreme Court’s constitutional interpretations would control the effective power…
…power vested in government and its different branches.
That would hand the Supreme Court ever-increasing power, in direct contradiction to Alexander Hamilton’s argument in Federalist 78 that the Supreme Court would be “the least dangerous branch.”
Judicial Tyranny
Brutus predicted that the Supreme Court would adopt “very liberal” principles of interpreting the Constitution.
This is America today.
He argued that there had never in history been a court with such power and with so few checks upon it…
… giving the Supreme Court “immense powers”…
…powers that were not only unprecedented, but perilous for a nation founded on the principle of consent of the governed.
This is America today.
Given the extent to which citizens’ power to effectively withhold their consent from federal actions has been eviscerated, it is hard to argue with Brutus’s conclusion.
Brutus accurately described both [1] the cause (the absence of sufficient enforceable restraints on the size and scope of the federal government) and [2] the consequences (expanding burdens and increasing invasions of liberty) of what would become the expansive federal powers we now see all around us.
We need to understand their arguments and apply them to a NEW Constitution, if there is to be any hope of restraining the government to the powers it was actually granted in the Constitution.
Today
It’s well past time for a change.
But today, Brutus would conclude that he had been far too optimistic.
The federal government has grown exponentially larger than he could ever have imagined…
In part because he was writing when only direct, e.g., excise taxes and the small federal government they could finance were possible before the 16th Amendment opened the way for a federal income tax in 1913.
…far exceeding its constitutionally enumerated powers, despite the Bill of Rights’ constraints against it.
The result burdens citizens beyond his worst nightmare
The rise and fall of America.
Conclusion
The judicial tyranny that was accurately and unambiguously predicted by Brutus and other Antifederalists shows that in essential ways, they were right and that modern Americans still have a lot to learn from them.
We need to understand their arguments and take them seriously now, if there is to be any hope of restraining the federal government. Constraining it precisely to the limited powers it was actually granted in the Constitution. This is absolutely necessary given its current tendency to accelerate its growth well beyond enumerated Constitutional limits.
In my mind, the first step to controlling the out-of-control beast is to reestablish State sovereignty. Then, through concentrated and systematic efforts, starve the beast. Allow it to whither and die on the vine.
If Americans are unable to control this raging nasty beast, the rest of the world will need to call Animal Control to put it down, and that will certainly not be a pleasant event to witness.
This is America today. Look around you. The rest of the world is moving forward, and the enormous American empire remains dark and immovable.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have other posts that you might be interested in that can be found in my SHTF index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
As I stay inside my apartment while the coronavirus wrecks havoc all through China, I have little else to do but watch movies. Now, for various reasons, I have taken a shine to the older 1960’s and 1970’s movies. And in this case, a relatively unknown vampire-comedy. And this one is simply amazing!
I well remember watching it on television with my father. He was a big Sharon Tate fan, and now that I am older I can well understand why. But more than that, I loved how it carred me away and sucked me into the movie with the “atmosphere”, and the story line.
My most memorable scene is where they are locked inside the parapet tower.
Brilliant movie - beautifully shot and with Polanski's eye for detail. Very funny/quirky and atmospheric. I loaned it to a work colleague who thought Polanski only made horror films like 'Rosemary's Baby', she was amazed when confronted with this one.
She thought it was great.
Everyone is always very impressed with the ballroom scene with all the mirrors and the vampires dancing. The colours are fabulous and the outside scenes remind one of s Christmas card.
If it's ever on t.v. it's always on around midnight or after, so I had to buy the DVD. Definitely one to watch late at night when you're alone!! It took me years to find it on DVD. I think the one I eventually bought was an import.
- funnybunny-7
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
Today, being much older, I have come to love Roman Polanski’s “The Fearless Vampire Killers,” which is surprising to me now because for most of my life I thought it was so-so.
You see, I missed the original release back in 1967, but I was only nine years old then. And the version released in the U.S. was a truncated travesty of what Polanski intended. It was a remake for American audiences by a jack-ass who thought that all Americans were simpletons bumpkins.
No shit!
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
When I think about R.Polanski the first thing coming to my mind is - "the master of fear and horror", and I knew it that "Fearless vampire Killers" is rare example of comedy by this great director. Yeah, I was worried before seeing this movie, not as much about "geting it", but more so about simple thing - could this movie be entertaining for "21st Century Boy".
First thing that striked me was beautiful music by Komeda. I was in total awe. The music was scary, but at the same time so light and funny - just like for a good fair story. And then the beautiful winter scenery that was so fake - almost cartooning. Few minutes into the movie, and I could say "that's what I call movie poetry".
The story is so simple. The old bat researcher, professor Abronsius and his assistant, Alfred, go to a remote Transylvanian village looking for vampires. They stay in house where no one speaks about vampires, but the garlic is hanging everywhere.
Sharon Tate.
Simplistic story is so right for this movie, because acting, scenery, music, cinematography are all in top shape here. For composition I think this is one of the best movie done by Polanski, next to "Tenant" for sure.
And this movie is also a rare occasion to see Polanski in comedic role. He and Brach make unforgettable duo. I was totally entertain when in came to comedy in this movie, but the thing that surprise me the most was the action factor. There is one scene that is great example of that - when Polanski character is looking through keyhole and is so scared of what he see that his face is screaming "terror". It's sure funny, but in a way mad-scary too. And when I think about this movie - this scene sums it up for me.
Its very funny, but little outdated movie. For me one a few really cinematic fairy tales, that keeps magic all the way to the end. Its up there with Repulsion, Tenant, and Tess when in comes to greatest work of this director.
And just think about brilliant ending, so funny, so mad. It's a shame Polanski hasn't made another comedy. Don't get me started with Pirates - the most unfunny movie in history. But "Fearless Vampire Killers " is movie magic - pure and simple.
- fidomax
And, I am not the only person that was upset with the hack-job on this movie.
I’ve read that the movie was considered an almost complete fiasco because the executive producer, Martin Ransohoff, best known for “The Beverly Hillbillies,” wanted a very different film.
Yeah.
He wanted to change the film. He wanted to “improve” it to fit the bumpkin American mentality that he envisioned all Americans had.
So, in short order, he [1] cut 16 minutes out of Polanski’s 107 minute cut (Just under 1/5 of the entire movie.), and [2] inserted a short screwy cartoon before the titles (so people would know it was supposed to be a comedy…)
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
Ransohoff thought Polanski botched it that badly, and [3] even re-dubbed some of the actors. You know, so that they would sound more “American”. I’m sure that he wanted thick “bumpkin” Southern drawls and accents. He also [4] added the awful tag line to the title, “Or, Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck.”
This must have been the version I saw on TV in the early seventies that I thought was so terrible.
Thankfully this abomination doesn’t seem to be in circulation anymore. Good thing. Let the rats in the film vault feat on that monstrosity.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
However, despite its flaws “The Fearless Vampire Killers” gained a cult following over the years, partially due to the morbid fascination with the murder of Sharon Tate, but also because the movie is really very, very good.
Paramount’s Robert Evans recognized this back in ’67 and thought Polanski the right director for “Rosemary’s Baby.”
He was right and the success of that film showed Hollywood what a master of the language of film Polanski actually is.
This is a wonderfully fun movie. It’s got a lot of good stuff in it, and the critics can go try to make own luck at vampire comedy.
When I first saw this film on TV in the early 70s, I thought it was so cheesy I gave it very little attention.
Then in the early 90s it was released on laserdisc in a letterboxed version and I bought it on a lark. After I viewed in the first time I still didn't think much of it and thought maybe I wasted my money.
But then, as the years passed, I would look at it every so often and now I love the film.
It is an acquired taste.
You first have to love vampire films -- the old-fashioned, Gothic kind. Next, you need to appreciate Polanski's style and his understated approach. It's also best to watch this film late at night with the lights off, and especially with a snow storm outside. Give it a chance and this film will creep up on you. Hopefully it will come to DVD soon.
- stew100
Now, let’s be honest. This isn’t the best horror/comedy movie. The truth be told that Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein holds that position.
However, second place has just got to go to this one, and there’s no shame in being second here.
I don’t know too much about Roman Polanski’s career (I think I know more about his personal life): I’ve seen Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, and this movie is the third of his that I know about that I’ve seen. maybe there were others, but I cannot recall them at the top of my head.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
I would never have imagined from those two movies that he could direct comedy. Because of that I came into FVK very skeptical. At first, I thought that the laughs were few and far between. I kind of took it as a light-hearted serious movie.
I also thought that Polanski’s direction was too showy for a comedy.
But as the film went on, the comic moments began to build. And the showy direction ceased seeming showy and began to seem wonderful. If you find yourself not laughing a lot, it’s understandable.
Just sit back and enjoy Polanski’s amazing direction. And the laughs, although, to many, they may seem too few, those that there are are enormous.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
I’d also like to praise the actors, including Roman Polanski himself. The set design, especially in the castle, is more than amazing. It’s simply beautiful.
The title "fearless vampire killers" it's not so good as "Dance of the Vampires",outside U.S. this is the original title
I always will remember this film as "Dance of the Vampires" ALSO,CONGRATULATIONS to Mr Polanski for the Palme D' Or, he deserves it(without him just cinema "boring")
I enjoyed poetic scenes such as like moment in Sarah's bath comparing the textures of first soap bubbles, then falling snowflakes, and finally crimson blood. when Alfred(Polanski) carries his master across the castle battlements remind me of Polanski early short films.
This is a wonderfully fun movie. It’s got a lot of good stuff in it, and the critics can go try to make own luck at vampire comedy.
Krystov Komeda's music has been acclaimed as "the most innovative and haunting score ever devised for a horror movie" by the heavyweight Aurum Film Encyclopedia.
Krystof Komeda's wondrous music, with its weird choral effects and little melodies Komeda's score communicates the Kafka-like isolation of the setting and the characters
Polanski chose some of the finest English cinema craft artists to work on the film: cameraman Douglas Slocombe, production designer Wilfrid Shingleton Polanski engaged noted choreographer Tutte Lemkow, who played the actual Fiddler in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, for the film's climactic Danse Macabre minuet.
Sharon Tate as Sarah was delightful(we should remember her in a good way,as a decent actress and person,her scene with Polanski is really cool ,especially "the bite scene") Jack MacGowran as Professor Abronsius is just great Polanski's films often deal in contrasts of master and servant, the empowered and the powerless. The supposedly benign Abronsius bullies Alfred for his own purposes, just as the vampires consider all of humankind a resource to be harvested.
The character called Shagal got the best lines in the movie,when A woman thrusts a crucifix in his face, only for Shagal - a Jewish rather than a Christian vampire - to go "Oy-yoy! You got the wrong vampire" and bite her anyway Count Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne, who plays the Count)he looks really as a Nosferatu or a man that needs Transfusion!.
Also funny is Herbert, the openly gay vampire who is interested in Alfred rather than Sara, the sexual deviations implicit in early Hammer films like The Brides of Dracula (1960) and Kiss of the Vampire (1964) are brought out.
- patita-1
Right from the main title sequence this film is really quite wonderful.
Christopher Komeda’s score is weird and haunting.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
The day-for-night shots of the snowy countryside are a bit distracting, but you know they kind of fit the fairy tale quality of the film’s isolated, late 19th century Transylvanian winter never land.
The movie is extremely well-mounted with wonderful sets, especially the vampires’ castle.
Oh, young love. Eh?
All the performances are excellent. Jack MacGowran’s Professor Abronsius is an absolutely incredible characterization, unlike anything else MacGowran ever did on film.
The same is true of Alfie Bass’ Yoine Shagal, possibly the world’s first Jewish vampire, and a terrible lecher.
Sharon Tate was probably never lovelier than in this movie, and Roman Polanski is very good as Alfred, in fact amazing when you consider he was also directing.
It is a tour de force on his part.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
Finally, Ferdy Mayne’s Count Von Krolock is a king vampire equal to any screen Dracula, while Iain Quarrier is also appropriately creepy as his gay vampire son, Herbert.
Well, what is this movie about? To begin with: although the vampire was best popularized in the modern era by English writers, it is really a myth of Eastern European Roman Catholicism. (I could explain that better - and why the English so well co-opted it - but obviously not here.)
This type of Catholicism (which finally produced a Pope in John Paul II) now only thrives (and none too well) in Poland - Polanski's home country.
During the Second World War, Poland was utterly decimated.
First, a large portion of its wealthiest citizens, who happened to be Jewish, were exterminated.
The Polish catholics themselves were split radically between anti-semitic nationalists (who also, mistakenly, thought the Nazis would save them from the Russians) and pro-Communists who, mistakenly, thought the Russians would save them from the Nazis.
Obviously, this was a no-win situation for the Poles.
And yet the first cinematic impression of this disaster arrived in the form of - a comedy - Ernst Lubitsch's "To Be Or Not To Be" (later remade by Mel Brooks).
Does the reader really need to know all this to appreciate this movie? actually, yes. This film is laughter at death's door.
The funniest and most memorable line in the film is from the Jewish vampire, responding to a threatened crucifix: "Oy vey, have you got the wrong vampire!" Funny? - Hilarious. Unfortunately, if this Vampire had any grandchildren, they all died in Auschwitz.
Why am I playing such a heavy hand here? Because this really is a great horror-comedy, far better and far more important than the studio hacks at MGM who released this film (after chopping it up) could ever have understood.
There is unfortunately no rumor that there's a director's cut in the vaults; it is well to remember that Polanski nearly disowned this film on release, and really only reclaimed it after the brutal slaying of his wife, who plays such an important role in the film.
But even as shredded as it is (pay especially close attention to the discontinuities involving the Professor), this is still marvelously written, directed, and photographed - truly frightening at moments, utterly hilarious at others, but always grounded in a particularly Polish sensibility which is now, alas, a thing of the past; - the preservation of a culture that, at its best, was among the best in Europe.
- winner55
Like the drinking of blood (I would imagine!), appreciation of “The Fearless Vampire Killers” is very much an acquired taste.
I don’t know what to say to those that don’t like it except, Why don’t you try watching it again? It might grow on you as it did me.
The famous Ballroom scene.
This movie also has one of the best one-sheet posters from the sixties, with art by Frank Frazetta.
All in all, this is a great movie, and I cannot praise it enough.
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
It's sad to say, whenever people ask me for a good vampire movie, one I do recommend is The Fearless Vampire Killers, they always look at me and ask "What's that?".
But the 3 people I've shown it too loved it and I think that has got to say something about this great vampire classic.
Writer, director and co-star Roman Polanski made the first real vampire spoof and what a great movie!
If you think about today's spoofs, everything is always a reference to something that's in pop culture. This movie is just pure comedy, taking what was so typical at the time of the weary travelers who happen upon a creepy castle with the even creepier host, yet act completely oblivious when strange things happen.
The ballroom scene is amazing. It is just one of the great things that I really enjoy about this movie.
Instead, how about we have two vampire slayers, one who is calm and experienced vs. the inexperienced and nervous? While we're at it, why not add a ball into the mix? Dancing vampires, it just doesn't get any better than this.
In the heart of Transylvania Professor Abronsius and his apprentice Alfred are on the hunt for vampires. Abronsius is old and withering and barely able to survive the cold ride through the wintry forests, while Alfred is bumbling and introverted.
The two hunters come to a small Eastern European town seemingly at the end of a long search for signs of vampires.
The two stay at a local inn, full of angst-ridden townspeople who perform strange rituals to fend off an unseen evil. Whilst staying at the inn, Alfred develops a fondness for Sarah, the daughter of the tavern keeper Yoine Shagal.
The environment is amazing, and can take you away to another time and place. You can feel the cold wind on your face, and the pack of wolves snapping at your heels.
After witnessing Sarah being kidnapped by the local vampire lord, Count von Krolock, the two follow his snow trail, leading them to Krolock's ominous castle in the snow-blanketed hills nearby.
They break into the castle, but are trapped by the Count's hunchback servant, Koukol. Despite misgivings, Abronsius and Alfred accept the Count's invitation to stay in his ramshackle Gothic castle, where Alfred spends the night fitfully.
After finding Sarah the next day, they come up with a plan to destroy the count and save Sarah, but with a midnight ball in the mix of vampires, the plans might be a bit harder than they realized.
I think one of the funniest scenes in film history is when Roman Polanski is being chased by Count Krolock's feminine vampire son, Herbert.
Frozen stiff. Poor fellow, but then again it’s actually pretty funny in a dark comedic sort of way.
The seduction scene before that was too funny, but let's add Roman running around in a circle oblivious that he did just go around in a circle and runs right back into Herbert!
The comedic timing was just gold!
Sharon Tate is also in this film and she is just beautiful, you could see how Roman would fall in love with her on and off screen so easily. It's really sad that we lost her so young and so tragically, you see the talent that could have been.
I also love Jack MacGowran, he's calm exterior to Roman's scaredy cat routine was the perfect balance the film needed.
I nearly die laughing each time I see the scene where they are in the Count's bedroom about to stake him, but Jack gets stuck in the window and Roman chickens out on killing the count.
He has to go around the castle to pull Jack out but gets distracted by Sharon Tate and when he finally realizes that he left Jack in the same room with blood sucking vampires, he just reeks with the "Oops!" face.
The ballroom scene is so memorable, again, the comedic timing is great. Another thing about this film is that it also has some great scares in it too, some great make up effects with the Count.
I highly recommend this film; I've been watching it since I was a little girl, I still love watching it all these years later and can't wait to show it to others as well.
- Smells_Like_Cheese
Scene from the Fearless Vampire Killers. It’s a great flick and does help to carry you away to another time and place. It is, thus, great escapist viewing.
Conclusion
This movie is a bit dusty and not something that you would turn to automatically. However, it is a great little gem of a movie and well worth a nice visit. It will carry you away to a different time and place and it is rather charming in it’s own sinister comic way.
For me, it took me away for the germ warfare, the masks and goggles, and the latex gloves. It took me away from the disinfecting and the isolation and being cooped inside as the beautiful day with blue skies and lush green trees beckoned to me outside.
I am sure that it will take you too to a nice place far away from your normal life.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have other posts regarding movies and you can view them in my movie index here…
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This is what we refer to as a "sanity check". It is where we, as engineers, perform a simplified calculation to determine if the calculations that we arrived at, are valid...
This is a reprint of the most excellent Ron Paul article. Modified and edited to fit this venue. In it, he argues that you don’t need to look at complicated “generational theories”, r/K or KaLa theories to explain what is happening to America today. You just need to look at what happens every one hundred years or so…
The great Austrian economist Ludwig Von Mises wrote:
"History is a struggle between two principles, the peaceful principle, which advances the development of trade, and the militarist-imperialist principle, which interprets human society not as a friendly division of labour but as the forcible repression of some of its members by others."
America was founded on the peaceful principle.
If you are peaceful, other people and nations will work with you on friendly terms, and your people will be happy.
The country’s first President, George Washington, said in his farewell address:
"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world".
Ah, that is all nice and good. However consider the practical applications and issues…
This policy, which can be packaged into the euphemism “America First” was the guiding policy for the first 100+ years of the country’s existence.
The guiding principle for the first one hundred years was to put Americans first in all national decisions and programs.
Indeed, America truly was independent.
America
This did not mean that America was “isolationist.” Far from it, of course. Thomas Jefferson explained at his inaugural that the policy was one of:
"Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none."
Do not laugh.
America, as founded, was a peaceful and positive and friendly life. It was a place where people formed communities and welcomed others and helped others.
Here was a land, the largest free-trade zone to ever exist, shielded by giant oceans, with a limited government that only had a few enumerated powers. The individual was master of his domain.
Consider…
The situation. The creation of “America”in a free-ranging (or apparently so) land, were Earth-shattering and life-changing — Prosperity, the likes of which have never existed before.
America was a prosperous and happy place. The government was run by people much like ourselves, and they held the same value and issues that we ourselves cherished..
But alas, after 100+ years passed, new generations with little to no connection (or care) for the ideas of Washington & Jefferson, decided to change course for the worse. The ‘Old World’ ideas of power and empire crept in through the back door…
Ideals were replaced by individual greed.
Roughly one hundred years after the founding, ideals were replaced by individual greed.
The new reality.
In this new embrace of the ‘Old World,’ the individual would no longer be the master of his domain. Government would be the master.
Sounds perfect, eh?
It is a parent-child relationship. One in which sociologists and psychiatrists consider to be very unhealthy for peer-to-peer interaction.
Big government only grows bigger. Eventually it takes and consumes everything and you, as a hapless civilian, gets trampled upon.
I know many Democrats believe that utopia is “just around the corner”. It’s just only if…
A new America…
Suddenly, in 1898, after much careful planning by those who had an insatiable lust for power, America would take on the role of conqueror.
And conquer it did.
In a single year, the United States took control of five far-flung nations, which contained 11 million people, all in one fell-swoop.
The military was no longer used for defensive and humanitarian missions to help American citizens. It became a money-making machine to serve the special interests of Washington neocon insiders.
Washington & Jefferson were tossed into the dust-bin.
Independence was cast aside. Intervention was the new game in town. In 1898, the slow death of “America First” was given its first real kick to the chops.
Of course, the original role of government would have to be transformed.
Transformed…
If America was to have an empire, it would have to take control of every American citizen’s earnings.
Once citizens no longer owned their earnings, and money. They became powerless. The people who had control of the money also had control over them. Americans became debt-serfs at the mercy of the government.
Enter President Wilson – Progressive Genius.
And so, in 1913, with the creation of the income tax, every American’s earnings would belong to the government first. The government would decide how much each person would be allowed to keep.
The government would decide.
President Wilson believed that the concepts of “Liberty” and “Freedom” were outdated and needed to be replaced with “modern” and “progressive” systems.
The government should decide what to do with people’s earnings.
Not the people.
Not the individual.
The government should decide.
American government today. It is far, far too powerful. This is the complete creation of President Wilson.
It’s all so progressive…
…
A nightmare!
What a drastic change for the worse!
The big enormous government takes and takes and takes. It threatens and puts the citizenry in a state of near constant fear, and what do they get in return? Nothing.
But an income tax would not be enough.
It wasn’t enough. Not for the people who thought that they were better then everyone else. Oh, no.
After all, government can only tax people up to a certain point before they decide to revolt. American politicians, of all people, knew that!
So an even more insidious institution would be created, also in 1913. It would be called The Federal Reserve. This central bank would be granted a monopoly on counterfeiting money.
Pure genius!
Take the blame out of the hand of the government and put it into an unaccountable entity. Such wonderful genius.
The Impact…
How much money?
As much money as the government needs in order to sprawl itself around the world. Every American would be forced to use this “money,” of course, even though its purchasing power would be constantly eroded. Legal Tender Laws would make sure that there was no way out.
It’s ok, though.
Americans voted for the people who decided to implement this system. You know…
… one hundred years ago.
And the people in charge allocated their responsibilities and veto power to other people…
…other people who turned it over to others…
…who allocated it to others…
… who decided to pass it on to others…
… who would work in the best interests to make the system work….
Sounds bad. Well, sorry, that’s the way it is.
And so, with an income tax and a printing press, the Land of The Free would morph, over the next 100+ years, into the biggest government to ever exist … the biggest military empire to ever exist … and the biggest welfare state to ever exist.
Aren’t you all happy?
American leadership knows just how to manipulate and cajole the American serf-cash-cows… erp, I mean citizens.
Freedom!
Washington & Jefferson would not recognize this at all. It’s literally the exact opposite of why the 13 colonies seceded from England.
It is.
Do not tell me that it is not the case.
This new era of empire would be dominated by “Bread and Circuses”. There would be plenty of food, and plenty of entertainment. What happens outside of America would remain out-of-sight and out-of-mind.
Yeah.
All political fighting inside of America would take place between two virtually indistinguishable factions. The gangs would passionately battle each other, but they would never battle the policy of empire.
Yeah.
Policy is the only thing that matters. But Americans would be flooded with a deluge of propaganda telling them that the ability to change politicians is a gift from the heavens. That, they would be told, is the only thing that matters.
Yeah.
And so, throughout this period, the politicians would certainly change, but the policy wouldn’t budge even a single inch. In other words, the politicians would change….but it wouldn’t matter!
And now…
So now we have two sets of 100 year periods in American history, each guided by completely opposite ideas.
The first produced liberty and prosperity in tremendous abundance. The second has produced a dependency, militancy and debauchery that has always been the lot of mankind living under the boot of power.
American today. This is what America is, it rules by force, and power.
The two one hundred year periods…
The first was underpinned by peace, trade, sound money, savings and investment.
The first one hundred years of America was one with solid and conservative values. It put the individual in full control of his domain, and kept the government small. People lived their lives as they deemed fit.
The second has been underpinned by war, sanctions, counterfeit money, taxes, and crushing debt.
The second hundred years has been nothing but war after war, after war. All funded with more and more, and more taxes. You know for “democracy”. Everything in this picture was destroyed with American bombs, and weapons, fired by American soldiers, and used by America to spread American “democracy”. This is the reality today.
And us, the American citizens…
Those who live are always presented with a choice — continue, or change?
America: CONTINUE or CHANGE?
For years…
Years…
Generations..
No one did any thing.
America. Americans live in a constant state of fear and are really too afraid to change anything. They are just content to yell about their “freedom” and the wonderful “democracy”, instead of doing things and fixing things.
Nothing.
Weaklings. Lazy. Slothful.
Our parents, grand parents, great-grand parents.
Change happens through individual choice. The ideas that we each individually embrace mean everything.
Real change can happen when we stop allowing the government to take over society. We need to throw away that connection. Because a corrupt government will corrupt society.
People!
A corrupt government will corrupt society.
Power lives and breathes on your belief in it. Why do you think you’re surrounded by propaganda at every turn?
For fun?
No! … It’s to keep you believing.
You do not need to live your life in fear. Prepping is well and good, but your government should be on your side. Not the other way around.
It’s to convince you that liberty is dead. And that government has the keys to your happiness. You just keep on following the media talking points. Nothing else matters.
Reality
However, if you change your belief, you change everything. You breathe life into the idea of liberty.
If you breathe life into the idea of liberty, you make America a much better place.
Washington left us with these wonderful words: “Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
The choice is always yours…..continue, or change?
And that is it.
Thank you Ron Paul.
Many Americans mistakenly believe that “America is the greatest nation in the world”, simply based on the longevity of the nation. That’s just pure ignorance. The nation had changed governmental structure numerous times.
Founded as a Republic.
Changed to a Democracy with the 12th amendment.
Centralized Federal Democracy during the Civil War.
Progressive Social Democracy under President Wilson.
Military Oligarchy under President Lindon Johnson.
Corrupt Military Totalitarian Empire today.
If you believe that what is written makes sense than you have two choices of action. They are [1] take immediate action to protect you and your family, or [2] ignore it.
If you ignore it, then that if fine. Just listen to me and do not allow the American propaganda to force you to live within fear. The world is not a terrible and dark place. Good people are everywhere and the world outside the United States increasingly looks like a modern scene from the televisions show “Wally and the Beaver”.
Avoid the American “news”. In all of it’s forms…
What in the world is the American government up to? I thought that the ninth amendment states that Americans have more rights than just the enumerated ones.
If you don’t believe that this is the state of affairs, then you can can ignore this and read CNN, MSN and WaPo to tell you what to believe and how to act.
Do not live your life in fear. DO NOT LIVE YOUR LIFE IN FEAR!
It’s your choice.
American news is really just propaganda. It is designed to keep Americans into a state of control. While real events and real news is kept secret.
Commentary and Conclusion
Kinda of boring,eh?
Well, that’s the way it is. America has stratified, and it is the rich vs. the slaves and there is nothing that exists in the “dead-lands” between the two groups. This is the sum total of the “wonderful” progressive utopia implemented by President Wilson in the early part of the last century and engineered to perfection today.
You like it?
You’d better, because there ain’t no way that you can change it. You are fucked.
You are fucked.
Fucked.
Welcome to being an American.
Put a smile on your face. It’s your life.
Rah! Rah.
“freedom”. “liberty”, “democracy”! Rah. Rah!
Hope you keep all your receipts to give to the IRS in April. You don’t want to suffer the consequences for “non-compliance”, now don’t you? It’s all part of that big “freedom” package that comes with “democracy” don’t you know.
Friendly IRS making sure that you will not cheat your owners out of their money. You had best obey or else you and your family will be shot dead. It’s all so very progressive and modern, don’t you know!
I hope you enjoyed this little narrative. You can find more, and better, discussions on other SHTF posts, Accessed here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Or, don’t allow the flying chunks and pieces to wack you in the eye.
The USA is in a long and slow death spasm. It began about two hundred years ago when the Republic was turned into a Democracy. But things went really to dog-shit when the oligarchy took control of American finances with the 16th amendment. The last seventy years has been one of a dying Empire. Now, it’s in complete free fall. And everyone is scrambling to get their “little piece of the action” before it’s all gone. That being prefaced, let’s spend some time and talk about what is going on.
The election of Donald Trump was a “last gasp” in a near vain attempt to thwart the up-coming train-wreck. But opposition forces has, for all practical purposes, deprived him of his Presidential powers. His team, has back-stabbed him, thwarted his efforts, and conducted sabotage.
Yet he remains. A shining star for conservatives to lay their hopes upon.
The opposition party is vacillating between hard-core Marxism (with a friendly face) and a totalitarian dictatorship. They are idealistic uni-mind elitists. They are dangerous and they will be lethal if they ever get a chance to regain the formal reins of power again.
Americans like to dismiss this reality as “politics”, but it is more than that. It is battle between rats fighting over a scrap of pizza while the ship that they are on, sinks under the cool, cool icy calmness of the ocean.
America today. The rats are fights for the scraps of a once great nation. It’s every rat for himself.
This is a reprint of the article titled The Empire: Now or Never by Fred Reed it was written almost exactly a year ago, on February 20, 2019. Nothing has changed. Instead, things have gotten worse. All credit to the author.
Many people I talk to seem to think American foreign policy has something to do with democracy, human rights, national security, or maybe terrorism or freedom, or niceness, or something…
It is a curious belief, Washington being interested in all of them. Other people are simply puzzled, seeing no pattern in America’s international behavior.
But, really, the explanation is simple.
The reason of course is Empire.
American Empire
Empire; that desire for which is an ancient and innate part of mankind’s cerebral package. Parthian, Roman, Aztec, Hapsburg, British. It never stops.
America is an Empire. It utilizes all of the resources under it’s control to maintain that Empire. It is run as an Empire, and aside from the stereotypical images of what a ruthless Empire leader might look like, behaves exactly like a nefarious global evil Empire.
When the Soviet Empire collapsed, America appeared poised to establish the first truly world empire. The developed countries were American vassals in effect if not in name, many of them occupied by American troops: Among others, Europe, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Latin America, Saudi Arabia, and Australia.
The US had by far the dominant economy and the biggest military, controlled the IMF, NATO, the dollar, SWIFT, and enjoyed technological superiority…
…Russia was in chaos, China a distant smudge on the horizon.
Powerful groups in Washington, such as PNAC, began angling towed aggrandizement, but the real lunge came with the attack on Iraq.
Current foreign policy openly focuses on dominating the planet.
American foreign policy is one of an global Empire dominating the planet economically, militarily and socially.
The astonishing thing is that some people don’t notice this.
Oil and Petroleum Dominance
The world runs on oil.
Controlling the supply conveys almost absolute power over those countries that do not have their own. (For example, the Japanese would soon be eating each other if their oil were cut off.) Saudi Arabia is an American protectorate,and, having seen what happened to Iraq, knows that it can be conquered in short order if it gets out of line.
The U. S. Navy could easily block tanker traffic from Hormuz to any or all countries.
From the central control stations within America, talented people within the deep state bureaucracy are working diligently to make sure that the Empire, and it’s objectives are being met.
A major purpose of the destruction of Iraq was to get control of its oil and put American forces on the border of Iran, another oil power. The current attempt to starve the Iranians aims at installing a American puppet government.
The ongoing coup in Venezuela seeks control of another vast oil reserve.
It will also serve to intimidate the rest of Latin America by showing what can happen to any country that defies Washington.
Why are American troops in Nigeria? Guess what Nigeria has.
Note that Iraq and Iran, in addition to their oil, are geo-strategically vital to a world empire. Further, the immensely powerful Jewish presence in the US supports the Mid-East wars for its own purposes. So, of course, does the arms industry.
All God’s children love the Empire.
China and Russia are the Threats
For the Greater Empire to prevail, Russia and China, the latter a surprise contender, must be neutralized. Thus the campaign to crush Russia by economic sanctions.
All threats to the American Empire must be neutralized. They must be vanquished by whatever means possible, and secretly. Were an outright and overt war to occur, the United States would not fare well.
At the same time Washington pushes NATO, its deployed militia, ever eastward…
Wants to station US forces in Poland…
Plans a Space Command whose only purpose is to intimidate or bankrupt Russia…
Drops out of the INF Treaty for the same reasons…
And seeks to prevent commercial relations between Russia and the European vassals (e.g., Nordstream II).
China of course is the key obstacle to expanding the Empire.
Thus… the trade war.
America has to stop China’s economic and technological progress, and stop it now, as it will not get another chance.
For the American Empire to remain firmly and fixed in control, China must be stopped by any methods possible. With biological germ warfare being the present preferred method.
The present moment is an Imperial crunch point.
America cannot compete with China commercially or, increasingly, in technology. Washington knows it. Beijing’s advantages are too great:
A huge and growing domestic market…
A far larger population of very bright people…
A for-profit economy that allows heavy investment both internally and abroad…
A stable government that can plan well into the future.
And America’s Strengths…
America?
It’s power is more fragile than it may seem. The United States once dominated economically by making better products at better prices, ran a large trade surplus, and barely had competitors.
Today it has deindustrialized…
Runs a trade deficit with almost everybody…
Carries an astronomical and uncontrolled national debt…
And makes few things that the world can’t get elsewhere, often at lower cost.
Increasingly America’s commercial power is as a consumer, not a producer.
Washington tells other countries;
“If you don’t do as we say, we won’t buy your stuff.”
The indispensable country is an indispensable market.
With few and diminishing (though important) exceptions, if it stopped selling things to China, China would barely notice, but if it stopped buying, the Chinese economy would wither.
Tariffs, please take note, are just a way of not buying China’s stuff.
Since
the profligate American market is vital to other countries, they often
do as ordered. But Asian markets grow. So do Asian industries.
“Strong-Arm” Tactics
As America’s competitiveness declines, Washington resorts to strong-arm tactics.
It has no choice.
A prime example is the 5G internet, a Very Big Deal, in which Huawei holds the lead. Unable to provide a better product at a better price, Washington forbids the vassals to deal with Huawei–on pain of not buying their stuff. In what appears to be desperation, the Exceptional Nation has actually made a servile Canada arrest the daughter of Huawei’s founder.
The tide runs against the Empire.
A couple of decades ago, the idea that China could compete technologically with America would have seemed preposterous. Today China advances at startling speed.
It is neck and neck with the US in supercomputers…
Launches moon-landers…
Leads in 5G internet…
Does leading work in genetics…
Designs world-class chipsets (e.g., the Kirin 980 and 920) and smartphones.
Another decade or two of this and America will be at the trailing edge.
The big “elephant in the room” is the American use of biological germ warfare against China. First the destruction of the chicken industry, then the destruction of the pork industry (by using custom made drones) and latest is the attempt to wipe out a significant portion of the Chinese population using the COVID-19 coronavirus at Wuhan.
America’s damage is self-inflicted.
The American decline is largely self-inflicted.
The US chooses its government by popularity contests among provincial lawyers rather than by competence.
American education deteriorates under assault by social-justice faddists.
Washington spends on the military instead of infrastructure and the economy.
It is politically chaotic, its policies changing with every new administration.
The first rule of empire is, “Don’t let your enemies unite.” Instead, Washington has pushed Russia, China, and Iran into a coalition against the Empire.
It might have been brighter to have integrated Iran tightly into the Euro-American econosphere, but Israel would not have let America do this. The same approach would have worked with Russia, racially closer to Europe than China and acutely aware of having vast empty Siberia bordering an overpopulated China. By imposing sanctions of adversaries and allies alike, Washington promotes de-dollarization and recognition that America is not an ally but a master.
It is now or never.
If America’s great but declining power does not subjugate the rest of the world quickly, the rising powers of Asia will swamp it. Even India grows. Either sanctions subdue the world…
Or Washington starts a world war.
Or America becomes just another country.
To paraphrase a great political thinker, “It’s the Empire, Stupid.”
Conclusion
You do not need to believe me. Just look at how Russia, China and India are handing things today. Turn off the American propaganda bubble, and listen to what other nations think, and how they are handling things.
This COVID-19 coronavirus event is being treated by China as a DEFCON ONE military event against a biological weapons attack.
Just because CNN is not report it, does not mean that it is not happening. It is just that you, and your fellow countrymen, are unaware of it.
The American mainstream, left-ALT, and Alt-Right media are propaganda channels that the American government utilizes to control the population. They do not, and NEVER reflect, the true and real reality.
The United States is pushing, pushing, and pushing. The anti-Russia and the anti-China propaganda war is at a fever pitch. The last time we saw such media pro-war intensity was World War II.
I personally think that the “Genie is out of the bottle”, and unless something radical will happen, American neocons will drive America straight into Nuclear Armageddon. And do not be under the misguided impression that America will win. No one wins with Global Nuclear Annihilation. Especially when it will be full-spectrum with nuclear, germ, biological and chemical war.
No one.
No one wins with Global Nuclear Annihilation.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. I have many more in my SHTF Index, here…
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I well remember watching this in Indiana. We had picked up a cheap VHS at the check-out lane in Walmart. This video looked promising, but I really didn’t expect too much. But, boy, oh, boy was I wrong. It was awesome. It’s one of those under promoted, and under-reported movies that are just wonderful. It’s a movie about a group of hilariously incompetent Martians that try to take over the world during Halloween. OMG!
Kathy: "But dad, they're not really bad. They're just stupid."
And are they ever stupid. You’ve got a Martian pilot that sounds like a mutant Jack Nicholson, a most excellent duck costume, a tinker-toy mechanic, and a pile of super fertilizer alien shit. It’s pure awesomeness.
My favorite character is the Martian pilot. He’s a real hoot.
After mistaking a Halloween re-broadcast of Orson Welles' classic radio adaptation of WAR OF THE WORLDS for a real Martian invasion, a group of moronic Martians shows up on Earth looking to conquer only their plans go awry as they find themselves truly out of their element and in reality all alone.
This really is often quite good and funny, with some decent lines (just check the memorable quotes) to boot. It will most likely appeal to Sci-Fi fans. This has passed the test of time for me as seeing it again recently it proved much better than I expected it to be. Despite a cast made up of no-name stars, this may just be the funniest Martian invasion ever put to film. Interestingly enough, the Martians themselves seem to represent almost every classic Action Hero/Sci-Fi Hero stereotype there is (cool 50s teen, fighter pilot, fearless astronaut, brave soldier and kooky scientist). Fun for the whole family.
"Prepare to DIE! Earth Scum!"
- Space_Mafune
Spaced Invaders – the pilot discusses his problems with the town sheriff.
Why so unknown…
While perfectly harmless, Spaced Invaders is a kid’s movie that had the potential to be something a little bit more than a silly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles knockoff.
Halloween night. A War of the Worlds rebroadcast. Except, this time, the humans know it isn’t real. It’s the Martians that don’t.
The idea is a nice flipping of history and, with throwback practical effects, it seemed that this production from Touchstone Pictures was destined to be something special.
Except it wasn’t.
The movie was skewered by critics at the time of its release and ignored by audiences.
Crippled with a throwback vibe many were not expecting, the madcap flick was disappeared from theaters as quickly as it had arrived.
And is slowly being rediscovered by net-citizens all over the internet.
The Characters:
I first saw this movie in 1990 when it first came out on video. I agree that it is total nonsense, but it is also one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. The very idea that a group of "advanced aliens" would be running for thier lives from a bunch of country hicks is totally side-spliting. Why do all science fiction movies have to be about murderous beings? This group of Imperial Martian Atomic Navy misfits reminds me of some of the idiots that I knew in the army! No wonder they were left on asteroid patrol while the rest of the fleet went to war. Leave this movie alone. We need more like it.
- boomryoung
The Martian crew, each wearing a different uniform from well known science fiction movies, sit around a campfire and discuss their situation.
Sheriff Hoxley – He just moved to this small town and already has an alien invasion on his hands.
Mr. Wrenchmuller – Some of the farmer’s lines are
exceptional for a movie of this kind. When faced with losing his farm
he morosely asks, “Why did I have to go and get old?”
Mr. Klembecker – Total bastard who owns the liens on many farms in the area, including Wrenchmuller’s.
Kathy & Brian – She is the sheriff’s daughter and the owner of an awesome “Alien” costume. He is dressed as a duck, but deadly with a trash can lid.
Blaznee – Martian pilot who sounds and acts a lot like Jack Nicholson.
Capt. Bipto – Senior officer aboard the Martian’s ship. Limited duty? Yeah, you could say that.
Lt. Giggywig – The gung-ho, kill them all, sort
of alien invader. Lucky for us that he will not start shooting until
someone notices him. Nobody pays the little guy much attention.
Dr. Ziplock – Whatever those are embedded in his eyes, they look like they hurt.
Cpl. Pez – As the FNG, he knows his place. Cowering behind the others is his only hope for survival.
The Enforcer Drone – Remember the Russian
political officer in “The Hunt for Red October?” Now turn him into a
lethal robot. Blasted to smithereens.
Each Martian has their very own personality. One is the leader, one is the scientist, one is the Jock… oh each one is unique and super silly.
Normally the best way to annoy me in a film is to include some reference to Orson Welles. But here is a sci-fi comedy quoting the War of the Worlds broadcast.... and it is gold! The very concept of a small bunch of diminutive,aggressive and stupid aliens being mistaken as kids in Halloween dress is magnificent. Don't be fooled by the notion that because it seems like a kids' movie it is unsophisticated - it isn't, there's a lot of hidden treasure... A gem!
- Balthazar-5
The Plot:
Giggywig: "Look, when a vastly superior alien culture comes all this way to take over your world, certain basic laws of planetary conquest apply. For example, when someone points a quad-vected hypothermic cosmo-blaster at you, it's a fair bet you are about to become toast."
While the rest of their fleet gets its butt completely whipped during an ill conceived attack upon Arcturus, an asteroid patrol ship full of Martians intercepts a stray radio broadcast coming from Earth. As luck would have it, the station they tune to has “The War of the Worlds” playing.
The little green menaces are ecstatic!
Earth is nearby; they can join in the carnage! The patrol craft departs from the asteroid belt and heads pell-mell for Big Bean, Illinois.
The Martians encounter some trick-or-treaters.
Looking at some of the negative posts, you really have to wonder what some people do for fun....
I was lucky enough to see the film during its all-too-brief theatrical run. The audience laughed its heads off. I'm watching a tape of it as I type and it's still dang funny!
It's also got a sweet side, with unexpected turns of genuine pathos. The late, great Royal Dano is especially effective as the lonely, down-on-his-luck farmer Wrenchmuller. Ariana Richards and J.J. Anderson are great as the lead kids. And the actors in the Martian suits, although limited to mime, do a great job
Another thing to look for is the background details. The film is full of homages, pastiches, and references to other SF and fantasy films. Take a look at the Martian costumes next time. One of them is wearing a Marty McFly costume, another is a Ghostbuster, a third is in a House Atreides uniform, and a fourth is wearing a Last Starfighter flightsuit.
- davidemartin
I hope that all the “Invader ZIM” fanboys have taken notice at this
point. Short aliens, really hyper, sort of goofy, with big heads and
advanced technology (let alone the Martian’s crest of arms and the
little robot).
In Big Bean things are not entirely without strife. Klembecker is
snatching the land from under poor farmers. The greedy twit wants to
capitalize on the town’s new highway off-ramp. One of Hoxley’s first
calls is to deal with Wrenchmuller. The elderly man was about to walk
into the twit’s office with a double barrel shotgun. The scattergun was
unloaded, but Wrenchmuller begins looking for shells once Klembecker
appears and starts acting like an evil banker. The situation is
diffused. Later, the sheriff drops his daughter off at a Halloween
party.
I've watched this movie so many times the video is worn out. It is a movie I can put on whenever I need a good laugh. The farmer is hilarious, the duck boy is too.
It's an overall feel good movie.
Even kids 12 and up can watch it without being inundated with sexual innuendos, violence and cursing. The TNT award at the end is the best... "well, you can just say your prayers." LOL Oh yea, and so are the two old guys and the old woman after the martians fly by them when they are crash-landing on earth - "okay, go get the bucket"
It's great! I think kids under 10 might be frightened by the enforcer drone, maybe.
I don't know though, with all the crap they see on TV on a regular basis, it might not be. So go out an rent it today! If you have Blockbuster Rewards(TM) program, you can use one of your free rentals and you'll enjoy.
- becca239
The patrol ship arrives on Earth with a bang; it crashes into
Wrenchmuller’s dilapidated barn. The old farmer, with the help of his
trusty dog, expends a lot of effort trying to capture, or at least
photograph, a Martian. Only Blaznee is left aboard though, because the
others gleefully embark upon a campaign to crush humanity. Bipto
quickly runs afoul of traffic. More precisely, a truck. He is pried
from the grill of Klembecker’s vehicle by the gas station attendant.
No, no, no – he is not dead. In fact, the resourceful Martian clamps a
mental control device onto Vern (the attendant). It turns the poor guy
into a cross between Christopher Lloyd in “Back to the Future” and
Christopher Lloyd in “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.” The two begin
building a super weapon.
This movie is to Halloween what the hilarious "Christmas Story" is to Christmas: both are relatively low-budget, no-big-name-stars type films...and both are two of the absolute greatest and funniest movies available, both seasonal CLASSICS!!!
"Spaced Invaders" comes galloping out right from the start with warmth and humor and a superb cast of characters...all five goofy Martians, Klembecker the Realtor, Russell the deputy, Vern at the "fuel dispensing depot" and so many more!
You just have to see this movie to believe it, and, like "Christmas Story", it just keeps getting better and better with each viewing, and you pick up on fun little things each time!! MOST DEFINITELY A TEN!!!
- michael_shell
Elsewhere, Kathy, Brian, and the other Martians (a robot too – the
Martians’) are being chaperoned around town by a heavyset lady. Only on
Earth a short while and already consigned to the back seat of a station
wagon. Ha! Despite waving around deadly alien weaponry, the poor
little Martians are treated like spoiled brats by the frazzled mother.
Lt. Giggywig does not help either, he keeps threatening her with total
annihilation. The woman finally throws all of the green invaders out of
the car. Kathy and Brian bail too.
The two main characters of the Spaced Invaders movie.
Blaznee continues fixing the ship, along with parrying moves by one
annoyed deputy and Wrenchmuller. The little fellow has everything in
hand until the radio station reveals that the broadcast is science
fiction. The Enforcer Drone decides to eliminate the entire inept crew.
It zaps Blaznee, but he survives. Knocked unconscious and toted into
town by Wrenchmuller as proof that they are being invaded, but alive.
Anyone who does not find this movie funny, does not understand simple comedy. This movie is not a complex comedy, it is full of one liners, and sight gags, and will make anyone who wants to laugh, laugh... The alien who is doing a Nicholson impression will crack you up!
- John Wersan
The pilot wakes up just in time to crawl out of the truck bed. The
excited citizens are further distracted from looking for him when the
rest of the crew broadcasts an ultimatum. Surrender now Earth scum!
The Martians heroically blast a silo with their portable cannon. What
results is a deluge of popcorn, which has the positive effect of
temporarily swamping the Enforcer Drone (it had been closing in for the
kill). Blaznee dashes back to the ship as several truckloads of shotgun
wielding hicks converge on the destroyed silo.
Did I mention that the aliens are inept? Oh, also be it known that Kathy and the little robot become friends.
I understand many will think "Spaced Invaders" a lame farce about little green men trying to take over Earth; but believe me, compared to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," which I have just finished watching with my family, "Spaced Invaders," along with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", makes me weep with nostalgia for how low Disney has fallen in quality. While "Spaced Invaders" is the film of least quality of the trio I mentioned, it nonetheless has a cheeky sense of humor, with a wonderful script and actors (er, voice-over artists for the Martians) who make this film highly watchable (and with no lame CGI effects of dragons or fireballs to ruin the fun!).
The Martians themselves make a great team. Their antics and delusions of grandeur are insanely fun to watch. One person compared the ostensible military commander of the Martians to Invader Zim, the protagonist from the eponymous Nickelodeon cult classic, and I think it is an apt comparison. Why does one Martian have a Jack Nicholson voice? I don't care, and I love it. Enjoy the futile attempts of the Martians to get their jalopy of a spacecraft to go airborne, and their desperate fight against the hicks and yokels of Big, Bean, Illinois. The human robot slave is one of the coolest sidekicks I've seen, and his creation, a robot made from tractors and other farm machinery, is one of the best special effects I've seen in a Disney movie. How can you hate his best line: "the smell of battery acid makes me thirsty!"? Answer: you can't.
This is one movie where you root for the alien invaders all the way. The human, denizens of a small Midwestern farming town, are made to be less than sympathetic characters, especially the wicked banker named Clembecker (or whatever his name was). One of the good humans is a brilliant example of character design, a crazy, wiry old farmer named Wrenchmuller who has a way with words and with nitroglycerin. The kid in the duck costume who also speaks with a lisp is also fun to watch, though he isn't in the film all that much.
Don't take "Spaced Invaders" too seriously as a film, nor look for any important theme or message. Sit back and enjoy Disney before CGI and Jerry Bruckheimer eliminated any camp value the company once had.
- michael_the_nermal
Faced with numerous American bred fans of the Second Amendment, Dr.
Ziplock activates the “distress-o-matic.” The device should summon the
ship to the beacon’s location. However, the ship is still not fully
repaired. It goes hopping across empty fields with Blaznee struggling
to kill the autopilot. It crashes to a halt at the terminus of a dead
end road. The Martians (all of them) pile inside, then the angry locals
arrive and start shooting at the ship. Idiots! It flies through an
asteroid belt! Your weapons are useless! Bunch of dolts (apply to
either group, as you desire).
If the creators of this film had made any attempt at introducing reality to the plot, it would have been just one more waste of time, money, and creative effort. Fortunately, by throwing all pretense of reality to the winds, they have created a comedic marvel. Who could pass up a film in which an alien pilot spends the entire film acting like Jack Nicholson, complete with the Lakers T-shirt. Do not dismiss this film as trash.
- knappws
The sheriff tries to calm everyone down. Then the Martians emerge from
their patrol ship. They are surrounded by a metal ring. It is none
other than the “Donut of Destruction!” (DOD for short.) This device
will obliterate a sphere one million miles in diameter, but leave what
is inside the donut unharmed. The exact usefulness of the DOD is called
into question by everyone present. Sure, the invaders will be
unscathed. In the middle of a rapidly expanding ball of plasma, but
unharmed. Unfortunately, this means they will be left “unscathed” in
the middle of space once the planet and everything around them (ship
included) is gone. Fat lot of good that thing is.
The Martians wisely decide to run away and rethink their plan.
This movie is not for everyone. You're either bright enough to get "it" or you're not. Fans of sci-fi films who don't take themselves too seriously definitely will enjoy this movie. I recommend this movie for those who can appreciate spoofs and parodies. Everyone I've recommended this film to has enjoyed it. If you enjoy Monty Python or Mel Brooks films, you'll probably enjoy this one. The voice characterizations are done in a tongue-in-cheek manner and the one-liners fly fast and furious.
- joseph_lauer
As silly invasion movies go, this is pretty good. The costumes are better than average and you can quickly begin to identify individual Martians by their voices. Besides, what could be more fun than a bunch of enthusiastic, but hopelessly inept, invaders from Mars? Armed with lethal weaponry, I might add.
The head Martian orders this crew to take over the Earth. OMG!
Things I Learned From This Movie:
Hoxley: "Where is Kathy?"
Mrs. Vanderspool: "She got out with your Martian surfer nephews."
Hoxley: "Mrs. Vanderspool, do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?"
There is such a thing as too many pockets when you are looking for your shotgun shells.
Police radar guns go up to 3,000 mph.
Nose cone art is alive and well on other planets.
Too much chocolate is bad for anybody, regardless of physiology.
Extreme speed limit infractions are punished with the death penalty in some states.
Never fire a plasma cannon at a silo full of unpopped popcorn.
Dynamite is a farmer’s best friend.
The aurora borealis are caused by spacecraft dumping their toilet systems into Earth’s stratosphere.
Zany and fun -- that's all this movie is about! Don't think about trying to read too much into it. If you do, you'll be sorely disappointed. It's just a farcical take-off on monster movies and contains some real good slapstick moments. No violence, no sex, no foul language -- safe for the kids and fun for the adults!!
- wjeffer
Stuff To Watch For:
2 mins – That would be a CR-1398977 “Cactus” heavy assault cruiser.
20 mins – Captain, you really should look both ways before… …never mind.
25 mins – What does he think it is, a potato bug?
45 mins – Ten feet of rope could have saved you a lot of trouble.
50 mins – RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST AN OFF-RAMP!
53 mins – Humans: 1, Martians: 0, Cats: -1
63 mins – You know, the Martians’ heads look a
lot like watermelons. I wonder what they taste like? (I am, after all,
an unevolved savage.)
74 mins – The little scout ship can implode and take the universe with it? Sounds like cause for a recall.
Being from a small town in Illinois myself, I can instantly relate to this movie. Considering the era it was made in, the townsfolk look uncomfortably like a lot of people I grew up with.
Yes the plot is so-so. And yes, the Acting is not going to get nominated for an Oscar anytime soon.
But that isn't the point. The point is to suspend reality and just have FUN.
And this movie has Fun aplenty. From the greedy,uncaring banker to the well meaning,but dimwitted deputy, this movie was made to poke fun at the SciFi genre and small town living at it's best.
Who can't smile at the sight of the Enforcer Drone or the Vern Droid? and I LOVED the FarmZoid.
Wish I had one when I was growing up. Overall, considering the technology they had available at the time, this is a pleasant romp into one's childhood, when you could sit back on a Saturday afternoon, Popcorn in hand, and laugh at the foibles of small town living.
This is a movie I would watch again and again, if for no other reason than to poke fun at myself and my small town ways.
- johnboy1260-1
Conclusion
This is a gem of a movie not just for people who like fun and quirky premises, but who love the history and traditions of Sci-Fi and Classic Hollywood movies.
Each alien of the Martian crew is the embodiment of a classic Sci-Fi character or member of Hollywood royalty. As such, it’s pure pleasure watching them bounce of each other and the residents of Big Bean, Illinois.
If I were you, I’d stop being so serious and instead gather your loved ones around the video monitor. I’d spend the time making up some fried chicken, some fries and /or coleslaw and/or some mashed potatoes. Get some biscuits, and a couple of cases of icy cold beer and enjoy yourselves. Life is about spending time with friends and family, and this movie is just silly enough to tie it all together.
"Spaced Invaders" is one of the funniest movies, I´ve ever seen. I don´t understand, why this movie didn´t get better critics, it´s funny, harmless and sweet.
I first watched it, when I was 11, and I really fell in love with it... 2 days later, I got it on VHS :-P Till today, I´ve shown it to many friends, and they all liked it, but nobody knew the movie before.
I think, that´s the problem, nearly nobody knows it, so nearly nobody can like it...
This movie never got a real chance, that´s sad, "SI" has really the potential of a comedy like "Monsters Inc." or "Spaceballs". Ok, enough displeasure - What I really wanted to say, is that, if you ever want to laugh your head off, watch it!
Even if you don´t get mad about it, it´s worth watching! -->
Prepare to laugh, earth scum!
- Amy_Brigman
Inspiration for the most wonderful Spaced Invaders movie. All that is missing are some mugs of icy cold beer, mac and cheese, and good friends to share the moments with.
I do hope that you enjoyed this post. I have other posts on movies in my Movie Index, here. Check them out…
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because I just don’t care to.
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Great Tyrant: "You're very pretty pretty pretty."
Barbarella: "My name isn't Pretty Pretty. It's Barbarella."
I first watched this movie as a young boy in the local movie theater. I was a fan of science fiction, but this movie confounded the daylights out of me. I did appreciate all the nudity. That was cool. But I just could not follow the plot. The spaceships did not look like what I expected, nor did the roles that the characters played. I watched the movie and then went home and forgot about it.
Time moved on.
I refused to have any association with Jane Fonda. She turned me off with her “radical” anti-American stances, and her adoption of progressive Marxism. I did not agree with her. I did not appreciate her. I did not like her, and I wanted nothing to do with her.
Time passed.
Barbarella in the orgasimatron.
I got older. I started to travel the world. I started to see how different the United States was, and how out of step it was with the rest of the world, it seemed to me that the United States was in a very small bubble and that everyone inside was convinced that the lands outside that bubble were horrible, terrible places. And those people had no idea just how manipulated and fooled they were. Or, how dangerously manipulated they had become.
So I accepted this reality.
Not my problem. Nothing that goes on in the USA is my problem. I just wanted to chill out. Drink my wine. Eat delicious food and play with pretty girls.
Then… the Coronavirus hit.
China treated it as a biological weapons attack and went into complete national lock-down. And I, I was stuck inside my house with nothing better to do than to watch movies and drink beer. (I had a stack of beer that I was meaning to get around to anyways…)
And as such, I started to watch old movies from the 1960’s. For often these movies are not behind a paywall. (Most aren’t. The James Bond 007 movies, for some strange reason, were.) Anyways, the movies from the 1960’s and the 1970’s were awesome to watch. They are cheap entertainment and great escapist enjoyment.
Barbarella isamoviethatisascampyascampcanbeandinspiteofthelowbudgetsets, crudeexecutionofplotandovertlysexualdialogue, itholdsyourattention. This film isbasedonaFrenchcomicbookcharacteranditexposesyoutothewonderfulworldofthe bizarre, 1960sera, fantasyfilmculture... andthat'swhyIloveit.
-Amazon
And what a glorious escape to the 1960’s it is!
Barbarella has no trigger discipline. Barbarella (1968) – Jane Fonda
The Characters:
Barbarella – Jane Fonda! Ted Turner’s little communist is sort of an intergalactic special agent.
Duran Duran – HEHEHE! (Sorry, his name gives me
the giggles, and according to Leonard Maltin that is where the band got
it from.) Mad scientist intent on conquering the universe, generally out
to cause hate and discontent. Eaten by the Magmous.
Pygar – Last of the ornithothropes, he’s an Angel, literally.
The Great Tyrant – Attractive and evil ruler of Lythion, she likes the word “pretty.”
Dildano – Inept revolutionary who wishes to overthrow the evil empire, zapped into the fourth dimension.
Professor Ping – Kind scientist who assists the unfortunates banished into the labyrinth, also zapped.
Marcan – Barbarian guy in charge of herding wild
children (Now that’s daycare.), he saves Barbarella from the evil
kiddies and introduces her to some old fashioned loving…
Alfie – The ship’s computer.
The Magmous – A presence which surrounds the city and feeds off evil, it appears to be a huge lava lamp.
Barbarella is a movie that is as campy as camp can be and in spite of the low budget sets, crude execution of plot and overtly sexual dialogue, it holds your attention. This film is based on a French comic book character and it exposes you to the wonderful world of the bizarre, 1960s era, fantasy film culture... and that's why I love it. It's a "gem-in-the-rough" waiting to be discovered by a new generation of fantasy film lovers. Enjoy !
-Mark
Barbarella exploring her new world.
The Plot:
Ho Chi Minh’s favorite exercise queen stars in this amazing piece of science fiction, oh yes, Jane Fonda.
What really amazes me is the movie’s PG rating, considering the fact that Barbarella’s antigravity breasts go bouncing through more than a few scenes sans clothing. (Plus there’s another woman hanging from leather straps later on.)
Don’t try and give me all that, “It was the 60’s.” crap either.
Our heroine is dispatched to prevent a new weapon from destroying the harmony of the known universe.
This is a teenage Jane Fonda with very little (often no) clothing on. The plot is silly as are some of the scenes but I was a teen when I first saw this movie and a film featuring an often naked Jane Fonda in many very explicit sexual encounters still arouses my now 67 year old senses. A a serious Sci-Fi flic it is not, but it is a snapshot of 1960's culture presented in an often hilarious manner.
-Old Wet Cat
If one thing was threatening harmony it is this movie’s groovy soundtrack, I was torturing the cat by humming snippets to it. (Kitty actually fled the room.)
After her spaceship crashes things really get weird, she encounters wild children, leather robots, Pygar, the Great Tyrant, and carnivorous parakeets.
When Barbarella finally locates Duran Duran (Hehe! Sorry…) the scientist is a madman, seeking to conquer the universe and give her a fatal orgasm.
Yes, that’s right… death by organism.
I didn’t stutter my friends, he straps the woman into a strange “pleasure organ/piano” thing and plays a tune which should kill her with ecstasy.
It doesn’t work, though.
This is a really amazingly funny movie, at once a good sci fi, sex goddess-creating classic, it is also deliciously quirky. I mean, can you picture a spacecraft whose interior is fur-lined?
Fonda is Barbarella, a kind of futuristic bimbo - in part the product of a highly developed permissive society - who is on a mission to, well, you have to see it to believe it. Somehow, Vadim really pulls it all off, though I suppose it is best to see this in an altered state of consciousness, 60s-style. Really, tho, it is hard to stop laughing at this, while taking in an engaging story and unforgettable imagery. Really, this is a classic.
Interestingly, while living in France, I bought a bunch of Barbarella paperbacks out of curiosity and discovered to my delight that the movie is actually very faithful to the original comic - even the dialogue follows the crytptic utterances of the characters closely.
Fonda is perfectly cast. She is stunningly beautiful in youth, at the apex of her stardom in many ways, and you can tell she is having fun with this role. But the acting of the others is also very good and fun, from DuranDuran to the sexualised angel in his nest.
Recommended warmly. This is weirdness that works extremely well.
-Robert J Crawford
Barbarella shorts out the machine and it bursts into flames.
Soon after this the Great Tyrant sets free the Magmous and all heck breaks loose.
The end.
If that wasn’t warning enough I’m telling you now: This movie is all over the place and insanely groovy.
It is somewhat difficult to describe Barbarella. It is bizarre, sexy, funny, and a definite 1960s sci-fi classic.
It is not a movie for children (no way is this a PG- it was originally rated M for mature audiences).
There is nudity and sexuality interlaced throughout the movie, and I must say that Jane Fonda was definitely in her prime when she starred in this (eye candy supreme).
The bizarre scenes (including the metal-toothed biting dolls) could give kids (and adults) nightmares.
There are some cute little blue bunnies hopping around though. The special effects are extremely funny, but that adds to the total feeling of the movie. In other words, do not view this film with a serious mind.
The cast includes some very good actors (including Ugo Tognazzi, John Phillip Law, Marcel Marceau, David Hemmings, and Milo O'Shea) who must have had some fun making this movie. And, without a doubt, Jane Fonda was the perfect choice to play the lead role.
-D.Dalton
After the shock of watching Barbarella strip out of her spacesuit in zero gravity (She’s obviously laying on plate glass with the camera above her.), I noticed the red shag carpet covering the spaceship’s interior top to bottom.
For a state of the art spacecraft her ship had some issues, like the acid trip view screen and a disturbing habit of colliding with solid objects, like a planet.
Let’s not forget this is the future and all the messy pleasure associated with that disgusting habit of sexual intercourse has been overcome…
… now you just take a pill and hold hands…
…until Barbarella gets her pipes cleaned by Marcan, then she does agree “Wider is…” I mean, “The old ways are better.”
Barbarella strapped to the orgasimistron.
I find "Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy" to be a psychedelic, costume, music, metal teeth doll, Jane Fonda and shag fun fest.
This 1968 film was made after the French comic books Barbarella by Jean Claude Forest which the movie in my opinion does a good job of giving you an almost comic book feel.
Most will likely find the special effects to be of low quality, especially if you prefer the special effects of today. I however, find them to give all the more comic book feel of the time and enjoy the psychedelic appearance of many of them.
The film was directed by Roger Vadim who was also married to Jane Fonda at the time. In short if you like 60's "B" movies with the features I describe in the first sentence this film might be for you. If however, you don't like 60,s "B" movies and the items I mention in the first sentence you will likely disagree with my five star rating, so be warned.
-The Tally Ho
Things I Learned From This Movie:
Orange shag carpet is the ultimate in spaceship decor.
Stingrays are used as draft horses on other worlds.
Sadistic children scream like a flock of seagulls.
In the future sexual gratification is achieved by taking a pill and holding hands. (My thoughts exactly…)
Orchids are not very filling.
Angels make nests.
Public suicide chambers need to be clearly marked.
Parakeets are carnivorous.
Having some woman smoke me in a bong is the stuff nightmares are made of.
The world will be swallowed by an evil lava lamp monster.
The movie is very 1960’s and includes all those psychedelic elements.
Stuff To Watch For:
5 mins – RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT! (Wait, this is PG?)
17 mins – Earth’s number one agent was just captured by two eight year old girls.
19 mins – These weird kids are feeding her to mechanical dolls.
43 mins – It’s a flying sundae of death!
47 mins – Lady, how exactly do you plan on hiding his wings?
64 mins – Should have paid the electric bill Dil-dan-o…
72 mins – Now that’s a password.
76 mins – RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT!
77 mins – Is there a guy in that bong?
79 mins – Duran Duran (Hehe!) has her in this weird piano/organ thing, it’s sucking her clothes off… …and, um, doing other things.
Barbarella with the other chick that undresses for the movie. I forget what her role was, but I did admire her knockers.
Conclusion
I refused to watch this movie for years.
It’s an emotional thing that I had retained since Jane Fonda bad-mouthed the USA back during the Vietnam war. While I do not like what she did, I can now see that the USA somehow got way, way off course and became a war-mongering empire that uses people like myself as “cannon fodder”.
Anyways, I by chance, watched this movie and was astounded by the immersion in 1960’s culture and absolute weirdness. I am frankly astounded by it. It’s pure, and it’s sublime.
It’s a great movie to watch. Especially while drinking beer and eating a delicious sandwich. Don’t you know. Have your wife make a Jack-Reuben up for you, you will not regret it.
A fine home-made Jack-Reuben sandwich. Goes great with chips (especially Wise potato chips – perfectly salted) and a nice (must be icy cold) beer.
All glory to the Great Tyrant!
Barbarella with the flying man…oh, what’s his name.
I do hope that you enjoyed this post. I have others in my movie index. You can reach it here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
I am old enough to remember going to the movie theater to watch this flick. It was on a Saturday afternoon, and my folks gave me a dollar to watch it. I was ten years old. Back in those days we watched movies for fun, or barring that, to stay out of our parent’s hair and let them have some time alone.
Here’s some fun “elevator pitches” for science fiction movies.
How about having astronauts land on an asteroid that’s on a collision course with earth? Wait, it gets better— to save the world they have to use drilling equipment to bore holes in the rocky surface to plant nuclear bombs inside and blow the renegade asteroid into space dust.
Not working for you?
Okay, try this one on. How about having an alien life form that looks harmless in its infant state brought aboard a space ship. Then it breaks loose, transforming into a monstrous killing machine that slaughters the crew one by one!
- Horror News
Lately, most of the larger (high budget) movies out of Hollywood are nothing more that venues to ram-rod social justice “improvements” down our collective throats. This policy certainly started long ago. Maybe back during the Clinton administration, but it most certainly became heated up to a degree of red-hot insanity during the Obama presidency.
Now we have a 007 “James Bond” flick that going to have a new transgender LGBT “woman of color” in the role of secret agent. Funny how she looks like a morph of Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. Yuck!
The face of the new progressive, modern “James Bond”, 007. This woman looks like someone morphed Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton together. Oh, how enlightened! How so very progressive!
Anyways, let’s get back to the movie at hand; Green slime.
This is a movie perfect for the eleven year old boy inside of all of us. It’s got a cool retro 1960’s sound track. (It’s got) Cool miniatures with all sorts of detail like something out of Fireball XL-5. It’s got spacemen exploring a rogue asteroid and carrying space rifles (!). It’s got a love triangle with a handsome man with a chiseled face, and the girls all look like they came out of a 1960’s playboy magazine.
And it’s got monsters.
Lots and lots of monsters.
Right out of the gate you can feel the movie itching to get to the good stuff– that song barely lasts a verse and a chorus before Robert Horton, as Commander Jack Rankin, arrives at space station Gamma 3 ready to head up a very dangerous mission– landing on a strange asteroid and exploding it out of its collision course with Earth.
-Trailers from Hell
What’s not to love?
I saw THE GREEN SLIME in 1968 at the Omni Center Theatre in Atlanta Georgia with my brother and cousin and was awestruck and terrified as only a 6-year-old boy seeing a movie called THE GREEN SLIME in 1968 could be so I’ve always had a huge soft spot in my heart for this film (I was lucky enough to attend a 16mm screening at Cinema Wasteland a couple of years ago and it held up great).
I mentioned three things that I think make THE GREEN SLIME so enduring.
One. The title, THE GREEN SLIME is so perfect and unpretentious that Saturday matinee audiences in 1968 had to know exactly what was in store and I can’t imagine anyone feeling let down.
Second, THE GREEN SLIME has one of the funkiest title songs in cinema history. Written by Charles Fox (who would go on to write the themes for THE LOVE BOAT and HAPPY DAYS) and accompanied by a frenzied drum beat and blaring electric guitars (someone edited the song to clips of battle scenes from the film and posted it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKESo2ofEcw).
THE GREEN SLIME theme is a blast and was even released as a single!
Third, the poster is my absolute favorite from the 1960’s. The bold colorful artwork features the emerald cretins in an action-packed outer space battle with flying spacemen while holding a terrified Luciana Paluzzi in a skin-tight metallic spacesuit in the foreground (an outfit like nothing she wears in the film).
The poster is a throwback to the “bug-eyed monster” posters of the 1950’s and the artwork even graced the cover of “Famous Monsters of Filmland” #57 in 1969. I have an original THE GREEN SLIME three-sheet (40 x 80 inches) and it’s proudly displayed in my den along with my Resin Green Slime model kit and vintage “The Green Slime are Coming!” button.
- My Favorite Movies: The One About the Green Slime That I Saw at the Theater When I Was Six
Greenslime movie poster.
The Characters
The plot of THE GREEN SLIME play like a precursor (or parody) to ARMEGEDDEON and then ALIEN as a runaway asteroid, known as Flora (!), is determined to be on a collision course with earth.
Rugged astronaut Jack Rankin (Robert Horton) is ordered out of retirement to command Space Station Gamma 3, an enormous ring-shaped outpost populated by a detachment of scientists and military personnel, and stop Flora before it destroys our planet.
Onboard Rankin meets his old flame Lisa (Luciana Paluzzi) and her fiancée, Commander Vince Elliot (Richard Jaeckel), Rankin's former close friend.
Rankin, Elliot and the sinister Doctor Halvorsen (Ted Gunther) land a shuttle on the asteroid, depositing explosives in an attempt to nuke Flora.
They succeed, but a small wad of pulsating green jelly adheres itself to Dr. Halvoson’s spacesuit and is brought back to the station unobserved.
The crew celebrates with a groovy party featuring nurses in short skirts and high heels shimmying to 60’s electronic tunes, unaware that the oozy green stowaway is morphing into a deadly tentacled creature out to electrocute everyone in its path.
Attempts to kill the slimy beast backfire as each drop of its blood grows into a new monster until Gamma 3 is infested with these waddling critters collectively known as…
...The Green Slime!!
- My Favorite Movies: The One About the Green Slime That I Saw at the Theater When I Was Six
Commander Jack Rankin – This guy wouldn’t stop
smiling if a rabid weasel was in his shorts; he would just grin and give
you a thumbs up.
Commander Vince Elliott – In charge of the space
station and not very happy Rankin is senior to him. A rash man who gives
one Green Slime a hug. (That means he dies.)
Lisa Benson – Woman torn between loving Rankin and Elliott.
Dr. Halvorsen – Head researcher aboard the space station, he gets seriously fried.
General Jonathan Thompson – Gruff senior officer, his main role in this movie is sweating.
Captain Martin – Elliott’s right hand man, for some reason he looks natural in a white motorcycle helmet.
The Green Slime – Alien life form which feeds on
energy and even a single drop of blood can regenerate into new
creatures. Incinerated.
The Green Slime has the secret weapon every B-Movie needs- Richard Jaeckel.
Jaeckel was a prolific, academy award nominated actor who bounced between supporting roles in big budget films and starring turns in B-pictures. In fact he was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for Sometimes A Great Notion (1970) right after he starred in The Green Slime.
What made Jaeckel so special was that (like Shelly Winters) he always delivered a class-A performance in any film, regardless of its quality. If you watch The Green Slime carefully you’ll notice that he’s always moving, or emoting— giving the audience a little something extra.
He never steals scenes from his co-stars, but he’s always the most interesting thing onscreen.
- Horror News
Exploring the mysterious and dangerous asteroid. Yikes!
THE GREEN SLIME was an American/Japanese co-production shot in Tokyo with a mostly American cast (extras are Japanese or played by American servicemen stationed in Japan) and a Japanese director giving the film a stilted, off-the-wall international quality.
It was shot in English but crudely post-dubbed and the whole cast has English monikers regardless of their ethnicity (exotic Italian beauty Luciana Paluzzi plays…..Lisa Benson!).
Square-jawed Robert Horton (a TV actor best known for starring in WAGON TRAIN) delivers a comically wooden lead performance as the arrogant and condescending Rankin.
As Elliott, Richard Jaeckel seems to have more fun with his role and he makes a good space hero (Jaeckel stayed in Japan to costar in the equally absurd LATITUDE ZERO before returning to Hollywood and Oscar-nominated the next year for SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION).
Luciana Paluzzi had made a splash as Bond girl Fiona Volpe in THUNDERBALL in 1965 and makes for equally sexy here.
Director Kinji Fukasaku went on to make cult items MESSAGE FROM SPACE in 1978 (a gonzo STAR WARS knockoff starring Sonny Chiba that featuresmassive sailboats in space!) and the controversial “teens- killing-teens” epic BATTLE ROYALE in 2000.
THE GREEN SLIME’s toy-like special effects are hardly realistic, but there are a ton of them and most are ambitious and imaginatively designed. The spaceships look like models because they are models and the fact that they are way overlit doesn’t help.
It’s the monsters themselves that make THE GREEN SLIME so memorable.
Squat and lumpy, with one giant red eye surrounded by many smaller eyes, the rubbery, tentacle-waving gremlins were played by Japanese children in clumsy suits. They seem more than a bit silly today but, with their high-pitched electronic squeal, were pretty nightmarish to young audiences in 1968.
- My Favorite Movies: The One About the Green Slime That I Saw at the Theater When I Was Six
The Plot
Packing more goofy models and props than most Godzilla films comes this lovely piece of b-cinema.
I still want to know who starched Commander Rankin’s face while he was
smiling, either the guy is a loon or he’s on some serious happy pills.
Prozac boy gets things done though; when you have a rogue asteroid
hurtling toward Earth he’s the man to call. (Not Bruce Willis, mind
you.)
... a brilliantly artificial and eerily vibrant landscape which writer Richard Harland Smith accurately described as perfectly evocative of the Major Matt Mason space station and lunar base command toy sets of the 1960s, reproduced with full-scale reverence and a dash of pop sci-fi psychedelia.
-Trailers from Hell
Fighting the oozy and tentacled greenslime monsters.
When the astronauts land to place their bombs they find the asteroid is
inhabited by strange blobs of glowing slime that are drawn to the
equipment. After blasting off and barely escaping the massive explosion
(Imagine an orange and brown papier mache’ ball with half a stick of
dynamite inside and you’re golden.) the heroes return to Space Station
Gamma 3.
Just because The Green Slime predates Alien and Armageddon doesn’t mean it’s some visionary piece of science fiction cinema. On the surface it’s a subpar space opera with rubber-suited monsters, cheesy miniatures and a cast of B-movie veterans struggling to kill aliens while keeping a straight face.
But despite its myriad of deficiencies The Green Slime is a charming time capsule of mid sixties camp.
Watching its colorful “mod” sets, plastic helmeted astronauts and man-in-a-suit monsters is like sprawling in a bean bag chair, sipping a can of Schlitz while feeling the luxurious shag carpeting beneath your toes.
Scientists aboard the Gamma-3 space station discover a massive asteroid careening towards earth.
UN Space Command dispatches their bravest and squarest jawed astronaut (Robert Horton) to command the mission to destroy the deadly celestial body, which looks like a cat toy you’d find moldering under the couch.
But our hero has a long simmering feud with the space station’s commander (Richard Jaeckel) who stole his fiancée (Luciana Paluzzi) who happens to be the space station’s resident doctor. Putting their differences aside they land on the asteroid, drill holes, plant nukes and zip back to the space station, barely escaping the atomic blast.
The earth is saved, but during their escape a small bit of green slimy alien life adheres itself to an astronaut’s space suit and hitches a ride to Gamma-3.
Due to the station’s high oxygen (or testosterone) levels the little blob of space spooge sprouts into a menagerie of man sized monsters shooting electricity from their tentacles.
Will the astronauts defeat the alien invaders? Will the big haired sexy doctor dump her beau for her brick headed ex fiancé? Will our two heroes finally give in to their seething homoerotic tension and be as god made them? Its all part of The Green Slime experience.
- Horror News
Unfortunately, for everyone, some of the slime was carried back on a
space suit. It soon evolves into a tentacled creature! So the thing
kinda looks like Sigmund the Sea Monster – he never fried anyone with
several thousand volts of electricity. (Yes, I know it’s the amps that
get you.) This gives a nice excuse for Elliott and Rankin to have a
power struggle over who is in charge, the latter a firm believer in
“shoot first ask questions later.”
This poor doctor went back into the midst of the greenslime monsters to get his papers. Bad movie Doc. Bad move.
Another unfortunate fact about Green Slime: even a single drop of blood
will grow into a new monster. So now you have dozens of pissed off
Sigmunds running around electrocuting the crew, good job Rankin.
In the end humanity is saved by crashing Gamma 3 into Earth’s atmosphere, incinerating the Green Slime. Thank goodness something stopped them besides THROWING your laser rifle. The characters often unload at point blank range without effect. Soon as they throw the weapon it goes right through the monster’s eye. Even if you don’t like watching “spacemen” wearing white 1960’s police motorcycle helmets firing “laser guns” at waddling masses of latex monsters you have to love the title song.
Fighting the deadly greenslime inside the space-station.
Things I Learned From This Movie:
Asteroids look like a Gobstopper which has been under the refrigerator for ten years.
Movies are less interesting from a phone’s objective.
Pulsing green muck plays heck with interstellar golf carts.
People can stand up and walk around while experiencing ten G’s.
Never let a bitter exgirlfriend tend your wound.
Alien life is best represented by green soap suds.
Space station security guards wear white motorcycle helmets with a little space symbol on them.
Golf carts are not four wheel drive.
Laser rifles work better as spears.
Never hug an ungrounded Green Slime.
The most charming thing about The Green Slime is how the filmmakers lovingly revel in its cheesiest elements.
Those miniature rocket ships don’t zip by in an instant— instead the producers proudly linger on them as if they were unveiling 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968).
The unconvincing rubber monsters aren’t confined to fleeting, shadowy glimpses— Nope, they’re given long loving close-ups under brighter lights than a baseball game.
I love the filmmakers for having the balls to do that. Plus Alien never had a rocking psychedelic theme song. Why Richard Delvy’s title tune, actually entitled The Green Slime, never made it onto Lenny Kaye’s classic psychedelic music anthology Nuggets is beyond me.
The Green Slime’s other achievement is compressing entire plot of Armageddon into the first fifteen minutes. Why couldn’t Michael Bay have done that?
- Horror News
The Gamma 8 space-station.
Stuff To Watch For:
2 mins – Nice miniatures, ahm.
13 mins – For some reason this scene is making me horny.
25 mins – Bad dubbing!
48 mins – White motorcycle helmets?
64 mins – RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST A FLASHLIGHT!
70 mins – The explosion took out half of the model space station, but not that flimsy door?
75 mins – Elliott could use some boxing lessons.
83 mins – Jack, I’m going to kick your smiling self in the testicles. What do you think of that?
Our brave hero and attractive love interest.
The Green Slime was a coproduction between America’s MGM Studios and Japan’s Toei Company LTD. But oddly for a Japanese based production, the entire cast, right down to the extras, is entirely western. This presented Toei with a genuine casting challenge.
As a result the crew of Gamma-3 are a mix of struggling American fashion models plucked from Tokyo’s fashion runways and American sailors on shore leave from the nearby Yokosuka Naval base.
That’s right, those glamorous young models were thrown together with guys who’d been stuck on an Aircraft Carrier deployed off Vietnam for six months!
Take a good look boys… cause this is what you’re fighting for!
Hidden among the space stations impossibly pretty female crew is blonde haired Linda Miller who, a year earlier, had been the lead in the Japanese American co-production King Kong Escapes. If you ever wake up with a hangover skip the Advil and coffee and try a double bill of The Green Slime and King Kong Escapes— your pain will be forgotten.
- Horror News
Conclusion
In 1968 my eight-year-old pals and I absorbed the adventure of The Green Slime and took that template to the playground, turning every jungle gym or set of monkey bars into the Gamma 3. Looking at The Green Slime today I confess I am not seized with the urge to run over to the nearby elementary school and start back up where I left off 46 years ago. After all, there are plenty of reasons to put away childish things, to bid a safe farewell to childhood and our nostalgia for it. (My bathroom scale insists this is so.) But for me The Green Slime beautifully recreates a playground of the mind to match the one I had to leave behind.
-Trailers from Hell
This movie will never get an Oscar award. But it’s a great movie for a rainy day, and fantastic to spend with a case of beer, some friends, a pet and loyal dog (or cat), a loved one and some potato chips. Not the flavored kind, mind you, good “old fashioned” American style salted chips… with dip. Lots and lots of dip.
This is the perfect movie to enjoy when you are stuck inside (like during a biological weapons attack like I am) or whether it is raining cats and dogs outside. Make sure that you have an ample supply of chips, dip and beer. I’ll tell you what!
In closing, if you wake up craving a piece of nostalgic science fiction fromage The Green Slime is exactly what you’re looking for. And don’t forget to sing along to the psychedelic theme song (later covered by the Fuzztones) for a totally immersive experience. Everybody sing… You’ll believe it when you find… Something sreamin’ ‘cross your mind… GREEN SLIME… GREEN SLIME!
- Horror News
I do hope that you enjoyed this post. I have other movie review in my Movie Index. Please feel free to check them out…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
The pictures and narrative took place in the time period from say 10FEB20 to 18FEB20. This was during the height or the peak of the “Wuhan Coronavirus COVID-19” event. The Chinese government treated this event as a biological attack, and the entire nation and military went into DEFCON ONE. I, as an expat, had to make a “visa run”. It was scheduled months before, and the deadline was rapidly approaching, so I left my apartment and ventured outside to experience the world around me.
Visa Run
But first, we need to explain what a “visa run” is.
Avisarunisashorttripoveraninternationalborderdesignedtoresetthevisaintheoriginatingcountryofthetrip. Manycountrieswhichhavevisa-freetravelorgrantvisasonarrivalhaveasetamountoftimethatyoucanbeinthecountry.
-What is a visa run?
Most nations are not like the United States, where you enter and you are not monitored or have to check in with the police or anything like that. I live in China, and I have to make periodic checks to both the Chinese customs, and the police stations to keep them aware of what I am doing and what I am up to.
My time for a visa run was fast approaching, so I made a visa run to Macao via the HK-China-Macao bridge. It was easy for me to do. The bridge is right in front of my house. So I took the bus, and one stop later, I was at Customs and Immigration.
Life during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
Well, the life is… boring.
Everyone stays inside of their house. They have food and groceries delivered, and watch a heck of a lot of movies. It’s terribly boring. Imagine being cooped up in your house.
And that goes double for the dog.
He doesn’t understand. He’s just sitting there crossing his legs and whimpering. He keeps looking at the door, and pleading with his eyes. But, nope. Sorry dog. You can bring in an unwelcome “visitor” very easily as you vacuum up every scent you can detect.
So, anyways…
I geared up and ventured forth outside of our place.
Gearing up
Well, the first thing is really simple. Aside my my clothes, I made sure that I wore an outside windbreaker that I could wash in the washing machine when I arrived home, and had a bottle of disinfectant to spray my clothes and shoes when I got back into the house.
Of course, I wore a mask and latex disposable gloves.
All set to go to the Customs office and renew my visa.
Some people wear a hat and then wash it with the clothes upon returning. But I figured that I would just wash my clothes upon arrival and take a full shower. Which I did.
Getting the Bus
Since I live so close to the HK-Macao-Zhuhai bridge, I just went to the bus stop and took a bus. It’s an easy ride, and almost all buses (with the exception of #99) goes to the main station near the Customs office.
That center is a massive mall / customs / transportation hub about the size of an airport. This was my first time visiting it, and while I had seen it from the outside for years, I had never ventured inside the complex.
Bus stop near my house. Takes you straight to the Customs / Immigration center complex.
There wasn’t too many people out and about. Firstly because I left at nine in the morning. But, of course, the big and real reason is simply because everyone is staying inside their homes, and not venturing out unless it is an absolute emergency.
View from the bus stop. You can see Macao across the bay. The buildings to the right are in downtown Zhuhai, known as the Gongbei district. The buildings to the left are the apartments, and casinos of Macao. At night they are really rather pretty and the lights of the “Sands” is clearly visible.
Here’s another view from the bus station. I like to call this road “Billionaires road” because the houses are all expensive, and large. Most people don’t need a five bedroom apartment with four bathrooms, and three rooms for maid’s quarters.
Bus station facing the apartments for the well-heeled.
Here’s another view of Macao. Mostly Zhuhai has excellent weather. This day trip was no exception, with temperatures in the low 70’s and sunny. There were a few people out. One or two jogging with face masks on…
The cleaning workers who attended to the trashcans, the sweeping of the sidewalks and the tending of the bushes. All of whom wore masks, gloves and protective attire. They were also busy disinfecting everything multiple times.
China does not have a Welfare Program like the United States has.
If you want a hand-out you need to beg for it. The government will give you "Jack Shit". However, they will offer you work. Anyone who is willing to work can get a job, a small paycheck, a roof over their heads in a small barracks and three meals a day.
The work that is provided is most the janitorial and gardening type, of which you can see in the early mornings.
Another view of Macao.
At the Customs
Now I am not permitted to take pictures and photos inside the Customs complex, but let me tell you that it is enormous. It is, like many of the Chinese public works; new, clean, modern, and well maintained.
It is built and designed to be the transportation hub for the Zhuhai – HK – Macao nexus and it’s size belays that fact. It is part customs complex, part mall, and part airport / bus and ferry center. It’s enormous, and I was a little taken aback by the size and scope of it.
Now, do not get the wrong impression.
The regular customs office in Gongbei is also enormous. And it is full of people and much used. But I figured that I would take a spin at this new complex for two reasons…
One, it’s next door to where I live.
Two, the bus to Gongbei (#99) is not available due to the COVID-19 out-break.
So after getting lost and finding my way, I made it into the complex and it was empty!
You see, the buses from HK to Macao has stopped because of this Coronavirus event. That that represents the bulk of the passenger traffic to the customs complex.
So of the thirty entry stations, only one was open, and there were only four people in front of me. Amazing!
Inside of the Macao-HK-Zhuhai customs complex.
Things went well.
People were nice and polite as they always are. They don’t growl at you like the American customs officers in Chicago do. Nor will they pull you aside for “special screening”. They asked me what I intended to do in Macao and I told them that I was just making a visa run. They said “Oh, ok”, and let me go on my merry way.
The layout was very convenient.
The Macao customs officer was sitting right next to the Chinese customs officer. You took two steps and were processed immediately.
They didn’t have the customs robots that I was used to working with. But it really didn’t matter to me. That novelty wore off a year or so ago. I was just happy to talk to a real person. Though they did do a bio-metric scan of my face and left palm print. Which is pretty normal.
The only thing out of the ordinary were the four health check stations that I had to go through.
Leave China.
Enter Macao.
Leave Macao.
Enter China.
But these weren’t really a hassle. I just filled out a form and got my temperature measured at my forehead, my wrist and scanned by thermal body imaging.
Leaving the Complex and back into China.
Because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) almost all of the stores, the shops and the restaurants were all closed. It was just like being in a large airport early in the morning before anything opened up. It was quiet and spacious and lonely. The only things moving about were the cleaning ladies, the observation drones, and the mobile police robots.
The police robots were just these big white Segway robot thingys. They were going up and down the boulevards and hallways announcing the situation and imploring people to be extra clean, not to touch surfaces and if you feel ill to report that to an attendant immediately.
Leaving the customs complex. It was all quiet and deserted as all foot and pedestrian traffic was on hold during the emergency.
Arrival Home
All in all, the entire event took under an hour. This is perhaps a world record! Sometimes it would take me a full half a day to complete the customs system. You might get behind a tour bus and have to spend hours waiting in line. But today the event was smooth and easy.
I hopped on the bus and a few minutes later I was back home.
Leaving the bus station and heading back to the house. I took this picture crossing the street from the bus station, and you can see the enormous HK-Macao-Zhuhai bridge in the background.
Of course, there are these big red banners telling everyone to be extra careful. To stay inside. To avoid other people and if sick tell the authorities. It warns about intentionally spreading the virus, and speaks of being a unified nation fighting the virus emergency together.
Warning banner on one of the fences. These banners are everywhere.
Eventually I was able to enter my complex. I passed the complex guards who opened up the gate for me, took my temperature and registered my time in their login clipboard and police APP on the phone.
Of course, my apartment complex consists of various buildings and each building requires an electronic FOB or pass-code to unlock the doors. On the doors are the government notices about the emergency and a quick QR code to immediately contact the police for help and assistance.
Front door to my building. Note the coronavirus notice proudly displayed on the doors.
Registering with Police
But wait!
I’m not done.
You see, I still must tell the police that I exited China, and returned. I do this for every visa run. So I needed to take a hop over to the local police office and register into my database.
Grab a bus to the police station. So I went to the bus station and grabbed a bus. The police station is only a few stops away, and so I grabbed a bus and rode it to the nearby police station.
There’s only a few people on the bus.
When the bus arrived, a second employee came down and measured my forehead temperature. He made sure that I wore a mask. If I did not wear a mask, I would not be permitted onto the bus.
I also wore latex gloves. About half of the people wore gloves. Most were those very flimsy PE gloves that you use when you are eating messy foods like sloppy joes, or fried chicken. But I, have a supply of gloves, from some of my chemical businesses. So I am well equipped in that arena.
About three years ago, all the buses in Zhuhai were replaced with electric buses. They have been running without problem now for these last three years. They are really quiet and if you are not careful, they will sneak up on you and you might miss you bus.
I know, it’s happened to me more than once.
They normally play music, soft Chinese music either Chinese pop or Chinese traditional music, but the buses were quiet. No audio on any of the buses, and the few people on the buses were quiet. They all sat apart from each other and were afraid to touch anything.
Quiet bus ride, with quiet passengers. Riding on a quiet street. Most people were either inside, working remotely to their offices, or getting things fired up int he factories. Very few restaurants were open.
The television on the buses normally shows videos related to public safety and local news. Here the videos were all about the safety of Chinese citizens and steps that you must take to survive this emergency, and to contribute and participate in the health and well-being of the country.
Public announcement on the bus video monitors.
Arrival at the police station wasn’t a big deal. They were getting back from their lunch break and lunch nap. One officer came over and updated my records. I’m in the system, so he just updated the information and I was free to go. Maybe took me two minutes.
Then I went and walked a little bit. To stretch my legs and maybe grab a bite. I heard that both McDonalds and KFC remained open through this emergency, and I wanted to see if I could get myself a burger, fries and a coffee.
I could have taken a bike, they are everywhere. But I just felt like walking.
Walking down the street in Zhuhai.
Maybe the reports were wrong.
I did see some food delivery bicyclists riding about and delivering food. This was (yellow) Kangaroo, and (blue) Er-Le-Ma.
I didn’t see much going on.
Some decontamination trucks were spraying the roads and saturating the trees. These trucks were white. Not the military camouflage that you would expect. The Chinese, I guess, only feel the need to paint military vehicles in olive green colors if they will be used in battle-zones. For urban and civilian environments they tend to be either white or black.
It’s a cultural thing I guess.
View down the street. Some cars are out and about, but mostly things are awfully quiet.
Back to the house a second time
Well, nothing is going on. So I just took another bus and went home. Everyone is inside and factories are just opening up. Most of my factories are at about 60% staffing, and it’s a slow slog. Things won’t be back to normal until March.
Meanwhile we are still taking orders.
Some of our Australian and New Zealand clients want us to source alternative suppliers out of China, and we have. They are about 40% more expensive, take about 25% longer to make and have an unverified quality history.
The rest of the clients (those in Europe and Africa) are still placing healthy orders with us. In fact the orders out of Europe are on the increase. Especially for Germany and England.
Anyways, I got off the bus and started the walk home from the bus station.
Front of a nearby apartment complex.
But the signs are there, and very few critters are moving about. I did see a feral tabby cat. She just looked at me with my mask on my face. I guess that I must have looked strange to her.
I said hello, and went on my merry way. She then got up and slaundered in the opposite direction.
Another red banner.
Conclusion
This is just a narrative of my one trip outside my apartment during this biological weapons attack on China in January / February 2020. You don’t have to believe me that it is a biological weapons event. You can watch CNN and FOX and listen to what they say. But the Chinese government is treating it as a biological weapons event and that is all that matters.
SHTF is real, and preppers take note.
The reality, however, is not anything like you would expect. Its not a scene out of the “Walking Dead”, or some scene from “12 monkeys”. It’s something entirely different.
Anyways, this is what the REAL DEAL is like. It’s not the narrative that you might see in the American media. Whether it is FOX, CNN, or Alex Jones.
You all, be safe. Be happy and be healthy. Best Regards.
I do hope that you enjoyed this post. You can view more in my Trump Trade Wars Index…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
Summary: Life is too short to hide away in your basement eating potato chips and drinking king-size Cokes. You really do need to get yourself a pretty girl, start eating steaks, and drinking some fine delicious alcohol. I'll tell you what!
I have noted that a significant number of the negative comments on this blog come from non-native speakers of English. Their comments and responses are always about a “trigger phrase” that upsets them. They get angry at the phrase, and hurriedly type off an angry response to me.
A response that I do not print.
When I say…
"America is blowing up mud huts in third-world shit holes..."
I mean…
"America is wasting, time, money, and lives on things it has no business being involved in."
Jeeze!
Come on! Give me a break, why don’t you. I really don’t need some of the nonsense that spews forth from some of ya.
Yet, even the most childish responses and comments, I do ponder about. And in so thinking, I wonder what is going on. Some of the responses are predictable…
Radical progressive Marxist.
Flag-waving hard-boiled Pro-America cannon-fodder (in their 20’s).
University professor type.
Joe Smo with a beer in one hand and pork rinds in the other.
A 11 year old child alone at home.
The basement troll who lives for making life miserable for others.
A “know nothing”, know-it-all.
Well, this post here is for a different kind of person. It is one who I turned off by my use of the English language, and the way that I speak.
Hey! Bud! You’se got a problem with the way I express myself?
I well remember when my boss ordered me to change my signature. And being the beta chuck I was, I obeyed.
Never again.
Now I live my life on my own terms. If you cannot handle it, you can leave.
It is particularly true for those of you whom watched my video(s). I come across as energetic, impassioned, and convinced. I am not what people would assume an “enlightened”, or “knowledgeable”, or otherwise “well bred” person would look like, sound like, or act like.
I played those roles. I lived that life.
It sucked.
So now I’m just having fun.
I do not act like the stereotype of what I am supposed to be. That’s fine. Maybe I’m here to break some of those “glass barriers” of nonsense created to corral the ignorant. Eh?
You follow your own path.
You know, like Donald Trump, David Lee Roth, Pauly Shore, or Rodney Dangerfield.
Be unique.
Be you.
Pauly Shore and “Encino Man”.
Well, I don’t wear white robes or a wreath of clusters of gold coated olive leaves. I don’t have a halo. I have no red “bat phone” to God. I am a human, and I act like a human.
Deal with it.
I just wanna munch.
Some Notes
I find that many people are repelled by my use of American idioms.
They take them literally.
Mainly because the language is foreign to them, or that they use machine translation that does not convey American idioms very well.
Do not take the literal meaning of an idiom. It is a terrible mistake.
For instance, well imagine the confusion that would insure if you used direct machine translation for the following idioms…
Shit a brick.
Piece of cake
Behind the Eight Ball
Scoot over.
Ballpark.
Put lipstick on a pig.
Bought the Farm
Knock on wood.
Break a leg.
Jump on the Bandwagon
Break a bill.
It’s going to confuse the living shit out of people.
Who doesn’t want to get laid?
Here’s some of the idioms that I use (that some people are in an uproar over) and what they mean.
[1] Blowing up mud huts
The idea behind this idiom is that America is using weapons, very expensive weapons, to do things that are just simply not necessary. As well as being used for things that they are not designed for.
John Bolton, he is a neocon. He is the type of American that loves war. He wants to rule the world. He thinks that anyone outside of America are lowly animals, and can be killed or done with however he feels. He is ignorant, arrogant and dangerous. And today, he has power within Washington DC.
Here, the US military will fire a $30,000,000 missile at at low-value target. Like a car parked under a fig tree, a pile of bricks, and (my favorite) a cabbage patch.
What’s their malfunction?
They hate gardens, back yards, and farm animals?
American wars for the last 70 years have been proxy adventures.
The missile is designed to shoot down other high-value targets. It has expensive electronics, expensive stealth systems, and expensive counter measures. It is tested against simulations of the most advanced Russian and Chinese weapons systems. It is tested under simulated EMC and nuclear conditions. It is tested to be used under all extremes of weather from the hottest climate to the arctic winter.
But…
But it is being used to blow up and destroy something that it was not designed for.
It is like buying a very expensive steak, at the most expensive restaurant in the city. Then taking it and throwing it on the street for the village dogs to eat.
It’s a waste of resources, and a true shame.
The budget for the purchase of the Hellfire Missiles, and what the money could be spent on instead...
5,950 Hellfire Missiles – Housing & Smart TVs for 19,807 People
$654,500,000 – $248,558,282 = $405,941,718
$405,941,718 – Replacing 10,000 Lead Pipes in Flint
$405,941,718 – $216,000,000 = $189,941,718
$189,941,718 ÷ Average Monthly Grocery Expenses
$189,941,718 ÷ $214.75 = 884,478.3
When I use this idiom, I mean that the military should NOT be shooting these weapons unless it is in a defensive role to defend the citizens of the United States, on United States soil.
And they most certainly should not be shooting it at average families living in rural, undeveloped areas.
Donald Trump with a presidential national Security Advisor John Bolton. This neocon wants to use nuclear weapons against any threat; real or imagined against the United States.
We should call all the troops home. Stop killing strangers, and concentrate on things that really matters.
Like friends, family, good food and high times!
What, you don’t want to have fun?
Listen up! Pay attention!
This is how it’s done…
Party on, Earl.
[2] Third World Shit Hole
This is an American idiom that generally means a (crappy) poorer nation. It is used by most Americans negatively, but that is NOT how I use it.
When I use it, I mean it to be a small nation, minding their own business…
…and that America has no business being there at all.
It may or may not be corrupt (though, no other nation could approach the level of corruption that the USA has), and it may or may not have depreciated infrastructure. (Though many places in the USA would easily fit this description. Like Detroit for instance.)
War, war, war. Most Americans never heard of these places that America is involved in. After all, America is fighting eight simultaneous wars right now. Most Americans can’t even name all the wars, let alone point to them on a map.
In my mind, the term “third world shithole” means;
Small nation.
Far away nation.
Poorer nation.
A nation turned into rubble by the US Military / CIA / NED / NID. (Most of the smaller nations.)
A nation turned corrupt by the CIA and “pro democracy” regime change apparatus.
Conclusion
If you rely on computer, machine, or google translation services, they will fail you. They will give you an incorrect translation of this blog. Be advised, and take care.
Fun Fact:
The word " Covfefe " (the word that Donald Trump tweeted) is an Arabic word. It means "I will stand up". Google deleted this reference in their translation software, and the engineer responsible for the deletion of that entry came forth and described why he was told to delete it.
The internet is all about how stupid and silly Donald Trump is by misspelling an English word, when the truth is something very different.
Do not rely on internet software.
Being friends is much better than killing each other.
In my mind, there are many, many “third-world shit-holes” that I would be very happy living in. Seriously, like…
Bolivia
Chile
Zambia (Been there.)
Algeria
Cambodia (Been there.)
Indonesia (Been there.)
Burma
For me, I see these “far away” lands as refreshing alternatives to the nightmare that the United States has devolved into.
Refreshing. Live your life on your own terms.
The people live their lives easily, casually and spend time with friends, family and have fun. They do not worry about reporting their earnings to their governments, walking down the street, or driving too fast. They do not worry about drinking, smoking, or fishing. They do not worry about what their leaders are doing.
They are off living their own lives.
In my mind, many blown up mud huts” should still be untouched and standing. Not a smoldering crater in the dirt.
We should all be spending the time enjoying ourselves. Why not? Please tell me why not. Please tell me….
Life is far too short to waste it on war, death and destruction. That is my official take on these matters. I hope that you all agree with me.
Life is too short to waste on war.
We all should be enjoying ourselves. Singing, dancing, spending time with loved ones. Eating good and delicious food. Drinking the beverages that we enjoy and playing games and getting involved in activities that matter to us.
We should all be spending the time enjoying ourselves. Why not? Please tell me why not. Please tell me….
We should be spending time with pets, smelling nature, and honoring our God… no matter what you call him. Or how you worship or praise him.
Have fun.
Two girls are better than one…
… if you are up to the challenge.
We should all be spending the time enjoying ourselves. Why not? Please tell me why not. Please tell me….
We need to spend more time in appreciation of the good blessings that we have been entrusted with (by our God), and less time dealing with the evil machinations of others in power.
And yes. Whether you have someone cooking for you, or you are skilled and talented enough to make your own food, it does not matter. Cook some delicious food! And… EAT IT!
What’s stopping you?
I hope that I clarified some things here. Most people will shake their head and say WTF?
All Americans understand what those two idioms mean…
… though they might not understand why I am so aggressive in promoting enjoyment.
Don’t take things so gosh darn personally.
I mean that there should not be any kind of war or fighting. That we should spend the time helping others and improving the human species, not trying to fight each other so that some rich people get richer. I mean the top top 1% of the humans already have enough money to buy Jupiter, so what’s their malfunction? Eh?
True, but about 25% of my audience lies outside of America.
Bet ya all didn’t know that!
And misunderstandings do occur. I do hope that this can clear some issues up.
Let me be your guide.
I hope that you enjoyed this little post. I have more in my Happiness Index… here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
America is an empire. It is an oligarchy that is ruled and controlled by the wealthiest interests in the world, and many of them are neocons. These neocons that believe that power-projection will never result in “push-back” on American soil. To this end, they heavily promote the idea of mobile military platforms; fleets of aircraft carriers that sail the world and exert military influence where ever they travel.
My argument is legion against these mobile armadas;
The role of the American military should be defensive, not offensive. (Coast Guard NOT international Navy).
They are expensive.
They can be destroyed.
When fighting a nation that has the ability to fight back, the loss of an aircraft carrier would be the last thing that anyone should worry about. The loss of New York, Chicago, Washington and LA, should be what you worry about instead.
Keep in mind that Japan lost all of their aircraft carriers during world war II, and America lost a sizable number as well. They are NOT invincible.
Here is an article that expounds on that point. I think that it is a good read. Please check it out.
Translated by Eugenia. Recently, the American journal The National Interest published an article with a telling title: “5 Reasons Russia and China Might Not Be Able to Sink a U.S. Aircraft Carrier”. The author of the article discusses these reasons in detail. All of them are, by the way, pretty self-evident. I obtained this from the Russian translation by Eugenia. All credit to both the Russian translation and the original authors.
“Unsinkable” American Aircraft Carriers: Five Nonsensical Statements
So there’s five reasons, right…
The first one turned out to be (do you believe this?) that “the American aircraft carrier is big and fast . . . “.
The second one – “it has many weapons . . . “.
The third reason – “it is well defended . . .”.
The fourth reason – “it acts prudently . . . “.
And, finally, the fifth – “the American military technologies are the best in the world . . .”.
Such is a collection of simplistic propagandist clichés that the American propaganda machine is pounding into the head of the Western common man.
OMG!
It is important to understand that the National interest is not some “yellow” paper; this in an analytical journal that is expected to offer responsible and professional publications.
It is the voice piece for solid and thoughtful military planning and decision making efforts.
A Large And Fast Coffin With A Propeller
Let us take a closer look at the way the author of the article – an
expert and political analyst – explains to his readers why the American
aircraft carriers are invulnerable and unsinkable . . .
First Reason
OK, the first thesis. The American aircraft carries is indeed large
and fast. It has 25 decks; its maximal height is 80 meters; it displaces
100,000 tons of water and can carry 70, or even up to 90, aircraft of
different types.
Aircraft carrier cross section.
Unfortunately, one small detail spoils this lovely picture: a large target is easier to hit!
But the Americans simply cannot make their aircraft carriers smaller. The reason is simple: they are insanely expensive.
The carries have to be made in such enormous size, simply because if they are made smaller, more of them will be needed. Flexibility of the American aircraft carrier fleet would in such case increase, but the price would skyrocket.
Carl Vincent aircraft carrier.
Judge by yourself: a modern aircraft carrier costs the US approximately $13 billion (that is how much the newest “Gerald Ford” cost), and the carrier air wing (the Navy version of F-35) based of the carrier costs additional $7 billions.
Plus, there are the ships of the “carrier strike group” – multiple guided missile warships, destroyers equipped with Aegis combat system, and stealthy attack submarines.
Thus, one such group costs the Americans around $50 billion dollars!
Aircraft carrier strike group.
And, by the way, these $50 billions are never able to move as quickly as the “expert” in the National Interest asserts . . .
But in America nobody is concerned with such details.
The author does not shy away from stating:
“The aircraft carriers are constantly moving when deployed at up to 35 miles per hour – fast enough to outrun submarines – finding and tracking them is difficult.
Within 30 minutes after a sighting by enemies, the area within which a carrier might be operating has grown to 700 square miles; after 90 minutes, it has expanded to 6,000 square miles”.
It sound great but in reality not one American aircraft carrier can reach this speed. The maximal speed that it can maintain – for a limited time – is 30 knots.
The key word here is LIMITED time.
If anyone thinks that an aircraft carrier can immediately upon
entering the open sea accelerate to 30 knots (almost 56 km per hour) and
keep racing on the waives, he is very much mistaken.
This is impossible.
In reality, 95% of their time American aircraft carriers move in an economy mode at the speed no faster than 14 knots (about 26 km/hour). When airplanes take off or land on the carrier, the carrier is seriously limited in its ability to change speed or course.
An aircraft carrier is not a bike. If this floating airdrome turned from side to side all the time, pilots would not be able to make landings.
Soviet missile Granit being loaded into launch tubes
Another small detail: who would give to an aircraft carrier 30 min so it could escape from the battle zone?
Even the old Soviet missile “Granit” (note that the American still do not have anything like it), which our nuclear submarine cruisers of 949-project “Antey” type are armed with, fired from its maximal distance would reach its target in just slightly more than 500 second.
Cross section showing the anti-ship launch tubes.
This means that when a missile is fired, an American aircraft carrier would have time to get away from the point of its detection at its maximal speed to no more than 7.5 km.
Such distance is definitely within the range covered by the self-targeting mechanism of “Granit”. Thus, the missile will reach its target and, if not neutralized by the air defense systems (which is not very probable), destroy the target.
Furthermore, as the American “expert” should know, no one will fire at an aircraft carrier group just one missile!
Every our “Antey” submarine is equipped with 24 such missiles. Additionally, I believe, if the Chief of Staff of our Navy plans an operations to destroy an American aircraft carrier, such operation will involve more than one “Antey”.
The first submarine of Project 949 was laid down in the mid-1970s and was commissioned in 1980. In 1982 an updated and larger version (Project 949A) replaced the earlier version. In total thirteen submarines were constructed. The Oscar class was designed to attack NATO carrier battle groups using long-range SS-N-19 \"Shipwreck\" anti-ship missiles and targeting data provided by the EORSAT satellite system.
- Oscar-class submarine | Military Wiki
If all 24 “Granit” missiles are fired simultaneously, it will be all but impossible to intercept them. Most of them fly at a very low altitude: they creep just above the surface of the ocean.
Just one missile flies above – it guides the whole pack to the target. If the adversary destroys the guiding missile, it is immediately substituted by one of the remaining missiles flying below.
Project 949A Antey Submarine.
When the Soviet engineers designed these missiles, they incorporated elements of the artificial intelligence in their design: the missiles communicate with each other selecting their targets in such a way, so that two missiles accidentally do not hit the same small target.
For example, our missiles know how to select the main target, and if that target is an aircraft carrier, the “Granits” would not self-target the accompanying warships – they will target specifically the carrier.
In addition, the missiles know other little tricks that certainly will come as a “unpleasant” surprise for the Americans, such as the ability to interact with the Naval Space System of Intelligence and Guidance (NSIG).
It seems, however, that the author of this American article has not idea that NSIG exists. However, such a system existed back in the Soviet Union – named “Legend”.
It’s Russian descendant is “Liana” that has broad capabilities to detect and follow American aircraft carrier groups in the ocean. This system is capable of guiding missiles to targets even after their have been launched.
Liana is the second-generation Russian system for space-based surveillance and targeting. Work on the project began in the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- Ocean Surveillance - Liana - Lotus C and Pion-NCC
Obviously, no matter how good the weapons are or how sophisticated the detection system is – there is no 100% guarantee that an aircraft carrier will be destroyed by the first missile launch. However, the probability that by using all means at our disposal we will be able to sink it…
… is pretty high.
All the aircraft carriers in the world placed on one info-graphic.
Armed To The Teeth And Very Careful…
Let us find out who provides serious American journals with such analytical trash.
Who is this fantastic American “expert” that has no problem misleading his readers?
He is Loren Thompson, Chief Operating Officer of the Lexington Institute, a well-known organization, by the way. He is also a Deputy Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University where he taught strategy to graduate students and lectured at the Harvard University’s School of Government.
We can only guess what kind of strategy this expert in strategic
thinking taught his students. I think we can appreciate the quality of
the government officials trained on the lecture of this illustrious
“expert”.
But let us return to the reasons why we, supposedly, will never be able to sink an American aircraft carrier.
Second and Third Reasons
The second and third reasons, according to Thompson, is that an
American aircraft carrier “has lots of weapons and can defend itself . .
.” Who could have thought? Really, one immediately senses that he is
dealing with a true professional looking into the heart of the matter
An aircraft carrier is indeed loaded with weapons.
Thompson, however, does not seem to understand that these are offensive and not defensive weapons. A carrier is completely incapable of defending itself! The air defense and defense against submarines are expected to be provided by the accompanying ships.
During World War II, American Aircraft carriers were targeted and sunk.
Loren Thompson says that these ships are numerous and well armed, and that is why a carrier will never be sunk. I am almost afraid to remind that an attack on the carrier will not be conducted single handedly, either!
And I would like to interject, that a modern nuclear missile detonated 25 miles away would severely damage a carrier group, if not sink it entirely.
...and...
The purpose of a carrier group is to go up against nuclear-armed major powers.
During the Soviet regime, a whole regiment of missile-armed Ty-22 aircraft was designated for the destruction of one American aircraft carrier. This means dozens of airplanes. Plus submarines armed with cruise missiles. Plus other means of attack and destruction at our Navy’s disposal.
As history teaches us: 70 years ago during the World War II the presence of a large number of accompanying ships did not prevent the Japanese from sinking many an American aircraft carrier. In two years from 1942 to 1944 they successfully sunk as many as 11 of them!
We should think the offensive weapons advanced significantly since those times.
Fourth Reason
Tu-22 M3M bomber.
For example, the fighter-interceptor Tu-22 M3 (long distance supersonic missile-armed bomber – editor note). These Soviet-time airplanes are being thoroughly modernized, and the equipment of these newly modernized machines Tu-22 M3M will include, in particular, anti-ship new generation missiles X-32. For some reason, they are rarely mentioned in press, but these are fantastic missiles.
After launch, the come up to 40 km and fly at the speed almost 5 time faster than the sound. After coming upon the target, they descend on it almost vertically.
Russian anti-ship new generation missile X-32.
Today, the United States Navy does not possess any weapon even remotely close in its characteristics to our X-32. The Americans also do not have any air defense system capable of intercepting this missile . . .
That is why the fourth reason that, as The National Interest asserts, makes the enemy incapable of destroying American aircraft carriers is particularly important.
What is this reason?
Oh yes – they “do not take chances”.
When, perhaps, it would be better not to leave the base and go into the open ocean at all? It is so much safer . . .
But if you are out there . . .
Take chances or not, but on the way to the area of conflict with our (Russian) Navy (in the North Atlantic, for example) the American aircraft carries would have to pass through straits, narrow channels, where…
… naturally, our submarines and other forces would be waiting for them…
…and, according to the Russian customs, welcome them…
… with the “bread-and-salt” of cruise missiles seasoned with torpedoes, mines, and bombs . . .
In any case, the traditional Russian welcome for the aircraft carriers will be assured!
Captain’s quarters inside one of the American Aircraft Carriers.
Whether you are careful or not, but you cannot arrive from
Jacksonville, an American Navy base on the US East coast, to our shores
(for example, to the area of responsibility of the Northern Navy with
its mane bases on the Kolsky peninsula) bypassing several well-known
narrow channels and straits.
The Americans themselves during the Cold War constructed anti-submarine barriers in those places with the goal of preventing our subs from getting into the Atlantic. The best-known examples – the barrier along the line the North Cape – Medvezhyi (Bear) island and between Iceland and Faroe islands . . .
Fifth Reason
The last, fifth, reason of the invincibility of the American aircraft carriers, according to Loren Thompson, is the greatest achievement of his expert-analytical approach.
The reason is a fact self-evident for every American that the Americans are generally the best in the world and they possess the best technologies, including the military ones.
However, this is not exactly a fact.
For example, the Russian technologies of the anti-ship cruise missiles are definitely better than their American counterparts. Everyone who knows anything and learned anything knows that. In particular, the military experts are paying close attention to the Russian hypersonic missiles of the new generation.
The Americans do not appear to be amenable to reason but some of their allies are more or less adequate. Thus, recently the media in the Great Britain created a veritable hysteria on the subject of the new Russian missile “Zircon”.
When an aircraft carrier is lost, so are all the aircraft and air wings associated with it.
The first to raise alarm was the British newspaper TheIndependent.
It stated: “It is impossible to stop “Zircon”. Even the newest air
defense systems are yet to come to the British Navy will only be able to
destroy target at the maximum speed of 3700 km/hour, whereas “Zircon”
can reach 6000 or even 7400 km/hour”.
The Daily Star offered further development of the theme about the scary Russians:
“Russia produces deadly missiles capable of destroying the entire Royal Navy in one hit. A representative of the British Foreign Ministry believes that the Russian “Zircon”, which cant carry a nuclear warhead, completely changes the rules of war at sea. Our aircraft carriers simply could not be deployed where the Russians have these missiles . . .”
Another British newspaper, The Mirror, carried on in the same alarmist tone.
It wrote:
“The Russian missile moves with the speed twice as fast as the speed of the sniper bullet. It can send the most advanced ships to the bottom of the sea. The experts say that out Navy today has no defense against this terrible weapon.
The appearance of “Zircon” in the Russian arsenal make both our aircraft carriers costing $7 billion each useless”.
The Daily Mail added the final accord to this panicky choir:
“Russia created an invincible cruise missile that travels at 4600 miles per hour and is capable of destroying a British aircraft carries with one hit. This deadly missile “Zircon” can be launched from the land, sea, or air carriers.
It covers 155 miles in 2.5 minutes. Its appearance make the very idea of the aircraft carrier groups meaningless, and we simply do not have anything to counter it with”.
The Americans might, of course, hope that our “Zircon” is a threat exclusively to the British aircraft carriers.
Regardless of what they think, the facts say differently: any attempt by the American Navy to test in the real battle conditions whether or not the Russians can sink their aircraft carrier will most likely end quite badly for the US of A.
Conclusion
While the American military and public lie safely ensconced within the “echo chamber” of “enormous military might”. The idea that American overseas projection – the carrier Navy can we eliminated within minutes has taken hold in the rest of the world.
This might be true, or might be wrong.
I, for one, hope that we never find out.
The systems for Empire projection, that America has relied on for the last 70 years, is coming to a close. What the evolution is pointing towards is…
America to step-down and stop being the world’s policeman.
The idea of carrier battle groups is a dangerous and outdated concept.
The idea that they can be used against a well-equipped and motivated enemy and nuclear weapons WILL NOT be used is insanity.
Losing all 12 carriers is possible along with the destruction of all of the biggest cities on American soil.
This is a terrible reality, and it may come to fruition unless United States stops it’s Empire-building role, and concentrates on domestic issues and tranquility.
If you enjoyed this post, you might find other posts in the SHTF index to your liking…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
The world is well aware of the 2016 through 2019 trade negotiations between America (the United States) and China. It lasted three years, and was marked by a seemingly endless set of stops and false starts. Finally culminating with a “phase one” agreement immediately prior to the the COVID-19 (coronavirus outbreak). What many people are not aware of is the list of demands placed upon China by the (neocon) negotiation team. Here, we look at the impossible demands, and record them for prosperity.
Remember this well kids; this is NOT how you negotiate.
Negotiation is a matter of give and take, where both sides have the belief that they “won” the negotiation. You do not enter into negotiations with the idea that “you will do as I say, or I will destroy you!“.
The American Advantage.
What many people, especially Americans (locked up within their propagandized bubble) do not understand is that America doesn’t have much clout to negotiate with.
America has little to offer China.
While it might seem like “China needs America, more than America needs China”, the truth is that is actually the other way around.
The exports to America, from China, are a very small percentage of the Chinese export market.
The imports from America to China are also tiny. With aircraft and cotton being the leading exports.
Thus, the “Trump trade war” has very little impact on China.
This is not the world of the 1980’s. The rest of the globe has grown, and they have vibrant middle classes, malls and cities. China services the world. Not only America. In fact, over the years, it appears that the bulk of products exported to America from China are increasingly the cheapest and easiest to make.
Meanwhile the rest of the world opts for better to best quality, and higher priced consumer products. All provided by China.
I’ve covered this in another post here…
You see, there really isn’t much of an advantage that America has. It can only negotiate from a point of military strength.
The John Bolton strategy… “do as we say or we will erase you from the surface of the earth”.
American Negotiation Team
The Negotiation team set up by President Trump was filled and staffed by hard-line neocons. These war-mongering dinosaurs are the reason why the entire world economy was riding a “roller coaster” for the last three years.
They entered the negotiations with “strong demands“, and “hard lists“. Then when things would apparently be going well, the American team backed out and left the table.
This continued for three long years, and threw the world economy into a tail spin.
List of American Demands
The negotiation strategy was one of strength. From the American side it was “do this, or face the consequences”.
American strategy: Do as I say, or face the consequences.
This is well known throughout the American news media, though they didn’t say it as brutally or bluntly as I did.
It’s all described as “reasonable”, “fair” and “common sense”. You know, “…for the children”.
All lies.
Just like “common sense gun control”. Just like “reasonable sentencing guidelines”, and “zero tolerance rules for the school children.”
It’s all just propaganda.
That’s all it is.
For most Americans, reading the news, they are mistakenly under the impression that the “trade wars” was all about trade. It wasn’t. It was about global power, and how America can retard the growth of China long enough to recover it’s former standing.
Here’s the list of demands that the American (neocon) trade negotiation team placed upon China…
Now to be clear and certain, this is not ALL of the demands, nor the thousands of bullet lists that the trade negotiations encompass. I am not the mainstream press.
The American media would report on a Thanksgiving dinner in the following manner...
"There was a Thanksgiving dinner. People were upset about the tooth pick selection. The toothpicks were too wooden, too few, and not the proper size. Anonymous sources within the dinner party has referred to the dinner as "catastrophic" and desiring strong toothpick discipline..."
Selective reporting is NOT reporting. It is propaganda.
Thus here, I am going to concentrate on the general omissions in American coverage of the trade war events. Here we look at some of the American demands that only warranted a mere sentence or two in a multi-page report.
[1] Independence for Tibet
If you read the American media you might be inclined to say that this is not unreasonable. The Western media is saturated with news about unhappy Tibetans and the need for “freedom” and “democracy”. That’s the story. That’s the propaganda.
Here’s a selection of some readings to give you all an idea of what is going on in Tibet and what America is up to…
What you don’t read is any thing positive about China and Tibet.
That’s right. All Western media is all about the unhappiness and “unrest” in Tibet. Americans read this while never setting a foot there, knowing people there, or getting news from other areas.
The fact is that Tibet is not riddled with unrest, strife and unhappiness. It’s quite the contrary.
Modern Tibet. It just doesn’t fit the American propagandized narratives.
Just go and see for yourself. Do not take my word for it.
In the meantime, realize that by removing the Tibet region from China, it takes a sizable geographic bite out of China. It’s roughly equivalent to removing California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas from America.
NOT . GOING . TO . HAPPEN .
China without Tibet.
[2] Independence for Xinjiang Muslims
This is a “much to do about nothing” narrative. The entire Uyghur Muslim independence movement is a CIA fabrication.
Oh, how I hate to use the letters "CIA" in anything. It makes me sound like some kind of conspiracy kook.
Yet.
The CIA does exist. They do launch revolutions, and they ARE involved in trying to destabilize China.
Likewise the narrative continues for the independence for Xinjiang. Oh, you don’t know what I’m talking about? I am talking about the Uyghur Muslims. Oh, I’m sure you read about the millions and millions of poor harmless Muslims in re-education camps.
What’s the latest figure? Eleven million people in concentration camps. OK. I’ll bite. Point the camps out to me using Google Maps. After all New York City is six million people, so any camps that are double that size should be easy to see…
The reason to cause unrest and strife in Xinjiang is to stop the Road and Belt initiative from taking place there. For those “poor Muslims” are going to become filthy Dubai-rich within the next ten years. Oh, no! That will not help the United States one bit, and must be stopped.
Don’t you know.
“For the children”.
As I have stated before, the idea that China would discard the Road and Belt initiative, and isolate themselves to an over reliance on sea shipment of goods is a “pipe dream”.
NOT . GOING . TO . HAPPEN .
China without Tibet and Xinjiang.
[3] Independence for Taiwan
Taiwan is populated with Han Chinese. But maintains it’s own government structure. It’s the one nation, two systems philosophy that China maintains. Well, that does not sit well with the negotiation team. They want Taiwan to sever ALL TIES with China, and instead make Taiwan a client nation with the United States.
Here’s a mixture of links to help you all flush out the situation…
Taiwan is like a nice big juicy aircraft carrier right off the Chinese mainland.
Anyone who even thinks that China would even consider this is smoking too much of that wacky weed. China is a nation of merit. Their leadership ranks are filled with the best and the brightest. They will not even contemplate such an abomination.
NOT . GOING . TO . HAPPEN .
China without Tibet and Xinjiang and Taiwan.
[4] Freedom for Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a tiny nation. It too is part of the one nation, two systems set of governance.
However, it is important. This is because it is the second portal to the Road and Belt initiative.
By freezing egress from that portal, American can retard trade routes and isolate China effectively.
By controlling Hong Kong and Taiwan, and arranging for military bases in both those areas, America can easily place military forces in close proximity to the Chinese mainland.
NOT . GOING . TO . HAPPEN .
[5] Adopt a two party democracy
There is nothing so rude, so arrogant as to tell someone that you don’t like their hair style, their clothing, and the way they sign their name. Well, that’s American industry today. All of which happened to me.
Well, these jackasses in Washington, don’t even give a seconds thought to applying this level of rudeness to other nations.
That’s like China telling Washington DC to disband all political parties and adopt Communism.
ITS. NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.
China today is a single party, traditional conservative nation. Much like the United States was initially setup up as. Then after the 12th amendment the formation of two parties came into being with “democracy”. This is what Trump is demanding of China. To allow a second opposition group to embrace “democracy”.
Perspective
If the roles were reversed. And China demanded these similar kinds of demands on the United States, the nation would look something like this…
What America would look like if the Chinese made the same kinds of demands that the American neocon negotiation team are making.
Conclusions
The five major structural demands that the American negotiation team placed on China did not occur. They will not occur. They never will occur.
Independence for Tibet. (US client state.)
Independence for Xinjiang. (US client state.)
Independence for Taiwan. (US client state.)
Independence for Hong Kong. (US client state.)
Change the Chinese government into a two-party “democracy”.
China has spent the last two decades trying to be come functionally independent from the rest of the world, but tied to the global economic reality. You will [1] not be able to successfully instigate famine in China via trade restrictions, even if you use biological warfare on both the chicken and pork industries. You will [2] not get them to sever their ties with their neighbors, and [3] you will not get them to embrace the failed American “democracy” model.
NOT . GOING . TO . HAPPEN .
I do hope that you enjoyed this post. You can see similar posts in my Trump Trade War index…
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notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
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This is one of my personal favorite James Bond films. There’s something about a hidden mountain lair staffed with brainwashed beauties, and surrounded by armed henchmen on ski’s that appeals to the teen-aged boy inside of me. Not to mention the idea of wearing a kilt where the women reach underneath and write notes on my inner thighs…
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has often been described as the dark horse of the James Bond franchise, in part due to its atypical ending and for its one-off Bond actor, George Lazenby.
Its reputation unfortunately tied Lazenby’s ill-reception, Majesty has been gaining steady recognition over the last few decades with many now noting it as one of the best Bond films ever produced and some even going so far as labeling it the best.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service will probably always remain the most controversial entry in the Bond series, thanks both to its unusually human and romantic story, and the notorious casting of novice actor George Lazenby as OO7. Some think these elements ruin the film, while others hail OHMSS as the best Bond ever. I wouldn't go that far in my praise, but for me this is still one of the classic Bond films, true to Ian Fleming's original vision and arguably showing OO7 in a more realistic light than any other film in the franchise.
To get the Lazenby issue out of the way first, it is certainly true to say that he lacks the charisma of the man he (temporarily) replaced, Sean Connery, and his impossibly chiselled jaw is somewhat irritating. However, he does look the part, and for a first-time actor he turns in a remarkably assured performance, particularly in the fight scenes but also in Bond's more tender moments, most notably in the highly emotional finale. If Lazenby had gone on to make more Bond films (and it was his own decision not to do so) he could well have developed into a very fine OO7, but as it is I still find his performance in OHMSS perfectly acceptable, and not damaging to the film in any way.
The film itself represented a conscious attempt to get back to Fleming after the increasingly extravagant antics of Thunderball and You Only Live Twice. Director Peter Hunt, who had edited the classic early Connery films, was very keen to remain faithful to Fleming's original story, and as a result OHMSS has an unusually strong emphasis on character and plot, with the gadgetry and humour found in most Bond films largely jettisoned.
Rather like From Russia with Love, OHMSS feels like a real spy adventure, as Bond tracks Blofeld down and even adopts a disguise as he infiltrates his arch-enemy's Alpine hideaway, Piz Gloria. Where this film is unique, however, is in the level of emotion it invests in OO7's relationships with others. We see this early in the film when Bond quarrels with M and submits his resignation, a sequence which really brings out the affection which both M and Moneypenny have for him, but which M especially prefers to keep concealed. This affection is brought out again near the end during Bond and Tracy's wedding, when Q sheds his normal exasperation and shows us his fondness and respect for OO7.
However, it is of course the relationship between Bond and Tracy which gives the film its emotional heart. OHMSS sees Bond fall genuinely in love for the first and only time, and personally I found the film's romantic scenes both tender and touching, particularly for being so unexpected in a Bond film. The casting of Diana Rigg as Tracy helps immeasurably in making us believe in this romance, as she is a rare example of a proper actress taking on the role of a Bond girl, and her dynamic, spirited performance makes it easy to see why Bond would fall for her and marry her. It also helps the film's tragic conclusion, itself unique in the Bond franchise, pack far more of an emotional punch than might otherwise have been the case.
Of course, the film has more going for it than just an unusually human Bond.
Hunt directs with great skill, and the Alpine scenery that dominates the film looks absolutely stunning. There is no shortage of great action either, the highlights being a tense and gripping ski chase and an equally thrilling bobsleigh pursuit. Telly Savalas makes for a very effective Blofeld, understated and sinister, and his Rosa Klebb-like henchwoman Irma Bunt is played with relish by Ilse Steppat. There are also echoes of FRWL in the character of Draco, Tracy's father, who is a charismatic Bond ally in the style of Kerim Bey. Special mention should be given to John Barry, who produced his greatest Bond soundtrack for OHMSS. The opening instrumental theme, with its sombre and foreboding tone, sets the serious mood of the film, while the classic We Have All the Time in the World, sung by Louis Armstrong, is the perfect soundtrack to Bond and Tracy's doomed love.
However, while OHMSS is undoubtedly a classic Bond film, it just falls short of my personal top five for two principal reasons. The first of these is that the film is too long, primarily because the central section, where Bond infiltrates Piz Gloria in disguise, is dragged out for far longer than was necessary. Blofeld's plan to use beautiful women as carriers of a devastating eco-virus is the other main weakness, because it is totally preposterous and does not fit into the film's serious nature. I must admit also that, good as Lazenby is, I do wish Connery had agreed to make this film, because with him on board, and a little more editing, I think it could have been the best Bond ever, even beating FRWL. As it is, OHMSS is still a very strong film, its bold deviations from the Bond formula paying off handsomely. It is just a crying shame that it did not perform better at the Box Office, because this would encourage the Bond producers to shift to the high-camp, comic style that would dominate the franchise during the 1970s; sadly, it would be more than a decade before a serious, Flemingesque Bond would reappear on the big screen.
- Orpington
How true are these statements? Is it really just the one with the bad James Bond whose ultimate saving grace is that it’s forgettable; or, has it truly earned its place in the top echelons of the 007 series alongside From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and 2006’s Casino Royale?
People used to dress better, carry themselves better and smoke better than they do today. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
[Major Spoiler Alert] On Her Majesty’s Secret Service finds James Bond (Lazenby) desperately trying to track down head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) following the events of You Only Live Twice.
His trail having run cold after two fruitless years of searching, M (Bernard Lee) removes him from the case.
Distraught and obsessed, Bond takes a leave of absence and accepts an offer from criminal mastermind Marc-Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti) for a clue to Blofeld’s whereabouts in exchange for a marriage to his only daughter, Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg).
Bond, having previously saved Tracy from a suicide attempt, accepts and soon finds himself in the Swiss Alps where Blofeld is devising a new international blackmail plot revolving around a gaggle of brainwashed beauties.
Imagine having a secret lair populated with a bevy of girls from all over the world, and all that on top of an enormous mountain. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
From this point, the second half of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service continues as a practical nonstop chase as Bond attempts to escape Blofeld’s mountainous fortress.
Let me give it to you straight, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is an absolute, 100% triumph. All the elements work well, firstly there is Peter Hunt's direction. Hunt should have been handed the Directors reins on a Bond movie long before this. He adds action and excitement and blends this in the most stilted and calm manor. In truth On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a return to the less Gadget and Comic Book laden world of the likes of Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, and echoes the Flemmingesque thriller world of Dr No and From Russia With Love. Those who dont like the first two additions to the Bond series dont flinch, On Her Majesty's Secret Service has a strenghth and style beaming with enegy and excitement twinned with realism. never seen in a Bond Film before or since.
This will always be remembered as George Lazenby's go at Bond. It is also remenbered as the one Bond that flopped at the box office. Well, on a budget of $9million and with worldwide grosses of $80million, hopefully the notion of disapointment will disapeer. There is also the fact that the Video and DVD versions of the movie consistently outsell all other Bond Titles worldwide. George Lazenby is an absolute revelation as Bond. I had my doubts but was still interested to see how he did. Lazenby rivals Connery in the Romantic and Action scenes and does pretty well with the dramatic scenes. In truth he is the most under-rated Bond. He makes a very believable Flemmingesque Playboy. He looks good in a tuxedo, on ski's, with women, in punch ups. Lazenby is helped by a strong support cast. Diana Rigg is beautifull and very believable as the Contessa, Tracy, with whom our James falls in love with, and eventually marries. Rigg displays a full range of acting and beauty to make her the most memorable of Bond Girls, and for one, wich i dont mean to sopil, inparticular. Telly Savalas is a very creepy, chilling and enjoyable Blofeld. It could be said that he is the most memorable of Blofeld's. He is obviously having the time of his life with the part and it is a pitty he didn't play the character in future outings. There is also the return of M, Q in a rather quiet outing this time, and a Moneypenny, heart broken at the notion Bond could marry anybody other than herself.
Now, if you add to all the above some of the finest action set pieces in motion picture history you have an idea of the scale of this epic. The Alpine sets, and Skiing and Bobsled chases really bring out the purest sense of adventure. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the most memorable Bond Movie from my Childhood. I remember watching this one Christmas eve with my Grandparents, and their house looked very much like Blofelds Alpine Fortress [Without the Ladies, alas]. The movie has really thrilling ski chases, you really do believe a man can ski, and once more think you are skiing with him.This is very much THE Christmas Bond movie. It is also soaked with some delightful christmas themes by the master John Barry, composing perhaps his best Bond theme. We Have All the Time in the world, sung by Louis Armstrong is a beautifuly moving song, made all the more so by Tracy's fate at the end of the movie. There is also Barry's rousing On Her Majesty's Secret Service Theme, unlike anything ever heared in cinema's or movies before.
But it is the realism between the characters and the story that helps make On Her Majesty's Secret Service work. By far the most under-rated of the Bond movies, and a strong contender for the Best Bond Movie of all time. This is the greatest. Bond movies should try to be to be like this in future. Go and see it for yourself, dont listen to the the negative reviews. You have all the time in the world.
- Dock-Ock
From incredible ski pursuits to bell tower brawls and icy crash derby car races, Bond is pushed to his most vulnerable, breathless limit as he barely dodges a never-ending army of goons in fantastic (and, at one point, literal) cliffhanger fashion.
When he is eventually tracked down by Tracy, she is as much a reprieve to Bond as she is to the audience.
I well remember this movie where the hero, James Bod, sits wearing a kilt and surrounded by very attentive women who hang on every word he utters. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Unfortunately, their escape is only half successful as Blofeld causes a massive avalanche that blankets both Bond and Tracy leading to her capture as a hostage.
With M powerless to sanction an official rescue, Bond teams up with Draco to launch a full scale assault on Blofeld (which includes an awesome shot of Bond sliding across an ice covered walkway belly first into battle with a machine gun!).
After a bobsled run leaves Blofeld supposedly dead, Bond, realizing his true feelings for Tracy, marries her leading to a heartbreaking denouement as Blofeld enacts one last act of revenge and has her viciously murdered minutes into their honeymoon.
In these older movies you could be very sensual, with a hint of sexuality, but not resort to overt crude sex. Here we have one of the chicks giving James Bond her room number. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a showcase of how to properly execute an epic Bond film.
Gone are the fantasy and over-the-top machinations of spaceship hijacks, rocket cigarettes, and secret volcano bases from the last film.
Though the overall threat level may be reduced comparatively, Blofeld’s plan remains one of global devastation keeping the stakes up to par with the two previous films but with a far more grounded approach (despite the ludicrous nature of the brainwashed girls being utilized for biological warfare).
The Best Bond? Yeah, I think so. Like most people who are interested in James Bond, I saw the films over and over on TV before I read any of the books. I then got round to buying Casino Royale, and being knocked out by it - this was somewhat different to Moonraker and all that Roger Moore stuff. So I read the books in their sequence, seriously the best way, and by the time OHMSS came round, I had a pretty good idea of who James Bond was. And, I'm sorry to inform all the Seanophiles, James Bond is not Connery, Moore, Dalton (though he came close, but is Welsh..)or Brosnan. Oddly enough, given the choices, he's kind of like George Lazenby.
Sure, Sean Connery was suave, sexy, and spoke rather curiously, Timothy Dalton had the serious side sorted, Brosnan is sophisticated etc, Roger Moore.. well, another time, maybe.
George Lazenby, maybe due to his lack of experience, (though why is his debut so widely mulled over in that respect.... it's not something that most actors are subjected to?) is not so at ease with his surroundings, not so cocksure that everything is going to work out fine as the others, and this is the real James Bond. The one in the books. You can almost believe in this one. And when things don't work out fine, you feel a weird familiarity with him. He's just a man, though admittedly he's disproportionately talented at a pretty impressive range of activities, from skiing to flying, swordsmanship, shooting people, jumping out of things, carnal endeavours etc.. Oh no, sorry, that's me. Well, anyway, I'm quite tired now. OHMSS is the best of the films, though From Russia With Love contains possibly the finest fight scene of all and maybe the best trio of baddies (including a slightly peripatetic Blofeld)and is Connery's best.
George Lazenby is the best Bond, because his talents - a certain naturalistic charm, physical dexterity, and a capacity for possible failure - are used brilliantly, and he is closer by far than any of the others to the book-Bond.
There you go.
Oh, and Diana Rigg is the best 'Bond girl', though that description is not very fair to her, We Have All The Time In The World is the best Bond song, and the theme tune is possibly John Barry's finest work.. let alone being the best Bond title theme.
There you go again.
Thanks for reading, and if you happen to disagree, well... you're wrong. Cheers.
- qholway
More significant is Bond’s personal journey at the heart of the picture which effectively sells the danger present.
Moreover, Majesty presents one of the rare instances where Bond is a true underdog – the metaphoric St. George vs. the dragon.
The desperate barrage of near misses is practically overwhelming and, for the first time since a few hints in Dr. No, we witness a Bond that is almost overcome with fear.
Just some of the gals on top of the isolated mountain. They are quite entranced by the appearance of James bond into their lair. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Heck, at one point, as 007 is trying to avoid Blofeld’s goons in a crowd, he accidentally runs into a polar bear-suited man brandishing a camera.
Like "From Russia With Love," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is filled with mysterious characters and realistic action Blofeld's plot involves germ warfare and his stronghold this time is a converted Swiss allergy clinic The film is loaded with actionski chases, bobsled chases, car chases, helicopter attacks, fights in the surf, fights in the hotel, fights in the office Peter Hunt succeeded in distracting the audience from noticing that a new Bond was on duty
The new Bond pauses to take a finger of caviar... Dom Perignon'57 and five-star Hennessey brandy are his mouthwashes of choice... He discovers that he lived with his aunt in Pett Buttom, and his family motto is 'The World Is Not Enough.' He impersonates a genealogist to gain entrance to Piz Gloria... He wants to take the head of SPECTRE to Augsburg (West Germany) to verify certain records regarding his claim to a title... He spurns a Mafioso one million gold dowry; uses telescopic sight from a sniper's rifle to spot a beautiful young woman on the beach; wipes away a Contessa's tears; drives his Aston Martin wearing a hat and smoking a cigarette, and turns to the viewer saying in perfect seriousness, "This never happened to the other fella."
The sixth Bond film takes place all over Europe with a united nations of glamorous babes called 'angels of death,' where 007 finally meets his female match, falls in love, and gets married The motion picture is an emotional story that reveals more of the world of 007
It starts with Bond, ready to resign from the Secret Service for being taking off Operation Bedlam... With John Barry's best music, Bond reminds us of a whole bunch of familiar faces... He begins to look over his mementos which include Honey's knife belt from 'Dr. No,' and the strangler watch from 'From Russia with Love.' The sequences from all the previous Bond films reinforced the idea that this new Bond is still a member of the same team, a man who answers to a crusty retired Admiral, and still is engaged in sexy banter with a loving secretary...
It is Draco's daughter though, the ravishing Tracy (Diana Rigg), who adds a bit of class to the role of the Bond girl, and makes the film quiet interesting... Tracy is the troubled woman who steals Bond's heart... She is a spoiled woman wandering fully clothed into the sea... She is dangerous with her red Ford Cougar, a broken bottle, and at the baccarat table...
Gabriele Ferzetti is one of the most sympathetic Mafia dons ever to charm the screen Draco likes the fact that Bond is interested in his daughter, and he's determined to help her find the right husband
Telly Savalas' Blofeld does reveal sides to his character previously unseen: the class snobberywhich M remarks upon, and the vanity which Tracy flatters to force him off his guard, and his irritation with one of his skiers who ends up in a tree... Posing as a world-famous allergist, this bald arch-villain would only give up his deadly scheme throughout the world if offered a complete pardon for past crimes and a title...
Irma Bunt was perfectly portrayed by German actress Ilse Steppat, who, unfortunately died soon after the film's release She is Blofeld's second-in-command, who keeps the Count's attractive 'patients' under control...
Angela Scoular (Ruby) becomes Bond's first conquest when she writes her room number in lipstick on 007's inner thigh
Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) hands her boss a request for two weeks leave rather than Bond's dictated resignation... Her act results at once funny, moving and warm: 'What would I do without you?' ask both Bond and M separately once she's settled their contretemps...
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" features Barry's exquisite song, "We Have All the Time in the World," which is sung with real emotion by Louis Armstrong...
- Nazi_Fighter_David
Lazenby’s bug-eyed overreaction at the sight is enough to make Bruce Campbell proud!
Of course, James Bond seduces, and is seduced by a large number of very attractive chicks. All who want some of what he has to give. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Regardless, this approach leads to a far more gripping adventure and
one that perfectly lays the basis for the film’s tragic ending.
Much has been said about George Lazenby’s performance in this film.
Is he the natural successor to Sean Connery? Very few (if any) would say so; however, what he lacks in charm and screen presence, he makes up for in sheer earnestness.
His most redeeming quality is that, outside of Daniel Craig, he is the best brawler in the franchise delivering vicious uppercuts and thoroughly selling all his fight scenes – particularly an early rousing mano a mano hotel fight.
The boss, very manly, with a bow tie and pipe. Ah, me thinks that you wouldn’t be able to do this today in modern progressive London. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Beyond his athleticism (he would later train with Bruce Lee himself), Lazenby’s best scenes are centered on character actions that diverged significantly from anything associated with Connery’s portrayal – particularly Bond’s tender proposal to Tracy and his tearful reaction to her death.
In these fleeting scenes, Lazenby more-or-less succeeds in delivering a poignant, sincere performance.
Being a secret spy is hard work. If you are not killing people, you are off seducing them. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
If anything, what really bogs down Lazenby the most is the vestige of Connery.
Unlike Roger Moore who was given the opportunity to make Bond his own, Lazenby is put in the unenviable position of trying to emulate him.
Having been a huge Bond fan since I was a mere lad in the early '80s, I still don't know why I just recently saw this film for the first time in 2010. I suppose I must blame the fact that it is criminally underrated and under promoted. It's very rarely shown on TV except on holiday Bondathons (I love those!) and casual fans typically know nothing of it. I've always considered myself more than just a casual Bond fan, so I finally ordered the Ultimate Edition DVD recently and I INSTANTLY ranked this among the all time greats of the series. Wish I had seen it earlier, but no matter, I will view it many more times over the years....
Lazenby's Bond was much more realistic and true to the novels, a human being that is far more talented than most, but not a superhero and in this movie not armed with numerous gadgets. He certainly played the role with dignity and it's a shame he didn't return for at least one more. But I am glad that Roger Moore was able to enter the series in his prime shortly after this rather than waiting until later, so it worked out.
Beautiful places have always been an integral part of Bond films, and it doesn't get more beautiful than the Swiss Alps. I'm going to make a point of visiting Blofeld's headquarters (a real restaurant) one of these days. It must have been quite an undertaking to build it in such an isolated place as they discussed in the DVD extras. I also love Bond's modernized Aston Martin in this film and the look of the film in general is just fantastic. And for home theater owners, the avalanche scene sounds absolutely amazing on a powerful system! I thought pictures on the wall in my theater room were going to fall!
SPOILERS: This film is unique in that Bond falls in love marries for the only time in the entire series, but being Bond, it was bound to end badly. A touching scene, the only real one in the entire Bond series actually. His wife was a very memorable and charismatic Bond girl and now I can put into context the visit that Roger Moore made in the beginning of For Your Eyes Only.
Bottom line, if you're a Bond fan, having this in your collection is mandatory.
- Enforcer686
From the awkward kilt get-up to some awful puns noticeably ADR’d in at the last minute (not to mention a badly conceived pre-credits fourth wall break that bizarrely refers to Connery as the “other fella”), the film may as well have been called In Sir Connery’s Public Shadow.
Just some of the great selection of gals on the top of the mountain. They all have their charms and are very attracted to a man with manly charms. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
It doesn’t help that in an attempt to hammer into viewers that this is indeed the same James Bond as Connery, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is full of constant call backs to the previous films, such as Bond looking over his office keepsakes from Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Thunderball…
I must admit I initially never gave this entry much of a chance. Whenever it was on TV I tried to watch it, but I just couldn't get into it. Then last year, I saw a widescreen tape version on sale and decided to buy it. When I finished watching it I was sorry I had ignored it for so long. It's very good. I thought Lazenby did a good job as Bond, and Savalas turned in equally good work as Bond's nemesis. And Rigg is as sharp as she is lovely. This is one for the collection.
- cmt-2
James Bond meeting some of the gals on the mountain top. He’s quite the hit with the ladies. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
…a dwarf randomly whistling the tune from Goldfinger, and, most egregiously, a credit sequence that focuses on Connery-less clips from the preceding entries in the series!
To understand the controversy behind `On Her Majesty's Secret Service,' one must understand the events so impacting the spy genre by the time of its production in 1969. After the back to back tremendous successes of `Goldfinger' and `From Russia With Love,' every hack producer and distributor rushed to make spy movies.
There were serious ones (`The Spy That Came in From the Cold,' `The Ipcress File'), satirical ones (`Our Man Flint,' `The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,' `Get Smart' ), and incredibly silly ones (`The Silencers,' `Last of the Secret Agents,' `Casino Royale'). `Casino Royale' was especially damaging, since it was (VERY LOOSELY) based on a Fleming novel, and used the character of James Bond, 007.
In fact, in `Casino Royale,' nearly EVERYBODY played `James Bond'. `If we don't know what we are doing, how will the enemy,' was the explanation `James Bond' (David Niven) gave to explain why MI6 was calling all its agents `James Bond'.
To protect their franchise, the producers of the `real' James Bond movies emphasized in their promotion `Sean Connery IS James Bond.' In a demonstration of `gratitude,' Connery up and quit the series, leaving `On Her Majesty's Secret Service,' which was shortly to go into production, without a `Bond.'
Arguably the most ambitious and difficult to shoot of ALL the Bond films (at least to that time), it's a miracle ANYTHING works in OHMSS. Much of the time it works VERY well, though the shaky underpinnings of the first hour frequently threaten to undo it. There is so much choppy editing and dubbed dialogue, one begins to suspect he is watching a foreign film.
The second hour plus works much better, all the more surprising since it was shot first. One reason may be that the film went WAY over both shooting schedule and budget, and there was enough made up `bad' press to put a great deal of pressure on the producers, first time director, Peter Hunt and star, George Lazenby.
In the middle of it all, Lazenby's publicist announced that Lazenby was not going to do another Bond (Lazenby is credible when he says that announcement was not his idea. One suspects, from the bonus material, that Cubby Broccoli planted that story to discredit Lazenby, should the film fail). Add to all this the films' tacked-on, unhappy ending (planned to be the prologue for `Diamonds are Forever'), which plays completely against the humor of earlier moments, and it's a wonder the film was NOT a dismal failure.
Quite the contrary, OHMSS is one of the BEST of the Bond films, filled with nonstop action, outstanding stunts, incredible sound, the best score (along with `Goldfinger') and a credible enough romance to lend it genuine poignancy. Lazenby overcame many tremendous handicaps: having to replace one of the best known and popular actors in the world; he was 28, younger than Connery when he made `Dr. No'; he was completely inexperienced as an actor (OHMSS was Lazenby's FIRST movie, not just his first starring role); his accent (thick Australian outback) and the INCREDIBLE physical demands (Lazenby did many of his own stunts).
Considering all this, Lazenby is downright remarkable. Certainly, in my opinion he is better than either the snooty Timothy Dalton or the lightweight Roger Moore were in ANY of their outings as Bond..
The bonus feature on the DVD concludes with strong evidence that Lazenby became a scapegoat, despite the eventual financial success of OHMSS. Lazenby, refreshingly displays no bitterness that his career nearly ended as soon as it began. He's had a reasonably busy career playing character roles and we have OHMSS. Not a bad deal at all.
- Bob-45
This backfires in a couple of ways: 1.) it keeps reminding the audience of Connery and henceforth how much better he was in the role and, 2.) it establishes the film in a firm continuity with what has happened before – a continuity that the film blatantly breaks by disregarding the fact that Blofeld and Bond have met before!
The girls are mesmerized by his appearance, mannerisms and behavior. Every man wants to be like James Bond. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
The Bond producers had shortsightedly adapted Ian Fleming‘s S.P.E.C.T.R.E. trilogy out of order (Majesty is actually the dark middle chapter between Thunderball and You Only Live Twice) causing significant narrative issues and also robbing the natural revenge-bent conclusion that You Only Live Twice aptly provided (akin to releasing Return of the Jedi before The Empire Strikes Back and attempting to place a band-aid on the story issues).
In the books, this was the first instance of Bond and Blofeld meeting face-to-face and since this was a more faithful adaptation, a choice was made to not have the characters recognize each other despite meeting at the conclusion of the last film (a choice easily unraveled by the opening credit flashbacks to Twice!).
This is one of my favorite Bond's. It has the best story and most closely resemble the original novel. It has become notorious for featuring a one-time Bond, George Lazenby, but it surpasses most of the later films.
Lazenby gets far too much criticism. As a first time actor, he is quite good. Yes, his performance is mixed, but so are several other actors, many with far more experience. More time should have been put into acting classes and rehearsal for Lazenby, to prepare him for the role. Instead, they concentrated on his look and mannerisms. This has been one of the failing aspects to the films; the emphasis on sight rather than substance.
Diana Rigg is fantastic as Tracy, which is to be expected. Who else but Emma Peel could marry James Bond? (wonder what Mr. Peel thought, or Steed, for that matter.) Rigg is the first, and arguably the last real actress to play the female lead in a Bond film. Most are chosen for their looks and their performance rarely rises above looking sexy. Rigg has the looks and sex appeal, but she also has the acting chops and tends to dominate any scene she is in.
Telly Savalas was an interesting, yet mixed choice for Blofeld. He is quite charming, but not very menacing. He was far deadlier in the Dirty Dozen. Blofeld was far more effective before he was seen in the series. Imagination was always far better than reality. Savalas seems more like a gangster than a megalomaniac. Since I saw this after Kojak, I kept waiting for him to say, "who loves ya baby?"
The stunts are fantastic and act in service to the plot. The ski chase is gripping and the tension builds throughout. Although it becomes obvious in several scenes that Diana Rigg is doubled by a man, it is not too distracting.
Ultimately, the story raises this above the level of most Bond films. The plot moves along at a quick pace and there are few sidelines. The jokes are kept to a minimum and character is stressed. The actions scenes are eye catching, but never out of place. The threat is believable and the final resolution to Blofeld's plans works.
Spoiler: The director has said he would have preferred to open Diamonds Are Forever with Tracy's death, and then lead to the search for Blofeld. I disagree. I think the death scene is one of Lazenby's best and it carries quite an impact. It let's you know that Bond must return to his work to gain vengeance. I think DAF should have opened with a flashback to the scene and then the hunt for Blofeld. If the death had not occurred at the end of OHMSS, then the opening of DAF would feel like a cheat, much like the opening of the second Austin Powers film. It would just seem like an excuse to get rid of the wife and return to business as usual.
- grendelkhan
The only slim explanation is that Bond is in disguise (which consists of a pair of glasses – the epitome of incognito espionage – and a different accent) and that Blofeld has cut off his earlobes in the hopes of achieving a prestigious title.
But hey, if it works for Superman, maybe it works for Bond too.
A good secret agent is a professional in and out of bed. Here we have him catching up on some business relations. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Continuity issues aside, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service provides yet another positive up-step in the series in the form of Telly Savalas – hands down the best Blofeld to date (Christolph Waltz included).
Smart, menacing, and conniving, Savalas’ Blofeld is the anti-Bond, every bit as charming and clever as our hero.
On the surface, he may not look as memorable as Donald Pleasence‘s take on the character, but he is far more effective and a true threat to Bond.
Telly Savalas makes a great villain. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Diana Rigg is as beautiful as she is brilliant as Tracy.
It never rings false that this is the woman that finally snags Bond’s heart.
Vulnerable but with a subdued fire ready to spring, Rigg is terrific, managing to effortlessly lift the struggling Lazenby in every scene they share.
I have read some of the negative reviews for this movie and I have to say that I agree with NONE of them except for the slightly unnecessary two and a half hour length.
Regardless, this doesn't ruin On Her Majesty's Secret Service in any way to warrant a serious complaint as far as I'm concerned. As with the positive reviews this film received, I agree with most all of them. For one, George Lazenby replacing Sean Connery as Bond may have displeased some but I think he did just as good of a job and would not have minded a bit if he became the next Bond for a few more films.
This movie also had some enjoyable action scenes; some of which would later get mimicked in future Bond installments. The bond girl is by far one of the best.
To be a little more specific, this bond girl plays a significant part in the Bond series as a whole that no other bond girl shares. However, I won't reveal why that is because I don't usually give spoilers for the courtesy of those who haven't seen the films that I review.
The ending alone for this movie got several mixed reviews but I can say with certainty that had it not ended the way it did, the Bond franchise might have come to an end.
- thomas-williamson-ga
Likewise, once they partner up in the second half escape, they make a memorable, natural team (I especially like Bond stealing kisses as she mercilessly drives enemy cars off the road!).
I’m not really a great fan of his plaid coat, but after all it’s another time and place. You need to take that into consideration. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Her wedding day demise (a death that shrewdly bookends a film that began with her suicide attempt) is a tragedy brought to fruition almost solely due to her indelible charisma – a gutsy move from the Bond producers whose films were mostly known for escapist fun.
Keeping in line with the grittier productions of the time such as Bonnie and Clyde, Midnight Cowboy, and Easy Rider, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service presented a natural, contemporary progression for the Bond series – a turn that was regrettably rejected in a 180° about face with the campy Diamonds Are Forevertwo years later.
Peter Hunt, stepping into the director’s chair after editing all the previous Bond pictures, shapes one of the most stylized film in the series.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) is the first Bond film to replace Sean Connery and the only film which Australian actor George Lazenby portrays the role of James Bond.
This film is probably the most faithful adaption to the Bond novels, giving the film a sense of realism and drama.
James Bond is on a search for his nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (portrayed by Telly Savalas) who had merely escaped his death from the previous film, You Only Live Twice (1967).
He encounters a beautiful countess named Tracy (portrayed by Diana Rigg) who is the daughter of Marc Ange Draco (portrayed by Gabrielle Fazzetti), boss of a huge crime organization called the Union Corse.
Due to Bond's detour, M (Bernard Lee) suspends him from the mission, Bond responds to almost resigning from the Secret Service as he is saved by Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) who writes to M that he was going to take a several-week vacation.
As Bond falls in love with Tracy, he also finds connections to Blofeld through a College of Arms professor, Sir Hillary Bray (portrayed by George Baker).
Apparently Blofeld is disguising as a Count running a clinic in the Swiss Alps that supposedly cures allergies of all kinds. Bond infiltrates Blofeld's base disguising as Hillary Bray, encountering beautiful girl patients ("Angels of Death") from various countries.
Bond discovers the psychic therapy the patients go through while sleeping with one of the patients.
Bond's cover gets blown and is captured by Blofeld, who reveals his plan to spread a pandemic that could wipe out the world through his "cured" patients.
Bond escapes the base through an elaborate and well-choreographed ski chase as he encounters Tracy who helps him escape from Blofeld's crew.
Later that night, Bond proposes to Tracy (something we will never see in a Bond film) and plans to quit his job after this mission. Unfortunately, their time is cut short as Blofeld kidnaps Tracy after another ski chase.
Bond and Draco rescues Tracy and blows up Blofeld's facility. Blofeld breaks his neck during a bobsled chase with Bond, but manages to survive. Bond and Tracy get married and are happily driving down the road until a sudden machine gun fire from Blofeld's henchman Irma Bunt (portrayed by Ilse Steppat) fatally hits Tracy.
The film ends with Bond in tears (another thing we'll never see in a Bond film) over his blood-shed Bride, as he murmurs to a traffic cop that "We had all the time in the World".
This film was financially successful, but did not make a profit as much as its predecessors did.
The critical response was somewhat positive, but was negative towards Lazenby's portrayal of James Bond. I would give a lot of credit to the filmmakers (especially director Peter Hunt) who polished Lazenby into a fine Bond.
Considering how Lazenby did not have any acting experience prior to this film, I would give him credit for portraying that very emotional and tender side of Bond.
Lazenby also matched that physique of a Bond, as it is portrayed through the excellently choreographed fight sequences. Despite those feats, Lazenby quit the role of Bond from a bad career advice from his agent who saw no future into the Bond films.
I would also praise Lazenby for not parroting Connery's take on Bond, as most actors would most-likely parrot their predecessor's approach to the character.
This film would not have been as good if Connery was portraying his rough and cold-hearted edge of Bond. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a great film with great action, story, and music that defines the true essence and pleasure of a Bond film.
- bock_g
Some of the shots, composed by cinematographer Michael Reed, are incredible with a particular focus on reflections such as Bond wistfully recalling Tracy’s kidnapping while looking through a window…
The ski scenes are what everyone remembers this movie by. I however am a bit strange and instead remember it for the secret lair filled with a bevy of chicks. That was what really appealed to me as a teen-aged boy. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Suggestive of the story further delving into Bond as a human being (this is, after all, the film where we finally learn more about his history and family motto, “The World is Not Enough”), these artistic touches help accent the story rather than existing only to call attention to themselves.
There’s nothing like showing a little bit of cleavage to get a man’s attention up. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
As mentioned before, Lazenby excels during the action scenes – sequences that run the gamut of creative staging and editing. Although there are a few minor quibbles such as Hunt’s preference for fast motion editing, the film’s set-pieces provide a sustained high-level of excitement with a few creative twists thrown in for good measure (such as a chase through evergreen forest with Bond on one ski).
It’s the romance and seductions scenes that the older James Bond flicks are remembered for. Today, there is an overload of hyper-action, and a near dearth of male-oriented seduction. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Fleming’s tenth 007 novel, is one of the most faithful adaptations in the Bond film series – very much a welcome sight after the Roald Dahl-scripted fantasy of You Only Live Twice.
As such, there aren’t many significant differences between the source and screen. By the same token, the film version follows the same path as From Russia with Love and Goldfinger with some minor improvements to the novel.
For example, the book has both Bond and Tracy successfully escaping Blofeld’s forces in Switzerland.
Once, at the library, I had a flashback of something my history teacher once told me. "Without Soviet Union, we wouldn't have had a lot of things." Then, someone mentioned, accurately, that Bond films owe their existence to the hammer and the sickle. Then he said, "Pooh, the Bond FILMS! Read the BOOKS. They're good stuff. The films are just bunch of women and gadgets." So I went to look for Ian Fleming, and the title that caught my eye was On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which is recognized as one of the best books in the series. I started reading the book. I was surprised at how slow pace and dark it was, and how Bond wasn't this confident, suave character who always knows what to do. Sean Connery is not, I repeat, not, Ian Fleming's James Bond. Of course, he is the best film version of James Bond, but he is too good a suave character to be Bond. I can't imagine a superspy who'd say "Yeesss" as Connery does.
I must say, more than anyone, George Lazenby is the James Bond of Ian Fleming's novels. He is like Bond in the books, trying to be smooth but always somewhat unsure. He has a command of the screen, that he isn't afraid to tell you he's there. The biggest gripe I have about Pierce Brosnan is how he sometimes doesn't get a grip of things on set and his somewhat higher, softer voice (and also how he pumps endless rounds of automatic fire upon enemies who have a propensity for getting hit while he himself has to be missed by endless rounds of enemy fire). Lazenby has a voice that I imagine Bond would certainly have. I certainly don't think he was a bad Bond. I think he WAS Bond. The other four actors have played their versions of Bond, but Lazenby is the only believable, human, imperfect James Bond. And his lines aren't that bad, come on. The only poorly delivered line was, "He had lots of guts." I think he should have delivered that with a bit more Connery, but that's a minor detail.
The stunts are great and so is the scenery, and the only bad cinematics are in the ski scenes when they show closeups from the front. They look very fake, but that must be forgiven for 1969 when it was made. They did not have Handicams and they certainly did not have Photoshop to blend projected images as well as we can nowadays. But they certainly do not distract the excitement from some of the best snow scenes in 007 films. The ski chases which became trademark of James Bond started here. It's funny how in the book, Bond is very worried about skiing, since he's rusty from not having skied for a long time. The sled chase is excellent also.
OHMSS is the only film where Bond drinks beer and gets married. Which brings me up to the next point, that Diana Riggs as Tracy Draco (later Bond) happens to be perhaps the best Bond girl ever. Without doubt, she is full of excitement and danger, not afraid to strap on a couple of skis amid gunfire and avalanche. Certainly not a certain Natalya Simonova. She is Bond's identical counterpart, experienced but having gotten nothing out of relationships, and quite a driver also. She's the only Bond girl to really connect with the audience, to make herself more important in comparison to Bond, but that's part of the excellent novel on which the movie is based. Whatever happens to her touches the audience more than whatever happens to Bond (who, as we all know, will always somehow make it). Her surprise appearance at the Christmas celebration brightens up everything in an instant, and the ending is probably the only genuinely sad scene in all 20 of the Bond films.
The opening scene is great in terms of action, but I found it rather disappointing that for no apparent reason, baddies want to kill Bond. The book does it a lot better, and it wouldn't have been much more difficult to do what the book did, although that would not have provided the proper material to introduce the new Bond with the immortal, "This never happened to the other fellow." See, how it is told in the novel is he spies on Tracy as she tries to drown herself, and by this time Bond knows her. He is spied on by Draco's men who take him in, and the rest of the story is told in flashback, with a car chase leading up to the casino scene and rendezvous, without all this fighting mysterious bad guys in between. But I thought the opening sequence was quite good, even with the change-up. It's just, with what proof does Bond try to rescue Tracy? She could have been just going out for a swim. It makes much more sense when he has already met Tracy. Yet some of the additions to the movie are good, such as having Tracy with Blofeld when SPECTRE headquarters is attacked. It makes it that much more personal.
This is my first review on IMDB, and OHMSS gets a well-deserved 10 out of 10. Bond in kilts, hypnosis, world domination, and Blofeld's cat combine to make it a worthy experience. Lazenby was not the best Bond, but perhaps the only real Bond. OHMSS is easily the best Bond film, and dare I say, the ONLY Bond film.
- wontgetfooled622
This leads to an implausible and less motivated reason for Bond to seek out Draco’s assistance for an all out assault on Blofeld’s base – especially since the novel has M sanctioning the attack rather than having his hands tied.
This has the unfortunate effect of keeping Bond’s personal initiative lower in addition to unwisely omitting Tracy from the narrative for a significant amount of time.
A skiing scene. On her Majestys Secret Service. This is a classic James Bond movie. Here, we have 007 skiing down mountains, seducing all types of women from around the world and wearing a kilt.
Despite the overall polish to the novel’s film adaptation, there are a couple of missteps.
For instance, both the book and movie begin with Tracy’s beach suicide attempt; however, the book doesn’t present the event as randomly as the movie suggests. The novel spells out that not only has Bond met with Tracy but that they’ve already spent the night together (a scene that takes place later in the film). Guess the producers opted not to have the first woman George Lazenby slept with in the franchise attempt to kill herself afterword!
The novel’s approach to this opening is far superior.
Going by the movie, the scene plays out as not only coincidental but totally incomprehensible when you put all the pieces together.
Bond randomly follows a girl to a beach, stalks her with a rifle scope, somehow deduces that she is trying to commit suicide rather than a swim (which would have been supremely awkward if he was mistaken), rescues her, and then is attacked by her bodyguards (who really only had one job to do!)?
It could be implied that Bond had been tracking her due to her parental ties and possible Blofeld lead but the film later suggests otherwise.
While certainly not as egregious as Thunderball‘s pile of coincidences, this is certainly one of the weakest narrative points in the film.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) in my opinion was the best film of the series. I felt that George Lazenby was unfairly slagged by the critics for his performance. He did the best that he could. His acting fit very well for his character.
The direction moved the film at an even pace. The action set pieces were impressive and Diana Rigg was hot. Telly Savalas was excellent as Blofield, he gave the character a suave touch. But you call tell that underneath his mack daddy act he was all business, and violent business indeed.
Everything about this movie had a cool aura to it. The stunt scenes were amazing (for it's era) and the cinematography was beautifully shot. I had one bone to pick with the film. The in jokes got a bit heavy handed. Other than that it's a fun film. Too bad George Lazenby was demoted to B-Movie hell after this flick (at least he got a three picture deal with Golden Harvest where he made three classic action films).
I have to give this movie a high recommendation. If you love the James Bond series you'll enjoy this one.
- Captain_Couth
Outside of a few flaws here and there, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is very much one of the best in the series. Lazenby isn’t as bad as has been often ascribed and while it would have been interesting to see his continuation in further films had he not backed out, it is doubtful if the series as a whole would have continued as successfully as it did without him.
Though it’s a great shame that Connery didn’t get the opportunity to play Bond in this film, which saw a return to form to the more cloak and dagger thriller efforts of the earliest entries in the series, considering his fatigued performances in You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever this may have turned out for the best.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is directed by Peter Hunt and adapted to screenplay by Richard Maibaum from the novel written by Ian Fleming. It stars George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, Ilse Steppat, Yuri Borienko and Gabriele Ferzetti. Music is by John Barry and cinematography by Michael Reed.
Bond 6 and 007 is obsessed with locating SPECTRE supremo Ernst Stavro Blofeld. After rescuing beautiful Countess Tracy di Vincenzo from suicide, this brings Bond into contact with her father, Marc Ange Draco, who agrees to help Bond find Blofeld in exchange for 007 courting Tracy. Blofeld is located in the Switzerland Alps at Piz Gloria, where he is masterminding a fiendish plot involving biological extinction of food group species'. Bond will need to use all his wits to stop the plan from being executed, he also has big matters of the heart to contend to as well...
Connery gone, but not for good as it turned out, so into the tuxedo came George Lazenby, an Australian model with no previous acting experience of note. It would be Lazenby's only stint as 007, badly advised by those around him that Bond had no future in the upcoming 70s, his head swelling with ego by the day (something he readily admits and regrets), Lazenby announced he would only be doing the one James Bond film. The legacy of OHMSS is the most interesting in the whole Bond franchise, for where once it was reviled and wrongly accused of being a flop, it now, over 40 years later, is regarded as being one of the finest entries in the whole series. Yes it is still divisive, I have seen some fearful arguments about its worth, but generations of critics and film makers have come along to laud it as essential Bond and essential Fleming's Bond at that.
Everything about OHMSS is different to what Connery's Bond had become, the gadgets are gone and heaven forbid, Bond got a heart and fell in love. He was a man, with real aggression, real emotions and forced to use brain and brawn instead of mechanical trickery. Changes in the production department, too, wasn't just about Lazenby's appearance. Peter Hunt, previously the Bond film's editor, directed his one and only Bond film, and Michael Reed on cinematography also appears for the one and only time. New Bond, new era, but reviews were mixed and in spite of making a profit of over $73 million Worldwide, this was considerably down on previous films. The reviews didn't help, with much scorn poured on Lazenby for not being Connery, but really it's hard to imagine anyone coming in and not getting beat with that particular stick! Box office take wasn't helped by the film's length, at over 2 hours 10 minutes, this restricted the number of showings in theatres, something that should be greatly noted.
Away from Bond anyway, OHMSS is a stunning action thriller in its own right. From the opening beach side fist fight, where uppercuts lift men off their feet and drop kicks propel them backwards, to helicopter attacks, bobsleigh pursuits (resplendent with punches and flinging bodies), ski chases and a car chase in the middle of a stock car race: on ice! There's enough pulse pumping action here to fill out two Bond movies. But the Bond aspects are magnificent as well. Lazenby has wonderful physicality and throws a mean punch, he cuts a fine figure of a man and he's acting inexperience isn't a problem in the hands of the astute Hunt. Lazenby is matched by Rigg as Tracy, the best Bond girl of them all, she's no bimbo, she's tough (fighting off a guy with a broken bottle), smart yet vulnerable, funny and heart achingly beautiful, her interplay with Lazenby is brilliantly executed, so much so that when the devastating finale arrives it has extra poignancy. A scene that closes the film on a downbeat note and remains the most emotional scene ever put into a Bond movie.
Savalas finally gives us a villain who can compete with Bond on a physical level, making the fight between them an evenly matched and believable one. He lacks Pleasance's sinister fizzog, though the bald pate and Grecian looks marks Savalas out as an imposing foe as well. The Swiss Alps setting is gorgeous, with Reed capturing the scope magnificently, while some of his colour lensing in the interiors soothe the eyes considerably. Barry's score is one of his best, lush romantic strains accompany Tracy and James, operatic overtures dart in and out of the Swiss scenery and the James Bond theme is deftly woven into the action sequences. Louis Armstrong's beautiful "We Have All The Time In The World" features prominently, perfectly romantic and forever to be thought of as part of the Bond Universe. Finally it's the great writing that gives us the best sequence involving the trifecta of Bond, Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) and M (Bernard Lee). 5 minutes of class that gives Moneypenny an acknowledged importance in the relationship between the two men in her life. It's just one of a number of truly excellent scenes in the greatest Bond film of them all. 10/10
- hitchcockthelegend
With the best Blofeld, one of the strongest Bond girls, a great script, edge-of-your seat action and suspense, and possibly the best musical score in the series, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a winner providing a natural sense of pathos that the succeeding 007 films have rarely been able to reproduce.
Musings…
Did you know that this is the only fully Christmas-themed Bond film,
complete with an original holiday song “Do You Know How Christmas Trees
Are Grown?” (a song that makes Disney‘s “It’s a Small World” seem macho by comparison)? Heck, if Die Hard can be considered a Christmas movie, why not a Bond film?
Who knew that one of the grittiest Bond films of all time had a scene of super-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld decorating a Christmas tree?
One odd note: as Tracy is revealing to her father that she is genuinely falling love with Bond, the scene keeps cutting to 007 ogling a playmate centerfold (a centerfold that he actually rips out and keeps!).
True love indeed!
While the shocking ending has been revered as one of the series’ most dramatic moments, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service provides another contender just minutes before.
Since Dr. No, the Bond films had established a hat-tossing trick that would introduce the flirty repertoire between 007 and Moneypenny.
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a sadly under-appreciated Bond film which is stylishly-directed and features an outstanding score, like most of these early Bond films. Other than a silly self-referential line in the teaser and some sappy romantic montages, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a thrilling adventure which sees Bond traveling to the Swiss Alps to encounter villains and partake in dangerous action sequences.
It sounds like a Bond film, alright, but this is actually quite different from the formulaic films one would later expect from the series, and the sort of film Bond was gravitating towards with "Thunderball" and "You Only Live Twice". It certainly delivers on the promise of sexual innuendo and lots of provocatively dressed women, but it's a different sort of Bond in that it seems to be more straight-faced and harsh, culminating in what is probably the saddest Bond ending. It's also probably the closest to Fleming's version of Bond outside of "Casino Royale", although "The Living Daylights" was also somewhat similar to the literary Bond. As a Fleming fan it is nice to see the Bond series take after the books.
Lazenby, who has been frequently criticized and is many people's least favorite Bond, actually does a decent job of the role. He's nowhere near as good as Connery, of course, but I thought that other than the scenes where he tried to seriously emote, he carried the film with his charisma and physical presence. I strongly believe he should have continued in the role. Lazenby fits the content of the film, which is certainly far more down to Earth than many other Bond films, and focuses heavily on hand-to-hand combat in the action scenes, which is somewhat refreshing after the overblown (entertaining, but seriously outrageous) action scenes in "You Only Live Twice". This is a genuinely good script, with a solid plot, good dialogue, and good characterization.
It's not just a throwaway action flick, it's an excellent espionage thriller with a strong dramatic core, and as fun as things like "Goldfinger" certainly are, it's nice to see one of these movies treat women as more than mere sex objects, and it's interesting to see a Bond girl paired with a Bond who reacts as a human would and not a cartoon character. Diana Rigg is probably my favorite Bond girl. She gives a strong performance and is helped by an excellent script which gives her a fair amount to do.
By staying closer to the source material, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" dramatically improves on its two predecessors and features some of the best locations in the series, although I admit my familiarity with the majority of the Swiss shooting locations gives me a nostalgic view of things. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a strong contender for the title of best Bond film.
- ametaphysicalshark
As the wedded Bond and Tracy approach his Aston Martin DBS, he turns towards a teary-eyed Moneypenny and affectionately tosses her his hat.
It’s a quiet, beautiful moment between the two characters.
Perhaps a case of eerie foreshadowing, Lazenby’s gun-barrel sequence is the only one in the series where the dripping blood completely washes away Bond from the screen!
Conclusion
This is great escapist fun. It’s perfect for boys and men of all ages, and women like it too.
If you are bored, and want to kill some time, this movie will put you into a world and environment that is both exciting and refreshing. It’s a great romp into another universe.
I do hope that you enjoyed his article. I have others in my Movie Index here…
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How can movies stand the test of time? I really don’t know. But in my mind, this 007 James Bond flick seems to get better with age. There are so many things that I love about this movie. It’s just stunning.
This movie fits the public narrative perfectly. Men watch the movie as escapist entertainment where they can envision themselves in the same role. Shooting bad guys, seducing women, and looking good while going on exciting adventures all over the world, and riding in nice sports cars.
And, it’s true, too. Women feel the same way in the roles that portray the women as well.
Thunderball - this film's undersea battle is still rated among the top ones of all time - but I liked the "moments"- remembering how everyone on campus had a mink glove or access to one, after this film - fun memory.
And how many of the "gimmicks" were brand new at the time - the amazing jet pack flying suit is still a topic of conversation and excitement for those who now chase the hoverboard; and then neat "discipline" gimmick for the embezzling Spectre agent #9
- and Domino's brother's lookalike surgery, and the bombs and their robbery, and the famous " Do you mind if my partner rests here for a moment
- she'd "Just DEAD" when the villainess is shot by her own men aiming for Bond
- and then Domino's " I killed him - I'm glad I killed him" line when she gets Largo .
A perfectly perfect take from " you killed him - I'm glad you killed him" quoted from Melanie in Gone with the Wind , to Scarlett, when she shoots the home invading soldier as he tries to harm her - "right between the eyes" as her paw would have taught her.
- Elle Shopper Lady
The pre-title credits sequence was set in Paris, France at the funeral of JB (SPECTRE operative No. 6, French Colonel Jacques Bouvar (or Boitier)), who had murdered two agents, Bond’s colleagues.
Bouvar had faked his own death (reportedly passing away in his sleep) and dressed up as his own widow (Rose Alba/Bob Simmons).
After the funeral and aware of the ruse/disguise, James Bond (Sean Connery) hurriedly followed her/him to his French chateau, where he fought and then strangled and broke Bouvar’s neck with a fire-poker (# 1 death, #1 Bond kill).
From the roof, Bond escaped by using his jet-pack rocket belt to fly him to his parked Aston Martin DB5 vehicle nearby, accompanied by French agent Madame La Porte (uncredited Mitsouko). He avoided pursuit by activating his car’s rear armored shield and rear-firing water sprayers.
Thunderball has something for everyone. What woman would not be able to see themselves in this role? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
The high-ranking SPECTRE No. 2 villain, white-haired, black eye-patch-wearing Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), was introduced in Paris, entering the building of the philanthropic International Brotherhood for the Assistance of Stateless Persons.
In a large, secret inner chamber, he met for a debriefing with unseen, ruthless Persian cat-petting SPECTRE No. 1 Ernst Stavro Blofeld (uncredited Anthony Dawson) and other SPECTRE agents – “a dedicated fraternity” of international terrorists.
While I liked "Goldfinger" a little better, "Thunderball" is certainly a solid, entertaining and worthy part of the James Bond franchise. This is especially impressive considering this movie was made over 50 years ago. In "Thunderball", it feels as though the elements of what makes a Bond film a Bond film begin to emerge. While some things strain credulity (by this film, the paradox of James Bond's renown as a secret agent is becoming apparent), "Thunderball" does a nice job of capturing the style of James Bond without completely abandoning a sense of realism. And of course, the Bond women (eg, Domino), exotic locations and cool cars don't hurt when it comes to coaxing an audience into willfully suspending disbelief.
- Norman Oro UCLA 93
One of the agents, suspected of embezzlement, was promptly eliminated by electrocution in his chair (# 2 death) and disposed of into a hole in the floor beneath him.
No. 2, in charge of SPECTRE’s “most ambitious” NATO project, reported that his blackmail plan was a ransom demanded from NATO of $280 million/£100 million pounds – his assistant Count Lippe (Guy Doleman) was in the South of England making preparations, at a health clinic named Shrublands, near the NATO air base.
Getting your top secret orders. Yikes! Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Bond was also at the Shrublands for a rest-cure, receiving a massage from pretty blonde physiotherapist Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters), where he met Lippe and noticed a small, suspicious red tattoo on his left arm (a possible Tong sign – the Red Dragon from Macao).
Bond snuck into Lippe’s room where he found nothing, but was spotted by face-bandaged neighbor Angelo Palazzi (Paul Stassino), reportedly recuperating from a car crash.
During another appointment with Patricia, Bond forced an unappreciated kiss on her.
The title says it all! I've been a James Bond fan for many years, mostly for the Roger Moore films but I do like the Sean Connery films, as well and "THUNDERBALL" is one of them. I love the film for the beautiful scenery since a lot of the movie is filmed in the Bahamas. I also love the beautiful actresses that play in the film, especially Claudine Auger, who plays Domino, the main Bond girl. Boy, is she beautiful, especially when she's in a bikini, underwater, snorkeling or scuba diving.
Those scenes made me resume swimming, completely submerged underwater, now with a mask & snorkel. I also like the wonderful acting job of Sean Connery in his 4th film as James Bond as well as the supporting cast. Also, praise goes to the crew on the fantastic job they did in making this film, especially Terence Young in his 3rd & final time directing. Lastly, I love the fantastic underwater battles. To sum it up, this is a terrific movie & I recommend it to every James Bond fan out there because, believe me, you'll enjoy it!
- Rob Holly
She strapped him to a motorized traction table (“the rack”) to stretch his spine (she joked: “First time I’ve felt really safe all day”).
After she left, Count Lippe entered and turned the controls to the red danger zone to kill him.
Patricia saved Bond after he passed out. She asked for him to keep silent about the incident – his price for cooperation was her seduction in the Turkish steam bath room (# 1 tryst).
To retaliate, Bond sabotaged Lippe’s steam-bath cabinet and trapped him inside. In his room, Bond rubbed a soft black mink glove over the naked back of now sexually-liberated Patricia (# 2 tryst).
In this movie we have all the elements of adventure. Weapons, romance, unique and unusual places, and a scheming evil genus. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Meanwhile, NATO’s French pilot Major Francois Derval (Paul Stassino) was being seduced by voluptuous, red-haired ‘black widow’ mistress – a SPECTRE agent named Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi).
When he was leaving for the airbase, a look-alike Major Derval was outside his door, and sprayed him with lethal gamma gas (# 3 death).
The look-alike was SPECTRE agent Angelo, who had undergone plastic surgeries over two years to face-replicate and impersonate Derval.
He had also studied films, reports, and taken voice lessons.
He greedily demanded (or extorted) $250,000 rather than $100,000 to complete the task.
He appropriated Derval’s watch, ID disk, and bag, and departed for a training sortie at the NATO air base.
This is my favorite Sean Connery Bond film. Thunderball is loaded with style, slick action, great stunts, beautiful scenery, beautiful women, and Sean Connery.
This film continued the practice of great opening action sequence, a 'larger-than-life' villain in Largo/ AKA No. 2 (Adolfo Celi), a collection of vicious henchmen and woman - Count Lippe, Fiona, Vargas and Janni (played by Guy Doleman, Luciana Paluzzi, Philip Locke and Michael Brennan), an elaborate plot and a beautiful leading lady (Claudine Auger who plays Domino) Bob Simmons, the main Bond stuntman opens the film as the villainous aCol.
Jacques Bouvar AKA SPECTRE No. 6 who is dispatched by Bond.
The scape by jetpack sets the stage for the great action film that follows. Largo and SPECTRE have downed a UN Vulcan fighter and stolen two nuclear warheads and hidden them in the Caribbean.
Bond must intervene before the UN pays a ransom to SPECTRE. Along the way, Bond romances, fights on land and underwater, and finally squares off on a hydrofoil.
The one change here is that the villain is not killed by Bond - someone else (Domino)does that that favor.
The cast of British actors (Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn and Lois Maxwell) return as the MI-6 crew with Rik Van Nutter playing Felix Leiter in this film.
The hi-lights of this film include the incredible underwater photography and action sequences, the villainous and voluptuous Fiona, the Vulcan crash and cover-up, and the incredible fight on the hydro-foil, the Disco Volante.
There are two quintessential Bond scenes: SPECTRE's HQ and MI-6' briefing room which are a treat for all Bond fans.
This loud, action-filled and very entertaining Bond film raised the level that future Bond films would have to meet. This one is great!
- Jaime Contreras
“Derval” commanded a routine NATO flight of a Vulcan jet bomber at 45,000 feet, armed with two atomic bombs (MOS type).
As the noisy plane took off, Bond was still seducing Patricia with the mink glove, although they were interrupted when Bond left to snoop on Count Lippe – who was supervising the return of Derval’s corpse (face-bandaged to look like Angelo) in an ambulance back to Shrublands (it was later claimed that “Angelo” died of a heart-attack).
Bond unwrapped the corpse’s facial bandages, and then avoided a second attempt on his life by one of Lippe’s henchmen.
James Bond interacting with the office staff. He always has such a way with the girls. You can tell, eh? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
During the NATO flight, “Derval” took the co-pilot’s seat, gassed five other crew members with the lethal gamma gas canister (while wearing a separate oxygen supply/mask) (# 4-8 deaths), and deliberately crash-landed the plane near the Bahamas in the Caribbean.
Nearby, on his luxury hydrofoil yacht the Disco Volante (Flying Saucer), Emilio Largo ordered underwater lights switched on to guide the plane to its proper landing strip location, where it gently sank to the bottom.
Wearing scuba gear, Largo swam to the submerged plane, and cut “Derval’s” air-supply hose to drown him (# 9 death) (punishing him for his extortion demand), when he was trapped in his seat-belt.
From an underwater hatch, three of Largo’s henchmen took a submersible craft to the NATO jet to unload and transport the two massive thermonuclear weapons back to the yacht, and then covered the jet with a camouflage net to hide it.
We just recently decided to delve into the Sean Connery James Bond films.
We went into Thunderball appreciating that it was a landmark film in terms of cinematography for the time; it's the only film I've seen that outdoes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in terms of underwater choreography.
We also knew that Thunderball wasn't on any top ten Bond films lists so we didn't expect too much from it, aside from entertainment.
It certainly delivered in that department and we were swept away in an undersea adventure that was tastefully and masterfully executed.
I particularly enjoyed that Domino had a bit more complexity than the standard Bond girl.
It's not one of the best of the Connery era but it's certainly a great entry and far, far better than the campy nightmares that the Roger Moore films became.
Even though many people site Goldfinger as the best Bond film of all time, I actually enjoyed this one a bit more.
- ashbwell
As the yacht returned to its base in the Bahamas, SPECTRE No. 1 ordered the execution of Count Lippe.
Bond was summoned away (to London), and bid goodbye to Patricia, promising to reunite with her “another time, another place.”
As he drove off, he was followed by Lippe – SPECTRE assassin Fiona also rode behind them on a rocket-firing BSA Lightning motorcycle. She fired two deadly missiles at Lippe’s car, which exploded and crashed, killing him (# 10 death), and then submerged her bike in a nearby lake.
James Bond negotiating with a pretty evil chick who does not have his best interests at heart. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
In the British Secret Service conference room in an important briefing held by “M” (Bernard Lee), with nine 00- agents in attendance (including Bond), the group was told about recent troubling developments regarding SPECTRE’s possession of two NATO bombs.
A ransom of £100 million pounds sterling was demanded of the British government within seven days – otherwise, SPECTRE threatened to destroy an unspecified major city in either England or the United States (later revealed to be Miami).
To signal their cooperation with the ransom, the Big Ben clock was to strike 7 times at 6 pm the following day.
The problem was that there was no indication about where the Vulcan jet had crashed or landed.
There is only one 007, and that is the Scottish actor, Sean Connery. Seeing this one again over the summer was wild and wooly. Yes, they made movies a bit differently in the early 60's, but that's ok. With 'Thunderball' you get what you paid for.
Relentless action, supercool locations(Bermuda/Virgin Islands) and ultra sexy 'Bond Girls'. Alot of the action scenes toward the end are all underwater. Connery has fun with this installment, as the series was still new at the time. Who can forget the 'shark scene'? This is first class entertainment, and far from 'politically correct.'
Everyone who is cool in the film smokes and drinks, as well.
Connery appeared in a total of 7 Bond movies. This one was so good, they re-made it in 1983 and called it "Never Say Never Again"! True Bond fans will rank this one high on their list. So sit back, crack open a cold one and watch the remastered version on your flatscreen. You will not be disapointed!
- metalhead Ted
The mission, code-named “Thunderball,” was to work with NATO, the CIA, and all allied intelligence units.
In the briefing packet was a picture of Derval with his sister Dominique in Nassau, Bahamas. Bond was specifically assigned to Station C (Canada), although he requested that his assignment be changed to Nassau.
Bond claimed that he saw the dead pilot Derval at Shrublands (although the situation was confused because Derval was also seen boarding the Vulcan), and he wanted to interrogate Derval’s sister Dominique, presently in Nassau.
With only four days to complete his mission, Bond quickly flew there.
Everyone has to report and defend their actions to the higher ups. James Bond is no exception. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
While free-diving near Dominique “Domino” Derval (former Miss France Claudine Auger), Bond saved her from drowning when her flipper was caught in coral.
Bond and his own local dive assistant, bikinied native Bahamian Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick), faked a conked-out motor and Bond asked Domino for a lift to Coral Harbor, where he invited her for lunch by the pool.
The film is different from the recent Bond films, but they are from a different era and cannot be compared. Sean Connery is absolutely charming and charismatic. Daniel Craig is equally perfect for the modern 007 roles.
I love 60's cinema, the 70's less so, and the 80's just kinda stunk. It's film's like this that make me love the 60's. There are certain special effects that are available for modern film that weren't around then. There is a scene where Bond is escaping with a rocket backpack and you can actually see the supporting cables. This does not take away from the movie.
I won't give away any plot points, but Sean Connery is what really makes this movie special. I admit to Daniel Craig being my favorite 007 agent, but Connery comes in as a close second. If you can tear yourself away from modern effects and try to appreciate this film (and the others) for what they are, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
- J.AllenTop Contributor: Poker
He learned that she was the bored, love-starved mistress/kept woman (“niece”) of a possessive “guardian” (Emilio Largo) who owned a yacht and an opulent estate on the island.
He knew her nickname was “Domino” – observed on a bracelet on her ankle.
At a party that evening in a casino, attended by Bond, Domino, and Largo, Bond challenged the villain to a game of cards (with raised stakes to 500 pounds) and won, then briefly shared a drink and dance with Domino, before Largo interrupted and invited Bond to dinner at Sunday noon at his private beachside villa-estate in Palmyra.
James Bond always has so much fun, now don’t you think? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
The next day, Bond was returning to his hotel room (#304), but avoided directly entering, and came through Paula’s adjoining room (#306) instead.
He listened to a tape recording, hidden in a hollowed-out Nassau Directory.
It had recorded someone’s entry into his room.
With a silencer in his hand, he answered a knock on the door from CIA agent Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter), punched him in the stomach to quiet him before he said 007, and also roughly dealt with Largo’s henchman Quist (Bill Cummings) – scalding him in his bathroom shower before sending the disarmed assassin back to his superior.
I fondly remember this movie when seeing all the James Bond -Sean Connery movies for free with my brothers up in the above theater balcony with special seating as my father held a second job during that decade (1960's and early parts of the 70's) as the Motion Picture Machine Operator.I was pretty young though at the time (just 7 years of age).Dad was also a Commander too in the long past before I was born just like James Bond.
I especially liked the C.I.A. Fulton equipped B-17 Flying Fortress 44-85531 in the movie and pointed that out to father after watching it on cable television with him a few years before he passed away in 2004 as he was an Aircraft Commander/Pilot of the B-17's during World War II.Sean Connery as James Bond was a character that my father and I too adored.
To me Sean Connery is James Bond and no other actor replaces him as that for me.
Seeing this again brings me back to happier times.
The DVD was shipped quickly and it plays well.
- x9078ljk4+
At Palmyra, a disgusted Largo ordered Quist – after his failed mission – to be thrown into a swimming pool containing sharks (# 11 death).
Bond met with local MI6 ally-contact Pinder (Earl Cameron) and was taken to a base of operations behind a marketplace, where “Q” (Desmond Llewelyn) provided him with the latest multi-purpose gadgets, many for underwater use.
In approximately 55 hours, the British government was planning to drop the “blood money” ransom (off the coast of Burma) in the form of blue-white diamonds worth £100 million pounds.
This is an old movie and the technologies are dated. However that in no way detracts from the movies. Instead, it only adds to it’s charms. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
At night, Bond donned scuba gear and swam under Largo’s yacht — where one of Largo’s sentry-frogmen discovered him and fired a spear-gun.
Largo watched Bond struggle underwater, after turning on lights and activating closed-circuit video cameras, and saw that Bond cut the man’s air-hose.
Largo ordered hand-grenades dropped on him as Bond was taking photos of the hull of the boat (with his infra-red camera).
Bond was stunned, but escaped unharmed, and evaded a search-boat – letting them think he had been killed by its propeller.
After he came ashore, he hitchhiked and was picked up by Fiona Volpe (wearing a ring with an Octopus symbol, similar to the one worn by Largo) in a light blue Mustang and speedily driven at 100 mph back to his Nassau hotel.
The photos were developed at Pinder’s base, revealing an underwater hatch beneath Largo’s yacht.
Bond guessed that Largo’s entire operation was concealed underwater, and that the Vulcan plane was submerged.
Another excellent James Bond film looking at men of international crime. A very realistic villain emerges here in this fourth James Bond film.
Bond's crime nemesis Emilio Largo has a seaside home in Nassau out of which he runs a nuclear weapons theft operation. His small crew are able to conceal the warheads easily, and almost escaped detection if it weren't for Bond's excellent tracking instinct and bravery.
True to the 007 film franchise formula, this movie has all the gizmos and equipment that 1950's and 60's Westerners were convinced would be in high demand such as hydrofoils and jetpacks and that sort of thing. Unfortunately the jetpack has fallen into disfavor as a mainstream idea. Though a lot of the tech in Thunderball has fallen into disfavor, still it was very cool nonetheless to journey back through the era before I was born and see how people embraced the future.
In summary, this 007 movie follows on the heels of other excellent ones that set the bar very high. Also, the underwater photography and ensuing action sequences are really excellent, which adds immensely to the enjoyment of the move.
I would consider watching this again after a short time just for the shocking diving action sequences the end of the film alone. However, there are other aspects of this movie that kept my attention as well, such as the feeling that Ian Fleming's work inspires us not to underestimate the deviousness and creativity of criminal minds.
Though we sent a man to the moon, and are optimists by nature, the plot stays grounded in the reality that Bond almost doesn't prevail at several junctures against a nuclear madman.
To Fleming, Broccoli, and Saltzman's credit, they seem to convey an important subtlety well: though the MI6 team thought failure was unimaginable, it also doesn't mean mission accomplishment was guaranteed, or failure is impossible.
- Aye Aye Captain!
The next day (Sunday), a search by helicopter for the missing plane near Nassau was unfruitful.
While shooting skeets at Largo’s oceanside villa of Palmyra, Fiona vowed to assassinate Bond when the time was right: “I shall kill him.”
Later that day as a guest at Largo’s villa for lunch, Bond was shown around and also shot skeets.
Largo bragged about his pool with Golden Grotto sharks (“the most savage, the most dangerous”). Because he was busy, Largo also invited Domino to accompany Bond to the Junkanoo, the “local Mardi Gras” that evening, to keep him occupied.
A sex scene done properly. You do not need to show pornographic activities to titillate. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Meanwhile, in her hotel room waiting for Bond, Paula was chloroformed and abducted by Largo’s goons (and Fiona).
The assassinatrix noticed Bond’s photos of the yacht’s hull. During the Junkanoo celebration that night, after learning that Paula had disappeared, Bond snuck away (Leiter kept Domino occupied) and infiltrated Palmyra, at the same time that Pinder had requested a power blackout to cut the electricity.
He located Paula being questioned by Largo’s silent, sadistic black-dressed henchman Vargas (Philip Locke) in an underground room.
Thunderball is one of the best of the James Bond movies. Although it was filmed in the 1965, the technology and action scenes still look good 50 years later (I bought the DVD in 2017). In this film James Bond is played by Sean Connery, who I think did the best portrayal of Bond. The plot revolves around the stealing of nuclear bombs by Spectre, the nefarious group that opposes Bond in several other of the films.
The underwater fight sequences are spectacular – even recent films have trouble topping them.
The Bond girl in this movie is played by actress Claudine Auger; excellent casting. A classic Bond film throughout; much better than many of the other Bond films. I think Thunderball and Goldfinger are among the best two Bond films made.
- Lee Gimenez
When Bond attempted to rescue her, he was too late – she had already heroically committed suicide by self-administering a cyanide capsule (# 12 death).
As Bond fled, he shot one of Largo’s men (# 13 death, # 2 Bond kill) to get the group to shoot at each other, and engaged in a fist-fight with one of the men.
The two fell into a second swimming pool (Largo deployed the metal pool cover, and then opened a tunnel hatch to the other shark pool).
Bond stabbed his opponent in the gut (his bloody wound soon attracted the hungry sharks and he was consumed) (# 14 death), and then swam through the tunnel to narrowly escape.
I can see me doing this. Can’t you? (Actually, I’ve done it many times, don’t ya know.) Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
After contacting Pinder and being driven back to his hotel, Bond found Fiona naked in the bathtub of Paula’s vacated room.
After making love with the “wild” woman (“You should be locked up in a cage”) (# 3 tryst), the two dressed up and planned to return to the all-night Junkanoo celebration.
However, Fiona (revealing her true identity as Largo’s assassin) betrayed Bond and held a gun on him, to escort him to Largo’s presence with support from other thugs.
After the first three attempts, they finally got all the right ingredients to making a great bond film.
A Nato Vulcan bomber carrying two atomic bombs has crashed in the caribbean, SPECTRE has informed the British Government that they hijacked the plane's cargo, unless a ransom of 100 million is paid in seven days a major city in england or the U.S will be destroyed.
So MI6 calls in all it's agents, but only one will have the lead. 007, and awaiting Bond in the Bahamas is Fiona Volpe.
A SPECTRE executioner, she's the one who orchestrated the Vulcan hijack, as a matter of fact, as she and Bond are dancing in a street cafe.
One of her men is about to shoot Bond, but he swings her around, and Volpe gets shot in the back instead of Bond, a very deadly and sexy assassin.
Paula Caplain, she is another MI6 agent. But sadly Fiona Caplain and Largo's men kidnapped her from her hotel room, and Bond was too late to rescue her. Emilio Largo, SPECTRE number 2.
Owner of a luxurious yacht, a niiiiice house. And owner of the two missing bombs, and last but certainly not least is Domino Derval. The sister of NATO pilot Major Derval, she is also Largo's girfriend.
But grows tired of his overbearing ways, and soon becomes attracted to Bond. As a matter of fact, she ends up being the one who kills Largo.
This movie has it all, the pre-title sequence. Where bond kills another SPECTRE agent, at a funeral, then gets away via a jetpack. Bond also has his way with the ladies, but is also decisive when need be, a cold blooded killer.
This movie doesn't focus on gadgets, but it does use them. Me personally, i think this is arguably the better of the early Bond films.
- Ben Milton
But Bond escaped from their car when they were held up in festival traffic, although wounded in the lower right leg as he ran into the crowd.
He was chased through a carnival parade by five henchmen, and Fiona caught up with him at the open-air Kiss Kiss Club where patrons were being entertained by a female fire-dancer, and a bongo-band played.
As Fiona danced with Bond and asked him to surrender, while steering him closer to an assassin, she was shot in the back and killed by her own bodyguard (with a bullet meant for him) (# 15 death).
The Bad guy with the pretty seductress. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
With only about 15 hours until the drop of the ransom, Bond took another helicopter search with Felix Leiter for the submerged plane, spotting something at a shark-infested location called the Golden Grotto.
One shark was shot to distract the other sharks, as Bond dove down with one scuba tank to investigate.
Inside the downed plane, he found the bodies of the dead crew members, including “Derval” (Angelo, the counterfeit NATO pilot).
Bond engaged in a second dive with Domino, an opportunity to become more intimate with her underwater (# 4 tryst) although discreetly hidden when they ducked behind some coral and bubbles exploded to the surface.
Later he commented: “I hope we didn’t frighten the fish” before kissing her.
She stepped on poisonous sea egg spines as they came ashore, and after treating her, he delivered the news of her dead brother Francois, and offered his dog-tag and watch: “It’s a long story and it involves your friend, Largo…Largo had your brother murdered, or it was on his orders.”
Of the first four Bond films this one is a powerhouse from the get-go. Even the pre-credit section gets you going with the music, the art, the visuals. Thunderball really put it all together for this franchise. It was, and still is, literally a thunderball of a production. Everyone is included in this and everyone shows up and delivers. There is a real serial moving story here from beginning to middle to end. From the Bell Rocket Belt, to more of the Aston Martin, to the gadgets and sheer style. Who can forget "Huit pour la banque. Pass the shoe." Bond has been his best in the casinos. It is a real education.
This franchise has always been big on Fords, too, and used the hot car(s) of the time such as the Mustang. Part of the "special relationship" we have had with our British cousins.
I did not see any AMPAS marks on the jewel box, but there is no way this should not have won an OSCAR in some category -- especially a whiz-bang technical category.
This surpasses the third very impressive installment, "Goldfinger," and is probably one of the best ever of the Bond Franchise.
- lidz
As Bond asked for her help and trust, he explained how hundreds of thousands of people might die.
He admitted he didn’t know when the bombs would be loaded on the Disco Volante, and wanted her to detect them with his geiger counter gadget.
Bond turned and shot Vargas (pointing a gun-silencer his direction) in the stomach with a harpoon gun, impaling him to a palm tree (# 16 death, # 3 Bond kill) (“I think he got the point”).
You might be cool, but you will never be as cool as James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
As she was leaving, Domino told Bond about a canal, a bridge, and a flight of steps that led into the ocean, on the far side of Palmyra – a perfect entry-point that Bond soon swam to.
He noticed SPECTRE diving gear stashed there, swallowed a homing device, and awaited darkness.
When Largo’s army of frogmen arrived, Bond knocked one of them out, stole his scuba gear, and swam with the group out to the yacht, where Largo ordered: “Once we pick up the merchandise, head for our target area, Miami.”
Their plan was to retrieve the bombs from a hidden undersea cave compartment with the submersible, and then threaten to detonate one of the bombs at a wreck near Miami.
During the retrieval process, Bond’s cover was blown (he was recognized by Largo), and he was forced to kill one frogman (# 17 death, # 4 Bond kill).
Trapped and stranded inside the underwater cave, Bond looked for an exit and emerged deep in an island cavern.
While many rank GOLDFINGER as the best Bond ever, THUNDERBALL has always been my favorite. To me it had all the Bond ingredients (gadgets, lots of sharks, the Aston Martin, scuba diving, gorgeous babes & plenty of action) as well as a cohesive plot. Spectre remains one of the most formidable villains in Bond history, even after all these years.
The underwater brawl between the Spectre divers and the Navy(?) divers remains a classic climactic scene in all of the Bond movies. I'm just guessing that they were Navy (SEALS?) as usually Army guys are not trained in scuba operations.
Connery's final Bond movie, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, was more-or-less a remake of THUNDERBALL. There were a few variations here & there, but the basic plotline & many of the elements remained the same. This goes to show just how enduring THUNDERBALL was to the Connery Bond movies.
-D. Roberts
Back onboard the yacht, Largo caught Domino using the geiger counter “toy” given to her by Bond and threatened: “There is no escape for you.”
He menaced her with torture unless she revealed the extent of Bond’s knowledge, but was called away to activate the bombs.
Onboard a Coast Guard search helicopter, Leiter used Bond’s homing device signal to locate him.
Bond also indicated his exact whereabouts with a red flare gun. A cable was lowered to him for rescue.
Bond warned that Largo’s target was Miami, and that one bomb was being transferred from the yacht to a wreck off Fowley Point.
Bond. James Bond. You might be cool, but you will never be as cool as James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
With support from the CIA and the US Coast Guard aqua-divers in red (parachuting from planes into the waters around Miami), an intensely fierce underwater battle was fought near the wreck against Largo’s frogmen-henchmen (in black) (unknown number of deaths).
Bond joined the Coast Guard divers, wearing an underwater jet pack propulsion unit (with high-velocity exploding spear-heads) strapped to his oxygen tanks.
During the bloody struggle, he cut the air-hoses of a few frogmen and also speared one of them (# 18 death, # 5 Bond kill).
Yes, that's what Bond says to the just bedded villianess
once he's captured. You gotta admire the style of it.
Though a little slow at times expecially in the underwater
scenes this fourth Bond adventure is pushed forward
by the music, the cast, and great locations.
Bond gets off
lots of good lines and the girl is especially beautiful.
The villian, Largo,is one off the top five baddies in the
series.
The title sequence is one of the best with Tom Jones
Giving his all and falling unconscious in the
recording booth after holding the last note of the hit
title song. Way to go Tom!
- Paul Kyriazi
Bond then removed his tanks, used his re-breather device, and detonated an explosive canister to kill three more pursuing henchmen within the wreck (# 19-21 deaths, # 6-8 Bond kills), and then helped to turn the tide in the battle.
Blood in the water attracted sharks to the scene, as Largo’s men were routed and then surrendered.
When Largo swam away with two of his remaining men, Bond killed one of them with a harpoon-gun (# 22 death, # 9 Bond kill), and pursued an escaping Largo to his yacht.
Underwater, Bond held on as the Disco Volante weighed anchor (with one stolen disarmed atomic bomb still onboard), but was under attack by cannon-fire from the US Navy.
Largo created a smoke screen and jettisoned his yacht’s rear cocoon to increase the speed of the separate hydrofoil. The cocoon section of the yacht, with a machine gun and deck cannon, exploded and killed all onboard (many deaths, number unknown).
Bond being the quintessential man. Bond. James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
During a life-and-death hand-to-hand struggle between Bond, three crew-members, and Largo in the hydrofoil’s cabin, Bond threw one crew-member overboard, and knocked the other two unconscious.
He was saved from being shot by Largo, when Domino (who had changed allegiances), was freed in her cabin by Kutze (who had disarmed the bombs), appeared from below deck, and harpooned him in the back with a spear (# 23 death).
Can you imagine a film getting any better whether it is the women,the villains,the locations or even the plot this one has got it all.One might think it is outdated now but then look again this film is the stepping stone to any action movie that is to be made in the coming years.
Sean Connery stamps his signature yet again as James Bond 007 in the fourth installment of the Bond franchise.Director Terence Young makes it more tongue and cheek than any other Bond movie.There is no raw filth or even gore but the story is so perfect that it makes you forget about its tiny if at all faults.
There are some memorable moments in this film like the opening jet pack sequence,gunfight at Largo's house during a blackout and the final underwater battle.Simply breathtaking and proof of quality film making which today is seriously considered by Jerry Bruckhiemer/Joel Silver and Steven Speilberg.
Adding to the movie's good points is also John Barry's superb score which to this day haunts me as it is quite memorable.I also took a great liking to the leading ladies because they can not get any sexier to me.
The plot revolves around Blofeld's organization hijacking nuclear warheads and demanding a ransom.The beautiful location of the Bahamas a used extensively where Bond tries to unravel the doomsday plot.
- Anisha Dharmadasa
(Domino: “I’m glad I killed him.” Bond (relieved): “You’re glad?”).
With Largo death-locked to the jammed steering, they jumped overboard to escape from the yacht’s explosion when it ran aground and struck a reef (# 24-25 deaths, # 10-11 Bond kills).
Kutze was left at sea with a life preserver, while in a yellow raft, Bond inflated a red balloon tied to a rope that was snagged by a US Navy Boeing B-17 plane with a skyhook, and the two held onto each other during their rescue.
Rescuing the girl. All in a day’s work for James Bond. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)
The fourth film in the series. This was
director Terence Young’s third and final direction of a Bond film. (He
did not direct the third film, Goldfinger (1964).)
The code name for the MI6 mission, Thunderball, was also the film’s title.
This was originally intended to be the first Bond film but a series of legal disputes delayed its release.
This was the first James Bond film shot in wide-screen Panavision.
The film’s remake was Never Say Never Again (1983), one of the unofficial James Bond films. However, Sean Connery portrayed Bond in the film it was his seventh and final appearance on the screen as the character. He claimed it was his favorite 007 performance.
Lighting up a cigarette while the secret agent beside you has a gun trained on him. This is a scene you won’t see today. It’s usually the police pointing guns at you, and usually because you are smoking cigarettes. That devil stick!
This was the only Bond film in which all nine 00- agents appeared together in London, England, where M summoned them to a briefing about SPECTRE’s plot.
Molly Peters (as Patricia Fearing) was the
first Bond girl to appear nude (in silhouette) – in the steambath scene.
And Martine Beswick, as Paula Caplan was the first Bond girl to appear
in two Bond girls as different characters (she was fighting gypsy girl Zora in From Russia With Love (1963)).
With an Academy Award win, the second (and last win, to date) for Best Special Visual Effects.
With a production budget of $9 million, and gross revenue of $63.6 million (domestic) and $141 million (worldwide).
Thunderball had the highest domestic box-office earnings of the Bond films (to date) – when adjusted for inflation. Its domestic unadjusted gross of $63.6 million was $600 million when adjusted. Goldfinger (1964) was a distant second with $51 million (and $531.7 million adjusted).
I wanted to watch the original early films of Bond, beginning with Dr. No. It's great to see Sean Connery evolve from film to film to become, I feel, the best Bond there ever was.
I'm progressing in order from Dr. No, to From Russia with love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You only live twice, Diamonds are forever, and the later semi-Bond "Never say Never again".
I know many fans of Bond dislike the last film Connery did, but perhaps they were expecting too much from a then, pretty weathered, franchise.
I still have to watch the final two Connery films and am not expecting too much from "Diamonds" and even less from "Never".
But that doesn't take away from the talent and artistry of Sean Connery and I'm more into those last films to simply watch how he slowly bows out of the James Bond role forever.
It's sad film history to watch sometimes, but I'd rather watch these first Bond films again and again than to tolerate the works of Roger Moore and the others.
Daniel Craig is a fresh approach to the role, but he lacks the warmth and humor that Connery brought to the role.
I'd love to see one final film where Sean Connery has taken over the position of "M" and guides newer agents along, making them the best they could be. Sort of like an episode of "NCIS", I know, but it would be entertaining to see, none-the-less.
- Richard Behmer
What’s a James Bond movie without action and excitement? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Bond Villains:
Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi)
Count Lippe (Guy Doleman)
Angelo Palazzi (Paul Stassino)
Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi)
Ladislav Kutze (George Pravda)
Quist (Bill Cummings)
Vargas (Philip Locke)
Bond Girls:
Patricia Fearing (Molly Peters)
Dominique (“Domino”)
Derval (Claudine Auger)
Paula Caplan (Martine Beswick)
Thunderball is one of the better James Bond movies in the set of Bond. I have heard the rumours about the underwater fight scene being edited but in my personal viewpoint still an amazing fight scene and very well filmed for the movie.
The movie plotline was actual very believeable about stealing a weapon and holding it for a money trade off in exchange for where the weapon is located.
I also would like to add that I thought Sean Connery was in one of his best phsyical shapes as James Bond base on the fight scenes and action stunts unless they used a stunt man.
I thought every actor did a great job with what they had to work with and the added benifit of the dance scene and all that music going on very impressive turn out.
I look forward to many more James Bond movies and writing up much more reviews of them to come as I watch them. So watch this one with an open mind and make up your own mind weither you enjoy it as much as me or not.
- Jack D. Lowry Top Contributor: James Bond
After killing the bad guys, it’s time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Don’t you think? Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Number of Love-Making Encounters:
There were four love-making encounters.
Film Locales:
Paris, France
Shrublands Health Farm/Clinic
(and the) nearby NATO airbase in south of England
London, England
Nassau
The Bahamas and other surrounding islands
Miami, Florida
The bad guy with the beautiful chick. A James Bond standard. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Gadgets:
A Bell Textron jet pack rocket belt.
Devices in Bond’s Aston Martin.
Angelo’s/”Derval’s” separate oxygen supply and gamma gas canister.
Largo’s Disco Volante (with an underwater hatch, hidden video cameras) and his yellow submersible submarine.
A modified waterproof (underwater) Rolex watch with geiger counter.
An underwater infra-red camera for nighttime photos.
A miniature pistol that fired distress signal flares (bright red).
A miniature (pocket-sized) underwater re-breather device good for four minutes.
A harmless radio-active homing device in the shape of a pill.
An underwater jet pack propulsion unit with exploding, high-velocity spearheads.
A sky-hook.
Bad guys look great with patches, or monocles. Having a pretty chick in a nice slinky dress helps as does piles of money at a casino table. Thunderball is a classic James Bond 007 movies. It is a movie that has something for everyone, and ages well. It gets better with time.
Vehicles:
A silver Aston Martin DB5 (with rear armor shield, and rear-firing, high-pressure water cannon-sprayer).
Vulcan jet.
Hydrofoil Disco Volante.
A gold BSA Lightning Motorcycle (with missiles).
Domino’s Boehler Turbocraft dive boat.
Volpe’s light blue Mustang.
A Bell helicopter.
A US Coast Guard helicopter.
A US Navy Boeing B-17 plane.
Number of Deaths (Bond Kills):
There were a total of 25+ deaths in the movie, of which James Bond killed 11.
Conclusion
This is a great movie, and fantastic escapist entertainment for men and women alike. Childish millenials need not watch it, as they are far too easily offended by normal adult interactions.
“When arrows meet”.
Not to worry, a transgender, role-reversal Bond flick is in the works. They will continue their narrative that White Males are the scourage of the universe, dumb, stupid and a bane on society.
Don’t waste your money on this new progressive propiganda. Enjoy these older flicks before they are banned from distribution. Because, if history is any indicator, they WILL be banned.
The New “modern, progressive” 007…
You can tell why liberal Hollywood selected her. If you morphed Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama together, this is what the result would look like…
The new “face” of 007. She’s modern, she’s progressive, and she’s LGBT friendly. She is the new woman that will lead America towards the social utopia as promised by the “great ones”.
If you enjoyed this post, please check out some of my other posts in my Movie Index…
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A post-apocalyptic tale based on a novella by Harlan Ellison. A boy communicates telepathically with his dog as they scavenge for food and sex, and they stumble into an underground society where the old society is preserved. The daughter of one of the leaders of the community seduces and lures him below, where the citizens have become unable to reproduce because of being underground so long. They use him for impregnation purposes, and then plan to be rid of him.
-Ed Sutton
Here we have a movie where the chicks lay up with really thick foundation. Heh he. But, you know they really need to. It’s tough living in 2024.
Despite its ironically cutesy title (“A Boy and His Dog”) and a plot premise that might’ve come out of the Walt Disney archives (dog and boy share telepathic communication), this movie is about as darkly comic and acidic as anything Stanley Kubrick ever did (“Clockwork Orange”).
In the tradition of the great 70s dystopian/postapocalyptic scifis like “Clockwork Orange” (1971), “Rollerball” (1975), “THX-1138” (1971), “Soylent Green” (1973), “The Omega Man” (1971) and I’ll even throw in “The Stepford Wives” (1975), this movie has its appeal in a sort of minimalist presentation that presents a chillingly emotionless and sterile future.
The first half is something like Mr. Ed meets Mad Max, with its equal portions of chatty humor and dusty violence. But right in the first scene we realize that, despite the cute banter between boy & dog, there aren’t going to be many warm fuzzies. In the opening scene we learn that the boy (Don Johnson) is looking for female survivors so he can rape them.
Atparts, this movie getssostrangeyoucan’tdoanythingbutlaughatit, whichisdefinitelynotabadthing! A Boy and His Dog isnotsomethingthatwilleverbeuniversallypopular, butitisagreat movie forlatenightsandallnerds. Aclassicpieceofsciencefiction.
If you can swallow that highly disturbing premise, which the director makes no bones in presenting at the outset, then the rest should be an unsettlingly fun joyride all the way to the film’s very memorable punchline.
Things get really trippy in the 2nd half, and even though there’s minimal nudity, certain things happen which would make D.H. Lawrence blush (particularly involving a certain mechanical device attached to the male anatomy).
Definitely NOT a date movie, nor any sort of movie you’d watch with your parents or kids, “A Boy and His Dog” is really like a lost cousin of “A Clockwork Orange” or “Dr. Strangelove”.
Vic and his telepathically talking sheep dog, Blood, travel post-apocalyptic Arizona. Besides scavenging for food and sex, this movie features old, terrible porn clips, evil Amish looking people with clown makeup and possibly the greatest pun in movie history. Blood provides hilarious commentary to all Vic's endeavors, his comments while Vic and a girl he finds have sex are particularly entertaining. At parts, this movie gets so strange you can't do anything but laugh at it, which is definitely not a bad thing! A Boy and His Dog is not something that will ever be universally popular, but it is a great movie for late nights and all nerds. A classic piece of science fiction.
- emma505013 May 2004
A Boy and His Dog is as surprising an effort that has ever come into the genre. It is a movie where imagination is pushed to its most cynical, rotten roots. It is a movie where a wealth of pitch black comedy awaits those who have no problem..
… with the repore between a slightly dim dude and a dog…
… a dog who seems to be part comic relief, part ‘get-your-head-out-of-your-ass’ voice of reason.
The Characters:
Vic – Don Johnson! A solo who survives in the wastelands left after World War IV, he is constantly hunting for food and women.
Blood – Highly intelligent and telepathic mutt who pals around with Vic, in addition he has radar.
Quilla June – Brazen girl sent to lure Vic underground, though she wants to replace the ruling council by using the solo. Ends up as dog food.
Mr. Craddock – Jason Robards! Senior member of the ruling council and a very dour man.
Dr. Moore – Fairly boring member of the ruling council, though he has the best memory.
Mez – Female member of the council, not a pretty sight when laughing.
Gary, Richard, and Kenneth – Conspirators who follow Quilla’s lead, all three get their necks snapped.
Michael – Powerful robot which looks like a huge country bumpkin, if one of the ruling council points at you the wrong way he snaps your neck. Disassembled by Vic, but it appears the council has an entire warehouse full of replacements.
The Screamers – Apparently they are green glowing mutant elephants. (We do not see them, but they do glow green and sound like elephants.)
It should be way too ridiculous to be taken seriously as a piece of legitimate cinema, perhaps as some gonzo experiment that’s dug up by cultists for tongue-in-cheek purposes.
Yet, Jones’s film is, in its way, a weird landmark.
It’s a snapshot of a moment where the basic fronts of a 70s ‘exploitation’ flick (action, comedy, randomness of the 70s, nudity) are put through the perspective of a filmmaker with brains and talent to make it stick in your mind.
This disorderly pre-Mad Max spree is one of the most entertaining post-apocalyptic future movies ever made. You know why? Because it has no taste and in that, it has no inhibitions about the questions it asked about what will happen after the world is spent by nuclear war. It asks about how procreation will happen, how basic sexual feelings will be satisfied, and other things. It has a genuinely original plot involving telepathic dogs that are more literate than their human masters,gunfights wherein the dogs direct their human masters, an entire society underground that discerns who is apart of them or not by wearing clownface at all times, and other crazy things.
It's a wild, crazy, tasteless, sex-obsessed adventure that affords the viewer one of the greatest luxuries of the movies, one that is rarely completely fulfilled, which is unpredictability. It's so inventive in every way that you don't know what happens next. Even the comical theme song is so out of place for the genre of the film, but the theme of a boy and his dog makes it suitable. A Boy and His Dog is not a great film, but it's worth watching repeatedly and showing our friends. Another buried treasure.
- jzappa
This is extremely low budget but not bad. The conversations between Vic and Blood are hilarious (and Blood’s face and movements totally match the dialogue).
I love the bit when Blood asks Vic to name the presidents (remember, this came out in 1975). He responds “Nixon, Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy…” When they meet Quilla (about an hour in) the film falls apart. The sequences down under are, at first, scary but get quickly repetitious. But it leads up to a twist ending which is great.
This
was issued in 1975 with a horribly exploitive ad campaign. It showed a
woman lying down on the ground. You don’t see her face–just her body
and all she’s wearing is a shirt and covering her breasts and other
parts. Blood has a paw on her and a proud look on his face and Vic is
standing beside him holding a gun! The implication is obvious and the
rape aspect of this bothered a lot of people.
Atparts, this movie getssostrangeyoucan’tdoanythingbutlaughatit, whichisdefinitelynotabadthing! A Boy and His Dog isnotsomethingthatwilleverbeuniversallypopular, butitisagreat movie forlatenightsandallnerds. Aclassicpieceofsciencefiction.
The Plot
Armageddon is a difficult thing to rationalize, lending itself to outlandish scenes of violence and debauchery. The idea of a pubescent Don Johnson wandering the lonely wastelands guided by an intelligent and telepathic dog is a new one on me, but for some reason it all fits. Particularly so when the pooch in question has a bottomless stomach and spouts an endless stream of acidic criticism at Don Johnson. (Often complaining about Vic’s libido. A dog complaining about a teenage boy’s libido, I love it!)
The two lead an idyllic life, scavenging for food and water in the
desolate landscape, but sometimes Blood is able to sniff out a female
companion for Vic. For some odd reason all the women are in hiding,
other than a ravenous and horny Don Johnson hunting them I can’t imagine
why.
Well he ends up following Quilla into an underground fallout shelter,
there the last “civilized” remnants of society are carrying on
tradition. Country fairs, ice cream, and prizes for the best canned
goods in addition to trapping fertile males from the surface to
impregnate the young women.
Atparts, this movie getssostrangeyoucan’tdoanythingbutlaughatit, whichisdefinitelynotabadthing! A Boy and His Dog isnotsomethingthatwilleverbeuniversallypopular, butitisagreat movie forlatenightsandallnerds. Aclassicpieceofsciencefiction.
Before you start thinking this is not a bad deal let me explain. Vic is immobilized and his genitals attached to the equivalent of an electronic milking machine. (Aiiiieee!) In short succession the lucky brides are wed to him, presented with a bottle of special sauce, and sent on their way. Nearly incapacitated by blue balls the ferocious young man stages a retreat from the complex after being freed, taking Quilla with him. The first (And last might I add.) marital problem results when Vic discovers his faithful pooch waited outside the shelter’s entrance this entire time and is on the brink of starvation.
Zany and fun to watch on a rainy day, plus the girlfriend will never look at your faithful hound the same.
Things I learned from this movie:
Dogs would make excellent history professors.
Porn films used to suck, in a real bad way.
Men are confused and a little put off by women who want sex.
There is a fundamental difference between “hang” and “harangue.”
A secret and powerful society of mimes inhabits the underground areas of our planet.
Green plants grow nicely underground, even without artificial light.
Interrogating a dog is pretty darn difficult.
Nobody expects a crowbar in the middle of a bouquet.
If a very large, but slow moving, man is trying to break your neck I suggest running away.
Dogs make the worst puns.
Atparts, this movie getssostrangeyoucan’tdoanythingbutlaughatit, whichisdefinitelynotabadthing! A Boy and His Dog isnotsomethingthatwilleverbeuniversallypopular, butitisagreat movie forlatenightsandallnerds. Aclassicpieceofsciencefiction.
Surely those who were looking for nothing more than what Hollywood usually delivers when they invoke the words "science fiction" were disappointed, because this movie resembles the usual horror or action film masquerading as sci-fi very little.
Its source material is a novella by Harlan Ellison, a writer who's recognized by many in the sci-fi community as a master on the same playing field of "psychological sci-fi" as Ray Bradbury and Philip K. Dick.
From Ellison we get a very dark tale about a strangely human dog and his boy. They live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where Phoenix Arizona used to be, and hunt women and food with the same predatory zeal. But when Vic (or as the dog calls him, Albert) is lured into a surreal society living in a large bomb shelter, their friendship is threatened and Vic is almost forced to become a sort of sexual machine for the good of the State.
Just to run through some of the aspects of the film that I enjoyed, I really liked Tim McIntire's voice work as the dog, perfectly crisp like a cranky old man. How exactly the dog knows so much or is able to speak to Vic is never really explained, but I think there's a clue in that Lou (Jason Robards, Jr.) believes that Vic has spoken to a dog he encounters in the shelter.
That, along with the "Committee's" seeming obsession with recounting facts and figures almanac-style, makes me believe that the dog actually came from the shelter. Perhaps he was sent there to "observe" Vic, as Lou tells him they have been doing for some time, and he rebelled against their control. Like all good sci-fi the idea is vaguely proposed but never explained.
Don Johnson did pretty good work here, I mean it doesn't strike you as all that impressive at first but when you think about the fact that he had to do so many scenes with just this dog as his co-star it's a pretty tough act to pull off as well as he did.
Susanne Benton was decent in her role as well. I loved when she tried to sweet-talk the dog, basically the same way that she treated Vic. Vic seems confused about her intentions all the way up to the end, which is excellent -- if he had figured her out completely then the ending would just feel mean-spirited instead of humorous.
As it is, it's as if Vic believes he's making a sacrifice but the dog knows better and turns it into a joke. By the way my girlfriend thought the last line was too tacky but I thought it was perfect, it gave narrative closure to the film as well as filling in those who might not have understood the scene with the campfire.
Honestly the only performance I wasn't crazy about was Jason Robards'. There's these great scenes he gets to play with Alvy Moore ("Green Acres") and Helene Winston (great laugh she's got... she didn't make a lot of movies but strangely enough just this week I saw her in Curtis Harrington's "The Killing Kind").
He just has no energy, I guess that's the way he wanted to do it but it's annoying how he kind of mumbles through the dialog and I just didn't feel that the dialog was supposed to be quite that casual.
Basically I just did not like the way he decided to play the character, I didn't think it was scary at all. His android assistant, like a twisted American Gothic, is pretty strange though.
Plus I never understood why everyone down there was wearing clown makeup. Was it the idea of the forced smile?
Anyway, I salute the film because I think it was a brave decision to make it as it is and not to try to turn it into a more conventional thing with romance or too much action. I think I can see some influence from this movie on George Miller's "Road Warrior" (though I was told that he claims he hadn't seen it), and definitely on "Slip Stream" with Mark Hamill from the 80s.
But this isn't really the kind of movie that was made to fall into place inside the pantheon of "sci-fi" anyway. It's a closer relative to "Electra-Glide in Blue" and other films of the early 70s that explored the bitter end of "hippie" idealism, the same trend that Hampton Fancher was trying to catch onto when he wrote his first drafts of the film that eventually became "Blade Runner."
Frankly I can't remember seeing another sci-fi film that is so close to the feel and ethos of the most transgressive and anti-establishment sci-fi of the 1960s.
- funkyfry
Stuff to watch out for:
1 min – You have to respect any film that starts off with nuclear war.
8 mins – That is Phoenix? I see that it has not changed much…
23 mins – Don Johnson apologizing to a dog ladies and gentlemen.
25 mins – Good dog! Hehehehe!
37 mins – Blood just managed to kill a full grown man who was armed with a rifle?
45 mins – Sort of a canine teleprompter…
46 mins – RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT!
71 mins – Now, will Vic eat that or wipe it on his clothing?
78 mins – The true colors of Quilla’s womanhood come to light.
79 mins – That is about fifty yards I guess, easy shot with a rifle…
Conclusion
Watch the movie. It’s a great romp into 1970’s science fiction. And, as such, perfect for a nice lazy afternoon, or a boring evening at home.
If you enjoyed this article, please check out similar articles in my Movie Index…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Here we discuss you can experience what Hell is like. For those of you that are desirous of this, there is a drug that does precisely that.
There’s this movie, “Brainstorm” (1983), where scientists can literally jump into someone else’s head and play back recordings of what he or she was thinking, feeling, seeing, etc., at the time of the recording, the applications for the project quickly spiral out of control. The American military starts using the technology for “other purposes”. One of which was to create a psychotic Hellish prison in the mind from which they could torture people with.
Well, there is this drug, known as “spice”, that does the exact same thing.
It’s an instant trip to Hell, and you do NOT want to go there.
Spice – K2
A new drug has taken hold on streets across Europe and North America.
Tribes of strangers are staggering around, looking lost and mumbling to
passersby before passing out whenever their legs and minds can take no
more. The drug is most widely known as “spice,” and newspapers —
particularly right-wing tabloid newspapers — are having a field day.
“Zombie spice users are pushing Britain’s emergency services to the brink,” warns The Sun. A “spice nightmare” is turning city centers into “real-life horror movies,” says The Mirror.
Spice “turns users into the ‘living dead’ in minutes and is ruining lives across Britain,” says The Daily Mail.
Spice is like living the darkest scenes from the movie “Brainstorm”.
I think this movie was ahead of its time. I never saw Brainstorm when it was originally released, but decided that I just had to view it since I never saw it on any streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu. Amazon had it, so instead of renting I added to my Amazon library.
Since Natalie Wood's circumstances of death has become something of a current affair, it was more provocative watching the scenes with her and Christopher Walken.
Louise Fletcher gave an amazing performance tying the whole movie together.
This movie was about scientific research that actually allows the users to experience each other's feelings, memories and sensations. When you watch this you could imagine the many types of technologies that exist today, with those same goals, through virtual reality, video games, etc.
You also see the holistic side when Louise Fletcher's character is having a brain scan recording while she actually experiences a heart attack and then dies, raising the questions of what happens to the human consciousness after death.
There is also the further complication that the research is owned by a DoD contractor that wants to weaponize this device for their subjects to experiences their worst fears and traumas.
- Ahead of its time and really should be a classic.
Spice (AKA K2) is not just a single drug, but a wide range of
laboratory-made chemicals designed to mimic the effects of the
well-known psychoactive compound in marijuana called THC, or
tetrahydrocannabinol. The keyword here, though, is mimic.
Scene from the movie “Brainstorm”.
THC
in marijuana works by latching onto cannabinoid receptors in the brain.
The chemicals in spice do the same thing, but can be over 100 times
more potent and produce wildly different effects compared to actual
weed. The only real similarities between spice and weed is the way it
works and the fact that you smoke it.
To make things more complicated, the combinations of chemicals in
spice are changing all the time, leading to slightly different effects
and levels of potency between each separate batch. There are potentially
hundreds or even thousands of variations being pushed out of dodgy labs
in Russia and China.
No matter what the combination is, though, the powdery substance
formed is carted off to Europe and North America and sprayed onto plant
matter like sage, damiana or even tea leaves. After that, the “spice” is
placed into eye-catching packaging and sold by small-time dealers and
certain “herbal” shops. Spice has been illegal in the U.S. since 2013,
and in the U.K. since May, 2016.
The effects of “Spice”…
“It’s like a scene out of a zombie movie, a horrible scene,” said
Brian Arthur, 38, who began live-streaming on his way to work in
Brooklyn, New York after seeing three people collapse. “This drug truly
paralyzes people.”
Scene from the movie “Brainstorm”.
Wherever
you find spice, you’ll find witnesses saying the same thing. Users
appear to be on another planet, and that’s pretty much how they
themselves describe it, too. Matthew Nuttall, an ex-spice addict from
Manchester, told Britain’s Metro newspaper: “You just feel braindead half the time. They say people look like zombies, and that’s how it feels.
Zombie.
“The first time, I can’t even explain what it was like. It just blew
my head off. I thought ‘never again.’ It’s just such a heavy high. It’s
so intense,” he continued. “’The first high lasted about one hour, but
it really felt a lot longer. It’s like you’re there but you can’t
communicate. You’re alive in there, but you can’t see it on the outside.
You just feel braindead.”
The government tries to kick Michael and Lillian off the project once the vast military potential of the technology is discovered.
It soon becomes obvious that the government is interested in more than just missile guidance systems. The lab starts producing mind torture recordings and other psychosis inducing material.
When one of the researchers dies and tapes the experience of death, Michael is convinced that he must playback this tape to honor the memory of the researcher and to become enlightened. When another researcher dies during playback the tape is locked away and Michael has to fight against his former colleagues and the government lackeys that now run his lab in order to play back and confront the "scariest thing any of us will ever face" - death itself.
—Eric van bezooijen <eric@webmethods.com>
Warnings
When you are young and full of “piss and vinegar”, you believe that the “world is your oyster”; that you can do anything and live forever. Then, when you get older, you have kids, you have friends that have died, been in car accidents and have friends paralyzed, you realize how precious and special life is.
Most of the people taking this drug are either young or destitute. They cannot see a future that is worth protecting.
So they make mistakes…
Experimenter One
I took 3 strong, albeit very smooth, hits from my water bong in my
dark room alone, and then it was only a matter of a few minutes before I
could feel the effects kicking in. I tried to surf the internet, as per
my usual activity while high, but suddenly, I felt a dramatic and
precipitous shift coming on. I could tell immediately that the stuff was
strong and I may have bitten off more than my head was ready to handle.
I struggled to make sense of my surroundings. Objects ceased to have
meaning or recognition. It was complete and utter boundary dissolution.
What happened next is incredibly hard to describe, for there really are
no words that can adequately define the parameters, if there were any,
of the domain I entered.
Scene from the movie “Brainstorm”.
Imagine if you will, perpetual drowning in a multidimensional lake of
fire, kaleidoscopically cascading through a roller-coaster ride of
pure, unabashed nauseating torment. Never in my entire life have I ever
wanted to die. It felt like I was experiencing every pain that has
happened, or will ever happen, to any and all lifeforms throughout the
multiverse. It seems possible to imagine, right? I swear to you, I am in
no way trying to embellish a bad trip.
The feeling of nausea was unbearable. It literally, and I do mean
literally, felt like eternity. It’s as if my ego was completely stripped
away; I looked down at my hands, which were barely recognizable, and
felt that my body was struggling to keep my soul inside and intact.
Movement felt like slow motion, and the room around me flickered and
spun around chaotically. Whatever was left of my ego was trying
desperately to grasp onto something familiar, anything that I could
focus on and stay grounded in the room. It was like gasping for air
while a demon tries to drown you in a lake of fire. I kid you not.
I felt lost, and abandoned. It was the experience of sheer
hopelessness. Never have I ever known the meaning of that word,
‘hopelessness’. I’m there in my bed, writhing in contorted position
after contorted position, trying to find a safe place in my head to rest
and root itself, but to no avail.
I’m there in my bed, writhing in contorted position after contorted
position, trying to find a safe place in my head to rest and root
itself, but to no avail.
I rode wave after wave of unbearable torment, and I all I could think was that if hell exists, this state of consciousness is it. Words and language ceased to have meaning or make sense. My thoughts become so scrambled that it became impossible to even try to rationally calm myself down and relax.
When I could feel my body again and jump back into reality, deep breathing helped slow the spinning and recalibrate my surroundings.
But then my soul got dragged right back down to the pits of hell and I was whipped, prodded, poked, skewered, hooked, burned, and beaten, all simultaneously.
There were no actual demons to speak of, or a devil-figure, or fire, or anything like that. It was more or less a blended hyperdimensional reality of my entire life’s history.
Every terrible thought I ever had, and even the ones I didn’t know I had, rush up to greet me. All the while, I continually felt like I was going to throw up, and it felt like I was constantly jolted, as if I was frightened in a nightmare.
I would wake up from the nightmare, but only to realize that I was still stuck in the nightmare again, and there was no hope of truly waking up to escape.
After 2 hours of real time, I began to calm down and things in the room became more solid and less fuzzy.
I began to take sanctuary in the ability to recognize objects, and I
began to relax a bit as I was assured a safe return to normalcy or
baseline. I then began stringing together cohesive thoughts and
expressions, and I began examining all of the private and unsettling
things the trip exposed to me about my ego, sexuality, and cultural
operating system.
I’ll never take for granted the simple majesty, and wonderment of
normal, everyday reality. It is a beautiful, loving, and peaceful state,
simply because it is understandable. The ability to comprehend
something, anything, is a luxury that was not afforded to me while
tripping.
Exactly what hell would feel like, whether it really is a place that exists after death for some or not. Worst. trip. ever.
Experimenter Two
My ex-husband was a high-level IT Engineer/Exec. After doing
synthetic weed with a new girlfriend, he went into permanent psychosis
due to actual brain damage from Spice/K2/etc. (She did too, but I don’t
know whatever happened to her).
Over the course of a year he’d attacked the police, stolen his
children and told them bad people were trying to hurt them, ruined the
computer hardware and networks of an employer (he thought FBI was after
him), tried to kidnap his oldest daughter from her mom, and woke up with
a head wound 4 states away with no idea how he got there but tried to
blame it on me and the government.
He destroyed our kids’ lives financially and emotionally – between
therapy costs to deal with the trauma, complete lack of child support
from him, lack of health benefits, and one day he just left the country
and is now overseas in a mental hospital… I work but live in a high-cost
area. I make too much to qualify for any benefits of any kind. The
state can’t help because he’s overseas. Disability can’t help because
he’s too paranoid to apply for benefits.
All because he was stressed out and wanted to get high without it
showing up on a drug test. Please don’t do it. If one person reading
this is helped, then I’m grateful.
Experimenter Three
Me and a friend were outside catching up over winter break and we packed up a bowl between us. After about 10 minutes and only about 3 hits of the ‘Smiley Dog’ herbal incense we are so high we cannot stand or walk.
The idea of returning to the house and watching a movie is laughable in our state after about 15 minutes. I lose motor control and can no longer stand after 20 minutes. MY heart feels as if it is going to explode, I become convinced I could die at any moment. A tingling feeling starts at the tips of my fingers and slowly works its way up to my hands, then up my arm. It feels as if my bod is dyeing piece by piece before me.
At this point I lose it, and have my friend call an ambulance. Sounds like over reaching, but my body will not obey my commands, I’m vomiting and the tingling feeling has moved terrifyingly close to my heart.
When the ambulance arrives they cannot bring me under control and i cannot stop my body from convulsing, shaking, and screaming like the demon infested girl from ‘The Exorcist’.
They had to strap me to a gurney and put me in an ambulance. It took six people to hold me down so they could put the straps on and get an IV in me. They administered 10 milligrams of Ativan to try to calm me down but nothing really works until I’m at the emergency room and they put me down with Geodon.
I’m convinced JWH-018 triggered a full psychotic break in me. DO NOT FUCK WITH THIS STUFF! STICK WITH REAL WEED!
Experimenter Four
Smoked spice (was told it was just weed)… After two big hits, there was a high-pitched pinging sound going on in my head as my vision and thoughts began to fade away and I blacked out for around a minute.
I then wake up and feel as if I am detached from my body and floating on air. I had no thoughts, no vision, no memories, no sense of time, … But there was something.
My mind became trapped in this meaningless, timeless, and endless pattern of torture that just kept repeating over and over and over with no end in sight.
I had watched ‘Home Alone’ that day and the opening theme music which I always found a little scary was playing over and over while tripping.
That theme music and my friend saying, “is he alright man”?, was a continuous loop for the duration of the trip.
Heart felt like it was gonna jump out of my chest and I couldn’t move in the slightest or communicate with my friends. There was no way out. This pattern was my entire existence. The only feeling that existed in this world was extreme horror, pain, and mental torture.
When I finally got a glimpse of the real world again, I was really glad, but after a little moment it started again! And I was like “no, F*CK NO, not AGAIN!”.
It was unimaginably horrible. I don’t know how long this part actually lasted but it was somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes I believe.
Experimenter Five
The first and only time I smoked spice I was on the come down of a 3
tab acid trip, I couldn’t sleep and wanted some company. One of my
friends texted me saying he had some fresh hash and a surprise for me.
So I was like what the hell come over, I don’t know when I’ll sleep.
Fast forward to my friend coming through and he’s like I have this
super nice Spliff rolled up for you with 3 types of hash. You’re going
to get fucked up I promise. But you’re going to want to hold that in for
30seconds before exhaling to really get the effects.
So trusting this “friend”, I took 3 hits, as soon as I look at my friend and say this isn’t just hash, he smiles and is like nah it’s K2. Now at this point I start tripping again, everything was like 4D crystal clear HD, I was seeing around walls and corners while seeing what was infront of me.
So I was just perplexed…
Until I went inside my place and sat down. That’s when I noticed I was breathing shallow, inhaling and exhaling felt thin and overall just not right. I kept pacing and trying to get a proper breathing rhythm. The whole time my “friend” just kept smiling at me and was like you’ll be good bro, this high is amazing!
That was the closest I’ve ever had to a panic attack, the closest I’ve ever felt like I was dying and it scared me.
So fuck spice and fuck my so called friend for doing that to me. I’ve since cut all ties with him and when I sobered up from the 15 minutes of hell I almost beat the shit out of the kid, I was so pissed.
So FUCK spice!
Experimenter Six
And if you say “lol fuck you OP I’ll do what I want” then heed this
warning: Do NOT take huge hits and/or hold that shit in, especially if
you’re new to it and don’t know what to expect.
It’s like no other “drug” that shit doesn’t creep up on you. It busts
down your fucking door like a lightning bolt and the only words that
will go through your head is “Shit, what have I done?”
It’s terrifying if you take too much and you have no tolerance.
Imminent death is probably an accurate description of when you’re
peaking from a hit too many.
You will feel like you’re about to die. You will think of your family that’ll miss you. You will pray to God if you believe in one. You will bargain with him that if you make it out alive, that’ll you’ll NEVER do it again.
If you want to smoke spice, at least heed these warnings. It’s no little kid drug, it’s intense as it is detrimental to your psyche. If you want a taste of it, please. PLEASE PLEASE. Hit that shit about 1/8th of the way you would hit a joint, and immediately exhale. Wait 60 seconds, then determine if you’re in hell’s halls or not. If you’re not, congratulations, you’ve successfully and responsibly smoked spice.
If you find yourself making a final prayer, you did It very wrong and you will regret the decision. I hope this will save at least 1 person. Be safe
Conclusion
Buy a pizza, and a bottle or two of wine. You and a special friend, go to a nice glade, a shady spot, or fresh beach. Lay down a blanket and make it a day.
It’s much nicer than a trip to Hell, don’t ya think.
Pizza and wine with the one you love – pure Heaven.
If you enjoyed this post, check out similar ones in my happiness index. Here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
This is the full text of a classic science fiction story called the “Liberation of Earth” by William Tenn. It was first published in the May 1953 issue of the Future Science Fiction monthly magazine, this amusing, insightful and thought-provoking satire of human pretentiousness in a galactic environment. Indeed; the Earth is invaded by warring very-superior, very-different and very-uncaring aliens, with very terrifying results. This was one of the best stories of the distinguished university professor Philip Klass (1920-2010). He was the author of some 60-odd excellent science-fiction stories, mostly under the pen-name of William Tenn.
LIBERATION OF EARTH
This is the full text of a classic science fiction story called the “Liberation of Earth” by William Tenn.
THIS, THEN is the story of our liberation. Suck air and grab clusters. Heigh-ho, here is the tale.
August was the month, a Tuesday in August. These words are meaningless now, so far have we progressed; but many things known and discussed by our primitive ancestors, our unliberated, unreconstructed forefathers, are devoid of sense to our free minds.
Still the tale must be told, with all of its incredible place-names and vanished points of reference.
Why must it be told? Have any of you a better thing to do? We have had water and weeds and lie in a valley of gusts. So rest, relax and listen. And suck air, suck air.
On a Tuesday in August, the ship appeared in the sky over France in a part of the world then known as Europe. Five miles long the ship was, and word has come down to us that it looked like an enormous silver cigar.
The tale goes on to tell of the panic and consternation among our forefathers when the ship abruptly materialized in the summer-blue sky. How they ran, how they shouted, how they pointed! How they excitedly notified the United Nations, one of their chiefest institutions, that a strange metal craft of incredible size had materialized over their land. How they sent an order here to cause military aircraft to surround it with loaded weapons, gave instructions there for hastily-grouped scientists, with signaling apparatus, to approach it with friendly gestures. How, under the great ship, men with cameras took pictures of it; men with typewriters wrote stories about it; and men with concessions sold models of it.
All these things did our ancestors, enslaved and unknowing, do. Then a tremendous slab snapped up in the middle of the ship and the first of the aliens stepped out in the complex tripodal gait that all humans were shortly to know and love so well. He wore a metallic garment to protect him from the effects of our atmospheric peculiarities, a garment of the opaque, loosely-folded type that these, the first of our liberators, wore throughout their stay on Earth.
Speaking in a language none could understand, but booming deafeningly through a huge mouth about halfway up his twenty-five feet of height, the alien discoursed for exactly one hour, waited politely for a response when he had finished, and, receiving none, retired into the ship.
That night; the first of our liberation! Or the first of our first liberation, should I say? That night, anyhow! Visualize our ancestors scurrying about their primitive intricacies: playing ice-hockey, televising, smashing atoms, red-baiting, conducting giveaway shows and signing affidavits—all the incredible minutiae that made the olden times such a frightful mass of cumulative detail in which to live—as compared with the breathless and majestic simplicity of the present.
THE BIG question, of course, was —what had the alien said? Had he called on the human race to surrender? Had he announced that he was on a mission of peaceful trade and, having made what he considered a reasonable offer—for, let us say, the north polar ice-cap—politely withdrawn so that we could discuss his terms among ourselves in relative privacy? Or, possibly, had he merely announced that he was the newly appointed ambassador to Earth from a friendly and intelligent race—and would we please direct him to the proper authority so that he might submit his credentials?
Not to know was quite maddening.
Since decision rested with the diplomats, it was the last possibility which was held, very late that night, to be most likely; and early the next morning, accordingly, a delegation from the United Nations waited under the belly of the motionless star-ship. The delegation had been instructed to welcome the aliens to the outermost limits of its collective linguistic ability. As an additional earnest of mankind’s friendly intentions, all military craft patrolling the air about the great ship were ordered to carry no more than one atom-bomb in their racks, and to fly a small white flag—along with the U.N. banner and their own national emblem.
Thus, did our ancestors face this, the ultimate challenge of history.
When the alien came forth a few hours later, the delegation stepped up to him, bowed, and, in the three official languages of the United Nations —English, French and Russian—asked him to consider this planet his home. He listened to them gravely, and then launched into his talk of the day before—which was evidently as highly charged with emotion and significance to him, as it was completely incomprehensible to the representatives of world government.
Fortunately, a cultivated young Indian member of the secretariat detected a suspicious similarity between the speech of the alien and an obscure Bengali dialect whose anomalies he had once puzzled over. The reason, as we all know now, was that the last time Earth had been visited by Aliens of this particular type, humanity’s most advanced civilization lay in a moist valley in Bengal; extensive dictionaries of that language had been written, so that speech with the natives of Earth would present no problem to any subsequent exploring-party.
However, I move ahead of my tale, as one who would munch on the succulent roots before the dryer stem. Let me rest and suck air for a moment. Heigh-ho, truly those were tremendous experiences for our kind.
You, sir, now you sit back and listen. You are not yet of an age to Tell the Tale. I remember, well enough do I remember how my father told it, and his father before him. You will wait your turn as I did; you will listen until too much high land between water holes blocks me off from life.
Then you may take your place in the juiciest weed-patch and, reclining gracefully between sprints, recite the great epic of our liberation to the carelessly exercising young.
PURSUANT to the young Hindu’s suggestions, the one professor of comparative linguistics in the world capable of understanding and conversing in this peculiar version of the dead dialect, was summoned from an academic convention in New York where he was reading a paper he had been working on for eighteen years: An Initial Study of Apparent Relationships Between Several Past Participles in Ancient Sanskrit and an Equal Number of Noun Substantives in Modern Szechuanese.
Yea, verily, all these things—and more, many more—did our ancestors in their besotted ignorance contrive to do. May we not count our freedoms indeed?
The disgruntled scholar, minus—as he kept insisting bitterly—some of his most essential word-lists, was flown by fastest jet to the area south of Nancy which, in those long-ago days, lay in the enormous black shadow of the alien space-ship.
Here he was acquainted with his task by the United Nations delegation, whose nervousness had not been allayed by a new and disconcerting development. Several more aliens had emerged from the ship carrying great quantities of immense, shimmering metal which they proceeded to assemble into something that was obviously a machine—though it was taller than any skyscraper man had ever built, and seemed to make noises to itself like a talkative and sentient creature. The first alien still stood courteously in the neighborhood of the profusely perspiring diplomats; ever and anon he would go through his little speech again, in a language that had been almost forgotten when the cornerstone of the library of Alexandria was laid. The men from the U.N. would reply, each one hoping desperately to make up for the alien’s lack of familiarity with his own tongue by such devices as hand-gestures and facial expressions. Much later, a commission of anthropologists and psychologists brilliantly pointed out the difficulties of such physical communication with creatures possessing—as these aliens did—five manual appendages and a single, unwinking compound eye of the type the insects rejoice in.
The problems and agonies of the professor as he was trundled about the world in the wake of the aliens, trying to amass a usable vocabulary in a language whose peculiarities he could only extrapolate from the limited samples supplied him by one who must inevitably speak it with the most outlandish of foreign accents—these vexations were minor indeed compared to the disquiet felt by the representatives of world government. They beheld the extra-terrestrial visitors move every day to a new site on their planet and proceed to assemble there a titanic structure of flickering metal which muttered nostalgically to itself, as if to keep alive the memory of those faraway factories which had given it birth.
True, there was always the alien who would pause in his evidently supervisory labors to release the set little speech; but not even the excellent manners he displayed, in listening to upwards of fifty-six replies in as many languages, helped dispel the panic caused whenever a human scientist, investigating the shimmering machines, touched a projecting edge and promptly shrank into a disappearing pinpoint. This, while not a frequent occurrence, happened often enough to cause chronic indigestion and insomnia among human administrators.
FINALLY, having used up most of his nervous-system as fuel, the professor collated enough of the language to make conversation possible. He—and, through him, the world—were thereupon told the following:
The aliens were members of a highly-advanced civilization which had spread its culture throughout the entire galaxy. Cognizant of the limitations of the as-yet-underdeveloped animals who had latterly become dominant upon Earth, they had placed us in a sort of benevolent ostracism. Until either we or our institutions would have evolved to a level permitting, say, at least associate membership in the galactic federation (under the sponsoring tutelage, for the first few millennia, of one of the older, more widespread and more important species in that federation)—until that time, all invasions of our privacy and ignorance —except for a few scientific expeditions conducted under conditions of great secrecy—had been strictly forbidden by universal agreement.
Several individuals who had violated this ruling—at great cost to our racial sanity, and enormous profit to our reigning religions—had been so promptly and severely punished that no known infringements had occurred for some time. Our recent growth-curve had been satisfactory enough to cause hopes that a bare thirty or forty centuries more would suffice to place us on applicant status with the federation.
Unfortunately, the peoples of this stellar community were many, and varied as greatly in their ethical outlook as their biological composition. Quite a few species lagged a considerable social distance behind the Dendi, as our visitors called themselves. One of these, a race of horrible, worm-like organisms known as the Troxxt—almost as advanced technologically as they were retarded in moral development—had suddenly volunteered for the position of sole and absolute ruler of the galaxy. They had seized control of several key suns, with their attendant planetary-systems, and, after a calculated decimation of the races thus captured, had announced their intention of punishing with a merciless extinction all species unable to appreciate from these object-lessons the value of unconditional surrender.
In despair, the galactic federation had turned to the Dendi, one of the oldest, most selfless, and yet most powerful of races in civilized space, and commissioned them—as the military arm of the federation—to hunt down the Troxxt, defeat them wherever they had gained illegal suzerainty, and destroy forever their power to wage war.
This order had come almost too late. Everywhere the Troxxt had gained so much the advantage of attack, that the Dendi were able to contain them only by enormous sacrifice. For centuries now, the conflict had careened across our vast island universe. In the course of it, densely-populated planets had been disintegrated; suns had been blasted into novae; and whole groups of stars ground Into swirling cosmic dust. A temporary stalemate had been reached a short while ago, and—reeling and breathless—both sides were using the lull to strengthen weak spots in their perimeter.
Thus, the Troxxt had finally moved into the till-then peaceful section of space that contained our solar-system —among others. They were thoroughly uninterested in our tiny planet with its meager resources; nor did they care much for such celestial neighbors as Mars or Jupiter. They established their headquarters on a planet of Proxima Centaurus—the star nearest our own sun—and proceeded to consolidate their offensive-defensive network between Rigel and Aldebaran. At this point in their explanation, the Dendi pointed out, the exigencies of interstellar strategy tended to become too complicated for anything but three-dimensional maps; let us here accept the simple statement, they suggested, that it became immediately vital for them to strike rapidly, and make the Troxxt position on Proxima Centaurus untenable—to establish a base inside their lines of communication.
The most likely spot for such a base was Earth.
THE DENDI apologized profusely for intruding on our development, an intrusion which might cost us dear in our delicate developmental state. But, as they explained—in impeccable pre-Bengali—before their arrival we had, in effect, become (all unknowingly) a satrapy of the awful Troxxt. We could now consider ourselves liberated.
We thanked them much for that.
Besides, their leader pointed out proudly, the Dendi were engaged in a war for the sake of civilization itself, against an enemy so horrible, so obscene in its nature, and so utterly filthy in its practices, that it was unworthy of the label of intelligent life. They were fighting, not only for themselves, but for every loyal member of the galactic federation; for every small and helpless species; for every obscure race too weak to defend itself against a ravaging conqueror. Would humanity stand aloof from such a conflict?
There was just a slight bit of hesitation as the information was digested. Then—“No!” humanity roared back through such mass-communication media as television, newspapers, reverberating jungle drums and mule-mounted backwoods messenger. “We will not stand aloof! We will help you destroy this menace to the very fabric of civilization! Just tell us what you want us to do!”
Well, nothing in particular, the aliens replied with some embarrassment. Possibly in a little while there might be something—several little things, in fact—which could be quite useful; but, for the moment, if we would concentrate on not getting in their way when they serviced their gun-mounts, they would be very grateful, really…
This reply tended to create a small amount of uncertainty among the two billion of Earth’s human population. For several days afterwards, there was a planet-wide tendency—the legend has come down to us—of people failing to meet each other’s eyes, an evident discomfort in looking at any other person directly.
But then Man rallied from this substantial punch to his pride. He would be useful, be it ever so humbly. to the race which had liberated him from potential subjugation by the ineffably ugly Troxxt. For this, let us remember well our ancestors! Let us hymn their sincere efforts amid their ignorance!
All standing armies, all air and sea fleets, were reorganized into guard-patrols around the Dendi weapons: no human might approach within two miles of the murmuring machinery, without a pass counter-signed by the Dendi. Since they were never known to sign such a pass during the entire period of their stay on this planet, however, this loophole-provision was never exercised as far as is known; and the immediate neighborhood of the extraterrestrial weapons became and remained thenceforth antiseptically free of two-legged creatures.
COOPERATION with our liberators took precedence over all other human activities. The order of the day was a slogan first given voice by a Harvard Professor of Government in a querulous radio round-table on “Man’s Place in a Somewhat Over-Civilized Universe.”
“Let us forget our individual egos and collective conceits,” the professor cried at one point. “Let us subordinate everything—to the end that the freedom of the Solar System in general, and Earth in particular, must and shall be preserved!”
Despite—and possibly because of—its mouth-filling qualities, this slogan was repeated everywhere.
Still, it was difficult sometimes to know exactly what the Dendi wanted—partly because of the limited number of interpreters of the only Earth-tongue the aliens knew, that were available to the heads of the various sovereign states, and partly because of their leader’s tendency to vanish into his ship after ambiguous and equivocal statements—such as the curt admonition to “Evacuate Washington!”
On that occasion, both the Secretary of State and the American President, himself, perspired through five hours of a July day in all the silk-hatted, stiff-collared, dark-suited diplomatic regalia that the barbaric past demanded of political leaders who would deal with the representatives of another people. They waited and wilted beneath the enormous ship—which no human had ever been invited to enter, despite the wistful hints constantly thrown out by university professors and aeronautical designers—they waited patiently and wetly for the Dendi leader to emerge and let them know whether he had meant the State of Washington or Washington, D. C.
The tale comes down to us at this point as a tale of glory. The capitol building taken apart in a few days, and set up almost intact in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains; the missing Archives, that were later to turn up in the Children’s Room of a Public Library in Duluth, Iowa; the bottles of Potomac River water carefully borne westward and ceremoniously poured into the circular concrete ditch built around the President’s mansion (from which unfortunately it was to evaporate within a week because of the relatively low humidity of the region)—all these are proud moments in the galactic history of our species, from which not even the later knowledge that the Dendi wished to build no gun-site on the spot, nor even an ammunition dump, but merely a recreation-hall for their troops, could remove any of the grandeur of our determined cooperation and most willing sacrifice.
There is no denying, however, that the ego of our race was greatly damaged by the discovery, in the course of a routine journalistic interview, that the aliens totaled no more powerful a group than a squad; and that their leader, instead of the great scientist and key military-strategist that we might justifiably have expected the Galactic Federation to furnish for the protection of Terra, ranked as the interstellar equivalent of a buck sergeant.
That the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Navy, had waited in such obeisant fashion upon a mere non-commissioned officer was hard for us to swallow; but that the impending Battle of Earth was to have a historical dignity only slightly higher than that of a patrol action was impossibly humiliating.
AND THEN there was the matter of “lendi.”
The aliens, while installing or servicing their planet-wide weapon system, would occasionally fling aside an evidently-unusable fragment of the talking metal. Separated from the machine of which it had been a component, the substance seemed to lose all those qualities which were deleterious to mankind and retain several which were quite useful indeed. For example, if a portion of the strange material were attached to any terrestrial metal—and insulated carefully, with standard dielectrics, from contact with other substances—it would, in a few hours, itself become exactly the metal that it touched, whether that happened to be zinc, gold or pure uranium.
This stuff—”lendi”, men had heard the aliens call it—was shortly in frantic demand in an economy ruptured by constant and unexpected emptyings of its most important industrial-centers. Everywhere the aliens went, to and from their weapon-sites, hordes of ragged humans stood chanting—well outside the two-mile limit— “Any lendi, Dendi?”
All attempts by law-enforcement agencies of the planet to put a stop to this shameless, wholesale begging were useless—especially since the Dendi themselves seemed to get some unexplainable pleasure out of scattering tiny pieces of lendi to the scrabbling multitude. When policemen and soldiery began to join the trampling, murderous dash to the corner of the meadows, wherein had fallen the highly-versatile and garrulous metal, governments gave up.
Mankind almost began to hope for the attack to come, so that it would be relieved of the festering consideration of its own patent inferiorities. A few of the more fanatically-conservative among our ancestors probably even began to regret liberation.
They did, children; they did! Let us hope that these would-be troglodytes were among the very first to be dissolved and melted down by the red flame-balls. One cannot, after all, turn one’s back on progress!
Two days before the month of September was over, the aliens announced that they had detected activity upon one of the moons of Saturn. The Troxxt were evidently threading their treacherous way inward through the solar system. Considering their vicious and deceitful propensities, the Dendi warned, an attack from these worm-like monstrosities might be expected at any moment.
Few humans went to sleep as the night rolled up to and past the meridian on which they dwelt. Almost all eyes were lifted to a sky carefully denuded of clouds by watchful Dendi. There was a brisk trade in cheap telescopes and bits of smoked glass in some sections of the planet; while other portions experienced a substantial boom in spells and charms of the all-inclusive, or omnibus, variety.
THE TROXXT attacked in three cylindrical black ships simultaneously; one in the Southern Hemisphere, and two in the Northern. Great gouts of green flame roared out of their tiny craft; and everything that this flame touched imploded into a translucent, glass-like sand. No Dendi was hurt by these, however, and from each of the now-writhing gun-mounts there bubbled forth a series of scarlet clouds which pursued the Troxxt hungrily, until forced by a dwindling velocity to fall back upon Earth.
Here they had an unhappy after-effect. Any populated area into which these pale pink cloudlets chanced to fall was rapidly transformed into a cemetery—a cemetery, if the truth be told as it has been handed down to us, that had more the odor of the kitchen than the grave. The inhabitants of these unfortunate localities were subjected to enormous increases of temperature. Their skin reddened, then blackened; their hair and nails shriveled; their very flesh turned into liquid and boiled off their bones. Altogether a disagreeable way for one-tenth of the human race to die.
The only consolation was the capture of a black cylinder by one of the red clouds. When, as a result of this, it had turned white-hot and poured its substance down in the form of a metallic rainstorm, the two ships assaulting the Northern Hemisphere abruptly retreated to the asteroids into which the Dendi—because of severely-limited numbers—steadfastly refused to pursue them.
In the next twenty-four hours the aliens—resident aliens, let us say—held conferences, made repairs to their weapons and commiserated with us. Humanity buried its dead. This last was a custom of our forefathers that was most worthy of note; and one that has not, of course, survived into modern times.
By the time the Troxxt returned, Man was ready for them. He could not, unfortunately, stand to arms as he most ardently desired to do; but he could and did stand to optical instrument and conjurer’s oration.
Once more the little red clouds burst joyfully into the upper reaches of the stratosphere; once more the green flames wailed and tore at the chattering spires of lendi; once more men died by the thousands in the boiling backwash of war. But this time, there was a slight difference: the green flames of the Troxxt abruptly changed color after the engagement had lasted three hours; they became darker, more bluish. And, as they did so, Dendi after Dendi collapsed at his station and died in convulsions.
The call for retreat was evidently sounded. The survivors fought their way to the tremendous ship in which they had come. With an explosion from her stern jets that blasted a red-hot furrow southward through France, and kicked Marseilles into the Mediterranean, the ship roared into space and fled home ignominiously.
Humanity steeled itself for the coming ordeal of horror under the Troxxt.
THEY WERE truly worm-like in form. As soon as the two night-black cylinders had landed, they strode, from their ships, their tiny segmented bodies held off the ground by a complex harness supported by long and slender metal crutches. They erected a dome-like fort around each ship—one in Australia and one in the Ukraine—captured the few courageous individuals who had ventured close to their landing-sites, and disappeared back into the dark craft with their squirming prizes.
While some men drilled about nervously in the ancient military patterns, others poured anxiously over scientific texts and records pertaining to the visit of the Dendi—in the desperate hope of finding a way of preserving terrestrial independence against this ravening conqueror of the star-spattered galaxy.
And yet all this time, the human captives inside the artificially-darkened spaceships (the Troxxt, having no eyes, not only had little use for light but the more sedentary individuals among them actually found such radiation disagreeable to their sensitive, unpigmented skins) were not being tortured for information—nor vivisected in the earnest quest of same on a slightly higher level—but educated.
Educated in the Troxxtian language, that is.
True it was that a large number found themselves utterly inadequate for the task which the Troxxt had set them, and temporarily became servants to the more successful students. And another, albeit smaller, group developed various forms of frustration hysteria—ranging from mild unhappiness to complete catatonic depression—over the difficulties presented by a language whose every verb was irregular, and whose myriads of prepositions were formed by noun-adjective combinations derived from the subject of the previous sentence. But, eventually, eleven human beings were released, to blink madly in the sunlight as certified interpreters of Troxxt.
These liberators, it seemed, had never visited Bengal in the heyday of its millennia-past civilization.
Yes, these liberators For the Troxxt had landed on the sixth day of the ancient, almost mythical, month of October. And October the Sixth is, of course, the Holy Day of the Second Liberation. Let us remember, let us revere. If only we could figure out which day it is on our calendar!
THE TALE the interpreters told caused men to hang their heads in shame and gnash their teeth at the deception they had allowed the Dendi to practice upon them.
True, the Dendi had been commissioned by the Galactic Federation to hunt the Troxxt down and destroy them. This was largely because the Dendi were the Galactic Federation. One of the first intelligent arrivals on the interstellar scene, the huge creatures had organized a vast police-force to protect them and their power against any contingency of revolt that might arise in the future. This police-force was ostensibly a congress of all thinking lifeforms throughout the galaxy; actually, it was an efficient means of keeping them under rigid control.
Most species thus-far discovered were docile and tractable, however; the Dendi had been ruling from time immemorial, said they—very well, then, let the Dendi continue to rule. Did it make that much difference?
But, throughout the centuries, opposition to the Dendi grew—and the nuclei of the opposition were the protoplasm-based creatures. What, in fact, had come to be known as the Protoplasmic League. Though small in number, the creatures whose life-cycles were derived from the chemical and physical properties of protoplasm varied greatly in size, structure and specialization. A galactic community deriving the main wells of its power from them would be a dynamic instead of a static place, where extra-galactic travel would be encouraged—instead of being inhibited, as it was at present because of Dendi fears of meeting a superior civilization. It would be a true democracy of species—a real biological republic—where creatures of adequate intelligence and cultural development would enjoy a control of their destinies at present experienced by the silicon-based Dendi alone.
To this end, the Troxxt—the only important race which had steadfastly refused the complete surrender of armaments demanded of all members of the Federation—had been implored by a minor member of the Protoplasmic League to rescue it from the devastation which the Dendi intended to visit upon it, as punishment for an unlawful exploratory excursion outside the boundaries of the galaxy.
Faced with the determination of the Troxxt to defend their cousins in organic chemistry, and the suddenly-aroused hostility of at least two-thirds of the interstellar peoples, the Dendi had summoned a rump meeting of the Galactic Council; declared a state of revolt in being; and proceeded to cement their disintegrating rule with the blasted life-forces of a hundred worlds. The Troxxt, hopelessly out-numbered and out-equipped, had been able to continue the struggle only because of the great ingenuity and selflessness of other members of the Protoplasmic League, who had risked extinction to supply them with newly-developed secret weapons.
Hadn’t we guessed the nature of the beast from the enormous precautions it had taken to prevent the exposure of any part of its body to the intensely-corrosive at m o s p h e r e of Earth? Surely the seamless, barely-translucent suits which our recent visitors had worn for every moment of their stay on our world should have made us suspect a body-chemistry developed from complex silicon compounds rather than those of carbon?
Humanity hung its collective head and admitted that the suspicion had never occurred to it.
Well, the Troxxt admitted generously, we were extremely inexperienced and possibly a little too trusting. Put it down to that. Our naivety, however costly to them—our liberators—would not be allowed to deprive us of that complete citizenship which the Troxxt were claiming as the birthright of all.
But as for our leaders, our probably-corrupted, certainly irresponsible leaders…
THE FIRST executions of U.N. officials, heads of states and pre-Bengali interpreters as “Traitors to Protoplasm”—after some of the lengthiest and most nearly-perfectly-fair trials in the history of Earth—were held a week after G-J Day, the inspiring occasion on which—amidst gorgeous ceremonies—humanity was invited to join, first the Protoplasmic League and thence the New and Democratic Galactic Federation of All Species, All Races.
Nor was that all.
Whereas the Dendi had contemptuously shoved us to one side as they went about their business of making our planet safe for tyranny, and had—in all probability—built special devices which made the very touch of their weapons fatal for us, the Troxxt—with the sincere friendliness which had made their name a byword for democracy and decency wherever living creatures came together among the stars—our Second Liberators, as we lovingly called them, actually preferred to have us help them with the intensive, accelerating labor of planetary defense.
So men’s intestines dissolved under the invisible glare of the forces used to assemble the new, incredibly-complex weapons; men sickened and died, in scrabbling hordes, inside the mines which the Troxxt had declared were deeper than any we had dug hitherto; men’s bodies broke open and exploded in the undersea oil-drilling sites which the Troxxt had declared were essential.
Children’s schooldays were requested, too, in such collecting drives as “Platinum Scrap for Procyon” and “Radioactive Debris for Deneb.” Housewives also were implored to save on salt whenever possible—this substance being useful to the Troxxt in literally dozens of incomprehensible ways—and colorful posters reminded: “Don’t salinate—sugarfy!”
And over all—courteously caring for us like an intelligent parent—were our mentors, taking their giant supervisory strides on metallic crutches, while their pale little bodies lay curled in the hammocks that swung from each paired length of shining leg.
Truly, even in the midst of a complete economic paralysis caused by the concentration of all major productive facilities on other-worldly armaments and despite the anguished cries of those suffering from peculiar industrial injuries which our medical men were totally unequipped to handle, in the midst of all this mind-wracking disorganization, it was yet very exhilarating to realize that we had taken our lawful place in the future government of the galaxy and were even now helping to make the Universe Safe for Democracy.
BUT THE Dendi returned to smash this idyll. They came in their huge, silvery space-ships and the Troxxt, barely warned in time, just managed to rally under the blow and fight back in kind. Even so, the Troxxt ship in the Ukraine was almost immediately forced to flee to its base in the depths of space. After three days, the only Troxxt on Earth were the devoted members of a little band guarding the ship in Australia. They proved, in three or more months, to be as difficult to remove from the face of our planet as the continent itself; and since there was now a state of close and hostile siege, with the Dendi on one side of the globe, and the Troxxt on the other, the battle assumed frightful proportions.
Seas boiled; whole steppes burned away; the climate itself shifted and changed under the grueling pressure of the cataclysm. By the time the Dendi solved the problem, the planet Venus had been blasted from the skies in the course of a complicated battle-maneuver, and Earth had wobbled over as orbital substitute.
The solution was simple: since the Troxxt were too firmly-based on the small continent to be driven away; the numerically-superior Dendi brought up enough fire-power to disintegrate all of Australia into an ash that muddied the Pacific. This occurred on the twenty-fourth of June, the Holy Day of First Reliberation.
A day of reckoning for what remained of the human race, however.
How could we have been so naive, the Dendi wanted to know, as to be taken in by the chauvinistic pro-protoplasm propaganda?
Surely, if physical characteristics were to be the criteria of our racial empathy, we would not orient ourselves on a narrow chemical basis! The Dendi life-plasma was based on silicon instead of carbon, true, but did not vertebrates—appendaged vertebrates, at that, such as we and the Dendi—have infinitely more in common, in spite of a minor biochemical difference or two, than vertebrates and legless, armless, slime-crawling creatures who happened, quite accidentally, to possess an identical organic substance?
As for this fantastic picture of life in the galaxy… Well! The Dendi shrugged their quintuple shoulders as they went about the intricate business of erecting their noisy weapons all ever the rubble of our planet. Had we ever seen a representative of these protoplasmic races the Troxxt were supposedly protecting? No, nor would we. For as soon as a race—animal, vegetable or mineral—developed enough to constitute even a potential danger to the sinuous aggressors, its civilization was systematically dismantled by the watchful Troxxt. We were in so primitive a state that they had not considered it at all risky to allow us the outward seeming of full participation.
Could we say we had learned a single useful piece of information about Troxxt technology—for all of the work we had done on their machines, for all of the lives we had lost in the process? No, of course not! We had merely contributed our mite to the enslavement of far-off races who had done us no harm.
There was much that we had cause to feel guilty about, the Dendi told us gravely—once the few surviving interpreters of the pre-Bengali dialect had crawled out of hiding. But our collective onus was as nothing compared to that borne by “vermicular collaborationists”—those traitors who had supplanted our martyred former leaders. And then there were the unspeakable individual humans who had had linguistic traffic with creatures destroying a two-million-year-old galactic peace!
Why, killing was almost too good for them, the Dendi murmured as they killed them.
WHEN THE Troxxt ripped their way back into possession of Earth some eighteen months later, bringing us the sweet fruits of the Second Reliberation—as well as a complete and most convincing rebuttal of the Dendi—there were few humans found who were to accept with any real enthusiasm the responsibilities of newly-opened and highly-paid positions in language, science and government.
Of course, since the Troxxt, in order to reliberate Earth, had found it necessary to blast a tremendous chunk out of the northern hemisphere, there were very few humans to be found. in the first place…
Even so, many of these committed suicide rather than assume the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations when the Dendi came back for the glorious Re-Reliberation, a short time after that. This was the liberation, by the way, which swept the deep collar of matter off our planet, and gave it what our forefathers came to call a pear-shaped look.
Possibly it was at this time—possibly a liberation or so later—that the Troxxt and the Dendi discovered the Earth had become far too eccentric in its orbit to possess the minimum safety conditions demanded of a Combat Zone. The battle, therefore, zig-zagged coruscatingly and murderously away in the direction of Aldebaran.
That was nine generations ago, but the tale that has been handed down from parent to child, to child’s child, has lost little in the telling. You hear it now from me almost exactly as I heard it. From my father I heard it as I ran with him from water-puddle to distant water-puddle, across the searing heat of yellow sand. From my mother I heard it as we sucked air and frantically grabbed at clusters of thick green weed, whenever the planet beneath us quivered in omen of a geological spasm that might bury us in its burned-out body, or a cosmic gyration that threatened to fling us into empty space.
Yes, even as we do now did we do then, telling the same tale, running the same frantic race across miles of unendurable heat for food and water; fighting the same savage battles with the giant rabbits for each other’s carrion—and always, ever and always, sucking desperately at the precious air. which leaves our world in greater quantities with every mad twist of its orbit. Naked, hungry and thirsty came we into the world, and naked, hungry and thirsty do we scamper our lives out upon it, under the huge and never-changing sun.
The same tale it is, and the same traditional ending it has as that I had from my father and his father before him. Suck air, grab clusters and hear the last holy observation of our history: “Looking about us, we can say with pardonable pride that we have been about as thoroughly liberated as it is possible for a race and a planet to be!”
The End
If you enjoyed this post, you might want to check out others in my Science Fiction Story Index…
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Here we take a look at the two governments of China and America. We look at what they are and how they work. In this article we discard the notion that “democracy is the best” and “communism is worst“, because (after all) America is not a democracy, and China is not communist. Instead, we throw away the labels and look at the substance.
You must accept the world that you find yourself in.
-Les Brown
To read this post without disgust, you need to suspend your disbelief. You need to acknowledge that China is capable of doing things that are now impossible for America to do. Like a high speed rail network. Like tackling a pandemic. Like lifting the entire nation out of poverty without using “hand outs”.
For America to compete within the global arena it will absolutely need to change the way it does things. It will need to revolutionize it’s governmental structure. It needs to do this. The path that the United States is on is not sustainable.
And that change, for America, will be uncomfortable and will result in a SHTF event because there are too many people that are fat and comfy living well with things as they are today.
Today, regarding China and America, we will have Thought Most Potent, adequate to lube a diesel, curdle milk, or seal a driveway. Whole departments of international studies will close their doors in despair. Ha.
Why, we ask, does it seem that the Middle Kingdom advances speedily on so many fronts, while the US doesn’t? The clear conclusion seems to be that China is superior, not across the board, but in enough ways to ensure its soon global primacy.
Apparently the only way a Washington incapable of reform can stop this is with war…
The Lie of “democracy”.
To begin, China has a superior political system. Most importantly, it is not a democracy. An American conceit is that democracy is good and more democracy, better.
Unfortunately, the truth is that more democracy means worse results. Placing governance in the hands of the empty-headed, dimwitted, and inattentive, these being the most numerous classes, inevitably leads to disaster.
Further, democracy is a self-deepening evil: That is, it tends to worsen with time.
Those who profit by the votes of the appallingly ignorant majority urge the enfranchisement of the yet dimmer, as for example those too feckless to have identification, the barely literate, pubescents of sixteen years, and acknowledged felons (as distinct from those felons as yet undetected in government).
This is said chirpily to be “Inclusive,” and is…
… which is what is wrong with it.
The dumber welcome the yet dumber. Down and downer we go until, in all likelihood, fire hydrants and stray cats have the vote.
Why is this good?
Those who laud patriotism without necessarily being able to spell it say…
…” well, at least we are not a horrid authoritarian country like China.”
Americans are suckled from birth on the notion that authoritarianism is bad, and quickly conflate authoritarians with dictators, who are then said to be just like Hitler.
China is not a dictatorship.
But China is not a dictatorship.
It is an authoritarian oligarchy of technocrats. This has advantages. For example, an authoritarian government can put the intelligent and qualified in positions of responsibility.
This China does.
Xi Jingping holds degrees in chemical engineering and law. Trump is a real-estate con man blankly ignorant of technology, history, geography, and government.
China’s managers are heavy on engineers, scientists, and economists, America’s on provincial lawyers and petty demagogues.
Freedom!
Americans are also told that they have more freedoms than do the Chinese.
They do, but the gap is less than we might like to think, and closing.
Freedom of speech? In America you cannot say anything against backs, feminists, transgenders, Israel, Jews, Hispanics, black crime, affirmative action, or abortion, or in favor of the police, the Second Amendment, white rights, or the South. Politically disapproved sites, mostly conservative, are rapidly being shut down.
None of this is being done by the formal government. (Yet) It is being done. Lincoln said that you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. The American principle is that you can fool enough of the people enough of the time.
Rule by Mob Rabble.
In a democracy the rabble, sensing their numerical advantage, will always try to pull their superiors down.
They will not make an effort, probably futile, to rise.
A central strain in American culture is hostility to elitism, which means a preference for the better to the worse. The deep resentment of the superior leads to a celebration of inadequacy seen in affirmative action, the abolition of standardized tests and advanced placement courses for the bright, and the lowering of academic standards.
We call this “inclusiveness.”
I suspect the Chinese call it “lunacy.”
China finds its very brightest young and sends them to the best schools in China or the US. The notion that virtue requires that a country suffer mildly retarded brain surgeons or barely numerate physicists is peculiarly American.
Democratic elections.
Elections, inevitable in democracies, are a terrible idea.
An election is a competitive shooing of fools in directions profitable to those doing the shooing. Democracy is thus a mechanism for the promotion of rogues and rascals.
It works.
America now has a most wonderfully ineffectual and embarrassing government.
The
holding of elections–these being combinations of raffles, vaudeville,
and popularity contests–every two, four, or six years ensures that the
beneficiaries will concentrate their thoughts more on shooing than
doing.
China has an Industrial Policy.
China, with a stable government able to focus on governing, can look to the future and plan for the long term.
America cannot.
Pols don’t think beyond the next election. They cannot do what would be good for the country but only what suits the passing fads of hoi polloi.
Thus China has an industrial policy.
America has a collection of predatory corporations clawing their way to the public trough.
China can decide to do something, and actually do it.
Congress can’t buy a box of paper clips without fourteen lawsuits, a floor fight, two environmental impact studies, and a Supreme Court decision on the disparate racial impact of paper clips.
Chinese Authoritarian Government.
If I may wade into the quicksand of cultural analysis, authoritarian government seems emotionally to suit the Chinese. We think of it as repressive, the Chinese as orderly.
In Asia there are various sayings such as,”The nail that stands up is beaten down,” while the Johnny Paycheck song resonates more with Westerners “You can take this job and shove it.”
The choice I suppose is one of personal preference.
However, consensus allows the Chinese to do rapidly things they think important.
Note that following the outbreak of the Coronavirus, China had the genome sequenced and online for the world in a month. They also very quickly developed a mass-produced test kit in giving results in eight to fifteen minutes, a hospital built in ten days.
Can you imagine the US federal government doing anything at all in ten days? Remember the response to Katrina?
Group Consensus Advantage.
Consensus does not mean oppression or servility. Go to a Chinese city such as Chongqing, which I recently visited. You will find it clean, well run, with virtually no crime or police presence, lively restaurant districts and nightclubs.
People are proud of this and proud of China.
What do you suppose they think when pondering an America laboring under the crippling diversity, under racial, sexual, ethnic, linguistic, and religious hostility and, most recently, the assaults of the libidinally weird?
Under governmental chaos?
Uncontrolled crime?
The tens of thousands of homeless defecating on the streets?
The 2.2 million in prison, which would equate to 8.8 million in China?
Dozens of cities with illiterate black minorities?
Another unearned but real advantage: China is pretty much a Han mono-culture except for Uighurs and Tibetans, who are geographically isolated. This makes for a degree of domestic tranquility that, while imperfect, is far calmer than the American chaos.
Foreign Relations…
In foreign relations, China again seems to have the edge in wisdom. America’s approach to the world is military and coercive, controlled by a vast and profitable arms industry with a Cold War mentality.
China’s outlooks (and that of most of the world) is commercial.
This is an imperfect description but catches the center-line.
China spends on China, America on the Pentagon.
In Africa, America sends troops and builds drone bases. China constructs infrastructure and buys up resources.
China and Russia prepare to commercialize the Northern Sea Route; the Pentagon to send warships to counter them. (How do you counter a trade route with an aircraft carrier? Bomb the water?)
Advantages and advantages…
Some of China’s advantages result from fertility rather than judgement, but they nonetheless are advantages.
Economically, China has a huge domestic market, larger than those of the US and Europe combined. This provides a cushion against American sanctions.
For example, while Europe dithers over whether to shun Chinese 5G equipment on orders from Washington, Huawei rapidly builds for at least a billion people, keeping the factories running and providing economies of scale.
China
is also a vast market for Western firms. Population gives China clout.
For instance, it is the planet’s largest buyer of semiconductors. How
happy are American firms at being shut out of that market?
Innovations…
Americans often say that the Chinese cannot “innovate.” This may be true.
Or may not be.
They are, however, very good at engineering. Of this there is no doubt. .
They did not invent high-speed rail but have a superb system, did not invent maglev but are working on trains that will travel at 480 mph, did not invent semiconductors but design world-class chips.
Conclusion
So, brothers and sisters, America’s choices seemingly are…
[1] To start a world war (favored by Bannon, Pompeo, and Bolton).
This is the path that America is currently on with the numerous biological warfare attacks on China. It will not be limited to China, it will involve Russia.
[2] Gut the military budget to make America great again (not a chance).
[3] Have America become a reasonably important middle-sized country that can, in peace and tranquility, focus its its attention on transgender bathrooms.
If you enjoyed this post, you might want to check out others in my SHTF index…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
This is a great write-up / editorial on what is really happening in the United States today. It is changing, and that change is NOT being reported by the mainstream media; the left-wing media or the Right-wing media. It is a stealth change.
And it is the reality.
Many Americans are tired and fed up with a government that no longer represents them, treats them as cash cows, and abuses them. They know that they cannot fight it. They know that they are alone. They know that their options are limited. So what do they do?
They make their government-observed “footprint” as small as possible.
MGTOW - Men Going Their Own Way - is a statement of self-ownership, where the modern man preserves and protects his own sovereignty above all else. It is the manifestation of one word: No. Ejecting silly preconceptions and cultural definitions of what a man is. Looking to no one else for social cues. Refusing to bow, serve and kneel for the opportunity to be treated like a disposable utility.
It is the reality today…
This is an article titled WGTOW by Brett Stevens on June 8, 2017 and found on Periscope. Aside from the fact that it should really be titled MGTOW… It’s still a fantastic read. All credit to the authors and the source.
History runs in cycles because no matter what year it is, the same actions beget the same responses. When a civilization adopts democracy, it signs itself on for a Captain Ahab style pursuit of equality that will ultimately kill it.
Equality is power because it makes a room full of people sigh contentedly and nod. As things get worse, and they get more afraid, they want more of the magic drug that makes them feel good.
Praise the lowly drug addict, for at least he is honest about his need to get high.
As the West has drifted more Leftward, it has savaged its middle classes by engaging in wealth transfer programs that amount to class warfare, draining wealth from the productive to the unproductive, which means that opportunity goes away.
Funny, something similar happened in the Soviet Union. Oh, and, er, in post-Revolution France. Also in Cuba and Venezuela. And it is happening in Europe, although more slowly because they have a smaller group of third world underclass dependents to drop money on than the Americans do.
The two retailers’ strategies of aiming at the furthest ends of the income spectrum highlight the widening gap between wealthy and poor Americans and the disappearance of what was once the most sought-after class of income-earners in the country.
“This is absolutely symptomatic of a deteriorating middle class, or at least what we used to consider to be the middle class in America,” Stephens told Business Insider.…”
From postwar to about the late 1970s, you wanted to be in the mid-tier of retail. That is where everybody was making a fortune, including Walmart,” Stephens said. “Then from 1980 onward, you wanted to pick a side, because it started to become clear that the middle class was evaporating.”
The deterioration of union jobs, the shift of manufacturing jobs overseas, and the growth of the knowledge economy that led to a boom in high-skilled jobs contributed to this trend.
Let us look at how Leftism achieved this:
It assumed that the American middle class was a blank cheque, and raised labor costs with unions and regulations, then affirmative action, effectively driving production overseas.
Then it saddled itself with huge social welfare programs — up to 60% of the budget — which drained money from its infrastructure and research, causing it to fall behind.
Finally it replaced its Western European elites with new “educated” cosmopolitans of mixed-European heritage who promptly bungled and stole the rest.
Now you are looking at a type of bankruptcy that makes the Great Depression pale in comparison.
Where the Great Depression was a dip in value, this is a depletion of value on a long-term and permanent basis.
Even worse, by disenfranchising the Western European founding core of America, especially through civil rights preferences in hiring, America has driven away the people who can save it.
It is like a child who is allowed to destroy furniture and electronics and gear, simply because they do not know any better. This is not reliable parenting, and when applied to governments – shows a terrible level of dysfunction.
Where are they now, these people who once built this nation?
They are Whites Going Their Own Way (WGTOW) who have dropped out, moved away from the big cities, set themselves up with rougher surroundings, and done their best to secede from political and economic life. They are earning less to avoid paying taxes, and doing more through barter and producing their own food, supplies and tools.
If you go to the outer suburbs here, every other house seems to be subsidized to some degree by reselling products on eBay or other internet work.
The kids who mow the lawn are paid in canned food.
A guy down the street swaps home-brew beer and tobacco for raw materials to make more.
The carpenter takes labor in kind in trade, or goods, and just acquired a used car cheap this way.
Look at their 1040s.
Every single one includes a home-based business that generates massive deductions, if they even bother to file one. The end result is that these people have converted themselves from tax cash cows into tax-eaters.
They buy almost nothing new, and are fixing those old gadgets, cars, heaters, air conditioners and water heaters, especially since the old ones work better anyway.
When you need someone to help out, you go hang out at the local watering hole that now serves home-brew beer and allows people to smoke again.
The band tonight takes payment in home-grown vegetables and homemade beef jerky.
People are buying what they need online with BitCoin or through swaps via Craigslist. There is a neighborhood website where further transactions take place.
Many are working part time.
They spend the rest of the time doing something that others need, like fixing cars, making cabinets, wiring homes, hand-loading ammunition, giving legal advice, rebuilding air conditioners, and many more things that previously would have been handled with a phone call and a check.
Others have simply gone entirely off the path.
They report no income, have no credit cards, transact everything with cash or trade, and have turned their backyards into gardens. You can hear chickens and sometimes goats even in the formerly staid halls of suburbia. These people realize that their government and society has turned against them, and they refuse to support it.
These people realize that their government and society has turned against them, and they refuse to support it.
Inside the city, the new Americans are earning good money at big name jobs. Cosmopolitan, educated in that way that involves memorizing lots of procedures but having no analytical skills, cultureless and obsessed with products, these are the new consumers.
They favor novelty over endurance and live in debt, dependent on their jobs.
But out in the burbs and beyond, people are rediscovering real life.
They work every day but they work less, and they suffer no office politics or hours wasted on commuting. Their interactions are based on trust and mutual esteem.
They know their neighbors. They are rediscovering culture, turning off the televisions and checking out of Facebook.
As government in the West winds down into an abyss of debt and dysfunction, people are finding ways to live normal and successful lives in the oldest meaning of the term “successful”: family, homestead, friends, culture, church and community.
They are going their own way because they know that democracy is falling apart, and they do not want to be like the city people, standing around wondering aloud how this could happen to them on their day off, when the cash machines stop working.
Conclusion
This was marvelous.
I am out here in China, and even I can see what is going on. When I contact friends and relatives, I can see that this is their means of adaptation. Meanwhile the political scene, the career scene and the media scene are all totally oblivious to the trends going on.
This decade will be a time of tumultuous change. Let’s all hope that it will, ultimately, be peaceful.
Hey! If you enjoyed this post, then you would love my index. Check out my SHTF index…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Well, here I am. Stuck in the middle of a bioweapons attack. As part of the Trump Trade War, all sorts of germ warfare has been unleashed upon China. This last bout, the coronavirus was the worst. The Chinese military has locked down the entire nation, and drones are keeping everyone inside. Being locked inside is incredibly boring. I mean that there is only so much that you can do, right? So, I’ve been watching some classic science fiction movies…
Today, I would like to chat about a movie titled “First Men on the Moon”. It’s terribly dated, but really… who cares? It’s a charming romp for being locked inside your residence for weeks at a time. I mean, you can only eat so much re-fried rice and drink so much beer, eh?
Based on the HG Wells story.
The world is delighted when a space craft containing a crew made up of the worlds astronauts lands on the moon they think for the first time.
But the delight turns to shock when the astronauts discover an old British flag and a document declaring that the moon is taken for Queen Victoria proving that the astronauts were not the first men on the moon.
On Earth an investigation team finds the last of the Victorian crew - a now aged Arnold Bedford and he tells them the story of how he and his girlfriend Katherine Callender meet up with an inventor Joseph Cavor in 1899.
Cavor has invented Cavorite - a paste that will allow anything to deflect gravity and he created a sphere that will actually take them to the moon.
Taking Arnold and accidentally taking Katherine they fly to the moon where to their total amazement they discover a bee-like insect population who take an unhealthy interest in their Earthly visitors.
This movie is one of those Saturday-afternoon B-grade classics that I used to watch on snowy Saturday afternoons when I was a kid in the 1960’s. It’s great.
1960’s rocket travel via the science fiction medium. It’s a true and real classic escape from the harsh realities of modern life.
Pedigree
The First Men in the Moon came out a few years after Disney’s adaptation of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). This had kicked off a spate of period science-fiction classics adapted from Verne, which included the likes of Around the World in 80 Days (1956) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959). After George Pal’s successful period adaptation of The Time Machine (1960), other filmmakers turned to the works of Verne’s contemporary H.G. Wells. 20,000 Leagues and The Time Machine remain this cycle’s high points but its downside was that many, if not most, of the films ended as burlesque – Verne had to suffer the increasingly buffoonish likes of the 20th Century Fox Journey to the Center of the Earth, Irwin Allen’s Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962), then Jules Verne’s Rocket to the Moon/Those Fantastic Flying Fools (1967) – and with The First Men in the Moon it was H.G. Wells’s turn.
-Moriareviews
H.G. Wells is one of the most revered classic authors of all time. He sits on the Mt. Rushmore of science fiction beside Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury (some would put either Frank Herbert or Arthur C. Clarke ahead of Bradbury, but this is my review, so I call the shots!). Really, I could easily write this entire article about how awesome Ray Bradbury was, but I’ll spare you that indulgence.
Wells wrote many classic works, some of which have been adapted into films to varying degrees of success (The Island of Dr. Moreau, The War of the Worlds, and The Time Machine, to name a few). Is director Nathan Juran’s take on The First Men in the Moon
one of the better H.G. Wells adaptations? Not necessarily so. But I
think it has its charms and it’s pretty easy to see how it influenced
the sci fi genre as a whole.
This 1964 entry was made right smack-dab in the middle of the
USA/USSR space race and Cold War. The Vietnam war was picking up
steam. Kennedy had been assassinated a year earlier. Definitely a period
of tumult and change.
The team in their spacesuits in the movie “The First Men on the Moon”.
Cinema was going through a renaissance as well, finding its way out of the studio system. However, by the early 60s, with movies struggling to compete with that B&W box in virtually every home, big, bombastic musicals, widescreen auctioneers and family films were the order of the day.
For instance,Mary Poppins came out in 1964, as did My Fair Lady. The Sound of Musicwould come out a year later, all three among the biggest box-office leaders of the decade.
It was the right time for The First Men in the Moon.
Spaceship interior details.
The film starts off with a ship landing on earth. Two U.N. astronauts on a lunar mission casually exit the cockpit and talk to their crew deeper inside the vessel, which sports a set more akin to a modern (i.e.; today) tech-club.
Certainly, the Lunar scenes are good and display a degree of imagination in places – images of vast bubbling cylinders of liquid to generate air, solar lasers and so on. The issues of weightlessness and air and sound in a vacuum are conducted with a little more credibility than most pre-1969 Moon landing science-fiction, although the script has the tendency to bring up the fact that sound does not pass in a vacuum and then ignore it anyway. The cave sets and blending of opticals used to depict the Selenite city are very good too.
Harryhausen animates a Moon calf but for time’s sake was forced to abandon the idea of animating most of the Selenties and have them played by children. As a result, the stop-motion creations here count as the most anonymous, least showcasey examples of Ray Harryhausen’s work. The optical effects are variable – while individual model scenes impress, thick matte lines abound and the models ache for the advent of motion control camerawork.
-Moriareviews
The movie begins in 1964 with a space ship “United Nations 1” landing on the moon with an international crew.
But once the astronauts de-board the ship, they find out that (record scratch!) they aren’t the first men on the moon.
The people that fear a one world government must be wetting themselves at the thought. As the whole world watches a Russian, an Englishman, and an American leave the ship. I assume that the Englishman and the American are astronauts which mean star voyager while the Russian would be a cosmonaut which means universe voyager.
Anyway, they are poking around and looking at rocks when the Russian
cosmonaut, finds a Union Jack flag and a piece of paper claiming the
moon in the name of Queen Victoria the 1st who lived from 1837-1901. The
paper is dated 1899.
It is very fortunate that the Russian found the paper given the Cold
War tension. If the English astronaut found it the other two would have
cried foul. They get the paper back to the ship and send it by space fax
back to UN HQ. The note is written on a summons for Kate Callender
(Martha Hyer) so a multi-national delegation heads to the records office
in a quiet English town.
First Men on the Moon.
This is all conveniently explained by an aged Arnold Bedford (Edward Judd, a British Sci-fi vet with such big titles to his credit as The Day the Earth Caught Fire and Island of Terror).
According to Bedford, back in 1899, eccentric scientist Joseph Cavor (Lionel Jeffries) and his prim and proper fiancee Kate Callender (Martha Hyer) took an impromptu trip to the moon after a botched attempt at making a pesky batch of “cavorite” (a Wells created anti-gravity “substance.”)
Cavorite.
Hummmm….
Anyways, Cavor is cooking up his anti-gravity paint that he has named Cavorite. Arnold sees the paint working when he is lifted to the ceiling in a chair. After that, Arnold is all in. He will do anything to get a share of the money that is going to be made from Cavorite. He talks about its war applications if it was painted on the bottom of boots. Cavor shows Arnold his moon ship which looks vaguely like a World War II sea mine. He is ready to go on a two person round trip to the moon.
Lionel Jeffries as Joseph Cavor, inventor of Cavorite.
Arnold agrees to sell the cottage he doesn’t own to Cavor. Arnold has
Kate sign the papers selling the cottage with a cock and bull story
about hiding it from his debtors. Nice boyfriend.
Sometime later Kate is given a summons for fraudulently selling the
cottage. She is mad as a hen. Cavor blows the roof off of his house and
Kate goes to find Arnold and they make up. She brings them an elephant
gun, chickens, and feed.
They accidentally launch in a Jerry-rigged space vessel that resembles a steam-punk billiard room.
They accidentally launch in a Jerry-rigged space vessel that resembles a steam-punk billiard room.
This “ship” takes off with Cavor, Arnold, and by accident Kate. Cavor pilots the ship to a moon landing by controlling the Cavorite.
Once they hit the lunar surface…
When the two men are ready to explore they put Kate in an airtight
cabinet and they get into deep sea diving suits complete with brass
helmets. In the Well’s book, he did not have suits because he wrote that
the moon had an atmosphere. This could have been disproven at the time
because the moon disk would have a haze around the edge when viewed by a
telescope. Their space suits didn’t have gloves and there is much
debate about what would happen. Most sites seem to indicate it would
cause swelling, pain, and bruising but no long term damage.
The two moonwalkers leave the flag and the note and then discover an insect colony that lives underground on the moon.
Now, this is an alien civilization that looks a heck of a lot like a colony of ants, complete with queen, soldiers, and busy little workers. How they got back home and the results of their journey make up the final act. (So it’s a movie about the moon that doesn’t actually spend much time on the moon. )
A Mooncalf, on a rampage, is zapped by Selenites.
Hence the time first men in not on the moon. Cavor names them Selenites after the Greek moon goddess Selene. The two men escape back to the ship and find that it has been drug underground with Kate still inside.
Yikes!
The two men find the drag trail for the ship and head into the
underground bug city to find Kate. They are attacked by a giant
caterpillar. The Selenites eventually kill the moon bull with their stun
rays. The two earthlings realize that the Selenite city is powered by
sunlight that focuses through a large glass panel.
The astronauts discover an entrance to the underground Selenite city.
The Selenites begin communicating but they have to power down
regularly. Arnold slips away and finds the ship being disassembled by
the Selenites. Once the Selenites have learned English they begin having
a conversation with Cavor. Cavor thinks its is about the scientific
exchange but Arnold thinks they are putting the Earth man on trial.
Finally, Cavor is admitted to see the big guy, the Grand Lunar. Arnold
tries to get Cavor to escape and in the struggle, the elephant gun is
fired at the Grand Lunar. Cavor decides to stay behind in the name of
science. Arnold and Kate escape and fly the ship through the glass
panels and back to earth.
As Arnold finishes his story he says the ship splashed down near Zanzibar and sank. They never hear from Cavor again.
Back in the present Arnold and the delegation watch the television as
the astro/cosmonauts are breaking into the Selenite city. It is decayed
and there is no life there. They barely escape as the city falls down
around them.
Arnold looks out the window and comments on how bad Cavor’s cold was and how the Selenites had not immunity. He smiles.
Plastic models!
Released by Larson Designs in early 2006, this beautifully crafted kit was mastered by Alfred Wong, a man with much experience creating quality sci-fi patterns. The kit consisted of upper and lower body halves, plus individual rail car bumper and eight portholes.
The sphere’s heavy geometry and rivet-covered surface beautifully evoked the simple functionality of Victorian-era technology.
And another view of this model…
Modern technology with a miracle anti-gravity coating.
Dynamation!
Special effects artist Ray Harryhausen will be forever remembered for the magical fighting skeletons seen in both Nathan Juran‘s inspired fantasy The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958) and in Don Chaffey‘s Jason And The Argonauts (1963).
Harryhausen animated the skeletons with his own variation on the stop-motion technique – Dynamation – with which he recreated scenes that a child of the fifties or sixties might well have been able to imagine (thanks to comics) but would have never dreamed of actually seeing such scenes re-enacted on the big silvery screen.
Despite all the advancements made by modern computer and digital technology, Harryhausen’s effects still impress us, largely because they were always based on a resolutely human scale and were, as such, always believable.
His extensive career also includes The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953), The Three Worlds Of Gulliver (1960), One Million Years BC (1967), and Clash Of The Titans (1981).
-Horrornews
The real reason to check out The First Men in the Moon is Ray Harryhausen, the visual effects maestro who advanced stop motion animation, (here called “Dynamation”) always used to an impressive result.
He was a true pioneer and this film (his tenth) had him at his best.
A successful landing on the moon.
Even though the first half of the movie has a serious drag issue, once the trio actually gets to the moon, it becomes a fun little romp.
The acting is good.
Judd, Jeffries and Hyer play off each other well in their respective roles. Jeffries’s eccentric scientist Joseph Cavor can be seen as an early precursor of Back to the Future’s Doc. Brown.
Lionel Jeffries should really be a household name, in my humble opinion.
Wait, you’ve never heard of Lionel Jeffries? You’ll most likely recognize his voice from the late 70s BBC children’s series Wombling Free, as the voice of Womble. Oh, wait, you don’t know that one?
How about the mid-sixties British comedy The Spy with a Cold Nose?
No?
Okay, I give up.
Enjoying the view on the moon, 1960’s style.
If you can get past the rather slow first half of this film, it gets pretty fun.
It’s a romance disguised as a piece of science fiction, reminding us that audiences tend to not care about the plot or MacGuffins, but instead, the relationships.
It’s a tiny little gem, coming off the heels of Journey to the Center of the Earth, and worth watching for Harryhausen’s special effects and for Lionel Jeffries charming performance.
All of which are excellent flicks to watch while you are bored waiting for the “all clear” horn to sound and you all can get out of your “fallout shelters”.
Conclusion
It’s a charming movie that has the ability to whisk you away towards simpler times. That, my friends, is something that we truly need today.
Hey! If you enjoyed this post, then you would love my index. Check out my Movie index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Most Americans don’t care how others view America. They believe, incorrectly, that everyone thinks that America is the best nation on the face of the earth. They believe that everyone wants to move to America. They believe that America has “freedom“, and “democracy“. Well, it’s a big lie. It’s kind of true that some people do want to come to America; the uneducated, the poor, the slothful, and the criminals. But for educated, learned, skilled and talented folk… no so much. It’s a big problem. America has become the dumping ground for the world’s riff-raff instead of a beacon for the best and brightest. Here we talk about that.
We also talk about how just fucking weird America looks to the rest of the world.
'merica /ˈmerəkə,ˈmərəkə/
Noun:
1) A humorous way to say America, meant to point out things that are stereotypically about the country or the people. “In ‘Merica, we like God, guns, and sticky buns.”
2) Stereotypical way rednecks say America. “Woo! Merica!”
3) The way to sum up over-the-top parts of American culture.
America is really strange. As Americans, we don’t realize how weird and strange our lives are.
This is a reprint of the most wonderful article titled “The View from Abroad – America as Others See it ” by Fred Reed . It was written June 13, 2019. All credit to the author. Included are my photos, interjections and comments. Edited to fit this blog format.
The View from Abroad – America as Others See it
By Fred Reed, with interjections from Metallicman.
American Homeless picking their way through garbage .
Americans are brought up to believe that the United States is a shining city on a hill, a light to mankind, that the world envies us for our values and freedoms, and hates us because we have them.
This is ground into us from birth.
Those of us now long in the tooth remember the Fifties when Superman jumped out of a window while the announcer spoke of a strange visitor from another planet fighting for “truth, justice, and the American way,” then (all) thought to be related.
The weirdly intimate toilet stalls.
Toilet stalls are thoroughly private everywhere around the world, with the walls extending all the way down to the floor. It's only in America that you get to enjoy the lovely view of your stall-neighbor's feet whilst peeing.
As one who has traveled much and lived in several countries, I can tell you: It ain’t so.
The world does NOT regard America with admiration.
The outrageously expensive college tuition.
In most of the world's countries, school is school. You go to school to study. The university experience in the US is far more than just school. It comes with athletics, student facilities, living and boarding, recreation space, social events and so much more. Creating a rich student life experience is often a deciding factor in choosing a college, making the cost incredibly high. University tuition in the U.S. can range anywhere from $10,000 to $35,000 per year, as opposed to many universities outside of the U.S., with tuition costs at $6-7,000, sometimes even less, sometimes even free.
Today the internet profoundly affects the world’s view of America.
The Web makes graphic and easily found things that in earlier times would have been out of sight from abroad.
The customary unit system.
Besides Burma (Myanmar) and Liberia, the United States is the only country that doesn't currently use the metric system of measurement, because we apparently prefer dealing with wacky conversions instead of nice, neat multiples of 10.
For example, people in Kathmandu and Moscow can see horrifying and entirely truthful photos of the homeless living in piles of garbage in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, and dozens of other American cities.
Functionally and practically, America has ZERO freedom of speech.
America goes to war everywhere.
"My image of America is a country that goes to war anywhere in the world," according to an 82-year-old retired agricultural lab technician from Tokyo, Japan. And at least one Italian has a similar view: "Trump, fast food, NY, Hollywood and wars."
They can read of trade conventions avoiding San Francisco because of needles and excrement on the sidewalks.
Such scenes are rare even in most upper-Third World countries.
To the orderly Japanese, accustomed to spotless cities and responsible government, such things are, in the strict sense of the word, incomprehensible.
In America, you must obey all rules and laws without question. This is something that is taught at an early age and enforced through discipline.
Driving literally everywhere. EVERYwhere.
Everyone has a car. And everyone drives his or her own car. Alone. Public transportation is so heavily relied upon in most other countries, whereas in most of the US, people have this vital need for personal space.
Home of the brave, land of the free, the envy of the world. Just ask us.
The estimated homeless population of LA is 58,000 and climbing.
Swarms of flea-carrying rats, which certainly exist, are said to cause outbreaks of typhus, a medieval disease. Anyone with a smartphone can see this.
Confusing tipping rules.
Do you always tip 15 percent? Or 20 percent? Or 10 percent? Do you tip regardless of the quality of service? Are you supposed to tip at cafés where you order up front? Do you tip delivery drivers or does the extra delivery charge count as the tip? Are there even rules?
The frequent mass shootings in the United States astonish most of the world. Opening fire on a country music concert, randomly shooting to death people in a gay nightclub, seems to most of the world a breakdown of civilization.
It is.
Stop being afraid.
The skewed meaning of "How are you?"
If you are a foreigner in the US, don't be fooled when an American says "Hi, how are you?" He or she doesn't actually care how you are. You're just supposed to say "I'm doing great!" and move on.
"How are you" is synonymous with "hello". It's just the way it is.
Many of these matanzas involve children gunning down their classmates.
Even in a country like Mexico, accustomed to recurring slaughters of narcos by other narcos, the school shootings are a shock.
The ginormous food portions.
Entrées and common portion quantities are often enough to serve three, or at least two people for one meal. And Americans wonder why the rest of the world calls them 'fat.'
Americans are now used to things that in any other country would be unthinkable: bulletproof backpacks for high-school students, police walking the halls, metal detectors, proposals to arm teachers, “active-shooter” drills.
To the rest of the world (or to Americans who were in high school in the Sixties) this is insane.
We need a rebirth of courage.
But normal in the Indispensable Country.
Extra charges for tax.
In most of the world, tax prices are included in the list price, which actually makes a lot of sense. How is it at all logical to decide on buying something without knowing how much its actually going to ring up to when checking out?
The now-predictable annual harvest of 700 successful homicides in Chicago, the 300 in Baltimore, plus thousands of wounded, seem to outsiders like something out of Blade Runner.
Much of the civilized world looks with wonder on an American overflowing with guns and using them on each other.
Barney Fife.
Only in America.
Interestingly the most heavily armed countries in the world, Israel and Switzerland, have virtually no gun crime.
Rarely taking a vacation
In most countries outside the U.S., vacation time is a highly utilized way to get away from work for a few weeks (or even months) every year. In America, on the other hand, taking time off is often treated like a sin. Many people's vacation days tend to pile up as the months of 50-hour workweeks roll on. Our collective workaholism is totally bizarre to outsiders—and quite frankly, we can see why.
This is the country Americans believe the world wants to imitate.
No.
America’s legacy is there for everyone to see.
From outside, it seems more a country in political and cultural free-fall.
Carding people who are obviously not under 21
Whether you're heading into a bar or buying a six-pack at the grocery store, there's a good chance you'll be asked for your ID in the United States—even if you're well into your 50s. This is baffling to many foreigners, especially since, by the time they're in their 30s, they've been drinking legally for more than two decades.
Americans are nothing if not by the book about the little things, so most foreigners quickly learn that it's wise to keep some form of ID on them at all times if they plan on having a drink.
To everyone else, the militarism of the United States, its absurd military expenditures, its huge number of nuclear weapons, its desire to upgrade them, to develop small tactical nuclear weapons, its preparation for nuclear war with specialized flying bunkers–seems nutty.
No other country does this.
None wants to.
America has been a warring nation—a military empire intent on occupation and conquest—for so long that perhaps we, the citizens of this warring nation, have forgotten what it means to live in peace, with the world and one another.
We’d better get back to the fundamentals of what it means to be human beings who can get along if we want to have any hope of restoring some semblance of sanity, civility and decency to what is progressively being turned into a foul-mouthed, hot-headed free-for-all bar fight by politicians for whom this is all one big, elaborate game designed to increase their powers and fatten their bank accounts.
-Johnathan Whitehead
In Mexico people roll their eyes. What the hell is wrong with the gringos?
Doomsday Plane.
““Affectionately known as the “doomsday plane,” the modified Boeing 747 is used to transport the Secretary of Defense and is born and bred for battle. It stands nearly six stories tall, is equipped with four colossal engines, and is capable of enduring the immediate aftermath of a nuclear detonation.”
The language is that of a little boy of twelve watching Star Wars. It is the attitude of much of America.
America is unhealthy food.
People all over the world associate America with supersized food portions. Many foreigners also link America's fast food culture to health problems and the demise of small family farms.
Easily found online: the racial disaster in the US, the dozens of cities with domestic Sowetos in their hearts, the huge, hopeless, entirely black regions where whites dare not walk.
Americans no longer possess Rights.
In these, entirely black schools turn out millions of barely literates who for the remaining fifty years of their lives will be unemployable.
This is all online with photos and statistics.
“Man, just out of jail, arrested in rape of woman, 78….” Another face of race in America.
These stories, common as potatoes–a similar gentleman just threw a white child of five from three floors up–are suppressed to the extent possible by the American media, but often show up in British dailies.
Such things almost never happened in Europe before the arrival of African and Muslim immigrants.
The whole world can see.
Having drive-throughs
In most other countries, you take the time to at least park the car and walk through the front doors of the place you're patronizing—not in America, though! Here, we're far too busy to waste time, so we have drive-through restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores, liquor stores, and more.
Freedoms?
More sophisticated readers abroad know of our intensifying censorship, the words that can get you fired, the controlled press, the surveillance.
Americans know what you can’t say and who you can’t say it about.
We know the police are militarized and out of control.
We see the cell-cam videos of beatings.
So does the world.
Having lawyers that advertise
There are few countries in which you'll encounter a billboard or bus ad for a divorce attorney or see several personal injury spots while watching half an hour of daytime TV. In America, however, these advertisements are everywhere—and unsurprisingly, they confuse foreign visitors.
America’s foreign policy makes it hated in most of the world.
It seems murderous, thuggish, brutal, a menace to everyone.
America’s military is hated all over the world.
For example, the U.S. killed over a million people in Iraq. This does not bother Americans.
Since 2000 it has destroyed Iraq, Syria, Libya, enters its eighteenth year of butchering Afghans, bombs Somalia, sends troops to Africa.
It militarily threatens North Korea, Venezuela, Iran, seeks to destroy the economies of Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, China. It sanctions Europe.
No other country does this.
Americans put too much ice in drinks.
You ask for water and you get ice with some water. The same goes for soda or other soft drinks. Americans also love to put ice in whiskey and even wine. America's obsession with ice cubes dates back to the 1800s when a man was trying to expand his ice harvesting business by convincing people to use it to cool their drinks.
This is not the griping of Fred. It is what the whole world sees, daily, in detail.
Prescription drug makers that advertise
Another oddity of American advertising are those spots you see for prescription medication during every commercial break. Foreigners might not realize right off the bat that those soft-focus commercials featuring happy couples prancing through corn fields are advertising medications for diabetes and back pain. However, if the commercial itself isn't clear, the long list of side effects the narrator rattles off at the end should at least tip them off.
Number of wars started since 2000 by Iran: 0. Russia: 0. China: 0. North Korea: 0. America…?
Number of countries openly running torture sites while talking of human rights? 1. The country with the largest prison population? The answer is left to the reader as an exercise.
Democrat anti-Trump propaganda.
Even today, many Americans speak of American Values, of the country’s devotion to democracy and human rights and freedom.
Maybe Americans believe it.
No one else does.
The United States has a horrendous history of installing or supporting hideous dictators, supporting repressive regimes, overthrowing elected governments.
Human rights? In Saudi Arabia? Israel? The world is not blind.
You shouldn't have to pay more than expected.
It's confusing to many non-Americans that the price you see on an item is not necessarily the one you end up paying at the register. Basically, you have to have a degree in math to calculate how much your final bill will be. This is because stores don't include tax on price tag, and tipping is, technically, not mandatory.
Americans, self-absorbed, perhaps the most historically ignorant of First-World peoples, shrugs such things off.
“Oh, get over it.” Whatever it was.
The nations involved do not shrug them off.
The names of the Presidents might change, but their policies do not.
You can bet the Chinese know about Legation days, America’s role in forcing the opium trade on China, extraterritoriality.
Deep-frying everything
Sure, fried chicken is hardly a foreign concept—but try explaining chicken-fried steak or deep-fried Oreos to a non-American. Finding creative ways to fry things that probably shouldn't be fried is an American specialty and something that definitely confuses tourists.
From abroad, America is a feral, amoral, remorseless empire, rotting from within, willing to do anything to maintain its dominance.
From inside the U.S., it seems otherwise.
Do you, an American reader, want to kill Afghans? Buy another trillion dollars of nuclear weapons? War with Iran? Russia?
But Americans have no influence over what Washington does, and the world judges by what it sees.
Americans are arrogant.
Many people in Southern Europe, Greece, France, and Italy think Americans look down on people, according to Norwegian journalist René Zografos, author of "Attractive Unattractive Americans: How the World Sees America." Ignorant and arrogant are other descriptions foreigners sometimes associate with Americans.
This picture pretty much describes America, sort of.
Other Stuff
While China is often politically reprehensible, its engineering is amazing. This, on the Hong Kong Macau sea bridge, is long at twenty minutes and a bit rayrah. It is representative of the huge scale and ambitiousness of Chinese infrastructure programs.
Conclusion
Fred did get on a bender ranting on so.
But listen to what he is saying.
The world views America as a dangerous out-of-control bully.
Americans are blind to this reality
With that in mind, I’ll chime in with my “two cents”;
This situation is not sustainable.
If anyone thinks that Trump or his successor can suddenly change the course that America is on, they are delusional.
The only thing that is going to change the path that America is on today, is rapid and abrupt (internal) change. NO OTHER SOLUTION IS POSSIBLE.
I’m outraged at what has been done to our freedoms and our country. You should be, too.
We have been subjected to crackdowns, clampdowns, shutdowns, showdowns, shootdowns, standdowns, knockdowns, putdowns, breakdowns, lockdowns, takedowns, slowdowns, meltdowns, and never-ending letdowns.
We’ve been held up, stripped down, faked out, photographed, frisked, fracked, hacked, tracked, cracked, intercepted, accessed, spied on, zapped, mapped, searched, shot at, tasered, tortured, tackled, trussed up, tricked, lied to, labeled, libeled, leered at, shoved aside, saddled with debt not of our own making, sold a bill of goods about national security, tuned out by those representing us, tossed aside, and taken to the cleaners.
We’ve had our freedoms turned inside out, our democratic structure flipped upside down, and our house of cards left in a shambles.
We’ve had our children burned by flashbang grenades, our dogs shot, and our old folks hospitalized after “accidental” encounters with marauding SWAT teams.
We’ve been told that as citizens we have no rights within 100 miles of our own border, now considered “Constitution-free zones.”
We’ve had our faces filed in government databases, our biometrics crosschecked against criminal databanks, and our consumerist tendencies catalogued for future marketing overtures.
We’ve seen the police transformed from community peacekeepers to point guards for the militarized corporate state. The police continue to push, prod, poke, probe, scan, shoot and intimidate the very individuals—we the taxpayers—whose rights they were hired to safeguard. Networked together through fusion centers, police have surreptitiously spied on our activities and snooped on our communications, using hi-tech devices provided by the Department of Homeland Security.
We’ve been deemed suspicious for engaging in such dubious activities as talking too long on a cell phone and stretching too long before jogging, dubbed extremists and terrorists for criticizing the government and suggesting it is tyrannical or oppressive, and subjected to forced colonoscopies and anal probes for allegedly rolling through a stop sign.
We’ve been arrested for all manner of “crimes” that never used to be considered criminal, let alone uncommon or unlawful, behavior: letting our kids walk to the playground alone,
giving loose change to a homeless man, feeding the hungry, and living off the grid.
We’ve been sodomized, victimized, jeopardized, demoralized, traumatized, stigmatized, vandalized, demonized, polarized and terrorized, often without having done anything to justify such treatment. Blame it on a government mindset that renders us guilty before we’ve even been charged, let alone convicted, of any wrongdoing. In this way, law-abiding individuals have had their homes mistakenly raided by SWAT teams that got the address wrong. One accountant found himself at the center of a misguided (armed) police standoff after surveillance devices confused his license plate with that of a drug felon.
We’ve been railroaded into believing that our votes count, that we live in a republic or a democracy, that elections make a difference, that it matters whether we vote Republican or Democrat, and that our elected officials are looking out for our best interests. Truth be told, we live in an oligarchy, politicians represent only the profit motives of the corporate state, whose leaders know all too well that there is no discernible difference between red and blue politics, because there is only one color that matters in politics: green.
We’ve gone from having privacy in our inner sanctums to having nowhere to hide, with smart pills that monitor the conditions of our bodies, homes that spy on us (with smart meters that monitor our electric usage and thermostats and light switches that can be controlled remotely) and cars that listen to our conversations, track our whereabouts and report them to the police. Even our cities have become wall-to-wall electronic concentration camps, with police now able to record hi-def video of everything that takes place within city limits.
We’ve had our schools locked down and turned into prisons, our students handcuffed, shackled and arrested for engaging in childish behavior such as food fights, our children’s biometrics stored, their school IDs chipped, their movements tracked, and their data bought, sold and bartered for profit by government contractors, all the while they are treated like criminals and taught to march in lockstep with the police state.
We’ve been rendered enemy combatants in our own country, denied basic due process rights, held against our will without access to an attorney or being charged with a crime, and left to waste away in jail until such a time as the government is willing to let us go or allow us to defend ourselves.
We’ve had the very military weapons we funded with our hard-earned tax dollars used against us, from unpiloted, weaponized drones tracking our movements on the nation’s highways and byways and armored vehicles, assault rifles, sound cannons and grenade launchers in towns with little to no crime to an arsenal of military-grade weapons and equipment given free of charge to schools and universities.
We’ve been silenced, censored and forced to conform, shut up in free speech zones, gagged by hate crime laws, stifled by political correctness, muzzled by misguided anti-bullying statutes, and pepper sprayed for taking part in peaceful protests.
We’ve been shot by police for reaching for a license during a traffic stop, reaching for a baby during a drug bust, carrying a toy sword down a public street, and wearing headphones that hamper our ability to hear.
We’ve had our tax dollars spent on $30,000 worth of Starbucks for Department of Homeland Security employees, $630,000 in advertising to increase Facebook “likes” for the State Department, and close to $25 billion to fund projects ranging from the silly to the unnecessary, such as laughing classes for college students and programs teaching monkeys to play video games and gamble.
We’ve been treated like guinea pigs, targeted by the government and social media for psychological experiments on how to manipulate the masses. We’ve been tasered for talking back to police, tackled for taking pictures of police abuses, and threatened with jail time for invoking our rights. We’ve even been arrested by undercover cops stationed in public bathrooms who interpret men’s “shaking off” motions after urinating to be acts of lewdness.
We’ve had our possessions seized and stolen by law enforcement agencies looking to cash in on asset forfeiture schemes, our jails privatized and used as a source of cheap labor for megacorporations, our gardens smashed by police seeking out suspicious-looking plants that could be marijuana, and our buying habits turned into suspicious behavior by a government readily inclined to view its citizens as terrorists.
We’ve had our cities used for military training drills, with Black Hawk helicopters buzzing the skies, Urban Shield exercises overtaking our streets, and active shooter drills wreaking havoc on unsuspecting bystanders in our schools, shopping malls and other “soft target” locations.
We’ve been told that national security is more important than civil liberties, that police dogs’ noses are sufficient cause to carry out warrantless searches, that the best way not to get raped by police is to “follow the law,” that what a police officer says in court will be given preference over what video footage shows, that an upright posture and acne are sufficient reasons for a cop to suspect you of wrongdoing, that police can stop and search a driver based solely on an anonymous tip, and that police officers have every right to shoot first and ask questions later if they feel threatened.
Are you outraged yet?
You should be. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and right these wrongs.
Stop waiting patiently for change to happen, stop waiting for some politician to rescue you, and take responsibility for your freedoms: start by fixing what’s broken in your lives, in your communities, and in this country.
Get mad, get outraged, get off your duff and get out of your house, get in the streets, get in people’s faces, get down to your local city council, get over to your local school board, get your thoughts down on paper, get your objections plastered on protest signs, get your neighbors, friends and family to join their voices to yours, get your representatives to pay attention to your grievances, get your kids to know their rights, get your local police to march in lockstep with the Constitution, get your media to act as watchdogs for the people and not lapdogs for the corporate state, get your act together, and get your house in order.
Appearances to the contrary, this country does not belong exclusively to the corporations or the special interest groups or the oligarchs or the war profiteers or any particular religious, racial or economic demographic.
This country belongs to all of us: each and every one of us—“we the people”—but most especially, this country belongs to those of us who love freedom enough to stand and fight for it.
-Johnathan Whitehead
If you enjoyed this post, please check out my other posts in my SHTF index.
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This is the third post of the impressions that American Fred Reed had when he visited China for the first time in over a decade. It’s all priceless and underlines what I have been trying to convey for years now. This, as his third post, was written after he had a chance to sit down, and contemplate the differences between America and China and what both are “supposed” to be. It’s a fantastic read. And here it is…
This is from the article “Comparing China and America – Economies Diverge, Police States Converge” by Fred Reed it was written on November 28, 2018. All credit to the author.
Comparing China and America – Economies Diverge, Police States Converge
By Fred Reed.
I have followed China’s development, its stunning advance in forty years from impoverished Third World to a huge economy, its rapid scientific progress.
Coming from nowhere it now runs neck and neck with the US in supercomputers, does world-class work in genetic engineering and genomics (the Beijing Genomics Institute), quantum computing and quantum radar, and in scientific publications.
It lags in many things, but the speed of advance, the intense focus on progress, is remarkable.
Recently, after twelve years away, I returned for a couple of weeks to Chungdu and Chong Quing, which I found amazing.
American patriots of the lightly read but (of a) growly sort will bristle at the thought that the Chinese may have political and economic systems superior to ours, but, well…
… China rises while the US flounders.
They must be doing something right.
In terms of economic systems, the Chinese are clearly superior.
China runs a large economic surplus, allowing it to invest heavily in infrastructure and in resources abroad.
America runs a large deficit.
China invests in China, America in the military.
China’s infrastructure is new, of high quality, and growing.
America’s slowly deteriorates.
China has an adult government that gets things done.
America has an essentially absentee Congress and a kaleidoscopically shifting cast of pathologically aggressive curiosities in the White House.
Admit it. This is the truth.
America cannot compete with a country far more populous of more-intelligent people with competent leadership and the geographic advantage of being in Eurasia.
America has "Diversity Officers" and "Political Correctness", not to mention racial quotas.
Washington’s choices are either to start a major war while it can, perhaps force the world to submit through sanctions, or resign itself to America’s becoming just another country.
Given the goiterous egos inside the Beltway Bubble, this is not encouraging.
To compare the two countries, look at them as they are, not as we are told they are.
We are told that dictatorships, which China is, are nightmarish, brutal, do not allow the practice of religion or freedom of expression and so on. The usual examples are Pol Pot, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and North Korea, of whom the criticisms are true.
By contrast, we are told, America is envied by the world for its democracy, freedom of speech, free press, high moral values, and freedom of religion.
This is nonsense.
You tell em' Fred.
In fact the two countries are more similar than we might like to believe, with America converging fast on the Chinese model.
The US is at best barely democratic.
Yes, every four years we have a hotly contested presidential election, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
The public has no influence over anything of importance: the wars, the military budget, immigration, offshoring of jobs, what our children are taught in school, or foreign or racial policy
The American public has no influence over anything of importance.
We do not really have freedom of speech.
Say “nigger” once and you can lose a job of thirty years. Or criticize Jews, Israel, blacks, homosexuals, Muslims, feminists, or transsexuals. The media strictly prohibit any criticism of these groups, or anything against abortion or in favor of gun rights, or any coverage of highly profitable wars that might turn the public against them, or corruption in Congress or Wall Street, or research on the genetics of intelligence.
Religion?
Christianity is not illegal, but heavily repressed under the Constitutionally nonexistent doctrine of separation of church and state.
Surveillance?
Monitoring of the population is intense in China and getting worse. It is hard to say just how much NSA monitors us, but America is now a land of cameras, electronic readers of license plates, recording of emails and telephone conversations. The tech giants increasingly censor political sites, and surveillance in our homes appears about to get much worse.
Here we might contemplate Lincoln’s famous dictum…
“You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
Being a politician, he did not add a final clause that is the bedrock of American government…
“But you can fool enough of the people enough of the time.”
You don’t have to keep websites of low circulation from being politically incorrect. You just have to tell the majority, via the mass media, over and over and over, what you want them to believe.
The dictatorship in China is somewhat onerous, but has little in common with the sadistic lunacy of Pol Pot’s Cambodia.
In China you do not buck the government, propaganda is heavy, and communications monitored. If people accept this, as most do, they are free to start businesses, bar hop, smoke dope (which a friend there tells me is common though illegal) engage in such consumerism as they increasingly can afford and lead what an American would call normal lives.
A hellhole it is not.
Socially
China has a great advantage over America in that, except for the
Muslims of Xinjiang, it is pretty much a Han monoculture. Lacking
America’s racial diversity, its cities do not burn, no pressure exists
to infantilize the schools for the benefit of incompetent minorities,
racial mobs do not loot stores, and there is very little street crime.
America’s huge urban pockets of illiteracy do not exist.
There is not the virulent political division that has gangs of uncontrolled Antifa hoodlums stalking public officials.
China takes education seriously, as America does not.
Students study, behave as maturely as their age would suggest, and do not engage in middle-school politics.
In short, China does not appear to be in irremediable decadence. America does.
An intelligent dictatorship has crucial advantages over a chaotic pseudo-democracy.
One is stability of policy.
In America, we look to the next election in two, four, or six years. Businesses focus on the next quarter’s bottom line.
Consequently policy flipflops.
One administration has no interest in national health care, the next administration institutes it, and the third wants to eliminate it.
Because policies are pulled and hauled in different directions by special interests–in this case Big Pharma, insurance companies, the American Medical Associatiion, and so on–the result is an automobile with five wheels, an electric motor but no batteries, and a catalytic converter that doesn’t work.
After twenty-four years, from Bush II until Trump leaves, we will neither have nor not have national health care.
China’s approach to empire is primarily commercial, America’s military.
The former turns a profit without firing a shot, and the latter generates a huge loss as the US tries to garrison the world.
Always favoring coercion, Washington now tries to batter the planet into submission via tarifffs, sanctions, embargos, and so on.
Whether it will work, or force the rest of the world to band together against America, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile the Chinese economy grows.
America builds aircraft carriers. China builds railroads, this one in Laos.
America builds aircraft carriers. China builds railroads, this one in Laos.
A dictatorship can simply do things.
It can plan twenty, or fifty, years down the road. If some massive engineering project will produce great advantages in thirty years, but be a dead loss until then, China can just do it. And often has.
When I was in Chengdu, Beijing opened the Hongkong–Zhuhai-Macau oceanic bridge, thirty-four miles long.
HK to Zhuhai bridge.
The bridge. The US would take longer to decide to build it than the Chinese took actually to build it.
In the US?
California wants high-speed rail from LA to San Fran. It has talked and wrangled for years without issue. The price keeps rising. The state can’t get rights of way because too many private owners have title to the land.
Eminent domain?
Conservatives would scream about sacred rights to property, liberals that Hispanic families were in the path, and airlines would bribe Congress to block it.
America does not know how to build high-speed rail and hiring China would arouse howling about national security, balance of payments, and the danger to motherhood and virginity.
There will be no high speed rail, there or, probably, anywhere else.
Wreckage from the 8.0 earthquake. This is not unrepaired devastation but, weirdly, is kept as a tourist attraction and actually propped up so it won’t collapse further.
China has a government that can do things: In 2008 an 8.0 quake devastated the region near the Tibetan border, killing, according to the Chinese government, some 100,000 people.
Buildings put up long before simply collapsed.
Some years ago everything–the town, the local dam, and roads and houses–had been completely rebuilt, with structural steel so as, says the government, to withstand another such quake. Compare this with the unremedied wreckage in New Orleans due to Katrina.
Here we come to an important cultural or philosophical difference between the two countries.
Many Orientals, to include the Chinese, view society as a collective instead of as a Wild West of individuals.
In the East, one hears sayings like, “The nail that stands up is hammered down,” or “The high-standing flower is cut.”
Americans who teach school in China report that students will not question a professor, even if he spouts arrant nonsense to see how they will react. They are not stupid. They know that the Neanderthals did not build a moon base in the early Triassic. But they say nothing.
This collectivism, highly disagreeable to Westerners (me, for example) has pros and cons.
It makes for domestic tranquility and ability to work together, and probably accounts in large part for China’s stunning advances. On the other hand, it is said to reduce inventiveness
There may be something to this.
If you look at centuries of Chinese painting, you will see that each generation largely made copies of earlier masters. As nearly as I, a nonexpert, can tell, there is more variety and imagination in the Corcoran Gallery’s annual exhibition of high-school artists than in all of Chinese paining.
People alarmed at China’s growth point out hopefully that the Chinese in America have not founded Googles or Microsofts.
No, though they certainly have founded huge companies: Alibaba, Baidu, Tiensen for example. However, the distinction between inventiveness and really good engineering is not always clear, and the Chinese are fine engineers.
With American education crashing under the attacks of Social Justice Warriors, basing the future on a lack of Chinese imagination seems a bit too adventurous.
Conclusion
It’s a great article and report. Of course, I do not agree with everything. But it’s decent enough to include here.
China is NOT what Americans think, expect or plans for. It’s like a drunk high school teenager thinking that he can go into a Bull-Fight and take on a raging Steer. It’s not going to happen, and it’s lethal to boot.
Bullfighter gored by a raging bull.
America had best wise up and “get with the program”, or else a ton of hurt is going to collapse on that “Great American Experiment”.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. If you want to see others of a similar nature, please check out my Happiness Index. Here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
This is the second part of a three part narrative. In it, an expat Fred Reed, visits China for the first time in over a decade. His impressions are priceless. I have been here in China, for a long and long time. So many things that I take for granted are astounding and shocking to others. I think that most people will get a kick out of his impressions. So here we are with part two…
From the post “Cheng Two: More Notes on Two Weeks in China” by Fred Reed written on November 20, 2018. All credit to the author.
Cheng Two: More Notes on Two Weeks in China
This is my second column on the two weeks that Vi and I just spent in Chengdu, China.
Chongqing is a small “working class” city in the heartland of China. It is a tier 3 city. It is famous for it’s close proximity to the panda preserves.
It is meant not so much as a travelogue as a snapshot of what is going on in an economic juggernaut. Judging by email from readers, many do not realize the scope and scale of China’s advance.
Neither did I: Since I was last in the country twelve years ago, much has changed.
Reading journals is one thing. Walking the streets is another.
Having
heard much about China’s high-speed rail, we bought tickets to
Chongqing, a mountain town of thirty million at a distance of 250 miles
from Chengdu.
Chongqing. Well, a small part of it. Like Chengdu, it is largely new and, as cities go, quite agreeable
At risk of sounding like a shameless flack for Chinese infrastructure, I can report that the rail station in Chengdu was huge, attractive, well-designed, brightly lit, and full of people.
I know…
I know…
I keep saying things like this.
Well, dammit, they are true.
As a self-respecting journalist, I don’t like to tell the truth too often, but here I will break with tradition.
Having gotten tickets beforehand we waited until our train was called, in Mandarin and English, as was true also in the city’s subway. Apparently Chengdu wants to be an international city and someone thought about it.
Anyway,
the train pulled in and looked like a freaking rocketship. We boarded
and found it to be clean and comfortable, with most of the seats filled.
Off we went, almost in silence, and shortly were sailing through
countryside.
At a
cool 180 miles an hour. It was like stepping into a future world. I
thought about buying one of these trains and entering it in Formula One,
but I suspect that it would not corner well.
You can book here. Fast rail is hardly unique to China, but the scale is. So far there are 17,000 miles of fast rail in China, aiming at 24,000 by 2025. The United States couldn’t finish the environmental impact statement as quickly. The Shanghai maglev line reaches 267 mph.
Fast rail is hardly unique to China, but the scale is. So far there are 17,000 miles of fast rail in China, aiming at 24,000 by 2025. The United States couldn’t finish the environmental impact statement as quickly.
The Shanghai maglev line reaches 267 mph.
The Chinese passengers seemed no more impressed by the train than by a city bus.
They are used to them.
They think such trains are normal.
Chongqing is a small “working class” city in the heartland of China. It is a tier 3 city. It is famous for it’s close proximity to the panda preserves.
As an American, I was internally embarrassed. A few years ago Vi and I went from Chicago to the West Coast on Amtrak. It was not uncomfortable, but slow, appearing to use about 1955 technology.
We went through the mountains often at barely more than a walking pace.
There were until recently regular flights from Chengdu to Chongqing. When rail went live, the flights died.
Nobody wanted the hassle and expense of flying.
Here is much of why the US has not one inch of fast rail: It would kill of a lot of business for politically well connected airlines.
For example, Chinese fast rail from DC to Manhattan would close down air service in about fifteen minutes.
Fast rail between many American cities would be faster than flying when you added in getting to the airport hours before, and from the destination airport to the city afterward.
… And much more agreeable.
On another day we rented a car and driver and drove three hours to a town near the Tibetan border. A tourist burg, it was not interesting, but the ride was.
The highways were up to American standards…
… when America had standards.
The astonishment began when we reached the mountains. The American response to mountains usually is to go over them or around them through valleys.
This is not unreasonable, but neither is it the Chinese way. They go through mountains. We went through–I’ll guess and say a dozen–tunnels, all of four lanes, all miles long (one said to be nine miles) lighted and straight.
This was done in two parallel tunnels, each carrying two lanes in one direction or another.
Valleys?
We crossed them on bridges or elevated highways. The result was that a heavy truck would not have to gear up and down. Yes, I know, this probably would not work everywhere, but it worked there.
If there is anything in the US remotely resembling this, I am unaware of it.
There may be a long list of things the Chinese can’t do. Building stuff won’t be on it.
Chongqing is a small “working class” city in the heartland of China. It is a tier 3 city. It is famous for it’s close proximity to the panda preserves.
Internet: Almost everybody uses WeChat (“Connecting a billion people….” says its website) an app similar to WhatsApp that does the usual things but lets you pay bills electronically.
You hold your phone up to the taxi driver’s, information is exchanged, and your account debited. (“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”)
This is not new technology, but the scale is.
People go out at night without cash, which may cease to exist in a few years.
China seems to have leapfrogged the credit card.
The government monitors WeChat and you can definitely get in trouble for plotting to kill the Politburo. (Both Alibaba and Baidu have competing systems.)
The
country invests hard in electric cars, but you seldom see one. (They
have green license plates instead of blue.) The reasons, say people
here, are the objections one hears in the West: Charge time, and
expense without governmental subsidies, which exist.
Obesity does not exist. In two weeks we did not see a single example. Maybe porkers are arrested and ground into sausage–I don’t know–but they ain’t none in sight. The reason may be diet.
Or bicycles. See below.
Bicycle deposits like this one are everywhere. Each ride has an electronic gizz which that lets you rent it using–what else?–WeChat. The system is not robustly communistlc: Different companies paint their bikes in different colors, and have sales to compete. Phredfoto.
Chengdu’s claim for international attention is its pandas.
These were thought to be on the way to extinction when apparently the government decided extinction wasn’t a good idea.
Boom, the panda zoo appeared.
As my friend in the city says, when the government decides to do something, it happens.
Panda zoo. If you are a panda, you ought to look into this. ViFoto
In the National Zoo in Washington, the animals live in smallish enclosures of glass and cement bearing little resemblance to their natural environment.
By contrast, the pandas live in what seem to be acres of forest. This means that you cannot always see them. They do what pandas think proper in the manner they think proper.
Visitors walk through, in forest gloom, on walkways overhung with branches.
One never feels sorry for the animals.
While I think we were the only round-eyes we saw, the throngs of locals were sometimes oppressive.
OK, that’s the snapshot.
The lesson to take away, or at any rate the one I took away, is that this is a very serious and competent country and not to be underestimated.
Conclusion
Fred said it best;
This is a very serious and competent country and not to be underestimated.
I’m publishing this in the midst of the American bio-weapons attack as part of the Trump Trade Wars.
(Oh, you can poo-poo this notion. What ever. It doesn't matter what YOU think. All that matters is what China thinks, and they are treating it as a Bio-weapons attack and are now at DEFCON ONE.)
As such, it is amazing how well organized everything is.
Stores are open. Groceries are being delivered by drones. Secure areas are blocked off, monitored and policed. Even childhood cartoons are with the program.
Children’s cartoons all have the characters wearing face masks and explain what is going on. They show the importance in washing hands and avoiding crowds.
And it’s not just one, or two. It’s all of them. All generated in the LAST WEEK.
Another children’s cartoon stressing the importance of wearing the face mask when you go out, and washing your hands.
People in America haven’t a clue how organized and serious China actually is. All that they have is that black and white cardboard neocon narrative. It is something that doesn’t resemble anything even approaching reality.
Look guys. I am getting tired of stressing this…
If you push too hard… and neocon Washington… I am talking to you. Asia will strike back. It will be Russia AND China simultaneously. You have no fucking idea how bad it can get.
STOP FUCKING AROUND.
Genghis Khan will bitch slap America back to the stone age. Heed my warning. Please.
My SHTF experience.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. If you want to see others of a similar nature, please check out my Happiness Index. Here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
I have been trying to tell people that China is not what they think it is. I have been trying to explain that the American government propaganda machine is large, dangerous and paints a seriously distorted view of the rest of the world. And… well, it falls on deaf ears. So, here instead, is the impressions of a person visiting China for the first time in over a decade. His impressions are pristine, real, and worth the read. Check it out.
Chengdu is a Tier #2 city within China. It is not as modern as other Chinese cities, being in the “heartland”.
Vi and I have just returned from Chengdu, a Chinese village of seventeen million and the gateway to Tibet. Since China is of some interest to the US these days, I thought a description of sorts, actually more in the nature of a disordered travelogue, might be of interest. I hadn’t been to the country for twelve years and, before that, not since living in Taiwan in the mid-Seventies.
Each time, the changes were astonishing.
Herewith some notes:
A
caveat: we never got more than three hundred miles from the city and do
not pretend to describe the country beyond what we saw.
Despite Trump’s trade war we had no problems in getting visas in Guadalajara or getting through customs in Chengdu. Nobody showed us the slightest hostility.
Chengdu parkway.
Although China is assuredly a dictatorship and vigorously represses dissent, we saw virtually no police.
A friend who lived in Chengdu for several years until recently asserts that there is close to zero street crime. (White collar crime is a very different matter, he said, and seems built into Chinese culture. There are books on this.)
China is often described as a developing country.
Well, sort of.
Chengdu is decidedly of the First World, modern, muscular, appearing to have been recently built because it was.
The downtown is beautiful, at least as cities go, and livable. In many hours of walking aimlessly we encountered everything from elegant high-end stores selling upscale Western bands to noodle shops.
It is not a poor city.
The downtown is beautiful, at least as cities go, and livable.
A considerable number of people wear worn clothes and clearly are not overly prosperous, but nobody looked hungry and most appeared middle class.
We saw no beggars or homeless people of the sort common in the US. Whether this is because there aren’t any, or because the government doesn’t allow them on the streets, I do not know.
For anyone who knows what China was before Deng Xiaoping took over in 1978, after Mao made his greatest contribution to his country…
… he died…
… the growth of prosperity astounds.
Many criticisms may be made of the Chinese government, some of them valid, but no other government has lifted so many people out of poverty so fast.
Downtown tower in the enormous downtown city center.
When I
lived in Taiwan, I wondered why the Chinese, especially the
mainlanders, were so backward. They seemed to have been so almost
forever, certainly since well before Legation days. At the time Taiwan
had a Five Year Plan for development, but so did all sorts of dirtball
counties, mostly consisting of a patch of jungle, a colonel, and a
torture chamber.
I noted, though, if the reader will forgive me a digression: Taiwan was actually meeting its Plan. In the Third World of the time, this was a novel idea. The Jin Shan reactors were going in, the new port, the steel mill, the highway. I interviewed the head of the nuclear program for the Far Eastern Economic Review–Harvard guy. Other officials were from MIT.
Idi Amin they were not.
Young and dumb as I was…
…the two being barely distinguishable…
…I thought Hong Kong looked like Manhattan with slanted eyes, hardball financial turf, and I knew Taiwanese students in America were excelling in science courses.
I concluded that Mousy Dung was the greatest American patriot who ever lived since, if he ever stopped holding these people back, what has happened might.
But back to Chengdu.
Chengdu Apartment buildings.
A
perfectly stunning number of clusters of apartment buildings like these
swarm on the horizon. The only round–eye I met who lived in one said
that her apartment was quite nice.
The
first thing we noticed in the city was the enormous scale of everything.
Buildings downtown were huge. The elevated highways everywhere were
huge. The numbers of people were huge. There were literally hundreds of
hugely tall apartment buildings. The principle seemed to be that if you
have too many people to spread them out, stack them up. Said a Chinese
guide we hired, they weren’t there twenty years ago.
Chengdu skyline.
Conspicuous to both Violeta and me was evidence of Intelligent Design.
Chengdu clearly did not evolve randomly as cities do in the West. Somebody thought about things beforehand.
The overhead highways kept heavy traffic flowing.
Very wide sidewalks downtown made pedestrianism pleasant. The subway was nothing special but well designed to be easy to use even if you don’t know how. (Well, it does have sliding glass doors to keep you away from the tracks until the train comes. This way, you can’t throw things onto the tracks, such as your mother-in-law.)
Chengdu nature integrated apartments.
A characteristic of the Chinese is that there are lots of them.
In a country that thinks it is communist, or pretends it is to save face in case you notice that it isn’t, you might expect horrible architecture. You know, like the awful Stalin Gothic of Moscow.
Or Franco’s mausoleum that looks to have been designed by someone channeling Albert Speer.
Actually no.
(Except maybe sorta for the huge apartment buildings, mentioned above, that cluster together in sometimes groups of twelve that could hold the population of Guatemala).
Thing is, the Chinese have a well-developed aesthetic sense, at least in the visual realm (not so hot musically, and Beijing opera is a crime against humanity).
Somebody, which means the government, said that considerable green space would be left, and it was.
Plants are everywhere. It’s a green revolution that began two decades ago.
Planters with (unsurprisingly) plants in them are everywhere, and patches of what look like manicured forest. The result is curious. You can sit in cool shady woods a few yards from an enormous overhead highway.
Like most Chinese cities, except the Westernized cities, plants are everywhere. Not only planted, but maintained by an army of caretakers.
Communism, which China once had, pretty much forbids religion, so I wondered what we would find in the faith line.
Buddhists.
We visited Buddhist temples, meticulously maintained, with worshipers, mostly women, obviously worshiping.
How was this, I asked my round-eyed friend.
Well, he said, Christianity was strongly disapproved as being Western, but the government was nervous about public reaction to a crackdown on Buddhism. So they decided that Buddhism wasn’t a religion, see, but Chinese culture, and thus OK.
I don’t know whether this is true, but thought it a nicely practical waffle.
Living in an apartment within the Chengdu city.
Huge.
Here we go again. Chengdu has what it says is the world’s largest building, 1.5 million square meters.
This is the Global Center.
It is the damndest thing I have ever seen, maybe.
The Chengdu Global Center.
I suspect it was built to overcome an international short-man’s complex.
I bet it did, too.
It was like going into the VAB at Canaveral, unlimited space, with hotels, stores, offices, wide open space. But–the aesthetic thing again–it was wonderfully colorful and just–“gorgeous” comes to mind.
It was not designed by corporate in New Jersey.
Inside of the Chengdu Global Center. There is more than just a mall here. There is a complete Disney-land style park, and water park, and amusement park as well.
To prove that China has reached American levels of mild lunacy: we passed an Alienware store–high-end gaming computers–with a crowd of Chinese looking at a screen on which, somewhere, a video game was being played. The announcer sounded as excited as a Latin American covering a hotly contested soccer match:
“Womenhau…
wangjile!..wangjile!
mijyou!MIJYOU!
woshrhenhau!..YANGGWEIDZE….”
in a rising shriek.
I couldn’t understand a word of it, but the involvement reminded me of when Mexico beat Germany in the World Cup.
More traditional, in the suburbs. Good food, nice people. Shamelessly showing off, I dredged up the decaying corpse of my ancient Mandarin, “Ching ni, geiwo liang ping pijyou, hau bu hou.”
Ordering beer is the main purpose of any language.
Conclusion
Check out the site at the link above. Give them some visitor hits, ok? Great stuff, don’t ya all think?
I went to Chengdu back in 2013, and yeah. That’s what it’s like. Pretty much. But for me, I have become accustomed to all this stuff, and like most Chinese, I don’t really think too much about it.
But, to someone who hasn’t a clue as to what a “working-class” City in China looks like, it’s pretty much a surprise. Most Americans get the picture of Detroit, or Baltimore, or a Kerr-McGee plant in Trona, California.
Home for sale in Trona.
You see, while America was squandering trillions of dollars blowing up mud huts, and shooting goat herders with ultra-expensive weapons systems, the rest of the world was spending the money on domestic needs. China has taken that money and invested it in people, families, culture and society.
And you can see the result.
Sure beats a smouldering hole in the desert floor!
All you need to do is turn of the American propaganda box, and get an airline ticket and visit for yourself. Use your own two eyes. Check it all out, and come to your own conclusions.
Fred has other posts on his impressions. I will include them in this series.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. If you want to see others of a similar nature, please check out my Happiness Index. Here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You know, as an American, living overseas can be trying at times. You get wistful and dream of what you no longer have. And, no… it’s not that elusive “freedom” that everyone talks about. It’s other things, like cruising in the GTO, listening to BTO and quaffing some Iron City. It’s gearing up to go to the drive-in. It’s going plinking with your buds (of both types), and going fishing with your uncle. They say you can never go back. Maybe so. But I’ll tell you what… America has changed so much that it doesn’t even resemble anything that I remember.
Here’s an article by another expat. He tends to visit the States more often than myself. And since he isn’t such a stranger, the incremental changes are more noticeable; more enhanced for him. It’s a good article and worth a read…
This article is “Random Thoughts from the Heart of Darkness” With a by-line of “Washington at Yuletide”, written by Fred Reed on January 8, 2020. All credit to the author.
Just got back to Guadalajara and environs after two weeks of Christmas in Washington. Good times were had, old friends seen, but it was not altogether a delight. Going back to America every nine months or a year is like watching something decay in time-lapse photography.
It can be a shock.
Arriving in the Virginia burbs of the Yankee Capital, I turned on CNN with the attitude of a forensic pathologist. Gawd. It was sickening. A lynch mob. Endless raving against Trump by talking heads who seemed to have a high-school mentality, asking each other leading questions to elicit scripted answers.
International coverage was slight and mostly Neocon twaddle about the Russians are coming and Iran may kill you at any moment. No attempt at impartial coverage of the news.
Yes, I understand: If you are an American this is normal and you think me naive for being nauseated. I get it.
So I go to Fox. Maybe, maybe, just possibly, the Zorro Channel will be better. It can’t be worse, I figure. The thought provides momentary solace.
But no.
Fox is as crooked, calculated, partisan, and as embarrassing as CNN. It just does it in the opposite direction.
Tedious.
Stupid.
It is the intellectual analog of a Ugandan bus-station latrine. Why do people put up with it? I conclude, once again, that journalism no longer exists in the United States.
Perhaps worst about it may be the contempt it displays for the public. It is not the respectful manipulativeness suitable to an intelligent audience, but seems to regard the public as retarded rabbits.
And
ads, ads, ads. “Ask your doctor about new Sefafim for that troublesome
leaky bladder. Bleeding from eyeballs may occur. In the event of stroke,
call 911. Cerebral gangrene has been reported. Spleen may explode….”
And
late on the 24th, “Retail Holiday Eve DEALS! DEALS! Last minute shopping
savings! Yes, sixty percent off garbage that only a mutant sloth would
want!” Christmas is as spiritual as a truss ad.
OK, America’s rampaging social stew. (I’m not sure that stew can rampage, but we will overlook the matter. It’s Christmas.)
Being ideologically chaotic, I have friends running from googoo liberal to White Nationalist. This allows almost everybody to hate me.
We stayed with my daughter Emily Ann, who lives in an Hispanic section of Alexandria. She reports an alarming level of violent Latino crime…
…none.
It is alarming, anyway, for White Nationalists, who hope that whites will rise in a pale tidal wave and sweep out the Pedros and Lupitas and what have you.
Worse, She says she and the neighbors get along well. This is about as surprising as lunacy in a Democratic administration, but what the hey.
The Latinos just aren’t behaving badly enough to start a good tidal wave. Love it or hate it, or have more important things to think about, like sorting your socks, the country is going international.
Walking a mile or so to a shopping center to replace a forgotten toothbrush, we found a Chinese store with an Asian clerk and mostly Latino customers.
At a branch of my bank, we encountered a Latino clerk and manager and later, attending the Christmas service in a Protestant church, we met a female Vietnamese and a male Korean pastor. My ophthalmologist at Johns Hopkins was Lebanese.
Nobody seemed upset about it.
This is great if you want domestic tranquility, and the pits if you want racial purity. But it’s happening anyway.
Violeta wanted to see the National Cathedral, so we got a Lyft and set off. Lyft and Uber seem to have put an end to crooked cab drivers, a very good thing.
Weather was chilly but not really cold, morning skies gray.
The Cathedral is a magnificent building, Gothic and looming against the sky with a somber solidity. There was a genuineness about it, a solemnity. It was not designed in Jersey at corporate.
Impressive.
Until you went inside.
The incongruity begins with its being made an all-faith church. Gothic is Catholic, period. Has been since 1137 at St. Denis. Catholicism is Christian, period.
Yet there are no crosses.
Presumably these might offend somebody.
The
trendy lunge at inclusiveness doesn’t work, nor does the secularism
implicit in the attempt. Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Voodoo, and the
Cargo Cult really have little in common and many serious differences.
Protestantism, though Christian, is so culturally distinct from
Catholicism hat it belongs somewhere else.
In a secular city, populated by people of incompatible if only culturally held beliefs, it has become a tourist attraction instead of a church.
Inside, huge TV screens hang from walls, giving the atmosphere of a sports bar.
These do not yet run ads for adult diapers, seeming to give video tours of the Cathedral.
Yet no one with a sense of what cathedrals are, or were, or even of historical manners, could possibly hang screens here.
Downstairs in the crypt, where presumably bodies lie in marble caskets, the tourist store sells Star Wars masks.
It is religion by Disney, cheap, commercial, and ignorant.
Though
I am not religious, I could not possibly so treat, say, the Blue Mosque
in Istanbul. I thought of the busload of American kids I once saw rush
into a church in Mazatlan, running around and yelling, “Hey! Look at
this! It’s really weird….”
If I may make an incursion into the deep waters of sociological theory: I wonder whether geographic origin doesn’t play into the social war over Latin immigration. Leaders of White Nationalism seem chiefly of North European ancestry and, though it is hard to tell, so do their followers.
A large gap of culture and outlook exists between the souls of upper and lower Europe.
Note
that in southern Europe, of Latin derivation, food is strongly
flavored, architecture imaginative, fashion a flourishing business,
colors vivid, faith Catholic, music human and emotional. The adjective
that comes to mind, overused because applicable, is “vibrant.”
Going
north, as you reach England and the Nordic world, colors fade, food
becomes bland, architecture boring, people more reserved, religion
Protestant, and music majestic rather than colorful. No one would ever
mistake Carmen for a Nordic opera. (Latin cultures produced the tango,
and German, the polka. Nuff said.)
American Gothic, by Grant Wood. Northern Europe and its colonies, and southern Europe and its colonies, are not the same.
Latin
American culture is, well, Latin, and perhaps inexplicable to chilly
Northerners. For example, Mexico has a Latin language, Latin religion,
Latin legal system (Napoleonic code), and music, dance, and art far
closer to those of Italy or Spain than of England. The culture is–dare I
say it?–”vibrant.” Which the British, Germans, Danes, and such are not.
There. We understand the world and doubtless will never have to think about it again. I wish all a Happy New Year, though I don’t hold out much hope.
Conclusion
The America that we see today has crept up upon us slowly. While many of us has witnessed it, and warned about it, it takes an expat to POINT THINGS OUT.
Fred is an expat. He’s very different from me, but we both see the same kinds of things. We watch the same kinds of trends. We are both revolted on what is going on, and are very disturbed by it.
In any event, it’s a good read. I do hope that you enjoyed it.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. If you want to see others of a similar nature, please check out my Happiness Index. Here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
There is this fellow, goes by the pen-name Selco, that is pretty well known in prepper / survivalist circles. You see, he lived through the chaos of the Bosnian conflict and survived. He writes about his experiences, and provides some hints and stories about what it was like. Aside from being immensely interesting, it is also good information to take to heart when the SHIT HITS THE FAN (also known as SHTF). Here is one of his write-ups. I found it interesting, and perhaps you (the reader) will do as well.
The Bosnian war of 1992 to 1996 is one of the most recent examples of a total SHTF situation. Upwards of 329,000 people died during the war and the country is still recuperating in many ways (though it has also made a remarkable recovery). During the Siege of Sarajevo which lasted 1,425 days, people were without water, electricity, and supplies.
Bear in mind that Bosnia was a very westernized, modern country when the war broke out. Heck, the capital of Sarajevo even hosted the 1984 Olympic games!
-Primal Survivor
Editor’s Note: Below is a segment of Selco’s book, SHTF Survival Stories. I think it’s a good indicator of the way Selco illustrates his points with real-life stories from the SHTF. This is a long piece but well worth the read. (Be sure to go here to see how to get a free mini-course when you purchase the book before Feb. 9.) This book is nearly 500 pages of experience and hard-won advice. All credit to the author. Excerpt by Selco Begovic, the author of SHTF Survival Stories
During the SHTF, I was a jack of all trades.
Resource gatherer, fighter and defender for my family, and also just
the young man who wanted to enjoy life as much as possible in these
problematic times.
In this section, I want to talk about different types of real
survivalists. I don’t want to judge here. If you have lived a normal
life, you may only know a glimpse of your survivor mindset – what kind
of person you will be when SHTF and you fight for survival. What is
important to know is that people show very different faces or mindsets
when it comes to real survival.
Normal people like to think that everything can be solved by doing
good, so they are trying to do good. Here it is not important whether we
are talking about people who believe in God or not.
We have all seen TV shows where preppers are showing their stuff, talking about their plans for a time when SHTF.
What is important to know is that people show very different faces or mindsets when it comes to real survival.
I have seen a lady who is preparing for some possible scenario and
showing her food storage and talking about her plans when SHTF. She is
storing a whole lot of everything, much more than she and her family
need because as she explains there is gonna be a whole lot of people who
have lost everything, and her plan is to help them.
I hope everything the best for her. She is a great person. Someone who wants to help other people is a good person, period.
But when the SHTF, she is going down.
When SHTF, things are upside down .
Sorry for being so negative but when people have to decide whether they die or this nice lady does, for many the answer is easy.
When SHTF, things are upside down, so it will not work as people
imagine. We are all living our lives today aware that bad people exist,
but that bad and evil is more or less (depending on where we are living)
controlled or locked away from society. So, we are actually not aware
of how many bad folks are around us.
You might be living with one… yourself.
The only person you can count on in a SHTF situation is yourself. Don’t count on authorities like the police or military to keep you safe.
Take what happened in Srebrenica as an example. It was a “UN Safe Haven” with Dutch troops stationed there.
Despite this, it became the site of the worst massacre of the war and over 8,000 men and boys were rounded up and killed. The day that Srebrenica fell, 25 thousand refugees pleaded for help outside of the UN military base but were left outside to fend for themselves.
-Primal Survivor
When the SHTF, I was rudely awakened from the illusion. Actually, my
illusion was shattered to pieces when I saw what “normal” people did to
just survive. Bad people will be around.
I knew a guy before the SHTF who was a nobody. An ordinary worker from one of the industrial machine parts factories.
Actually, I did not really know him than the usual “hello” on the street, or football discussion sometimes in the neighborhood.
He lived alone, looked decent, and had a typical work and afterward
“coffee house/bar with friends” life. If someone asked me to describe
him, I would say “just a guy from the neighborhood” or a typical “normal
dude”.
When the SHTF, he emerged as one of the leaders of a local group. And
he was popular, he had something that made people want to follow him.
The problem was that he had something that made bad kinds of people
follow him. He was pretty much something like a psychopath.
This guy was now someone very different.
Murders, rape, robbing and everything else that goes with that was
their way of life in that time. And to make things clear here, I need to
say that whenever I met him and his group out on the street I would go
and hide even I knew him from his former life as a “normal guy.”
This guy was now someone very different.
It was not like a movie. I was prepared to confront them and fight
only as a last option, but Batman was not living in the city in that
time. Even if he was there, he probably would have given up, so the
chances of a superhero versus a group of bad guys were not realistic.
How bad?
Sometimes he liked to catch a guy and make him run across the open
space where snipers were active. If the guy survived that (rarely) then
they shot at him. If he survived that shooting too, then he would live.
He called that, “God will decide are you going to live or die.”
It was not like a movie. I was prepared to confront them and fight only as a last option, but Batman was not living in the city in that time. Even if he was there, he probably would have given up, so the chances of a superhero versus a group of bad guys were not realistic.
Some people have a certain type of charisma, and he had a lot of it.
When you add the fact that he was bad, or evil if you like, you got an
explosive combination. He was something like a bad kind of hero, the man
who weak people want to follow. And they would obey his commands. Also,
when you add the fact that he provided security and food for them, that
counted too.
I was once in their nest, or headquarters, if you like to call it
like that. It was like a place taken from weird fairy tales, or like
some drug-induced nightmare.
On the ceiling, there was a big disco ball. On the wall, there was a
big target drawn with paint with holes from bullets. Some women were
laying on the couch giggling, drunk or high, watching me.
On the ceiling, there was a big disco ball. On the wall, there was a big target drawn with paint with holes from bullets.
On the floor in one corner, one man was laying. I was not sure if he
was dead, drunk or just sleeping. I passed around him carefully. I was
wearing my “I do not care” look because in a situation like that, if you
showed fear you may find yourself in a bad situation. For example,
these guys could make a practicing target out of you just for fun.
Also, to look too bold was not a good idea.
He was sitting in a bus seat taken from somewhere, and he had a hat
on his head, the kind that you wear with a tuxedo. If that all was in a
movie that I was watching I would laugh a lot.
But it was not a movie and I did not laugh.
My friend who brought me there introduced me to him and told him that
I needed MREs. That friend was supposed to be my protection or
something similar, but very soon I realized that, I, just like everyone
else there, was dependent on his goodwill.
His first question to me was, “Are you going to her concert?”
I was confused, then he showed me a poster on the wall announcing
some folk concert that happened a year ago in some different world. I
did not know what to say.
He said, “I can get you tickets.”
And I said, “OK thanks”.
Nobody smiled. Some guy behind him was taking apart a machine gun and cleaning it with oil.
Anyway, we finished our deal, and I went home. While I was leaving,
he said, “Do not forget to pick up your tickets” with a big fat smile.
I thought that he was crazy, but actually, he was not crazy at all.
He just had a big great time since SHTF and enjoyed terrifying people to
feel his power. He lived his dream where everything is allowed, where
there is no punishment from society other than some other stronger and
more wicked guy.
There is nothing deep and philosophical in that guy’s behavior and
mindset. He was just a normal guy who turned bad because he loved power
and was in a world without rules where he could play.
He lived on the bad side and lived a fast and evil life. He liked that SHTF situation.
But SHTF did not create that guy. He was there all the time. His real character just waited for SHTF to come out and play.
After some time, he ended up stabbed to death and then burned. I also
knew the guy who did that, and he was even worse than the first bad
man.
Now, this guy was not alone. When the SHTF, a whole bunch of weird
and sick folks emerged. The point is that you never know what kind of
people are living around you, or even with you.
And to make things worse, as I said, this guy was something like “normal” guy before SHTF.
You do whatever it takes to survive.
Besides those normal guys who turned bad, there is a whole army of
scum and criminals who are just waiting for the SHTF to happen, so they
can go out and be something like small dictators.
You can be sure that they are perfectly prepared for that. They
already live in their own version of criminal SHTF, with their rules.
When real SHTF they gonna be ready for it, they just gonna jump out
fully organized and ready to take over. They are gonna go open and be
very mean.
I was surprised, though. I was like, “Why are there so many mean and bad folks suddenly?”
The answer is actually simple. Bad people are all around us. Some of
them are aware of the fact that they are bad like organized crime
members, gangs etc. Others are gonna see SHTF like their chance to
fulfill their secret wishes and indulge in power over others.
So, no doubt once the SHTF you’ll run into a bad man from time to time, too.
#2. The Chameleon
Most of the folks who have been through some serious and
life-threatening situations and survive are gonna tell you one thing:
they survive it with mental strength.
Also, all survival instructors are going say that first thing in any survival situation to have is the will to survive.
It is easy to say today “I will survive” but a great majority of people do not know what the will to survive actually means.
Do not count on “peace keeping forces”.
In my time I did see some folks who just laid down and had lost the will for life. They just gave up.
When it comes to survival you have to focus on what you are good at,
and some people are just good at working with other people or maybe
dealing or playing with other people. The mainstream media gives
everyone a picture how real survivalist need to look and act, but
they’re wrong.
The Chameleon is a smart type of real survivalist.
When SHTF, the word deception has a whole other meaning and becomes powerful.
It is used in many different situations and for many different reasons. It helps some to survive but also helps to take lives.
Never form your opinion about what kind of man is dangerous based on
popular images. When the SHTF, you can end up dead because some
70-year-old lady blows your head off with a shotgun.
This is how you should think, but the average man – the sheeple – don’t.
So, you can be sure that when the time comes, you’ll need to look
stronger than you are. But also, sometimes you gonna need to look much
weaker than you are. More options are always better.
And for all who are preparing with the attitude, “let them come,” you need to change it to “let them not come”.
There was a guy in town in that time who was very good to know if you
needed to figure out where you could find something useful, or to find
out what is going on.
If I needed to find something particular, for example, if I needed 10
liters of diesel fuel for something, I would first check people in my
vicinity. I’d check a few guys out, do they have that or do they know
someone who has that. In short, I would go out and try my luck.
But there was also that guy who always had good information about sources for trade or any other information.
The guy was shrouded in some kind of rumors, or it was more like a
myth. So, you could hear all kinds of stories like, “he has important
friends” or “he has some sources from the outside” or “somebody powerful
is protecting him.” After all of those stories, you could easily
conclude that the guy was powerful, even before you saw him.
He alone did not look mean or powerful or anything similar, but he
carried this mean-looking, old-style, heavy machine gun all the time,
with bullet strips over his shoulders and chest.
Anytime when I would go and visit him, I got something useful for
trade or some useful information where I could go and find something.
He survived the war and I did not see him for several years. Then I
met him in the mall, when he was buying some toys for his grandson. I
started a conversation with him, and we got some coffee.
I asked him what he is doing now. He said he is a lawyer. I was
surprised. Then he told me that he was a lawyer before the SHTF. For
some reasons, I could not connect that man from the war period with a
lawyer, but soon some things were clearer for me.
He invited me to his house for more coffee, and after some time he
went to the basement and dragged up a big wooden box with locks on it
out.
He opened it and I saw that old machine gun inside. Of course, I
wanted to check it. When I took it, I saw that barrel was full of melted
iron, in order to make weapon unusable.
I was surprised and asked the man why he did that. I mean, you never
know when you gonna need weapon ready. He laughed and said, “It was
always like that, unusable”.
Now I was completely confused, and then he started to talk.
Do not count on “peace keeping forces”. There have been cases where UN forces turned a “blind eye” to mass killings of civilians.
He was a lawyer before SHTF, he never fired a shot from any weapon,
and violence was completely strange to him. When SHTF in the chaos he
found himself on the street, looking at how a bunch of folks were
breaking into malls and shops, taking whatever is useful.
In 5 minutes, he was inside a local museum with some young people who
were breaking stuff and taking whatever useful things they could. He
said, “When I saw a local policeman completely drunk trying to take a
German uniform and helmet for fun, I realized that we were starting to
live in interesting times.”
He took the machine gun from a glass box, together with some bullets strips and went home.
Ten days later some punks tried to loot his home armed with knives and screwdrivers:
“I put those bullet strips on me, took the machine gun, stood in
front of them and yelled that if they do not disappear that moment, I am
gonna massacre them.”
And of course, they disappeared.
He said, even if that thing worked, he was not sure if he would be able to shoot at them. But he realized one thing. It is not important how things really are – it is important what things look like.
When all the different groups in town started to use signs – I mean
small colored bands on the shoulder in order to make clear who belonged
to their group – he got all those bands and markings.
When all of those groups started with some system, when to wear what, he bribed guys in order to know that system.
So, if one group was controlling some part of the town and they used
red bands on shoulders on Monday and Wednesday, and a black one on
Sunday on Saturday he would know that.
He used that for moving through the city, because in all that chaos
if you were moving through the city during the night, and you needed to
go through an area that was controlled by some group, it was very useful
to have some of their signs or code.
In these days, everything fell apart in the city, all that makes life normal, and institutions were falling apart too.
So, he was a member of multiple groups and all those groups shared
information with him. As a result, he was everywhere in the city, and he
always had correct information about important things.
He knew what was gonna have a high price, or when new food aid might
come in. I asked him, “How were you able to know all the information
about so much stuff?” Because it sounded just too complicated for me.
He said, “What I did not know I just made up in my head”.
Actually, he was playing with prices, with demand, and the needs of the people. He dictated the prices.
After some time, because of all of his information, he became so
popular that if he said that “cans are gonna be very hard to find in
next month,” people believed it.
So, it was easy for him to distribute all cans at higher prices. Of
course, not personally, but at the same time, he would, of course, know a
man who had cans right now at a cheap price. His man. He got a cut out
of most deals and that helped him to survive.
Through his network of people, he put the word out that “powerful
people were protecting him.” Another illusion but together with fact
that people did not want to have problems with a man who had always good
information, he survived.
Also, one other thing helped. In the first period, he collected 5-6
bodies, badly dismembered by shells and put them in front of his house.
He put word on the street that “some guys messed with him, but he called
his powerful friends and those friends made examples of the guys to not
mess with him.”
If some really strong group caused danger to him, he just left the house and waited for them to leave.
No problem, he did not have anything valuable in his house. Trading
goods he kept with his “associates” and his main value was information.
His main value actually was his brain.
Keep that in mind. Before you give up because you have nothing, use
your brain and try to play the system with deception. Chaotic urban
survival situations offer lots of opportunity for that.
#3. Slaves and Servants
Drug dealers, prostitutes, thieves, addicts, homeless people, family
people, believers… good people, bad people… we like to call people by
names in order to judge them and live our lives easier.
Most of the time we judge them so easily and form our opinion about
them as we go without too much thought. It is easier like that. We see
people doing something and think it is because of how they are. We often
do not consider all the things that make them do what they do.
We see something, give that a name, and that’s it. Sometimes there is
much more behind it. Someone who is bad might just have had
circumstances in life that being like that is the only thing which made
sense for that person. Yes, their whole way of thinking might be “wrong”
or he might not act badly because he is bad, but because his kids are
dying.
People judge too fast.
Not to mention that when the SHTF, it is dangerous to sort people in
the easy and fast way. It can lead us to form the wrong opinion, which
can lead to a lot of bad things. I learned not to judge people right
away. A future friend might behave terribly the first time you meet, and
a future enemy might be very nice to you.
I want to say this before writing about the type of real survivalist
that I write about now. You encounter slaves and servants in a long-term
survival situation because even though they go a very different way
from a brave fighter… they are real survivalists and just make things
work.
Many lone fighters died, and many servants suffered but survived. It’s not like a movie.
A lady who was my colleague before SHTF lived with her husband and
two kids. She was in her 30s, a very nice and easy person to work with.
She was my friend and we shared a lot of great moments at the job. I
never saw or heard anything bad about her. I knew her husband, I knew
her kids.
When the SHTF I lost contact with her in all that chaos, and to be
honest I completely forgot about her. I had more important things to
worry about.
In these days, everything fell apart in the city, all that makes life normal, and institutions were falling apart too.
We already passed the most dangerous parts of the trip – mines,
mountains, woods, and no man’s land – and came into a small part of
territory controlled by one of the numerous militias, loosely tied to
bigger (again numerous) factions.
The guys did not give us any problems, other than very short checking of who we were and where we were going.
We had already paid for passage to “a guy who knows a guy,” so
everything went smooth. We took a small rest in one of the shacks and
drank hot “tea.” Actually, the exact description would be “hot dirty
melted snow, with added alcohol.”
Then I saw her, my ex-colleague.
If I learned anything since SHTF that was fact that you need
to hide your feelings and body language until you figure out what is
really going on.
So, I did not say anything to her, and I acted like I did not know
her, even though I wanted very much to jump up, hug her, and ask about
everything, about her, her family, etc.
She put some rice on the table, and more alcohol in front of one
group member. She was one woman in a group of some 30 men, who were
armed, wasted, and pretty dangerous. Most of them did not know too much
about literature but they know enough about violence.
In these days, everything fell apart in the city, all that makes life normal, and institutions were falling apart too.
She did not look like a prisoner, and also, she did not look scared or beaten. She also did not recognize me (or maybe did not want to recognize me.)
Anyway, about a half hour later, one of the men from the group
offered me her, for a price, explaining to me that “she is the property
of the leader, but also if anybody is willing to pay, she can belong to
them for half an hour.”
Now if that was a movie, probably you would expect from me to shoot all of them and save her, so we could ride into the sunset.
But it was not a movie, and I could get maybe three of them down
before someone blows off my head and takes my boots and rifle. And even
if I could save her, she would probably tell me that she does not want
to be saved.
We went through that piece of land without any problems, and I did
not see her again, ever. And no, I did not pay the price to buy her for
half an hour, and I did not try to start a conversation with her.
Later I found out the whole story.
When SHTF people did a lot of different things in order to survive.
She became the mistress of one of the small group leaders, and also the
prostitute of that group.
She was not a prisoner, well not obviously, but you also need to
understand that if she left that group, she and her family would lose
protection and the steady income of goods. And her kids needed to eat
something.
I do not know what her husband thought about all that (he was a bit
of weak guy before SHTF) but rumors were that he agreed with it, in
order to survive.
So, it lasted like that for months. And they survived.
So, is that good or bad? It’s nothing. It’s survival. Blame her
husband? No… because they survived. If he would have become the fighter
he might have died and with him, his family.
This does not mean people should let their wives become prostitutes
(there were male prostitutes too, by the way). Everyone makes their own
decisions and later you always know better.
Again, here comes in not judging.
Of course, when peace and normal life came, they could not stand to
live here, not after everything. So, they chose to immigrate. As I heard
it, they are living somewhere in South America under different names.
Here is some more background to that.
Prostitution here was something different than in other countries, and before
SHTF you had to be a member of very rich and higher class of society
or higher ranks of the political elite to be able to get into the
contact with one. It was illegal and also it was traditionally very
“wrong.”
So, prostitution was rare. To be a known prostitute was rare. To be a
normal family woman and become a prostitute was unbelievable and almost
impossible.
But when SHTF, lots of things changed.
There were prostitutes all around, not to mention women who were held
as some kind of half slaves. Their position was not always the same, so
some of them were not more than slaves, another one was almost powerful
as the gang leader who they belonged to. There were also men who were
just mascots or servants for more powerful people – but overall this was
a more common way for a woman to survive.
Not all women were prostitutes, of course. Just like men, they all
chose how to survive. Some were prostitutes, while others were more
dangerous with a rifle than a lot of men.
But most of them chose just to stay home with their family and care
for the kids. It was not something like – they need to do that – it was
just that they did what they did best and what was needed, just like
most of the folks in that period.
That woman I spoke about was much closer to an equal gang member than
to a slave. They did not force her into prostitution. Actually, she
“belonged” to the group leader, but also, she sold herself for goods,
some of which she kept for herself and family, and some went to members
of the gang. It was her “trade.” While other men risked their lives, she
overcome her dignity and did that.
She had protection and food, and also her family home had some kind
of protection from that group as well as food and other things.
She was there mainly for the fun of the group leader, and sometimes other members and customers when she wanted.
We can now judge them and talk about what every one of us would do in their situation, but we should not.
This may also be a lesson for normal times.
I worked for years in emergency services and see daily people living
at the borders of normal society or even far from those borders in a
different, very dark and nasty world.
It’s not that all of them are bad but sometimes in life, you have to
do what you have to do, even if it only makes sense to you at that
moment. It is not an excuse but it helps to remember that when your
existence is under threat you might do very different things too.
I’m sure only a very few (maybe sexually very open people) really plan on going that way when SHTF. But plans, they change.
#4. The Good Boss
The last type of survivalist I will write about is about a typical
leader who knew how to handle our survival situation during the war.
He was a police officer. We called him “Boss” because of his look and
stance. He had 30 years of service and I do not think that he used a
gun too much. But he had a palm like a shovel and he used that a lot
dealing with problematic teenagers.
He was the grumpy guy with whom you do not want to have too much
business. If you got caught for some minor thing, theft or whatever, he
did not talk too much with you, but his look talked stories, and his
hands too.
He gave people justice on the spot and got respect for that too. He
made a difference for our neighborhood and was a type of police officer
that in my opinion does not exist today anymore.
He and his colleagues had a patrol in a better part of the city when
the SHTF, and in the beginning, they tried to restore some order in all
that. But when they saw that an ambulance vehicle on call got shredded
with shots, they realized that a new time had come.
They did not discuss too much but they were sure that law and order
was something that was gone now, and to act like law keepers just did
not make sense anymore.
They went back to the police station and took more weapons and
equipment. Then they used a police van and went to army storage and took
more weapons.
They separated and took that to their homes. His colleagues shook his
hand and left, each fighting their own fight. He pushed the police van
out of the street and went home.
He lived alone for many years before SHTF, and also being the police
officer for years gave him the advantage of knowing something about mob
mentality and power over people. So, he did not have too many problems
in dealing with issues in those beginning days. He was alone and that
was a problem. But he was smart and that made a difference.
In these days, everything fell apart in the city, all that makes life normal, and institutions were falling apart too.
Local correction youth center, something like an open type jail for
teenagers was falling apart too, so young folks were leaving there.
He went there and took 7 guys from there. He used to be something
like their “watcher” in normal times. He had arrested them for
small-time burglaries, cons etc. He also kept eye on them when they were
out of the correction facility and on streets again. Because of how he
did things, he was like a father who gave them slaps here and there.
They all were kids without families. That correction center was their
home or they were on the streets. Anyway, he took them to his home and
took care of them in that chaos, and after some time they took care of
him too. They all were around 16-17 years old at that time when all hell
broke loose.
He taught them to shoot, to defend themselves, to trade, and to
recognize problematic people. The fact that they been that problematic
person once only helped in process of teaching. Those kids were street
smart. And he was not too soft in process of teaching, in other words,
he used his “shovels” a lot in process of “making people of them” as he
called it.
A Croat fighter stands at the ready with his AK-47 in Vitez. Conflict among the Croats, Serbs, and Muslims in Bosnia began when Bosnia declared independence in early 1992, several months after other regions of Yugoslavia entered into war. (Photo by Patrick ROBERT/Sygma via Getty Images)
But he also taught them never to take from someone else. He was still
a policeman and kept his ideals. They never turned against him. I saw
many times that real sons turn against their fathers in that time or
brother against brother, but they were perfectly loyal to each other, a
real family. I guess it was because they knew that only in this group
could they survive.
They did pretty well because of the starting “capital” he took from
the army barracks. They were people that you could visit and get a rifle
in a fair trade, without danger that you would be shot in the back.
Also, they were the people that you did not want to f*ck with because
violence was not a problem for them at all.
“Boss” died a few months before peace came, from wound infection. All
seven of his “boys” survived and I never heard that they did something
bad in that time. OK, bad in a little bit different terms, maybe. Not
atrocities, nothing about unnecessary violence. What was necessary is a
different question of course, but all of us who survived were not the
most gentle folks at that time.
One of them later in peace went into organized crime and ended up
shot dead, but all 6 of the rest of them grew up and became proud and
strong family people. The type of men that you would want to have for a
friend.
All seven of his “boys” survived and I never heard that they did something bad in that time. OK, bad in a little bit different terms, maybe. Not atrocities, nothing about unnecessary violence.
They all refer to Boss as their father. They live today in different
cities and countries, some of them even on another continent, but once
every two years, they have met, all together in his memory.
And that guy from the beginning of the story, that colleague of the Boss?
He used his share of the loot from the barracks to form a gang, and
they did a lot of bad stuff to the people. He finished dead, stabbed
more than 30 times. Nobody remembers him or wants to remember him. It is
like he did not exist at all.
In a survival scenario, you want people around you who know why the
group matters. Just like early humans who knew not to fight each other
or cause problems for the survival of the whole group. In the case of a
Boss, the street kids already knew about survival and he was the perfect
leader for them who also knew what kind of leadership style worked with
them.
In a survival scenario, you want people around you who know why the group matters.
Now I could say nice things about how to choose your group and of
course include that annoying drama person that maybe your brother or
sister married because “he/she is part of the family”.
But I speak from my experience and if you want to survive, like in
any other “team” your group has to work. Having a strong leader like
Boss helps a lot.
Normal is gone.
Normal laws and norms of society are gone in a long-term survival
situation so people who still do things because it looks good are at
disadvantage compared to people who do what works and make the team
stronger and not weaker. If someone makes my team weaker on purpose (not
because of sickness or age) he is not part of it.
Normal laws and norms of society are gone in a long-term survival situation .
When you think about your survival group, think about who makes the best boss. Who knows how to lead the people? What works? Prepare for that too, and you are far ahead of many other preppers who think they can buy safety with money and having the most preps and gear.
Conclusion
We can spend a lot of time speculating about how people will react in the aftermath of a major disaster, how society will react, what food will be available, and the many other survival details. But the truth is that we don’t know what will happen when SHTF.
The best thing we can do is imagine as many possible scenarios as possible, and take steps to prepare for them. However, we CAN take a lesson from SHTF situations throughout history. By seeing what happened in the past, we can get an idea of what may come.
-Primal Survivor
I hope that things don’t ever come to this. Yet, here I am, sitting at home in the middle of a biological attack by America on China as part of the Trump Trade Wars. We were caught off guard, and while China has reacted strongly to this by placing the military on DEFCON ONE, and locking the entire nation down, it’s still a SHTF situation.
And… I was caught “flat footed”.
You see, before we left for CNY, we cleaned out all of our food storage, and boxed up all of our property for a housing move that we were going to make immediately after CNY. Yikes! When we arrived home from our family trip, we entered a boxed up house with no food except for a big bag of rice, and a stack of about six cases of beer.
For weeks, we’ve been living off fried rice and beer.
Don’t be like us!
SHTF events happen when you are not expecting them. Do not be caught flat footed. Right now, I’ll tell you what is like. It’s BORING! Everyone is staying inside, and even though we have water, electricity and internet, we are collectively going stir-crazy!
Bosnians spent a lot of time during the war crouched down in basements and holed up in apartments. It is incredibly boring. Without anything to occupy their minds, fear would overwhelm them. No wonder survivors say that books became their only respite. I’m going to add some more books (the paper kind, not Kindle!) to my survival supplies.
-Primal Survivor
Word to the wise, you all.
My SHTF experience.
Hey! If you enjoyed this post, then you would love my index. Check out my SHTF index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
One of my on-going themes is the idea that war, real terrible war, hasn’t been conducted by the United States for around 70 years. The last “real” war that the United States fought; one that required full mobilization of resources, and placed the very existence of the United States on line, was World War II. Since that date, the government of the United States has become corrupt, slothful and a money-making organism. If not trying to milk the citizens as servant-serfs, it is trying to conduct “for profit” global military operations for other interests as proxies. The time is fast arriving that this model will no longer be sustainable.
The Navy has not been in a war for seventy years. It has sat off various shores and launched aircraft, but the fleet has not been engaged. Over decades of inaction, complacency sets in. Unfortunately, wars regularly turn out to be otherwise than expected. Further, the American military’s standard approach to a war is to underestimate the enemy (there is probably a manual on this).
-Russia Insider
There are numerous articles on this point. Here is another most excellent one. Posted here for your viewing pleasure.
The article is titled; “Unused Militaries” written by Fred Reed on September 10, 2019. All credit to the author, and please feel free to visit his site for the very interesting and contrary Comments. Presented here will only minor editing to fit this blog venue.
It appears that Washington, ever a seething cauldron of bright ideas, is looking for a shooting war with China, or perhaps trying to make the Chinese kowtow and back down, the pretext being some rocks in the Pacific in which the United States cannot possibly have a vital national interest. Or, really, any interest. And if the Chinese do not back down?
-Russia Insider
Unused Militaries
“America exists today to make war. How else do we interpret 19 straight years of war and no end in sight? It’s part of who we are. It’s part of what the American Empire is. We are going to lie, cheat and steal, as Pompeo is doing right now, as Trump is doing right now, as Esper is doing right now … and a host of other members of my political party, the Republicans, are doing right now. We are going to lie, cheat and steal to do whatever it is we have to do to continue this war complex. That’s the truth of it. And that’s the agony of it.”
- Retired US Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s chief of staff from 2001 to 2005
For a couple of decades I covered the military for various publications, as for example the Washington Times and Harper’s, and wrote a military column for Universal Press Syndicate. I was following the time-honored principle of sensible reporters:
“Ask not what you can do for journalism, but what journalism can do for you.”
The military beat was a great gig, letting you fly in fighter planes and sink in submarines. But if you take the study seriously, as I did, you learn interesting things.
Such as that a war with a real country, such as Russia, China, or even Iran, would be a fool’s adventure.
A few points:
Unused militaries deteriorate
The US fleet has not been in a war since 1945, the air forces since 1975. nor the Army in a hard fight since Vietnam. Bombing defenseless peasants, the chief function of the American military, is not war.
Bombing defenseless peasants is not war.
In extended periods of peace, which includes the bombing of peasants, a military tends to assume that no major war will come during the careers of those now in uniform.
Commanders consequently do what makes their lives easy, what they must do to get through the day and have reasonable fitness reports.
This does not include pointing out inadequacies of training or equipment.
Nor does it include recommending large expenditures to remedy deficiencies.
Nor does it include recommending very expensive mobilization exercises that would divert money from new weapons.
This assures reluctance to question the fleet’s effectiveness in the face of changing conditions. Such as high-Mach, stealthed, maneuvering, sea-skimming cruise missiles. Or terminally guided anti-ship ballistic missiles. America is accustomed to fighting enemies who can’t fight back. This may not include the Chínese.
There is also the fact that the American military simply doesn’t matter, which reduces concern with whether it can fight and who it can fight. It doesn’t defend the US, since there is nothing to defend it against. (What country has the remotest possibility of invading America?) So the military is used for what are essentially hobbyist wars, keeping Israel happy, providing markets for the arms companies, and for social engineering: we have girl crews who would be a disaster at damage control, but we assume that there will never be any damage to control.
-Russia Insider
Thus an armored command has enough replacement tracks for training, but not enough for tanks in hard use in extended combat.
When the crunch comes, it turns out that getting more track requires a new contract with the manufacturer, who has shut down the production line.
The same is true for air filters, there not being much sand at Fort Campbell but a lot in Iraq.
Things as mundane as MRATs and boots are not there in real-war quantities.
GAU-8
ammo is in short supply because theory says the F-35 will do tank
busting. The Navy runs out of TLAMs early on and discovers that
manufacturing cruise missiles takes time. Lots ot it.
And
of course some things simply don’t work as expected. Military history
buffs will remember the Mark XIV torpedo, the Mark VI exploder of WWII,
and the travails of the Tinosa.
Come the war, things turn into a goat rope. FUBAR, SNAFU.
Conscription
The United States cannot fight a large land war, as for example against Russia, China, or Iran.
Such a war would require conscription.
The public would not stand for it.
America no longer enjoys the sort of patriotic unity that it did at the beginning of the war against Vietnam. It will not accept heavy casualties.
People today are far more willing to disobey the federal government.
Note that many states have legalized marijuana in defiance of federal law, that many jurisdictions across the country simply refuse to assist federal immigration enforcement.
Any attempt to send Snowflakes and other delicates to fight would result in widespread civil disobedience.
The Navy
The existing fleet has never been under fire and does not think it ever will be.
Most of its ships are thin-skinned, unarmored. One hit by an antiship missile would remove them from the war.
Being something of a technophile, I took all of this in with admiration, but I thought—what if it gets hit? As a kid in my preteens I had read about the battleships of WWII, the Carolinas but in particular the Iowa class, fast, brutal ships with sixteen-inch belt armor and turrets that an asteroid would bounce off of. The assumption was that ships were going to get hit. They were built to survive and continue fighting.
By contrast, the Vincennes was thin-skinned, hulled with aluminum instead of steel, and the radar, crucial to combat, looked perilously fragile. A single hit with anything serious, or perhaps even a cal .50, but certainly by anything resembling a GAU-8, and she would be hors de combat until refitted.
One hit.
...
I do not know a great deal about the Chinese Navy, having been out of that loop for years. I do know that the Chinese are smart, and that they have optimized their forces specifically to take out carrier battle groups near their territory. They do not try to match the US ship-for-ship in the kind of war America wants to fight. They would lose fast, and they know it. The key is to swarm the fleet with cruise missiles arriving all at once, accompanied perhaps by large numbers of aircraft. Would this work? I don’t know, but that is certainly the way I would bet.
-Russia Insider
This is as true of the Tico-class Aegis ships as of the newer Arleigh Burkes.
An aircraft carrier is a bladder of jet fuel wrapped around high explosives.The implications are considerable.
A plunging hypersonic terminally-guided ballistic missile, piercing the flight deck and exploding in the hangar deck, would require a year in the repair yards.
The Russians and Chinese are developing–have developed–missiles specifically to take out carriers.
Note that the range of some of these missiles is much greater than the combat radius of the carrier’s aviation. Oops.
USS Stark, 1987, after being hit by a pair of French Exocet missiles.
The USS Stark, 1987, after being hit by a pair of French Exocet missiles fired by an Iraqi Mirage.
The USS Forrestal in 1967 after a five-inch Zuni land-attack missile was accidentally launched on deck.
The USS Forrestal
in 1967 after a five-inch Zuni land-attack missile, a pipsqueak rocket,
accidentally launched on deck. It hit another fighter. The resulting
fire cooked off large bombs. One hundred thirty-four dead, long stay in
repair yards.
Through Vietnam, America’s wars were fought by tough kids, often from rural backgrounds involving familiarity with guns and with hard physical work. I know as I grew up and went to Marine boot with them.
Discipline, if not quite brutal, came close.
Physical demands were high. In AIT–Advanced Infantry Training–at Camp Lejeune, it was “S Company on the road!” at three-thirty a.m., followed by hard running and weapons training until midnight. Yes, oldsters like to remember how it was, but that was how it was.
Today America has a military corrupted by social-justice politics.
Recruits are no longer country boys who could chop cordwood.
Obesity is common.
The Pentagon has lowered physical standards, hidden racial problems, softened training. The officers are afraid of the large numbers of military women who are now in combat positions.
One complaint about sexism and there goes the career.
Officer Rot
In times of extended peace the officer corps decays.
All second-tour officers are politicians, especially above the level of lieutenant colonel. You don’t get promoted by suggesting the the senior ranks are lying for political reasons, as by insisting that the Afghan war is being won.
Peacetime encourages careerists who advance by not making waves. Such Pattons of PowerPoint invariably have to be weeded out, at a high cost in lives, in a big war.
Today’s military is not going to fare well in anything resembling equal combat against Afghans, Russians, or Iranians.
The US military has not been able to defeat Afghan villagers in eighteen years with an immense advantage in air power, gunships, armor, artillery, medical care, and PXs. What do you think would happen if they had to fight the Taliban on equal terms–sandals, rifles, RPGs, and not much else?
Unrealism
The future is the enemy of the present.
What would happen if in a shooting war the Chinese crippled the American fleet? Washington is rampant with large egos, especially that of John McCain, the senator from PTSD. If it were discovered that China could disable the Navy, many other countries might conclude that they could do it too. They most certainly would think of this. Washington could not accept the discovery: Fear of the carriers is a large element in Washington’s intimidation of the world. To save face, the US would be tempted to go nuclear, or seriously bomb China proper, with unforeseeable results.
The Air Force and Navy could hurt China badly by conventional means, yes, for example by cutting off oil from the Mideast, or destroying the Three Gorges dam. For a variety of reasons this would be playing with fire. The economic results of any of these bright ideas would be godawful.
-Russia Insider
The military is not ready for a real war now because its focus is always on things down the road.
For example, the Navy cannot now defeat hypersonic antiship missiles but will be able to, it thinks, someday, maybe, world without end, with near-magical lasers still in development.
These will funnel lots of money to Raytheon or Lockheed Martin or somebody whether they work or not. Which isn’t important since nobody really believes there will be a serious war.
This is common thinking.
America is in process of acquiring B-21 intercontinental nuclear bombers for a frightening price. These will be useless except in a nuclear war, when they would still be useless because the ICBMs would already have turned targets into glowing rubble when the B-21s got there.
B-21
What the B21 will look like. It has a seat for Robin. The appeal of such things for adult twelve-year-olds is underestimated.
Why build them?
Because Northrop-Grumman has so much money that its lobbyists use snow shovels to fill Congressional pockets.
In my days of covering the Pentagon, whenever a new weapon was bought, the AH-64 for example, the prime contractor would hand out a list of subcontractors in many states–whose congressmen would support the weapon to get the jobs. It is all about money.
Sometimes Congress forces the military to buy weapons it explicitly says it doesn’t want, such as more M1 tanks from the factory in Lima, Ohio. Jobs.
In short, many weapons are bought for economic reasons, not for use in war. In my day, II saw many not-for-use weapons. The B1, B2, DIVAD, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the M16, the V-22, the LAW.
Nothing has changed.
The Blank Ignorance Factor
The landscape outside of the Five-Sided Wind Tunnel is at least as bleak as that within.
A friend, very much in a position to know, estimates that ninety percent of the Senate does not know where Burma is. Think Hormuz-Malacca-South China Sea.
The likelihood that Trump knows what countries are littoral to the Caspian is zero.
When I covered the military very few in Congress and nobody in the major media knew anything at all about weaponry and it uses: surface duct, deep sound channel, convergence zones, pseudo-random beam steering, APFSDS, staring receivers, chirp coding.
These are the first-grade small talk of people who pay attention.
These do not include minor lawyers-become-Congressmen from East East Jesus, Nebraska. Yet hey vote on military policy.
The Arrival of the Maintenance Hog
Being in a real war is hard on equipment.
There are battle damage and heavy wear and tear. This doesn’t matter in the wars today’s military fights.
America cannot really lose, only be worn down and leave.
If the US “loses” in Afghanistan or Syria, it won’t matter to Americans and few will even notice. Because America always fights from well-protected bases and airfields, it can afford to use weapons that require a lot of maintenance, often including high-tech work.
In a real war, no.
In
WWII, a fighter plane was just a malformed truck: engine, windshield,
tires, motor, stamped metal. If one came back full of holes, repair
crews with reasonable training could repair them fast on the hangar
deck. It wasn’t quite pop rivets and Bondo, but close.
After the Big War, American aircraft almost always flew from relatively safe bases.
For example, in Vietnam the carriers were never in danger. After Vietnam the aerial forces seldom even suffered battle damage. Since the US was always attacking utterly inferior enemies, sortie rates and repair time ceased to matter.
And the military came to expect such luxury.
But
now we have the F-35, the latest do-everything fighter of grotesque
cost. It seems to be a real dog, poorly designed and suffering from
endless problems. By accounts in the technical press, it is a hangar
queen with very low sortie rates, poor readiness, and requiring complex
electronic maintenance often at remote echelons.
This isn’t how you fight a real war.
How Wars Turn Out
Typically, not as planned. I’ve said this before but it is worth repeating.
Look at history:
The American Civil War was supposed to last a day at First Manassas; wrong by four years and 650,000 dead.
Napoleon thought his attack on Russia would end with the French in Moscow, not the Russians in Paris–which is what happened.
WWI was supposed to last weeks and be a war of movement; wrong by four bloody years of trench warfare.
The Japanese Army did not expect WWII to end with GIs buying their daughters drinks in Tokyo, nor the Germans that it would end with the Russian infantry in Berlin.
The Americans did not think they would lose in Vietnam, nor the Russians that they would lose in Afghanistan. And so on.
This happens partly because militaries are overconfident as a job requirement.
You can’t tell the Marines that they are at best mediocre light infantry or the Navy that it is essentially a target set. Instead the American armed forces are always said to be the best equipped, best trained, bravest, most formidable military that the world has ever seen.
Except they aren’t.
Assume that Bolton gets his war against Iran.
Advisers tell him it will be short and sweet, surgical, a cake walk. Have we heard this before?
The Navy says it can keep Hormuz open, grrr, woof. But somehow Iran doesn’t follow the script, doesn’t surrender.
The Navy to its surprise cannot find the deeply dug-in and truck-borne antiship missiles that keep hitting tankers. These keep burning.
Soon nobody will insure them.
They stop coming.
Three weeks into the war the world is screaming for oil, there is no end in sight, Trump can’t admit that he has blundered, and Bolton wants to nuke Tehran.
Or Washington pushes too hard in the South China Sea, an accidental collision turns into a shooting incident, and the Pompeo-Boltonian-Bannonites order the fleet to teach the Chinks a lesson.
Unfortunately the Chinese antiship missiles turn out to be rather better than expected, a carrier is disabled and three destroyers rendered scrap.
Now what?
Huge and uninformed egos in Washington could not accept defeat.
For one thing, it would end American credibility as a hegemon, and everybody and his herd of goats would want to buy Chinese antiship missiles.
Vanity plays a larger in world affairs than the textbooks say.
Washington, stupidly but inevitably, would double down and start an all-out war with China. At that point things would become unpredictable.
Washington seems not to realize that it wields far less military power than it thinks it does, and that the power it does wield is ever less useful than before. As a land power, it is very weak, being unable to defeat Russia, China, or peasants armed with rifles and RPGs. Air power has regularly proved indecisive.
If Washington somehow won a naval war with China, so what? It would provide the satisfactions of vanity, but China’s danger to the US imperium lies in increasing economic power and commercial expansion through Asia, where it holds the high cards: it is there, Washington isn’t.
-Russia Insider
Nuclear War
Men of incalculable stupidity and likely sexual inadequacy talk about nuclear war as winnable.
Dream on.
Reflect: American cities cannot feed themselves. Three days without food shipments and New Yorkers would clear the supermarket shelves. A week and they would kill for cans of tuna fish. Two weeks and they would be eating each other.
A very few nuclear bombs on transportation hubs would prevent distribution of food for months.
Even fewer cobalt bombs, designed to produce a maximum of lingering radiation, would make the farm belts lethally radioactive for a decade.
“Defense Intellectuals,” usually stupid enough that they ought to live in trees, chatter about escalation dominance and the intimidation factor and airtight missile defense.
They are nuts.
What they really need is a codpiece and a subscription to Pornhub Premium.
This is why it is a really, really, bad idea to have a psychopathic cockatoo, two loon Christians, and a pathologically aggressive momma’s boy in a position to start a war.
Trump neocon negotiation team takes on China.
If you enjoyed this post, you might want to check out others in my SHTF index…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Many people from myself to Rush Limbaugh have compared Donald Trump’s arrival in Washington D.C. to the movie “Caddyshack”. It’s said jokenly, but the fact remains that there are some real truths in this analogy. Like Rodney Dangerfield, Donald Trump was an outsider, and his strange and (seemingly) uncouth actions upset the fine cushy empire established by the local elites. Here is an article that discusses this phenomenon.
Donald Trump, love him or hate him, is exactly what America needs right now. We need to seriously shake up what the United States has become, tear it apart and rebuild it up from scratch. He’s the first step in this process.
Donald Trump as Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack
Sep 17, 2019
RUSH: Now, normally I would not make a big deal out of this, either. But this, I’m gonna call your attention to. I’m gonna go back to May 22, 2018. So it’s, what, 15 months ago (a year and a half ago, let’s call it that), and I was describing for people… You know, I love analogies. I love to persuade. There are many different techniques that one can use to persuade. I love the analogy or comparison. I was trying to explain to a caller the way the Washington establishment has reacted to Trump, and this is what I said (audio sound bite number 1) to the caller.
RUSH ARCHIVE: You know another way to look at Trump? How about the movie Caddyshack? Here you have these phony club members led by Ted Baxter, and he’s running around. They’ve got this little country club and everybody in it thinks they’re the best of the best in town. Rodney Dangerfield decides to join and gets in and blows the club up. He’s got this gigantic golf cart, drives it on the greens, blows a big horn, has a gigantic golf bag. The leaders of the country club are beside themselves. They try to kick the guy out, and they can’t. They lose every effort against him. That’s Trump: Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack.
RUSH: Yeah, Ted Baxter was great in that movie. He’s christening a new yacht for his family, and it’s like a 12-foot dinghy. And Rodney Dangerfield has this giant 80-footer and capsizes it while driving by waving. This is Trump, okay? So let’s now go to Thursday on a podcast called Recode Media. There’s a guy — the host is Peter Kafka — and he’s talking to the New York Times chief television critic, James Poniewozik, about his new book, Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America. The question: “There’s a great comparison you have in the book. For our younger audience who hasn’t seen Caddyshack, explain Rodney?”
PONIEWOZIK: Al Czervik, who Rodney Dangerfield plays, is this obnoxious, boorish rich guy who all the stuck-up people — the other stuck up rich people in the country club — hate. His character is opposed, in the movie, to Ted Knight’s character, Judge Smails, who is the, you know, stick-up-his-ass, uptight rich guy who sort of runs the country club and cannot stand him. This all came to mind during the 2016 debates to me, when I’m watching Donald Trump in action in the debates and seeing him go up against Jeb Bush. He’s like the Clampetts against Mr. Drysdale. He’s Rodney Dangerfield against Ted Knight. It’s the rich guy that you want to be against the (bleep) snotty rich guy that everybody hates.
This article is a full reprint of “The Deep State Starring in “Caddyshack on the Potomac” ” by Victor Davis Hanson. It’s pretty brilliantly (as usual), and discusses the Deep State, Hubris, Nemesis, and (of course) Donald Trump. I strongly recommend that the reader visit the author of this piece and get to know his works. You can go HERE.
[T]hey never say to themselves, “I’m not elected.” The constitution says an elected president sets foreign policy.
Period.
So there’s this sense that they, as credential experts, have a value system, and the value system is they have an inordinate respect for an Ivy League degree or a particular alphabetic combination after their name: a J.D., a Ph.D., an MBA, or a particular resume.
I worked at the NSC, then I transferred over to the NSA, and then, I went into the State Department.
And we saw that in really vivid examples during the Adam Schiff impeachment inquiries, where a series of State Department people, before they could even talk, [they] said…
“I’m the third generation to serve in my family.
This is my resume.
This is where I went to school.
This is where I was posted.”
And in the case of Adam Schiff, we saw these law professors, who had gone in and out of government, and they had these academic billets.
Expert…
And to condense all that, it could be distilled by saying the deep state makes arguments by authority:
“I’m an authority, and I have credentials, and therefore, ipse dixit, what I say matters.”
And they don’t want to be cross-examined, they don’t want to have their argument in the arena of ideas and cross-examination.
They think it deserves authority, and they have contempt—and I mean that literally—contempt for elected officials.
[They think:] “These are buffoons in private enterprise. They are the CEO in some company; they’re some local Rotary Club member. They get elected to Congress, and then we have to school them on the international order or the rules-based order.”
They have a certain lingo, a proper, sober, and judicious comportment.
... Caddyshack would be an even sharper dissection of the divide between the Haves and the Have Nots in America than the script for Animal House that he and Ramis co-wrote.
In fact, the script had many autobiographical references to incidents experienced by Ramis and the Murray brothers, all of whom caddied at local country clubs as teenagers.
In 1988, Bill Murray told the New York Times Magazine, “The kids who were members of the club were despicable; you couldn’t believe the attitude they had.
I mean, you were literally walking barefoot in a T-shirt and jeans, carrying some privileged person’s sports toys on your back for five miles.”
- 10 reasons that Caddyshack may just be the best summertime comedy ever.
So you can imagine that Donald Trump—to take a metaphor, Rodney Dangerfield out of Caddyshack—comes in as this, what they would say, stereotype buffoon and starts screaming and yelling.
And he looks different.
He talks different.
And he has no respect for these people at all.
Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack. Reminds me of Donald trump in Washington DC.
Maybe that’s a little extreme that he doesn’t, but he surely doesn’t. And that frightens them.
And then they coalesce.
And I’m being literal now. Remember the anonymous Sept. 5, 2018, op-ed writer who said,
“I’m here actively trying to oppose Donald Trump.”
He actually said that he wanted him to leave office. Then, Admiral [William] McRaven said…
“the sooner, the better.”
This is a four-star admiral, retired. [He] says a year before the election … Trump should leave:
“the sooner, the better.”
That’s a pretty frightening idea.
Trump is like Rodney Dangerfield in the movie Caddyshack.
And when you have Mark Zaid, the lawyer for the whistleblower and also the lawyer for some of the other people involved in this—I think it’s a conspiracy—saying that one coup leads to another. …
People are talking about a coup, then we have to take them at their own word. …
I think that people feel that for a variety of reasons—cultural, social, political—that Trump is not deserving of the respect that most presidents receive, and therefore any means necessary to get rid of him are justified.
” It would also seem that, of all the other older members of the cast, Dangerfield bonded the most with the younger actors, mainly because of their mutual appreciation for recreational drugs. In that same 2007 interview, Colomby revealed that the laundry room of the motel where the cast and crew were booked became the designated partying area, and that occasionally after hours Dangerfield would ask him, “Hey, Scott, you wanna do some laundry?”
- 10 reasons that Caddyshack may just be the best summertime comedy ever.
And for some, it’s the idea that he’s had neither political or military prior experience.
For others, it’s his outlandish appearance, his Queens accent, as I said, his Rodney Dangerfield presence.
Rodney Dangerfield as Donald Trump.
And for others—I think this is really underestimated—he is systematically undoing the progressive agenda of Barack Obama, which remember, was supposed to be not just an eight-year regnum, but 16 years with Hillary Clinton.
That would’ve reformed the court.
It would have shut down fossil fuel exploration, pipelines, more regulations—well, pretty much what Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are talking about right now.
That was going to happen.
Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack. Reminds me of Donald trump in Washington DC.
And so for a lot of people, they think…
“Wow, if Donald Trump is elected in 2020..."
—and he will be, according to the fears of Representatives Al Green or [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez or Nancy Pelosi; remember, they keep saying this impeachment is about the 2020 [election]—
“...we’ve got to ensure the integrity.”
That’s what Nadler said today.
But if Trump is elected, that would mean eventually in five more years, [we’d have a] 7–2 Supreme Court, 75 percent of the federal judiciary [would be] conservative and traditional and constructionist. …
We are the world’s largest oil and gas producer and exporter, but we probably would be even bigger.
And when you look at a lot of issues, such as abortion, or identity politics, or the securing of the border, or the nature of the economy or foreign policy, they think America as we know it will be—to use a phrase from Barack Obama—“fundamentally transformed.”
So that’s the subtext of it.
Stop this man right now before he destroys the whole progressive project—and with it, the reputation of the media. Because the media saw this happening and they said, “You know what?”—as Jim Rutenberg in the New York Times or Christiane Amanpour have said—“… you really don’t need to be disinterested.”
Trump is beyond the pale, so it’s OK to editorialize in your news coverage.
Trump is beyond the pale, and the “blue bloods” are shitting their pants.
And so the Shorenstein Center has reported that 90 percent of all news coverage [of Trump] is negative.
So they’ve thrown their hat in the ring and said, we’re going to be part of the Democratic progressive agenda to destroy this president. But if they fail, then their reputation goes down with the progressive project.
And that’s happening now.
CNN is at all-time low ratings, at least the last four years. And the network news is losing audiences, and most of the major newspapers are, as well.
So there’s a lot of high stakes here. And if Donald Trump survives and were to be reelected, I don’t know what would happen on the left. It would make the 2016 reaction look tame in comparison.
Conclusion
A great little read. All credit to the authors. All I did was edit to fit this blog, and added some pictures. Source links: RTWT and HT: The News Junkie.
No respect.
If you enjoyed this post, please fell free to take a trip to my SHTF index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
One of the reasons why the Chinese have been so swift in combating this coronavirus is because they identified (quickly and swiftly) it as a biological weapons attack. Most Americans are unaware of this because they read Western propagandized media. They believe that it is either [1] “not as bad as the flu”, or that it is [2] a biological weapon that the Chinese unleashed upon themselves. Here, we won’t get into that argument. Instead we will just present some videos of what went on during the days of 8FEB through 10FEB.
These videos were taken during a two day time period. Past the peak of the biological attack.
You, the reader, can believe what ever you want to. The FACT is that the China put their entire armed forces to DEFCON ONE, and shut the entire nation down.
You do not do this with the flu. You do not do this if you had an accidental leak from a weapons facility. You do not do this, especially in the middle of the biggest holiday of the year, unless there is a FUCKING GOOD REASON.
You can observe and come to your own conclusions.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – People getting sick suddenly.
The pesky thing about this virus is it’s high contagious nature, stealth infection, and rapid and sudden lethal outbreaks.
I find it laughable that the media is saying that the flu is far deadlier. Or that it only attacks old people. Here’s a young man in his 20’s going into a seizure on the bus.
I don’t know about youse guys, but I never had a seizure when I had the flu.
Video 2 – Affects children.
The reason why the Chinese video APPs were banned by the American military was so that they would not watch the effects of the biological weapon on the civilian population.
Here we have a little child in the hospital dying from the American bio-weapons attack.
Video 3 – Military decontamination units at work.
If you know what to look for you can clearly see the military decontamination units fighting this virus. Here we have a squad going after a contaminated area.
Decontamination is the process of removing or neutralizing chemical or biological agents so that they no longer pose a hazard. For military purposes, decontamination is undertaken to restore the combat effectiveness of equipment and personnel as rapidly as possible.
-Decontamination - NCBI Bookshelf
Video 4 – Bringing food and checking up.
If you have the virus, you can opt to stay at home instead of going to a hospital or a tent clinic. In that case, the military / police will lock you in your house and seal the door. If the seal is broken, they will come and take you to jail so that you will not be a risk to the community.
Video 5 – Military and police decontamination.
Here’s some units in the decontamination of the streets using the military foggers. It’s a pretty impressive sight.
The Chinese military has invested enormous sums of money perfecting mass decontamination of buildings and people. Here is an impressive array of trucks.
Hit hits suddenly. Up until when it hits, you think (falsely) that you can handle it. But you cannot. Here we see police taking a woman to an emergency station.
Video 8 – At the hospital.
This is pretty much what it will be like once she makes it to the hospital. There will be doctors and nurses in full NBC gear attending to her. But even at that, it will be a rough slog to get better…
Video 9 – Quarantine area
The Chinese government has repurposed sports arenas, and other civics facilities into quarantine areas. The people may or may not be sick. But they do need to wait within safe confines to see what may happen. Here’s one of the facilities within Wuhan…
Video 10 – Morning exercise
The Chinese love to exercise in the mornings and the evenings. This was started by the “dancing grandmothers” and after some abuses, was repurposed to a health initiative, that most of China takes part in. It’s a period of two to three hours of guided line dancing to Chinese pop music and K-pop. Here, we can watch it inside one of the quarantine facilities.
Video 11 – Drones continue to keep people off the streets
Big red banners with bright yellow letters are everywhere. They tell the people to be mindful, careful and to stay at home. Never the less there are those that refuse to listen. Some are just bad apples. Some are crazy. Some don’t give a fuck – they are far too self absorbed. And…
And some are just people going out for a walk and being casual with mask discipline. Such as this chick. The local police drone admonishes her and chases her home.
Video 12 – Inside a Military field hospital
Once Beijing declared this a DEFCON ONE situation, military hospitals were set up in all of the tier one, tier two and tier three cities. This is in addition to the new hospitals being constructed, the regular hospital and the networks of clinics that abound all over China.
China has a much more extensive system of medical care than America has. It has build up this network in great detail and complexity with layers over layers of systems.
Here we see what it is like inside one of the military tent hospital complexes.
Video 13 – Robot food delivery
To keep people from being contaminated, robots are being used in the tier one cities. Some have smiley faces, but most look like white boxes on wheels. Like this…
Video 14 – Assholes
During this period all elevators have tissues that people are supposed to use to press the buttons. Clear tape overlays are on the buttons, and public mechanisms of conveyance are all disinfected multiple times a day.
That’s all well and good, if everyone was “normal”.
One of the things that I hear from people (mostly Americans) is what about people’s rights? What about their freedoms? Well, not everyone is “with the program”. There is a tiny percentage of crazy assholes that want to make life miserable for the rest of us.
Luckily, China is fully wired up. Video feed of miscreants and trouble-makers goes straight to the local police… who know these people and take direct and swift action.
Here’s an asshole…
Video 15 – Going to the hospital
People “on the front lines”; those that need to be in public and are exposed to others are getting sick. Usually, being quite patriotic, they will stay at their posts until they get a seizure or collapse. Here’s a policeman, and that is exactly what happened.
Video 16 – Pull the nation closer.
It’s difficult to imagine the Chinese nation being any more patriotic than it already is, but this bio-warfare attack has pushed Chinese patriotism to mountainous heights. It’s really amazing. Here’s just one of thousands of videos I have collected along this theme.
If you enjoyed this post, please fell free to take a trip to my China / Trump Trade Wars index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
One thing that I have noticed over the last decade was that the auto-correct in MS Word, and the various on-line options are configured for people with an IQ of a snail. Words that I learned in seventh grade are often either no longer available on the internet dictionaries, or are replaced with politically correct versions. This is frustrating (maybe even angering) as each word has it’s own intrinsic value and the words currently available are sadly too generic for use.
I would want to use the word “niggardly” and MSWord would auto-correct it to “miserly”. I would type “policeman”, and the software would instantly (in the blink of an eye) correct it to “policeperson”. I would use pronouns that defined gender, like in the sentence “He ate icecream.” only to find it changed to “It ate icecream.”. (I always get the image of this big green blog from the movie “Ghostbusters” eating some icecream.)
It was so frustrating.
Here we discuss the joys and perils of using the English language alongside with software that originates out of the politically-correct bastions of California.
Here is a fine torture device that is displayed in the movie “A princess Bride”. It, of course, utilizes an odynometer to measure pain. You can plainly see it next to the man in red.
Here, are some online resources that I use. They are pretty decent. I only wish that the words provided in them would be added to the more ubiquitous entries as presently available on the on-line dictionary options.
Here is another big word from the movie world of the 1980’s. This movie is “Labyrinth”. Do you know what an oubliette is? It’s a hole in the basement of a dungeon, often covered and barred. It’s a place where you put people that you want to forget about. Yikes!
Some Options
Here are some options that I use for more juicy and plump words that might best fit my given needs at any moment in time…
I fear that the United States is turning into a ochlochracy with the actions of the antifa-influenced Democrats.
I thoroughly enjoyed her callipygian as she moved. My eyes engaged in rapidoculoplania beyond my control.
Some useful words to use on Trolls
(This is from the House of Logorrhea.) This small set of 21 obscure words consists of nouns used to define minor, inferior, or petty members of various professions.
The words end with ‘-aster’, a Latin pejorative suffix indicating incomplete resemblance or lesser status.
These words are little used today, but in another age were devices of scorn used by the intelligentsia to deride their lesser fellows. With a little creativity, practically any name for a profession can be altered in this way, should you find a desirable object for your contempt.
Word
Definition
astrologaster
a foolish or petty astrologer
criticaster
inferior or petty critic
grammaticaster
a piddling grammarian
hereticaster
a petty or contemptible heretic
latinitaster
a petty scholar of Latin
logicaster
a petty logician
mathematicaster
minor or inferior mathematician
medicaster
quack; charlatan
militaster
soldier without skill or ability
musicaster
a mediocre musician
opiniaster
one who obstinately holds to an opinion
parasitaster
a mean or sorry parasite
philologaster
petty or contemptible philologist
philosophaster
amateur or superficial philosopher
poetaster
petty poet; writer of contemptible verses
politicaster
petty politician
rhetoricaster
petty rhetorician
scientaster
petty scientist
theologaster
petty or shallow theologian
usageaster
self-appointed conservative language usage expert
witticaster
a petty or inferior wit
Some useful Obscure words just perfect for insults…
There are numerous websites that cover all sorts of interesting words. Rather than compile my very-own-list, I offer the websites for the enjoyment of the reader.
Here are some fine words that might be worthy of including in a comment section or two. All credit to Neatorama.
BESCUMBER (v)
Definition: To spray with poo.
Analysis: Actually bescumber is just one of many words in the English language that basically mean “to spray with poo”. These are: BEDUNG, BERAY, IMMERD, SHARNY, and the good ol’ SHITTEN. In special cases, you can use BEMUTE (specifically means to drop poo on someone from great height), SHARD-BORN (born in dung), and FIMICOLOUS (living and growing on crap).
Dog poop everywhere. This sentence could be written as…”The area was all bescumber rendering it unwalkable.”.
Alternative: If that is too vulgar, you can use BEVOMIT and BEPISS, which meanings should be obvious to you, as well as BESPAWL (to spit on).
Oh, and if you want to say poo without looking like you’re saying it, you can use ORDURE, DEJECTION, and EXCRETA. To mean something more specific, you can use MECONIUM (first feces of a newborn child), MELAENA or MELENA (the abnormally tarry feces containing blood from gastrointestinal bleeding), LIENTERY (diarrhea with undigested or partially digested food), and STEATORRHEA (fatty stool that’s hard to flush down).
MICROPHALLUS (n)
Definition: An unusually small penis.
Analysis: Self explanatory.
Alternative: Insulting a man’s private part is a very reliable way to put him down (if he’s smaller than you) or to get beat up (if he’s larger than you). Usually, even a dimwit can decipher the meaning of this word, after all, it’s just a combination of “micro” and “phallus”.
Scene from the movie Bedazzled, where this huge player, with his huge score, and huge abilities is granted a microphallus.
So, to insult a physically larger opponent, we recommend you use these words instead: PHALLOCRYPSIS (retraction or shrinkage of the penis), CRYPTORCHID (undescendend testicles), and PHALLONCUS (tumor of the penis).
COCCYDYNIA (n)
Definition: Pain in the butt.
Analysis: It’s a real medical term: coccydynia is pain in the coccyx or tailbone. Most people simply call it “buttache.”
Similar: PROCTALGIA, PROCTODYNIA, PYGALGIA and RECTALGIA all mean pain in the butt.
Alternative: CERVICALGIA (pain in the neck), PHALLODYNIA or PHALLALGIA (both mean pain in the penis), and PUDENDAGRA (pain in the genitals).
Butthurt meme. Yikes! Poor gal with coccydynia .
The word “butt” is highly versatile in its vernacular use – you can say “butt face” or “hairy butt” – them are fightin’ words – but it’s much better to use these instead: ANKYLOPROCTIA (stricture of the anus, the state of “tight-assity”), STEATOPYGOUS (fat-assed), DASYPYGAL (having hairy buttocks), and CACOPYGIAN (having ugly buttocks).
BUNCOMBE (n)
Definition: A ludicrously false statement. Basically it means bullshit or nonsense.
Analysis: Actually, you probably already know this word by its more common spelling: bunkum.
Obama was full of buncombe.
The origin of this word is fascinating.
In 1819, a North Carolina congressman, the Honorable Felix Walker, was giving a rambling speech with little relevance to the current debate. He refused to yield the floor, and claimed that he wasn’t speaking for Congress but instead “for Buncombe” (a county in North Carolina he represented).
That’s all it took.
Buncombe, North Carolina.
Over time, the spelling changed to “bunkum,” and the meaning strangely changed to be “excellent.”
Then it changed back in 1870, when a San Francisco gambler introduced a new game “banco“.
But it was played with dice that were later found out to be loaded.
Sure enough, BUNCO became known to mean swindle or cheat, and bunkum reverted back to its original meaning. (Source)
The word DEBUNK came directly from this: it’s just bunk(um) with the prefix de- (meaning to remove).
It is not often that we know who created a particular word, despite the claims that are made about such-and-such writer inventing this-or-that word; such claims are usually false. In the case of smellfungus, however, we not only know who coined the word (Laurence Sterne), we also know who it is supposed to represent (Tobias Smollett).
Soup Nazi, from the television show “Seinfeld”. “No Soup for You!”
Stern created a hypocritical character named Smelfungus in his 1768 book A Sentimental Journey through France, a satire on Smollett, whose Travels through France and Italy had been published two years earlier.
About MS Word
Up until 2017, the spell-checking service on Microsoft Word was horrible. The checker was maddeningly auto-correcting everything to a politically correct narrative. if you typed in the sentence;
The postman wished the housewife a “Merry Christmas”!
It was auto-corrected to this butchered-up sentence;
The postalperson wished the housepartner a “Happy Holiday”!
I do not know what happened.
Then suddenly it all ended. It reverted back to normal-speak.
I suspect that someone in Microsoft saw the light and changed the dictionary conventions to a more historically and conventionally accurate setting. It happened sometime in 2017.
I attribute it to the “Trump effect”.
I wonder if I am the only person who noticed this. For, I most certainly haven’t seen any news article or reports on this phenomenon.
It certainly wouldn’t be in the “news”. News stopped reporting a couple of decades ago. Now they just fabricate political events to manipulate the populace. Ah, but that’s a discussion for another time.
Conclusions
This was just a quick and fun post describing my frustration with some elements of the “modern” internet and software programs. Part of it is that wordpress has a crappyassed spell-checker, and part of it was year of frustration (approximately from 2009 to 2017) where the PC police invaded my laptop and took over my MS Word software.
If you enjoyed this post, please fell free to take a trip to my happiness index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
From the annals of “lost and forgotten toys” we have the sad tale of Suntan Suzy. This little doll can tell us a lot about ourselves and our society. Because we need to ask ourselves what went wrong? How did this come to pass, and what reflection does this have on our culture?
Obviously someone, at sometime, gave the “go ahead” to design, and develop this doll. They did so, made a large batch of these playthings and then nothing happened. Some sold, but the bulk collected dust and then were discarded into the vast garbage dumps of the 1960’s.
Suntan Suzy Doll
Suntan Suzy was a doll that would develop a tan if you put her in the sunlight. Back in the shade, her tan would fade. She came on the market in 1962, but lasted for only one season. As far as I can tell, she was the only doll that has ever had the ability to tan.
Advertisement for Suntan Suzy. From the Arizona Republic – Nov 23, 1962.
1550 grams of a high molecular weight polyvinyl chloride polymer, in powdered form, were dispersed in this solution by stirring for ten to fifteen minutes. The latter material was specifically Bakelite Company QYNV polymer. Thus a plastisol formulation containing the phototropic dye dissolved in the liquid dioctyl phthalate (plasticizer phase) was obtained. About 120 grams of this plastisol formulation were then poured into a two piece steel mold, this having its inner surface previously coated with a silicone oil release film. This was then placed in an oven at 140 degrees centigrade and held at this temperature for eight minutes to allow solution of the polyvinyl chloride polymer phase. The mold and contents were then removed from the oven, cooled to room temperature, and the now solid form of the doll figure removed.
An amazing girl…
The Suntan Suzy doll within the original packaging. The image source: worthpoint
The figure thus produced was transparent and red in color. Upon exposure to sunlight a progressive darkening to a brown, then blue-black color occurred during a period of about three to four minutes, simulating a “sunburning” effect.
When the doll was shielded from the sun a return to the original color took place, being visually complete after a period of eight to ten minutes. This action was repeatable with no detectable change in functional characteristics being noted after several dozen cycles.
Fully boxed up Suntan Suzy.
It seems like an interesting gimmick for a doll. Curious it never caught on.
Society
Perhaps it wasn’t marketed properly, or perhaps it did not fit the profile of girl doll play. Most of the girls that I grew up with didn’t take their dolls with them to the beach. Instead, the preferred to paly with them indoors, within the comfortable confines of the house.
This little post is one of those “hum…” style posts, and will soon be forgotten. Much like a comma is in the book “War and Peace”.
If you enjoyed this post, please fell free to take a trip to my happiness index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Yet another great article on America. This one smashes the neocon narrative that nukes were needed to save lives during World War II. You know, as time moves forward, and the ruling oligarchy becomes stranger and stranger, we (us normal’s) sit back and are amazed just how “hood-winked” they kept us all. They told us that we needed to use nuclear weapons. They told us that we had to fight for democracy. They told us that eight simultaneous wars were necessary. They tell us that we are winning the war in Afghanistan after nearly twenty years of occupation. They have been stringing us along this entire time.
This is a great article titled “The Real Reason America Used Nuclear Weapons Against Japan. It Was Not To End the War Or Save Lives.” It was published on February 10, 2020 by Enrique Suarez and can be found HERE. I would suggest that any reader who likes this article to go to the source and pay the author a visit. I am sure that he has other pieces of value.
Enrique Suarez Note: Washington's Blog understands that "The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living" (Socrates).
By Washington's Blog
Global Research, February 09, 2020
Washington's Blog and Global Research 12 October 2012
Relevant article selected from the GR archive first published on Washington Blog and Global Research in October 2012.
Atomic Weapons Were Not Needed to End the War or Save Lives
Like all Americans, I was taught that the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to end WWII and save both American and Japanese lives.
But most of the top American military officials at the time said otherwise.
The
U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey group, assigned by President Truman to
study the air attacks on Japan, produced a report in July of 1946 that concluded (52-56):
Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey’s opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945 and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.
General (and later president) Dwight Eisenhower – then Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces, and the officer who created most of America’s WWII military plans for Europe and Japan – said:
The Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.
-Newsweek, 11/11/63, Ike on Ike
In [July] 1945… Secretary of War Stimson, visiting my headquarters in Germany, informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan.
I was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act. …the Secretary, upon giving me the news of the successful bomb test in New Mexico, and of the plan for using it, asked for my reaction, apparently expecting a vigorous assent.
During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives.
It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of ‘face’. The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude….
Admiral William Leahy –
the highest-ranking member of the U.S. military from 1942 until
retiring in 1949, who was the first de facto Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, and who was at the center of all major American
military decisions in World War II – wrote (pg. 441):
It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan.
The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons.
The lethal possibilities of atomic warfare in the future are frightening.
My own feeling was that in being the first to use it, we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages.
I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.
MacArthur’s views about the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were starkly different from what the general public supposed ….
When I asked General MacArthur about the decision to drop the bomb, I was surprised to learn he had not even been consulted. What, I asked, would his advice have been?
He replied that he saw no military justification for the dropping of the bomb. The war might have ended weeks earlier, he said, if the United States had agreed, as it later did anyway, to the retention of the institution of the emperor.
The Potsdam declaration in July, demand[ed] that Japan surrenders
unconditionally or face ‘prompt and utter destruction.’ MacArthur was appalled.
He knew that the Japanese would never renounce their emperor and that without him an orderly transition to peace would be impossible anyhow because his people would never submit to Allied occupation unless he ordered it.
Ironically, when the surrender did come, it was conditional, and the condition was a continuation of the imperial reign. Had the General’s advice been followed, the resort to atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki might have been unnecessary.
Similarly, Assistant Secretary of War John McLoy noted (pg. 500):
I have always felt that if in our ultimatum to the Japanese government issued from Potsdam [in July 1945], we had referred to the retention of the emperor as a constitutional monarchy and had made some reference to the reasonable accessibility of raw materials to the future Japanese government, it would have been accepted.
Indeed, I believe that even in the form it was delivered, there was some disposition on the part of the Japanese to give it favorable consideration.
When the war was over I arrived at this conclusion after talking with a number of Japanese officials who had been closely associated with the decision of the then Japanese government, to reject the ultimatum, as it was presented.
I believe we missed the opportunity of effecting a Japanese surrender, completely satisfactory to us, without the necessity of dropping the bombs.
Under Secretary of the Navy Ralph Bird said:
I think that the Japanese were ready for peace, and they already had approached the Russians and, I think, the Swiss. And that suggestion of a warning [of the atomic bomb] was a face-saving proposition for them, and one that they could have readily accepted.
In my opinion, the Japanese war was really won before we ever used the atomic bomb. Thus, it wouldn’t have been necessary for us to disclose our nuclear position and stimulate the Russians to develop the same thing much more rapidly than they would have if we had not dropped the bomb.
- War Was Really Won Before We Used A-Bomb, U.S. News and World Report, 8/15/60, pg. 73-75.
Hiroshima, after America improved it “for democracy”.
It definitely seemed to me that the Japanese were becoming weaker and weaker. They were surrounded by the Navy. They couldn’t get any imports and they couldn’t export anything.
Naturally, as time went on and the war developed in our favor it was quite logical to hope and expect that with the proper kind of a warning the Japanese would then be in a position to make peace, which would have made it unnecessary for us to drop the bomb and have had to bring Russia in.
General Curtis LeMay, the tough cigar-smoking Army Air Force “hawk,” stated publicly shortly before the nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan:
The war would have been over in two weeks. . . . The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war at all.
The Vice Chairman of the U.S. Bombing Survey Paul Nitze wrote (pg. 36-37, 44-45):
[I] concluded that even without the atomic bomb, Japan was likely to surrender in a matter of months. My own view was that Japan would capitulate by November 1945. ... Even without the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it seemed highly unlikely, given what we found to have been the mood of the Japanese government, that a U.S. invasion of the islands [scheduled for November 1, 1945] would have been necessary.
Deputy Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence Ellis Zacharias wrote:
Just when the Japanese were ready to capitulate, we went ahead and introduced to the world the most devastating weapon it had ever seen and, in effect, gave the go-ahead to Russia to swarm over Eastern Asia.
Washington decided that Japan had been given its chance and now it was time to use the A-bomb.
I submit that it was the wrong decision. It was wrong on strategic grounds. And it was wrong on humanitarian grounds.
-Ellis Zacharias, How We Bungled the Japanese Surrender, Look (magazine), 6/6/50, pg. 19-21.
Brigadier
General Carter Clarke – the military intelligence officer in charge of
preparing summaries of intercepted Japanese cables for President Truman
and his advisors – said (pg. 359):
When we didn’t need to do it, and we knew we didn’t need to do it, and they knew that we knew we didn’t need to do it, we used them as an experiment for two atomic bombs.
Many other high-level military officers concurred. For example:
The commander in chief of the U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, Ernest J. King, stated that the naval blockade and prior bombing of Japan in March of 1945, had rendered the Japanese helpless and that the use of the atomic bomb was both unnecessary and immoral.
Also, the opinion of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was reported to have said in a press conference on September 22, 1945, that “The Admiral took the opportunity of adding his voice to those insisting that Japan had been defeated before the atomic bombing and Russia’s entry into the war.”
In a subsequent speech at the Washington Monument on October 5, 1945, Admiral Nimitz stated: “The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace before the atomic age was announced to the world with the destruction of Hiroshima and before the Russian entry into the war.”
It was learned also that on or about July 20, 1945, General Eisenhower had urged Truman, in a personal visit, not to use the atomic bomb.
Eisenhower’s assessment was “It wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing . . . to use the atomic bomb, to kill and terrorize civilians, without even attempting [negotiations], was a double crime.”
Eisenhower also stated that it wasn’t necessary for Truman to “succumb” to [the tiny handful of people putting pressure on the president to drop atom bombs on Japan.]
British officers were of the same mind. For example, General Sir Hastings Ismay, Chief of Staff to the British Minister of Defense, said to Prime Minister Churchill that…
“when Russia came into the war against Japan, the Japanese would probably wish to get out on almost any terms short of the dethronement of the Emperor.”
On hearing that the atomic test was successful, Ismay’s private reaction was one of “revulsion.”
Why Were Bombs Dropped on Populated Cities Without Military Value?
Even
military officers who favored the use of nuclear weapons mainly favored
using them on unpopulated areas or Japanese military targets … not
cities.
For example, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the
Navy Lewis Strauss proposed to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal
that a non-lethal demonstration of atomic weapons would be enough to convince the Japanese to surrender … and the Navy Secretary agreed (pg. 145, 325):
I proposed to Secretary Forrestal that the weapon should be demonstrated before it was used. Primarily it was because it was clear to a number of people, myself among them, that the war was very nearly over.
The Japanese were nearly ready to capitulate…
My proposal to the Secretary was that the weapon should be demonstrated over some area accessible to Japanese observers and where its effects would be dramatic.
I remember suggesting that a satisfactory place for such a demonstration would be a large forest of cryptomeria trees not far from Tokyo.
The cryptomeria tree is the Japanese version of our redwood…
I anticipated that a bomb detonated at a suitable height above such a forest… would lay the trees out in windrows from the center of the explosion in all directions as though they were matchsticks, and, of course, set them afire in the center.
It seemed to me that a demonstration of this sort would prove to the Japanese that we could destroy any of their cities at will…
Secretary Forrestal agreed wholeheartedly with the recommendation…
It seemed to me that such a weapon was not necessary to bring the war to a successful conclusion, that once used it would find its way into the armaments of the world…
Contemporary documents show that Marshall felt “these weapons might first be used against straight military objectives such as a large naval installation and then if no complete result was derived from the effect of that, he thought we ought to designate a number of large manufacturing areas from which the people would be warned to leave–telling the Japanese that we intend to destroy such centers….”
As the document concerning Marshall’s views suggests, the question of whether the use of the atomic bomb was justified turns … on whether the bombs had to be used against a largely civilian target rather than a strictly military target—which, in fact, was the explicit choice since although there were Japanese troops in the cities, neither Hiroshima nor Nagasaki was deemed militarily vital by U.S. planners.
(This is one of the reasons neither had been heavily bombed up to this point in the war.)
Moreover, targeting [at Hiroshima and Nagasaki] was aimed explicitly on non-military facilities surrounded by workers’ homes.
Historians Agree that the Bomb Wasn’t Needed
Historians agree that nuclear weapons did not need to be used to stop the war or save lives.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission historian J. Samuel Walker has studied the history of research on the decision to use nuclear weapons on Japan.
In his conclusion, he writes, “The consensus among scholars is that the bomb was not needed to avoid an invasion of Japan and to end the war within a relatively short time. It is clear that alternatives to the bomb existed and that Truman and his advisors knew it.”
-J. Samuel Walker, The Decision to Use the Bomb: A Historiographical Update, Diplomatic History, Winter 1990, pg. 110).
Politicians Agreed
Many high-level politicians agreed. For example, Herbert Hoover said (pg. 142):
The Japanese were prepared to negotiate all the way from February 1945…up to and before the time the atomic bombs were dropped;
…if such leads had been followed up, there would have been no occasion to drop the [atomic] bombs.
Under Secretary of State Joseph Grew noted (pg. 29-32):
In the light of available evidence I myself and others felt that if such a categorical statement about the [retention of the] dynasty had been issued in May 1945, the surrender-minded elements in the [Japanese] government might well have been afforded by such a statement a valid reason and the necessary strength to come to an early clear-cut decision.
If surrender could have been brought about in May 1945,
or even in June or July, before the entrance of Soviet Russia into the
[Pacific] war and the use of the atomic bomb, the world would have been
the gainer.
Why Then Were Atom Bombs Dropped on Japan?
If
dropping nuclear bombs was unnecessary to end the war or to save lives,
why was the decision to drop them made? Especially over the objections
of so many top military and political figures?
On September 9, 1945, Admiral William F. Halsey, commander of the Third Fleet, was publicly quoted extensively as stating that the atomic bomb was used because the scientists had a “toy and they wanted to try it out . . . .”
He further stated, “The first atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment . . . . It was a mistake to ever drop it.”
However, most of the Manhattan Project scientists who developed the atom bomb were opposed to using it on Japan.
Albert
Einstein – an important catalyst for the development of the atom bomb
(but not directly connected with the Manhattan Project) – said differently:
“A great majority of scientists were opposed to the sudden employment of the atom bomb.” In Einstein’s judgment, the dropping of the bomb was a political-diplomatic decision rather than a military or scientific decision.
We believe that these considerations make the use of nuclear bombs for an early, unannounced attack against Japan inadvisable. If the United States would be the first to release this new means of indiscriminate destruction upon mankind, she would sacrifice public support throughout the world, precipitate the race of armaments, and prejudice the possibility of reaching an international agreement on the future control of such weapons.
-Political and Social Problems, Manhattan Engineer District Records, Harrison-Bundy files, folder # 76, National Archives (also contained in Martin Sherwin, A World Destroyed, 1987 edition, pg. 323-333).
The
scientists questioned the ability to destroy Japanese cities with
atomic bombs to bring surrender when destroying Japanese cities with
conventional bombs had not done so, and – like some of the military
officers quoted above – recommended a demonstration of the atomic bomb
for Japan in an unpopulated area.
In the years since the two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, a number of historians have suggested that the weapons had a two-pronged objective ….
It has been suggested that the second objective was to demonstrate the new weapon of mass destruction to the Soviet Union.
By August 1945, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States had deteriorated badly.
The Potsdam Conference between U.S. President Harry S. Truman, Russian leader Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill (before being replaced by Clement Attlee) ended just four days before the bombing of Hiroshima.
The meeting was marked by recriminations and suspicion between the Americans and the Soviets.
Russian armies were occupying most of Eastern Europe. Truman and many of his advisers hoped that the U.S. atomic monopoly might offer diplomatic leverage with the Soviets.
In this fashion, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan can be seen as the first shot of the Cold War.
The US decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 was meant to kick-start the Cold War rather than end the Second World War, according to two nuclear historians who say they have new evidence backing the controversial theory.
Causing a fission reaction in several kilograms of uranium and plutonium and killing over 200,000 people 60 years ago was done more to impress the Soviet Union than to cow Japan, they say.
And the US President who took the decision, Harry Truman, was culpable, they add.“He knew he was beginning the process of annihilation of the species,” says Peter Kuznick, director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University in Washington DC, US.
“It was not just a war crime; it was a crime against humanity.”
...
[The conventional explanation of using the bombs to end the war and save lives] is disputed by Kuznick and Mark Selden, a historian from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, US.
...
New studies of the US, Japanese and Soviet diplomatic archives suggest that Truman’s main motive was to limit Soviet expansion in Asia, Kuznick claims.
Japan surrendered because the Soviet Union began an invasion a few days after the Hiroshima bombing, not because of the atomic bombs themselves, he says.
According to an account by Walter Brown, assistant to the then-US secretary of state James Byrnes, Truman agreed at a meeting three days before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima that Japan was “looking for peace”.
Truman was told by his army generals, Douglas Macarthur and Dwight Eisenhower, and his naval chief of staff, William Leahy, that there was no military need to use the bomb.“Impressing Russia was more important than ending the war in Japan,” says Selden.
Hiroshima, after America improved it “for democracy”.
The US secretary of war, Henry Stimson, told President Truman he was “fearful” that the US air force would have Japan so “bombed out” that the new weapon would not be able “to show its strength”.
He later admitted that “no effort was made, and none was seriously considered, to achieve surrender merely in order not to have to use the bomb”.
His foreign policy colleagues were eager “to browbeat the Russians with the bomb held rather ostentatiously on our hip”.
General Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project that made the bomb, testified:
“There was never any illusion on my part that Russia was our enemy, and that the project was conducted on that basis.”
The day after Hiroshima was obliterated, President Truman voiced his satisfaction with the “overwhelming success” of “the experiment”.
We’ll give the last word to
University of Maryland professor of political economy – and former
Legislative Director in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S.
Senate, and Special Assistant in the Department of State – Gar Alperovitz:
Though most Americans are unaware of the fact, increasing numbers of historians now recognize the United States did not need to use the atomic bomb to end the war against Japan in 1945.
Moreover, this essential judgment was expressed by the vast majority of top American military leaders in all three services in the years after the war ended:
Army, Navy and Army Air Force. Nor was this the judgment of “liberals,” as is sometimes thought today. In fact, leading conservatives were far more outspoken in challenging the decision as unjustified and immoral than American liberals in the years following World War II.
...
Instead [of allowing other options to end the war, such as letting the Soviets attack Japan with ground forces]
, the United States rushed to use two atomic bombs at almost exactly the time that an August 8 Soviet attack had originally been scheduled:
Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9. The timing itself has obviously raised questions among many historians.
The available evidence, though not conclusive, strongly suggests that the atomic bombs may well have been used in part because American leaders “preferred”—as Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Martin Sherwin has put it
—to end the war with the bombs rather than the Soviet attack.
Impressing the Soviets during the early diplomatic sparring that ultimately became the Cold War also appears likely to have been a significant factor.
...
The most illuminating perspective, however, comes from top World War II American military leaders. The conventional wisdom that the atomic bomb saved a million lives is so widespread that …
...most Americans haven’t paused to ponder something rather striking to anyone seriously concerned with the issue:
Not only did most top U.S. military leaders think the bombings were unnecessary and unjustified, but many were also morally offended by what they regarded as the unnecessary destruction of Japanese cities and what were essentially noncombat populations.
Moreover, they spoke about it quite openly and publicly.
Shortly before his death General George C. Marshall quietly defended the decision, but for the most part, he is on record as repeatedly saying that it was not a military decision, but rather a political one.
We can see now that the civilian government of America did not want to use the nuclear bomb, or any such weapons. They felt that [1] they were not necessary, and [2] they should be used only against military targets.
They were not alone. Even Adolf Hitler felt this way.
Hitler actually told his scientists to abandon the project after German scientists learned how to split atoms in 1938.
"When Dr. Todt visited me I read that the energy set free by such a bomb could destroy an area as large as the state of Arizona or make as big a crater as the meteor had caused in Siberia. That means that all life within such an area would be destroyed, not only humans but all life, but animals and plants would not be able to live within a radius of 40 km for hundreds of years due to radiation. That would mean an Apocalypse.
No land, no group of civilized people could bear the responsibility for such a slaughter. In battle after battle human beings would destroy themselves if such a bomb were used."
- A. Hitler
youtube. com/watch?v=sVVwrhdS5DU
Now, somehow in the 70+ years since World War II, the American government has developed a completely different mindset. It is one where there are no differences between civilian targets and military targets. Instead, you totally devastate a nation using whatever means available. Then you “police it” using military forces while you steal it’s resources for your benefit.
We can see this new philosophy played out in all the many, many wars since World War II. Whether it is Yemen, Vietnam, Syria, Libya, or Afghanistan, the wars devastate civilians and military forces alike and no discernment is provided to minimize civilian casualties.
With a neocon administration under president Trump, we can clearly see that this identical and same philosophy being present when the coronavirus was unleashed on an unsuspecting China during the annual Chinese migration in 2020…
People! Whenever you decide that wars (hot, trade or economic) can be won using WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction), and…
…and you intentionally unleash them on civilians…
… you live in a nation of madmen.
Trump’s neocon negotiation team.
And nothing good will ever come of their actions, or your participation (active, or inactive), in it.
The universe has a way of evening the score, and whether you agree or not, you must certainly agree that targeting infants, young mothers, old men and women, and school children is wrong.
It’s not “collateral damage” it’s an evil. And if our government is involved in these kinds of activities then it is evil too.
…
We are all judged when we die.
…
We all have to face up to, and defend our lives. What will you say when asked about how you stood by and permitted these crimes to occur?
Defending Your Life is one of the best movies of all time. However, the message is not about the afterlife but very much about your life now. Especially if you believe that you live only once, the message in this movie should speak to you even more, because that means there is only one chance, and if you fear to much to take it, well, that’s that. Let’s realize folks: Life has so much to offer us.
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off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
This is a complete reprint of a most excellent article that I (personally) 100% agree with. In short, regardless as to the events and causes related to the virus, the way that China has handled it and the global reaction to it has been overwhelmingly positive. This and similar trends are pointing in positive directions for China. This article discusses the “fall out” from this event.
This article was published on February 10, 2020 by Fionn Wright – 仁飞扬 and can be found HERE. The only changes that I made was add section headers, and added some illustrative photos. I strongly suggest that the reader visit the original source, and (if possible) follow the author as he has other articles of worth.
Could the Coronavirus make China Stronger than Ever? 10 Trends that Indicate it Will.
The
virus is hitting China’s economy hard, but this is likely only
temporary. China’s immune system is fighting back — building hospitals
in record time, completely locking down a city and most importantly the
entire nation uniting as one voice of support and solidarity.
Mario Cavolo called out the global response to the Coronavirus in his post “Something’s not right here folks” which originally went viral on LinkedIn and then subsequently all over Chinese social media. He compares the media response to Coronavirus with the H1N1 outbreak in the US, saying, “it’s not a conspiracy, it’s just a tragedy,” and “this vicious, political, xenophobic racist attacks and smearing of all things China needs to stop.”
What doesn’t break you only makes you stronger, and the Chinese people are resilient and will find ways to rise out of this crisis, likely coming back even stronger than before. How long that will take no-one yet knows, but the Chinese spirit is not even close to being broken, and we’ve seen how Chinese ingenuity in a time of crisis has led to entirely new operating models…
Remember how Jackie Ma became a billionaire…
During the SARS outbreak in 2003, because everyone was
afraid to go out, Liu Qiangdong, founder of JD (Jing Dong, one of
China’s largest online retailers), moved the physical stores in
Zhongguancun to an online store. Ma Yun saw the demand for e-commerce
and set up Taobao (Alibaba’s B2C commence platform).
Comparison with the 2003 SARS…
To make a comparison with SARS, China’s GDP was 12 trillion yuan in 2003, but 17 years later China’s GDP has reached 100 trillion yuan, so China’s overall anti-risk capability has increased nearly 10x since then.
Interestingly, a few industries are actually booming, from medical to online education to food delivery. The altered ecosystem during the crisis is forcing people to find new ways of accessing what they need.
Short term vs. Long term.
Despite
the short term effects on many industries across China, it is unlikely
to have a long-term destabilizing impact on China’s economy, which is
already in the midst of a major adjustment, and this event will in many
ways accelerate the pace of adjustment towards adaptability and
resilience.
Many of the concepts below are inspired by the famous
Chinese blogger Shuimuran (水木然) and much of the data and research I have
found through Dr. Shirley Yu, Political Economist from Harvard and the London School of Economics.
1 – Off-line Shopping is Over
Although people in China have already formed the habit of online shopping in the last few years, there are still a few types of products that people still prefer to buy offline.
These last few remaining products are likely to virtually disappear in the coming months after this outbreak. For example, before the outbreak people used to go to the market for fresh groceries, but now buying groceries online has also become the norm.
Shopping on-line has been a staple of Chinese life for the last fifteen years. What has changed is that many “untouchable” items like lettuce and snacks are now being bought on line.
Since shopping is done online, the physical store of the future is no longer centered on “selling products”, but with a shift through New Retail to “providing experiences”.
If the physical store is still designed as a place to sell, then it will lose relevance.
No matter what kind of enterprise, it must have an ability to capture customers online, the traditional way of getting customers, such as cold calls or traditional advertising, have less and less power, and will cost more and more.
As New Generation China Expert Michael Norris has been predicting for years, more and more things will start to be free, and more and more things will start to be infinitely closer to zero direct profit, so businesses have to find alternate ways of generating income streams.
Advertising can be charged more, or partnerships can be created to package and bundle products and services, driving people towards what they are most interested in even if its not your product, but making money by doing so.
Human attention is now the most valuable resource on earth.
2 – Online education will start to replace offline education
Suddenly a whole new possibility has opened up. While before online education was used to supplement offline education, we will begin to see online education starting to replace parts of offline education.
Home schooling via computer will displace more traditional teaching methods.
New models of doing this more effectively are being realized at this very moment, and people are beginning to realize that the time it takes to commute is actually valuable time that could be used to learn.
Just as the internet has changed the circulation path of products, it has also changed the path of knowledge transmission.
Online education democratizes superior educational resources, and this is exactly the core problem of solving Chinese education. Previously, each teacher could only teach in front of dozens or at most hundreds of people, but now a single teacher can reach tens or even hundreds of thousands of people online, and these students come from all over the country, including undeveloped areas that have internet access.
Working remotely will become the norm rather than the exception.
The office leasing market in 2020 will likely drop, with the potential exception of co-working spaces despite the WeWork fiasco.
Online office software will accelerate in popularity, especially the office software that can realize collaborative work. What follows is the online office model. An online China is coming, and China will become the global benchmark for a new kind of office.
Entirely new collaborative tools and features will be released and updated at lighting speed.
Areas of the developed world, such as in Africa, will leapfrog the developed world in adopting these as they have done with digital currencies, and thus in some areas become more competitive.
4 – A More Health Conscious Society Based on Biotech
Chinese people will begin to move their focus away from making money, sacrificing their health for money, seeing the limitations of the 996 work schedule.
Physical and mental health will be the key indicator of a person’s value in the future, and Chinese people will make more conscious decisions about their lifestyles.
The identification, judgment and response of the virus will promote the breakthrough of the whole medicine and medical technology, especially to enhance the awareness and attention of the whole nation on the power of biotech.
This outbreak has shown us the importance of a scientific medical system.
At least initially, the news from Wuhan was all about the shortage of medical resources. The core of medical problems lie in the effective allocation of medical resources, the scheduling ability of medical resources at critical moments, and the coordination and sharing of medical resources.
The social credit network tied to surveillance for safety and security will expand to include health of individuals.
The government will know who is sick when, and sometimes before the individual may even be aware of it themselves. This could come directly in the form of infrared cameras to capture people within a crowd with a fever, or indirectly in the form of the types of products that people buy, predicting health indicators based on big data of others who regularly consume those products.
Thanks to the virus, infrared cameras are now monitoring people at all cross-roads and place of population density. This is useful in the quick and rapid determination of who is sick and who is not.
The healthier one is, through healthy eating, buying health related products and perhaps even exercise equipment or classes, the more likely one is to perform well and be less of a burden on society. This is tricky to measure but as more data rolls in and is analyzed, conclusions can be tested, measured and implemented in rapid iterations.
5 – Accelerated Integration of Smart Cities
Wuhan
is a city with a population of over 11 million, has nine provinces and
was locked down during the Spring Festival travel rush, the largest yearly migration of people on planet earth.
If the situation of every citizen in Wuhan is known, every person can
be accurately tracked and every outflow can be located, then we will
deal with it in a more orderly way.
Facial recognition and social scoring (all tied to police records) is now automatic in Chinese cities. This coupled with video monitoring of dissidents are a powerful tool to combat crime. As was illustrated during the HK riots when the Trump administration officials were tracked, monitored, and recorded cutting deals, and training the “pro-democracy” terrorists.
China’s futuristic smart cities include: traffic management, logistics supply chain, emergency preparedness, and information traceability, which will be fully data-based, and even equipped with artificial intelligence disaster preparedness prediction.
This reflects the management level of the whole society.
With smart cities, China will have more data-backed scientific means of governance.
Modern governance is more and more based on data, with the health and security of the people as the first consideration.
Chinese monitoring software.
After this outbreak, the country will learn from experience and lessons learned, analyze what worked well and develop new systems to build the learnings into the fabric of society.
After this outbreak, we will have the speed of strategic coordination, the speed of wartime research and development, and the speed of public security response.
The advantages of China’s logistics have been fully demonstrated, and supplies in Wuhan have been quickly replenished. Even scarce medical resources have been deployed efficiently across the country, which is truly a miracle of modern logistics.
Alibaba has set up a special fund of 1 billion yuan for medical supplies, which is used to purchase medical supplies at home and abroad.
In addition to the company’s global resource search, Chinese people around the world also launched a global procurement, a batch of supplies from different countries from different flights to China.
The seemingly “frozen” China is actually engaged in epic strategic material allocation. After this outbreak, we will see China’s strategic material coordination capacity not just in crisis but throughout the entire business world.
7 – China has Contingency Plans for its Contingency Plan
In the annual Central Economic Work Conference report formulating economic priorities for 2020, China has emphasized the necessity to be ready for a “contingency plan” for 2020.
This contingency plan would in no way be framed on the basis of a liberal market model, in the event that the “China Model” failed to deliver on what was intended.
In 2019, strategic relationships were developed between Alibaba, Tencent, and the largest state infrastructure and telecom organizations, to help the state upgrade its technological competitiveness as it develops the Belt and Road Initiative.
The “contingency plan” proactively drives China’s economic independence from the US.
This contingency plan is not about market liberalism, but rather increasing state control.
The trade war directly impacts China’s labor market, as manufacturers move out of China. China is recalibrating its global supply chain routes, primarily focusing on its Belt and Road Initiative as well as the EU, to compensate for the loss of trade-related jobs.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The guiding principle from President Xi for China’s booming real estate sector, that properties are for living (within) not (for) investment, will continue in 2020.
There are currently 400 million middle income class (people) in China, and by 2035 (this) is expected to double to 800 million.
In order to drive sustainable consumption in China, structural reforms will need to happen in its healthcare, social welfare and pension systems so the middle class can afford to save less and spend more.
The participation of individuals, enterprises, public welfare organizations and Chinese at home and abroad has formed a systematic collaboration on a scale the human species has never seen before.
China built this second hospital in Wuhan in another ten days.
This creates a global ecosystem of Chinese that can support one another in times of crisis and cooperate when things settle down.
There is also an increasing realization that China is speeding ahead of the rest of the world…
… and it’s verified by Chinese who live or regularly travel abroad, constantly sharing memes of how backwards and slow the “developed world” actually is in many ways.
San Francisco, USA.
This strengthens national pride and solidarity within China, even though they see the benefits of being abroad like healthy air, safe food and uncrowded scenic nature sites.
9 – Chinese Companies will Push to Expand Abroad
Chinese companies will start looking more actively to do business abroad to diversify their markets the same way a wise investor diversifies his portfolio to dampen the effect of a crisis.
Huawei is leading the pack here swimming upstream against a lot of pressure, and doing remarkably well despite the international controversy. But Huawei is just the first of many Chinese companies that will expand beyond its borders in the next decade.
Not all companies have the resilience or reach of Huawei and will direct their attention more towards developing economies who are more open to Chinese products.
We’ll see more examples of Chinese companies like this that leverage the advantages of the Chinese tech infrastructure and applying them to meet the unmet needs of markets outside China, particularly developing economies.
The familiarity and integration with these forms of infrastructure will give them an advantage that will make it difficult for Western competitors to compete with. This will be similar in the same way that it has been difficult over the last decade for Chinese companies to compete with the likes of Google, Facebook or Apple. Of course, due to market penetration and foundational platforms that gave them the edge.
Huawei influence map.
Of the 195 sovereign nations recognized by the UN, Huawei currently has contractual relationships with 172 countries, engulfing the developing world.
The top strategic priority for Huawei will be to capture the developed world in 2020.
American proxies; independent nations in name only.
Whether Huawei’s push through Europe can succeed will be a fundamental test of China’s technological power as well as a test of the increasingly fragile relationships of the West.
The UK, against the will of the US, has now partially let Huawei in to develop their 5G infrastructure, but is doing their best to keep them out of areas that may compromise national security.
One challenging event at the beginning of 2020, while it has slowed China down, is not going to stop China from reaching its goal of being a fully developed country by 2050.
Girl takes a selfie with a Chinese robot.
Seen on the scale of decades, or the Chinese long-term view of centuries, the coronavirus crisis will be but a blip on the radar.
Since ancient times, the Chinese nation has encountered a host of disasters, and yet remains an indomitable nation, rising from abject poverty in the last few decades, returning to reclaim its place as one of the most powerful countries on earth.
This outbreak is an opportunity for China to evolve. It will be a test of China’s economic and social relations, its people and government relations, and China’s relations with the world.
China has already impressed the world with its ability to rapidly mobilize at scale to build the hospitals in Wuhan, and these moves are but a small taste of what is to come.
Let’s support the Chinese people in this time of crisis. The #ChinaDream starts in China, but will end up supporting the dreams of those all over the world.
With love and gratitude,
#Fionn
_______
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My Conclusions
You will not see anything like this on the American media. Whether it is the main-steam media, the Alt-Left or the Alt-Right media. But just because the media will not provide similar articles does not mean that the events are not occurring.
This is what is REALLY going on.
American media is designed to control, corral and manipulate the American citizenry. Much like the old former Soviet propaganda was used against the Russian people. You can see this when the media is reporting on events that you, yourself, are witnessing with your own two eyes.
But, you know, Americans do need to see the world as it actually is.
Some of it might be pleasant to observe, while others are ugly.
Some like the Uighur situation are “opportunities” for great wealth-building. If you are educated, and aware of what is really going on, you can become filthy rich, instead of the force-fed anti-China narrative and hide in fear about “re-education camps and the poor abused Muslims”.
Others, are signs of danger that you must take heed of, like the risks of hiring “diversity experts” (in a company) instead of talented experienced engineers, scientists and designers. (You know, for diversity, and to fight “white privilege”.)
For Americans to survive the growth pains of a new global situation, they must be educated through sources no longer tainted by the manipulative oligarchy. I do hope that you learn something in what I have to say.
The world is not a horrible, deep dark place, but there are under-currents of events that are transpiring that only the strong, the well-equipped and the flexible can survive.
So be strong. Be flexible. Be well equipped.
Take care, and BEST REGARDS.
Metallicman ready to take on the coronavirus.
If you enjoyed this post, fell free to check out some similar posts on my China index…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
The word medieval is often treated as synonymous with filth, lawlessness and brutality. In particular the recent actions of ISIS and their treatment of prisoners have been called 'medieval’ by journalists, commentators and bloggers alike. But why do we do this, and is it fair?
-History Today
While many of us are grateful for the 40-hour work week, Medieval peasants worked far less than even that.
When professor Juliet Schor released her book, The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, the average American was shocked. According to her research, they were working more days and taking fewer vacation days than a medieval peasant.
Americans are working harder, and being rewarded less, than a Medieval serf.
Now, her scholarly presentation was correct. American life has migrated far, far away from what it was like during Medieval times. There are good and bad things about this. But we need to put things into perspective. Because most Americans have a very warped idea of what life was like in the past.
American Misconceptions…
Americans mistakenly believe that Medieval life was far, far different than the lives we live today. I counter the opposite. Aside from technology and medicine, socially and economically, we are identical.
Let’s get rid of some misconceptions…
Typical Misconception 1. Peasants were a single class of people who were more or less equal to one another.
It's easy to think that people in the Middle Ages were easily divided into very broad classes: royals, nobles, knights, clergy, and toiling peasants at the very bottom. But just because you didn't have "king," "lord," "sir," "father," or "brother" (or their female analogs) in front of your name doesn't mean you weren't concerned with your own social standing. There are vast classes of people whom, today, we might generally refer to as "peasants," but there were actually various classes of people within that broad category.
Mortimer points out that, in 14th-century England, for example, you have your villeins, people bonded to a particular lord's land. Villeins were not considered free folk, and they could be sold with the lord's land. And free folk were of a variety of social and economic classes. A freeholder, for example, might become successful enough to rent a lord's manor, essentially acting as a lord himself. And, in a village, a few families might hold the majority of the political power, supplying most of the local officers. We may tend to think of these people as "peasants," but they had much more complicated ways of thinking of themselves, with all the class anxiety that goes with that.
Much like today. American society is stratified. America hardly has a middle class. Most of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few elite. The rest of us fight against each other for the “table scraps” thrown to the side by “trickle down economics”.
Misconception 2. Inns were public houses with big common halls below and rooms above.
There are few images as firmly rooted in pseudo-Medieval fantasy as the tavern inn. You and your party enjoy a few flagons of ale in the main room, hear all the local gossip, then go up to your private rented chamber where you'd sleep (alone or with a lover) on a lumpy mattress.
That image isn't wholly fiction, but the truth is a bit more complicated — not to mention interesting. In Medieval England, if you combined a city inn with an alehouse, you'd probably get something resembling that fantasy inn. There were inns where you could rent a bed (or, more likely, a space in a bed), and these inns did have halls for eating and drinking. But these were not public houses; innkeepers were generally permitted to serve food and drink only to their guests. And, Mortimer points out, you would likely find a single room with several beds, beds that could fit up to three people. It was only in the most upscale inns that you'd find chambers with just one or two beds.
There were establishments for drinking in these cities as well: taverns for wine and alehouses for ale. Of the two, alehouses were the rowdier establishments, more likely to function as your Medieval Mos Eisley. But ale and cider were often made at home as well; a husband might expect his wife to be skilled in brewing. The Gieses note in Life in a Medieval Village that a tavern in an English village was often someone's home. Once your neighbor opened up a fresh batch of ale, you might go to their house, pay a few pennies, and sit and drink with your fellow villagers.
There are other options for accommodations as well. Travelers could expect the hospitality of people of equal or lesser social class, enjoying their food and beds in exchange for tales from the road and a tip. (Mortimer says that, if you were lucky enough to stay with a 14-century merchant, the digs were much nicer than any inn.) Or you might go to a hospital, which was not just for healing, but also for hospitality.
Like America today, there are all sorts of accommodation. Is the modern housing APPs any different from the medieval arrangement? It’s just a modern equivalent.
Misconception 3. You would never see a woman engaged in a trade such as armorer or merchant.
Certainly, some fantasy stories will cast women in equal (or relatively equal) positions to men, carrying out the same sorts of trades that men might carry out. But in many fictional stories, a woman who makes armor or sells good would seem out of place — although this does not universally reflect Medieval reality. In England, a widow could take up the trade of her dead husband — and Mortimer specifically cites tailor, armorer, and merchant as trades open to widows. Some female merchants were actually quite successful, managing international trading ventures with impressive capital.
Women engaged in criminal activity as well, including banditry. Many criminal gangs in Medieval England consisted of families, including wives with their husbands and sisters with their brothers.
Men and women shared and swapped roles in the past, much we do today. There is nothing new or progressive about that.
Misconception 4. People had horrible table manners, throwing bones and scraps on the floor.
Sorry, even in the Middle Ages, members of polite society, from kings to villeins, followed certain etiquette, and that etiquette involved good table manners. In fact, depending on when and where and with whom you were eating, you might have to follow very strict procedures for eating and drinking. Here's a tip: If a lord passes you his cup at the dinner table, it's a sign of his favor. Accept it, backwash and all, and pass it back to him after you've had a sip.
Manners are part of the human condition. While they might vary from society to society, manners follow us everywhere.
Misconception 5. People distrusted all forms of magic and witches were frequently burned.
In some fantasy stories, magic is readily accepted by everyone as a fact of life. In others, magic is treated with suspicion at best or as blasphemy at worst. You might even hear the Biblical edict, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
But not all claims of magic in the Middle Ages were treated as heresy. In her essay "Witches and the Myth of the Medieval 'Burning Time,'" from Misconceptions About the Middle Ages, Anita Obermeier tells us that during the 10th century, the Catholic Church wasn't interested in trying witches for heresy; it was more interested in eradicating heretical superstitions about "night-flying creatures."
And in 14th-century England, you might consult a magician or a witch for some minor "magical" task, such as finding a lost object. In Medieval England, at least, magic without any heretical components was tolerated. Eventually, the late 15th century would give rise to the Spanish Inquisition, and we do see witches hunted down.
Witch burnings weren't unheard of in the Middle Ages, but they weren't common, either. Obermeier explains that, in the 11th century, sorcery was treated as a secular crime, but the church would issue several reprimands before it would resort to burning. She puts the first burning for heresy at 1022 in Orleans and the second at 1028 in Monforte. It's rare in the 11th and 12th centuries, but becomes a more common punishment in the 13th century for relapsed heretics. However, it depends where you are. In the 14th century, you probably won't be burned as a witch in England, but you may very well get the stake in Ireland.
Much like today. You might have trouble finding a practitioner of the Black Arts in the Southern American states, but you won’t have problems in New Orleans. Or Los Angles. Or Detroit. Or New York. Or Baltimore.
Misconception 6. Men's clothing was always practical and functional.
Yes, Medieval people of various classes were interested in fashion, and sometimes fashion — particularly men's fashion — got pretty absurd. Early clothing is more functional, but during the 14th century, men's fashions in England were both body-bearing and rather experimental. Corsets and garters were common for men, and increasingly, popular fashions encouraged men to show off the shape of their hips and legs. Some aristocratic men wore gowns with sleeves so long they were in danger of tripping on the cuffs. It became fashionable to wear shoes with extraordinarily long toes — one such shoe, imported from Bohemia, had twenty-inch toes that needed to be tied to a man's garters. There was even a fad of wearing one's mantle so that the head went through the arm hole rather than the head hole, with the sleeves functioning as a voluminous collar.
It's also important to note that fashions would trickle down from royalty, through the aristocracy, and down to the common folk. In the seasons after a fashion appeared among the nobility, a less expensive version would appear among those of lesser stations. In fact, sumptuary laws were passed in London to prevent people from dressing above their stations. For example, a common woman in 1330s London was not permitted to line her hood with anything but lambskin or rabbit fur, or risk losing her hood.
Much like today. The fashions might change, but the importance of having them is a time honored standard.
Misconception 7. Servants were all low-class people.
Actually, if you were a high-ranking individual, chances are that you had high-ranking servants. A lord might send his son to serve in another lord's manor — perhaps that of his wife's brother. The son would receive no income, but would still be treated as the son of a lord. A lord's steward might actually be a lord himself. Your status in society isn't just based on whether or not you were a servant, but also your familial status, whom you served, and what your particular job was.
Something you might not expect about servants in English households in the late Middle Ages: they were overwhelmingly male. Mortimer points to the earl of Devon's household, which had 135 members, but only three women. With the exception of a washerwoman (who didn't live in the household), the staffers were all men, even in households headed by women.
Most Americans today fall in the below-middle class; the serf and slave classes. We do not have servants.
However, the wealthy do. If you were to poll the wealthy Democrat politicians in America today, you would discover that their contemporaneous servants would indeed fit the Medieval model.
Misconception 8. Medicine was based on pure superstition.
Admittedly, if you're looking outside of Game of Thrones, a lot of healing in fantasy novels is just plain magical. You've got your cleric class who gets their healing from the gods, and otherwise you might have someone on hand who can dress a wound or make a poultice.
And yes, a lot of Medieval medicine was based on what we would consider today mystical bunk. A great deal of diagnosis involved astrology and humoral theory. Blood letting was a respected method of treatment, and many of the curatives were not only useless — they were downright dangerous. And while there were medical colleges, extraordinarily few physicians were able to attend.
Still, some aspects of Medieval medicine were logical even by modern standards. Wrapping smallpox in scarlet cloth, treating gout with colchicum, using camomile oil for an earache — these were all effective treatments. And while the notion of a barber-surgeon is a horrifying one to many of us, some of those surgeons were actually quite talented. John of Arderne employed anesthetics in his practice, and many surgeons were skilled in couching cataracts, sewing abscesses, and setting bones.
Not so different from today. While American “big pharma” and high technology has saturated American culture, practitioners of chiropractic techniques, acupuncture, herbal medicine and Chinese traditional medicine abound.
Misconception 9. The most powerful military force consisted of armored knights riding into battle.
James G. Patterson, in his essay "The Myth of the Mounted Knight" from Misconceptions About the Middle Ages, explains that while the image of the mounted knight might have been a popular one during Medieval times, it didn't match the reality of warfare. Armored cavalry, he explains, can be incredibly useful — even devastating — against untrained revolutionaries, but they were far less useful against a trained foreign infantry. Rather, ground forces, including knights on foot who frequently served as officers, were invaluable in battle. Even during the Crusades, when the image of the mounted knight seemed synonymous with glory in battle, most the actual battles involved sieges.
In the 14th century, English warfare focused increasingly on archery. In fact, Edward III prohibited football in 1331 and then again in 1363 in part because people were spending too much time playing football and not enough time practicing their archery. The English archers were able to repel many a French cavalry force.
Aside from technological differences, force mixtures, arrays and alignments remain the same.
Misconception 10. Only men's sexual pleasure was important.
A common belief during the Middle Ages was that women were more lustful than men. A lot more lustful, in fact. Rape was a crime in 14th century Medieval England, but not between spouses. A wife could not legally refuse her husband's advances, but a husband could not refuse his wife's advances either. The popular belief was that women were always longing for sex, and that it was bad for their health not to have intercourse regularly. A woman's orgasm was also important; another common belief was that a woman could not conceive without an orgasm. (Unfortunately, this also made rape impossible to prosecute if the victim became pregnant; Medieval English scholars believed women's bodies had a way of, in the modern parlance, shutting things down.)
So what was an unmarried woman to do? Well, if she couldn't find a husband, the English physician John of Gaddesden recommended that she find a midwife who could get the job done manually.
Men and women both have sexual needs that must be met.
As I have stated, the point must be made clear that aside from differences in technology and culture, mankind has not really matured away from what it was one thousand years ago.
Americans, aside from technology advancements, live within the same kind of ruler – serf arrangement that existed during Medieval times.
Thus, subtracting those influences, we can compare life between the two times. We can compare lifestyle, leisure and freedom. However, when we take a look with these new eyes of ours, we become astounded.
Americans are working more days and taking fewer vacation days than a medieval peasant.
The numbers.
Unfortunately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest available data only supports this notion. Indeed, the average annual hours worked by Americans in 2017 reached 1,780, whereas an adult male peasant in the United Kingdom worked an average of 1,620.
Let’s take a closer look at why we work 160 hours more than the average serf.
Productivity vs. Annual hours of work.
Because the need for agricultural labor in the Middle Ages was season-dependent, the average peasant had about eight weeks to half the year off.
Plus, the Church knew the opportunity to rest would keep workers happy and orderly, so they ordered frequent mandatory holidays.
Farm life painted by Norman Rockwell.
The 70 to 80-hour work week for the average 19th-century laborer in the industrial revolution was actually a deviation from the ways of their medieval predecessors. Arguing for an eight-hour workday was not so much a push for the progressive, but a return to the ways of yore.
Indeed, medieval peasants enjoyed a less rigid workday.
Meals weren’t rushed and the afternoon might call for a nap.
“The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed,” said Schor. “Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure.”
Feeding time.
Work hours weren’t as rigid back then due to a variety of factors including season-dependent tasks.
A 16th-century Bishop wrote of the average workday of his time…
“The labouring man will take his rest in the morning; a good piece of the day is spent afore he come at his work; then he must have his breakfast…
At noon he must have his sleeping time,
then his bever in the afternoon, which spendeth a great part of the day;
and when his hour cometh at night, at the first stroke of the clock he casteth down his tools, leaveth his work, in what need or case soever the work standeth.”
While we may be accustomed to images of medieval peasants toiling away from dawn until dusk and be convinced from this that we have it better than they ever did — a 13th-century laborer could have up to 25 weeks off per year.
For reference, the average American worker has 16 days of vacation per year.
Life was slower, the pace was slower. People were more content.
“Consider a typical working day in the medieval period,” said Schor. “It stretched from dawn to dusk (sixteen hours in summer and eight in winter), but, as Bishop Pilkington has noted, work was intermittent…
… called to halt for breakfast, lunch, the customary afternoon nap, and dinner. Depending on time and place, there were also mid-morning and mid-afternoon refreshment breaks.”
A milk maid and her cows.
Additionally, the medieval calendar was also one of many official
Church-going holidays which were always considered mandatory. In total,
leisure time in medieval England took up probably about one-third of the
year.
The U.S. is the only advanced country with no national vacation policy.
Vacation days around the world by employee contract.
But since the Reagan era, the security of long-term employment has steadily declined.
Our generation has become accustomed to hopping from job to job and adding a part-time gig on top as to combat the fears of a fluctuation economy. With a Great Recession ingrained in our psyche, vacations seem like a luxury.
The United States is the only first-world country without a national
vacation policy, after all. Millions work on public holidays and don’t
use their vacation days for fear of retribution. With a horrific lack of
standardized, easily accessible healthcare — sick days and vacation
days often blend together.
According to the World Economic Forum,
the Greeks have the longest work week in the European Union (EU).
Granted, they’ve struggled with a terrible economy in recent years which
could explain the additional effort.
The simple life.
However, Germany is second to last in the EU when it comes to annual
hours worked and has a generous work model in place. It is, nonetheless,
an economic behemoth. An average German works 1,363 hours per year
which goes to show that vacation days might actually improve a nation’s
GDP.
The Peasant Wedding by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1567 or 1568. The Medieval calendar set aside vacations for saints’ days, weddings, church holidays, rest days, and more.
Indeed, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine,
which conducted a nine-year experiment, the frequency of annual
vacations is directly “associated with a reduced risk of all-cause
mortality” and concluded that “vacationing may be good for your health.”
Paid vacations and paid holidays in different nations.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the United States Congress is getting more vacation days than the average American citizen. According to Thought Co., its members make a base salary of $174,000 and work fewer than half of the days in a year — and this is perhaps not even to mention this years shut down.
Congressmen, and Senators in Washington DC live lavish lifestyles and lord over Americans like Kings over peasants.
Now…
You would think that any “red blooded” American man would say “take this job and shove it” to their employer for not giving them vacation and sick time, and having to wait a full one year to take it. But that never happens.
American’s don’t do that.
Because…
Most Americans Are Up To Their Eyeballs In Debt
In the United States, it has been common to pay via credit card for almost anything, but the use of credit cards hasn’t been as widely accepted in other places around the world.
A decade ago, you couldn’t pay for much in Germany with them, and the same is true of many European and Asian nations, though they are growing in popularity.
For Americans, credit and debt are simply a way of life.
A large part of American culture is capitalist consumer-driven markets, which means, Americans like to buy stuff, and they often do so via some form of credit. Why wait to buy a new computer when you can pay it off with some interest over the next five years?
Shepherdess watching over her flock.
The main reason it’s not a great idea has to do with an accumulation of debt.
Americans buy one thing, then another, and another, and before they know what they’ve done, they owe an average of $38,000 in debt, and the trend is showing an increase.
$38K is already a huge number for most people, but if you add it up, it shows just how deep the nation is in debt.
Americans cannot get the lifestyle they deserve because they are chained to dept, like indentured serfs working on a plantation.
When you take that average and factor in the population and demographic information, the nation as a whole owes $4,000,000,000,000 in all forms of consumer debt.
That number includes credit card debt, which has an average interest rate of 17.41%. The bottom line: Americans are drowning in debt, and the problem is worsening.
Americans cannot get the lifestyle they deserve because they are chained to dept, like indentured serfs working on a plantation.
Being indentured slaves is problematic. It creates a situation whereas you have a stratification of society.
Indentured slaves work for the ruling class.
Ruling class lives a life of ease and comfort.
If you do not fit into either of those two classes, you become homeless.
Thus, in America…
Homelessness And Wealth Distribution Is A Serious Problem
Homelessness is a problem all over the world, and while you can find it in developed nations like the UK and France, the United States has far more in contrast to other developed Western nations – with the exception of the other oligarchy; the UK.
Selected nations and their homelessness compared.
As of 2018, about 0.17% of the American population was living on the streets, and while that doesn’t seem like a lot, it amounts to more than 553,000 people.
The states with the most homeless people are California, New York, Florida, Washington, Oregon, and Texas; coincidentally, most of these states have higher amounts of population density, but they also have some of the wealthiest people in the country.
Homeless in the United States.
Homelessness is a serious problem, and fortunately, there are people and organizations working to help provide temporary and permanent housing to displaced Americans.
The most obvious question is if the United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, why are so many people homeless?
The complicated economics of the States doesn’t offer a simple answer, but there is an obvious disparity between the wealthiest people and the folks who have nothing.
Because the number of Americans who are insanely wealthy remains low, the top 1% of wealthy Americans hold 40% of the total national wealth.
America is stratified into the Ruler class (Kings) and serfs. Those that do not fit within those two classes are social outcasts and homeless.
Now, all of this high concentration of wealth into the hand of a few means that the rest of the people make do with less. Less money is available for repair. Less money is available for healthcare. Less money is available for maintenance, and less money is available for new things.
You can this how the money disappears when you witness the absence of proper resource allocation…
The United States Has A Crumbling Infrastructure
Contemporaneous American bridge.
If it took a long time for this page to load and get to the article, you may be somewhere in the United States.
Despite being the country chiefly responsible for inventing what became the Internet, the US languishes behind many other nations in terms of download speeds.
The United States ranks 38th out of 141 nations on the Speed-test Global Index. The country falls just below Portugal and sits on top of Spain. The main reason the US has poor Internet is due to the cost of overhauling the telecommunications infrastructure, but that’s not the only part of American infrastructure that’s lacking; the roads, bridges, dams, water, and power systems are all falling apart, and nobody wants to pay to have them fixed.
Countries with the fastest internet.
The politicians talk about fixing infrastructure all the time, but nothing has come out of it.
Meanwhile, 47,000 bridges are in serious need of repair with the possibility of a catastrophic failure should a rather large pigeon fire some droppings on the wrong platform.
HK-China bridge. The Chinese have invested heavily on their infrastructure.
Roads are also a serious problem, and the effect is noticeable if you drive down any major highway in the United States. The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation determined that 42,000 road deaths were the result of potholes and other road maintenance issues.
A lack of healthy infrastructure is a “sure fire” sign of a ruler-serf government.
What other indicators are there?
Well, the ruler-serf arrangement is not stable – historically speaking. So efforts are made to control the bulk of the population using laws, rules and strong policing efforts. Laws are made to prevent the people from overthrowing the government. Not to improve the lives of the people.
The way that you can judge the degree of ruler-serf control is…
…is to look at the size of the prison / jail / parole population.
Thus…
The US Has The Largest Prison Population In The World
Americans have the greatest chance of being incarcerated than anyone else in the entire world.
This statistic is widely known, but it’s likely most Americans aren’t aware of just how bad the penal system in the country is.
The United States has more imprisoned people than any other nation on the planet.
For every 100,000 citizens, 724 are in prison, and when you see that number, it may not look large, but for China, their number is only 118 out of 100K.
The number becomes an even bigger problem when accounting for the total population of prisoners in the States, which is around 2.2 million, and the jail occupancy rate is at 107.6%, meaning they are overcrowded and insufficient to house what amounts to the equivalent population of Macedonia.
The rest of the world will not arrest you for having a lemonade stand in your front yard, jay walking, or riding in a car without a seatbelt. They will not demand you report your earnings and expenses every year to them. They will permit you to live your life.
Overcrowding is just one of the many problems facing incarcerated Americans; another major concern revolves around the fact that more than 21% of incarcerated people haven’t been sentenced with a crime. Doing so usually takes a long time.
You see, if a person can’t afford bail, they have to remain in prison until they’re sentenced, even if they are ultimately acquitted of a crime. This essentially means that because everyone is innocent until proven guilty, the United States has more than 460,000 innocent people in jail.
Conclusion
Being a serf in the middle ages, for most Americans, would be an improvement over their lives today.
The pleasures of spending time with family and loved ones, a slower pace, and good food and drink are not appreciated by Americans today.
Both situations; serfhood under a modern progressive oligarchy, or serfhood under a King, are similar. The differences lie in technology and lifestyle.
While life in the middle ages didn’t have all the modern inventions and advancements that we take for granted, their pace of life, lifestyle and easy-going happy-go-lucky life had advantages that Americans today can only dream about.
We are not machines. Toss away that progressive modern Marxist ideal. It has no place within your life.
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American elites remain out of touch with everyone, our institutions are broken, and some people on the Left and the Right are still in denial about how bad things have gotten. Yet, they continue to play their games, oblivious that they are treading on dangerous territory. As the rest of the world has gotten stronger, better, healthier, the United States has grown corrupt, slothful, and evil. Eventually there will be a point where these two dichotomies will cross.
It will probably be the result of some American “push” which would involve military action (of some sort) designed to exert pressure on a major Asian nation. This is already ongoing, but at some point in time, it will get “hot” and “loud”. As such, America is unprepared to the consequences that will result.
Here we talk about this.
Not the first to say that America is going to collapse…
I am not the first to point this out.
I do believe that it is the most obvious thing on the face of the planet. What I argue, in other postings, is that this collapse is inevitable. And as such, it should be “managed” so that a “new and improved” America may result.
(It’s) Sort of like Isaac Asimov’s foundation series of stories..
It is 12,020 G.E. (Galactic Era). For more than 12,000 years, the human race—thanks to hyper-space traveling technology—has colonized the Milky Way Galaxy in the form of a far-reaching Galactic Empire.
The Galactic Empire, whose failures have started to outnumber its successes, is still able to hide its faltering behind the Gordion Knot of a social, economical and political mess comprised of millions of habitable worlds and over 500 quadrillion people.
The oppressive and authoritarian rule of Emperor Cleon I is at its peak.
Young mathematician Hari Seldon, hailing from a backwater planet called Helicon, arrives at the Galactic Capital, Trantor, to present his latest research at a mathematical convention.
Having become associate professor at a considerably young age, Seldon proposes a new field of science that could be used to predict the future actions of the galactic society and humanity.
He cites the law of mass action, explaining that advance mathematical calculations can analyze the aggregate behavioral data of an enormous number of people to deduce the patterns of behavior of the masses.
- Asimov 101: Your Ultimate Guide to the 'Foundation' Series
Of course, the wealthy elite, and the “deep state” won’t have any of this.
They still want to maintain the pre-2016 uni-party oligarchy. But forces, far larger than their desires have set things in motion.
It’s like a large locomotive that is on the path to smash right into a solid granite mountain. It cannot be stopped easily.
Other opinions on this, from both the Left and the Right side of the political spectrum have written about this. You can read some of these articles here…
Not the first to say that America cannot win World War III…
Like my statement that America is in decline, others have also voiced agreement that America is not equipped to fight a major war against a major superpower.
Well, here is yet another article, and I think it is pretty well-written and I would like to include it here.
Check it out…
The following is an article titled “Why America Is Set to Lose the Next War” and it was penned by Angelo Codevilla. It’s quite good. All credit to the author, and I would recommend a visit to the American Mind website from whence it was first published.
Our elite forces are not so elite.
News that the wargames which the RAND corporation runs for the U.S. government show U.S. forces getting “its ass handed to it” by Russia and China have elicited disbelief: “how could this possibly be?”
The short answer is that the U.S. armed forces are utterly corrupt: the very definition of parade ground forces, superbly equipped, fabulously paid (to look good)—but utterly incapable of winning the wars that our even more corrupt national security establishment defines for them.
Corrupt, and un-serious.
Specifically: U.S. forces fail in the wargames, and would fare worse in real life, because they would be sent to fight the Chinese for control of the Western Pacific, and Russia for control of areas west of the Niemen river, as well as north of Crimea.
The Chinese and Russians, respectively, would enjoy advantages in these areas.
U.S. forces, configured as they are because of inter- and intra-Service corporate priorities, because of military-industrial collusion, and above all because of the national security establishment’s self-regarding prejudices and proclivities, are not based, sized, or equipped seriously to contest those advantages.
Above all, they lack realistic plans for doing so.
In sum, U.S. forces would lose these wars because of classic mismatches between ends and means. All entirely foreseeable. I repeat: Corruption.
The wargames dealt only with operational/tactical factors on the conventional level in the theaters of operation. But China and Russia are nuclear powers whose missiles can deliver nuclear warheads to the U.S.
Neither has been shy about pointing out that they might force the U.S. to choose between its objective in their back yard and the loss of one or more American cities.
Moreover, longstanding U.S. policy, most recently reaffirmed in 2019, is not to have any equipment that can defend against Russian or Chinese missiles.
If, perchance, Chinese or Russian forces should have difficulty disposing of U.S. challenges, raising the nuclear specter would surely force the U.S. side to reconsider why we engaged in war in others’ back yards without the capacity to protect ourselves at home.
Since nuclear weapons are fully integrated into Russia’s ground forces, this rude awakening would likely come in the course of ordinary operations.
On the Chinese side, we might well see the annihilation of Guam. But, one might respond, “U.S. nuclear missile forces are so superior to China’s!” Sure. Superior for what? What good would killing a couple of million Chinese do?
What forces against what, where, to do what, is the nub
of the military matter. The Chinese and Russians, respectively, have
good strategic, operational, and tactical answers. The U.S. side does
not.
The Chinese want to control the Western Pacific militarily largely from the land. They began by building hundreds, perhaps thousands, of medium-range missiles able to cover the sea out to the eastern edge of Taiwan, making them largely invulnerable by emplacing them in caves or on mobile platforms.
To this they added excellent aircraft with cruise missiles, and diesel-electric submarines that would be placed—still and quiet—to wait for the U.S. carriers.
Then, they developed the DF-21, a ballistic missile that can adjust course on re-entry and kill a carrier with a nuclear warhead.
And then, they pushed that defensive envelope outward by building a network of artificial islands in the South China Sea, the military value of each exceeding that of several carriers.
China’s control exists.
To try undoing it with current bases and equipment, the U.S. would have to send at least four irreplaceable carrier battle groups across the Pacific to battle their way through Chinese defenses.
The full health of America’s satellite network is a prerequisite for such an attempt.
But the Chinese are certain to attack that network. Since the U.S. has precisely zero means of protecting against kinetic ASATs, we must assume something less than precise functioning of numerically vastly inferior forces whose perfect functioning is essential to their operation in an enemy environment.
Guam, and Yokosuka, over a thousand miles away from the action, would be the only nearby bases.
The U.S. has studiously avoided fortifying Taiwan.
But even assuming perfect functioning, the U.S. offensive in the Western Pacific would consist of a contest of attrition, in which China has the overwhelming advantage. There is no substitute for strategic vision.
China has it, the U.S. does not.
On the Russian side, the strategic objective is equally clear: maintain superiority in an area well known to, and easily reached by, the home team against what the Americans can bring from far away.
The area east of Poland, between Lithuania and northern Ukraine, was the scene of the great Soviet summer 1944 offensive that crushed the Wehrmacht.
One or perhaps two combat brigades would be the maximum that the U.S. could deploy to that area, probably by air through Warsaw.
Russian operations would consist of encirclement by land and denial of resupply by air through its formidable S-400 air defense system. Russian operations envisage a minimum of combat and maximal exploitation of the theater’s distance from U.S. power.
The operational objective would be to turn U.S. troops into hostages.
The same would apply to the southern theater—except that U.S. operations there would be aided by a U.S. carrier battle group in the Black Sea—another reservoir of hostages.
For a half century, the U.S. military-industrial-national-security establishment has been getting America’s collective ass kicked around the world. As patriotic Americans have bled, their superiors have gone to Valhallas in their retirement villas and as experts on Fox News.
It’s past time for Americans to realize how overpraised and overpaid this bunch really are.
Angelo Codevilla is a Senior Fellow of the Claremont Institute and professor emeritus of International Relations at Boston University.
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necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
History repeats. It’s often frightening just how it repeats.
We do not really know how the French aristocracy felt and acted during the months leading up to the French revolution. Few penned records survive. We do know, however, that the wealthy elite dismissed the reports. They called them “deplorable peasants” and instead of admonishing them to “learn to code” they told them “to eat cake”.
Rather than get involved in a discussion of how the successful French kept themselves isolated from the “ignorant Neo-peasant riff-Raff”, let’s look at how a similar situation is manifesting today in America.
The following is a great write-up. It is titled “Our Elites Are Steering Us Towards Civil War” and it was written by Glenn Ellmers when he posted it on 01.07.2020. All credit to the author. I would suggest everyone to visit the original site and give them a look around. Some really good stuff there.
They are as clueless as the ancien régime.
Along with the Upper West Side of Manhattan and a few other redoubts, my suburban neighborhood near the Maryland border represents the heart of what some pundits call the “blue church.”
It is increasingly a dream world.
I drop in periodically at Politics and Prose, a prominent bookstore
in Northwest D.C., to browse and shop. Lately I find it more and more
difficult to avoid eavesdropping on the conversations of the elderly
white women (lifelong Democrats, of course) who make up 80% of the
regular clientele.
Not that I try especially hard to tune out, because it is fascinating to hear what they say in their unguarded chit-chat.
No Japanese soldier on a remote Philippine island in 1947, oblivious
to the emperor’s surrender, was more disconnected from the real world
than these educated, well-spoken women. They read the Washington Post and listen to NPR every day, and therefore have no idea that they are imprisoned on a kind of island of the mind.
The bookstore’s regular customers, mostly retired professionals, are
the kind of well-to-do urbanites that used to be called limousine
liberals. But my bibliophile neighbors, with their casual shoes and
canvas tote bags, generally prefer a Prius to a limo. Even so, they
enjoy lives of comfortable physical ease, security, and culturally
enriched leisure. One might think this would make them nice. And on many
topics (grandchildren, for instance) they are.
But their conversations turn easily and often to politics—in particular, the illegitimacy of our odious president and the racist underclass that elected him—and then their tone becomes suddenly and shockingly nasty. That nastiness arises in part, no doubt, from an aversion to an uncomfortable truth: that the cozy world of these coastal urban elites is far from natural or normal.
It is the product of an artificial, often dishonest patchwork of legal, political, and cultural practices that have been distinctly unfair to millions of disenfranchised Americans.
It was said of the ancien régime—the nobility that reigned prior to the French Revolution—that “they learned nothing and forgot nothing.”
In his monumental book on Lincoln and the principles of self-government, A New Birth of Freedom(2000), the late Claremont professor Harry Jaffa expounds on this observation:
“They could forget nothing, namely their undeserved and socially useless privileges; and they could learn nothing, namely that their fellow countrymen would no longer tolerate the continuance of their privileges.”
One might think that this world of artificial nobility is dead and
gone. But in deep-blue sanctuaries like my local bookstore—that bubble
of bubbles, the summa bubblica of America’s leftist oligarchy—a version of this same decayed aristocracy is still holding on.
These liberal ladies (and a few distinctly milky gentlemen) are
harmless enough in one sense. They aren’t abusing the working class in
any direct or obvious way—certainly not in their own minds! Unlike the
French gentry, they do not dwell in ostentatious luxury while serfs
labor in hunger. Even less are they complicit in anything like the
gruesome brutality of chattel slavery in the Old South.
Still, they do partake in their own shallow way of an intellectual and moral presumption that is not at all harmless. Like every privileged class in history, they are convinced that they deserve what they have, however slight their own efforts may have been in the smooth glide-path of their lives.
The recognition of unearned privilege can sometimes turn
psychologically sideways, with sublimated guilt erupting into
destructive revolutionary fervor. Rarely, alas, does it flower into
genuine humility and charity. But the complacent retirees with whom I
rub elbows are not directing their unconscious guilt (if they have any)
into overthrowing the system.
To the contrary, the oligarchy they represent frantically wants to preserve, or bring back, the pre-2016 uni-party establishment in which they flourished. Because they cannot comprehend that their fellow countrymen will no longer tolerate their socially useless sinecures, they retreat ever further into monasteries of self-deception.
But this cannot continue; something must give, and it seems ever likelier that the way forward will be rough.
In New Birth and other writings over the course of his long
career teaching political philosophy, Jaffa explained that the American
Founders solved the crisis of religious warfare (which had plagued
Europe for centuries) through the separation of church and state. The
power of government would no longer be used by believers who were in
authority to persecute different believers who were out of authority.
Yet the danger of religious warfare can return in secular form when
people no longer agree on the basic principles of republican government
and regard each other as political heretics rather than fellow citizens.
“Elections,” Jaffa wrote, “may properly decide only between those whose
differences of opinion are not differences of principle.”
For example, in 1861 the Confederacy endorsed the idea of slavery as a
“positive good.” This doctrine of “you work, I eat” replaced the equal
natural rights doctrine of the Declaration of Independence as the
South’s new faith. Driven by this alternate conception of politics based
on inequality, many of the slave states rejected the results of Lincoln’s election in 1860, and the nation was plunged into war.
Today, we face a parallel problem.
The true believers (who, not coincidentally, were also the true beneficiaries) of the blue church administrative state have also become alienated from the idea of republican government and shared citizenship.
This can be seen most clearly in their unwillingness to accept the results of the 2016 presidential election, and the demonization of Trump voters.
Like most privileged elites, their faith is immune to facts or persuasion. It is simply too hard to give up the notion of natural or divine sanction for the socio-economic superiority they have enjoyed.
With each passing day, this crumbling oligarchy seems to become more
fanatical, more fixated on its own righteousness, and more impatient
with the supposed iniquity of its political opponents. But the rejection
of dialogue and compromise undermines the very possibility of a common
citizenship. Without a shared dedication to republican principles,
self-government cannot continue.
The peaceful transfer of power that accompanies a free election is
only possible on the basis of civic friendship and trust; each side must
believe that, win or lose, the rights of the minority will be protected
by those who take power. On both sides today, that trust seems to be
slipping.
While most Americans acknowledge the fact that America is deeply divided, many of our leaders remain in denial about the potential result of this growing, fundamental distrust.
We are confronting again the dire situation New Birth describes prior to the Civil War:
“both parties [see] the contest as a zero-sum enterprise in which the advantages of one side [are] losses to the other. From this viewpoint, ballots can never really substitute for bullets.”
Not for the first time in our nation’s history, if this state of
affairs continues force may be embraced as the only alternative when
reason fails. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
We must fervently hope that things will change before they become
violent. But if the clueless attitudes of our sclerotic elite remain
unaltered, it is not hard to see what’s on the horizon.
Conclusion
History repeats. I can easily see parallels between what is going on in Washington DC today, and what transpired in France right before the French Revolution. Of course no one in Washington and the establishment will agree with me. But for me, a “deplorable” outsider, it is clear as the nose on my face.
People, prepare for some spicy times ahead. This situation is not sustainable and a change will happen.
Whether it will be a revolution that follows the bloody French model, or a Orwellian dystopia, no one knows. All that I do know is that the next four years; 2020 through 2024 will be exciting and pivotal.
They really do want an armed conflict.
The Sleeping Giant is even more alert... And the puppet master Bloomberg will be guarded by several heavily-armed Stasi as he visits his kingdom. The kingdom of “peasants” he wishes to disarm.
“... Mike Bloomberg’s planned visit to Virginia, intimating the bill was passed as a way of paying homage to him: “With their billionaire benefactor coming to Richmond next week to headline a Democratic Party fundraiser, however, it is clear that House leaders would rather bow to out-of-state interests than listen to their constituents and fellow lawmakers.”
-Intro to the article; VA Democrats pass bill requiring destruction of 'High Capacity" magazines.
If you enjoyed this post, please see other posts of a similar nature in my SHTF index here…
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
When your world is turned upside down, what is it like? Can you rush to the supermarket and stock up on groceries? Can you rely on the national guard to keep roving gangs at bay? Can you make sure that your home is heated and that you have running water? What is it like?
This is an interview with Selco when he first started posting on the internet. He says a lot of interesting things, and makes a number of points that I would like to underline.
TheSiegeofSarajevowasthelongestsiegeofacapitalcityinthehistoryofmodernwarfare. AfterbeinginitiallybesiegedbytheforcesoftheYugoslavPeople’sArmy, Sarajevo, thecapitalofBosniaandHerzegovina, wasbesiegedbytheArmyofRepublikaSrpskafrom 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 duringtheBosnianWar.
This article is from another article posted, titled ;”How I survived a year of SHTF in 90s Bosnia”. I think that is is pretty good. All credit to the author and the source. I did edit his grammar, for the most part. It makes for decent reading that way.
Introduction
Back in September of 2011, a user named Selco joined the forums at SurvivalistBoards.com and posted “my SHTF experience-wartime,” a thread that would since become legendary in survivalist communities and beyond (you frequently see people reference it to this day on sites such as 4chan and reddit).
In it, Selco details his experience of living in a besieged Bosnian town of 50 to 60k people during the Bosnian War (1992-1995). The siege took away everything modern humans take for granted and tested with extreme brutality Selco’s and his community’s ability to survive.
But what is so interesting about this war story is that it was told to a group of survivalists (preppers) who had questions — lots of questions.
How does barter work and which survival strategies are worthless bunk?
How were the social dynamics when everyone realized there was no law?
What really happens and what kind of tricks do people actually get up to to get by when faced with — essentially — the apocalypse?
Selco’s first post.
OK, i wanna share with you my own experience. (be patient with my English, I am from far away )
I am from Bosnia, and as some of you may know it was hell here from 92-95, anyway, for 1 whole year I lived and survived in a city of 50 000- 60 000 residents WITHOUT: electricity, fuel,running water, real food distribution, or distribution of any goods, or any kind of organized law or government. The city was surrounded for 1 year and in that city actually it was SHTF situation.
We did not have organized army or police force, there was groups of defenders, actually anybody who had a gun, fight for his own house and his own family.
Some of us was better prepared, but most of families had food for couple of days, some of us had pistol, few owned AK-47 when all started.
Anyway, after one month or two, gangs started with their nasty job, hospital looked like butchery, police force vanished, 80 percent of hospital staff gone home.
I was lucky, my family was big in that time (15 members in one big house, 5-6 pistols, 3 Kalashnikov s) so we lived and survived, most of us (that is).
I remember US Air force dropped MRE every 10 days (God bless USA for that) as help for surrounded city, it just was not enough. Some of houses had little gardens with some vegetables, most did not.
After three months rumors started about (the) first deaths from starvation, deaths from low temperatures, we stripped every door, window frame from abandoned houses for heating, I burned all my own furniture for heating, lot of people died from diseases, mostly from bad water (two of my family members), we used rain water for drinking, several times I ate pigeons, once I (even) ate rat.
Money did (was) not worth shit.
We traded things, (the) black market worked. A few examples: for 1 (can of) corned beef can you could have woman for couple of hours (sounds bad, but it was the reality). I remember, (that) most of that the women were just desperate mothers…
…candles, lighters, antibiotics, fuel, batteries, rifle ammo and of course food, we fight like animals for that.
In a situation like that, lot of things change, most of people turned into monsters, it was ugly.
Strength was in numbers, if you were alone in the house, you would have probably been robbed and killed, no matter how well armed (you were).
Anyway, war ended, again thanks to America (and again god bless USA for that). It is not important witch side was right in that war.
It was almost 20 years ago, but believe me, for me it was just like yesterday, I remember everything, and I think that I learned a lot (of things).
Me and my family are (all) prepared now, I am well armed, (well) stocked and (well) educated.
War is never pretty. Nor does it resemble what is portrayed by Hollywood. All is in ruin, and there are no clear friends, sides, or relationships.
It is not important does not matter what going to happen; earthquake, war, tsunami, aliens terrorists, important thing is that something is gonna (eventually happen).
And from my experience, you can not survive alone. Strength is in numbers. Be close with your family, prepare with them. Choose your friends wisely and prepare with them too.
And at the end, this is my first post, and my English is not so good, so don t judge me too hard. ”
Q: How did you get around safely?
Actually, the city was broken in something like a lot of street communities. In my street (15 or 20 houses) we organized patrols (5 armed man every night) to watch out for gangs or enemies.
Cities were death traps and your only hope for survival were your friends and family.
We traded things between people in that street. Five miles from my street there was one street with something (that looked) like organized traders, but it was to dangerous to go there. It worked only during the nighttime (during the day it was sniper alley) and (it was risky) you had a greater chance to be robbed there than to trade. I used that street only 2 times, and believe me, it was only when i really needed something (really) bad.
Selco didn’t want to specify the city, but based on his description it could be Livno, which had 40,600 residents in 1991 (now at 34k). Wikipedia: “After the end of World War II, Livno was a part of Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Yugoslavia. After its collapse in 1992 and during the Bosnian War, it was under control of Croat Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia.”
Q: What about wood? It looked like there are many forests around your city, why did you have to burn doors and furniture?
First, thank you for your questions, I did not expect this kind of interest in my post.
I ll be glad to share lot of things with you guys because i want to learn lot of things from you.
Anyway:
Bosnia does have a lot of woods and forests when you go and check the map, but I lived in city closer to the Croatian border, more to the South. I really don’t want to mention name of the city, but if you check the map, the southern part of my country closest to Croatia is all rocky.
Yes we had some trees in my city, parks, fruit trees, but most of the city was building and houses. But believe me…
… all the trees in the city are going to be burned very fast when you don’t have electricity for cooking and heating. After that all what you have is furniture, doors, wooden floors… (and believe me that stuff is burning up far too fast)
Death came swiftly from unexpected places and was often sudden and swift.
There was almost no car use in town. This is because: most of the roads were jammed with ruins, abandoned cars, destroyed houses stuff like that, and petrol was like gold (to us).
If i needed to go somewhere I almost always used night time. I never went alone but also I never went in big group either. (We traveled in smaller groups) (2-3 men maybe), always armed, very fast, always in shadows, through ruins, rarely ever openly on the street, actually… always hiding.
We did not have suburbs and farmers, in the suburbs were the enemy army. We were surrounded by the enemy army, and inside town… (well,) you did not know who is your enemy.
You can expect that all government organization to shut down, and the currency that you hoarded to be useless.
And yes, there were organized groups of gangs, 10-15 people, sometimes even 50. But also there were (a lot of) normal people like you and me, fathers, granddads, decent folks, who robbed and killed. There wasn’t too much good and bad guys (black and white), most of everyone was (some shade of) gray, ready for everything.
Q: Did you prep and what kind of skills did you need?
Of course you can ask.
We used what we had, we were not prepared for that situation. We did not know about prepping.
During a SHTF event, it will all be crazy. Currency, and money will be useless. There will be no water, and no electricity. There will be no wifi and no internet. Most furniture will be used for firewood, and people will trade anything to stay alive.
So you can imagine in some aspects we went back to stone age, actually in most (ways we did).
We just used everything what we had. One example, I had in my possession, a propane (or butane I am not sure which) large storage bottle; cylinder (i am not sure is that right word), but I did not use it for cooking or heating, it was too valuable. Instead, I managed to modify that bottle with my friend. I attached a hose and created some kind of refueling mechanism (sorry my English is going down here) so i can refill those disposable lighters, (they are not really disposable if you have know-how) those lighters were worth a small fortune.
During the war, the capital lay in ruins.
To make story short, somebody (would) bring an empty lighter to me and I would fill that lighter up with gas. Usually I took one can (of food) for that or (else) one candle or whatever he was able to offer me.
I hope you understand my example, my English is poor on some things.
One more example, I am a registered nurse, in any time like that, my knowledge was (a valuable thing) for trade.
And yes, be trained and educated, in times like that it worth a fortune if you know how to fix things. Eventually, all your goods are going to be exhausted one day. However, your specific knowledge can be your food.
Neighborhoods will be in ruins. Those with the best or the wealthiest homes will be repeatedly looted and attacked. Even if you do not appear to have a nice house, if your neighbors think that you might have storage and food, you will be looted.
I mean learn to fix things (shoes or people, whatever you can).
My neighbor used to know how to make some kind of oil for oil lamps (oil in glass, peace of rope – “kerosene camping lanterns”) and he was never hungry, he never did show me how he made that oil for the lamps. ”
I believe he used some tree behind his house and small amount of diesel fuel, i don’t know.
My point is to learn things, people always need somebody who knows how to fix things.
It was not survival movie, it was ugly, we did what we have to do to survive.
Nobody wins, we just survived, with a lot of bad dreams.
Q: Wasn’t it religious, the war?
Sorry man wrong info, that was not Cristian vs Muslim war, it was civil war, with lot of switching between sides.
And sorry I will not get into the politics involved, I really don’t care too much about that, I am not going into religious stories. I mean, I believe in God as a higher power, and I am trying to live by his laws, but I do not belong to any dogma, Muslim or Christian.
Q: Who was your support group?
My group was only my family. This was my blood (relatives like uncles, grandmother…), in my street. In my town trips I had some close friends, but my best friend(s) was my family. I never took a stranger into my close group.
Q: If you had three months to prepare today, what would you do?
If I have extra three months to prepare?
Hmmm, I’d probably run overseas …
<Joke>
OK, Now I am very well aware how things can go very bad in very short time, so (today) I have food, hygiene, energy etc. to supply me for 6 months. I now live in apartment with some improved security. I also have a house with shelter in a village some 5 miles from my apartment. In that house are also supplies for 6 months. The village there is a small community, and most of them are my relatives, (and now) most of them are prepared (they learned that from war). I have four kinds of (live) fire weapons with (at least) 2000 bullets for each (sorry, can not go in details, laws are different here for rifles).
I have big garden at that house and some good knowledge about gardening and farming.
I think i have knowledge now to smell trouble. You (do) know that when everybody is saying that everything is going to be fine you somehow know that is everything going to fall apart.
I think I have the strength necessary to do everything what it takes to keep me and my family alive, because when everything is going to shit…
…be sure, you are going to do some bad things to save your kid. You don t want to be hero, but you do want to survive with your family.
I am nurse, also I am paramedic (US standards)
And i am willing to learn from all of you.
One man survivor, no chance ( OK, it’s only my opinion).
No matter how well armed and prepared you are, at the end you are gonna die. I’ve seen that, many times. Family groups or closest friend with lot of preparing and lots of different knowledge (skill sets) will carry you through the SHTF event, I believe that is what is best.
Q: What items should we stockpile?
Thank you.
Well it depends, I guess if you stock only one thing you are not going to survive. (That is), unless you want to survive like robber, then you need only a gun and lot of ammo.
I believe, besides ammo, food hygiene and energy things (batteries etc.) are necessary. You need to focus on small things for trade. This would include pocket knives, lighters, and flints.
Also a LOT of alcohol, the kind that can store long. I mean stuff like whiskey and all that. It’s not not important what kind, you can have cheapest brand. It is a very good thing for trade in desperate times.
Also lack of hygiene things killed a lot of people, I’ve seen that.
You gonna need to have some simple things, like for example lot of garbage bags, I mean a lot, many uses for that, and a LOT of duct tape, many many uses for that (too).
In case of weapon keep it simple. I mean now i always carry a Glock 45 with me, because i like that gun, but it is not a usual gun and usual caliber here…
The G21 is the perfect answer to the gun owners who’re interested in owning a .45 ACP for defense purposes, but have remained loyal to the 9mm because of its capacity.
… so I also have two 7.62 mm TT Russian pistols hidden, because almost everybody has that gun here and a lot ammunition (is available).
Russian engineers decided to develop a round based on the German Mauser’s 7.63 mm ammo. So in the early 1930s, the Soviet was armed with the famous TT-30 pistol. Its construction was based on a simplified version the of Brauning pistol. The TT-30 received powerful 7.62 x 25 rounds that flew out of the gun at 420 meters per second.
I don t like Kalashnikov, but here there is that rifle on almost every 3rd house so…
AK-47.
Most of the time I collected my water from roof in 4 big barrels during the war, then boiled to disinfect it, we also had river in that town, but it was far too polluted but if you can’t choose…
I don t think I am an expert, I am here to learn.
I guess, it depends how far you going to go to survive with your actions, you need to be prepared to do some ugly things.
Oh yes… it changed my perspective on life.
I know now that bad things can happen, and one more important thing, actually I believe it is most important:
I no longer believe government and authority, not at all.
When they really doing their best to assure you that everything going to be fine, you can be sure that something bad is happening.
American politics.
Do not just believe, (do your own) research.
Q: What about the civil war…and the religious fighting? Did
gold and silver help much and how did you get the alcohol and other
supplies?
Hello to all. It is me again.
I believe in some point this discussion gone the wrong way, and no I am not offended, everybody have right for opinion, so here are few of my opinions:
It was a civil war, yes there was a great influence of religion, but somebody mentioned “what did you do with people of other religions?”
Well in my family there are people with different religious beliefs so what do you mean with that?
I’ll try to explain you simply; it was an attackers and defenders war. (There were a) lot of switching sides; a civil war.
The war ended without winners, it ended with a truce, thanks mostly to USA.
It was a wrong war, (all for the) wrong reasons.
I did not fight for religion or ethnicity, I fought to keep my family and myself alive.
For the last 15 years we have had peace. We live with people who used to be our enemies. I do not to want to have war and enemies again because ethnicity or religion or for any other reason.
Please do not try to generalize anything about that war, there was no good or bad side, we all suffered and (now) we all try to live together again.
And yes every side did bad things, and every side had both good and bad guys.
I am here for one and only reason- survival, I want to learn, and I can share some useful stuff with you. I don’t think (want to know) about your religious beliefs, your ethnicity or your politic opinions.
Few words about my city before war, it was the usual Bosnian town. (It had a) normal life, decent people, schools, theaters, and parks. (It had a) college, airport, crime rates were very low. (The) town was like most of the smaller towns in USA (I think). I was a young man, just like any of you are maybe.
Now very important think: I am not here to discuss about war reasons, or sides, religion or anything similar.
Thanks to the war, in my town was REAL SHTF situation, and we can discuss only about that, only that is important.
You have a lot internet pages, you can learn everything about that war, and you can choose side if you want. OK that’s it.
About survival.
I don t know about other people on this forum, but I have lot of alcohol stacked now.
At the beginning of the war a tank grenade smashed front wall of small distillery (alcohol factory) close to my house. (It opened up and we were able to access it) so we took something around 500 liters of rakia (it is something like Bosnian whiskey, I guess, it’s made from grapes, and very strong)
It was great stuff for trading, people used alcohol a lot, desperate times I think, we also used it for disinfection.
About hygiene, cups and plates, paper or plastic, your gonna need a LOT, I know, we did not have it at all.
My opinion is that hygiene things are more important maybe than food, you can easily shoot pigeon. If you have a grandmother she may know (about) some of the eatable plants on nearest small hill (my experience) but you can not shoot hand sanitizer
Water purifying pills, all kind of cleaning stuff, sanitizers, lot of soap, bleach, gloves, masks, all disposable. (All are important and needed.)
Here, I copy and edit this in the middle of the cornovirus event inside of China. And this advice is spot on, I'll tell you what.
Take very good care about (getting) first aid training. Learn how to treat smaller cuts, burns or even a gunshot wound. There will not be any hospital (available), even if you found a doctor somewhere he probably will not have any meds, or (perhaps) you won’t have stuff to pay him with.
Learn how and when to use antibiotics and have a lot of it on hand.
Believe me with (some) good knowledge and goodly amount of meds you are gonna be rich.
About gold and silver, yes, me personally gave all my gold for ammunition in that time, but it wasn’t worth too much.
About pets, i did not have any, I did not notice a lot pets in that time, did somebody ate them? I don’t know… probably.
About a small family, hmm, not good.
Usually a few smaller families would get together in the biggest house available and stay together, all relatives (my case).
A small family or a single man, (is) not good (an ideal arrangement) for survival in town (during a) SHTF event.
Maybe in the wilderness (but I don t have experience in that).
Even if you keep a low profile, hidden in your house with lots of food etc, sooner or later the mob will come. And you have maybe have one or two guns… (it’s going to be) very hard (to make it oout alive).
I agree with the low profile policy, it is very important not to attract people with anything. But when they come, (and they will come) you will need to have numbers, people and guns, your best people is your family.
About moving through the city: always move during night time as I mentioned earlier. Never alone. 2-3 man. Move very fast, never attract anything. Look like everybody else. If most folks look desperate, poor, and dirty you need to look the same. There is no need that everybody else knows that you have a good amount of food, ammo, clean clothes and everything else back at home. Look and act like everybody else. (Blend in. Be inconspicuous.)
When somebody attacks you or your family then (is when) you need to show them that you are very ready.
I never walked in big groups, in that time and that situation, (the only) big groups are gangs.
Now, this is all my experience, it was then. I made a lot of mistakes. I am no expert. I am here just like any of you, to learn and share.
For example i don t know too much about wilderness survival, I am here to check learn about it.
Oh yes, few things to the Sedoy: my wife is different ethnicity, and she is also a Catholic, I am not, and to answer you: no I am not going to shoot her.
Q: What happened to those who died? Where did people get firewood?
Well, who ever died or get killed in that period, did not get a proper funeral.
Folks used used every peace of free land, close to their house for burial. Sometimes even in the garden. 2-3 city parks turned to graveyards. After the war most of them are exhumed and properly buried.
There was not nothing like burning bodies or anything similar, as far as I know.
Oh one more interesting thing about fire. Some people used to travel a few miles during the night just to find fire somewhere so they can light a peace of wood and bring it home, and start a fire for cooking or heating. Lighters and matches were really precious, and most of the folks did not have enough firewood to keep a file or embers burning. For most of the people it was constant search for something, fire, wood, food, ammo…
Q: Was salt valuable?
It was valuable yes, but not too much, for example coffee or cigarettes were worth much more.
Q: What about cigarettes?
Hm, I had a lot of alcohol as I mentioned before. I traded almost everything without any problem, let me say it like this: consumption of alcohol was probably 10 times more than during normal times. Not to mention cleaning and disinfection.
On the other hand, you made a very good point, if you have money and time and you have a storage it is probably better to store cigarettes or candles and batteries for trade, or food.
I was not a “prepper” at that time, we did not have time to prepare. A few days right before the SHTF politicians on TV stated that everything is fine. Then, when the sky fell down we just take what you can.
Q: Tell us more about cooking and the foods you were able to
prepare. Were you concerned about the smell getting around and alerting
people that there was food over there?
About cooking, before the SHTF I used in my house electricity for both, cooking and heating. So when everything started I traded some stuff for some kind of old wood stove. I put it in the kitchen and fix exhaust pipe (right word?) through a hole in wall. I used that for both cooking and heating.
During the summer I cooked in my backyard (walled fence, brick, luckily).
Concerning the smell of the food, hum. I’ll try to (describe for you a) picture (of the) situation: no electricity, no running water, sewage off for months, dead bodies in ruined houses, grime and mess, believe me it was very difficult to smell something nice.
It was not like in movies, it was ugly, dirty, and smelly.
Yes I had a few problems because of cooking, only a few, but as I said before, enough people, properly armed and with the will to defend…
… and you can manage most of the problems with that.
Probably, the situation would be (quite) different in the wilderness.
I ate mostly some kind of pancakes with local herbs (it does not require cooking oil and too much firewood), and of course, everything what I could get and trade (we ate). Rice was good to eat, not too much firewood for that.
I think I had (a lot of) luck, only a few times (did) I eat funny things like pigeons.
I always had something to trade, I guess that saved me…
… and guns of course.
Downtown Grbavica, a suburb of Sarajevo, March of 1996. Sarajevo was also besieged and faced many of the issues described by Selco.
Q:
1. Why would the night be safer than daytime? Outside of the obvious of
being easier to hide at night, but were the gangs more out during the
days? Also, why only small groups of 2-3? What happened to larger
groups?
2. Why would you have to go out at night? For instance, where were you going and why?
3. How did you handle the mob situation when they came for you, or your family?
4. You mentioned trading for bullets, etc. How much shooting were you doing during that time and how much ammo did you have, or would like to have had?
5. How were you able to determine who was an enemy and who wasn’t? How did you manage to get out there trade with people and when/where?
6. What fortifications did you do to your home and what kind of guard, or protections did you have in place?
7. Finally, how did you avoid snipers? What precautions did people take against them?
Firstly, almost nobody went out during the day because of snipers, the line of defense was very close, so whatever you have to do, you do it during the night.
(You) trade something, look for firewood (I can’t express how much this was important (to us) in town, and hard), looking for anything, check somebody, to go to hear news (very very important, lot of people get killed because they go somewhere just to see what happening, or what’s new) remember, no news, no radio ,no TV, nothing, rumors fed lot of people.
Already (as I) explained, you can stay home and die of hunger and cold, or even by infection of some small wound or go out and risk your life, try to find – trade anything useful
I did have situations concerning my house only, there is no need (to get into) too many details, we had more fire power, and (a) brick wall.
Also we had something like a street watch, people from my street were well organized, in case of gangs, now there were a lot shootings.
There was pretty much shooting all over town, I did not have enough weapons at the beginning. (I had) one rifle and one pistol (old world war II vintage), maybe 100 bullets total. Later I traded some things for more rifles and ammo. I remember that I gave away a car battery for 2 rifles.
How much ammo ?
A LOT, as much as you can (get a hold of).
Most of the time you are not able to determine who is enemy or friend. Expect my family and few real friends. Everybody else is a potential enemy. When your friend must choose between his child’s death and your death guess who (he) is going to choose.
Rumors, somebody tells you that some old guy a few blocks away has some cans and he is looking for ammo or whatever. You go there, as I say you are always looking for something. Same some people would came to my street as traders, with some goods.
There was something like trade street during the night, actually it was in the big ruins of sport center. You can go over there and look for something or offer something. However, it was not controlled by anyone so it was too dangerous.
It was primitive pretty much, a brick wall around the house, bags of sand on windows and doors, over that bags we used whatever you can. (There were) big pieces of metal, stones, (everywhere). Inside the house we put all kinds of stuff on the windows, (leaving) only a small opening left for a rifle. (We had a rule) always 5 members of family ready for fight, one always outside on street hidden.
Stone age situation.
To avoid snipers, we would stay home during the day, there were not so many night snipers, even during the night we never walked openly on the streets if we can avoid that, always (using) shortcuts, trough ruins, fast and quiet.
Q: What was your bathroom situation? Where did you go? Did
you have anything to wipe with? Sorry ask such personal questions, but
this is something that I’ve wondered about in this type of situation.
We used shovels and any piece of land close to house, (yeah) it sounds dirty, and it is dirty; washing with collected rainwater, sometimes (we would) go to the river (most of the time that was too dangerous) Most of the time we did not have toilet paper, even if I had it, I (would) trade it.
It was a bad situation all the time.
If i can give some advice: first to prep is a weapon and ammo, then everything else.
I mean everything, depends how much money and space you have.
If you forget something no problem there is always somebody ready for trade, but if you forget guns and ammo then you may not be able to get to trading places.
I do not see big family or group of really (I mean really) good friends as more mouth to feed, I see them as more guns and strength, it is in people’s nature to adapt.
And keep it simple and use common sense. In the first period (of the war) the weak people vanished, others fought.
Go with small things, lighters, candles, flints.
It is great idea to have a fuel generator (electrical generating unit) but i think a better idea is to have 1000 BIC lighters. A fuel generator is great, but in a SHTF scenario in town it is going to attract a whole army. But, 1000 BIC lighters don’t take up too much space, (they’re) cheap, and you can always trade it for something.
Real SHTF scenario demands a complete change of the normal mindset, (it’s) hard to explain, I’ll try through examples.
Q: How easy/hard was it to get weapons AFTER the SHTF and what could you trade for weapon and ammunition (I remember you saying a car battery for a rifle) and where would I go to find the people who trade in weapons?
Hum, you re right, after the war every house here had a weapon from the war, and yes the police did take some action to take illegal weapons from the population. It depends from man to man I guess, a lot of people find ways to hide their weapons somewhere, just in case.
I also have legal weapon (license), and the authority here has some thing they refer as “temporary collecting”. It basically says something like: “in a case of unusual event (riots, unrest, etc) government has the right to temporary collect all legal weapons”. So I keep always in mind that fact. And I acted like some other people.
You know some people have legal weapon for everyday carry (I have a Glock 45 and Taurus 38) but some people with legal weapon also have illegal weapons hidden somewhere just in case SHTF and “temporary collecting”.
It is not hard to get weapon in SHTF if you have good stuff for trade,. However, the other thing is important. The very first days of SHTF is worst in terms of chaos and panic. So, maybe you’re not gonna have time to get a gun. And to be unarmed in chaos panic and riots is bad.
In my case, the man needed a car battery for a HAM radio I think, and he had some extra rifles, so we traded.
Q: What about medical care for people who were shot or became injured?
Wounds was mostly gunshot wounds of course, without specialists and everything else, if wounded manage to find a doctor somewhere he had like 30% chances to live.
Again it is not (like a) movie, mostly they died.
A lot of people died even from minor cuts infections, I had antibiotics maybe for 3-4 treatments. Of course for my family only.
Simple things killed people. Diarrhea can kill you in a few days without meds and re-hydration, (fluid therapy, IV) especially small kids. Lot of fungal skin diseases, and food poisoning, we could not do too much. Basically we treated diseases mostly with local herbs, and if you had a wound, put rakia (whiskey) on it and tried to find antibiotics somewhere.
So i was good at fixing wounds in term of emergency help, but longer procedure…
…bad prognosis.
What I learned? Hygiene again, and a lot of meds, especially antibiotics. You need to learn to treat lot of stuff, go online, finish some training, EMT maybe, first aid etc.
In SHTF things are different, learn how to open IV, when to use certain drugs, or antibiotics.
Get your self ANA TE (anti tetanus ) shot injections , snake poison kit, adrenaline kit (allergic reactions, different kinds) tick removal kit, (tick related illness can kill you, learn how to remove tick)…
Get in Supply your prepper storage some reanimation kit (simple one) like a small oxygen cylinder, a BVM mask etc. It is not really hard to learn to use all of these.
OK let’s be clear about something, of course you can not use anything of this in the “real world” unless you are certified and trained for that ( EMT, nurse, physician ).
But in SHTF nobody will ask you for your license, just learn and have it in your storage big part for medical things.
So to answer question how did I help and treat others? Most of the time everyone was very poor. I helped some with the resources that I had. I took food or something else for exchange, I was badly prepared for that, now I have what I need to have.
Q: Did your local currency/money still hold value? Were you still able to use money to purchase items from other people?
No, not really. I mean sometimes you can use foreign money if you had it to buy something, (dollars or German marks) but even in that rare occasion the rate was unbelievable. For example 1 can of beans for 30-40 dollars (normal value was maybe 0.50). I guess somebody had connections with outside world, black market you know, so he can earn a lot of money. But it was very rare. Trade was main thing to get something.
Local currency crashed very fast, in few weeks or month maybe.
Q: How much space should I keep for alcohol storage? What was security like?
About alcohol first, you are right but you are right in both ways, people needed alcohol more in desperate times then usual, so it is a kind of gambling I guess, it is very good item for trading. I never had problems with alcohol trading and having than problems with trading other things.
Also I am thinking about something else, maybe it is better to fill my storage with something less space consuming but still interesting for trade, like batteries, antibiotics etc.
Thing is I had all that alcohol for free, I did not buy it. I don t know about this.
In most of the situations people attacked me because they thought they are stronger, they did not know for sure what I really had.
About ammunition trade, it depends how much ammo you are going to have, sometimes I would trade ammo for food, and in few weeks again food for ammo. However, I never never conducted trade at my home, and never bigger amounts, very few people knew how much of anything I had in my house.
The point is to store as much of anything as you can store (space , money). (Then) later during the situation you ll see what is most popular. Correction – ammo and guns always gonna held first place for me, but who knows maybe number 2 for trading gonna be for example masks with filters.
About medical issue , I’ll write in my next post what do I have now in my medical part of storage
Defenses were very primitive, again we were not prepared. We use whatever we could, windows were broken, roofs mostly damaged from shelling, all windows were blocked with something, sand bags and rocks. Every night I blocked my yard gate with junk- rubble from the street and I used an old aluminum ladder to get over the (brick) wall, when I came back I called somebody from house to get me with that ladder so I can move back in.
A guy from my street barricaded his house completely. If he goes out at night, he used a hole that he made in one room that was connected with his neighbor’s house, and then go trough his (ruined and destroyed) house out. So, actually he had secret entrance.
It may look weird to say but most secured houses are gone first, of course we had some very nice houses in neighborhood, with walls, dogs, alarms, steel bars on windows, alarms. And you can guess what happened, mobs attacked those houses first, some were defended other not, depend how many guns and hands they had inside.
So i think security is great, but be sure that you keep it low profile. Forget about alarms, if you live in town and SHTF you gonna need simple looking non-interesting secured house, with a lot of guns and ammunition.
Just keep it low profile and not interesting.
On my apartment door now I have a steel door for security reasons, but only to keep me trough the first (brief) short period of chaos, then I am ready to move out to connect with a much bigger group of armed people (family and friends) in the country (I hope).
Well in my case migration did not happen because it happens very fast. The other army just closed up the city in a ring and that’s it. If you ask me where was that army and how we were unable to see them coming, the answer is simple. That army was an ally of the army of my side and people…
… one day we woke up and figured they are the enemy now and they are closing all the ways out. Politics. It is true, it’s one more side of civil war.
But I heard from others parts of country, and my friends who stayed in villages in the other parts in state, that they had much better situations. Their countryside had land, corn, wheat, fruit trees, farms etc. They had enough food, it was bad, but much better than in the city.
I know one thing if we had some way out from the town, we would use it, (unfortunately) we did not have it.
Q: What was the situation with banks and stores?
About banks, loans, credit cards. Complete monetary system died for about one year, so nothing works.
It is complex question in many ways, I’ll try it to answer it in some future posts, (I) need much more time and much much more space to describe it.
Even now, almost 20 years later, folks are in European court suing banks, because they don’t want to admit their savings in banks.
A lot of different things happened in that period. They changed money, I mean (the) monetary name, they changed it 2-3 times , hyperinflation occurred. (All manner of things were lost), lost (all the) paper trails about savings, loans … I remember some people use that situation to get rich, they are still rich.
So I’ll try to describe that in separate post.
There was a lot of problems with proving peoples property after everything. For example: my father had a nice apartment and because of the war he had to leave it. Now, after the war ended he was at court for about 4 years proving that the apartment was his.
Now, the reasons for that were different, because politics in that time, but also he did not have enough paper work to prove that apartment was his (he did not take papers from the apartment when he fled), he had more important things to care about.
On the other side during the worst period, people just moved in the empty house, and that’s it.
I mention rural areas in another post. As far as I remember it was better there.
In that period there wasn’t any running vehicles. Actually I remember a tank at the front line, and Lada Niva (check it on web) with cut off doors and roof and installed machine gun (I think it was an old m53) and those two only moved when they fired (they keep it hidden behind ruined houses).
Lada Niva
For let me call it “civilian population” there was no moving with
vehicles, streets were mostly under rubble and unusable and fuel was too
expensive.
Not to draw attention was a big thing, about clothing, there used to be some sort of town defense, it was not like a real military, mostly mixed civilian clothes with parts of uniforms, different types of weapons, so no rules.
But as soon as we start to go in to those things and try to talk about two armies, their strength, war crimes, politics I am not gonna like it any more, because people gonna start to choose sides, and I think it is not important for us here.
As I said before there wasn’t an organized army, but we all had been like soldiers, we had to, most of us carried weapon and tried to protect ourselves from the enemy army and robbers.
Inside the town you did not want to look fancy because somebody would shoot you and take all your good stuff, you did not want to have a fancy rifle, because probably you not gonna find ammo in that caliber and also you are drawing attention to yourself.
So let me try to put it this way: If SHTF tomorrow, I will try to look like most of the people outside, scared, desperate, confused and I’ll scream maybe, no fancy looking stuff, I’ll not go out in fancy new uniform and yell “I am here, you are finished now looters and robbers”.
I’ll stay low profile, heavily armed and well prepared waiting to see my options, even if I have to go out with all my gear to do things I’ll go out in the night, with my best friend or brother. Maybe it sounds ridiculous, but from my experience it works, be very well prepared, but let nobody outside your house know or see that.
No matter how good your house security is, how good your weapon is, if people see that they have good reason to rob you they probably rob you in town SHTF. It is only matter of time and number of guns.
Don’t ever give them reason to be interesting in robbing you. Stay uninteresting. Now this is my opinion, maybe is not working in different situation.
About robbing grocery store and gas stations; it happened very very fast, as soon as shooting started all valuable things were emptied. There was some effort of authority to keep it together but everything fell apart in the first few weeks.
Bernie Carr from ApartmentPrepper was fascinated with the story and had even more questions, and was able to reach Selco.
Q: On the forum where you described your experience of being
under siege, you mentioned that you had no electricity or running water.
How did you and your family handle the toilet (sanitary) conditions?
We had a small yard and dug holes for toilets, we thought it was temporary so the holes were small but later on we dug bigger ones because we realized this is long and world might have forgotten us. It was not nice but at least we did not do it in the house like many others did. Whole area started to smell bad anyway, stench from dead people is worse than a bit of poo.
Q: A lot of my readers are women and they would want to know what did the women, children and elderly members of your family do on a day to day basis during the time your city was under attack?
The roles were back to hundred years ago. Before war we were modern society, but as soon as SHTF the women, kids and elder stayed mostly at home. They wanted that, no questions. Happened automatically.
They did the washing, cooking, cleaning and taking care of sick people. Just sometimes when shelling was a bit less some women came along to gather herbs or MRE if food aid was coming that time. Not often. We always had some man protecting the home, women, children and elderly.
Q: From all the weapons that you used, what was your
preferred weapons for when you went out into the street OR when you were
staying at home and why?
Always had the same weapons, TeTe gun / some Russian gun and AK47. Simple choice, most ammo for these weapons. We had only a few of those so we exchanged them among us. Did a good job, very reliable weapons. AK47 has good stopping power, just not very good on fully auto. Can make a mess out of a human.
Q: A lot of apartment preppers will probably decide to stay
in their homes and this has raised a lot of discussions on the pros and
cons of staying in the city. Some people say that by staying in the
city, the infrastructure will be restored first, and that those living
in the countryside would be attacked by roving bandits. The other side
states that those living in the countryside have greater chances of
survival as they would be more self-reliant and not dependent on
resources from the city. Based on you and your family’s experience,
which would you prefer and why?
RUN! If you lucky yes, city might be better off but if not it is so much worse. Bug in for a few days until first madness settled and then bug out. Also depends on the weather. Might stay at home in winter and risk getting robbed / murdered instead of going out and freezing to death. Only run if you know where you run to.
Daisy Luther from The Organic Prepper
also contacted Selco for an interview. We highlight a couple of the
Q&As and you can go to her site if you’d like to read the rest (she
focuses on politics and the US situation).
Q: What parallels do you see with events in the US and Bosnia before the SHTF?
US and Yugoslavia (in 1990) on first look do not have
anything in common because people are going to say, “The USA cannot have
anything similar to any socialistic system.”
This is true but only on first look.
Yugoslavia had somewhere around 20-22 million citizens, six republics
(similar to states in the US), 3-4 main religions, and many national
groups (ethnicity).
The official state policy was to build Yugoslavian “nationality”
(from the end of WW1) and through different ways that effort was
successful until the 90s.
We were “something big, united through differences with a strong connection to make something big.”
And then those differences were used to make chaos.
In the late 80s and beginning of the 90s (when democracy came) the
problems started and ended up in series of wars and cases of complete
collapse.
Things that I experienced in my case prior to SHTF, and things that you might recognize:
Things that make differences between people are more and more problematic (race, religion, political opinion).
Polarization is getting obviously stronger.
People want to come to your country, but they do not want to
“assimilate” or contribute to the greater good. They want to preserve
their way of life which is often absolutely contradictory to the way
that your country (society) works.
The political way of solving those problems often fails, because, in
essence, those problems are hard to solve in a democratic way (in the
spirit of democracy).
Your freedoms are “shrinking” as a result of that.
Calls for “radical solutions“ for the problems are stronger and stronger.
The media is absolutely working a dirty job, and it is hard to find out what is the truth anymore.
Suddenly people and events from history are “brought back” so people
can judge and argue about it, to write history again, to build myths
sometimes.
Q: Anything else to add?
I have seen many people killed, a lot of women and children too, civilians. A huge number of people suffered, were hungry and cold and were terrified through that period.
But I can count on one hand the dead or hungry politicians in that time.
Things were good for them through that period. Some of them ended up even richer. A lot of them are still powerful in the same or different parties, and are still talking about “their people” or “ causes” or “fear from others”.
It is the way it works.
Conclusion
This is good stuff, don’t you think?
Take heed, SHTF can come in many forms. Like the biological warfare with the coronvirus here in China. (Just a second ago I stepped outside to check with the apartment complex police. We are still under lock-down. No one can come in or leave the complex.)
Make sure you have a tight group of friends and family.
Stockpile food.
Stockpile sanitary and anti-bacterial supplies.
Have skills or items to barter.
Be able to defend yourself with equipment that you know how to use well.
Lie low key, and hide.
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The virus is proving to be far more contagious than the flu, having spread from 300 people in mid-January to more than 75,700 as of Thursday morning.
-CDC
That’s the American mainstream narrative; that the Wuhan coronavirus isn’t serious. It isn’t as bad as the flu, and the flu kills thousands of people each and every year. So that there is nothing to be worried about.
I strongly disagree. However, you shouldn’t take my word for it. You just need to watch some movies of what is going on in China today, and come to your own conclusions. Right?
Look, see, watch.
Think for yourself. Come to your own conclusions.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Almost too late.
You are not feeling well. So you finally decide to go to the hospital. You’ve been putting it off. It’s just a sore throat you thought. But, now you are feeling dizzy and getting tunnel vision. You should have went earlier. You know that now.
You look at your cell phone but the sweating in your hands make scrolling and pushing the buttons really difficult. So you ask your friend to help. They help you and get you in the car.
Just like the flu, right? Only the flu is much worse, right? The American media has all this pegged. Do not worry. The flu is far worse.
Here’s from USA Today…
So far, there have been an estimated 19 million cases of flu, 180,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths in the U.S. this influenza season – including 68 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Worldwide, seasonal influenza epidemics cause 3 million to 5 million severe cases every year and kill up to 650,000 people a year, according to the World Health Organization.
"That just far surpasses the amount of cases compared to the novel coronavirus," Colburn said. "If you didn’t travel specifically to Wuhan, China, or have contact with a person with suspected or known coronavirus, your chance of contracting this is extremely low."
-USA Today
Now, this advise and write-up seems rather silly when you look at it. If you were in China, and were to read this, you would shake your head in pure disbelief. Because what this news “report” is saying DOES NOT AGREE with what you are witnessing.
This is what the Chinese people are starting to notice…
Almost too late.
Video 2 – Registering people at a clinic.
So you are sitting there at the table talking with people, helping them with the paperwork and interviewing them… then you don’t feel so hot. Just like the Flu, right? You’ve seen policemen and doctors collapsing in front of you with the flu, right?
Well… actually no. You don’t see them collapsing. Nor do you ever see American police inside American emergency tent-clinics registering sick people, either. But somehow, yes somehow, the flu is worse.
You know the WHO data on the seasonal flu includes deaths from impoverished areas, where people live in primitive homes and huts, do not have adequate sanitation and medical care. And we are all supposed to believe that that data is representative of a modern, civilized and state-of-the-art nation.
It’s illusionary, and deceptive. As this propaganda from USA Today proves…
There’s a deadly virus spreading from state to state. It preys on the most vulnerable, striking the sick and the old without mercy. In just the past few months, it has claimed the lives of at least 39 children.
The virus is influenza, and it poses a far greater threat to Americans than the coronavirus from China that has made headlines around the world.
“When we think about the relative danger of this new coronavirus and influenza, there’s just no comparison,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison. The risk is trivial.”
-USA Today
Have you EVER seen ANY American policeman collapse from the flu in the line of duty?
Passing out at a clinic.
Video 3 – Another casualty at the hospital.
Don’t wait until the last moment. If you are not feeling well, rush to the hospital. You see this kind of stuff all the time with the flu, right? It’s common knowledge, right? Every flu is like this, Right?
Screenshot 7FEB20.
While it is true that people with the flu try to get better at home, and serious cases are sent off to the hospital, no one ever collapses at the front door or in the car-port. But this is what is happening with this virus.
This kind of thing amazes me.
How can anyone see scenes like this, and still have the audacity to claim that the flu is worse? That it’s all just hype?
Influenza rarely gets this sort of attention, even though it kills more Americans each year than any other virus, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Influenza has already sickened at least 13 million Americans this winter, hospitalizing 120,000 and killing 6,600, according to the CDC. And flu season hasn’t even peaked. In a bad year, the flu kills up to 61,000 Americans.
Worldwide, the flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization.
And yet, Americans aren’t particularly concerned.
-USA Today
Hospital problem.
People, this is what is called propaganda.
Now, propaganda only works when the audience is kept ignorant of the true state of affairs. If you control all the news, in all the various forms, you can control the actions of the people.
This is why the American propaganda controls three branches of news;
Mainstream news
Alt-left news.
Alt-right news.
And make no mistake, the Alt-Right news is just as manipulated as the mainstream media news is. What’s the Alt-Right news saying?
“This is a biological weapon. Stolen by China. Used on their own people for eugenics purposes.”
Yes. Absolute nonsense.
OK. Let’s go back to the mainstream news propaganda;
“This is a natural virus. Harmless, but with a scary name.”
Video 4 – Policeman getting sick at his station.
The problem with this virus is that it is stealthy and fast acting. You can get it, and then it sits inside your body making you super contagious, and you will feel just fine and wonderful. Then, it will hit you suddenly. You know…like the flu! NOT!
Sick people in China are handing over their phones to the police and medical teams. They use the GPS tracking information to compare who they might be in contact with. They are quickly discovering chance encounters with infected people, and that the virus “jumps” from the infected (but feeling normal) person in a matter of seconds.
Like this…
Infected in 15 seconds while he bought vegetables at the market.
GIC Team GICexpat 6FEB20
A 56-year-old man in Ningbo was recently confirmed as a newly found case to have contracted the novel coronavirus after visiting a food market in the city’s Jiang Bei district on January 23. The confirmation was released to the public on February 4 by the district’s official social media account.
What’s especially surprising about this case is how fast the man contracted the virus.
Video surveillance revealed that it only took 15 seconds for him to be fully exposed, as neither he nor the 61-year-old woman standing next to him while picking out vegetables at the same stall were wearing protective masks.
The woman is believed to have had contracted the virus a few days prior while attending a blessing ceremony.
The man and woman, now both affected by the 2019-nCoV, did not know each other before crossing paths at the Shuang Dongfang market.
Unfortunately, 19 people who subsequently came into close contact with the newly-infected 56-year-old patient have already shown positive signs of infection. All of them have been put under isolated medical observation for further examination.
Meanwhile, the mainstream American news is still on the “don’t worry, be happy” narrative.
Fewer than half of adults got a flu shot last season, according to the CDC. Even among children, who can be especially vulnerable to respiratory illnesses, only 62% received the vaccine.
If Americans aren’t afraid of the flu, perhaps that’s because they are inured to yearly warnings. For them, the flu is old news. Yet viruses named after foreign places — such as Ebola, Zika and Wuhan — inspire terror.
-KHN
And the Alt-Right conservative news is also parroting this more or less. They argue that this is all nonsense. That it isn’t all that contagious. Here’s from the Moon of Alabama blog…
... We had documented in an earlier post that neither the infectiousness nor the mortality of the novel Cornoavirus are especially severe. This New York Times graphic also explains that.
The ONLY reason that the virus is being contained is because the entire fucking nation went DEFCON ONE.
This is not the flu…
Video 5 – Woman is not feeling well.
So you go outside to run an errand, then suddenly you don’t feel right. You feel dizzy. So you stand there puzzled, and then you pass out. Just like everyone does every flu season. Right?
That’s the American mainstream media narrative…
Some doctors joke that the flu needs to be rebranded.
“We should rename influenza; call it XZ-47 virus, or something scarier,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 5,000 people in the past year — more than twice as many as Ebola. Yet UNICEF officials have noted that the measles, which many Americans no longer fear, has gotten little attention. Nearly all the measles victims were children under 5.
-KHN
Screenshot 7FEB20.
Personally, I think that Selco said it best…
I know now that bad things can happen, and one more important thing, actually I believe it is most important:
I no longer believe government and authority, not at all.
When they really doing their best to assure you that everything going to be fine, you can be sure that something bad is happening.
Video 6 – Truck driver passes out at the wheel.
My take on things is that this Wuhan corona virus has a potential to become Apocalyptic. I don't like what I am seeing now.
Posted by: blues | Feb 5 2020 16:36 utc
Every flu season you always hear about truck drivers unable to drive because of the flu, right? They just pull over and die at the side of the highway, right? It’s an every year occurrence. Right?
Some people may worry less about the flu because there’s a vaccine, whose protection has ranged from 19% to 60% in recent years. Simply having the choice about whether or not to receive a flu shot can give people an illusion of control, Schaffner said.
But people often feel powerless to fight novel viruses. The fact that an airplane passenger spread SARS to other passengers and flight crew made people feel especially vulnerable.
-KHN
The “Virus Hunter”, world renowned Columbia University Professor, Walter Ian Lipkin came to China and met with Zhong NanShan, China’s lead epidemiologist in fight against #CoronaVirus.
A few points are of significance:
1. Lipkin said he spoke for hours with Zhong, and exchanged different views. But ultimately he trusts Zhong, because Zhong is a humanitarian.
2. The infection ratio of the CoronaVirus is probably Underestimated. The fatality ratio is probably Overestimated.
3. I repeat, America’s top scientist already came to China. Lipkin also fought alongside Zhong and China during SARS in 2003.
These perspectives are very important! Please remember!
Most sobering of all, 35-year-old Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, the CoronaVirus whistleblower who was charged with spreading rumors of virus last month, died of CoronaVirus himself hours earlier.
Video 7 – Doctors pass out.
Ignoring the reported 2019-nCoV #s for China (which are suspect) but taking into account reported #s only for countries outside China (and assumed to be reasonably accurate), the calculated death rate (1/212) as of this morning is (rounded up) .5%. Hardly Apocalyptic.
Posted by: Trisha | Feb 5 2020 17:02 utc
And another thing about the flu is how it completely shuts down hospitals, and causes the doctors and nursing staff to pass out and stop working. Right? After all, the flu is far worse. Right?
Hotez, who is working to develop vaccines against neglected diseases, said he worries about unvaccinated children. Most kids who die from the flu haven’t been immunized against it, he said. And many were previously healthy.
“If you’re worried about your health, get your flu vaccination,” Hotez said. “It’s not too late.”
-KHN
Video 8 – Police take you away.
This morning on Canadian TV: Worldwide infected 24,0000, death toll in China 450, let's say 500
Here https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00154-w
I found:
4 February 11:00 GMT — Cases in China pass 20,000, so 25,000 seems reasonable.
Then from CNN, 17 min ago (they are hardly conservative with numbers):
What we're covering here
The virus: The coronavirus outbreak has killed 492 people worldwide, the majority of which are in China, and infected more than 24,500 people across 25 countries over 30 days.
Some math:
fatality percent: 500/24500*100 = 2.04 % => really high mortality rate, almost as much as common flu.
Population infected in China: 20000/16 billion = 0.002 % which proves that this is a horrible horrible unstoppable virus
In other countries a bit less, per this site https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/countries-confirmed-cases-coronavirus-200125070959786.html
Australia 14, Germany 12, India 3, Malaysia 12, Singapore 28, South Korea 19, USA 11, Vietnam 10, Canada 4, Russia 2, UK 2, in total over 25 countries.
Percent countries where at least 1 case discovered: 25/195 = 13%, => really world wide spread.
Of course, since the flu is so deadly, the police will come to your house if you have the flu. They will break down the door, and they will haul you away to the hospital for your own good. Right? That’s what always happens with the flu. Right?
Forcefully removed from their home.
Video 9 – Military biological decontamination units.
Screen shot of the graph of contaminated cases over time. 7FEB20.
I'm not so sure that the Coronavirus is so innocuous as some would have us think, simply because of the way China has reacted to it. Why quarantine tens of millions if it is no big deal? Do you trust China to provide accurate statistics if they are seeing a huge fatality rate with a highly infections organism?
Zerohedge has posted an article showing that there was a "mistaken" post showing much more serious numbers, which indicated a 16% fatality rate. With a high R0 value and an airborne pathogen, that reportedly has shown transmission via fomites (spreads through touching of contaminated surfaces), this would be approach the lethality of the organism portrayed in the movie "Contagion".
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 5 2020 17:32 utc | 15
Of course, every flu season has the local national guard, and military forces performing vehicle sweeps and decontamination procedures using truck mounted machines and chemicals. They scrub the air and make sure that everyone is safe. It’s normal, every flu season, right?
Military mass decontamination of entire cities.
Video 10 – Containment centers.
The one thing that would scare China the most, I think, is if the virus was infectious before symptoms appear. A virus able to spread wholly undetected can be a nasty piece of work, specially one that's seemingly a new addition to our species' ills, because we don't have any innate immunity around for the time being - if things go badly, a big chunk of the total population can get infected.
Posted by: Clueless Joe | Feb 5 2020 17:44 utc | 19
And, of course, the yearly flu containment centers are always active. Right? After all, since the flu is so much worse, and far more dangerous, there is nothing to worry about. Right?
The virus is contagious at least 5 days before symptoms appear, I have read some reports that say 9-14 days before symptoms appear. Which is why it is out of control. Taking temperatures to screen is like pissing in the wind
Posted by: Per | Feb 5 2020 17:48 utc | 22
On the Alt-Right is the narrative that China is lying, and that hundreds of dead are piling up. Well, I’m not seeing that. Not first hand, not second hand. It’s all nonsense.
And people (!) nonsense = propaganda.
This situation is serious. No doubt. The Chinese are treating it as a DEFCON ONE event, and that shows how serious it is. However, it is contained and things are adjusting.
Here is a comment on MoA that speaks some sanity…
Now crematorium nonsense is back, only being applied to China. The only people who buy this ridiculous story are ones who haven't ventured into the sunlight from their parents' basement in years, and have for certain never further from their trailer park than the local Walmart. How else is it that anyone can imagine that the big problem with covering up a large number of deaths is just the problem of disposing of the bodies? What about family, friends, and coworkers of the deceased? How about creditors? Who thinks they will just shrug and forget about it if the person who owes them money disappears?
The only people who can seriously consider the narrative of cremating bodies to hide deaths are ones who cannot conceptualize people on the other side of the planet who speak a weird language as actual human beings with full lives. Delusional Americans for whom the world is just another TV show, and Chinese people are just extras in that show with no backstory or future whom nobody would notice if they died unless their body blocked the sidewalk or something.
If you, dear reader, are leaning towards believing the crematorium narrative, ask yourself if simply disposing of the body would work at erasing anyone you know, like one of your parents or children? Kinda silly to think that would make you forget them, huh?
So why imagine it would work in Russia or China?
Answer: The only way you could believe that is if your understanding of those places was just a shallow caricature; a cartoon.
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 5 2020 21:19 utc | 65
Containment barracks.
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It’s nice to think that we are “modern”, “enlightened”, “progressive’ and “forward thinking”. But, unfortunately that is a big lie. Humans, at best, can only sustain a calm period of coexistence for a handful of decades. No longer. The fact and the truth is that blood was spilled ruthlessly for most of human history.
Routinely.
If you are living in the belief that wars will forever be isolated from you, then buckle up. It can hit with surprising suddenness and completely alter the landscape of your reality forever.
It’s the historical norm.
Will Rogers quote.
Prepare yourself for a painful recap of the most savage wars that ever took place. Fought over religion, political supremacy, or conquest, the conflicts of the past killed tens of millions and left the land we live today blood-soaked.
War can occur anywhere, at any time, and affect anyone. No one is immune.
1. French Wars of Religion – 3 million
Expert Tip: Wars over ideology can be very fierce, bloody and dangerous.
It was an awful time to believe in God.
A death toll of 3 million is a good introduction, especially because we will first explore a war erupting solely because some overzealous folks couldn’t agree to what religion is better.
My God is better!
No! You are wrong. My God is better!
Hell with you and what you think! You need to die!!!!
The French Wars of Religion is an umbrella term for the many frictions that opposed the Catholics (and the Huguenots (Reformed Protestants)). Once started, everyone wanted in on it. They were fighting each other over interpretations of Biblical passages, for goodness sake!
He said this!
But, he meant that!
Die! Heathen scum!
Indeed, once it started there was no stopping it. It moved on and took on “legs of it’s own”. Lordy! Carried out throughout the 16th century, it aroused other European powers into picking sides.
Ugh!
The north of Hesse, also known as Hesse-Cassel, became reformed, or Calvinist in 1605, while Hesse-Darmstadt in the south became Lutheran. Both Hesse and Brandebourg, which was also reformed, had suffered greatly during the Thirty Years War and for this reason the Huguenot refugees were made welcome.
I know it’s confusing. Here’s the official take…
Huguenots were a religious group of French Protestants. Huguenots were French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism.
The term has its origin in early-16th-century France.
It was frequently used in reference to those of the Reformed Church of France from the time of the Protestant Reformation. By contrast, the Protestant populations of eastern France, in Alsace, Moselle, and Montbéliard were mainly German Lutherans.
- Wikipedia
Women and children are being tortured by soldiers in front of a statue of Louis XIV. A Protestant minister is in a basket because he refused to worship the Host. . Persecution of the Huguenots according to Romeyn de Hooghe
And yet another opinion…
The French Wars of Religion were a prolonged period of war and popular unrest between Catholics and Huguenots (Reformed/Calvinist Protestants) in the Kingdom of France between 1562 and 1598. It is estimated that three million people perished in this period from violence, famine, or disease in what is considered the second deadliest religious war in European history (surpassed only by the Thirty Years' War, which took eight million lives).
- French Wars of Religion - Wikipedia
What happened was scandalous mostly because the Catholic Church considered the atrocities a sign a divine retribution.
Yeah...
God approves of this war. He told me.
Massacre of Vassy .On March 1, 1562, 300 Huguenots holding religious services in a barn outside the town wall of Vassy, France, were attacked by troops under the command of Francis, Duke of Guise. More than 60 Huguenots were killed and over 100 wounded during the Massacre of Vassy. Francis claimed he did not order an attack but was instead retaliating against stones being thrown at his troops.
And still yet another explanation…
The massacre of Huguenots at Vassy in 1562 began the Wars of Religion between the Catholics under the leadership of the Duke of Guise and the Huguenots under the leadership of Prince de Conde and the King of Navarre. The war was interrupted briefly, but flared up again after the infamous...
- Huguenot Wars - World History
I know.
I know, I’ve given three instances of explanation, and still I haven’t figured it all out. It’s nuts. It’s crazy. It’s insane.
We look back at this time and shake our heads. But, you know…
… it was a different time and place.
The above painting depicts the most “memorable” event of the French Wars of Religion – the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre. Huguenots were slaughtered in the tens of thousands in a feast of savagery that lasted several weeks.
You will be surprised to know the changed little since then. Aside from technology advances and the ability to manipulate large groups of people by ideology…
… nothing has changed.
Expert Tip: We are not more enlightened today compared to the past.
The French Wars of Religion – the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre.
Yeah, yeah… I know. It’s really difficult to get a feel for what was going on at that time. Woodcuts cannot compare to colorful photos and dramatic images. Their clothes are odd and their customs are strange. It’s difficult to imagine. I mean … men wore tights with cod pieces for Pete’s sake!
Well… anyways…
So let’s move forward to something more recent, then.
2. Great African War – 3.5 million
Africa. Most Americans don’t give a flying fudge about it. The Great African War in all it’s incarnations happened under the Clinton and Bush years. No one cared.
Yet…
…millions died in the hot steamy jungles of the Congo. They fought over… well, it’s not precisely known exactly what they fought about…
…power, money, drugs, sex…
… gold, fun, religion…
… magic, God, spirits, voodoo…
…and potatoes.
The Second Congo War was so bloody and violent that people started calling it the “Great African War.”
Explaining the loose ends of African politics in under two paragraphs is a daunting task…
A deadly cocktail of inter-ethnic violence, genocide, and warring factions turned the Democratic Republic of Congo into a hellish tropical nightmarish steamy land of never ending suffering and misery.
Who’s to blame?
The fall of the former colonial empires left Africa with so many wounds the crystallization of the new nations was hastened and often uninspired…
Everyone was fighting everyone else for so many, many, many reasons. It’s difficult to sort it all out. It was a bloody free for all of torture, misery, and death.
Almost all neighboring states sent troops to support one side or the other for the duration of the conflict (1998 – 2002).
The Congo conflict showed once more the awful consequences of
bringing a war to poor communities. The hundreds of thousands that died
in combat were soon joined by the millions that perished through disease
and starvation.
Do you know what the worst part is?
Even after a peace treaty had been signed, war is still smoldering, claiming lives on such a constant basis that it is no longer news.
Sort of like those shootings in Chicago…
Or the news that Trump is gonna be impeached any day now…
The Congo conflict showed once more the awful consequences of bringing a war to poor communities. The hundreds of thousands that died in combat were soon joined by the millions that perished through disease and starvation.
Expert Tip: Some people fight first and then look for an excuse later on.
Check out the war that almost saw France conquer Europe.
3. Napoleonic Wars – 4.5 million
For those of you who are unaware, after the French Revolution…
…when the millions of poor and middle class overthrew the French oligarch aristocrats…
… they didn’t know how to govern.
They were incompetent. So in order to control the people (then, collective known as the “rabble”) they started to engage in war.
Wars, you see, are a great distraction away from the domestic problems at home.
The Battle of Aspern-Essling was fought May 21-22, 1809, and was part of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815).
From the chaos of the French Revolution, came military leaders. And, one military ruler emerged with the ambition of leading France to greatness.
Napoleon Bonaparte was such a brilliant military tactician that he convinced his fellow countrymen to crown him emperor. Consider the fact that French did that just ten years since they guillotined their last king.
Yeah…
Pure genus!
— Not. —
Rule by popular opinion is idiotic. It get’s people killed.
America! Listen up and learn something why don’t ya?
Expert Tip: Rule by manipulated mob is called “democracy”. It only favors the wealthy oligarchy.
The Napoleonic Wars was probably the first time a European power attempted continental hegemony. Between 1803 and 1815, it became sort of a cliché to hear the news of Napoleon’s army won another decisive battle against various coalitions of Austrian, Prussian, and Russian forces.
The French were on a winning streak.
Nothing could stop them.
So…
They kept on pushing. They kept on prodding. They keep on… they were so confident that they would forever keep on winning.
Expert Tip: Learn to stop when you are ahead.
The formidable French forces aligned and ready for battle.
Like I said… America listen up!
Napoleon’s winning strike came to an end with him foolishly attacking Russia during the winter.
I mean… what were they thinking?
Expert Tip: Do not declare war on Asia. They always win.
The battle of Borodino and the long retreat to France are amongst the bloodiest episodes of the Napoleonic Wars.
After attacking Russia, the French military was devastated. Less than 10% survived and made it back home.
It’s easy to see the Napoleonic Wars as a rehearsal, one hundred years before the “Great War” (World War I) would plunge Europe back into darkness. More than 4.5 million lost their lives, of which a third were French.
That’s what always happens when you follow a charismatic lunatic.
Expert Tip: Do not follow a charismatic lunatic.
4. Reconquista – 7 million
The Iberian Peninsula was the set of a bloody conflict. It was the first major front for Muslims and Christians to slaughter each other.
Christians fought Muslims in the South of Spain and it was horribly tragic.
What we know today as Spain and Portugal might have held Moorish names…
… if it weren’t for the painstakingly way with which the early Christian kingdoms fought the invaders back across the Gibraltar Strait.
And make no mistake, it was bloody.
Expert Tip: Do not live on migration routes.
The kingdoms of Asturias, León, Castile, Navarre, Aragon, and Portugal fought over the course of seven centuries to reconquer what it took the Moors only five years.
The Iberian Peninsula was the set of a bloody conflict. It was the first major front for Muslims and Christians to slaughter each other.
You will be surprised to know that the Reconquista formally ended in
1492, the same year Christopher Columbus went across the pond to
discover the New World. The fall of Granada marked the end of Muslim
claim in Western Europe.
Going back to 732 AD, the Islamic Moors conquered almost all the
entire peninsula and even crossed the Pyrenees to modern day France.
There probably is one alternate reality where Europe gets fully
conquered by armies chanting the name of Allah.
Check out another religious conflict that went too far.
5. Thirty Years’ War – 8 million
The Thirty Years War
... a European war of 1618–48 which broke out between the Catholic Holy Roman emperor and some of his German Protestant states and developed into a struggle for continental hegemony with France, Sweden, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire as the major protagonists. It was ended by the Treaty of Westphalia.
- More about Thirty Years War
The United States has been in Afghanistan for twenty years now. It, like most of the wars of the last seventy or so years, are proxy wars in third world shit-holes.
Third World ShitholeunknownNounreferringtoanyimpoverishedforeigncountryinwhichcrime, graft, andcorruptionaremodusoperandi.
- Urban Dictionary: Third World Shithole
It involves, pretty much, expensive planes dropping expensive munitions on mud and clay huts, while “boots on the ground” act as personal bodyguards for the local rich and powerful so that the “interests” of the American oligarchy are maintained.
Nah. I’m not biased. Eh?
Now, imagine that instead of twenty years fighting uneducated tribesmen, we’ve got a full on military presence fighting war like what we experienced during “D Day” for…
…um… like…
…thirty years.
Wars are never pretty. Americans have never really fought an all-out war. At most we had the American Civil War and the Revolutionary war. But if you lived outside the conflict areas, you pretty much could live your life in peace. Not so during the Thirty Years war. No one, no place, and nothing was safe.
The Thirty Years’ War coined just how messed the political map of the European continent was in the 17th century.
What started as a localized conflict between various Protestant and Catholic states (duh!) evolved into a full-scale conflagration. It was one that ravaged Central Europe and left behind the bulkiest death toll the continent has ever since in such a short time.
Every power had a good pretext to join the Thirty Years’ War.
War is good!
Save the King!
Power to the People!
We are the best! They are the worst scum imaginable!
Kill them all. Rape their women! Kill their babies,all for our King!
By far the most flamboyant intervention was that of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who engaged in one of the most bizarre adventures that took his troops deep into southern Germany.
Thirty Years' War in British English noun a major conflict involving principally Austria , Denmark , France, Holland , the German states , Spain , and Sweden , that devastated central Europe, esp large areas of Germany (1618–48).
- Thirty Years' War definition and meaning | Collins English
Humans can become awfully cruel to each other and atrocities towards others becomes normalized.
The Thirty Years’ War brevetted cruel execution methods like so-called Defenestration. In this “humane” procedure, soldiers threw out the windows the civilians of the captured cities.
The first all-out war that engulfed Europe showed major powers just how “fun” can be to fight on a continental scale. What followed was much worse.
The human condition. In Europe. The most “civilized” place on the planet.
Expert Tip: No place is immune from war or conflict.
Europe was not the only place where people enjoyed slaughtering each other.
6. Chinese Civil War – 8 million
Following in the footsteps of Russia, when they over threw their oligarchy, the poor Chinese peasants tried to do the exact same thing. They set up factions and fought each other on a very bloody and enormous land mass.
Expert Tip: Oligarchies tend to anger the peasants & serfs. This results in war.
Nationalist prisoner captured by the Marxists and paraded before the townspeople before being tortured and killed.
The Chinese Civil War opposed forces loyal to the Republic of China to the army assembled by the Communist Party.
Oligarchy = Nationalist Republic of China.
The fighting poor = Communist Party
What followed was a bewildering war with a temporary and curious anomaly.
Killings were everywhere. Friends killed friends, brothers killed brothers, and no one was safe.
Probably the strangest fact about the conflict was that it took a decade-long hiatus. Between 1936 and 1946, the Nationalists and the Communists formed a United Front that opposed the territorial claims of Imperial Japan.
Once WWII ended, the two enemies were back at each other’s throats.
Gun boat on the river. It was an effective platform for firepower at critical towns and villages.
Mao Zedong (the leader of the Communist Party) rose as a leader during the Great March, a strategic retreat of the Communist forces that would weight decisively in their victory.
The Communists (the rural poor) won, and chased the oligarchy to the island of Taiwan. Which now is the remaining stronghold for the remaining remnants of Chinese “blue blood”.
The Chinese have known thousands of years of conflict in a very up-front and personal way. And when the communists took over, they failed miserably. They did not know how to do anything right, and millions died by starvation, poverty and internal “turf wars”.
Expert Tip: Never allow yourself to be disarmed by progressive Marxists.
Their last conflict was in 1966 when the progressive Marxists lost it completely. They, in turn, were overthrown by a government that embraced a new kind of socialism. It’s socialism with capitalism; or in other words “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.
America should take note.
Expert tip: China is communist in name only.
The Chinese, a nation of merit, has known complete suffering and devastation for centuries. They view war as a terribly personal thing that must be avoided at all costs. However, if it cannot be avoided…
…It must be dealt with quickly and absolutely.
7. Russian Civil War – 9 million
Now, according to American media and history books, there was this pesky “Russian Revolution”. It was a time when the communists overthrew the the Tsar.
What they fail to tell you is that it was like the “French Revolution”. The downtrodden peasants over thrown the ruling oligarchy. Then once the oligarchy was neutered, a group of idealistic Marxists took over. They started killing everyone…
…all in the name of a progressive utopia.
The Russian revolution enabled progressive Marxists to over throw the ruling oligarchy. The rest of the world trembled that it might occur again in their communities.
One century ago, Russia had a hard time deciding its political future. There were many participants. But, all being said and done it was really down to two sides;
The wealthy oligarchy.
The uneducated poor.
The Red Army (the idealistic poor) and the White Army (the defenders of the oligarchy) faced each other in a bloody war. It was a war that claimed millions of lives and kept the country in turmoil for six years.
Everything started once the impoverished people of Russia have had enough with their Tsar and the rest of the ruling oligarchy.
The pageantry of the ruling Russian oligarchy rivaled pre-Napoleonic France. Bet you’se guys never saw these pictures in your American history books, eh?
In just one year (1917), the Russians went through two revolutions.
One toppled the century-old monarchy…
… while the other gave way to the Communist takeover.
You might be surprised to know that Russia’s future was quite uncertain in the early phases of its civil war.
Republicans, pro-monarchists, fascists – all wanted to fill in the power vacuum and exploit the gullible babushkas. Historians are still not sure what made Russia such a fertile ground for Communist Marxist ideology.
Expert Tip: People will accept governance in just about any form as long as it’s not an oligarchy.
I attribute it to being treated like dirt by the wealthy aristocrats.
Although a lot of fighting took place throughout the Russian Civil War, the bulk of the victims is represented by civilians who happened to side with the losers.
Lenin and the gang cleansed society and painted it in blood.
The new Marxists killed their enemies, and if you were lucky, you got to go to a Gulag.
That might answer why the Soviet Union saw little internal political friction throughout its existence. Why? Well, everyone who could possibly… remotely… be a threat was killed.
Expert Tip: Progressive Marxists eventually kill everyone.
Now…
Check out the atrocities committed by a bunch of Spanish soldiers!
8. Spanish Conquest of Peru – 9 million
As late as 1528, the Inca Empire was a cohesive unit, ruled by one dominant ruler, Huayna Capac.
He died, however, and two of his many, many sons, Atahualpa and Huáscar, began to fight over his empire. (Being a King has sexual advantages, don’t you know…)
For four years, a bloody civil war raged over the Empire and in 1532 Atahualpa emerged victoriously.
It was at this precise moment, when the Empire was in ruins, that Pizarro and his men showed up: they were able to defeat the weakened Inca armies and exploit the social rifts that had caused the war in the first place.
The Spanish conquest of Peru is a dark chapter of human history, one that holds the story of the 9 million Incas that perished.
Francisco Pizarro is the man responsible for conquering an entire
empire with only a handful of well-equipped soldiers. The conquistador
put to work superior weapons and a cunning plan.
Expert Tip: Beware of strangers with advanced technology and a love of gold.
In November of 1532, Inca Emperor Atahualpa was captured by the Spanish: he had agreed to meet with them, feeling that they did not pose a threat to his massive army. This was but one of the mistakes the Inca made.
Later, Atahualpa’s generals, fearing for his safety in captivity, did not attack the Spanish while there were still only a few of them in Peru: one general even believed Spanish promises of friendship and let himself be captured.
The soldiers and people of the Inca Empire did not meekly turn over their homeland to the hated invaders. Major Inca generals such as Quisquis and Rumiñahui fought pitched battles against the Spanish and their native allies, notably at the 1534 Battle of Teocajas.
Later, members of the Inca royal family such as Manco Inca and Tupac Amaru led massive uprisings: Manco had 100,000 soldiers in the field at one point. For decades, isolated groups of Spaniards were targeted and attacked. The people of Quito proved particularly fierce, fighting the Spanish every step of the way to their city, which they burned to the ground when it became apparent that the Spanish were certain to capture it.
The drawing below shows the climax of the Spanish blitzkrieg against the Incas. Pizarro ambushes emperor Atahualpa, who is captured and executed.
The climax of the Spanish blitzkrieg against the Incas. Pizarro ambushes emperor Atahualpa, who is captured and executed.
Although the Incas rebelled multiple times against the foreign
invaders, there was little they could do regarding fighting the
infectious diseases the Europeans brought with them. The Spanish
conquest of the Inca Empire formally ended in 1572.
Although many of the native people fought back fiercely, others allied themselves with the Spanish. The Inca were not universally loved by the neighboring tribes they had subjugated over the centuries, and vassal tribes such as the Cañari hated the Inca so much that they allied themselves with the Spanish: by the time they realized that the Spanish were an even bigger threat it was too late. Members of the Inca royal family practically fell over one another to gain the favor of the Spanish, who put a series of puppet rulers on the throne. The Spanish also co-opted a servant class called the yanaconas: the yanaconas attached themselves to the Spaniards and were valuable informants.
The Inca had skilled generals, veteran soldiers and massive armies numbering in the tens or hundreds of thousands. The Spanish were greatly outnumbered, but their horses, armor, and weapons gave them an advantage that proved too great for their enemies to overcome. There were no horses in South America until Europeans brought them: native warriors were terrified of them and at first, the natives had no tactics to counter a disciplined cavalry charge. In battle, a skilled Spanish horseman could cut down dozens of native warriors. Spanish armor and helmets, made of steel, made their wearers practically invulnerable and fine steel swords could cut through any armor the natives could put together.
By that time, the second most advanced civilization of the New World booked a one-way ticket into oblivion.
Pizarro ambushes emperor Atahualpa, who is captured and executed.
The next page reveals another bloody conflict that shocked the medieval world.
9. Conquests of Tamerlane – 17 million
Here we have a very powerful and ruthless man. His name was Tamerlane, and he was the most powerful general under Genghis Khan.
Initially, Greater Mongol State was the name of the Mongol Empire. In the world’s history, Mongol Empire was the only empire that managed to take over and rule a number of countries and territories. But before it happened, war was declared. It happened from the year 1207-1472.
When I rise, the world shall tremble!
Take a good look at Tamerlane, the ruthless ruler responsible for killing 5% of the world population throughout the years he campaigned.
Timur, historically known as Tamerlane (1336 - 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror and the founder of the Timurid Empire in Persia and Central Asia. Timur rose through the ranks by gaining the respect of local chieftains due to his personal valor in combat and his brigandage. His actions, whether raiding or in combat, caused many to flock to him. It was during a battle that arrows struck his right arm and leg which left him partially paralyzed. Because of this, Europeans referred to him as ‘Tamerlane’ or ‘Timur the Lame.’
Timur was born in Transoxania a member of Barlas tribe. He rose to power among the Ulus Chaghatay. The Ulus Chaghatay was nomadic tribal confederation that formed the central region of Mongolian Chaghadaid khanate. Timur's story is similar to Genghis Khan; How true these stories are is up for debate.
- When I rise, the world shall tremble! Tamerlane’s Deadly Drive into India—Part I
Tamerlane (also known as Timur the Lame) had the ambition of
restoring the Mongol Empire, almost 150 years after the death of Genghis
Khan. Between 1370 and 1405 he toured Asia, sacking cities, painting
their walls with blood, and destroying all the key power structures.
Timur played good cop – bad cop with the people he conquered. His most notable civilian bloodsheds are the sacking of Delhi (100,000) and crushing the revolt of Isfahan (200,000).
Expert Tip; Better to be alive and living in poverty than to be killed clutching your possessions.
You will be surprised to know Tamerlane was close to engaging in a
conflict that would have blown to pieces the Asian continent. Luckily,
he died before ordering his army to attack the Ming dynasty of China.
The self-entitled “Sword of Islam” cut deep and merciless. Compiling
the sources of the time, we confront horrifying statistics. More than 17
million perished because ambitious Tamerlane dreamt of taking over the
world.
The doors of Tamerlane.
Check out China’s less know rebellion!
10. An Lushan Rebellion – 21 million
Starting December 16, 755-February 17, 763, An Lushan Rebellion happened. It was during China’s Tang Dynasty. The war actually started when An Lushan who happened to be an ex-Tang general declared himself to be the new emperor.
The An Lushan rebellion was the end and a new start into reclaiming the Tang dynasty. It did not only affect the royal empire but the people as well were affected due to this warfare. It took years before the wounds of the past were healed in the empire.
- An Lushan Rebellion - The Devastating An-Shi Rebellion
Starting December 16, 755-February 17, 763, An Lushan Rebellion happened. It was during China’s Tang Dynasty. The war actually started when An Lushan who happened to be an ex-Tang general declared himself to be the new emperor.
At first glance, the An Lushan Rebellion seems to deserve just a footnote.
Expert Tip: History will never be able to coney the suffering of you or your people.
That’s the error most historians make when they fail to check the
numbers. More than 21 million perished as a result of an attempted coup
that was close to overthrowing one of the most influential dynasties of
the time.
General An Lushan detonated order and peace once he proclaimed himself emperor of Northern China in 755 AD.
Take a good look at the man who can be held responsible for the mess.
General An Lushan detonated order and peace once he proclaimed himself
emperor of Northern China in 755 AD. Seven years of turmoil followed,
during which China lost one-third of its population.
The painting below depicts the flight of the emperor from the capital of Chang’an, immediately before Lushan’s army seized it.
The flight of the emperor from the capital of Chang’an.
Although going that far, killing that many people, the rebellion eventually failed and came to an end in 763 AD.
The restored Tang became severely weakened and would exit the stage of history in less than two centuries later.
You have to see Spain’s second carnage in the New World…
11. Spanish Conquest of Mexico – 24 million
Only three decades after Christopher Columbus had discovered the New World the Spaniards were already busy exterminating the local populations at a ferocious scale.
TheSpanishConquest (1519-1521) April 21, 1519--theyearCeAcatl (OneReed) byAztecreckoning-- markedtheopeningofashortbutdecisivechapterinMexico'shistory. Onthatdayafleetof 11 Spanishgalleonssailingalongtheeasterngulfcoastdroppedanchorjustoffthewind-sweptbeachontheislandofSanJuandeUlúa.
- The SpanishConquest (1519-1521) : Mexico History
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Spanish–Mexican War, was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
More than 24 million died throughout the Spanish conquest of what is
modern day Mexico. Compared to that, the bloody sacrifices so engraved
in Aztec culture appear like a bruise your mother kisses to make it go
away.
How could less than 2,000 conquistadors overcome an army of 300,000
Aztecs, their well-fortified capital of Tenochtitlan, and the advantage
of the home ground? How could tens of millions be slaughtered in a
matter of decades?
The story of the Spanish conquest, as it has been commonly understood for 500 years, goes like this: Montezuma surrendered his empire to Cortés. Cortés and his men entered Tenochtitlán and lived there peacefully for months until rebellious Aztecs attacked them. Montezuma was killed by friendly fire. The surviving conquistadors escaped the city and later returned with Spanish reinforcements. They bravely laid siege to Tenochtitlán for months and finally captured it on Aug. 13, 1521, with the Spanish taking their rightful place as leaders of the land we now know as Mexico. Conquest accomplished.
"History is messy, and this story tidies up all of that mess and turns the messy, unpleasant war that took place 500 years ago into a nice, tidy dramatic narrative that has a hero [Cortés] and antihero [Montezuma] and has some kind of climactic, glorious ending," says Restall.
In When Montezuma Met Cortés, Restall revises this story. He ditches the word "conquest" and instead refers to the time as the Spanish-Aztec war. He says Cortés was a "mediocrity" with little personal impact on the unfolding of events and refocuses on complex territorial battles between the Aztecs and their rivals.
The Tlaxcallan Empire, which allied with the Spanish, was the driving force, outnumbering conquistadors 50-to-1 during the war with the Aztecs. Smallpox and a betrayal from an Aztec ally dealt the final blow. The wondrous island city fell, but it would take years for the Spanish to establish control in New Spain.
-NPR
Hernán Cortés exploited European style warfare to its maximum.
Cortez the Killer.
For the superstitious Aztecs, the horse and the guns appeared as the weapons of the Gods.
The Spanish contingent also boosted its numbers by initiating an alliance with the local Tlaxcala.
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.
Nevertheless, the biggest aid came in an invisible form. European germs proved to be a formidable army and childhood diseases like small pox and measles met no natural immunity in the bodies of the indigenous populations.
Yup. Biological warfare wiped out a complete empire.
Expert Tip: Beware of the use of biological warfare. It’s fighting war by stealth.
Explore on the next page another Chinese conflict that killed millions!
12. Qing vs. Ming – 25 million
Medieval China saw enough dynastic drama to make the wars in the West look like children’s play. Maybe that’s why Chinese movies and drama always focus on that time period.
Qing soldiers cutting hair of Chinese officals after Ming dynasty fall.
Between 1618 and 1683, China completed a full transition from its
southern Ming emperors to the new ruling elite coming all they from
northern Manchuria. You could say that in this fragment of history the
Starks were victorious.
As you suspect, the Ming did not leave without a fight. The Manchu
(Qing) retaliation was unprecedented. More than 25,000,000 lost their
lives in a conflict that spread across the entire land.
China is a nation of people who know nothing other than war, and want to avoid it at all costs.
Whole provinces like Sichuan and Jiangnan were completely depopulated, and chronicles mention massacres like the one of Yangzhou where 800,000 innocent souls perished.
Expert Tip: Major wars result in the depopulation of large swaths of territory. Entire states can end up empty.
The expression “women and children first” had a terrifyingly different meaning for the Qing generals.
At this point, we need to stress the fact that Qing Manchurians were foreigners who managed to conquer China mostly through betrayal and manipulation.
Their savagery will be avenged similarly just three centuries later.
Qing empire.
Check out the biggest land empire ever and the bloodshed it created.
13. Mongol Conquests – 35 million (+ 200 million bonus)
The Mongol Empire: Expansion of the Mongol empire from 1206 CE-1294 CE. During Europe’s High Middle Ages the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire in history, began to emerge. The Mongol Empire began in the Central Asian steppes and lasted throughout the 13th and 14th centuries.
- The Mongol Empire | Boundless World History
Mongols dominated the battlefields with their slim and fast mounted archers that made the most of Europe’s sluggish armored knights.
Watching a live world map of the world Mongol expansion shows just how quick and efficient the steppe riders moved across Eurasia.
The Mongol expansion was rapid and ruthless.
Mongols dominated the battlefields with their slim and fast mounted archers that made the most of Europe’s sluggish armored knights.
1. In 1201, Genghis Khan was shot in the neck during a battle and asked the defeated army who had shot “his horse”, trying to downplay the injury. The archer voluntarily confessed that he shot Genghis Khan himself and not his horse. He refused to beg for mercy saying if Genghis Khan desired to kill him, it was his choice, but if he would let him live, he would serve Genghis Khan loyally. Genghis Khan spared him, turning him into a great general. – Source
2. When Genghis Khan sent a trade caravan to the Khwarezmid Empire, the governor of one of the city seized it and killed the traders. Genghis Khan retaliated by invading the empire with 100,000 men and killing the governor by pouring molten silver down his eyes and mouth. Genghis Khan even went so far as to divert a river through the Khwarezmid emperor’s birthplace, erasing it from the map. – Source
3. Genghis Khan killed an estimated 40 million people, resulting in a man-made climate change. The Mongol invasions effectively cooled the planet, scrubbing around 700 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere. – Source
4. Genghis Khan’s chief adviser was a captured scholar named Yelu Chucai. His contribution to the Mongol Empire was to suggest that the Mongols not kill everyone, but tax them instead. – Source
5. Genghis Khan would marry off a daughter to the king of an allied nation, dismissing his other wives. Then he would assign his new son-in-law to military duty in the Mongol wars, while the daughter took over the rule. Most of his sons-in-laws died in combat, giving him shield around the Mongol lands. – Source
A typical Mongol siege of a normal Chinese fortified city.
Mongol warriors had the bad habit of executing hundreds of thousands of civilians at a time, making religious fanatics believe the Antichrist descended upon Earth.
Extermination Blues – Robin Trower
6. There’s a place in Mongolia called Ikh Khorig that was declared sacred by Genghis Khan. The only people allowed to enter were the Mongol Royal Family and a tribe of elite warriors, the darkhat, whose job was to guard it, punishment for entering being death. They carried out their task for 697 years, until 1924. – Source
7. Legends abound regarding the cause of Genghis Khan’s death, ranges from a fall from his horse while hunting, to an arrow to the knee, to an assassination plot executed by a captured princess. – Source
8. Genghis Khan exempted the poor and clergy from taxes, encouraged literacy, and established a free religion, leading many people to join his empire before they were even conquered. – Source
9. Shah Jahan, the emperor who built the Taj Mahal was a direct descendent of Genghis Khan – Source
10. The Mongols celebrated a victory over the Russians by laying survivors on the ground, dropping a heavy wooden gate on them, and then having a victory banquet on top of it while the victims suffocated and were crushed to death. – Source
Khutulun was the only daughter and youngest child in a family with 15 children. Her sibling rivalries growing up helped fashion her into the person she became. Because her father, Kaidu ruler of the Changatai Khanate, favored the old Mongol ways, Khutulun grew up in a nomadic lifestyle. This lifestyle gave her specialized training in wrestling, horseback riding, and as a warrior. It is said that when her father feuded with her uncle, Kublai Khan, she rode by his side throughout the campaigns.
The armies of Genghis Khan and his lieutenants operated like a surgeon, performing a lobotomy on most states of Asia and Eastern Europe.
Expert Tip: When confronting a large, disciplined Asian nation it is best to be their friends. The alternative is extermination.
11. Töregene Khatun, the daughter-in-law to Genghis Khan, ruled the Mongol Empire for 5 years at the height of its power and was arguably the most powerful woman in the history of the world – Source
12. The Mongols killed so many people in the Iranian Plateau that some historians estimate that Iran’s population did not again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century. – Source
13. Mongols were actually outnumbered in most of their victories in battles. They still managed to deceive their enemies by elaborate ruses like mounting dummies atop horses and tying sticks to the horses’ tails to create dust storms. – Source
14. In 1258, the Mongols destroyed Baghdad. Survivors said that “the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river and red from the blood of the scientists and philosophers killed.” The siege marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age. – Source
15. The Mongols pulled their bowstrings back with their thumb. To prevent damage to their thumbs they created thumb rings. – Source
The only thing that stopped the world from becoming one giant pasture for Mongol horses was the sudden death of their supreme ruler.
You do not mess around with a powerful Asian nation.
16. Khutulun was a warrior princess. She was a Mongol princess who won 10,000 horses wrestling every man who wanted to marry her. – Source
17. People of the Mongol empire never washed their clothes or themselves because they believed washing would pollute the water and anger the dragons that controlled the water cycle. – Source
18. In 1254 C.E. Genghis Khan organized a formal religious debate between teams of Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists. The debate went on for multiple rounds on a variety of theological topics until the participants became so drunk that it concluded without any clear winner. – Source
19. Genghis Khan is considered the “most successful biological father in human history” with over 16 million descendants in Central Asia. – Source
20. In his youth, Genghis Khan killed his half-brother Bekhter for not sharing food.
The Mongol Horde were knocking at the gates of the former Roman empire.
21. Mongol leader Genghis Khan never allowed anyone to paint his portrait, sculpt his image or engrave his likeness on a coin. The first images of him appeared after his death. – Source
22. Genghis Khan invaded China with 90,000 troops and dominated the largest army in the world, the Jin Dynasty’s 1 million+ troops, and destroyed over 500,000 of them in the process and gained control of Northern China and Beijing. – Source
23. Mongols had rules against spilling noble blood over the ground. Instead, they used loopholes like making them bend backward until their backbones snapped, pouring molten silver into eyes and ears, and being rolled up in a rug and trampled to death by the Mongol cavalry. – Source
24. The Mongol Empire installed empire-wide messenger/postal stations 15-40 miles apart, stocked with food and fresh mounts that required passports for use, allowing for communication over the largest continuous empire in history. – Source
25. The deadliest war in the history was WWII, but the Mongol Invasions are a close second, despite occurring 700 years earlier, when the world’s population was only a fifth of what it was in 1945. – Source
Just when the people of Europe were celebrating the end of the Mongol menace, another wave of death immediately followed suit and bathed the continent in blood throughout the 14th century.
The riders have brought with them the bubonic plague.
Expert Tip: “Double Tap” is the only way to make sure.
Let’s visit again the slaughterhouse China was in the past…
14. Three Kingdoms War – 38 million
The Three Kingdoms War is one the bloodiest military conflicts in Chinese history.
The Three Kingdoms War is one the bloodiest military conflicts in Chinese history.
Most people perceive China as a monolith that existed peacefully
since its inception until today. That is far from being true. Back when
Europe was enjoying relative stability under Roman rule, the Celestial
Empire confronted one of the most prolonged crisis.
Between 184 and 280 AD China was divided in three empires – Wei, Shu,
and Wu. The three emerged after the breakdown of the Han dynasty and
would be again reunited by the Jin monarchs.
A map of the three kingdoms.
All historians base their life loss estimates on two national
censuses that give a difference of 38 million. Whether the calculations
were accurate will remain a mystery. Nevertheless, one thing is clear.
China has a formidable capacity of regenerating its population.
It seems that the Chinese were so happy once the century-long conflict ended that they celebrated mostly in their beds.
Expert Tip: After conflict have lots and lots of sex.
As we approach the end of the list, the death toll rises to emotional levels.
15. World War I – 40 million
World War I proved once more just how messed up Europe’s political map was at that time.
World War I, international conflict that in 1914–18 embroiled most of the nations of Europe along with Russia, the U.S., the Middle East, and other regions. It led to the fall of four great imperial dynasties and, in its destabilization of European society, laid the groundwork for World War II.
- World War I | Facts, Causes, & History | Britannica
World War I was a war that started to use technology to kill people with rapid ease in mass quantities.
An intricate network of alliances, friendships, and protectorates
turned the continent into a field of domino pieces waiting for the first
push. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was
nothing but a pretext for nations to jump at each other’s throat with a
ferocity never seen before.
12 Technological Advancements of World War ITanks.Flamethrowers.Poison Gas.Tracer Bullets.Interrupter Gear.Air traffic control.Depth Charges.Hydrophones.Aircraft Carriers.Pilotless Drones.
- 12 Technological Advancements of World War I | Mental Floss
The four short years of WWI would have made Napoleon and Genghis Khan
jealous. Breakthrough technologies meant that soldiers could kill each
other more efficiently. Airplanes and chemical weapons are just a few of
the innovations that gave WWI its sad reputation.
Gas warfare, heavy machine guns and trench warfare, along with airplanes and tanks were introduced during World war I.
The belief that WWI was a trench war is not far from the truth. Machine guns turned offensive warfare into mass suicide, so opponents often settled with bombarding each other’s positions and squabbling for the higher ground.
Expert Tip: Wars are not gallant and “Righteous”, they are dangerous and lethal events. Flee while that is still an option open to you.
Those lucky enough to survive WWI gave it a nickname that proved to
be inaccurate. The “War to End All Wars” was followed after two decades
by something even more frightening.
Check out China’s less know civil war!
16. Taiping Rebellion – 44.5 million
The Taiping Rebellion highlights one more time China’s incredible potential in hosting epic scale warfare.
The Taiping Rebellion was a civil war in China from 1850 to 1864. It was led by Hong Xiuquan. The Taiping Rebellion was against the ruling Qing Dynasty.About 20 million people died. [source?] Most of them were civilians. Hong established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (太平天囯). When it was most powerful, it had about 30 million people joining in it.
- Taiping Rebellion - Simple English Wikipedia
Capture of a British prisoner during the Taipeng war.
Also known as the Taiping Civil War, the conflict lasted between 1850 and 1864 and produced the most dramatic death toll in history at that time.
Uniforms and gear of the troops during the Taipeng war.
The rebellion started with the millenarian movement of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace, which tried to overthrow the Qing dynasty.
Expert Tip: When the word “peace” is used as part of a slogan or name for a military organization, run away and flee. Nothing good can ever come of it.
The Taiping Rebellion, from 1851 to 1864, was the deadliest civil war in history. This column provides evidence that this cataclysmic event significantly shaped China’s Malthusian transition and long-term development that followed, especially in areas where the experiences that stemmed from the rebellion led to better property rights, stronger local fiscal capacity, and rule by leaders with longer-term governance horizons.
- A Most Uncomfortable Thought About The Taiping Rebellion And The Black Death – Maybe That’s How Development Starts?
As you seen saw far on the list, every significant political change
in the history of China came with savagery. The Taiping Rebellion counts
as the bloodiest civil war in history and makes the American equivalent
look like a banquet.
The Taipeng war was dangerous and bloody.
The man responsible for the uprising was Hong Xiuquan. He considered himself the brother of Jesus Christ and wanted to establish an empire based on his take on Christianity.
Expert Tip: Avoid people who claim religious or heavenly connections.
Although unsuccessful, the conflagration further weakened China’s
Manchurian dynasty and set the stage for the victorious Communist
Revolution we talked about earlier.
Let’s end the list with the bloodiest war that ever took place.
17. World War II – 58 million
As you probably guessed, World War II sits comfortably at the top of the charts.
World War II summary: The carnage of World War II was unprecedented and brought the world closest to the term “total warfare.”On average 27,000 people were killed each day between September 1, 1939, until the formal surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945.
- World War II - World & US History Online
Countries brought each other close to total annihilation in a global
conflict that lasted six years. The lure of extremist doctrines was
enough to convince millions to take arms and engage in bloodshed like
never seen before.
World War II threw the entire globe into upheaval with death and destruction on all continents.
From the total of 58 million deaths, more than 40 million were
civilians. Genocide, massacres, mass-bombings, as well as the inevitable
epidemics and starvation, left the world (especially Europe) in ruins.
Between 1939 and 1945 our planet became a large war machinery that
ran on steel and flesh, veiling the future with clouds of dark smoke.
The romantic view on war finally met its doom in the Stalingrad
slaughterhouse and the Nazi extermination camps.
Nazi Germany was a major “player” during World War II, but other nations were just as guilty in the way that they handled things and their relationships.
Hopefully, humanity will never repeat the mistakes that led to WWII. Naturally, some pessimists saw in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki grand finally a preview for a third installment – the all-out war that will wipe civilization and send survivors back to the Stone Age.
Expert Tip: Wars always use the latest in killing technology. Expect the worst, and take the necessary precautions.
Conclusion.
It’s nice to think that we are “modern”, “enlightened”, “progressive’ and “forward thinking”. But, unfortunately that is a big lie. Humans, at best, can only sustain a calm period of coexistence for a handful of decades. No longer. The fact and the truth is that blood was spilled ruthlessly for most of human history.
We erronously believe that wars and bloodshed are behind us.
Nothing could be further from the truth. I argue that we have never been closer to global warfare and at a level that is beyond our comprehension.
It will involved WMD technology, whether it is nuclear or biological, and it will begin stealthy. Most people will be unaware that there is a war going on and that “chess pieces” are moving into position until it is too late.
The only thing that we can do is prepare for a SHTF event. That means get to know all of your neighbors, be prudent in your stockpiling of food, and supplies (for use or barter) and have a garden and fruit bearing trees. Make sure that you are armed and very, very skilled at using them. Finally, do not be timid about fighting. You will need to assess who your friends and your enemies are and kill them if need be.
May your preparations never come to fruition. God bless.
If you enjoyed this post, please be sure to check out my SHTF index page. Here…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
Perhaps the first thing that triggered my thoughts that the cronovirus attack in Wuhan was a biological weapon event was the suspicious timing of it…
… and the absolutely absurd complete shutdown of the 2020 CNY holiday.
Have you the reader ever heard of an entire nation canceling Christmas and ordering everyone to stay at home and not go out? It’s amazing, unique and horrifying.
Well…
…that’s what happened.
Of course, those in America and out West haven’t a clue as to what this means. Perhaps this graph will illustrate my point.
Plot of cronovirus infections over time overlayed with the yearly Chinese New Year mass migration.
This is a graph showing the trajectory when only a precious few people were infected.
Imagine what would have happened if the Chinese government would have not taken direct and immediate action.
What if…
Here’s what it looks like if they delayed action by two days, and all of China are having parties, drinking, eating and having fun with each other…
This scenario is what would have happened if China delayed going to DEFCON ONE by two days. The infection trajectory goes ballistic.
So, people, my argument is that there is no such thing as a coincidence.
This illness was intentionally timed to exert maximum damage on China.
If that is not bad enough…
… were China to delay their response by a mere two days, the nation would have been completely devastated and neutered by this illness.
What it is like.
This is what it is like…
Your read the news reports, and suddenly you aren’t feeling good. You report it to the 119 (9-1-1 emergency line) and an ambulance comes to pick you up.
My very first interview. I had it on 2-2-2020. How about that for a date, eh? It’s about what I experienced during the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and my sleuthing on the entire box of puzzle pieces regarding the biological weapon attack.
If you enjoyed this, you can see other posts in some of my other Indexes…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Lordy! American media is in la-la land, I’ll tell you what. And most Americans are following the big lie. No one wants to believe that America is involved in persuasive germ warfare to put pressure on China for the Trump trade wars. I guess that neocons like John Bolton would NEVER even consider such a thing, right?
What's so difficult to believe?
You all know that Trump wants America to be number one in the world and is doing everything possible to control the rise of China.
You know that that is why the "Trump Trade Wars" are on-going.
You know, if you are paying attention, that America only represents 11% of Chinese exports, and a far smaller percentage of imports. China is self-sufficient and doesn't really NEED America.
So in order to leverage China to bow to America, "other" pressures must be used...
... but biological germ warfare is "off the table".
So everyone is out there grasping at straws.
For suggesting this obvious “elephant in the room”, I’m an evil spook that gives people the heebie-jeebies for suggesting this.
Instead, it’s a natural viral “bug” not anywhere near as bad as the seasonal flu… If anything, if it is a biological weapon it’s something that came out of stolen technology, or from some kind of fringe revolutionary group.
OK. Ok.
Don’t shoot the messenger. Got it?
It’s a biological weapon. It was unleashed in China on THE Chinese New Year holiday and it is designed to create mass causalities. It’s rampaging through China now.
All you need to know is this…
[1] China is treating it as a biological weapon, and they [2] WILL NOT ALLOW AMERICAN RESEARCHERS ANYWHERE NEAR IT.
Doesn’t that tell you something?
Here’s some more videos. To youse guys who think that it’s nothing to worry about, you can ignore this post. FOX and CNN has better news with well-paid “experts” for you to believe. I’m just posting videos of what is going on, taken by people that are right here at ground zero, and who (like me) are dealing with it.
You all can sit comfy in your homes and dream that it’s just a way for the Untied States government to force you all to take vaccines, or for the dark cabal to exterminate the human race, or for Reptilians to feed on humans. Remember, it’s your reality. Not mine.
You might be right.
I might be wrong.
Here’s what I am seeing. Come to your own conclusions.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Going Crazy inside the apartment.
Like me, the rest of China are all stuck, cooped inside the house. As I write this it’s been ten days of isolation and we are beyond stir-crazy. So the Chinese social media is full of people making the best of things. The best way to protect yourself and you family is to stay isolated, if you go out, you go protected and disinfect yourself, and do not touch any surfaces.
This coronvirus is so darn dangerous. So most people stay inside, and my little dog cannot understand why I won’t take him outside for a walk (and a shit), but we are not going to take any risks.
Going crazy.
Video 2 – Ambulances going to the hospital.
Once the new hospital was constructed in Wuhan, sick patients were transported to it. They were moved from the military field tent hospitals to the new wings of the sprawling mega-hospital. The convoy of ambulances is impressive.
Video 3 – Baby in trouble!
It’s heartbreaking for anyone to get this Frankenstein coronvirus HIV monster. But it’s especially heartbreaking to see young innocents get stricken with it.
That’s precisely why the Pentagon forbid all the military not to view or use Chinese social media. It’s not that they want to prevent people from watching lip-synchronization to pop songs.
They don’t want the troops “getting soft” watching the heart wrenching events of American germ warfare unfold.
Video 4 – Breaking through a quarantine roadblock.
Not everyone is with the program. Some fight it. They don’t care. Some, like this fellow, plows through the roadblock.
These selfish people are very dangerous and put an entire community at risk.
Video 5 – Containing an infected girl.
So you’ve been diagnosed with this killer, super contagious Frankenstein virus, what do you do? You flee from the hospital and try to run away. Not the brightest of decisions.
Video 6 – Hope
You have a loved one in the hospital dealing with this illness. They are your family and they are there, and the last you saw was when they collapsed going to empty the garbage. Now, you are scared silly that they would die…
That’s what is going on in China today, right now.
China is at Level One alert.
People! This is equivalent to DEFCON 1 in America. The Chinese government is treating this as a WMD bio-weapon attack and it is very serious. People are sick and dying.
Defense readiness conditions (DEFCONs) describe progressive alert postures primarily for use between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commanders of unified commands. DEFCONs are graduated to match situations of varying military severity, and are numbered 5,4,3,2, and 1 as appropriate. DEFCONs are phased increases in combat readiness. In general terms, these are descriptions of DEFCONs:
DEFCON 5 Normal peacetime readiness
DEFCON 4 Normal, increased intelligence and strengthened security measures
DEFCON 3 Increase in force readiness above normal readiness
DEFCON 2 Further Increase in force readiness, but less than maximum readiness
DEFCON 1 Maximum force readiness.
- DEFCON DEFense CONdition
The closest comparable American situation was during…
Pearl Harbor
9-11
Luckily the Chinese government took quick action. But still, it means nothing when your loved ones are in the hospital dying.
Video 7 – Eating lunch.
You are having lunch with friends and your one friend suddenly slumps over and is in distress. That’s coronvirus. That’s China today. They American media is all about this not being as bad as the flu. Well, I have never seen the flu have such rapid an onslaught, and act so stealthy in application.
You don’t know when he picked up the bug. Probably 14 days ago. He was normal. He felt normal. He went out to eat with his friends. Ordered some dishes. Now this.
Video 8 – Decontamination.
This is a sight that is not at all uncommon. Everyone is wearing full cat #4 costumes and decontaminating themselves. This germ is so darn lethal. But it’s more than that, it’s got an unusually long life outside it’s host.
12 hours (!) on metal and plastic surfaces. 6 to 12 hours on clothing.
Video 9 – Delivering supplies.
All aircraft are available to transport supplies. They are arriving from all over the world, from India, to Japan, from Australia to NZ. Nothing from America though…
Yeah, the Gates foundation owns the patent on this virus, and held a meeting discussing the possible scenarios of a release of it…
…the day before American troops were in Wuhan.
Video 10 – Going shopping.
This is what it’s like going shopping right now.
You go out wearing all sorts of protection, you go straight from point “A” to point “B”. Then you select and buy your groceries. Then return back as quickly as possible. Then you disinfect yourself.
You wash all of your clothes immediately.
Then you scrub yourself raw in a hot, hot water shower, and put on house clothes.
Video 11 – Everyone is getting disinfected.
Here we have a Chinese government official being disinfected on his way to the office. Disinfecting is mandatory. You just cannot go outside without taking care of yourself. This virus can “jump” as far as two meters (two yards), and it can do some from people who appear completely healthy and normal.
Video 12 – Hotel Cleaning
One sick person was staying in a hotel. So after the new hospital was constructed he was moved to it, and the hospital room was sanitized. The bedding, mattress and pillows were hauled off to be incinerated. The rest disinfected thoroughly.
Video 13 – Military at work.
As stated earlier, this is a level one military event. It is equivalent to the American DEFCON #1. All the military are mobilized and are on high alert. This includes the nuclear forces as well as the police and medical services. The most visible, of course, are the medical services. Here was have a video showing the men and women at work.
Video 14 – Passing out in the 7-11.
This sickness happens so rapidly. You get on your coat and put on your mask. You grab your keys and cell phone. You go downstairs to make a dash to the 7-11 on the corner. When suddenly…
…you don’t feel so well.
It’s like this. Real deal.
Collapsing in the Sinotecc.
Video 15 – Seizure of an infected person.
Not everyone wants to cooperate. Some fight tooth and nail. They do not want to go to the hospital. They do not trust doctors. They do not trust medicines. They do not want to be injected. And so they run, they hide and they put up a fight.
Of course, the police are called in and they are captured, secured and medicated.
Video 16 – This is what it is like.
You are hiding and locked down inside your house. You look outside your window and you see a bunch of police cars and ambulances outside in your courtyard. You see them do into your building and you see them take away an entire family.
It’s like living a horror movie.
That’s about it for this post. Too many videos take forever to load and freezes the entire article / post. More is on the way. I hope that you enjoyed this post, and if you liked it, please watch some of my other similar posts on my China index…
You’ll not
find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
I was interviewed to speak on my thoughts of the CNY Wuhan Coronavirus emergency. I accepted, as after all, we are all locked up inside our isolated and quarantined areas, and have nothing better to do, eh? It’s my very first interview and I do not think that it is all that great, but others think that it is interesting. Oh, I don’t know.
Taking their name from the scheming, parasitic lawyer in Charles Dickens' 1850 novel David Copperfield, Uriah Heep is a progressive rock institution who, alongside bands like Deep Purple, Queen, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin, helped lay the foundation for the United Kingdom's vibrant hard rock/heavy metal scene, via combustible hits like "Easy Livin'," "The Wizard," "Sweet Lorraine," "Lady ...
- Uriah Heep on Spotify
Uriah Heep
I’m retired with a quiet life, kids, dogs and beer. I just want to chill out in my sunset years. I really don’t need social justice trolls and their ilk causing me trouble. So while you can read what I have to say, know what I know, and see what I look like… personal contact is by invitation only. I don’t want someone crashing my party and losing my buzz. Understand?
And then, the detractors started to assault everything I said. Fine. I wouldn’t bother to nod to them on the street, let alone share a pizza with them. Anyways, China-Rising responded HERE.
Funny thing about on-line personas. I suppose in real life I am more a combination of Pauly Shore, David Lee Roth and Rodney Dangerfield.
9SEP20 Update
Apparently, the China Government agrees with my appraisal. From a message group that I belong to…
Chinese propaganda getting good. Unlike West propaganda, Chinese includes evidence. exactly consistent with Uriah Heep's version. Thanks Jeff, but Kevin it may be a conspiracy that Heep told it in real time and the Chinese officials docu youtubed 8 months later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEo3qk-4yx8
Keep in mind that I am Uriah Heep in this interview.
If you enjoyed this post, please be sure to visit the rest of my blog here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Here are some more videos taken during the Chinese New Year Coronavirus emergency. At this time, and when these videos were taken, the Chinese government pretty much locked down most cities, and placed travel restrictions everywhere else. Everyone must wear a mask, and everyone must stay indoors unless it is an absolute emergency and they NEED to get out.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Viral task team.
The Chinese have established task teams to go forth and tackle specific issues and problems specifically and surgically. Here we have a video describing one such team.
Itwasanurgentorder. Manymemberslefttheir Chinese NewYear'sEvefamilyreunionstogetreadytoboarda special planetothecapitalofcentral China’sHubeiProvince. ThreenursesfromShanghaiYueyangHospitalofIntegratedTraditional Chinese andWesternMedicineareinthe team.
- Medics abandon reunions to head to Wuhan - SHINE News
Video 2 – Disinfecting the public areas.
All areas are being disinfected. Here’s one in process.
Cleaning involves getting rid of dirt and gunk where germs can grow. The friction of cleaning -- often with soap and water -- removes most surface germs, which is adequate for most household surfaces. In other cases, however, it's a good idea to disinfect, which destroys or inactivates most of the germs.
In this case anti-viral agents are being sprayed.
Video 3 – Police drones telling everyone to stay indoors.
No one is to go outside. Everyone must stay indoors. Here we have a police drone telling a village woman to go back to her house.
The use of police drones is notable, because the drone allowed surveillance of gaming operators who otherwise would have been difficult to track. While old-fashioned surveillance works best in some situations, drones in this case allowed investigators to plan a raid with 3D intel on the target site. China is the world leader in the use of drones.
- www.bestonlinecasinos.com/news/police-drones-used-for-illegal-gambling-raid-in-china/4894/
Video 4 – Regional militia and police roadblocks.
Road bocks come in different sizes and shapes. Here’s an overview.
This is a deadly virus. It stays inside of you and then when it’s ready to hit, it hits you with incredible force.
On January 10, gene sequencing determined it to be the new Wuhan coronavirus, namely 2019-nCoV, a betacoronavirus, related to the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome virus (MERS-CoV) and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus (SARSCoV). However, the mortality and transmissibility of 2019-nCoV are still unknown, and likely to vary from those of the prior referenced coronaviruses.
Video 6 – Police drones telling everyone to go back home and stay inside.
In the cities, the drones were out in force and instructing everyone to get home as quickly as possible.
Video 7 – Handing out face masks.
I have hundreds of these videos. Everyone is donating face masks and handing them out.
Video 8 – The virus attacks the hospital staff.
As I’ve stated before, this is a deadly lethal virus. Hospital staff are not immune. Already doctors and nurses have died. The first doctor was a man who was 62, and collapsed in the elevator.
Video 9 – Roadblocks and checkpoints.
More road blocks and checkpoints.
To all my valued clients, overseas friends and family:
With regard to the infection of the New Corona Virus, the Chinese government is currently taking the most effective and powerful measures to actively respond, and at least in Shanghai people are calm, and staying at home, except for journeys to the grocery store , which by the way (despite media reports) are well stocked!
Most cities in China are normal, albeit unusually quiet, and only cities close to the source of the outbreak around Wuhan have been affected by stricter travel restrictions . Although we expect the infection numbers to rise in the short term, we believe everything will be back to normal soon as the control measures slow down the spread of infection .
The government has extended the official CNY holidays until Feb 9th to help facilitate the measures taken, but some companies and factories will reopen earlier according to the local situation. Thanks for your understanding and support through this challenging time.
- post on LinkedIN 31JAN20
Video 10 – Arresting one of the “criminal elements” who operated the drones that sprayed swine flu and wiped out the pork industry in 2019.
As strange was it seems, the complete collapse of the pig farm industry in China in 2019 was propagated by drones. This is why so many isolated pig farms became infected. “Criminal elements” were using drones to spray the pigs with flu to devastate the pork industry.
Here are some ways that the people in rural areas blocked the roads to keep their villages safe.
Sometimes its with piles of dirt. Sometimes it’s will huge boulders. Sometimes, it’s with fencing, and sometimes it’s with bricks. Curiously, sometimes it’s just with a sign saying “keep out – infected area”. And, sometimes it’s just a few sticks and tree branches on the road.
Video 12 – Canceled wedding.
When everyone was told to stay inside, many events were canceled. Here is a wedding.
You know, many weddings are planned to occur on CNY as that is the only time during the year where everyone can come together in one spot. Canceling the wedding means that everyone will need to wait until next year to get married.
If you enjoyed this post, please click on the China index button below for similar articles.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Here are some more videos taken during the Chinese New Year Coronavirus emergency. At this time, and when these videos were taken, the Chinese government pretty much locked down most cities, and placed travel restrictions everywhere else. Everyone must wear a mask, and everyone must stay indoors unless it is an absolute emergency and they NEED to get out.
... These are the same type of precautions recommended during the cold and flu season. I only began wearing a mask after the lockdown started Jan 23. Right now, I am following the public health recommendations, and staying in my apartment as much as possible. Currently I am trying to figure out if I can work remotely, reading papers at home, even though face-to-face is much more effective. A health hotline has been set up so that foreigners at our lab can get medical help, if necessary. The biggest problem is eating.
...
I went to the grocery store today, and everything was orderly. There were no shortages; but then again, I was there early and a line was forming at the vegetables.
In this health emergency, it is everybody's responsibility to protect others and ourselves. I do not want to spread the disease and I do not want to catch what other people have. Currently you cannot drive. There is no public transportation. My friends are scattered across Wuhan, and right now, all over China and the world, since it was Spring Festival. The only way to get in contact is by phone and the messaging tools like WeChat and QQ. The social isolation I hope will slow the spread of the coronavirus, but some people are trying to run away from it.
The US government airlifted a group of Americans out of the city. I decided to stay. I have a job here. I have friends here. It is a commitment and a contract. This thing will pass. I really like the street I live on. I like the food. I like hot and dry noodles. I like the Wuchang fish. I like the atmosphere in Wuhan, and people are down to earth. I walk down the streets and go to shops. When you live somewhere awhile, you become part of the community; it does not matter if you are a foreigner or not. I will continue to stay in isolation until the outbreak is over, and I will go back to work.
-Stephen C. McClure spoke with Li Lei.
Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.
Video 1 – Construction of a hospital in ten days.
The Chinese do not mess around. They have decided to build two hospitals in Wuhan to handle patients, and they are making it happen. It is absolutely astounding.
As two makeshift hospitals are being constructed in Wuhan, Hubei province, in a bid to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, ministry-level government departments, organizations, businesses and people from all walks of life are lending a helping hand to the projects.
Central government subsidies will mainly be used to buy medical equipment to ensure concentrated treatment for infected patients, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
More than 2,000 workers from five design and construction units－the China Institute of Architectural Design and Research, the China Construction Third Bureau, Wuhan Hanyang Municipal Construction Group, Wuhan Construction Group, and Wuhan Airport Development Group－have participated in the Huoshenshan Hospital project, according to China Business Journal.
Meanwhile, Xinhua News Agency has reported that the Wuhan bureau of State Grid Corp, the national electricity provider, has already installed substations and laid cables at the construction site.
A Sinopec Group gas station near the site is providing free services for all vehicles carrying building materials. The company has also provided 16,500 liters of diesel fuel and 1,000 cans of lubricating oil to back up construction work.
Communication companies, including China Telecom Corp, have built 5G base stations to ensure easy contact between the project's engineers and will lay cables for normal digital communications once the temporary hospitals begin operations.
Employees of an environmental technology research company in Beijing have provided services to prevent wastewater seepage during the construction process.
Meanwhile, officials in Pingyu county, Henan province, have sent an impermeable membrane, which had been intended for a landfill project, to the construction site.
- Donations and volunteers flood sites in Wuhan
A livestream shows trucks, earthmoving equipment and building work in full swing at the construction site of two special hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Video 2 – Scanning people boarding a bus.
Under the current state of emergency everyone must wear masks and be constantly scanned for fever. Here we see people being scanned prior to boarding a bus.
Video 3 – Community unloads hospital supplies for the new hospital.
As the new hospitals are going up, supplies are being made and brought in. It’s not just masks and gowns. It’s complete operating rooms, beds, and general hospital equipment. Everything is being replicated, from the operating room to the lowest janitor gear.
On Sunday night, a logistics company in Hubei transported 240 metric tons of steel to the site.
A company in Guangdong province, which produces medical ventilators, donated 144 machines worth 175,000 yuan ($25,000) to Huoshenshan Hospital on Monday.
In addition to construction materials, food and electrical appliances have also been donated by businesses across the country.
China Mengniu Dairy Co said it had provided milk worth 8 million yuan to construction workers and frontline medical employees.
Meanwhile, Midea Group, an electrical appliances manufacturer, donated more than 550 air conditioners to the Huoshenshan project and sent 100 employees to install the machines, according to the company's social media account.
On Sunday, the new facilities also received 1,100 televisions and 400 air purifiers from Skyworth Digital Technology Co. The televisions will allow voice calls between doctors and patients, thus lowering the cross-infection risk, according to Beijing News.
Meanwhile, a group of military veterans from across the nation volunteered to help the Huoshenshan Hospital project.
Jiang Jing, a former member of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, journeyed to Wuhan from Zhanjiang, Guangdong province.
"I am responsible for managing warehouse resources, handing out medical supplies including masks and raincoats, and arranging meals for construction workers," he said.
Retired soldier Wang Guohui drove more than 300 kilometers from Shenqiu county, Henan, to bring 4 metric tons of homegrown vegetables to the workers.
"The Wuhan people are united and striving to conquer the enemy. I want to make my own tiny contribution. I only felt at peace when I had brought the vegetables in person," said Wang, when he arrived at 9 pm on Jan 24, Lunar New Year's Eve.
Liu Yingjie, a construction worker from Shanxi province, drove 800 km to the site with some colleagues. After a break of just four hours, the men started work installing the prefabricated wards.
"Given the acute situation, we must finish the project as quickly as possible so patients can be treated," Liu said, adding that his father led a team of construction workers during a renovation project after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province.
- Donations and volunteers flood sites in Wuhan
Video 4 – Roadblock medical scan.
There are roadblocks everywhere. Here’s a typical one. You must get the scan or you will be apprehended. They are making sure that sick people are contained. Now this virus is really tricky in that you can be totally healthy and still infect people. But, all things considered, they are doing an admirable job keeping the sick isolated from the general population.
It's 4 am on Monday when my colleague, Yi Bingkun, and I finished the night shift. It's the 50th hour since we arrived in Wuhan to help fight against the novel coronavirus. The situation here is far more grievous than what we imagined, with more suspected cases and an acute shortage of medical staff. We are here to bring them hope, but it seems that we assume more responsibilities.
The ward was almost overloaded during our first night shift and we continued to receive more patients. My colleague and I plunged into work without delay after wearing protective suits.
However, an emergency occurred when a patient went into sudden cardiac arrest when we had just changed shifts. Kun (my colleague Yi Bingkun's nickname) rushed to give chest compressions to the patient and I called a doctor for help.
The patient, unfortunately, died of severe illness after all rescue measures failed. The patient's family, however, sent their gratitude to us. Their every single "Thank you" makes me feel warm and that the efforts we've made are worthwhile.
- Nurse battles coronavirus on the frontline
Video 5 – Disinfecting vehicles.
Military protocols are being used in the disinfection of vehicles, gear and equipment. These trucks did not appear out of the blue. The PLA has a complete army of these vehicle to handle nation-wide biological warfare attacks.
Video 6 – Police roadblock
Here is another police roadblock. It’s pretty common and it is more or less the same set up when I left my relatives house to go to the airport.
If you do not wear a mask you will not be permitted to be in public. You must wear masks in public. As this is a super contagious disease.
High Contagiousness
Indeed, if we compare how SARS spread out in 2002-2003, it is hard not to notice how much more contagious nCoV-2019 is compared to SARS.
It took SARS three months to reach to the point of 300 cases between November 2002 and February 2003. In the climax of SARS, the daily number of newly registered cases in Mainland China never exceeded 200 cases.
In comparison, on 28th January 2020 alone, 1459 new cases of nCoV-2019 were reported nationwide, including 315 cases in Wuhan. In just a week between 20-28 January, the number of patients with nCoV-2019 exceeded the number of all SARS patients confirmed in Mainland China between 2002-2004!
Mainland China had just 5327 cases of SARS, but nCoV-2019 already had 5974 registered cases by the end of January 28th, 2020.
- Coronavirus: Summary to date & insights
Video 8 – Throwing away all the food.
When the government told everyone that they had to stay inside… not only in Wuhan, but in the entire nation, so many events were canceled. Not just the millions of parties and dinners, but also weddings and other oddball and religious celebrations. All the restaurants are suffering. Here we have all the meals in a big banquet being thrown away because the event was canceled.
Given the decorations, it appears to be a wedding party.
Video 9 – Not wearing a face mask.
Some people just don’t “get it”. You must wear a face mask and you must avoid people. You only go out if it is an emergency. But, some people, they think that they can flaunt the rule of law and do as they please. Here we have a dimwit woman demanding to do as she pleases and she doesn’t care if she lives of dies.
Video 10 – Fumigating the city.
Here we have a typical fumigation team. All the cities are being disinfected and fumigated. No exceptions. Everyone is assisting and working on this most terrible issue and event.
If you enjoyed this post, please click on the China index button below for similar articles.
You’ll not find
any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy
notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a
necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money
off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you
because I just don’t care to.
