We are just a group of retired spooks that discuss things that you’ll not find anywhere else. It makes us unique. Take a look around. Learn a thing or two.
When I was eleven years old, a neighborhood friend, named Jeff <redacted> had this great plan to become a millionaire. His mother placed a PE tarp on the floor of the car garage, and had a truck dump a full load of dirt on it. He then went and bought some worms from the local fishing tackle store, and put them in the dirt. For weeks, he would water the mound of earth, and occasionally reach in and dig out some worms.
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They were doing fine. Nice, plump and well pronounced. He was certain that he could “make a fortune” by selling them on hot weekends near the river.
Well, long story short, after one entire hot and long day trying to sell the worms, no one bought any. And he was pretty much discouraged. I told him to keep trying, perhaps he would wait a little longer, I argued.
Well, he decided to “throw in the towel” and gave up. One week later, the garage was clean and free of dirt, and he was off working on another plan. This new plan involved buying and selling macramé. That one, actually got some “legs” before it too “died on the vine”, but that is a story for another time.
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Today’s installment…
What you need to understand about the Ukraine war…
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Israel gets a USA “color Revolution”
15 minutes. Not long, but very informative in regards to the massive changes in the world.
U.S. CAUGHT inciting protests in Israel, Netanyahu furious
As a pro-democratic Chinese, do you like how the CCP handles China?
Yea, why not?
When we have natural disasters, thousands of rescue teams formed by soldiers, firefighters, policemen and volunteers would come instantly from other provinces, all actions are for free. And trust me, they are the fastest in the world.
When we have pandemics, thousands of doctors and professors from other provinces would come to save lives, and it takes only 6 days to build several whole new emergency specialty field hospitals, each one has the capacity for over 1000 patients. Also, everything is for free including the treatment process and vaccines for everyone in China.
When your house is on fire, call 119 and firefighters would show up in only 10 minutes 24/7, and it is for free. If firefighters are not enough, they will deploy more firefighters until the fire is extinguished.
When your property is stolen, call 110 and they will find your stolen property and catch those thieves faster than you could imagine. Even if your property is already carried to other provinces, they will find it.
When people you love are hurt or killed, call 110, they will find the murderers 100% even if they are burned into ashes. Don’t ever underestimate the determination that the Chinese Police has. With the development of technology, more and more murderers killed people last century are getting caught recently, none of them could run away from judgement.
We are having countless highways and you can drive wherever you want thru different highways. Although you need to pay for the highway toll, the money they make from us is not even enough to keep daily maintenance, the government loses money every signal fucking day from it but they still keep building new highways.
When some roads are broken due to bad weather or something, the government would send hundreds of excavators and thousands of workers to do rush repairs, have you ever seen the picture that hundreds of excavators are working simultaneously?
Everyone in China has a non-stop power supply, no matter where you live, the government brings electricity to your home. If your home is located in high altitudes area that they can’t deploy the high-tension cables near your home, they would build a new home at the foot of the mountain for you for fee, just in order to let you use the electricity.
The high-speed railway ticket has remained the same price for over 10 years, as well as buses and subways. Public transportation companies are owned by the government, and every year the government gives those companies huge fiscal subsidies to support their business because none of them can actually make money from it, they lost money every year. (by the way, we have telephone signal coverage for all subways, we don’t read books in subways)
If someone has guns illegally, he will be arrested by police and spend 10 years in prison, if he resists being caught, police would directly shoot him to death.
If someone is producing drugs, he will get the death penalty if he produced over 50g of drugs. Same as everyone who sells and transports drugs, all of them can have the death penalty, even if they are foreigners.
Have you seen the differences between western countries and China?
The main difference is, in western countries, the subway system, the bus system, the power supply, the water supply, all these public facilities are run by some private companies, and everyone knows that companies need profit, otherwise how could they survive? That’s why people are spending expensive money on public facilities, while mostly the facilities haven’t been redecorated for decades. (the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard is that you need to pay for the firefighters if they come to your house, I have spent $1200 for 2 fire engines when I was in Canada, fuck the Canadian government.)
But in China, all the communal facilities and services are run by the government, they don’t make any profit from people, that’s why the railway, the bus, the subway tickets are always the same price. We also don’t need to pay for the police or firefighters in any circumstances, we don’t need to pay for the oxygen or ECMO or surgery or vaccine in the pandemic, we don’t need to worry about the power shut down because that hasn’t happened for decades.
Things have changed a lot these years, the Chinese government would like to hear what you say and make changes for people. China is developing every day, it is getting better and better every second. While KMT is handling Taiwan into total chaos, we are having good good good lives here. To handle such a huge country like China, no one could do better than CCP.
These are how CCP handle China, the CCP cares about people’s lives, they come from us, and they will get back to us. We know they are doing their best for us all the time.
How do Chinese people feel that the entire collective west hates Xi Jinping and the CPC?
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Most of them don’t bother too much
Like I told you these guys are the most APOLITICAL people in the world, just behind Singaporeans
They don’t care what others say about Xi Jingping Or whether what Western Media lies about Xi Jingping
They care more about BUSINESS DECISIONS like Trade Embargos and Tariffs and Export Restrictions and they get nationalistic and patriotic and duly get angry at the West
They boycott any western entity in China that talks nonsense about Xinjiang or Uyghurs. Their rule is IF YOU WANT TO DO BUSINESS IN CHINA, YOU SHUT YOUR GOB AND DO BUSINESS
They trust and know that the CPC will handle the Politics and it’s neither their place nor their knowledge on how Geopolitics works
They trust Xi Jingping is powerful enough to fight his own battles and rarely bother with defending him
Instead they defend business and trade decisions against China which the common man can understand much better
Maja Säfström’s Illustrations Are Witty And Relatable
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Illustrator and author Maja Säfström is known for her playful style of illustration based on her witty observations of the world around her. Based in Stockholm, she works full-time as an illustrator and runs her own shop in central Stockholm.
Having earned a tremendous international following on social media, as well as widespread critical acclaim and multiple awards, it’s surprising to learn that Säfström’s background actually lies in architecture. “I have been drawing for as long as I can remember,” she shared in an interview with Lake. “I drew a lot when I was a kid. I had a few years in high school where I thought I was really bad. Then I started studying architecture at university and found myself drawing the scenes around the buildings with MUCH more enthusiasm than the actual houses. Well, one thing led to another!”
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Indeed one thing led to another. “I used to work as an architect and illustrating was something I did in my time off work,” she says. “Now that it is my full-time job, I realize, it is much less meditative. Because now the drawings are often commissioned, which is a bit different from just drawing whatever you feel like. It is the best job in the world though. Being an illustrator! My new hobby is taking care of my plants at home.”
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Each of her illustrated pieces is made by first drawing a thin outline with a pencil, after which the final drawing is made with a fineliner. Her comic-like illustrations often include speech bubbles. “I think the speech bubbles are a very important part of my work,” says Säfström. “I love combining text with drawings. I often experience something in life and make a drawing of that.”
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the State of the Nation Address to a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces in Cape Town, South Africa, February 10, 2022
Walt Zlotow became involved in antiwar activities upon entering University of Chicago in 1963. He is current president of the West Suburban Peace Coalition based in the Chicago western suburbs. He blogs daily on antiwar and other issues at www.heartlandprogressive.blogspot.com
When President Biden announced sanctions against Russia over their February, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he called it a battle of democracy over tyranny. He expected Africa to rally to the US lead.
Unsurprisingly, not one of Africa’s 54 countries as joined US sanctions against Russia. Many are neutral; some even supporting Russia’s war to prevent NATO’s eastward expansion to Russia’s borders and gain independence of Ukrainian Donbas from Kyiv aggression that has killed thousands of Ukrainians there.
Why unsurprisingly? For starters, the US was delusional Africa would follow America’s proxy war on Russia. It’s the US, not Russia that is bombing Africans in Somalia, Niger and possibly others. It was the US, not Russia that supported colonialism and neo-colonialism in Africa to suppress nationalist movements assumed to be led by commies. Even if Marxists were involved, that was none of Uncle Sam’s business. Since 2008, US trained officials attempted at least 9 African coups.
Russia recently convened its Russia-Africa in a Multipolar World conference in which most African nations were represented. Not one condemned Russia’s invasion while some blamed the US and NATO for provoking it. South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa told his Parliament after extensive lobbying by US Secretary of State Tony Blinken, “The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to greater, not less, instability in the region.”
What we’re witnessing is a seismic shift worldwide weakening US unipolar dominance. US claims of democracy v. tyranny are ringing hollow not only in Africa, but aside from NATO and a few others, globally. Over two thirds of our 8 billion souls live in countries rejecting US proxy war propaganda.
Instead of sanctimonious, self serving adulations of American ideals, President Biden might consider ending US drone strikes in Africa killing many. Stop bullying African leaders to blindly support our proxy war. Remove our 29 African military bases and bring home the troops defiling Africa sovereignty. No more African coup plotting might help as well. Regarding Ukraine, the US should pivot from weapons to negotiations, end NATO eastward expansion, and support Donbas independence, not sabotage it as they did with Minsk II in 2015.
Any chance Uncle Sam will wise up and do even one of those things? Don’t bet on it. While Africa is “all out” supporting America’s proxy war, America is “all in,” blundering down a very unstable, unpeaceful road of its own choosing.
Yellow Rice (Nasi Kuning — Indonesia)
2023 04 05 11 26
Ingredients
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup uncooked regular rice
1 (2-inch) piece lemon grass
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
Instructions
Heat all ingredients to boiling in saucepan, stirring once or twice; reduce heat.
Cover and simmer 14 minutes, without lifting cover or stirring.
Remove from heat.
Fluff rice lightly with fork; cover and let steam 5 to 10 minutes.
Remove lemon grass.
What are your thoughts on current events related to the dollar?
My thoughts?
That the USD is in DEEP SHIT. What brings me to this conclusion?
This essentially.
About a 1 minute clip. Pay attention.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9EbPxTm5_s
Who is that? That’s Jim Cramer in 2008 he slammed a person who phoned in asking if Bear Sterns was safe.
He screamed that it was safe. He promised that it was safe. He yelled over and over again, that it was safe.
Bear Sterns went bust a few days later.
Fast forward to today…
Massive movements around the world have happened to move away from USD to other currencies.
Brazil, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia and 20 other countries lining up to do it.
This in itself is huge.
The tell I’m looking at is how there’s suddenly thousands of bot accounts everywhere. And they are all posting about how strong the USD is! And how weak every other currency is. And throughout these ‘bot accounts they state repeatedly that anybody who speaks out against it is a troll apparently.
The Jim Cramer effect.
West Kittanning and Kittanning PA
This is the large town next to where I grew up. We used to come here to buy our groceries, get gas, and go bowling. My mother used to live here, and looking at the video, I can positively affirm that it hasn’t changed at all since 1977.
Every now and then, I get on you-tube to watch some videos of my old “stomping grounds”. East Brady, Kittanning, Butler. It only serves to remind me that I am really glad that I am in China.
BRICS rising as neocons destroy the west w/Jeffrey Sachs
34 minutes. Worth your time. I will list this as “must watch” video.
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The United States (Neocons) are furious that BRICS+ is going along with Asia and not obeying the orders out of Washington.
So glad three great minds can make sense of such a fast-moving chaotic time. Without the Duran channel thousands of viewers would be overwhelmed with disinformation. Thank you.
Joe has a plan that would rival China’s BRI why did USA not have such a plan before?
Its plain nonsense
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Reason No 1 : Trade vs ?????
China has a reason for all that Infrastructure. Long term trade. It builds roads and railways in Kenya because in a few more years – China may transfer 50–100 Factories to Kenya for Low Grade Manufacturing and needs the Trains and Roads.
US has no such reasons. Surely AirBnB and other Service Companies are not going to move to Kenya or Ethiopia in such big numbers to provide Motel Services to People who can barely eat 2 Square meals a day???
US is service Dominated, China is Export, Manufacture and Trade Dominated
Reason No 2 : Labor
Chinese Workers have no issues packing their bags and moving country to country earning Salary + Foreign Allowance and a flat National Insurance Policy
US Workers demand far far more. No US Worker would be prepared to work for 4 years in Pakistan. Those days which existed in the 1970s and 1980s when US Workers worked in Saudi or Iran are gone. US Workers will demand massive foreign allowances, visitation with families, big chunks of insurance etc.
It would take 50 US Workers to replace 450 Chinese Workers in Infrastructure Projects.
Reason No 3 : Cost Competitiveness
China has a complete ready-made system for Infrastructure. It has machinery, the workers, the finance – its all a Package deal – once the Politicians sign the dotted line -the Unit begins to work like a Precision army. No dependence on anybody whatsoever.
US doesn’t have such a ready-made system. Machinery is far more expensive, workers are more expensive, hiring workers from other countries may make sense but the liability factor would come into being (US Companies being liable for the work of say Indian or Bangladesh workers)
Reason No 4 : FINANCE
In China – the Govt has control on financing of Infrastructure projects. The Contractors are assured and have Govt Guarantees which is why they have no issues. Policies exist to defer or extend loans, defer or extend or reissue debt.
In USA – the Govt has ZERO CONTROL on Financing or Banking. The Banks are entirely on their own and they would say “Nothing Doing” to Biden in 10 seconds flat. Contractors will need Federal Govt Guarantees
Reason No 5 : Democracy
Its not that easy to spend $ 500 Billion on Foreign Charity anymore.
Since no Infrastructure project will get even 50 cents profit, there is no sense in burning $ 500 Billion of US Taxpayers money
Republicans will ferociously protest
Reason No 5 : Track Record
52 Unfinished Projects in Pakistan, 39 in Afghanistan – This is US and its track record. They never finish projects anywhere in areas which are even 10% violent.
In fact i believe strongly that this Idea would be counter productive
US is way ahead in High Tech Manufacture and Research and Development. That is the path for the US. Keep the Technological Edge. Keep inventing better and better things – so that the gap with China doesnt reduce.
However US is not doing that. US research and development is becoming lower and lower except in the area of defense. Chinas is becoming larger and larger. This would be the changing factor
Instead blowing $ 500 Bn – $ 1 Trillion would be a stupid, stupid decision
Especially given that US Govt would transfer these funds to Corrupt Politicians who will “spend” 90% of this money and give only 10% to the Projects.
Africa tells the United States to go to Hell!
Kamala Harris Gets SMACKED DOWN During Visit To Africa
2023 04 05 11 02
13 minutes. Very good. Watching this will tell you what the rest of the world thinks about America right now. Pay attention. Especially if you are living in a US proxy nation.
It's really beyond all comprehension that this could all be perceived as unintentional at this point. We are literally watching them drive the last nail in America's coffin.
Why is China against Jack Ma who built wealth for many Chinese?
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Why is China against Jack Ma?
Simple reason. Jack Ma is beginning the trend of the Hyping and Overvaluation of Entities that is so common in the west.
Chinese Financial Experts are not so gullible and naive as other valuators. They dont value random companies for billions of dollars just after seeing advertisements or watching celebrities dance in those ads.
They had a 3 Step Process of Valuing a Start Up and demand certain tough conditions to be met before the Start up can become an IPO. Remember – as a Start up – the investors and their money are involved but as an IPO – Public Money is involved.
So they control the valuation of start ups and have their own valuations of the same startups which ensures that Institutional Investors in China go by the Bankers Valuations rather than other Valuations.
For instance say a Company is valued at 40 Billion Dollars by a Group of US Valuators, the Chinese Banks value the same Company for only 19 Billion Dollars. So Any Chinese who wants to invest will invest based on the 19 Billion instead of 40 Billion Dollars – though Americans, Europeans, Japanese are welcome to invest in over inflated companies and burn their wallets.
This process slowly merged into a Single Valuation of an Entity by the Chinese Bankers through a Specialized Body specially formed to evaluate Startups .Since 2018 – Startup Valuations have been based on the Chinese Moderate and Conservative Values rather than the Speculative 100 Billion or 1000 Billion valuation by the Entities themselves.
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Jack Ma did not like this.
Now Jack Ma is the Mukesh Ambani of China. He is the First Billionaire there. Every Billionaire, every Entity looks to him and models his actions. He is the most Important Billionaire in his country. The Big Boss.
Ma was deeply upset when the Chinese Bankers refused to accept Mas valuations for his Ant Group IPO of $ 35 Billion and also believed his valuations especially his futuristic numbers could be possible only by monopolistic domination of the domestic market in certain areas which is Antitrust Violation.
This made Jack Ma Angry especially as he felt – every other country did the same/similar valuations and Chinas Bankers were more Pawnbrokers than Bankers.
This angered the Chinese Regulators and the CCP. In a Autocracy – casting blame on a financial system could become a dangerous objective.
# 2
Jack Ma has too much Global Influence and the Big Tech are starting to do so
Ma has long been on Chinas watchlist since he has tremendous global influence especially with the US and Europe.
The Chinese Government Fears that Ma and Others could end up making China too dependent on the Big Tech Industries which could damage the political stability of the country which Xi Jingping Fears.
Hence China plans to introduce the Shen Zi Law – the 51:49 Law to ensure that all Major Tech Companies sell 51% of their Share to the Chinese Government Entities to ensure that the Big Tech Industries dont establish an Oligarchy in the long run. After all China has seen what happened to Libya or Iran (pre 1979) when Companies controlled the Governments.
# 3
Big Tech led by Jack Ma could destroy the Financial Stability of China
Overvaluation is something China is scared of. In a Democratic Country – Overvaluation and Collapse of entities results in depressions which result in Govt changes but in an Autocracy – it could be Catastrophic. People could take to the streets.
China have controlled this for some time now (Since 2018) by forcing the Companies to operate based on the Govt Approved Valuation which is realistic but deemed by many companies to Harsh and Pawnshop based.
For instance if BYJUS was in China – they would value the company at $ 3.42 Billion instead of $ 12 Billion under their GRMV Valuation Model.
Its why Big Tech have different numbers in NASDAQ – US has no such regulations. I can form a Company and 10 years later sell shares at $ 100000 a share if i want to as long as people want to buy them.
China has been looking the other way for some time – but now it has decided ENOUGH. China wants a 51:49 Law OR very tough regulations to ensure that the Public dont experience a 1929 Depression or a 2008 Crisis.
Baked Macaroni with Beef
and Cheese (Pasticcio)
2023 04 05 11 28
Ingredients
2 cups uncooked ziti or elbow macaroni
3/4 pound ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated Kasseri, Parmesan or Romano cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
Cook macaroni as directed on package; drain. Cook and stir beef and onion in 10-inch skillet until beef is light brown; drain. Stir in tomato sauce and salt. Spread half the macaroni in a greased 8-inch square baking dish; cover with beef mixture.
Mix 1/2 cup of the cheese and cinnamon. Sprinkle over beef mixture. Cover with remaining macaroni.
Cook and stir milk and butter in 2-quart saucepan until butter is melted. Stir at least half the milk mixture gradually into beaten eggs. Blend into milk mixture in saucepan; pour over macaroni. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese.
Bake uncovered at 325 degrees F until brown and center is set, about 50 minutes.
Sprinkle with nutmeg. Garnish with parsley if desired.
Yields 6 servings.
Playing “Fool’s Mate” on the Grand Eurasian Chessboard
For at least a generation or more, America’s international policies have increasingly been governed by our Ministry of Propaganda, and the bill may finally be starting to come due.
Last Wednesday the Wall Street Journalreported that Saudi Arabia was joining China’s Shanghai Cooperative Organization, a decision that came just a few weeks after the announcement that it had reestablished diplomatic relations with arch-enemy Iran following negotiations held in Beijing under Chinese auspices. For three generations, the oil rich kingdom had been America’s most important Arab ally, and the lead sentence of the Journal article emphasized that this dramatic development reflected our waning influence in the Middle East.
That same day, Brazil declared that it was abandoning the use of dollars in its transactions with China, its largest trading partner, following an earlier statement that its president planned to meet with China’s leader in support of that country’s efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, a diplomatic initiative strongly opposed by our own government. Geopolitical dominoes seem to rapidly falling, taking down American influence with them.
Given our country’s horrendous budget and trade deficits, America’s continued standard of living is heavily dependent upon the international use of the dollar, especially for oil sales, so these are extremely threatening developments. For decades, we have freely exchanged our government script for goods and commodities from around the world, and if that becomes much more difficult, our global situation may grow dire. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, the threatened collapse of the British pound marked the end of Britain’s influence on the global stage, and America may be rapidly approaching its own “Suez moment.”
Despite our enormous efforts and the shrill support of the global Western media, few countries other than our own subservient vassals have been willing to follow our lead and impose sanctions on Russia, further evidence of our greatly diminished international clout.
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Since the 1980s I have regarded the tectonic shift of geopolitical power to China as an almost inevitable consequence of that country’s development, and more than a decade ago I had described those powerful trends, already long visible.
But the facts have now become blatantly obvious. Jacques Sapir serves as director of studies at the EHESS, one of France’s leading academic institutions, and a few months ago he published a short article setting forth the striking economic statistics, an analysis that has received less attention than it deserves.
He explained that according to nominal exchange rates Russia had a small economy, just half as large as that of France and roughly the same as Spain’s, so it had seemed very vulnerable to the unprecedented wave of Western sanctions imposed after the outbreak of the Ukraine war. But Russia survived almost unscathed, and instead it was the West that suffered critical energy shortages, a severe bout of inflation, and other serious economic stresses, suggesting that those comparisons were merely illusory.
By contrast, according to the far more realistic Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) metric, Russia’s economy was actually far larger, being comparable to that of Germany. But even that measure seriously underestimated the true balance of international power.
Among Western economies, services comprise a large, sometimes overwhelming fraction of total economic activity, and those statistics are far more subject to manipulation. Some economists have argued that drug-dealing, prostitution, and other criminal activity should be included in that total, which would therefore boost the supposed measure of our national prosperity.
By contrast, during periods of sharp international conflict, the productive sectors of GDP—industry, mining, agriculture, and construction—probably constitute a far better measure of relative economic power, and Russia is much stronger in that category. So although Russia’s nominal GDP is merely half that of France, its real productive economy is more than twice as large, representing nearly a five-fold shift in relative economic power. This helps explain why Russia so easily surmounted the Western sanctions that had been expected to cripple it.
When Sapir extends this same analysis to other countries, the results are even more remarkable. Although our disingenuous mainstream media invariably describes China as having the world’s second largest economy, it actually surpassed America in real terms several years ago as anyone can confirm by consulting the CIA’s World Factbook. But while a substantial 44% of China’s fully modern economy consists of services, America’s service sector—advertising, retail sales, education, personal services, diversity consulting—amounts to nearly 80% of our total, reducing our productive output to merely a small residual fraction.
One of Sapir’s tables demonstrated that as far back as 2019, China’s real productive economy was already three times larger than America’s.
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Indeed, by 2017 China’s real productive sector exceeded the combined total for America, the European Union, and Japan.
American boosters often take comfort in our supposed advantages in technology and innovation, but although our past lead had been enormous, this seems less true today or in the future. Sapir provided a chart showing the tremendous growth in Chinese patent applications over the last forty years, which have increased from almost nothing to more than 60% of the world total by 2018, nearly five times America’s share.
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There is some empirical evidence that these official statistics have real-world impact. American companies created and once entirely dominated the social media and smartphone ecosystem that is so important to global consumers, and for years their position seemed unassailable. But according to a recent WSJ article, four of the five most popular smartphone apps in the U.S. are now Chinese, with Facebook ranked fifth. The main response of our bipartisan political class has been to threaten a ban on TikTok, wildly popular among our own youth, much like the nomenklatura of the decaying Soviet Union had once desperately tried to ban Western blue jeans and rock music.
This rapid rise of China in technology and economic competitiveness is hardly surprising. As physicist Steve Hsu pointed out in 2008, according to international psychometric data, America’s population probably contains some 10,000 individuals having an IQ of 160 or higher, while the total for China is around 300,000, a figure thirty times larger.
China’s greatest strategic vulnerability had been its dependence upon imported energy and raw materials to feed its massive industrial base, and during an international confrontation America could potentially have used its control of the seas to interdict such vital supplies. But Russia possesses the world’s greatest treasure-chest of such resources, and our unremitting hostility has now driven that country into a tight embrace of its Chinese neighbor, as recently emphasized by the Moscow Summit of their two national leaders.
Thus, our own actions have forged a strong China-Russia alliance that seems likely to displace America from its dominant global position. Such an outcome would be an event of historic proportions, comparable in magnitude to the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago.
Harvard’s Graham Allison was the founding dean of the Kennedy School of Government, assuming that post while I was still in high school, and his influential 2017 bestseller Destined for War coined the phrase “the Thucydides Trap” for what he feared might be an almost inevitable conflict between a rising China and a globally dominant America. But our irrational hostility toward Russia has now transformed the geopolitical landscape, and last week he took to the pages of Foreign Policy to argue that the China-Russia alliance now probably outweighed our own:
An elementary proposition in international relations 101 states: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” By confronting both China and Russia simultaneously, the United States has helped create what former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski called an “alliance of the aggrieved.” This has allowed Xi to reverse Washington’s successful “trilateral diplomacy” of the 1970s that widened the gap between China and the United States’ primary enemy, the Soviet Union, in ways that contributed significantly to the U.S. victory in the Cold War. Today, China and Russia are, in Xi’s words, closer than allies.Since Xi and Putin are not just the current presidents of their two nations but leaders whose tenures effectively have no expiration dates, the United States will have to understand that it is confronting the most consequential undeclared alliance in the world.
According to Allison, we are currently witnessing the end of the unchallenged American global dominance that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago. Therefore, it was quite fitting that he quoted the views of Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Polish-born political scientist who had been a major architect of our successful strategy during the victorious later stages of that Cold War conflict.
A longtime academic scholar of the “Realist” school at both Harvard and Columbia universities, Brzezinski had been the primary organizer of the Trilateral Commission in 1973 and in 1976 was named National Security Advisor in the Carter Administration, gradually gaining ascendancy for his harder-line views against his rival, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. He strongly supported Eastern European dissident activity, notably including the powerful Solidarity movement in his own native Poland, and he also orchestrated heavy military assistance to the Muslim rebels in Soviet-controlled Afghanistan. Both those efforts probably played a significant role in fatally weakening the USSR.
Indeed, although Brzezinski was himself a Democrat of strong social democratic leanings, his foreign policy positions were so greatly admired by Republican conservatives that there were even later claims that Ronald Reagan had asked him to stay on in that same role after Carter’s 1980 defeat.
By the mid-1980s, Brzezinski had become convinced that Soviet Communism was in terminal decline and in 1989 he published The Grand Failure, bearing the prophetic subtitle “The Birth and Death of Communism in the Twentieth Century.” The work appeared in print nearly a year before the Fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of an epoch.
The collapse of the Iron Curtain reunited the severed halves of Europe two generations after their separation, and this was followed two years later by the shocking collapse and disintegration of the Soviet Union itself. Moscow soon lost control over territories it had ruled for centuries, with most of the boundaries of the Russian successor state rolled back to what they had been prior to the reign of Peter the Great in 1682.
The sudden disappearance of the USSR totally transformed the geopolitical landscape, leaving America as the world’s sole superpower, having unchallenged dominance over the entire globe, a situation unique in world history.
Brzezinski considered the consequences of that global upheaval and in 1997 published The Grand Chessboard, a short but influential book summarizing our unprecedented international position and outlining geostrategic policies to buttress our new dominance on the Eurasian world continent, the region that constituted the “grand chessboard” of his title.
Over the years, I’ve frequently seen accusations that Brzezinski was advocating a strategy for permanent American global hegemony, but I think such critics were confusing his ideas with the crude triumphalism espoused by the Neocons, who followed an entirely different ideological path. I finally read his book several years ago and encountered a very thoughtful and moderate analysis of the dangers and opportunities America faced on the Eurasian landmass, with the author repeatedly emphasizing that our worldwide dominance was merely a temporary condition, impossible to permanently maintain.
America was his country and he certainly proposed alliances and other measures to strengthen and extend our global position, but he sought to do so in a reasonable and restrained manner, avoiding provocative or precipitous actions and properly accommodating the legitimate geopolitical interests of other major powers such as China, Russia, Japan, and the larger European states.
His book had appeared near the absolute high-water mark of American prestige and influence and in the aftermath of the 9/11 Attacks a few years later, Brzezinski became a strong public critic of the Bush Administration’s Neocon-influenced plans for an Iraq War, a disastrous mistake that wrecked the stability of the Middle East, squandered our national credibility, and cost us many trillions of dollars. Since the mid-1970s his closest ally and collaborator had been his former military aide Bill Odom, who as a three-star general later ran the NSA for Ronald Reagan during the mid-1980s, and the two of them later urged an immediate strategic rapprochement with Iran and withdrawal from Iraq.
The dramatic geopolitical shifts we are now experiencing recently prompted me to reread Brzezinski’s short 1997 book and doing so fully confirmed my recollections. Early on, he set forth the key reasons for America’s global dominance, expecting that most of them would persist for at least a generation and possibly longer:
In brief, America stands supreme in the four decisive domains of global power: militarily, it has an unmatched global reach; economically, it remains the main locomotive of global growth, even if challenged in some respects by Japan and Germany (neither of which enjoys the other attributes of global might); technologically, it retains the overall lead in the cutting-edge areas of innovation; and culturally, despite some crassness, it enjoys an appeal that is unrivaled, especially among the world’s youth—all of which gives the United States a political clout that no other state comes close to matching. It is the combination of all four that makes America the only comprehensive global superpower.
Although the Polish-born author surely retained some deep personal hostility toward his homeland’s traditional Russian adversary and his book was written close to the nadir of Russia’s national decline, only traces of such animosity were visible, and he fully considered the possibility that a revived Russia would successfully integrate itself into an enlarged Europe, the “common European home” once espoused by Mikhail Gorbachev. He expressed some concern about instability in the Islamic world, but our disastrous post-9/11 Middle Eastern wars would have seemed acts of unimaginable recklessness and folly.
The penultimate and longest chapter of his Eurasia analysis was entitled “The Far Eastern Anchor” and he described that region as experiencing “an economic success without parallel in human development.” He noted that during their takeoff stage of industrialization, Britain and America had each required roughly a half-century to double their output, while both China and South Korea had achieved that same result in merely a single decade. Brzezinski felt confident that barring unfortunate circumstances, China would surely grow into a leading global economic power, and believed that our own country should seek to incorporate it into the world system we had constructed, while properly recognizing that “China’s history has been one of national greatness.”
But although Brzezinski’s appraisal of China’s prospects was highly favorable, his 1997 analysis was actually quite cautious in its projections. He doubted that the country’s remarkable economic growth rates would continue for another couple of decades, something that would require “an unusually felicitous combination of effective national leadership” and numerous other favorable conditions, arguing that such a “prolonged combination of all of these positive factors was problematic.”
Instead, he leaned towards a more conventional prognosis that by about 2017, China might have a total GDP considerably larger than that of Japan, thereby establishing it as “a global power, roughly on a par with the United States and Europe.” But the reality was that by that year China’s real GDP was more than four times larger than that of Japan, and its real industrial production was greater than that of America and the European Union combined.
Thus, China’s economic weight in today’s world vastly exceeds Brzezinski’s 1997 assumptions and that difference magnifies the importance of his strategic warnings, which our political leadership has utterly disregarded. Throughout his book, he repeatedly emphasized that the greatest danger America faced would be if we needlessly antagonized major Eurasian nations, which might then unite against us:
Finally, some possible contingencies involving future political alignments should also be briefly noted…the United States may have to determine how to cope with regional coalitions that seek to push America out of Eurasia, thereby threatening America’s status as a global power…Potentially, the most dangerous scenario would be a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran, an “antihegemonic” coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances…Averting this contingency, however remote it may be, will require a display of U.S. geostrategic skill on the western, eastern, and southern perimeters of Eurasia simultaneously.
However, a coalition allying Russia with both China and Iran can develop only if the United States is shortsighted enough to antagonize China and Iran simultaneously.
Given recent events, his prophetic warnings were completely disregarded. Instead, our national political leadership chose to exactly invert his suggestions, and they did so despite China having grown much stronger than he had envisioned.
Brzezinski himself recognized some of these important developments, and the year before his death in 2017, he updated his analysis to proclaim that the era of American dominance was already drawing to a close and we should recognize that reality.
Toward a Global Realignment As its era of global dominance ends, the United States needs to take the lead in realigning the global power architecture.
Zbigniew Brzezinski • The American Interest • April 17, 2016 • 2,500 Words
Instead of heeding his concerns and adjusting their policies accordingly, our government has doubled-down on its crude strategy of attempting to maintain an impossible American global hegemony, a policy that seems likely to end in national disaster.
Our leaders have apparently decided to play a game of “Fool’s Mate” on the grand Eurasian chessboard.
The United States is starting to dramatically collapse.
2023 04 05 11 07
I got fired from my job a week ago but now suddenly, I received an email that they want me back ASAP. What should I do?
Ha. They’ve probably figured out that they didn’t actually know what you did before they fired you but now that it’s all going to custard without you, they desperately need you back to fix it.
Let me introduce you to a concept called “a contractor”.
That is where you charge (like a wounded bull) for the privilege of your temporary return. Make sure you have a rock-solid contract charging at least double your previous rate (plus “per diem”; expenses like travel, meals, lodging) with minimum contracted periods. Do not forget a penalty clause if the company breaks the contract.
You hold the power right now so it makes sense to leverage it.
It’s not like they valued you previously either, I mean, they fired you.
If you return to them, sure, they may be using you to train your replacement but if you’re earning triple what you did before and are contracted for a minimum two-month period, who cares? I repeat: they didn’t value you in the first place. That they don’t value your efforts won’t change anytime soon and they’d be questioning your loyalty post-firing anyway.
When you leave for good (once your temporary contract ends), you get to do so with your head held high. Plus, being called back post-termination as a contractor will look better on your CV than just a termination. It will demonstrate that you had real value to your previous business and were proffessional even in light of the termination…
…as for the fact that you charged them extra for the privilege of your company? meh, we just don’t talk about that.
If the company rejects your negotiated offer, who cares? You’ll have lost nothing you wanted.
French Protests Escalate – Macron Ready To Back Down!
2023 04 05 11 15
Is the United States qualified to define the state of democracy in other countries?
Of course not, but the US thinks it does.For nearly 50 years, the US has been shamelessly publishing Country Reports on Human Rights Practices as if it can objectively and fairly document the human rights situation around the world. While being the backseat driver, the US has ignored its own human rights problems. In its annual Country Reports, the US arrogantly blamed other countries while ignoring the massive and systematic human rights violations in its own country.
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Let’s see how the US “objectively” judge the human rights issues of other countries.
The trajectory of US history shows that the US has always viewed human rights as a tool for maintaining its world hegemony, and has selectively used it as a pretext to label other countries as human rights violators. The US has invaded Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. Studies show that the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan may have resulted in the deaths of as many as 250,000 people. The US has also been plagued by its own money politics, racial discrimination, proliferation of guns, police brutality, and polarization between rich and poor.
Pepe Escobar
April 10, 2023
The leaked intel might be advantageous to Russia were this not to be misdirection: and the possibility is quite real, Pepe Escobar writes.
The script reads like a spoof straight out of legendary Mad magazine 1960’s cartoon “Spy vs. Spy”: Secret Pentagon Documents Fall in the Hands of Malign Russia. Well, actually in the hands of millions accessing Twitter and Telegram.
So here, at face value, we have a major leak essentially detailing Pentagon planning for the next stage of the NATO vs. Russia proxy war in Ukraine: the interminably debated Spring “counter-offensive” that may, or may not, start in mid-April, as well as war plans shared with FVEY – the Five Eyes.
The leaked intel might – and the operative word is “might” – be advantageous to Russia were this not to be misdirection: and the possibility is quite real.
The inestimable Ray McGovern, who knows one or two things about the CIA, noted whether the Pentagon is “falsifying kill-ratio to gild Easter lilies in Kyiv? Recent leak of an apparently official NATO document shows 71,500 Ukrainians KIA and only 16,000 to 17,500 Russians, a far cry from earlier Pentagon ‘estimates’. All sounds so Vietnam-déjà vu!”
So this may be Vietnam all over again – never count on the Pentagon learning from their mistakes – but could be something way more alarming, according to a top Beltway intel source, retired: “Our interpretation of this breach is that intel sources in the United States have released critical intel data in order to avoid a nuclear war with Russia.”
As it stands, the only certainty is that the spin war has gone berserk. So the leaker may have been a – disgruntled – U.S. insider. No, wait: the whole thing may be fake, as the Pentagon insists. In spin speak, that would be an attempt to “spread false information that could harm the U.S.”.
Tweaked or not, the “secret” Pentagon comparative war dead ratio between Russians and Ukrainians still does not make sense. The numbers appear to reflect Bakhmut/Artemovsk casualties, where Russian casualty ratios were highest. Yet reliable on the ground Russian military correspondents assure the ratio is really 10 to 1, with the Russians employing the snail technique combined with a formidable artillery mincing machine.
“Stupefying” incompetence
The undisputable conclusion out of the – real or fake – Pentagon leaks is that the U.S. is in a state of war against Russia. And that is serious enough.
Washington has been feeding information non-stop on command posts, ammunition depots and key nodes in the Russian military lines. It’s such real-time intel that has allowed Kiev to target Russian forces, kill senior generals and force ammunition depots to be moved farther from the Russian front lines.
Anything Pentagon/NATO stenographers say about Kiev playing the proverbial “decisive role” in planning and executing these strikes is a lie. The U.S. exercizes total, absolute control of the Ukraine war on a central command basis. Including from that “secret” underground bunker near Lviv which recently received a business card from Mr. Khinzal and has gone to meet its maker – along with over 200 NATO high-level operatives.
Fake or not fake, we also have confirmation that the Pentagon has direct access to communications of the Russian Ministry of Defense. And that the Americans listen to everyone and his neighbor: the sweaty T-shirt actor in Kiev, all the Five Eyes allies, and the Mossad.
As for the notion that Kiev has changed its counter-offensive “military plans” because of the Pentagon leaks, everyone should feel free to control the pitch of their roaring laughter.
The Russian non-response response to all this hoopla could be seen as a classic of misdirection. Responding to the U.S. de facto engaged in an undeclared war against Russia, much hotter than Hybrid, President Putin said that Russia is interested in “peaceful coexistence with the U.S. and establishing a balance of interests” given their status as the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.
Well, no one can possibly imagine Stalin saying that Russia was interested in peaceful coexistence with Nazi Germany in July, 1941 as the Wehrmacht was rushing towards Moscow, Leningrad and the Caucusus oil.
From the point of view of valuable military information, the indispensable Andrei Martyanov summed it all up: these “documents” contain none, apart from confirming that the Pentagon is absolutely clueless on the SMO: why is it happening, what is the modus operandi and what it plans to achieve.
As Martyanov stresses, Russia maneuvers an extremely advanced ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) complex, including human intel on the ground, electronic warfare and satellite constellations: “In terms of war correlates and combat statistics – I wouldn’t touch anything coming from Pentagon with a long stick.”
There are indeed several serious issues with the Pentagon “top secret” intel. It oozes the impression it was redacted based on open data, and not actual intel. And all that packaged by some quite shoddy work.
For instance, the insistence to “re-equip” Ukrainian air defense with missiles is not supported by data on where such missiles will be coming from. The name of the NASAMS – the middle range, ground based air defense system co-developed by Raytheon – is misspelled.
In official NATO documents, weapons from the USSR and from Russia are indicated in NATO codification. There is no style uniformity: it’s a messy mix of official code designations and transliterations from Russian into English.
So no wonder the impression is solidified that the U.S. Army Command in Europe (EUCOM) got their “intel” from open sources, and is absolutely clueless on how many weapons, how much equipment and how many people the Ukrainians actually have.
And that explains what’s going on in Artemovsk – with the Russians taking all the time in the world to calibrate their strategic defense, and after the orderly abandon of Kherson, lure the Ukrainians into a non-stop slaughterhouse. Martyanov qualifies U.S./NATO incompetence to see it coming as “stupefying.”
A do-or-die war to control Eurasia
Once again: the most important consequence of the Pentagon leaks is to establish that the U.S., de facto and de jure, is at war against Russia – whatever may be the spin by that Norwegian piece of dead wood in Brussels. Russia will establish a war crimes tribunal for Ukraine, so sooner rather than later, selected collective West luminaries better take refuge in their New Zealand bunkers.
It’s also crucial to always keep in mind Ukraine is a mere pawn in their game for not losing world power, against China, Russia and potentially Germany.
The initial psycho Straussian neocon goal was to cut off Germany from Russia using “Liver Sausage” Chancellor Scholz, who was briefed in advance on the terror attack on the Nord Streams.
Scholz was also involved in the CIA misdirection scam, channeling the blame for the terror attack on some obscure Ukrainian “dissident” and a bumbling yacht – as brilliantly covered by Seymour Hersh.
The next step is to cut off Ukraine from Russia – “reconquering” Crimea, the focus of the current P.R. blitzkrieg, and Donbass, thus originating a cataclysmic psychological upheaval in Russia leading to a Putin regime change.
Then the Straussians would finally command Russia’s massive natural resources – and block them from China by land and by sea via the U.S. Fleet.
That’s not exactly clever – but Straussian neocons do revel in their own intellectually shallow pond. Cue to that insufferable idiot Admiral John Kirby saying there can be no negotiations with Russia until they leave Ukraine, abandoning Donbass and Crimea.
So the (show) war in Ukraine must go on, to the last Ukrainian, or all these elaborate plans will irretrievably bite the dust. This is a do-or-die war against Russia-China for the control of Eurasia. Will that imply more Pentagon leaks? Bring them on.
Steak, Philippine-Style (Bistek)
2023 04 05 11 2d3
Ingredients
2 pounds sirloin steak, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste
1 cup thinly sliced onion rings
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup water
Instructions
Marinate the meat in lemon juice, soy sauce, pepper and salt for 3 hours or more.
Cook onion rings in oil until transparent.
Transfer to a serving dish, leaving the oil in the skillet.
Add the meat to the skillet and cook over high heat, stirring often, until tender.
Transfer the meat to a serving dish.
Add marinade and water to the skillet, simmer for 10 minutes and pour over the meat and onion rings.
2023 04 05 11 23
The End Of The US Dollar | What You Must Know
Why the Saudi Arabia actions matter…
2023 04 05 11 30
What are the 5 mistakes that ruin youth?
First – Feel your peak too early
Youngsters should peak at 24–35 years
Many youngsters who slog and slog and slog for JEE, NEET from 10th standard may burn out by the age of 21–22 years They may feel they have achieved their peak. This reduces their comprehension, analytics and overall drive and ambition.
It’s why the rule is ALWAYS HAVE FUN
Even if preparing for IITs, have fun, watch a movie from time to time, hang out with friends, take a day off from time to time
If you study hard, understand concepts and show Aptitude, you will keep a rising linear growth and hit your peak by your late 20s to mid 30s and that would be normal.
If you slog too hard, you burn out by even 17 and feel a JEE rank is your peak. You feel irritated at more slogging.
Second – Peer Pressure
Smoking, Boozing and Sex is a common thing for youngsters from conservative backgrounds with free spending peers
Its common to fall under peer pressure where you feel that you have to do these things to belong to a group.
The Golden Rule is – First drop of beer after first paycheck, No Smoking ever, No Drugs ever and paid sex, preferably never or only in safe countries after the 24th paycheck minimum and hard drinks only when some corporate is paying for them (Office parties) and not more than 2 pegs a week
Third – Relationships
Girls mature faster than boys
Thus a 16 yr old girl is way more mature than a 16 yr boy.
By maturity I mean mental maturity
So a girl who talks as a friend could definitely be interpreted by a boy as the girl showing romantic interest.
It’s a script for 10,000 movies where the girl says “Tum sirf mere acche dost ho”
So Golden Rule is – No relationships until 21. Otherwise be prepared to see it end abruptly and dont get too depressed. Have a 7 day period to bounce back. No more.
Even if a girl shows interest, give it a 2–3 year period and if by 21 the interest is still there then fine. Pursue it
Otherwise many kids become Devdas
Fourth – Pressure
Find your horse
Find what you are good at and pursue it
Don’t succumb to pressure from family
That’s the biggest problem for Indian youth. The belief that if you aren’t an Engineer Or Doctor then you are a failure.
Understand your aptitude
Remember a standard reply – if Papa asks you to get a JEE rank, reply – I want you to become the MD of your bank, can you do that???
My son asked me the same question and funny enough I wasn’t annoyed or angry. I was amused. It was a logical argument.
Fifth Following the Herd
Hrithik was lucky in Lakshya that he found his calling by accident but you may not be.
Don’t just follow the herd and do something you don’t like.
Brazil and China
“Americans Will Be Poor Overnight!” – Reaction To China & Brazil Agreement To Ditch US Dollar
Ukraine SitRep: Leaked Briefings, Holding Roads, Split Training
Apparently some briefing documents about the war in Ukraine for the Joint Chief of Staff of the U.S. military were leaked on the internets. I have so far only seen five pages of those. The total number is supposed to be 53 or 56 pages. If anyone knows where I can find decent copies please let me know in the comments.
I was cautious after the first release was discussed in major U.S. media. The first batch was used to demonstrate that the U.S. is allegedly successfully spying on Russia. I therefore thought that the whole release might be a disinformation campaign. However a second round of files discussed in the media over the last days paints a different picture.
Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism has decent roundup about them:
Again, recall the New York Times was the first MSM outlet to discuss that what turned out to be the first of (so far) two groups of Pentagon slides, focused on Ukraine preparedness, had made their way to a Russian Telegram account. Some had argued that the first set was a US or Russian psyop, but the authenticity of jargon and the amount of unflattering information argued against it. The second batch extends beyond Ukraine and is perceived to be damaging to US interests.Mind you, as many war-watchers have pointed out, these revelations don’t appear likely to have much impact on the too-widely-anticipated Ukraine offensive. While the level of detail is tantalizing, the broad findings, like Ukraine’s air defenses have been depleted and are only going to get worse, were evident via open sources. Yet some of the claims are bizarre, like 97% of Russia’s forces being committed to Ukraine. Recall UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that in February, and appeared to be retailing Ukraine propaganda then. Did Wallace get that factoid from these documents?
Nevertheless, this breach will make the US clamp down on distribution of sensitive information, which won’t be helpful so close to the launch of the expected counter-offensive.
…
At least one slide in this second group bore the label “Secret/NoForn,” which means distribution is limited to US citizens. That would seem to rule out our notion, based on the first batch (widely distributed among US allies, including Ukraine) that a Ukrainian unhappy with how the war is being conducted could have been behind the leak. This marking suggests these documents came from a Pentagon source, which could include contractors.
The page below shows the timetable for training and equipping nine new brigades.
Those brigades will have too few state of the art tanks and too few artillery to be really effective. There is also a shortage of 122mm ammunition for the artillery howitzers.
If or when that Ukrainian counterattack comes it will hardly be the punch that some seem to expect. Ukraine had also put other units into reserve to prepare for that attack. But some of those have already been used. In a piece about Bakhmut the New York Timeswrites:
But in farm fields and villages on Bakhmut’s outskirts, Ukrainian military officials say Kyiv’s forces have fought the Russian Army essentially to a standstill in the battle for two key roads, the T504 highway and a route known as the 506.Six weeks after the start of a Ukrainian operation to reinforce supply lines outside Bakhmut and protect the roads, Ukrainian military officials say they have thwarted, at least for now, a Russian effort to sever those roads and surround the city.
The T504 highway is also known as the M-32. Over the last days the Russian military has moved from the south in Bakhmut to now physically block it. The T-506 (O0506 on the map below) is still open but under constant artillery fire.
ukrleak0 s
biggerA recently published drone video shows that it is hard to pass:
MilitaryLand.net @Militarylandnet – 8:34 UTC · Apr 8, 2023📷Destroyed/damaged Ukrainian vehicles, including HMMWVs, BTR-4, M113 and T-72 tank on the road connecting #Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar via Khromove settlement. #UkraineRussiaWar Embedded video
I count 16 destroyed vehicles in that video on a 200 meter long stretch of the road.
But Ukraine has used reserves to keep it somewhat open:
In late February, Ukraine was close to losing the battle for Bakhmut, according to an assessment in a batch of what appear to be classified operational briefs prepared by the Pentagon and Joint Staff and leaked on social media this month. […]At the time, two Russian flanking maneuvers to the northwest and southwest of the city were close to encircling Bakhmut. A single access road, the 506, remained open for Ukrainian forces and the few civilians still in the city, but it was under Russian artillery fire. Ukraine’s commanding general in the east, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, called the route the “last breathing tube.”
Ukrainian commanders decided to reinforce the defenses of the roads rather than retreat, according to the leaked documents. Ukraine’s army deployed many soldiers to the fight for Bakhmut that it had hoped to hold in reserve for a counteroffensive anticipated in the coming weeks or months, and its forces have sustained heavy casualties.
The meat grinder that Bakhmut has become continues to do its work.
The men in uniform could show up almost anywhere, any time.They knock on civilians’ front doors and randomly stop them on street corners, handing out draft papers that can turn lives upside down.
Ukraine needs more soldiers — and fast. Kyiv is preparing for an imminent assault on Russian occupying forces, and while Ukraine does not disclose its casualty counts, commanders in the field have described large losses.
…
Previously, officials could only deliver draft papers to people’s homes, and some avoided the notices by staying at different addresses than where they are officially registered. But new rules have widened the scope of places where men can be stopped and questioned about their draft status.
…
Oleksii Kruchukov, 46, a washing machine repairman waiting in line outside a recruitment office in Kyiv, said he was ordered to report there after police broke up a fight he got into on the street. He did not have any valid military exemptions and said he expected that the incident will result in him soon being sent to training, and then the front.
Oleksandr Kostiuk, 52, a road repairman who helped set up barriers against Russian forces around Kyiv last year, recently received his notice via his human resources department at work. He is willing to go to the front if he has to — but fears for his safety. “Now we understand what’s going on, so I’m more nervous,” he said.
Poor guys. The will get abused to hold onto land that will be lost anyway.
This though is concerning:
Since early February, more than 5,000 people have applied to join what was formerly known as the Azov Battalion, a controversial former right-wing militia that was incorporated into Ukraine’s national guard. Last year, the battle-hardened group was hailed as heroic for withstanding a months-long siege of the southeastern city of Mariupol.Then, in February, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry announced that Azov would be expanded into an assault brigade as part of the new Offensive Guard.
Under its rules, Azov only accepts those who sign up of their own accord — not draftees — and it reserves the right to reject people whom it does not believe will be a good fit, which it says allows it to select the most motivated soldiers. Azov has launched a massive recruitment campaign for its new status as a brigade, with many of its men who were captured in Mariupol last year and eventually released now training recruits.
Does selecting its own recruits change a ‘controversial rightwing militia’ into a ‘controversial former right-wing militia’? I have my doubts. Now guess who is training those Nazis:
Meanwhile, at a training camp in the Kyiv region, new Azov recruits lined up at a shooting range, learning to use C7A1 rifles. One of their trainers, a Russian-speaking former American Marine who joined Azov and goes by the call sign Frodo, said that “the majority of these guys a month ago were civilians.” One sat against a wall, studying a translated U.S. military handbook.That they were motivated enough to sign up on their own means they act more like “warriors than soldiers,” Frodo said.
The training condenses the roughly three-month U.S. Marine Corps basic training into just four weeks, he said. During that time, the troops learn everything from marksmanship and cartography to radios and engineering. It’s possible — likely even — they could then be deployed almost immediately to the country’s hottest front lines.
The basic training the usual draftees get seems not to be of the same effectiveness:
On a recent afternoon outside Lyman in eastern Ukraine, a seasoned enlisted leader vented about the quality of initial training among newly arrived troops, describing it as largely glossing over fundamentals needed in the field that have to be taught when they get to their units.“They’re taught to sing songs and march” in basic training, the leader said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with reporters.
Once deployed, the troops need instruction even on the most ancient practice of soldiering: how to dig, the leader said. They do not know how to hold their shovels or fortify trenches and fighting positions. For practice, a group of fresh troops dug their spades into a nearby trench line.
Normal Ukraine’s men get send to the front without proper training and equipment. This while the ideologues receive their own special training and Canadian made Colt M16A3 equivalents . The long time consequences for Ukraine from this social split will be horrendous.
There seems to be little of such concerns in the leaked briefing slides. As Yves notes in her piece about the reporting about them:
[G]ood intel becomes less useful when filtered through prior beliefs. As we can see above, the US can’t get over its idea that Russia is out to acquire territory, and not first and foremost destroy Ukraine’s (and now NATO’s) ability to wage war. The articles contain denigrating asides about how Russia has conducted the war. One senses that this isn’t mere media messaging but is well internalized among US and NATO decision-makers. That sort of under-estimation has worked out very well for Russia. And the very solidly build echo chamber in the Beltway means it’s likely to continue.
Posted by b on April 10, 2023 at 17:29 UTC | Permalink
Hormone Replacement therapy for men
Not politics, but a good video. Especially for men. 23 minutes.
Balance your hormones. Take care of your body.
Normalize your testosterone first.
You cannot take these sex pills on a full stomach. Take the pills before you eat. Empty stomach. Empty stomach. Empty stomach.
Face is red, time to bed.
Nasal congestion is normal, but don’t take pills to get rid of it.
Nitric oxide is a good supplement. Monitor your nitric levels.
Local Police, State Police, FBI, and ATF are at the scene of a major shooting at and inside a Bank in Louisville, KY. Radio traffic went like this:
2023 04 11 17 03
As of 10:18 AM Eastern US time, it appears the shooter is down or dead. Multiple people with Gun Shot Wounds (GSW) to their head.
Successfully countering the U.S.!
Chinese countermeasures!
https://youtu.be/QMOj1oJW6pw
Sweet Comics By Luong Thuy Show What Being In A Relationship Is Like
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What is love? Besides a hit song immediately popping into your head with the answer “baby don’t hurt me,” there is no right or wrong answer to this question.
The definition is personal and different to everyone; some might not even have a definition as long as it feels right. Vietnamese artist Luong Thuy, known on social media as beisme08, shares honest everyday moments from life with her loving boyfriend and it looks like they are relationship goals. These comics range from extremely adorable and heartwarming moments some people may call cheesy to goofy situations and relationship struggles which make them much more real and relatable.
Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f6a161a9 880
Luong Thuy works as a freelance illustrator and in addition to drawing her own heartfelt stories, she also does commission work for her clients.
In an interview with Bored Panda, Thuy told that she draws her inspiration from her own experiences and everyday life with her boyfriend and a cat. Through cozy and intimate illustrations and comics, Thuy creates good memories about her relationship. After some time in a relationship and caught up in the routine, people might forget what that connection means to them and these light-hearted and positive snippets of life packed with little things might help you take a fresh look at your loved ones and appreciate the happiness and warmth they bring. And to all single people out there who are still in search of true love, these comics will remind you that there is still hope.
Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f6c1b347 png 880
“I create my art because I want to keep the beautiful moments about being in love and I also want to inspire positive emotions in other couples. I know in a relationship there are always different problems and I hope everyone will always have the most positive outlook,” Thuy says.
Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f6e1598f 880
Around 1.5 years ago, when we discovered Thuy’s comics and illustrations, she said that she wants people “to feel happy and optimistic” after seeing her artwork. At the time, she had been drawing and posting her artwork online for about half a year and had 50k followers. Fast forward to today, it seems that her goal of making people happy and bringing positivity to their daily lives has been working pretty well, as she currently has 257k followers enjoying her work.
Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f7a17590 880
“More than 200 thousand followers is a great spiritual gift to me. I just know I love doing it and everyone is happy to see it. They seem to see themselves in my work, too. I never thought that my works would be supported by so many people. However, my life is still very normal because people know me through my drawings, no one recognizes me in real life, I’m comfortable with that. Everyone’s support is a great motivation for me to continue this work.”
“Life is so much better with love in it,” the artist said and based on her illustrations, we can agree.
Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f7d60d69 880
The artist highlights how important it is that her comics are simple and easily understandable to everyone. Her drawing style and messages are colorful and detailed with a very recognizable cute art style. Leaving very little to interpretation, she is drawing sincere stories about everything her real relationship is made of—from cozy moments together, the perks of being with the right person, and support to funny misunderstandings, moments of loneliness, and fighting. But even struggles and the candid part of any relationship are portrayed in a positive light, with the same message that love is unconditional and forgiving.
Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f661f1c2 880
When asked about the challenges she faces when drawing her comics, she admitted that she doesn’t really have any.
“Actually, I don’t have any big challenges in the process of drawing the story. I feel very comfortable doing it. In the process of doing it, I was able to practice my drawing skills.”
Couple Relationship Comics Luong Thuy Beisme08 2 609b7f7cdf698 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fe415c1e 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fd6198e7 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fd0139be 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fce170b1 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fcc50d78 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fc012403 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fc714ca1 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fc365c6d 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fc214a81 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fb617186 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fbe13ac1 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fb41621d 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fb813c3b 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fb0192e3 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fac16a26 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fa614957 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4fa864a65 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f70514f9 png 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f8063e07 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f921c74e png 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f763d5fa 880Artist shows in comics the daily life of anyone in love New Pics 609a4f661f1c2 880 1
Missile Strikes Hit U.S. Base, Conoco Oil Field, Syria – Again
The United States military base in the Conoco Oil Field, Syria, has been hit by missile strikes – again – within the past hour (1:22 PM EDT) today. The missiles appear to have been fired from Dier Ezor, Syria.
No word yet on injuries, but numerous confirmations of significant fire at the impact sites.
China ranks #3 in law and order globally
2023 04 11 17 36
What The F*ck Is Going On In Ohio?!?
...we have been watching a slow controlled demolition of all systems and institutions which are pivotal to maintaining a healthy and functioning society and the crescendo is rising, hold on to your hats!
LGBQ+ in Taiwan
....Or consider the lengthy survey on Taiwan’s society, which hailed the enactment of gay marriage as a triumph of democracy in the island republic. The actual facts were precisely the opposite since a large majority of Taiwanese voters had opposed that change in a public referendum while the policy was instead established by undemocratic judicial fiat....
What was the most expensive thing you ever got for free, because someone made a mistake and didn’t charge you?
I was given $16,000 “for free” due to other peoples mistake.
I worked for a company that went to great lengths to incentivize good safety performance. During one campaign, the prize for achieving the safety goals for that quarter would be a $500 Walmart gift certificate for each employee, if everyone on the site remained injury free.
As a part of the safety committee, I was tasked with obtaining the certificates once the goal was met. I called American Express (I had a corporate Amex with no limit) to let them know I was going to be making an unusually large purchase so it would clear without problems. Then it was off to Walmart to buy the certificates.
They took my order and offered to have special coupons made to reflect the occasion. Great idea but meant a couple of days delay as they had to kick it up to some corporate office that handles such things. A few days later the certificates arrived, I paid for them, got a receipt, and took them for distribution.
I turned in an expense report with the receipt from WM and had the company pay to my Amex account so it was a completely cashless transaction. The problem is, Walmart never sent their invoice to Amex to collect the $16,000. That means I had all that money sitting as a credit on my card.
After a couple of months, I went back to WM with the receipt to see what the hold up was. They had changed managers during that time so I had to explain the whole thing from beginning to end. They thanked me and said they would take care of it. I reported the issue to my management and recorded everything in a note book. This went on for more than two years. Every couple of months I’d hit up WM, get a promise to fix it, report to my managers, and wait for my Amex bill to once again show an extra $16,000 sitting in my account.
The dilemma: what do I do with that money. It doesn’t belong to Amex as they have never been billed for payment. It doesn’t belong to the company because they got the gift certificates and paid Amex based on my expense report. The money belonged to WM but they apparently had no interest in collecting it. So here I sit with $16,000 in my Amex account that no one seems to want.
The money sat there for more than 10 years until just before I retired. I’ve been retired for almost 20 years. I still have all my documented attempts to resolve it. The company I worked for no longer exists.
This is where MM lives
This is a great video and shows some of my houses in the video. If you want to know where MM lives, THIS is the video to watch!
I hope that this puts a smile on your face and warmth in your heart.
I want to post some uplifting happy stuff.
I hope this post makes the grade.
It all began in 2004, when the first cat cafe opened its doors in Osaka. Since then, the petting zoo/coffee house hybrids have invaded Tokyo, and business is booming. After removing your shoes and washing your hands, you can relax or play with the cats and kittens while you have your drink. Prices are reasonable, and the rules are simple: no flash photos, no grabbing tails or waking sleeping kitties.
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Life is too short not to spend it with friends, family and our furry little friends. There are numerous cat, dog, and bird themed coffee houses and tea houses in China. They are nice to visit, and to spend some time in.
This is one in Japan.
It’s a great way to enjoy yourself and to make friends with some of the creatures that roam the tea / coffee establishments.
I know that this is a short post, but I am in the start of a new affirmation campaign and a large number of affirmations are coming into reality, and that means all sorts of upset, stress and change. Don’t freak out. It’s normal!
This is a massive article concerning China, and it’s military. And the point that I want to make is that China is a perfect organism wholly designed to prevent anyone from attacking it. It is like a vicious animal with spikes, poison, and large sharp teeth. Only a fool would want to attack it. It’s defensive. And I have a lot to say about this subject, as well as a ton load of videos to watch as well.
Poor countries are supposed to stay poor so that they can be exploited indefinitely for cheap labor and resources. When a poor country starts to pull itself out of poverty, that country will soon be pulled back down again through a mixture of warfare, sabotage, sanctions, and propaganda...all under the pretext of "protecting human rights." China has defied this rule by making itself wealthy. Accordingly, the propaganda directed toward it will only intensify.Posted by: Donbass Lives Matter | Sep 1 2021 22:17 utc | 50
Keep in mind that you cannot learn things by only looking at one singular aspects. you must see the big picture, and then put the focus on the little aspects as they fall within that big picture. So this large article is going to cover other tangential things that help give you a better appreciation for the much bigger picture that is omitted in modern contemporaneous dialog today.
But first, I want to relate a little story.
The tale of Frank
When I was growing up, there was this man who lived with my maternal grandmother. She was my mother’s mother, and there was this guy called “Frank” who lived in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
My mother called him Frank. My grandmother called him Frank. My brothers and sisters called him Frank. My aunties and my uncles called him Frank. My parents called him Frank. No one said anything else at all about his relationship with my grandmother.
I assumed that, since he went by his first name only, he wasn’t a close friend. Because in the United States, close male friends are referred to by their last name. While close girl friends are referred to their first name.
He wasn’t an uncle, as all my uncles went by the name “uncle” followed by their first name. As in “Uncle Robert”, “Uncle Ralston”, and “Uncle Sonny”. In fact, my grandmother’s brothers and sisters were still alive, and I called them “Uncle Eddie” and such.
So I figured that he was a renter who helped my grandmother pay the rent.
Long afterwards, when my grandmother had a stroke, and died, I attended her funeral. And there she was laid next to Frank, who was, after all, my maternal grandfather!
And this surprised me.
And when I mentioned it, I was hounded and ridiculed and given so much shit. I will tell you that it was horrible and ruthless, and just obnoxious. What was I supposed to know? Make assumptions, absorb the relationship by osmosis? Jeeze!
There is a reason… a REASON… why there are job titles, positions titles, business cards, name plates, and all the rest in regards to family and business relationships.
It’s important.
It adds another dimensions to the relationships that will enable us to better understand things. For once you understand the deeper relationships behind something, you can better understand the events, and items and how they all fit together as part of the unified whole.
Think about that for a minute.
As it pertains to everything.
…
Here’s some Chinese military videos. Some are recruitment videos. Some are narrative videos. Some are “fan” videos. Some are something else entirely. In any event, these videos give a person a fairly good overview impression of the kind of military that China has.
China isn’t anything like what is portrayed. China does not play “nice”. Especially when it comes to defending China from crazed manicidal psychopathic wanna-be-Rambos.
And keep in mind that China is truly playing for “keeps”. If anyone wants to fuck with them, they will fuck you right back. Smartly.
Defensive Forces
If we talk about "representative government" we have to ask what kind of representation the weakest individual in society can get. I would submit that in the US the answer is laughable. In China, which takes surveys endlessly, prolifically and as a vital part of analysis and the systematic, results-based development of policy, one can argue very well that the weakest individual is much better represented than in the US.Fact is, no one wants democracy. What anybody wants is good representative government.Posted by: Grieved | Sep 2 2021 3:47 utc | 80
China possesses “defensive forces”.
Note that they are not “expeditionary forces”. They are harsh defensive forces and have no qualms about slaughtering anyone who tries to attack China in any way.
If you attack China, and China considers Taiwan PART of China, it will go nuclear in a nano-second.
China is NOT the USA. Do not believe the neocon propaganda about Taiwan this, or Taiwan that. China will take over the island in a matter or hours, and the world will left reeling. Those that want to get involved will be slaughtered mercilessly.
Listen up Japan!
Listen up Australia!
I am talking to you. As well as your bosses on K-street in Washington DC.
So forget any fantasies about peasants with mass-produced AK-47 clones. China will fiercely decimate enemy force with tactical and theater neutronmunitions from the “get go”.
A neutron bomb, officially defined as a type of enhanced radiation weapon (ERW), is a low-yield thermonuclear weapon designed to maximize lethal neutron radiation in the immediate vicinity of the blast while minimizing the physical power of the blast itself.
The neutron release generated by a nuclear fusion reaction is intentionally allowed to escape the weapon, rather than being absorbed by its other components.
The neutron burst, which is used as the primarydestructive action of the warhead, is able to penetrate enemy armor more effectively than a conventional warhead, thus making it more lethal as a tactical weapon.
-Wikipedia
The mere fact that no American strategic planners are taking into account this long standing military policy (since 1977, I believe) just shows how oblivious the planners are on K-street and in the Pentagon are.
Oblivious.
As in moronically blind to reality.
Somehow these morons believe that a war with China, on Chinese soil, will be a long-drawn out conventional war, in a far away land. Sort of like a larger Afghanistan.
Effects of a Neutron Bomb
The New York Times reported that “the nuclear weaponeers have unfolded a new brainchild, the neutron bomb, which will kill people while preserving buildings, tanks, and artillery.”
-Air Force Magazine
Neutrons scattered around after the neutron bomb explodes, in soil, metals, food, etc. activates neutrons; this neutron activation is 10 times higher than that of an atom bomb.
The so-called neutron activation causes inanimate bodies to emit secondary gamma rays.
Thus, the Neutron bomb causes damage due to both neutron beams and gamma rays.
Since neutrons make the objects they hit emit gamma rays, each object becomes a mini-bomb after the neutron bomb is dropped and starts to emit gamma rays.
Lovely.
Who’d figure that your iPhone and Alexia would someday actually kill you?
Chinese DF-16 tactical surface to surface conventional and nuclear weapon.
The first effect of the neutron bomb is to scatter fast neutrons and gamma photons. The irradiation dose is up to hundreds of thousands of rad (radiation units) in open air beyond the explosion and thermal irradiation distance (150-300 m.). Let us remind that human beings die even in the face of neutron irradiation higher than 300 rad.
Fast neutrons are exposed to elastic scattering in the nuclei of light atoms, during which rebound protons are released, protons are strongly ionizing particles.
Thus, human beings are exposed to a strongly ionizing radiation.
As protons move through human tissues, they cause havoc with a very high energy per unit path. Not only that, the nuclei of some biological tissues become radioactive by capturing neutrons, as a result, countless radioactive foci appear in the human body, each of human tissues becomes a mini-bomb and begins to self-destruct with dangerous rays.
Herein lies one of the greatest dangers of neutrons; Neutrons strike living or non-living objects, making the atoms in front of them radioactive.
These atoms start to emit lethal rays and countless mini-bombs are born.
After the neutron bomb was dropped, buildings, tanks, etc. It is said that it will remain the same. In fact, both corpses and these inanimate things will become radioactive. Both the removal of the corpses, these buildings, tanks and so on. entering into it will mean receiving a high dose of lethal radiation.
Non-living things that remain intact can only be used with special protective clothing without irradiation.
One of the purposes of using neutron bombs is to instantly turn those who are exposed to the neutron into the living and dead.
The DF-10 can really turn your day into a neutron-saturated toasty BBQ.
The Neutron bomb alone can turn people into this. Other “normal” nuclear bombs cause burns and wounds with the heat of the explosion wave and glare and kill them immediately.
With the effect of radiation, neutrons will enter the brain and destroy the electrical connections of the nerve cells. Computers and electronic devices exposed to strong radiation will stop immediately.
Yeah.
That means all cars, internet, home appliances, televisions, radio, stop lights, alarm systems, electronic doors, elevators, and aircraft. It’s sort of like an EMF weapon only with the extra bonus of making everything highly radioactive.
Those exposed to a radiation of 3000 rad will remain unconscious for 3-7 minutes, then sober up…
… great. Right?
Not so fast…
…. within a week they will die of gastrointestinal bleeding; The entire digestive system from mouth to anus will become an open wound, the kidney and heart will weaken and the patient will bleed and die in fever.
Those who are exposed to 650 rad will not have an immediate effect, but the bone marrow that makes the blood cells will dry, the old blood cells will survive another 25-30 days after the irradiation, but their division will stop, the patient will die in 4-5 weeks as a result of anemia and inability to defend against germs.
That is…
…unless they have some mRNA modification that compensates for this effect.
Hum…
Anyways…
According to the British geneticist J. Edwards, the most terrible aspect of the Neutron bomb is this: The neutron bomb is such a bomb that its effect is not limited in time, after the Neutron bomb is dropped, many generations will be born as cripples and monsters, it is not up to anyone to prevent this, rays.
This painful consequence is inevitable as it destroys heredity molecules (genes).
The destruction will be the most in regions (cities) where people live densely.
All living things in an area of 8 km2 will die in 2-3 days at the latest as a result of lethal rays. In an additional area of 10 km2, 1-100 rad rays will be received. 2-3 km.
The Neutron bomb, thrown at intervals, will kill anyone caught outdoors.
Radiation at a distance of 400 meters from the explosion point of a 1 kiloton Neutron bomb is 418,000 rad. Even in a shelter reducing radiation 500 times, the dose would be 836 rad, which is twice the minimum lethal dose.
According to the American scientist A. Westing, a 1 kiloton neutron weapon will destroy 310 hectares of pine forests, 170 hectares of deciduous forest and 140 hectares of grassland, and it will take centuries to replace them.
In short…
… a neutron bomb is a far more lethal weapon than an atomic or hydrogen bomb. And the Chinese field these weapons on a tactical basis all over China. If you try to attack China, they will not scurry into a hamlet behind the donkeys and sheep (Syrian style)…
No, instead, they will start launching a barrage of neutron hyper-velocity missiles at you. And there will be NO place to hide.
The Chinese DF-12 surface to surface, short range ballistic missiles that can carry neutron warheads.
The good news is that you will have enough time to pray for a quick death.
That will be the best you can do. You wouldn’t dare pick up your rifle, pistol, or get into a vehicle. All that metal and material will be irradiating the shit out of you. That’s right. All the metal near you would be acting like one giant X-ray and microwave beaming radiation right at you.
China is an organism
In China…
Everyone works together and they are very, very patriotic. Of course no one in the West understands this. It’s dog-eat-dog, and fight to be the “lone wolf”. You don’t kick an organized hornet’s nest and not expect to get stung.
China, the Chinese people act as one singular organism together.
And, you know what, it is even MORE SO NOW TODAY.
The Chinese learn from an early age
From the time they are able to walk, all the Chinese are taught to work hard, study, and be aggressive in everything that they do.
This is not a land of coddled wealthy, or diversity overweight wooble jaumbas.It’s not a land of prep-boys, or “silver spoon in the mouth” elitist “blue bloods”. It’s a land full of the hardiest people that you ever met, who are also the smartest people who you have ever met, and who also are the most determined people who you have ever met.
And what’s more…
These people are taught to live for the community. To fight for the community. To do the best for the community, and if necessary to die for the community.
Check out what it is like for those in kindergarten… Pretty amazing for four and five year olds. Please watch the entire video.
In kindergarten.
The Chinese students can only play electronic games during certain hours
Oh, you think that China isn’t serious?
My eyes almost popped out of my head when I read "Gamers under 18 will only be allowed to play online between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays". Real leadership... in 2021... I am flabbergasted.
I am a high school science and math teacher in Australia. That single policy in itself is game over.
Posted by: Rae | Sep 1 2021 21:15 utc | 38
And…
Earlier a math teacher stopped by to praise the new time limits on video gaming for young folks in China. I add my own 'bravo' to that.
And here's another one---the Chinese crackdown on celebrity 'culture'.The Chinese National Radio and Television Administration on Thursday enhanced management on entertainment programs and related personnel, calling for boycott against individuals with illegal or immoral records, sky-high prices for stars and abnormal appreciation of niangpao, or feminine men.
How much of the West's descent into unimaginable societal degradation is due to young kids being raised, for generations now, not by attentive parents, but by TV and Hollywood?
The so-called popular 'culture' has long since imposed itself into the family home and pushed out the role of parents as guides for impressionable young folks.
Some have mentioned the west's dismal STEM graduate production. How are young people supposed to have an interest in math and science when most just want to be 'celebrities'? Or at least social media 'influencers'?
Like everything in society, from financial greed to bringing up children, things cannot be simply left to chance. That produces a garden full of weeds and thorns.
The CPC is truly a shining light in today's world!
Posted by: Gordog | Sep 2 2021 6:09 utc | 90
The Chinese exercise from an early age too
Physical health and well being is important to the Chinese. No couch-potatoes allowed. Every single school, at every single level performs strict dance, exercise and martial arts routines. All of them do this. They do this six days a week every single day.
The Chinese can build up enormous constructions from scratch
Remember all those “Ghost cities” that the BBC, CNN and FOX “news” were all making fun of? Remember them. Oh, you don’t hear much about them today do you? Why not? Why isn’t the “news” getting right in front of China’s “grill” and bad mouthing them about “Ghost Cities”?
This is why…
They aren’t ghost cities any longer. Watch the video and be amazed.
A Ghost City.
As a result of US sanctions against Chinese companies, China is developing its own technology to cater for its internal market. Low cost, not Western, no manual.
Low cost, because at the volumes of the Chinese internal market even a saving of a fraction of a cent is real money. Different from US designs, so no license fee needs to be paid. And little or no documentation in English - it's intended for the Chinese internal market.Posted by: Passerby | Sep 1 2021 22:24 utc | 52
So you really think that the United States can compete against China?
Really? Have you seen what America has become? America is very, very weak right now. Here’s what all the major cities look like. Watch the full video.
The United States today.
Watch the full video to get the full effect. This is what America is today. And it is indicative of the culture and the society. It is a reflection of the failure of the government. Not only in structure but in the leadership.
And this nation actually believes that it is better than China is?
China has a substantial sized rocket and munitions closet. All designed for mass saturation of broad swaths of terrain. These were perfected after the results of World-War II that showed how successful that the Soviet Union was in employing these weapons against the superior technological weaponry of Nazi Germany.
In the American military circles this is considered worrisome, but not terribly so. The conventional belief in the Pentagon is that America would obtain dominance very quickly using the integrated computerized electronics systems and be able to use stand off drones and munitions with “pin-point” accuracy to selectively destroy any targets of this type.
I wouldn’t be so sure of this.
In a conflict between the United States and China, the United States would have ZERO “eyes in the skies”.
The Chengdu J-20 “Mighty Dragon” (NATO Name: Black Eagle) is a single-seat, twinjet, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation fighter aircraft developed by China’s Chengdu Aerospace Corporation for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
Video here…
Video
The J-20 is designed to execute ground attack missions even in hostile environments. The aircraft can reach higher altitudes with its delta wings in supersonic speeds. It is larger than Sukhoi T-50 and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. The front portion of the prototype looks similar to the F-22 Raptor and the rear section looks like a Sukhoi T-50.
According to the neocon publications out of K-street in Washington DC, the F-22 is the best thing since “sliced bread” and the Chinese is only copying it. Only doing the copying very poorly.
Conventional wisdom holds that the J-20is currently unable to face the US Air Force's F-22 in a straight-up dogfight.
- Business Insider
I wouldn’t be so sure about this.
The United States has a terrible problem in overestimating their capabilities and down-plying that of China (to the extreme). Just keep in mind that any war involving these aircraft will need to land. The chances are slim that there will be any place to land once a war breaks out near China.
You won’t ever see this in FOX “news”. This video…
Japanese sub limps home.
China is a nation of STEM NERDs
Stem graduates by country 2016
China: 4.7M
India: 2.6M
U.S: 570k
Russia:561k
Iran: 335k
Now you know why Netanyahu wants us to nuke Iran so bad to eradicate them like bugs.
So the top 3 countries that we target as enemies graduate 10 times more STEM students than we, the U.S. do and half of our graduates are foreign students. This is why Iran has a domestic arms industry that includes advanced RADAR. But we are still in denial about that as evidenced by us fretting over Iran getting their hands on Humvees and M4 rifles from the Taliban.
Our view of Iran, 'I think it is some kind of magic wand that stirs up the spirit of the truck engine, try turning it and see what happens'
---------------
Now some wise guy might note that India does not have an advanced military but that's because they suffer collective Stockholm syndrome from Britain. I have no idea why they love the Brits and west so much after all they did do them.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Sep 2 2021 1:13 utc | 70
But…
And last time I checked, about 15% of those STEM graduates in the USA were . . . citizens of the PRC. I'm sure a goodly number are citizens of India too.Posted by: corvo | Sep 2 2021 1:21 utc | 71
What about those TicTac’s that buzz the American naval ships?
The "Tic Tac" incident.Date: November 14, 2004; Location: Pacific Ocean
Jack Sarfatti writes, The USS Nimitz UFO incident refers to a 2004 Radar-Visual encounter of an unidentified flying object by US fighter pilots of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group. In December 2017, infrared footage of the encounter was released to the public. Prior to the December 2017 incident, early November 2004, the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Princeton, part of Carrier Strike Group 11, had been tracking mysterious aircraft intermittently for two weeks on an advanced AN/SPY-1B passive radar.
And what did they see?
Well, they saw this…
US Navy buzzed by UFO.
And what does this look like?
Well, if you have been paying attention to the technical side of what China is involved in, instead of what the latest bullshit is about 5G, Huawei, the pull-out from Afghanistan, and Vaxx issues you might have noticed this…
But then again, most MM readers realize this. It’s just the rest of the West who read the “news” and get this completely false impression and idea of what China is. It’s not even a distortion. It’s a false reality. Check out the Video.
At the start of this article, I simply discussed the use of tactical nuclear “neutron” bombs. These are what the army uses to take out this hill, that city, or that carrier group. They clean out the area and then move in and occupy.
But what I am referring to here is the very dangerous, mega-large hyper-velocity ten warhead, nation crusher the MIRV ICBM the DF-41. These are strategic weapons.
They are designed to wholly crush and decimate a nation.
And thanks to Trump and Biden, China is now on a massive mass production rally regarding these horrific weapons. They are churning them out so fast that if they all were to be used, the target nation would be reduced to radioactive glass.
Thank you President Trump (and his enabler Mike Pompeo).
Thank you Joe Biden (and your enabler Tom Cotton).
You see, those fucking morons who talk about war with China over Taiwan, or the South China Sea or what ever is the “reason of the day” simply omit the fact that China will BURY the United States if it attacks them.
And the result will be global devastation, but you know, China will rebuild. China can and has that ability. America will not.
Never forget the China’s military policy is to swarm and overwhelm with tons of nuclear tipped missiles
Not simply one or two relying on precision computers.
But many, many, many.
Many.
As in A lot!
This is quite different from the American strategy of full-spectrum dominance based on computers and remote sensing. China, on the other hand, believes in overwhelming the target area and saturating it with the most deadly weapons available.
Here’s group eight (8). Lot’s of stuff here. Check out the video here.
Group 8
China flexes sea power with new foreign ship law – Asia Times
A security measure to prevent a preemptive strike.
A new Chinese legal requirement demands that multiple classes of foreign vessels traversing waters claimed by Beijing must [1] provide detailed information to state authorities and [2] take aboard Chinese pilots.
The new maritime law, which came into legal force today (September 1), threatens to inflame South China Sea disputes pitting China and Southeast Asian nations and stoke already rising tensions with the United States in the contested waters.
On August 27, China’s Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement that five categories of foreign vessels, namely …
submersibles, (as in submarines and SEAL insertion submersibles)
nuclear-powered vessels, (as in aircraft carriers, destroyers and subs)
ships carrying radioactive materials,
ships carrying bulk oil, chemicals, liquefied gas or other toxic substances,
as well as vessels that may endanger China’s maritime traffic safety…
… fall under the law.
Uh oh. There goes the American Navy! especially those pesky aircraft carriers.
Foreign vessels will be required to provide information including their ship names and numbers, recent locations, satellite telephone numbers and dangerous goods, according to the statement.
If their automatic identification systems do not work properly, they will need to report to China’s maritime authorities about their locations and speeds every two hours until they leave the country’s territorial waters, the statement said.
At face value, these are not necessarily problematic provisions – unless the definition of “Chinese territorial waters” is interpreted to include nearly all of the South China Sea, as claimed in its wide-reaching and hotly contested nine-dash line.
The new rules were first made public on April 29 this year after the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress amended the Maritime Traffic Safety Law (MTSL), which was established in September 1983.
A full English version of the revised law, translated by Peking University Law School, can be seen on the website of Steamship Mutual, a mutual insurance association in the maritime space that provides risk pooling, information and representation.
Oh! But Japan will act as a Proxy for the United States in a Taiwan conflict, eh?
Yeah. I read the bullshit propaganda out of Japan.
So you think that Japan can invade China, or fight China? Is that what you think?
Let me tell youse all something too. Just like the Chinese students do daily exercises, and study hard, they are also exposed to what Japan did to China, and it is burned into the soul of China. And if Japan wants to take on China, well then, China will be really ROUGH back.
Oh! You don’t believe me?
What?
You do not know what I am talking about, eh?
Watch this entire video. It’s around four minutes long. Watch it. Watch the entire thing. Now, what do you think a nuclear armed China will do to the tiny island of Japan? Watch the video.
The Japanese inside of China.
So you think that China will somehow forgive and forget with japan starts attacking the mainland?
China is ready, so is Russia.
Do you all REALLY want a war? You all want to take on China for freedom™ and democracy™? Is that what you want? Well, China just wants to be left alone, but apparently that’s not good enough is it?
I guess not.
You all want to poke the Panda. And the Panda and Russia are as one today. You poke China, and you anger the Bear. You poke the Bear and you piss off China. Washington DC will be a water-filled radioactive crater before you have the chance to say…
…”Oh. Fuck”.
Chinese Boy Scouts
Here’s what boy scouts look like in China. Are you ready to fight them? Video HERE.
Tough boy scouts.
A bunch of tough first and second grade kids. Click to download the archive of videos.
Click to download the archive.
The Neocons say that if you kill the Chinese leadership that China will crumble
It’s a fantasy with no bearing on reality what so ever.
Xi Xinping was himself molded by the CR. He was sent to live and work with the peasants in the dirt and poverty of the countryside. When he was free to return to the city, he elected to return instead to the village he had lived in, and to continue his work there. They remember him now with great love, and there are documentaries available if one wishes to search.
The national leader of China has an understanding of the supreme value of "the people over all things" ingrained into his hands with dirt and blisters and blood. He came by his understanding experientially and honestly.
~~
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has at least 90 million members. One might think that, even on the scale of China's population, joining the CPC would be a routine matter. Xi Xinping applied at least 6 times (I believe actually 10 times in all) before the Party accepted him.
He worked his way into a meritocratic organization, and has worked his way to leadership through merit.
If we wish to understand what runs China, we must know how the CPC works. Here are 3 possible introductions, from Godfree Roberts:
The Chinese Communist PartyChina’s Congresses in ActionSelling Democracy to China
Posted by: Grieved | Sep 2 2021 3:46 utc | 79
Here’s group 9
And here’s some active military videos.
I am just unleashing a true “mother load” of videos today. To talk about the Taiwan and a conflict on the South China Sea then you need to understand what the “players” are and what they are capable of. And boys and girls, the Chinese do not play. they are a serious, serious nation. Check out the videos HERE.
Group 9
To Counter U.S. Hostility China Moves Towards People Centered Policies
In December 2001 China became a member of the World Trade Organization. That opened new markets for China’s industry and attracted a lot of foreign investment.
The growth in GDP that China has achieved since is breathtaking.
This development allowed China to make enormous investments in infrastructure. It also generated the resources necessary to eliminate poverty.
It is no coincidence that this development happened while the U.S. was wasting money on wars in the Middle East. As the U.S. is now step by step retreating from those wars to confront China the country needs to prepare itself for the new environment.
The introduction of more and more capitalistic features into China’s economy over the last 20 years has created imbalances.
Business tried to ignore or to gain influence over government structures and regulations.
Companies abused their workers.
Speculation by rich people created bubbles in the housing markets.
Cultural excesses that emphasized individualism threatened national unity.
These imbalances let the description of China’s economy as ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ look empty.
Over the long run they would lead to dissatisfaction of a wide range of the public with the ruling political establishment. It was high time to eliminated the excesses the ultra fast development had created.
The government had to act to avoid future internal conflicts. Since the end of last year it has done so with the same efficiency that allowed it to stop and eliminate Covid-19 outbreaks. It does this ruthlessly without regards to stock values or investor interests.
Some six weeks ago I argued against Stephen S. Roach’s take on new Chinese regulations and described why the wider public in China will not care about ‘investors’ and will support those steps.
Since then the regulation campaign has continued with astonishing speed and breath. Here is a collection of headlines, published since my last take, that detail the development and the flood of new regulations and laws designed to set things right while keeping China’s economic growth going.
The new slogan for this era is now ‘common prosperity’, a policy that will reduce large wealth gaps while keeping reasonable monetary incentives and the market economy alive to allow for further development.
A pamphlet, written by a minor Maoist figure, that justifies these measures and puts them into a larger political context was widely published by Communist Party organs:
A commentary published widely in Chinese state-run media described President Xi Jinping’s regulatory crackdown as a “profound revolution” sweeping the country and warned that anyone who resisted would face punishment.
“This is a return from the capital group to the masses of the people, and this is a transformation from capital-centered to people-centered,” the commentary said, adding that it marked a return to the original intention of the Communist Party.
“Therefore, this is a political change, and the people are becoming the main body of this change again, and all those who block this people-centered change will be discarded.”
The author then goes on to set the ‘profound transformation’ into a wider, geopolitical context:
“China is currently facing an increasingly severe and complex international environment. The US has implemented military threats, economic and technological blockades, financial strikes and political and diplomatic siege against China,” Li wrote.
“The US has also launched biological warfare, cyber warfare and public opinion against China.”
“If we still have to rely on big capitalists as the main force of anti-imperialist and anti-hegemonism, or still cooperate to the US’ ‘tittytainment’ strategy, our young people will lose their strong and masculine vibes and we will collapse like the Soviet Union before we are attacked,” he said, claiming that the US had launched a color revolution against China through different channels.
The “profound transformation” underway in China aimed to respond to the US’ brutal and ferocious attacks as well as the current complicated international situation, he said.
The curbs on the entertainment sector were far from adequate as ordinary workers and people should become the main characters on screens.
People would benefit from the “common prosperity” goal after the education, medical and property sectors were reformed, he wrote.
While this sounds like Culture Revolution 2.0 it is assured that there will be no rampages of Maoist students through libraries or reeducation camps for party members.
Predatory capitalist George Soros claims in the Financial Times that these moves it will doom China’s economy. (See Michael Hudson’s counter here.) But people who, like Soros, argue against strong regulations forget that there are would be no markets without them.
Companies that only look at shareholder values are not sound and do not allow for a healthy society.
Just look Boeing and at the homeless camps in U.S. cities.
Aside from the ideological underpinning the new regulatory moves are populist. The masses will like them. They guarantee President Xi Jinping’s reelection at next year’s national party congress.
They will strengthen China’s unity in its competition with the United States.
China is cleaning up a few problems but I think it is also going into war mode.Posted by: Peter AU1 | Sep 1 2021 22:26 utc | 53
It is a nation of hard working, martial arts trained, studious NERDS. Most of the factories are inside of China. Not what passes for “factories” in the United States today. Which for the most part is nothing more than a nice office building in a “Industrial park” that houses cubicles staffed with accountants, diversity officers, attorneys, finance and marketing folk.
China is very capable. And if you want to to toe-to-toe, and head-to-head with them you had best be ready to accept the consequences of a harsh defeat and a life as a conquered nation. Check out this video here.
This article would have been very useful if it had stuck to its headline warning, which is more or less along the lines that Xi has made very clear that he’s not going to allow investors, above all foreign investors, to exercise more influence in Chinese business and society.
However, Soros then goes on in a vein that the article subhead accurately summarizes:
“The leader’s crackdown on private enterprise shows he does not understand the market economy.”
Oh, contraire, China’s success has been built on learning from the mistakes of other Asian countries that developed quickly but then fell prey to financialization, particularly Japan, and had difficulties making the transition from being export and investment led to consumption led.
In particularly, Soros is cheesed off at Xi restricting foreign investment, particularly in stocks.
First, China is a capital exporter. It doesn’t need foreign funds.
Second, despite the Anglopshere idealization of public stock markets, China doesn’t need one either, although getting rid of the one it has now would be messy and very disruptive.
As Amar Bhide pointed out in a landmark Harvard Business Review article, Efficient Markets, Deficient Governance, anonymous, freely traded shares inherently lead to poor governance.
Public companies cannot share critical business information that investors need to make informed decisions.
Transient shareholders also lack the motivation and means to improve the performance of the companies they’ve invested in.
Bhide has pointed out in other venues that while all other types of investments, such as derivatives and venture capital, existed in pre-modern times, arms length share trading did not because stock is a legally vague and weak promise.
And despite the idealization of share ownership, it’s almost entirely divorced from the funding of business. The most important source for new investment is retained earnings. Second is borrowing. Share sales are a distant third. The overwhelming majority of stock trading is shuffling paper among investors.
The most charitable interpretation of Soros’ position is that he suffers from a China version of the saying attributed to Charles Wilson, “What’s good for GM is good for America,” which here becomes, “What’s good for people like me of course is good for China.” Except as Michael Hudson explains, it isn’t.
Below are sections of the Soros article, with Hudson’s remarks in bold italics:
Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has collided with economic reality. His crackdown on private enterprise [what the classical economists called rent-seeking and unearned income] has been a significant drag on the economy [meaning the economy’s polarization concentrating wealth and income in the hands of the richest One Percent]. The most vulnerable sector is real estate, particularly housing. China has enjoyed an extended property boom over the past two decades, but that is now coming to an end. Evergrande, the largest real estate company, is over-indebted and in danger of default. This could cause a crash. [That’s just what is needed.]
….One of the reasons why middle-class families are unwilling to have more than one child is that they want to make sure that their children will have a bright future. [This is true of every advanced nation today. It is most extreme in the neoliberalized countries, e.g., the Baltics and Ukraine – Soros’s poster countries.]
We have skipped over Xi’s crackdown on the private tutoring industry…as if tutoring is essential to providing for security and an adequate standard of living for the next generation. How about strong public education, including remedial and advanced tracks, and vocational/technical training for those not bound to universities?
Back to Soros and Hudson:
Xi does not understand how markets operate [meaning that he rejects rapacious rent-seeking, exploitative free-for-all, and shapes markets to serve overall prosperity for China’s 99 Percent]. As a consequence, the sell-off was allowed to go too far [by which he means, too far to maintain the dominance of the One Percent; it seeks to reverse economic polarization, not intensify it]. It began to hurt China’s objectives in the world [meaning America’s neoliberal objectives for how it had hoped to make money for itself off China].
Recognising this, Chinese financial authorities have gone out of their way to reassure foreign investors and markets have responded with a powerful rally. But that is a deception. Xi regards all Chinese companies as instruments of a one-party state…
Pension fund managers allocate their assets in ways that are closely aligned with the benchmarks against which their performance is measured. [The tragedy of financializing pensions is that fund managers are rated on making money financially – in ways that hurt the industrial economy by promoting financial engineering instead of industrial engineering.]
Almost all of them claim that they factor environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) standards into their investment decisions. [At least, that’s what their public relations advisors advertise. Exxon claims to be cleaning up the environment by expanding offshore oil drilling in Guyana, etc. As for “social standards,” the neoliberal mantra is trickle-down economics: by making our stock prices rise, by stock buybacks and higher dividend payouts, we are helping wage-earners earn a pension, even though we are offshoring and de-industrializing the economy, de-unionizing it and “freeing” the economy from consumer and workplace protection laws.]
….The US Congress should pass a bipartisan bill explicitly requiring that asset managers invest only in companies where actual governance structures are both transparent and aligned with stakeholders. [Wow. Such a bill would block Americans from investing in many American companies whose behavior is not at all aligned with stakeholders. What proportion: 50%? 75%? More?] This rule should obviously apply to the performance benchmarks selected by pensions and other retirement portfolios.
If Congress were to enact these measures, it would give the Securities and Exchange Commission the tools it needs to protect American investors, including those who are unaware of owning Chinese stocks and Chinese shell companies. That would also serve the interests of the US and the wider international community of democracies. [So Mr. Soros wants to block the US from investing in China. That is President Xi’s objective also: China doesn’t need U.S. dollars, and is in fact de-dollarizing.]
There are a lot of reasons to criticize Xi and the Chinese regimes, but combating foreign influence and a bit late in the game pushing back against high levels of inequality are not among them.
And Soros presents himself as having superior insight into China, and then acts as if an American strike on Chinese public companies would dent them. Good luck with that.
Indeed.
Great rebuttal by hudson. Soros is fuming at china,its because he cant run his usual financial schemes and assert some measure of control on sectors of their economy. Why anyone listens to this documented nazi collaborator, and destroyer of economies, and the pound sterling is beyond me. China is not in the business of allowing these types to have input or dictate their financial policy. I applaud them.
Posted by: RC213V | Sep 1 2021 21:52 utc | 46
You would think that most reasonable people would understand this. But they don’t. I have been reading the Australian “news”. Oh Lordy! These Bozo’s actually think that Australia and Japan will physically invade mainland China and be allowed to march right into the cities and take over.
I don’t believe it, but obviously the United States, though it’s enormous media is posturing towards a major conflict. And at this stage of the game, it looks like they want it to happen so badly that it probably will.
The Chinese leader tells cadres at the Central Party School that the ‘risks and challenges we face are conspicuously increasing’. Xi’s comments about the the need to fight to protect national security come amid ongoing tensions with the United States
And remember what I said at the start of this article…
"... the point that I want to make is that China is a perfect organism wholly designed to prevent anyone from attacking it. It is like a vicious animal with spikes, poison, and large sharp teeth. Only a fool would want to attack it..."
A final word.
So the United States wants to go into a HOT war with China. Don’t be so sure on what will happen.
From an anonymous commenter…
Some American and Chinese virologists are developing the new Sinoamerican virus (let's call it "Sinoamerican 200") in a laboratory in Guangzhou. The virus is a combination of a modified porcine influenza H1N1 and the previous Sinoamerican virus (SARS COV 2). The Sinoamerican 200 will be disseminated somewhere in USA in November 2021.Posted by: Kim Jong Il | Sep 2 2021 5:54 utc | 87
Let’s see what will happen in December 2021; around and just before Christmas time.
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.
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Undoubtedly the woman who had come to epitomize what we recognize today as "celebrity", Zsa Zsa Gabor, is better known for her many marriages, personal appearances, her "dahlink" catchphrase, her actions, life gossip, and quotations on men, rather than her film career.
Perhaps you know her better as “Lisa” on the 1960’s television sit-com “Green Acres”.
Ah. Lisa darlink…
“Lisa” on the 1960’s television sit-com “Green Acres”.
Anyways, for her, and just about everyone that you read about in the “news” today obey this law listed herein. It’s important, and it gave Donald Trump the Presidency of the United States.
LAW 6
COURT ATTENTION AT ALL COST
JUDGMENT
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses.
PART I: SURROUND YOUR NAME WITH THE SENSATIONAL AND SCANDALOUS
Draw attention to yourself by creating an unforgettable, even controversial image. Court scandal. Do anything to make yourself seem larger than life and shine more brightly than those around you. Make no distinction between kinds of attention—notoriety of any sort will bring you power. Better to be slandered and attacked than ignored.
OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW
P. T. Barnum, America’s premier nineteenth-century showman, started his career as an assistant to the owner of a circus, Aaron Turner.
In 1836 the circus stopped in Annapolis, Maryland, for a series of performances.
On the morning of opening day, Barnum took a stroll through town, wearing a new black suit.
People started to follow him.
Someone in the gathering crowd shouted out that he was the Reverend Ephraim K. Avery, infamous as a man acquitted of the charge of murder but still believed guilty by most Americans.
The angry mob tore off Barnum’s suit and was ready to lynch him.
After desperate appeals, Barnum finally convinced them to follow him to the circus, where he could verify his identity.
THE WASP AND THE PRINCE
A wasp named Pin Tail was long in quest of some deed that would make him forever famous.
So one day he entered the kirrg’s palace and stung the little prince, who was in bed.
The prince awoke with loud cries.
The king and his courtiers rushed in to see what had happened.
The prince was yelling as the wasp stung him again and again.
The courtiers tried to catchthe wasp, and each in turn was stung.
The whole royal household rushed in,the news soon spread, and people flocked to the palace.
The city was in an uproar, all business suspended.
Said the wasp to itself, before it expired from its efforts, “A name without fame is like fire without flame. There is nothing like attracting notice at any cost.”
INDIAN FABLE
Once there, old Turner confirmed that this was all a practical joke—he himself had spread the rumor that Barnum was Avery.
The crowd dispersed, but Barnum, who had nearly been killed, was not amused.
He wanted to know what could have induced his boss to play such a trick. “My dear Mr. Barnum,” Turner replied, “it was all for our good. Remember, all we need to ensure success is notoriety.”
And indeed everyone in town was talking about the joke, and the circus was packed that night and every night it stayed in Annapolis.
Barnum had learned a lesson he would never forget.
Barnum’s first big venture of his own was the American Museum—a collection of curiosities, located in New York.
One day a beggar approached Barnum in the street.
Instead of giving him money, Barnum decided to employ him.
Taking him back to the museum, he gave the man five bricks and told him to make a slow circuit of several blocks.
At certain points he was to lay down a brick on the sidewalk, always keeping one brick in hand.
On the return journey he was to replace each brick on the street with the one he held.
Meanwhile he was to remain serious of countenance and to answer no questions.
Once back at the museum, he was to enter, walk around inside, then leave through the back door and make the same bricklaying circuit again.
On the man’s first walk through the streets, several hundred people watched his mysterious movements.
By his fourth circuit, onlookers swarmed around him, debating what he was doing.
Every time he entered the museum he was followed by people who bought tickets to keep watching him.
Many of them were distracted by the museum’s collections, and stayed inside.
By the end of the first day, the brick man had drawn over a thousand people into the museum.
A few days later the police ordered him to cease and desist from his walks—the crowds were blocking traffic.
The bricklaying stopped but thousands of New Yorkers had entered the museum, and many of those had become P. T. Barnum converts.
Even when I’m railed at, I get my quota of renown.
PIETRO ARETINO, 1492-1556
Barnum would put a band of musicians on a balcony overlooking the street, beneath a huge banner proclaiming FREE MUSIC FOR THE MILLIONS.
What generosity, New Yorkers thought, and they flocked to hear the free concerts.
But Barnum took pains to hire the worst musicians he could find, and soon after the band struck up, people would hurry to buy tickets to the museum, where they would be out of earshot of the band’s noise, and of the booing of the crowd.
THE COURT ARTIST
A work that was voluntarily presented to a prince was bound to seem in some way special.
The artist himself might also try to attract the attention of the court through his behaviour.
In Vasari’s judgment Sodoma was “well known both for his personal eccentricities and for his reputation as a good painter.”
Because Pope Leo X “found pleasure in such strange, hare- brained individuals,” he made Sodoma a knight, causing the artist to go completely out of his mind.
Van Mander found it odd that the products of Cornelis Ketel’s experiments in mouth and foot painting were bought by notable persons “because of their oddity,” yet Ketel was only adding a variation to similar experiments by Titian, Ugo da Carpi and Palma Giovane, who, according to Boschini painted with their fingers “because they wished to imitate the method used by the Supreme Creator. ”
Van Mander reports that Gossaert attracted the attention of Emperor Charles V by wearing a fantastic paper costume.
In doing so he was adopting the tactics used by Dinocrates, who, in order to gain access to Alexander the Great, is said to have appeared disguised as the naked Hercules when the monarch was sitting in judgment.
THE COURT ARTIST, MARTIN WARNKE, 1993
One of the first oddities Barnum toured around the country was Joice Heth, a woman he claimed was 161 years old, and whom he advertised as a slave who had once been George Washington’s nurse.
After several months the crowds began to dwindle, so Barnum sent an anonymous letter to the papers, claiming that Heth was a clever fraud.
“Joice Heth,” he wrote, “is not a human being but an automaton, made up of whalebone, india-rubber, and numberless springs.”
Those who had not bothered to see her before were immediately curious, and those who had already seen her paid to see her again, to find out whether the rumor that she was a robot was true.
In 1842, Barnum purchased the carcass of what was purported to be a mermaid.
This creature resembled a monkey with the body of a fish, but the head and body were perfectly joined—it was truly a wonder.
After some research Barnum discovered that the creature had been expertly put together in Japan, where the hoax had caused quite a stir.
He nevertheless planted articles in newspapers around the country claiming the capture of a mermaid in the Fiji Islands.
He also sent the papers woodcut prints of paintings showing mermaids.
By the time he showed the specimen in his museum, a national debate had been sparked over the existence of these mythical creatures.
A few months before Barnum’s campaign, no one had cared or even known about mermaids; now everyone was talking about them as if they were real.
Crowds flocked in record numbers to see the Fiji Mermaid, and to hear debates on the subject.
A few years later, Barnum toured Europe with General Tom Thumb, a five-year-old dwarf from Connecticut whom Barnum claimed was an eleven-year-old English boy, and whom he had trained to do many remarkable acts.
During this tour Barnum’s name attracted such attention that Queen Victoria, that paragon of sobriety, requested a private audience with him and his talented dwarf at Buckingham Palace.
The English press may have ridiculed Barnum, but Victoria was royally entertained by him, and respected him ever after.
Interpretation
Barnum understood the fundamental truth about attracting attention: Once people’s eyes are on you, you have a special legitimacy.
For Barnum, creating interest meant creating a crowd; as he later wrote, “Every crowd has a silver lining.”
And crowds tend to act in conjunction.
If one person stops to see your beggarman laying bricks in the street, more will do the same.
They will gather like dust bunnies.
Then, given a gentle push, they will enter your museum or watch your show.
To create a crowd you have to do something different and odd.
Any kind of curiosity will serve the purpose, for crowds are magnetically attracted by the unusual and inexplicable.
And once you have their attention, never let it go.
If it veers toward other people, it does so at your expense.
Barnum would ruthlessly suck attention from his competitors, knowing what a valuable commodity it is.
At the beginning of your rise to the top, then, spend all your energy on attracting attention.
Most important: The quality of the attention is irrelevant.
No matter how badly his shows were reviewed, or how slanderously personal were the attacks on his hoaxes, Barnum would never complain.
If a newspaper critic reviled him particularly badly, in fact, he made sure to invite the man to an opening and to give him the best seat in the house.
He would even write anonymous attacks on his own work, just to keep his name in the papers.
From Barnum’s vantage, attention—whether negative or positive—was the main ingredient of his success.
The worst fate in the world for a man who yearns fame, glory, and, of course, power is to be ignored.
Donald Trump
If the courtier happens to engage in arms in some public spectacle such as jousting ... he will ensure that the horse he has is beautifully caparisoned, that he himself is suitably attired, with appropriate mottoes and ingenious devices to attract the eyes of the onlookers in his direction as surely as the lodestone attracts iron.
Baldassare Castighone, 1478-1529
KEYS TO POWER
Burning more brightly than those around you is a skill that no one is born with.
You have to learn to attract attention, “as surely as the lodestone attracts iron.”
At the start of your career, you must attach your name and reputation to a quality, an image, that sets you apart from other people.
This image can be something like a characteristic style of dress, or a personality quirk that amuses people and gets talked about.
Once the image is established, you have an appearance, a place in the sky for your star.
It is a common mistake to imagine that this peculiar appearance of yours should not be controversial, that to be attacked is somehow bad.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
To avoid being a flash in the pan, and having your notoriety eclipsed by another, you must not discriminate between different types of attention; in the end, every kind will work in your favor.
Barnum, we have seen, welcomed personal attacks and felt no need to defend himself. He deliberately courted the image of being a humbug.
The court of Louis XIV contained many talented writers, artists, great beauties, and men and women of impeccable virtue, but no one was more talked about than the singular Duc de Lauzun.
The duke was short, almost dwarfish, and he was prone to the most insolent kinds of behavior—he slept with the king’s mistress, and openly insulted not only other courtiers but the king himself.
Louis, however, was so beguiled by the duke’s eccentricities that he could not bear his absences from the court.
It was simple: The strangeness of the duke’s character attracted attention.
Once people were enthralled by him, they wanted him around at any cost.
Society craves larger-than-life figures, people who stand above the general mediocrity.
Never be afraid, then, of the qualities that set you apart and draw attention to you.
Court controversy, even scandal.
It is better to be attacked, even slandered, than ignored.
All professions are ruled by this law, and all professionals must have a bit of the showman about them.
The great scientist Thomas Edison knew that to raise money he had to remain in the public eye at any cost.
Almost as important as the inventions themselves was how he presented them to the public and courted attention.
Edison would design visually dazzling experiments to display his discoveries with electricity.
He would talk of future inventions that seemed fantastic at the time—robots, and machines that could photograph thought —and that he had no intention of wasting his energy on, but that made the public talk about him.
He did everything he could to make sure that he received more attention than his great rival Nikola Tesla, who may actually have been more brilliant than he was but whose name was far less known.
In 1915, it was rumored that Edison and Tesla would be joint recipients of that year’s Nobel Prize in physics.
The prize was eventually given to a pair of English physicists; only later was it discovered that the prize committee had actually approached Edison, but he had turned them down, refusing to share the prize with Tesla.
By that time his fame was more secure than Tesla’s, and he thought it better to refuse the honor than to allow his rival the attention that would have come even from sharing the prize.
If you find yourself in a lowly position that offers little opportunity for you to draw attention, an effective trick is to attack the most visible, most famous, most powerful person you can find.
When Pietro Aretino, a young Roman servant boy of the early sixteenth century, wanted to get attention as a writer of verses, he decided to publish a series of satirical poems ridiculing the pope and his affection for a pet elephant.
The attack put Aretino in the public eye immediately.
A slanderous attack on a person in a position of power would have a similar effect.
Remember, however, to use such tactics sparingly after you have the public’s attention, when the act can wear thin.
Once in the limelight you must constantly renew it by adapting and varying your method of courting attention.
If you don’t, the public will grow tired, will take you for granted, and will move on to a newer star.
The game requires constant vigilance and creativity.
Pablo Picasso never allowed himself to fade into the background; if his name became too attached to a particular style, he would deliberately upset the public with a new series of paintings that went against all expectations.
Better to create something ugly and disturbing, he believed, than to let viewers grow too familiar with his work.
Understand: People feel superior to the person whose actions they can predict. If you show them who is in control by playing against their expectations, you both gain their respect and tighten your hold on their fleeting attention.
Image:
The Limelight. The actor who steps into this brilliant light attains a heightened presence. All eyes are on him. There is room for only one actor at a time in the limelight’s narrow beam; do what ever it takes to make yourself its focus.
Make your gestures so large, amusing, and scandalous that the light stays on you while the other actors are left in the shadows.
Authority:
Be ostentatious and be seen.... What is not seen is as though it did not exist.... It was light that first caused all creation to shine forth. Display fills up many blanks, covers up deficiencies, and gives everything a second life, especially when it is backed by genuine merit.
(Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)
PART II: CREATE AN AIR OF MYSTERY
In a world growing increasingly banal and familiar, what seems enigmatic instantly draws attention.
Never make it too clear what you are doing or about to do. Do not show all your cards. An air of mystery heightens your presence; it also creates anticipation—everyone will be watching you to see what happens next. Use mystery to beguile, seduce, even frighten.
OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW
Beginning in 1905, rumors started to spread throughout Paris of a young Oriental girl who danced in a private home, wrapped in veils that she gradually discarded.
A local journalist who had seen her dancing reported that “a woman from the Far East had come to Europe laden with perfume and jewels, to introduce some of the richness of the Oriental colour and life into the satiated society of European cities.”
Soon everyone knew the dancer’s name: Mata Hari.
Early that year, in the winter, small and select audiences would gather in a salon filled with Indian statues and other relics while an orchestra played music inspired by Hindu and Javanese melodies.
After keeping the audience waiting and wondering, Mata Hari would suddenly appear, in a startling costume: a white cotton brassiere covered with Indian-type jewels; jeweled bands at the waist supporting a sarong that revealed as much as it concealed; bracelets up the arms.
Then Mata Hari would dance, in a style no one in France had seen before, her whole body swaying as if she were in a trance.
She told her excited and curious audience that her dances told stories from Indian mythology and Javanese folktales.
Soon the cream of Paris, and ambassadors from far-off lands, were competing for invitations to the salon, where it was rumored that Mata Hari was actually performing sacred dances in the nude.
The public wanted to know more about her.
She told journalists that she was actually Dutch in origin, but had grown up on the island of Java.
She would also talk about time spent in India, how she had learned sacred Hindu dances there, and how Indian women “can shoot straight, ride horseback, and are capable of doing logarithms and talk philosophy.”
By the summer of 1905, although few Parisians had actually seen Mata Hari dance, her name was on everyone’s lips.
As Mata Hari gave more interviews, the story of her origins kept changing: She had grown up in India, her grandmother was the daughter of a Javanese princess, she had lived on the island of Sumatra where she had spent her time “horseback riding, gun in hand, and risking her life.”
No one knew anything certain about her, but journalists did not mind these changes in her biography.
They compared her to an Indian goddess, a creature from the pages of Baudelaire—whatever their imagination wanted to see in this mysterious woman from the East.
In August of 1905, Mata Hari performed for the first time in public.
Crowds thronging to see her on opening night caused a riot.
She had now become a cult figure, spawning many imitations.
One reviewer wrote, “Mata Hari personifies all the poetry of India, its mysticism, its voluptuousness, its hypnotizing charm.”
Another noted, “If India possesses such unexpected treasures, then all Frenchmen will emigrate to the shores of the Ganges.”
Soon the fame of Mata Hari and her sacred Indian dances spread beyond Paris.
She was invited to Berlin, Vienna, Milan.
Over the next few years she performed throughout Europe, mixed with the highest social circles, and earned an income that gave her an independence rarely enjoyed by a woman of the period.
Then, near the end of World War I, she was arrested in France, tried, convicted, and finally executed as a German spy.
Only during the trial did the truth come out: Mata Hari was not from Java or India, had not grown up in the Orient, did not have a drop of Eastern blood in her body.
Her real name was Margaretha Zelle, and she came from the stolid northern province of Friesland, Holland.
Interpretation
When Margaretha Zelle arrived in Paris, in 1904, she had half a franc in her pocket.
She was one of the thousands of beautiful young girls who flocked to Paris every year, taking work as artists’ models, nightclub dancers, or vaudeville performers at the Folies Bergère.
After a few years they would inevitably be replaced by younger girls, and would often end up on the streets, turning to prostitution, or else returning to the town they came from, older and chastened.
Zelle had higher ambitions. She had no dance experience and had never performed in the theater, but as a young girl she had traveled with her family and had witnessed local dances in Java and Sumatra.
Zelle clearly understood that what was important in her act was not the dance itself, or even her face or figure, but her ability to create an air of mystery about herself.
The mystery she created lay not just in her dancing, or her costumes, or the stories she would tell, or her endless lies about her origins; it lay in an atmosphere enveloping everything she did.
There was nothing you could say for sure about her—she was always changing, always surprising her audience with new costumes, new dances, new stories.
This air of mystery left the public always wanting to know more, always wondering about her next move.
Mata Hari was no more beautiful than many of the other young girls who came to Paris, and she was not a particularly good dancer.
What separated her from the mass, what attracted and held the public’s attention and made her famous and wealthy, was her mystery.
People are enthralled by mystery; because it invites constant interpretation, they never tire of it.
The mysterious cannot be grasped. And what cannot be seized and consumed creates power.
KEYS TO POWER
In the past, the world was filled with the terrifying and unknowable— diseases, disasters, capricious despots, the mystery of death itself.
What we could not understand we reimagined as myths and spirits.
Over the centuries, though, we have managed, through science and reason, to illuminate the darkness; what was mysterious and forbidding has grown familiar and comfortable.
Yet this light has a price: in a world that is ever more banal, that has had its mystery and myth squeezed out of it, we secretly crave enigmas, people or things that cannot be instantly interpreted, seized, and consumed.
That is the power of the mysterious: It invites layers of interpretation, excites our imagination, seduces us into believing that it conceals something marvelous.
The world has become so familiar and its inhabitants so predictable that what wraps itself in mystery will almost always draw the limelight to it and make us watch it.
Do not imagine that to create an air of mystery you have to be grand and awe-inspiring.
Mystery that is woven into your day-to-day demeanor, and is subtle, has that much more power to fascinate and attract attention.
Remember: Most people are upfront, can be read like an open book, take little care to control their words or image, and are hopelessly predictable.
By simply holding back, keeping silent, occasionally uttering ambiguous phrases, deliberately appearing inconsistent, and acting odd in the subtlest of ways, you will emanate an aura of mystery.
The people around you will then magnify that aura by constantly trying to interpret you.
Both artists and con artists understand the vital link between being mysterious and attracting interest. Count Victor Lustig, the aristocrat of swindlers, played the game to perfection.
He was always doing things that were different, or seemed to make no sense.
He would show up at the best hotels in a limo driven by a Japanese chauffeur; no one had ever seen a Japanese chauffeur before, so this seemed exotic and strange.
Lustig would dress in the most expensive clothing, but always with something—a medal, a flower, an armband—out of place, at least in conventional terms. This was seen not as tasteless but as odd and intriguing.
In hotels he would be seen receiving telegrams at all hours, one after the other, brought to him by his Japanese chauffeur—telegrams he would tear up with utter nonchalance. (In fact they were fakes, completely blank.)
He would sit alone in the dining room, reading a large and impressive-looking book, smiling at people yet remaining aloof.
Within a few days, of course, the entire hotel would be abuzz with interest in this strange man.
All this attention allowed Lustig to lure suckers in with ease. They would beg for his confidence and his company. Everyone wanted to be seen with this mysterious aristocrat. And in the presence of this distracting enigma, they wouldn’t even notice that they were being robbed blind.
An air of mystery can make the mediocre appear intelligent and profound.
It made Mata Hari, a woman of average appearance and intelligence, seem like a goddess, and her dancing divinely inspired.
An air of mystery about an artist makes his or her artwork immediately more intriguing, a trick Marcel Duchamp played to great effect.
It is all very easy to do—say little about your work, tease and titillate with alluring, even contradictory comments, then stand back and let others try to make sense of it all.
Mysterious people put others in a kind of inferior position—that of trying to figure them out.
To degrees that they can control, they also elicit the fear surrounding anything uncertain or unknown.
All great leaders know that an aura of mystery draws attention to them and creates an intimidating presence.
Mao Tse-tung, for example, cleverly cultivated an enigmatic image; he had no worries about seeming inconsistent or contradicting himself—the very contradictoriness of his actions and words meant that he always had the upper hand.
No one, not even his own wife, ever felt they understood him, and he therefore seemed larger than life.
This also meant that the public paid constant attention to him, ever anxious to witness his next move.
If your social position prevents you from completely wrapping your actions in mystery, you must at least learn to make yourself less obvious.
Every now and then, act in a way that does not mesh with other people’s perception of you.
This way you keep those around you on the defensive, eliciting the kind of attention that makes you powerful.
Done right, the creation of enigma can also draw the kind of attention that strikes terror into your enemy.
During the Second Punic War (219-202 B.C.), the great Carthaginian general Hannibal was wreaking havoc in his march on Rome.
Hannibal was known for his cleverness and duplicity.
Under his leadership Carthage’s army, though smaller than those of the Romans, had constantly outmaneuvered them.
On one occasion, though, Hannibal’s scouts made a horrible blunder, leading his troops into a marshy terrain with the sea at their back.
The Roman army blocked the mountain passes that led inland, and its general, Fabius, was ecstatic—at last he had Hannibal trapped.
Posting his best sentries on the passes, he worked on a plan to destroy Hannibal’s forces.
But in the middle of the night, the sentries looked down to see a mysterious sight: A huge procession of lights was heading up the mountain.
Thousands and thousands of lights. If this was Hannibal’s army, it had suddenly grown a hundredfold.
The sentries argued heatedly about what this could mean: Reinforcements from the sea? Troops that had been hidden in the area? Ghosts? No explanation made sense.
As they watched, fires broke out all over the mountain, and a horrible noise drifted up to them from below, like the blowing of a million horns.
Demons, they thought.
The sentries, the bravest and most sensible in the Roman army, fled their posts in a panic.
By the next day, Hannibal had escaped from the marshland. What was his trick? Had he really conjured up demons?
Actually what he had done was order bundles of twigs to be fastened to the horns of the thousands of oxen that traveled with his troops as beasts of burden.
The twigs were then lit, giving the impression of the torches of a vast army heading up the mountain. When the flames burned down to the oxen’s skin, they stampeded in all directions, bellowing like mad and setting fires all over the mountainside.
The key to this device’s success was not the torches, the fires, or the noises in themselves, however, but the fact that Hannibal had created a puzzle that captivated the sentries’ attention and gradually terrified them.
From the mountaintop there was no way to explain this bizarre sight.
If the sentries could have explained it they would have stayed at their posts.
If you find yourself trapped, cornered, and on the defensive in some situation, try a simple experiment: Do something that cannot be easily explained or interpreted.
Choose a simple action, but carry it out in a way that unsettles your opponent, a way with many possible interpretations, making your intentions obscure.
Don’t just be unpredictable (although this tactic too can be successful—see Law 17); like Hannibal, create a scene that cannot be read.
There will seem to be no method to your madness, no rhyme or reason, no single explanation.
If you do this right, you will inspire fear and trembling and the sentries will abandon their posts.
Call it the “feigned madness of Hamlet” tactic, for Hamlet uses it to great effect in Shakespeare’s play, frightening his stepfather Claudius through the mystery of his behavior. The mysterious makes your forces seem larger, your power more terrifying.
Image: The Dance of the Veils—the veils envelop the dancer. What they reveal causes excitement. What they conceal heightens interest. The essence of mystery.
Authority:
If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse expectation.... Mix a little mystery with everything, and the very mystery stirs up veneration. And when you explain, be not too explicit.... In this manner you imitate the Divine way when you cause men to wonder and watch.
(Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)
REVERSAL
In the beginning of your rise to the top, you must attract attention at all cost, but as you rise higher you must constantly adapt.
Never wear the public out with the same tactic.
An air of mystery works wonders for those who need to develop an aura of power and get themselves noticed, but it must seem measured and under control.
Mata Hari went too far with her fabrications; although the accusation that she was a spy was false, at the time it was a reasonable presumption because all her lies made her seem suspicious and nefarious.
Do not let your air of mystery be slowly transformed into a reputation for deceit. The mystery you create must seem a game, playful and unthreatening.
Recognize when it goes too far, and pull back.
There are times when the need for attention must be deferred, and when scandal and notoriety are the last things you want to create.
The attention you attract must never offend or challenge the reputation of those above you—not, at any rate, if they are secure. You will seem not only paltry but desperate by comparison. There is an art to knowing when to draw notice and when to withdraw.
Lola Montez was one of the great practitioners of the art of attracting attention. She managed to rise from a middle-class Irish background to being the lover of Franz Liszt and then the mistress and political adviser of King Ludwig of Bavaria. In her later years, though, she lost her sense of proportion.
In London in 1850 there was to be a performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth featuring the greatest actor of the time, Charles John Kean.
Everyone of consequence in English society was to be there; it was rumored that even Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were to make a public appearance.
The custom of the period demanded that everyone be seated before the queen arrived.
So the audience got there a little early, and when the queen entered her royal box, they observed the convention of standing up and applauding her.
The royal couple waited, then bowed.
Everyone sat down and the lights were dimmed.
Then, suddenly, all eyes turned to a box opposite Queen Victoria’s: A woman appeared from the shadows, taking her seat later than the queen.
It was Lola Montez.
She wore a diamond tiara on her dark hair and a long fur coat over her shoulders.
People whispered in amazement as the ermine cloak was dropped to reveal a low-necked gown of crimson velvet.
By turning their heads, the audience could see that the royal couple deliberately avoided looking at Lola’s box.
They followed Victoria’s example, and for the rest of the evening Lola Montez was ignored.
After that evening no one in fashionable society dared to be seen with her.
All her magnetic powers were reversed. People would flee her sight. Her future in England was finished.
Never appear overly greedy for attention, then, for it signals insecurity, and insecurity drives power away.
Understand that there are times when it is not in your interest to be the center of attention. When in the presence of a king or queen, for instance, or the equivalent thereof, bow and retreat to the shadows; never compete.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my “48 Laws of Power” 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.
Hey everyone, I’ve been busier than a dog in a forest going tree to tree pissing indiscriminately. And some of my activities enables me to mix a little bit of business with pleasure. And isn’t that the way we want to do things? We work a little bit, and we play a little bit too.
Anyways, I decided that I would give you all a taste of what my last few days were like. It’s nothing super fantastical. I’m not driving a Ferrari, and staying in five star hotels and all that. It’s all rather middle class and plebeian. Don’t you know. But it’s so gosh darn different from what things are like in the Untied States that perhaps you all might might a glimpse into what it’s like to be me.
Sounds ok?
Everyday carry
One of the themes in Western media is “everyday carry”. People take pictures of the things that guys stuff in their pockets when they go out. And for most of America it’s a set of car keys, a wallet stuffed with cash, a multi-purpose tool, and a nice pocket knife or so.
I’m in China. My “everyday carry” is a cellphone and a couple of fobs. No one uses money anymore. We just scan to buy things, and some fobs for access to gates, or passes. These are only for the places that don’t have facial recognition yet.
But, I’ve kind of made up a picture of my gear bag for travel that you all might enjoy looking at.
First up is my bag. Nope, it’s not a designer bag with Gucci on the side of it. It’s just a basic functional bag that has stains and wear from use. that’s about it.
Typically, I keep it pre-loaded with basic gear and when I need to go overnight, I just top it off with whatever I need, and sling it over my shoulder and out the door I go.
Next up…
What I put inside it.
The last night was typical. I met a few new bosses, and we are out drinking and there we go again! They want to “bottoms’ up” me (Geng Bei) me until I can hardly stand. Now, my aide(s) are telling him, no. Please don’t try to drink me under. that I can drink anyone under the table. but he wouldn’t listen, and then one of my aides told them my age, and he about shit himself. He thought that I was in my late 30’s early forties. LOL.
Never the less, I did continue to drink And I did drink him almost under. He cried “uncle” after the third bottle of Beijiu.
Anyways, also in my travel bag are these essentials…
Now, of course, I have other things. But I want to elaborate on what they are and the limitations involved in using them.
For starters, you will notice that there isn’t a lighter. But there is a pack of cigarettes. In my world, people fight for the honor to light my cigarette. And they prefer to offer me my own packs out of a case that they tend to buy for the occasion. So I rarely have the need to carry my own cigarettes or a lighter. Not to mention that if I am flying that I cannot bring it on board the plane.
Of course, to this mix, I would throw into the bag a change of underwear. Usually socks and underpants. And what ever medicine that I am taking at the time. Which currently is blood pressure medicine. (It’s pretty much what you all will have to deal with when you pass 60-years old.)
And that, pretty much is my carry bag.
Having Dinner
So after arriving at our destination, we visited a couple of bosses of various factories. All friends of mine. And we enjoyed “death by tea and cigarettes”. I tend to deal with the small to middle-sized factories. And that’s just fine with me. And after we took care of some business, we went out to eat.
Now, there are all sorts of great places to eat in China. But as far as I know, no one discusses the “on the farm” eating establishments. What this is, is a restaurant that is a farm. They have a pond where they raise their fish, and cages where they raise their chickens, geese, and pigs. And a nice garden where they raise their vegetables. When you order a meal, say a chicken with leeks, peppers and garlic, they will kill the chicken there, and get the vegetables right there. All very, very fresh.
So here we are going to the farm restaurant. You can eat in these little bungalows that sit over a pond where fish are raised and the ducks and geese swim. though right now, the pond is all dried up (this is the season).
And then, of course, we all get settled in and select some food, and open up the massive quantities of alcohol. In this case, we agreed to drink a combination of Rice Wine and Beijiu. That’s 53 degree poison and will peel the paint off your car if you spill a drop. Yikes!
You will notice that we brought the alcohol with us. Which is pretty much the norm in China. You can bring in alcohol or other food to eat in any restaurant as you desire. they don’t have laws or rules forbidding you from doing that like they have in the United States.
You will also note that there are these clear plastic bags of water handing from the ceiling. these little bags keep the flies and mosquitoes away. Somehow when the insects get near the pavilions the water gets them confused and they fly away. So you aren’t bothered by them.
We pretty much ate Guangzhou style. Which is one food that walks, one that flies and one that swims. It was delicious. Of course.
So we ate and drank and had a fine time. This is what friends do. And you can see how much it resembles my life growing up in Western Pennsylvania. This is how things used to be back in the 1960’s and 1970’s before the ultra-billionaires bought up the United States and turned it into a feudal society to service them.
One of the topics of conversation is the big drive by President Biden (in the United States) to invest one trillion dollars in infrastructure.
Over all, this was welcomed as a positive development, and many felt that America was on the right track trying to copy China, though most had their doubts that it would actually come to fruition.
One said that America would need to pull out of Afghanistan, and some of the other wars that it is fighting to get the money, while another pointed out that America should have done this much sooner, and that there needs to be strong serious changes in how the United States makes and authorizes plans like this. China it isn’t. Most people came to the conclusion that it was just a bunch of “hot air” to appease the masses, and that the money would flow upwards to the wealthy oligarchy instead.
Then after dinner it’s a drunken drive to the hotel…
Now, of course, we had one of the workers or staff drive us to the hotel. We do not drive drunk. It’s too dangerous.
So we went off and went to the hotel. Now, this is a local small town hotel, not one in the big city and as such I ended up with a room with a tea table and a tea set and a large king size bed. My companions ended up with different rooms, one of which had a Majong table, and they decided to go play Majong until late in the night.
So to make a long story short, they were off getting drunk, playing Majong, and they sent me to my room with a few new friends to play with. It was a nice calm evening of delights for all of us.
It’s always fun to make new friends. I’ll tell you what.
Of course, everyone slept in, and where we got back on the road the first thing we wanted to do is go eat something warm and filling. So we ate Congee, and noodles. Then off to meet some more bosses who then whisked us off into their cars and we went out to eat some beef hot pot.
I am sure that many readers already know that Hot Pot is. It’s sort of a Chinese fondue. Only instead of cheese, you deal with beef, and you dip it in flavored oil. Then once it’s cooked, you can go ahead and eat it in your own sauces. It’s like this…
It’s pretty delicious.
Now, you will notice that there is this brown mixture to the side where I panned the camera to. This is a make-your-own dipping sauce. Mine is a mixture of garlic, sauces, some peanut sauce, and other goodies.
Here’s where you go to get the ingredients to make your own dipping sauce.
Doesn’t look like China is wracked with Famine like Townhall.com has claimed since 2017, or that people are dying everywhere and that the evil CCP is hiding the “true numbers” and the “truth about China”. LOL. You have to be a brain slug dumbed down imbecile to believe the nonsense out of the American media these days.
It’s all pretty tasty I’ll tell you what.
One of the things that I enjoy about China is the FREEDOM that you have that is impossible to have int he United States. And to underline this point, I made this little video to rub it in the faces of any “I’m free and China is a boot-stomping, totalitarian nation!” folk.
Here, I do something that you all in America CANNOT do, and would probably get you arrested for even trying it.
Freedom, you either have it, or you don’t.
Anyways, here’s how you cook the beef. You put it in this kind of basket ladle and then dip it inside the scorching hot oil for a spell, then you take it out and you eat it by dipping it int he sauce that you prepare.
Cool huh?
Like this…
I’ve got much more to say about China, and the adventures over the last few days, but this will suffice for now.
I do hope that you enjoyed this little insight into my life, and if you are from America (my old stomping ground) you will note that in many ways it is similar to the way things used to be in the Untied States, and often very different. Furthermore it doesn’t resemble anything like the nonsense spewing out of Townhall.com, Hall Turner, Rush Limbaugh or FOX “news”.
Like the “famine” in China that the CCP is “covering up” and hiding…
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’s a lot of talk in the United States these days. It’s all about how “evil” the Chinese are, and how “evil” the Russians are, and how “evil” the Iranians are. And along with this well publicized narrative is the flood of articles about “how strong” and “how invincible” the American military is. It’s almost like, well it’s exactly like, America is on a war-footing and is readying the population for a long drawn out, multi-generational war, with Asia.
It’s a big mistake.
I guess that the American “leadership” wasn’t paying attention in history class. Perhaps they should ask the ghosts of NapoleonBonaparte and Hitler how that all worked out.
But one of the unspoken realities is the illusion that Asia won’t fight back. That it is inconceivable. And that any far in far-away Russia, or far-away China, or far-away Iran will stay far away.
Far… far… away.
And that, even if it did somehow manage to “throw a few punches” back at the United States, that the (good ol’) USA will manage to absorb them, quickly recover, and continue living a great and exceptional life as the “leader of the free world”, and that “brilliant city on the hill”. America is “exceptional” don’t you know…
And I for one am going to tell you that this is delirious wishful thinking.
Back in the day
This attitude that “we are strong and invincible” and that “we can tell the world what to do, or else” is thuggish bullying. And it’s more than just irritating, it’s disgusting. But for historians (well, I am an amateur, but you all know what I mean) it’s frightening.
History is full of stores of the proud rulers of nations. They would live inside their huge stone forts. they would have these huge banners fluttering in the azure blue skies, and they would have gaggles of beautiful maidens attending to them. And they would have large armies of “Heavy Cavalry” and “Knights in singing armor” . They would have thousands of these armed knights.
And they would sit inside their castles, on their thrones, and eat their lamb, drink their mead, and cavort with their wenches. They would make proclamations. They would be delirious and drunk with power, and totally and completely unaware of true and real dangers elsewhere in the world.
I feel a lecture coming on…
Genghis Khan and the “Brilliant Cities on the hill”
Genghis Khan was the Emperor of the Mongol Empire. He must have been one of the most ferocious people ever to live on the planet Earth. Genghis marked his reign with blood, feasts, and love of different women. People like Napoleon, Hitler, or Stalin look like amateurs when we compare them to Genghis Khan.
This fierce Mongol knew how to rule, and he successfully did it for many years in the 13th century. There wasn’t a person back in the day, who would not be scared of Genghis Khan’s power.
But before he came to power, he was not all that well known. And, as such he was dismissed as a “uncouth”, “uncultured” barbarian. Which he pretty much was…
The knights at their tournaments, in their finery, armor and emblems of ancestry, believed they were the foremost warriors in the world, while Mongol warriors thought otherwise.
Mongol horses were small, but their riders were lightly clad and they moved with greater speed. These were hardy men who grew up on horses and hunting, making them better warriors than those who grew up in agricultural societies and cities.
Their main weapon was the bow and arrow. And the Mongols of the early 1200s were highly disciplined, superbly coordinated and brilliant in tactics.
The Mongols were illiterate, religiously shamanistic and perhaps no more than 700,000 in number. Their language today is described as Altaic, a language unrelated to Chinese, derived from inhabitants in the Altay mountain range in western Mongolia.
They were herdsmen on the grassy plains north of the Gobi Desert, south of Siberia's forests. Before the year 1200, the Mongols were fragmented, moving about in small bands headed by a chief, or khan, and living in portable felt dwellings.
The Mongols endured frequent deprivations and sparse areas for grazing their animals. They frequently fought over turf, and during hard times they occasionally raided, interested in goods rather than bloodshed. They did not collect heads or scalps as trophies.
-Genghis Khan
…but that is besides the point.
The Mongol Empire conquered all Asia, and no enemy could withstand Genghis Khan and his bloodthirsty army. Oh yes, even though Mongols loved to compromise, they were known for their brutal physical power.
But they were much more than that. The Mongols under Genghis Khan were fair, just and orderly. You just don’t get on their bad side.
Genghis Khan created a body of law that he was to work on throughout his life. This included outlawing the tradition of kidnapping women. The kidnapping of women had caused feuds among the Mongols, and, as a teenager he had suffered from the kidnapping of his young wife, Borte, and he had devoted himself to rescuing her.
In addition, Genghis Khan declared all children legitimate, whomever the mother. He made it law that no woman would be sold into marriage. The stealing of animals had caused dissension among the Mongols, and Temujin made it a capital offense. A lost animal was to be returned to its owner, and taking lost property as one's own was to be considered thievery and a capital offense. Temujin regulated hunting – a winter activity – improving the availability of meat for everyone. He introduced record keeping, taking advantage of his move years before to have his native language put into writing. He created official seals. He created a supreme officer of the law who was to collect and preserve all judicial decisions, to oversee the trials of all those charged with wrongdoing and to have the power to issue death sentences. He created order that strengthened his realm and improved his ability to expand its territory.
-Genghis Khan
People believed that one Mongolian man could defeat ten or more warriors of other culture. And that was true. Genghis Khan proved many times how strong his army was, defeating his enemies against all the odds.
Nowadays, the only news we can hear about Mongolia is that Russians are trying out their nuclear weapons in the steppes of this ancient empire. Or that the Chinese are placing farming robots to herd cattle in inner Mongolia.
We forget that modern Chinese, and modern Russians are the direct descendants of the Mongol warriors of Genghis Khan.
What about this “uncouth barbarian”…
Genghis Khan was one of the most deeply feared historical figures in the world for a good reason. Historians estimate that Genghis Khan is responsible for over 40 million deaths, and at that time it was equal to 11 percent of the world’s population. For comparison, we can look at World War II, which has put “only” around three percent of the world’s population, 60-80 million people, to the graveyard. What Genghis Khan did is downright scary when we put it in perspective, right?
Not bad for an “evil” uncouth barbarian.
Genghis Khan was the most feared human of the 13th century, who could destroy dynasties just by moving his little finger. He created the Mongol Empire all by himself and earned his eternal spot in the history books. However, a lot of people had to suffer for Genghis Khan to succeed.
In cities the Mongols were forced to conquer, Genghis Khan divided the civilians by profession. He drafted the few who were literate and those he could use as translators. Those who had been the city's most rich and powerful he wasted no time in killing, remembering that the rulers he had left behind after conquering the Tangut and the Jurchens had betrayed him soon after his army had withdrawn.
It is said that the Genghis Khan's military did not torture, mutilate or maim. But his enemies are reported as having done so. Captured Mongols were dragged through streets and killed for sport and to entertain city residents. Gruesome displays of stretching, emasculation, belly cutting and hacking to pieces were something European rulers were using to discourage potential enemies – as was soon to happen to William Wallace on orders from England's King Edward I. The Mongols merely slaughtered, and preferred doing so from a distance.
The city of Nishapur revolted against Mongol rule. The husband of Genghis Khan's daughter was killed, and, it is said, she asked that everyone in the city be put to death, and, according to the story, they were.
-Genghis Khan
Oh yes, the Mongolians were known for their horrendous torturing techniques. One of the most popular was pouring molten silver down the throat and ears of a victim.
Genghis Khan also liked bending his enemy’s back until the backbone snapped. If that sounds barbaric, skip this next part. So, the Mongols once celebrated victory over Russians in a very bizarre way. They picked all the Russian survivors, dropped them on the ground and put a heavy wooden gate on top of them. Then, Genghis Khan and the entire Mongol army had a huge banquet on that wooden gate. They ate, drank, and watched how Russians were dying one by one from the suffocation, pressure, and wounds.
Genghis Khan had so much power that he could do whatever he wanted. For instance, when Genghis occupied some new area, he would kill or enslave all the men and share all the women amongst his tribe.
Genghis Khan would even make beauty contests of captured women to decide which woman is the most beautiful one. Yeah, he was having his Miss Universe competition before it was cool. So, the queen of those beauty competitions would win the privilege to become one of many Genghis Khan’s women.
The rest of the Mongolian army would share all the other contestants. It shows us once again how cruel and barbaric Mongols were. I suppose that it was a different time and a different place, but the fact remains that when you have lost, your cities destroyed, and sacked, the victor can do whatever they want. And they wanted sex.
Lots and lost of sex.
Genghis Khan was able to destroy entire “impenetrable” cities easily.
When we look at what Genghis Khan achieved with the Mongol Empire, we cannot help but appreciate his mastermind as a warlord. It surely looks like Genghis Khan had three dragons with him just like Khaleesi.
I cannot find any other explanation of Genghis Khan’s success.
I mean, he defeated Jin Dynasty’s one million troops with only 90,000 Mongolians by his side. Yes, Genghis Khan managed to win a war with ten times fewer troops than his opponent’s army.
Jin Dynasty.
On top of that, he was invading China, so he had to overcome all the “little” problems such as the Great Wall of China.
Genghis Khan with his army had destroyed over 500,000 of Chinese troop before getting control of Northern China and Beijing. The rest of the Chinese army had to surrender to the power of Genghis Khan.
Destroying Jin Dynasty is only one of many examples of how great of a warlord Genghis Khan was. Also, he had some brutal and loyal men by his side, so let’s not rule out the dragon theory.
Physical force is not enough to achieve something as great as Genghis Khan did.
Yes, there is no doubt that he is the greatest and most brutal warlord in history, but he was also a very wise man. In 1201, during a battle, Genghis Khan was shot by an enemy archer. Needless to say, he was not happy about it.
So, after the Mongolian army won the battle, Genghis Khan spent some time looking for the man that shot him. He even pretended that it was not him who got shot, but his horse, so the enemy archer would have the courage to confront Genghis.
An unbelievable thing happened when the archer finally stepped out of the crowd and confessed shooting Genghis Khan.
Instead of killing his enemy, Genghis Khan recognized his talent and asked him to join the Mongolian army. The archer became a great general and loyally served Genghis for many years. That is one of the reasons why Mongol Empire was such a success back in the 13th century.
It is not a secret that Genghis Khan loved to have some bedroom time with all the different women. Whenever Genghis would conquer new land (he did it more frequent than people scroll Facebook nowadays), he would also get himself a couple of new wives.
As well as a gaggle of some “playthings”.
Genghis did that because he liked beautiful women, but it was also a very convenient way to demonstrate his power. Spreading his blood line all over Asia ensured peace in the entire Mongol Empire.
So, how many children did Genghis Khan have? It is pretty much impossible to tell the number, but historians estimate that today, around eight percent of men from Asia are his descendants. I cannot even start to process this number, but apparently, Genghis Khan was a great lover. No one in the history is even close to having such a wide family tree. So, next time when you talk about Genghis Khan, remember that it is a great chance that he is your ancestor.
Torture time.
Genghis Khan was a man of reason. He let the people in the Mongol Empire live a happy life as long as they followed his rules.
However, Genghis Khan cruelly punished everyone who tried to break those rules.
In Hungary and Poland the Mongols were outnumbered but tactically superior. They defeated several Hungarian armies. In early April, 1241, at the Battle of Lenica (Liegnitz) in Poland, they defeated an army that is said to have included heavily armored Teutonic knights. Dying in the battle was the most powerful of Polish dukes, Henryk II (Henry II).
-Genghis Khan
For example, when the governor of one of the cities in the Khwarazmian Empire took over Genghis Khan’s trade caravan and killed all the traders, Genghis Khan went berserker.
He sent 100,000 Mongols to the Khwarazmian Empire and killed thousands of people, including the governor.
Genghis Khan poured molten silver into the governor’s eyes and mouth until the poor guy roasted from the inside. That was a clear sign that anyone, stupid enough to harm the Mongol Empire, would have to face devastating consequences.
While Genghis Khan was consolidating his conquests in what had been the Khwarezmian Empire, a force of 40,000 Mongol horsemen pushed through Azerbaijan and Armenia. Without Genghis Khan they defeated Georgia's Christian crusaders, captured a Genoese trade-fortress in the Crimea and spent the winter along the coast of the Black Sea. In 1223, as they were headed back home, they met 80,000 warriors led by Prince Mstislav of Kiev. The Battle of Kalka River (map location) commenced. Staying out of range of the crude weapons of peasant infantry, and with better bows than opposing archers, they devastated the prince's standing army. Facing the prince's cavalry, they faked a retreat and drew the prince's armored cavalry forward, taking advantage of the over-confidence of the mounted aristocrats. Lighter and more mobile, the Mongols strung out and tired the pursuers and then attacked, killed and routed them.
-Genghis Khan
History shows that spreading fear worked perfectly in Genghis Khan’s favor. He still needed to invade some rebellious places from time to time, but for the most of the time, people in The Mongol Empire behaved really well.
Genghis Khan could be as powerful and respected as he wanted, but he still had to surrender to the laws of nature. Genghis Khan died in 1227, at the age of 65.
And why is all this important?
History tells us that psychopathic personalities in charge of nations that possess science, technology, and modern works tend to be blinded to the realities of the world. They become drunk with power, and forget that there are “bigger fish in the sea” and that you should not discount them because they are different…
…or they look different…
…or that they are “book worms”…
…or are drunk on vodka all the time…
…or whatever bullshit reinforcements that you want to believe. Genghis Khan serves as a stark and frightening reminder that there is always someone bigger, and better, and stronger than you are. And you should mistake their polite actions, their calm words, their soft tone of voice for a sign of weakness.
The result could be lethal.
"Let me control the media and I will turn any nation into a herd of pigs"
- Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels
Consider the reality
I could type until my fingers fall off, and no one is going to believe the statistics that pretty much show that a FIRE based economy isn’t capable of rebuilding, creating, or structuring anything. I can show you historical examples, you you all would ignore them. I can show you charts and graphs, but they will remain oblivious.
A FIRE economy is any economy based primarily on the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors. Finance, insurance, and real estate are United States Census Bureau classifications. Barry Popik describes some early uses as far back as 1982. Since 2008, the term has been commonly used by Michael Hudson and Eric Janszen. It is New York City's largest industryand a prominent part of the service industry in the United States overall economy and other Western developed countries.
-Wikipedia
I argue that strategically, a nation that makes, creates and builds things is far superior to that that talks about things, writes about things, and tabulates numbers on spreadsheets. And this superiority manifests in numerous ways.
The historical displacement of America’s industry for replacement by lawyers, economists, bankers and real estate tycoons.
But rather than get into all the charts and the graphs, it get’s tiresome don’t you know, instead we are going to greatly simplify things and look at the far simpler model.
So what we are going to so is simplify the equations.
An exercise in simplification
We are going to create an imaginary nation, roughly the the same size and structural organization of the United States. We are going to call it “Freedom United!”.
And…
We are also going to create another nation, this is going to be a unified Asia that includes Russia, China and Iran. We will call it “Asia First!”
And…
Does this map remind you of anything?
How about this…
Genghis Khans empire.
Comparisons
What we are going to do is compare the two collective communities. For each one is comprised of a group of separate states or independent nations, all brought together under a common banner.
And when we do compare them, we see this…
Ah…
And the first thing that should strike the reader is that there is a major “real estate difference” involved.
Asia First! is much larger, geographically, than Freedom United! is.
But it’s more than that…
"Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that had never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various ‘party lines’."
- George Orwell, Looking back on the Spanish War, Chapter 4
The second thing that you must note it it is not only bigger, but it has more people, more factories, and more resources.
But let’s simplify things and note that while Freedom United! and Asia First! both have factories and R&D centers, the nature of them, and the location of them within the geographical territories are quite different.
Freedom United! has pretty much “offshored” it’s manufacturing capability to other nations and places, and what remains are “think tanks”, “conceptional Research” and “study centers”. They are staffed by bankers, accountants and highly paid diversity directors. Further, their location tends to be centralized to the major cities within the nation body.
Cities like Yorker City, San Chicago, and New Angles have their “industry” very close to the densely packed urban centers. And while there are certainly scattered factories and manufacturing center peppered throughout the nation, the vast bulk of them at located at the urban city centers.
Something like this…
Meanwhile, Asia First! not only has more factories, but they are scattered throughout the entire nation. Furthermore, they tend to make real physical things. Not spreadsheets, Power Point Presentations, and accounting evaluations. The owners and the executives are all merit driven as it is their culture. All the leadership can, if needed, go onto the factory floor and make the parts and equipment products themselves.
Like Freedom United!, they also tend to cluster, but instead of clustering with the major population centers, they cluster inside manufacturing communities that are widely separated and located in the vast tracks of the countryside.
Here’s a map of Guangdong. It is a collection of many, many, many smaller towns that host many, many, many factories. This area is a designated Tier 1 city in China and it is north of the principal city of Shenzhen. For your shit’s and giggles, MM used to live in one of these cities here in this region. It’s all factories, and hills. Factories and hills. Factories and hills.
Dongguang
.
The Human bridge is really a hassle I will tell you what. That’s the icon at the far lower left of the picture. I go over it maybe once ever few months. It’s traffic as far as the eye can see!
Now for our purposes, we will consider ASIA FIRST! to be much like this. Which regions of scattered communities and factories all spread out over wide expansive terrain.
It looks something like this…
Now…
Let’s compare the two nation states
"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X
When you compare the two nations you notice something very important to our calculus here. No matter how smart, how prosperous, how beautiful or how exceptional one nation is compared to the other… a nation with a bigger population, and more factories, and resource will be able to out-produce and out-survive a lesser nation.
It’s the “Risk” strategy.
IntheRiskgame, the goal is simple: playersaimto conquer their enemies’ territories by building an army, moving their troops in, andengaginginbattle. Depending on therollofthedice, a player will either defeat the enemy or be defeated. This exciting game isfilledwithbetrayal, alliances, and surprise attacks.
We saw that during World War II with the Nazi Germans. While their military weapons industry was top rate, and the quality of their equipment was the best in the world, it was the ill-trained, masses and hordes of soldiers from Russia that was able to overwhelm Germany.
This idea that huge quantities of “average” soldiers, and mediocre equipment can compensate for very specialized, and efficient, and expensive weapons systems is not new. It’s just not well reported as the Freedom United! military-industrial lobby is desirous of keeping this issue quiet and “under wraps”.
Let’s compare the two nations side by side…
All this is very interesting, but let’s get to the point.
A comparison with the events of the last few years leading up to today.
America takes on Asia…
Freedom United! is just getting “clobbered” on the international scene. It is a military empire that has few remaining exports of value. It exports aircraft, and wheat, and some very specialized machines, but that’s about it. It’s primary revenue generating venue is in the banking, finance and real estate venues.
This nation has been fighting numerous wars all over the globe, and it’s leadership are drunk with power, and oblivious to the true realities of the world.
So, where they got this idea is unknown, they get this idea that they can take on and fight with Asia First! And that they would win!
What’s more, they seriously believe that they could draw out the battle and fighting for a long, long time.
Not just years and decades, but generations…
Mike Pompeo in India working on the QUAD to fight against China.
.
Now they know that it would be very difficult to fight on the geographical territory of Asia First! as it would result in a complete nuclear retaliation.
Asia First! combined has an enormous nuclear arsenal. It is far bigger, more technologically advanced, and with a larger military than what Freedom United! has.
Thus, they need to be able to fight Asia First! is such a way that Nuclear MAD doctrine is avoided.
They also know that they need to “bleed out” Asia First! in such a way as to give them time to overtake the nation through attrition. So they have established other areas by which the fighting can take place.
Create a MAJOR “false flag” event to ignite a war-footing.
Keep the fighting conventional. Avoid nuclear weapons.
Fight by proxies on predetermined proxy nation locations.
Bleed Asia First! through dominance on the oceans, and in Space.
Isolate Asia First! in all ways and means.
Prevent war from hitting the mainland Freedom United!
The battles are designed to occur on proxy locations.
The idea is to have wars and battles taking place in far-away lands, so that no one in Freedom United! is harmed, and a direct nuclear strike with Asia First! can be avoided. These proxy war locations (already decided upon by FREEDOM UNITED!) are shown in gold.
And of course, the idea is that Freedom United! would fight Asia First on these designated battlefields. These areas are known as the QUAD.
It’s a brilliant plan.
Except one thing.
Some of those QUAD areas are considered to be Asian First! territory. And pretending that they are not is a egregious mistake. And Asia First! has said so explicitly. These are “RED LINES” that one dare not cross.
But the leadership of Freedom United! just chucked, and pretended that they didn’t hear the statements.
A Battle Rages
So let’s go through the logical progression of things.
Logical.
Progression.
Of events as we know them.
Freedom United! creates a series of “false flags” to justify a war with Asia First!. There are a number of events stacked up that are ready to go. The question is which one will Freedom First! use to “get the ball rolling”?
And within a short period of time there are global military actions globally.
Initially, it looks like everything is going to plan. One or two QUAD members decide to “sit the conflict out”, but the rest support the effort in varying degrees.
Trade slows to a trickle and even stops.
The people of Freedom United! are all in gleeful patriotism, and conventional fighting is occurring all along the “doorsteps” of Asia First!. As planned! Off in far-away lands!
American media constantly pushes for war because they have no idea what real war is. To them, going to war is like spanking a child: possibly backfiring socially, but no real danger to their own lives. Most of the time, they just send bombers and take cool videos. When guys have to be sent on the ground, their deaths can be used to fuel the national hard-on America has for its military. I call it the "thank you for your service culture.
America has waged war on minor nations for so long that they can't even imagine that fighting another nation might result in aunt Nancy meeting her creator early. To them, Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Russia, it's all the same.
Also, the infantile thinking in terms of good and bad doesn't help.
Posted by: Eeny | Apr 12 2021 18:32 utc | 12
They can sit down in front of their televisions set, and social media feeds and feel so proud and patriotic about how strong and powerful their military is, and finally doing something about all those evil dirty filthy Asia First! people.
But then something happens.
Those “neutral” QUAD nations are not all independent. Some of them are actually geographically part of Asia First! They are not considered to be “protectorates of Freedom United!” instead they are recognized by the UN as actual sovereign territory of Asia First!, and…
…when the military operations in support of the False Flag events start to occur, action starts to unfold very rapidly.
Asia First! decides that enough is enough, and that this bullshit must end. So it unleashes a combined military horror upon Freedom United!.
All Hell breaks loose.
The event was is brief and is over quickly. All in all an equal exchange of nuclear conflagration occurs to both nation states. No one is spared.
But…
The nuclear strike has been planned for decades. It’s not spontaneous.
And one nation decides to end it, and it remains the victor who lays the terms of surrender of the other nation.
Which nation would be the winner, and which would be the loser, do you suppose?
It looks like this…
Global Devastation
We can see what happens.
Not only are the designated battlefields (pre-established by Freedom United!) hit with crippling nuclear salvos, but the “untouchable” cities of Freedom United! are also targeted. In fact, ALL of the major urban ares of Freedom United! are erased from the globe.
All of the major cites of Freedom United are erased from the map. All of the military bases in support of the military empire of Freedom United! are turned into slag and glass. The capital, and all the leadership locations are craters surrounded by radioactive wasteland.
Freedom United! ceases to be a nation.
The world is in big trouble.
It did come at a price.
Asia First! also took some hits and they did not survive unscathed. But we can clearly see that even though there was an equal exchange of hostilities, the nation that suffered the worst was Freedom United! by the simple geography of it’s cities and manufacturing base.
The Aftermath
Now consider the years following this nuclear exchange.
How was the globe able to recover, and which nations recovered the best?
And…
Which nations are best able to recover?
Which nations would be able to recover within a decade?
Which nations would be able to recover within 50 years?
Let’s take a look at that…
Recovery Suggestions
Well, there are far too many variables at play to make any kind of reasonable determine what could happen. All we have are the numbers and the proportions. Asia First! could lose 75% of it’s population and still be better off than Freedom United! And then there is the destruction of factories and cities, and the ability to rebuild. In all aspects, Asia First! would be far better equipped to rebuild, stabilize the situation, and begin all over.
Not so with Freedom United!
Because of this, and the fact that Freedom United! is already balkanized, it seems logical that whatever the condition of Freedom United! would be after a major nuclear exchange, it would fracture into many different singular, independent cities, and independent nations. Some would be healthier than others. Some would be absolutely horrible and horrid places to live, while others might be generally unscathed.
We can also say that there would probably be some serious internal domestic conflict as a nation of “independence” (and high levels of gun ownership and decades of “race bating”) and government actions that pit one group against another…
… that there would be a relatively long period of adjustment to the new normal.
There might be efforts to maintain the original constitution, while there might be efforts to maintain the independence of the individual states. There might be efforts to carve out new states and new territories, as well as neighboring nations deciding to annex some of the lands that are now “up for grabs”.
No matter, how contentious, how difficult, how problematic, and how confused, one thing is certain, the Federal Government will no longer exist, and it would take a herculean effort to keep the Freedom United! national unity intact after a global nuclear exchange.
Conclusion
Humanity is at a dangerous crossroads. Nuclear war has become a multi-billion dollar undertaking, which fills the pockets of US defense contractors. What is at stake is the outright “privatization of nuclear war”. Massive amounts of money have been allocated by the Joe Biden Administration to feed the weapons industry including the Pentagons’ 1.3 trillion dollar nuclear weapons program first launched under Obama, is ongoing under the Biden administration.Michel Chossudovsky, April 12, 2021
This post looks at the world like the simplified game of “Risk”. The nation with the bigger population and armies will be able to offset what ever technical advantage you might possess. This is not always true, of course. (Consider the Incas when they met the Spanish in search of gold.) But it is often true enough to say that perhaps 80% of modern conflict follows this rule.
We can wish that advantage can be mitigated by brilliant generals (Carl von Clausewitz, and Rommel), or exciting cutting edge technology (radar, sonar, stealth, cruse missile, hyper-glide technology, drones, nuclear weapons), and elite and specialized training (Seals, Green Berets) but for the most part these advantages are on the Tactical level, not on the Strategic level.
Avalon Hill’s game “Squad Leader” simulates tactical level military warfare on the Eastern Front between Germany and Russia during World War II.
But we have to take into account something else. This is something that is rarely if ever addressed…
… incompetence at the leadership level.
The public faces change, but the stupidity remains because, like Rome, you can change the leadership… but the system is faulted and humans will abuse it.
When Germany ran over France in 1941 the French generals were ill prepared to deal with the Germans. When World War II broke out, Stalin was so incompetent, that he locked himself in the room and got drunk waiting for people to haul him away and arrest him.
When Genghis Khan attacked Europe, and the Silk Road, many nations and city state had an unrealistic understanding of the threat that was facing them, and they had an artificially inflated idea of what they were capable of.
Like the 20,000 armored knights that rode into battle to take on 4 million angry Huns... none survived.
In this overly simplified scenario we discount advantages on the tactical level.
Instead we compare geography and leadership (only). In this set of goggles it is quite obvious that Asia First! has a decided advantage over Freedom United!. Yet, as much fun as this very frightening scenario plays out, we do not know what to expect, and our guesses can be wildly inaccurate.
But, and yet, given the little what we know, and what we have learned from history, there is a case that the scenario presented here has a 60% likelihood of occurring. The Freedom Forever! nation will not easily recover at any pre-confligation level, and it is ridiculous to assume that it would. No matter what “secret weapon” the neocons in control of the nation might think.
We need only review the catastrophic mistakes of the Hungarians when they encountered the Huns of Genghis Khan to underline this point.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my Theories of Collapse Index here…
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The world is moving ever forward. Such as this notice on MoA. This and these kinds of things are becoming more and more common in the West these days…
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/
Maintenance mode
Temporary Blog Closure
March 24, 2021 in Uncategorized by craig
In view of our understanding that the High Court has found some articles on this blog to be in contempt of court, and in view of the fact that the Crown Office had sought to censor such a large range of articles, this blog has no choice but to go dark from 15.00 today until some time after tomorrow’s court hearing, when it will be specified to us precisely how much of the truth we have to expunge before we can bring the blog back up.
This is a dark day for the entire team here. We will be looking to appeal this to the Supreme Court and if required (though we very much doubt it will be) to the European Court of Human Rights.
-Posted by: Bluedotterel | Mar 24 2021 16:46 utc | 1
Bang, bang, and then bang. One after another things have started to happen faster and faster. It began in Alaska with a stunning, just stunning insulting display of ignorance and rudeness from the United States. Followed quickly by the military, social, industrial, and cultural realignments between Russia and China. With then Iran getting on board, creating the combined enormous Asian block.
Belt and Road isn’t going away. China is making more rigorous lending decisions while focusing somewhat less on heavy-duty construction and more on digital technology, says a Council on Foreign Relations task force report released on March 23. The 190-page report, titled China’s Belt and Road: Implications for the United States, was written by Jennifer Hillman and David Sacks of the CFR based on the findings of an independent task force chaired by former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and retired Admiral Gary Roughead.For the U.S., calibrating an effective response to Belt and Road is tricky. The Obama administration pursued constructive engagement with China. As Belt and Road ramped up and became more of a threat, the Trump administration was more confrontational, but without allies’ support. The Biden administration aims to build more of a united front of nations to counter Chinese influence. Reflecting the difficulty of striking the right balance, the Council on Foreign Relations report says the U.S. response “has been too little, too late,” but also says “its blanket condemnation risks alienating partners.”
The American leviathan has set up the pieces, and is going full bore toward international global conflict. All stops have been pulled. All fail-safes have been removed. And now, it’s a matter of getting the minions and toadies in line so that the wars can be fought on their national geography instead of inside of America.
Um…
It’s not going to happen that way, but you just cannot reason with idiots.
I always knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the world.
-Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 24 2021 19:57 utc | 36
The Article
This is a great article. Just great.
As Patrice says…
It's clear from the tone of the author, which mirrors much of independent, assaulted and outraged humanity, that many observers are waiting with bated breath...
...for the emergence of a powerful and invincible countervailing alliance...
...(one that is) capable of finally stopping the reign of brutal violence and disgusting hypocrisy imposed by the US empire.
And that alliance, perforce, as to be the sinorussian alliance.
The blood-curdling hypocrisy of the West leaves truly decent and sovereign nations no choice.
As Pepe Escobar puts it in this remarkable and indispensable dispatch:
One has to applaud the gall of the “Western partners”. It’s 18 years since Shock and Awe – the start of the bombing, invasion and destruction of Iraq. It’s 10 years since the start of the total destruction of Libya by NATO and its GCC minions, with Obama-Biden “leading from behind”. It’s 10 years since the start of the savage destruction of Syria by proxy – complete with jihadis disguised as “moderate rebels”. Yet now the “Western partners” are so mortified by the plight of Muslims in Western China!
This is a complete reprint of a most excellent article from Pepe, and reproduced from HERE. All credit to the author. Please kindly note that it was reformatted to fit this venue but aside from that left intact in all of it’s glory.
With a Russia-China-Iran triple bitch slap on the hegemon, we now have a brand new geopolitical chessboard
It took 18 years after Shock and Awe unleashed on Iraq for the Hegemon to be mercilessly shocked and awed by a virtually simultaneous, diplomatic Russia-China one-two.
March 2021: The FMs of the two greatest powers defying Washington meet for close strategic consultation.
How this is a real game-changing moment cannot be emphasized enough; 21st century geopolitics will never be the same again.
Yet it was the Hegemon who first crossed the diplomatic Rubicon. The handlers behind hologram Joe “I’ll do whatever you want me to do, Nance” Biden had whispered in his earpiece to brand Russian President Vladimir Putin as a soulless “killer” in the middle of a softball interview. [Conducted by ABC News maggot, George Stephanopoulos, although media stenographers and propagandists in the Western bloc are all fully interchangeable. —Ed]
Not even at the height of the Cold War the superpowers resorted to ad hominem attacks. The result of such an astonishing blunder was to regiment virtually the whole Russian population behind Putin – because that was perceived as an attack against the Russian state.
Then came Putin’s cool, calm, collected – and quite diplomatic – response, which needs to be carefully pondered. These sharp as a dagger words are arguably the most devastatingly powerful five minutes in the history of post-truth international relations.
In For Leviathan, it’s so cold in Alaska, we forecasted what could take place in the US-China 2+2 summit at a shabby hotel in Anchorage, with cheap bowls of instant noodles thrown in as extra bonus.
China’s millennial diplomatic protocol establishes that discussions start around common ground – which are then extolled as being more important than disagreements between negotiating parties. That’s at the heart of the concept of “no loss of face”. Only afterwards the parties discuss their differences.
Yet it was totally predictable that a bunch of amateurish, tactless and clueless Americans would smash those basic diplomatic rules to show “strength” to their home crowd, distilling the proverbial litany on Taiwan, Hong Kong, South China Sea, “genocide” of Uighurs.
Oh dear. There was not a single State Dept. hack with minimal knowledge of East Asia to warn the amateurs you don’t mess with the formidable head of the Foreign Affairs Commission at the CCP’s Central Committee, Yang Jiechi, with impunity.
Visibly startled, but controlling his exasperation, Yang Jiechi struck back. And the rhetorical shots were heard around the whole Global South.
They had to include a basic lesson in manners: “If you want to deal with us properly, let’s have some mutual respect and do things the right way”. But what stood out was a stinging, concise diagnostic blending history and politics:
The United States is not qualified to talk to China in a condescending manner. The Chinese people will not accept that. It must be based on mutual respect to deal with China, and history will prove that those who seek to strangle China will suffer in the end.
And all that translated in real time by young, attractive and ultra-skilled Zhang Jing – who inevitably became an overnight superstar in China, reaping an astonishing 400 million plus hits on Weibo.
The incompetence of the “diplomatic” arm of the Biden-Harris administration beggars belief. Using a basic Sun Tzu maneuver, Yang Jiechi turned the tables and voiced the predominant sentiment of the overwhelming majority of the planet.Stuff your unilateral “rules-based order”. We, the nations of the world, privilege the UN charter and the primacy of international law.
So this is what the Russia-China one-two achieved almost instantaneously: from now on, the Hegemon should be treated, all across the Global South with, at best, disdain.
An inevitable historical process
Pre-Alaska, the Americans went on a charming offensive in Japan and South Korea for “consultations”. That’s irrelevant. What matters is post-Alaska, and the crucial Sergey Lavrov-Wang Yi meeting of Foreign Ministers in Guilin.
Lavrov, always unflappable, clarified in an interview with Chinese media how the Russia-China strategic partnership sees the current US diplomatic train wreck:
As a matter of fact, they have largely lost the skill of classical diplomacy. Diplomacy is about relations between people, the ability to listen to each other, to hear one another and to strike a balance between competing interests. These are exactly the values that Russia and China are promoting in diplomacy.
The inevitable consequence is that Russia-China must “consolidate our independence: “The United States has declared limiting the advance of technology in Russia and China as its goal. So, we must reduce our exposure to sanctions by strengthening our technological independence and switching to settlements in national and international currencies other than the dollar. We need to move away from using Western-controlled international payment systems.”
Russia-China have clearly identified, as Lavrov pointed out, how the “Western partners” are “promoting their ideology-driven agenda aimed at preserving their dominance by holding back progress in other countries. Their policies run counter to the objective international developments and, as they used to say at some point, are on the wrong side of history. The historical process will come into its own, no matter what happens.”
As a stark presentation of an inevitable “historical process”, it doesn’t get more crystal clear than that. And predictably, it didn’t take time for the “Western partners” to fall back into – what else – their same old sanction bag of tricks.
Here we go again: a US, UK, EU, Canada “alliance” sanctioning selected Chinese officials because, in Blinken’s words, “the PRC [People’s Republic of China] continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.” [sic]
The EU, UK, and Canada didn’t have the guts to sanction a key player: Xinjiang party chief Chen Quanguo, who’s a Politburo member. The Chinese response would have been – economically – devastating.
Still, Beijing counterpunched with its own sanctions – targeting, crucially, the German far-right evangelical nut posing as “scholar” who produced the bulk of the completely debunked “proof” of a million Uighurs held in concentration camps.
Once again, the “Western partners” are impermeable to logic. Adding to the already appalling state of EU-Russia relations, Brussels chooses to also antagonize China based on a single fake dossier, playing right into the Hegemon’s not exactly secret Divide and Rule agenda.
Mission (nearly) accomplished: Brussels diplomats tell me the EU Parliament is all but set to refuse to ratify the China-EU trade deal painstakingly negotiated by Merkel and Macron. The consequences will be immense.
So Blinken will have reasons to be cheerful when he meets assorted eurocrats and NATO bureaucrats this week, ahead of the NATO summit.
One has to applaud the gall of the “Western partners”. It’s 18 years since Shock and Awe – the start of the bombing, invasion and destruction of Iraq. It’s 10 years since the start of the total destruction of Libya by NATO and its GCC minions, with Obama-Biden “leading from behind”. It’s 10 years since the start of the savage destruction of Syria by proxy – complete with jihadis disguised as “moderate rebels”.
Yet now the “Western partners” are so mortified by the plight of Muslims in Western China.
At least there are some cracks within the EU illusionist circus. Last week, the French Armed Forces Joint Reflection Circle (CRI) – in fact an independent think tank of former high officers – wrote a startling open letter to cardboard NATO secretary-general Stoltenberg de facto accusing him of behaving as an American stooge with the implementation of NATO 2030 plan. The French officers drew the correct conclusion: the US/NATO combo is the main cause of appalling relations with Russia.
These Ides of March
Meanwhile, sanctions hysteria advance like a runaway train. Biden-Harris has already threatened to impose extra sanctions on Chinese oil imports from Iran. And there’s more in the pipeline – on manufacturing, technology, 5G, supply chains, semiconductors.
And yet nobody is trembling in their boots. Right on cue with Russia-China, Iran has stepped up the game, with Ayatollah Khamenei issuing the guidelines for Tehran’s return to the JCPOA.
1. The US regime is in no position to make new demands or changes regarding the nuclear deal.
2. The US is weaker today than when the JCPOA was signed.
3. Iran is in a stronger position now. If anyone can impose new demands it’s Iran and not the US.
And with that we have a Russia-China-Iran triple bitch slap on the Hegemon.
In our latest conversation/interview, to be released soon in a video + transcript package, Michael Hudson – arguably the world’s top economist – hit the heart of the matter:
The fight against China, the fear of China is that you can’t do to China, what you did to Russia. America would love for there to be a Yeltsin figure in China to say, let’s just give all of the railroads that you’ve built, the high-speed rail, let’s give the wealth, let’s give all the factories to individuals and let the individuals run everything and, then we’ll lend them the money, or we’ll buy them out and then we can control them financially. And China’s not letting that happen. And Russia stopped that from happening. And the fury in the West is that somehow, the American financial system is unable to take over foreign resources, foreign agriculture. It is left only with military means of grabbing them as we are seeing in the near East. And you’re seeing in the Ukraine right now.
To be continued. As it stands, we should all make sure that the Ides of March – the 2021 version – have already configured a brand new geopolitical chessboard. The Russia-China Double Helix on high-speed rail has left the station – and there’s no turning back.
Conclusion
Oh, Pepe said it so clearly and so wonderfully. Today there is a massive new Geo-political alignment, and it is the direct result of insanity and poor leadership from the West. And they are so very incompetent that they have no idea with the kind of “fire” that they are playing with.
Even with an enormous military, control of all media and communication, and some hidden ultra-powerful technology, the leadership is so seriously incompetent, the systems so hopelessly flawed, and the participants so absolutely corrupted that a catastrophic collapse of their government is imminent.
I hope and pray that I am wrong.
That all this will “blow over” and just go away, and I can fall into the “dust bin” with the rest of the “doom and gloom” predictors throughout history. Let’s hope the MM is wrong.
Meanwhile, the insanity of what the West is today is gearing up. It’s the same-old, same-old. Only on a bigger scale. So the carpet bombing of China by biological weapons dis not work. So the aggressive attacks on trade and technology did not work. So the enormous armada of ships to the South China Sea did not work. So the riots and revolution in Hong Kong did not work…
…and neither will “boots on the ground” in Xinjiang either.
…nor “saving” Taiwan from China.
…nor a strong QUAD.
But they still have dreams of conducting “the rape of Nanjing” in modern Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. They still have dreams of invading and seizing Chinese held islands. They still have the dreams of sinking all cargo ships on the high seas. They still believe that all this can be ignored…
…as long as they control the American media.
EXCEPT…
Only Americans read American media.
They do not control the thoughts of the world. And the world is getting mightily pissed. Gosh! It’s going to be one fuck of a year.
As a reminder. This is what a “double tap” looks like. As this video from Boston, Massachusetts clearly shows…
Be careful of your neighbors when you shovel your driveway.
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I pretty much agree with migueljose. I'm 77 years old, US native-born citizen and life-long resident. The main problem in the US is the intense interracial animosity of all against all, and the deliberate race baiting by our ruling class. Race relations were better in the 50's despite segregation (worse in the North).
The second problem is the collapse of our educational system K-post doc, and the resulting incompetence of our Ruling Class. The attempt to actually destroy important Russian and Chinese companies and institutions, like Huawei, is an actual act of war. When that game was run against Japan in the late 30's, we got the Pacific War. Our current policies will give us a war with Russia-China. After the Biden interview and Alaska meeting fiascos, it is clear Russia and China are now coordinating their future actions. One fears the worst.
Posted by: bob sykes | Mar 23 2021 19:23 utc | 6
I do not want to sound alarming. But… Jeeze Louise…
After this last week with [1] the events of the Alaskan meeting between the United States and China, and [2] the “write ups” leading to it are quite horrifying.
I wonder what the Hell is going on in the minds of the folks back in Washington DC, for they have obviously have a mixture of numerous mental illnesses. Not a singular one. A mixture.
The Alaskan meeting was stunning in it’s insanity.
For starters, America demands that China (and the rest of the world) STOP working with the United Nations. Instead they order all other nations, and their leaders to “follow the United States” as it leads.
Yes.
You read that correctly.
Well, for one thing, the Americans demand a “Rules based obedience“. Not one that follows the United Nations. I know that it sounds so nice, and so orderly. “Rules”. ‘Why would anyone not want to follow “rules”?’ says the American sheeple. And yes, it does play well in the “red states” back inside of America, but it is dangerous.
It is very, very dangerous.
Because this “rules based obedience” means…
There is not any kind of national sovereignty, only American sovereignty.
Nations exist at the pleasure and allowance of the United States.
The United States makes the rules at will.
The United States changes the rules at will.
All other nations are subservient to the United States.
The United Nations has no say what so ever in International affairs.
The United Nations is a convenience that America uses when it wants to, and ignores when it decides to.
This is a very authoritarian and demanding posture.
It is unyielding and fixed.
It’s almost as if the leaders in America are Megalomaniacs. To believe and allow such an insane level of insanity.
Megalomania is a psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of power, relevance, omnipotence, and by inflated self-esteem.
Historically it was used asa name for narcissistic personality disorder prior to the latter's first use by Heinz Kohut in 1968, and is used today as a non-clinical equivalent.
But it’s not just that.
It’s many other things.
Such as the litany of demands that America placed on China.
Such as…
China’s actions and behavior regarding 台湾.
China’s actions and behavior regarding 西藏.
China’s actions and behavior regarding 香港.
China’s actions and behavior regarding 快乐的脚.
All of which might not look familiar to the American readers in the audience.
As all of the items (that America demanded on China) are de facto Chinese land, cities, areas and territories.
These are regions as specified within the United Nations and identified as Chinese domains.
Such as Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Taiwan.
So it really is insulting that these jackasses from Washington DC have the fucking nerve to tell the Chinese what to do in 香港.
Which is like China demanding that America do thing about Baltimore, the killings in Chicago, and the maritime operations in the Gulf of Mexico and Boston harbor.
This illness, where you cannot understand the personal barriers of others is known as CognitiveDysfunction.
Cognitive disorders, also known as neurocognitive disorders, are a category of mental health disorders that primarily affect cognitive abilities including learning, memory, perception, and problem solving.
Neurocognitive disorders include delirium and mild and major neurocognitive disorder.
They are defined by deficits in cognitive ability that are acquired, typically represent decline, and may have an underlying brain pathology.
The DSM-5 defines six key domains of cognitive function: executive function, learning and memory, perceptual-motor function, language, complex attention, and social cognition.
Why were the American delegation so rude, demanding, and ill behaved during the Alaskan meeting? Could it be that they ACTUALLY BELIEVED that they were that powerful, and that they indeed represented the United States within that capacity?
How and why would they hold this amazingly dangerous position? It’s not patriotism. It’s pure evil.
It is exactly what Hitler demanded of Austria, West Prussia, Poland, the Netherlands, and France in the late 1930’s.
It’s pure evil.
The hatred towards China inside America is just ripe for war
The last four years of spewed hate has been horrible. Here’s the “news” from today…
In April 2020, immediately after China stopped the COVID-19B virus, Mike Pompeo laid out a speech decrying China. In his speech he stated that all efforts to contain it has failed and that new aggressive measures must be taken.
I guess Pompeo and trump were surprised that China could completely stop a major bio-weapons attack with an R0=20; the very dangerous “B strain” when China was must vulnerable; CNY.
In comparison, the American "safe strain", has a much smaller R0=0.01, and a much small lethality footprint. Which is why it is called the "herd inoculation strain".
This speech was bemoaned by the entire global community as unrealistic, a throwback to World War II, and entirely antagonistic as well as a violation of the UN charter.
Don’t believe me? Here we look at an American “policy paper” known as “The Longer Telegram“.
It’s called a “telegraph” as it is used as a “fair warning” that the United States considers China as a hostile enemy that must be destroyed. Thus the message is “telegraphed” to all people involved.
It is a reissue, and rewording of a post World War II document on how to be Master of the World. And it is being followed with religious fervor in the United States by the Biden administration. Following this outdated, outmoded, and insane cartoon-image of what the world is today is hastening the demise of the United States.
As well as forcing the hands of the Chinese, Iranians and Russians towards nuclear war.
It’s authored by “anonymous“, but we can see clearly that the contributors are the entire neocon establishment on “K street”. That’s John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and the rest of the neocon cabal.
What is this “telegram”?
It’s a strategy and orders towards “reclaiming American greatness” by the destruction of the largest threats “to the American way of life” in the world. In it, it describes a very militaristic policy of total annihilation of the enemies of the United States.
Not cooperation.
Not negotiation, and trade.
Not Geo-political alignments, and posturing.
No.
It’s about total annihilation of all the threats the the United States global leadership, and how to go about making sure that it is successful.
Primarily the destruction of China.
Isolation of China from Russian support and alliances.
Isolation of China geographically.
Isolation of China internationally, culturally and socially.
Isolation of China in technology, skills, knowledge and science.
America is a military empire.
It’s a long-worded tome.
Obviously it was written by one or more “think tanks” in the military-industrial complex. Obviously a number of committees wrote various parts, spliced them together, and achieved “buy in” as a group.
The document describes a China that exists only in their furtive imaginations;
An “authoritarian” country whose communist rulers are divorced from the people they rule, in which President Xi is described as more or less a warlord surrounded by “cronies,” enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else, and who have visions of ruling the world. This fantasy is in fact a mirror-image of the United States.
Indeed.
It has absolutely no resemblance with China, as it is today, in any way, shape or form.
The American military are experts at fighting wars in far away lands.
Facts do not matter to the ideologically obsessed.
But, enough of Anonymous’ fancies – they have no base in reality:
The USA out-sourced its manufacturing to China long ago and won’t be getting it back.
Wokeism is killing its education system.
America's politics are broken.
America's military is losing everywhere and doesn’t realize it.
A tsunami of debt has built up.
Most absurd of all, after years of needless hostility to Russia, Washington has no hope of separating Moscow from Beijing.
And Xi Jinping is not some rogue who seized control...
...he is the top of a robust pyramid.
The only significance of this paltry effort is that it gives us another – and depressingly influential – example of the curious American obsession with personalities – everything in Chinese-U.S. relations was going along swimmingly until Xi.
But actually, as anyone capable of seeing reality knows, China is much, much more than one man.
China/Russia/Iran/Iraq/insert-name-of-country was happy to accept its place in the Rules-Based International Order...
... until that nasty Xi/Putin/Ayatollah/Saddam/insert-name changed everything; get rid of him and it will all fix itself.
Sure...
When are they going to understand that it’s a whole country, not just one guy?
In an extraordinarily provocative move, the U.S. foreign policy establishment has warned China that it is pushing for a more aggressive strategy...
... all the way up to instigating war.
In a tome-like article published by the Washington-based Atlantic Council, there are foreboding demands for numerous “red lines” to confront China over.
Entitled ‘The Longer Telegram’ the article is a strange throwback to Cold War thinking. It is ostentatiously mimicking the famous document authored by George Kennan in 1946 who as a U.S. diplomat based in the Moscow wrote ‘The Long Telegram’ prescribing a hostile strategy of containment against the Soviet Union.
Thus the Atlantic Council is billing the recent article as a seminal historical contribution to formulating U.S. policy towards China, and one that is more bellicose and “comprehensive”.
The suppression of China will require “boots on the ground” inside of China.
The paper repeats the mistake inherent in all American thinking about the world, of [1] inventing a rival that does not exist, and then [2] positing strategies to deal with this fiction.
Washington, Beijing and European capitals have been firing off barrages of commentary in the past weeks on an anonymously authored paper on China published on January 28 by the U.S.-NATO think tank, the Atlantic Council, entitled “The Longer Telegram: Toward A New American China Strategy.”
It is modeled on another policy paper written by George Kennan in 1946.
That policy paper was called the Long Telegram. In it Kennan set out a strategy for “containing” the Soviet Union.
Which is a nice euphemism that means “destroying it”.
The American military has been training to seize Chinese islands and fight within Chinese cities.
Kennan’s advice was adopted and became U.S. strategy. The Longer Telegram purports to set out a strategy for undermining China and its socialist system.
Which is really fucked up as the Chinese system is far, far, FAR superior to the American system of oligarchy-run military-empire that pretends to be a democracy.
The Longer Telegram has met with approval by some U.S. and allied strategists and governments but alarm by others. China has denounced it for what it is, a plan for aggression against China and its socialist system.
The paper repeats the mistake inherent in all American thinking about the world, of inventing a rival that does not exist, and then positing strategies to deal with this fiction.
This delusory thinking has led the United States into one defeat after another and caused the world untold troubles as it tried to throw its weight around to secure markets and resources for its industries and capital.
Yemen
Panama
Libera
Afghanistan
Syria
etc, etc…
The destruction of one country after another to achieve that objective, the deaths of millions, the immiseration of entire regions of the world are nothing to American capital so long as it can make money.
All their rhetoric about “human rights” “democracy” and other such platitudes is just a cover for maintaining their economic hegemony and keeping everyone else down.
American occupation of Xinjiang, Taiwan, Tibet and Hing Kong are all part of the war plans.
They even sometimes admit this.
In the National Defence Strategy issued in 2018, the real reason for the slanders against China, the constant provocations in Hong Kong, and the South China Sea is stated clearly…
“Failure to meet our defense objectives will result in decreasing U.S. global influence...
...eroding cohesion among allies and partners...
...and reduced access to markets...
...that will contribute to a decline in our prosperity and standard of living.”
Of course even this is a lie since American capital does not care at all about the standard of living of the American people, only about the prosperity and standard of living of the big capitalists.
The world can see what conditions are in the United States.
The [1] failure to protect their people from the Covid pandemic, [2] the almost daily extrajudicial killings of blacks and poor people, [3] the hollow promise of Biden to institute a higher minimum wage, [4] the collapse of the power grid in Texas are[5] eloquent expressions of the contempt and disregard big capital has for the common people.
The document describes a China that exists only in their furtive imaginations;
…an “authoritarian” country whose communist rulers are divorced from the people they rule, in which President Xi is described as more or less a warlord surrounded by “cronies,” enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else, and who have visions of ruling the world.
This fantasy is in fact a mirror image of the United States.
The American marines have been drilling and practicing the invasion and seizure of Chinese held islands for the last four years.
The anonymous author(s) sees China as he has been conditioned to see America, and then projects that outward to any nation that attempts to develop its economy and improve the conditions of its people.
And just as the forces of capital in the United States manipulate elections and the political system to guarantee their power in order to feather their own nests, the author of the Longer Telegram accuses the President of China of doing the same in China, of using his position for his own benefit.
It then offers recommendations on how to try to split the Chinese leadership from the people, and even on how to split the Communist Party from its membership and the people, using false claims as propaganda to undermine social cohesion.
American military.
China did well to kick out the BBC last week and to arrest the U.S. and British agents in Hong Kong.
The document adopts the Henry Kissinger strategy urging a soft approach to Russia to try to lure it away from its alliance with China.
This would require a complete reversal of American strategy of surrounding Russia with bases, ships and missile systems, of attempting to ruin the Russian economy with all the illegal trade and financial embargoes.
It is not going to happen.
But the suggestion shows the confusion in the American leadership on how to stop its economic decline that precedes its decline as the world hegemon.
For decades the Americans have claimed to support nations trying to raise themselves from the poverty created by European and American colonialism, to achieve economic prosperity and a better life for their peoples.
But when a country achieves those goals it suddenly becomes an enemy.
America want no rivals.
The Chinese military are not 1980’s era conscripts with out-of-date Russian weapons systems. They are a modern and formidable army.
China is declared an enemy simply because the Communist Party has, over its long struggle from the Long March to today, raised a billion and more people out of poverty, has created a social and economic system no western nation can equal.
China is as big as the United States.
China has more factories than the United States.
China has a peer capable military.
China is a threat on all levels of (former) United States dominance.
And most importantly…
Their example shows the world what can be achieved by nations finally freed from colonialism, and shows the strength and vitality of socialism.
But now America faces renewed threats from the aspiring colonial powers.
China is a serious, serious nation that does not play.
Defeated in 1949, the colonial powers have never abandoned their ambitions to again reduce China to a colony.
They are, once again, actively engaged in trying to undermine China as a sovereign nation.
To slander it.
To sabotage its economy.
To threaten it with armed force.
And to break it into smaller, manageable pieces, as they want to do with Russia.
The method of attack is wide.
The Canadians, on U.S. orders, have essentially kidnapped and still hold hostage, Meng Wanzhou, Chief Financial Officer of the technology company, Huawei.
At the same time, the U.S. used the arrest as a warning to others trading with Iran.
They have increased their military provocations off the Chinese coast.
With the U.S. and its vassal states sending naval ships, time and again, through the Taiwan Strait, claiming to be enforcing “freedom of navigation” …
…but in reality declaring that Taiwan, a province of China, is an American protectorate.
The Chinese are not illiterate goat herders living in mud huts.
The complete response to the Longer Telegram is found in China’s national defence white paper which states, “Though a country may become strong, bellicosity will lead to its ruin.
The Chinese nation has always loved peace.
Since the beginning of modern times, the Chinese people have suffered from aggressions and wars, and have learned the value of peace and the pressing need for development.
Therefore, China will never inflict such sufferings on any other country.
Any attack on China will come with an enormous price tag.
Since its founding 70 years ago, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never started any war or conflict.
You just cannot say this about America; the biggest military empire in history.
Since the introduction of reform and opening-up, China has been committed to promoting world peace, and has voluntarily downsized the PLA by over 4 million troops.
China has grown from a poor and weak country to be the world’s second largest economy neither by receiving handouts from others nor by engaging in military expansion or colonial plunder.
Instead, it has developed through its people’s hard work and its efforts to maintain peace.
China has made every effort to create favorable conditions for its development through maintaining world peace, and has equally endeavored to promote world peace through its own development.
China sincerely hopes that all countries will choose the path of peaceful development and jointly prevent conflicts and wars.”
All those who want peace in the world, can support that statement.
The US military experts gave a high estimate of the tests of the new Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile which showed that the US aircraft carriers are in real danger as reported by Washington Free Beacon at the beginning of July. The tests took place in the South China Sea, where, in particular, the US Navy ships are deployed. It is specified that the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) requires hi-tech surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting systems. According to the Pentagon, China has already deployed all of those. The US has no missile systems of the kind, and the possibilities to counteract them are limited, according to the website.
The Longer Telegram is not just a policy paper, it is also propaganda.
Dangerous anti-UN propaganda
Propaganda which must be rejected as a call for the violation of all the principles set out in the Charter of the United Nations.
A charter that guarantee every nation [1] the right to peaceful development, [2] to its sovereignty and [3] to non-interference from other nations; [4] to be treated with respect.
Instead of contemplating strategies on how to contain China…
….the world must instead contemplate strategies for containing the United States of America.”
It’s all pretty damning. But why does MM believe that America has chosen to engage in a hot war?
Americans are ripe and “chomping at the bit” for a war.
There is unrestrained budget constraints and the debt is at twenty trillion dollars with no signs of any kind of fiscal responsibility. Either the American governance is counting on a financial and fiscal collapse, or…
…or…
…they plan on looting a large, plump and ripe nation to compensate for their fiscal irresponsibility.
And they are eyeing China.
History tells us that when nations have depleted their coffers, and their citizenry have taken to “torches and pitchforks” the only way out…
…socially, economically, and as a way to control the situation…
…is a war.
If they win, and conquer the opposing targeted nation, they can loot it, and fill their empty coffers. They can unite an upset and disturbingly angry citizenry with an enemy, and they can postpone the demise of their government that caused the fiscal irresponsibility in the first place.
For a start (the policy paper) denigrates China’s President Xi Jinping in the most pejorative terms unbecoming of diplomatic norms. It proposes that “U.S. strategy must remain laser-focused on Xi, [and] his inner circle.”
The document states:
“At home, Xi has returned China to classical Marxism-Leninism and fostered a quasi-Maoist personality cult, pursuing the systematic elimination of his political opponents… Xi is no longer just a problem for U.S. primacy. He now presents a serious problem for the whole of the democratic world.”
What the Washington policy elite are explicitly calling for is “regime change” in Beijing by aiming to destabilize the senior government.
This marks an unprecedented notice of increased hostility towards the Chinese leadership. This is taking things way past U.S. aggression under Obama and Trump and brings it to a whole new level.
What’s even more alarming is the Atlantic Council article sets out numerous “red lines” which could trigger military confrontation.
These red lines include [1] “major hostile action” by China in the South China Sea, or [2] an attack on Taiwan, or [3] cyberattacks against the United States.
This is alarming because these actions are being exacerbated by the U.S. itself.
China is not afraid to use it’s nuclear weapons on any attacking force, and no one within America, England, Australia or wherever the aggressors want to hide .
[1] A“major hostile action” by China in the South China Sea
Since Biden took office last month, his administration has sent two navy carrier strike groups to conduct exercises in the South China Sea, which Beijing has condemned.
[2] Taiwan
A U.S. warship also recently passed through the Strait of Taiwan.
[3] And cyberattacks against the United States.
As for cyberattacks, they can be easily fabricated and falsely attributed by U.S. intelligence agencies. As clearly specified in the Vault 7 release by Wikileaks.
At one point the Atlantic Council article notes:
“U.S. strategy must understand that China remains for the time being highly anxious about military conflict with the United States, but that this attitude will change as the military balance shifts over the next decade.
If military conflict were to erupt between China and the United States, and China failed to win decisively, then – given the party’s domestic propaganda offensive over many years proclaiming China’s inevitable rise – Xi would probably fall and the regime’s overall political legitimacy would collapse.”
This last paragraph is a clear sign that Washington planners are actually considering a preemptive waragainst China in which the latter “failed to win decisively” thereby precipitating the fall of President Xi.
The reaction from China has been surprisingly reserved.
Beijing condemned the American Cold War mentality but seemed to avoid condemning what are clearly U.S. threats of war.
One analyst for Global Times speculated that the Atlantic Council article was a “remnant from the Trump administration”.
Such thinking is dangerously complacent.
America wants China destroyed
For the evidence points to the article being an expression of policy formulation by the Biden administration.
It is notable in a recent interview with CBS, President Biden sounded remarkably disrespectful towards his Chinese counterpart.
Biden said he hadn’t yet spoken directly with Xi since the U.S. presidential inauguration ceremony nearly three weeks ago.
Such an absence of communication seems to be a calculated snub from Biden and his policy planners in Washington which is in total keeping with the proposed strategy outlined in the Atlantic Council article to “laser-focus” on denigrating Xi and his leadership.
Here’s another notable oddity.
While Biden has yet to contact Xi, the American leader held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin the day after his inauguration.
In the Atlantic Council article, the author proposes:
“Dividing Russia from China… is critical.” It calls for “stabilizing relations with Russia” and the United States.
In the 1970s, it was the other way around.
U.S. policy then, first under Richard Nixon and later successors, was all about drawing China away from the Soviet Union because Moscow was perceived as the main threat to American hegemony.
Now, as the Biden administration and other Washington planners assert over and over, it is Beijing that is perceived as the principal challenger to the waning U.S. global empire.
But the same tactic of divide and rule is at play.
Officially, the Biden White House says it has yet to formulate definitive policies on relations with China or Russia.
America has no defense for the hypersonic DF-17 carrier killer.
But the vibe and tone of the Atlantic Council article has Team Biden’s fingerprints all over it – indicating that it is preparing to take a reckless aggressive course toward China. The Trump administration – which was brazenly antagonistic to China – is criticized for lacking “comprehensive strategy”.
That’s Orwellian euphemism for the Biden administration telegramming the threat of much more confrontational policy.
It may all just be reckless rhetoric by Washington’s imperial planners.
Nevertheless, the mere playing with war rhetoric is reprehensible and speaks of American desperation to salvage its diminishing global power.
It’s a time to be very careful and guarded.
Do not be under the impression that Russia and China are all unaware of all this.
No wonder, China has been hurriedly mass-producing nuclear warheads, MIRV ICBM missiles, and state of the art weapons technology at a hectic pace.
They are not fools.
The DF-41 will render all of America completely radioactive rubble.
Do not be under the illusion that China is a far away land and that American military can engage China…
…on Chinese territory…
… in a superior manner…
…where American lays out the terms of conflict…
…and Americans can watch on their television sets eating popcorn as the war and conflict rages in far, far away China.
Nope.
It’s not going to be like that.
As the Saker has pointed out…
And crucially, “keep the barbarians from coming together” applied to Russia, China and Iran. That was Pax Americana in a nutshell. And that’s what’s totally unraveling now.
Hence the Kill Bill logic. It goes back a long way. Less than two months after the collapse of the USSR, the 1992 Defense Planning Guidance preached total global dominance and, following Dr Zbig, the absolute imperative of preventing the emergence of any future peer competitor.
Especially Russia, defined as “the only power in the world with the capacity of destroying the United States.”
Then, in 2002, at the start of the “axis of evil” era, came the full spectrum dominance doctrine as the bedrock of the US National Security Strategy. Domination, domination everywhere: terrestrial, aerial, maritime, subterranean, cosmic, psychological, biological, cyber-technological.
And, not by accident, the Indo-Pacific strategy – which guides the Quad – is all about “how to maintain US strategic primacy.”
China should be taken seriously and respected.
This mindset is what enables US Think Tankland to formulate risible “analyses” in which the only “win” for the US imperatively requires a failed Chinese “regime.”
After all, Leviathan is congenitally incapable of accepting a “win-win”; it only runs on “zero-sum,” based on divide and rule.
And that’s what’s leading the Russia-China strategic partnership to progressively establish a wide-ranging, comprehensive security environment, spanning everything from high-tech weaponry to banking and finance, energy supplies and the flow of information.
Yup. Russia and China are coming together to defend against the American monster…
Do not be under the misguided impression that America can conduct a far-away war with China or Russia independently. They are working together.
It will not happen that way.
Neither China, or Russia will allow that to occur.
Doing so, would result in American cities blasted out of existence. It’s real.
Consider the “dead hand” for instance…
Dead HandDead Hand, also known as Perimeter, is a Cold War-era automatic nuclear weapons-control system that was used by the Soviet Union. General speculation from insiders alleges thatthesystemremains in use in the post-Soviet Russian Federation as well. An exampleoffail-deadly and mutual assured destruction deterrence, it can automatically trigger the launch of the Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles by sending a pre-entered highest-authority order from the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Strategic Missile Force Management to command posts and individual silos if a nuclear strike is detected by seismic, light, radioactivity, and pressure sensors even with the commanding elements fully destroyed. By most accounts, it is normally switched off and is supposed to be activated during times of crisis; however, it is said to remain fully functional and able to serve its purpose whenever it may be needed.-Wikipedia
But, America need not worry, right? A few strategically placed bombs here and there, a capture of an island or two and some “boot on the ground” will force China to obey America. Right?
Dead Hand
Russia upgrading its ‘Dead Hand’
29 Mar 2018 in 10:20
It’s active and alive. As this three year old article points out…
Russia is upgrading its nuclear final defence system which automatically launches it entire arsenal in a doomsday-like barrage, one of the US leading authorities on nuclear disarmament Bruce Blair said.
Russia’s defence chiefs are working to improve the so-called “Dead Hand” weapons system – also known as Perimeter. It has been referred to as a “Doomsday device” by analysts and was first developed during the paranoia of the Cold War.
Blair, who is the former US Air Force nuclear launch officer, said he believes the system is still operational and is even being “upgraded,” Daily Star Online reported.
Dead Hand is described as a “fully automatic” system which is turned on amid times of crisis by Russia. It is operated by three crew members whose sole job is just to make sure the system is operational with “no judgement” involvement.
Despite the terrifying concept, Dr Blair, co-founder of disarmament campaign group Global Zero, said the existence of such a weapon actually helps reduce the risk of nuclear war.
However, he questioned the system’s “vulnerability to cyber attack” as a cause for concern to global security. Dead Hand’s operation means the West will always have to think twice if there is a temptation for a nuclear strike.
“[Dead Hand] is fully automatic except that it has to be turned on by the general staff during a crisis, and there is a small crew that would perform a small number of functions before it would operate,” Blair said. “It is not a risk unless it could hacked and trigger an unauthorized launch,” he added
But don’t worry. China is isolated from Russia. And can be beaten easily by the superior American military…
Right?
Are you willing to bet your life, and your families lives on it?
So you really trust this man with your future…
Mike Pompeo
Or
Or, his “official” replacement in the Biden Administration.
Antony Blinken
So
So, do you really think that things are just going to be a lot of “hot air” and posturing?
And that nothing will come of all this, that somehow it will all go away…?
China will not be provoked
America will try and push and push China into an action. If China fails “to take the bait”, then America will make up and excuse a “false flag” event that will justify a war.
Now, let it be understood that America is not allowed to go to war without Congressional approval.
But that is meaningless.
America is currently fighting eight simultaneous wars all over the world directly and another twenty or so surreptitiously. None of which were specifically authorized by Congress.
So do not expect that the normal war declaration process will be followed. It will not.
Just expect a “false flag” event as an excuse to go to war within the next couple of years, if not months.
Afalse flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blameon a second party. The term is popularamongst conspiracy theory promoters in referring to covert operations of various governments and cabals.
-Wikipedia
Keep in mind that war is unpredictable
Please keep in mind that war is madness.
.
Yes it is crazy.
On one hand, don’t be so sure that China will be able to stop America, and this “road map towards destruction”. They might not be able to. And the United States might, and could very well, roll right over China. Destroy it, and carve it up into much smaller vassal states to service the American wealthy. Indeed, China might easily crumble after a concerted attack by skilled military forces working in unison.
After all, America is a well trained battle empire. It has over 75 years of non-stop military excursions, the top line and highest quality weaponry, and lots and lots of nuclear missiles.
It also has it’s cronies like the UK, Australia Korea, Japan and India who will participate in a conflict with China. Combined, it seems that China doesn’t have a chance, and while China can train and train, they do not have active hostile fighting experience like the American military has. The United States could plausibly rip right through China like a hot knife though butter.
And of course, please don’t be so sure that Russia will sit everything out. They might. They might just allow America and China to duke it out while they watch from the side-lines. Yes. That could happen, but don’t count on it. Russia and China see America as a very unpredictable enemy.
But war is about betrayals.
You will think that one nation and people are on your side, and then they could flip at a moments notice. Sort of how Italy was aligned with the Nazi Germans and then flipped and allied with the American during World War II.
Don’t be so sure that America will win a war against Asia. I know that this will come to a shock to those that watch the Rush Limbaugh show and watch FOX news. For in their minds, America is invincible!
There is no such thing as invincibility. There is only layers and degrees of damage, and ones varying ability to contain and repair the damage.
Don’t be so sure that any destroyed American cities will be able to be rebuilt either. America does have that ability any longer. Sure there are handymen, and construction companies. Sure there is the potential. But the real, active and genuine skills required to rebuild a devastated nation, it’s not really there.
I am sure that any destroyed city can be rebuilt. However we know from history that when Genghis Khan decimated Western Europe and the “Silk Road” cities, they remained empty and devoid of inhabitants for centuries afterwards. Indeed, many were never rebuilt.
America has lost the skills, and the ability to build, let alone rebuild. As well as the technical expertise in the most basic of constructions. While there are trillions of dollars in the value of American companies, most do not make anything. They either play with numbers or images in communication venues, or provide services. Both of which are not capable of rebuilding cities, infrastructure or societies.
Don’t be so sure that nuclear weapons will not be used. China does not play. They have repeatedly warned in words and deeds that they will respond in absolute terms with any American aggression. Do not think, for a minute, that they will risk allowing the United States to attack them unopposed.
This idea, this fantasy, that America can dictate terms to China, and bludgeon them into compliance as some kind of bargain-basement slave is very dangerous. China is like the nerd in High School that everyone picks on, makes fun of, and taunts without mercy….
….Meanwhile he’s also the kid who has built a death-ray in his basement.
Don’t expect anything.
But do not be under the misguided impression that the bullshit narrative the the “Long Telegram” is based upon has validity. It is a fantasy, and if the American leadership follows this “roadmap” for the “suppression” of China, it was end up turning out quite…
…ugly.
Conclusion
Yes, this is a profoundly sobering and disgusting article. I am sorry for it.
Any war with China will not be contained to the South China Sea, but will land inside of America in a most horrific manner.
But everything points to a historical progression of events. One that can no longer be ignored. It’s not if there will be a hot war, but rather how it will develop and whether or not it can be contained.
Certainly the American leadership believes that China can be “suppressed” and a war could be fought on American terms, with American rules of engagement, and on American defined battle fields. They might be right.
But I have a completely different projection.
And the earth might not survive the resulting insanity that will manifest.
If I were to take bets, I would argue that both Russia and China are working on plans to preemptively annihilate and castrate the United States before it slaughters the entire world.
But what do I know?
Be safe you all.
This is the meeting that China had with Russia immediately after the Alaskan meeting with the United States. I wonder why China was in such a rush to chat with the Russians…?
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying’s Regular Press Conference on March 22, 2021
CCTV:Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said in an interview that the Untied States and Western countries are pursuing policy of hegemony in international affairs, trying to impede the trend toward a multi-polar and democratic world, and imposing its will and requirements on others. The primary task of China and Russia is to strengthen high-level collaboration and jointly advance multipolarity and regional integration and collaboration. What’s your comment?
Hua Chunying: Foreign Minister Lavrov’s remarks are right to the point. The more unstable the world is, the more China and Russia need to advance our cooperation.
For a long period, the US and the West wantonly interfered in other country’s domestic affairs by using democracy and human rights as an excuse. Such moves created troubles in the world and even became the source of instability and war.
China and Russia always stand together in close cooperation, firmly rejects hegemony and bullying practice and have become a pillar for world peace and stability.
In the past year, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping and President Putin, China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era achieved remarkable outcomes. In the face of once-in-a-century pandemic and changes, China and Russia stand in solidarity to fight the virus together, and advance cooperation in such areas as economy, trade and scientific innovation despite challenges.
The two sides firmly support each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests and jointly uphold international fairness and justice. It is fair to say that China-Russia relations withstood the test and emerged stronger with our friendship becoming even closer.
We believe Foreign Minister Lavrov’s on-going visit will further cement the sound momentum of the high-level bilateral relations and bring the two countries closer in the strategic collaboration on international affairs.
China is ready to work with Russia to follow through on the consensus of the two heads of state, and take the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation as an opportunity to carry forward the spirit of the treaty and advance China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era at greater scope, in wider areas and at deeper levels.
The two sides will join hands in building a model of international relations featuring strategic trust, mutually beneficial cooperation, close people-to-people ties, fairness and justice. Together, the two sides can make greater contribution to upholding world peace and stability.
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If you take a casual glance at the American media you will be exposed to the ideas of “genocide”, “concentration camps”, “slave labor”, and other abuses by China in the Xinjiang province. And, if you are an American, you will believe them. After all, the “news” never lies … right? Well, in this post we are going to look at the reason WHY there is such an uproar in the USA over this patch of land in Western China. And the reasons behind it is NOT anything presented to the American citizenry. It’s something else entirely.
Where is Xingjiang?
Xinjiang is in China. It is a State / province of China. It’s a kind of “China’s version of America’s New Mexico”.
First of all, let’s look at where Xinjiang is. Because a picture will tell you more than any write up that I can compile will. So check out this map of China showing the Xinjiang region…
So, those of you all in the MM audience that somehow believe that American neocon narrative that US military troops can tromp into the region and “liberate” the Chinese people there. (For “democracy”® and “freedom”®.) Had best think long and hard if you want to deal with half of the Untied States rendered into radioactive waste.
China does not play.
This area is owned, controlled, and a fundamental part of China, and has been so for many… many years.
China will treat any “forces of liberation” with the same level of violence as Washington DC would do to defend Texas from invasion. If you all think that a “color revolution” is possible there, or that “American troops can liberate it” you had best get back on your medicines. Those fantasies are for ignorant children and the feeble-minded.
Now, let’s take a look at the BRI, shall we?
Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
China ’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (一带一路) is a strategy initiated by the People’s Republic of China that seeks to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks with the aim of improving regional integration, increasing trade and stimulating economic growth.
The BRI is a very involved trade route into the heart of Asia that is designed to replace or supplement the sea-lane shipping routes out of China. (And subject to American Naval Blockades.)
There are many aspects of it, and it is very comprehensive.
In short, it leverages all of the neighbors to China, and builds upon robust lines of communication, trade and investment. And thus maps depicting such efforts tend to be rather convoluted and messy, such as this map from France…
The belt and road initiative.
Now, let’s simplify all this.
Let’s [1] concentrate on the land routes only, and [2] paint the canvas in broad brush strokes showing the areas of development, and influence in the BRI. And [3] lets do so taking note of the locations of China, Russia and Iran.
And when we do so, we end up with this (greatly simplified) map…
BRI simplified, showing only the land routes.
Now what can you see, when you simplify everything down and distill it into it’s simplest components?
You see the BRI as a unification of the nations of China, Russia and Iran. And internally upon the vast landmasses. Well… well, out of the reach of the “long arms” of the United States Navy.
Now, with the BRI the entire trade situation changes.
Now, Aside from trading with the Americas, China can trade with the rest of the world by land routes only. Not only is [1] logistic costs via rail cheaper than by sea, but [2] they are protected from piracy, ship damage and loss, and naval blockades by rogue nations (read; The United States and Britain.)
Sep 20, 2020 · Ifanavalblockadeisa feasible strategy, it strengthens the American system of deterrenceand dilutes any potential attempts by ChinatocoercetheUnitedStatesoritsallies.
-CouldTheU.S. NavyBlockadeChinaIntoSubmission?
Apr 06, 2019 · If a naval blockade is a feasible strategy, it strengthens the American system of deterrence and dilutes any potentialattemptsbyChinatocoercetheUnitedStatesoritsallies.
- HowaMassiveNavalBlockadeCouldBringChinaToIts Knees...
The National Interest is THE publication that you read if you desire to feel the “pulse” of the war-mongering neocons in Washington DC. Some of their typical reads are;
Now, let’s take a look at the American neocon plans to isolate and suppress China. Let’s look at what their plans have been…
Why do I feel like the planners in Washington DC like to play with little toy soldiers, fancy electronics and high technology, and fail to see the human side of their insanity? Interesting isn’t it?
Now, let’s take a look at the above map showing the BRI…
I am sure that most MM readers can read maps. And when you do, you can clearly see that the BRI renders the complete American military; Air, Land, and sea impotent.
It removes the threat of naval blockades on China.
It lowers the prices in trade goods. It enriches and uplifts the lives of millions of people in the most poverty stricken areas of the world, and connects China with it’s biggest customers for the next decade.
…
So since the BRI puts American military might at a disadvantage, it becomes critically important that the BRI be stopped at all costs.
And…
Now, boys and girls, look at where the “gateway” to the BRI is located at. Yup. That’s right.
It’s located in Xinjiang.
A map of the BRI showing the location of the “gateway” at Xinjiang.
Are the puzzle-pieces falling in place for ya? Are things getting a little clearer for you all to understand?
All this propaganda onslaught against China and Uighur Muslims isn’t about what they say it is. It’s about stopping China from building the BRI at all costs, and set in place a narrative to justify military action there.
Of course, not directly.
By proxy.
Well that is the plan at least.
And when you look at the bigger scope of things then you can understand why the military is suddenly pouring more money, more equipment and more manpower into both Afghanistan and Syria.
You just look at the map.
So what’s all this narrative all about?
Well, let’s look at another article titled “Is China committing genocide?” Reprinted as found, and all credit to the author.
XINJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA — Up is down. War is peace. And the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands have accused China of genocide.
“This is forced labor, this is forced sterilization, this is forced abortions, …the kind of thing we haven’t seen in an awfully long time in this world,” declared then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
To be fair, the accusers are experts in genocide: the U.S. and its junior imperial partner, Canada, wiped out their indigenous populations. Today the U.S. is responsible for the three biggest human rights catastrophes in the world in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. And the Netherlands is just coming to terms with its massacres in Indonesia.
Mike Pompeo’s successor at the State Department, Antony Blinken, is sticking with the genocide claim. That’s despite the State Department’s top lawyers stating that whatever might be happening in Xinjiang, it’s not genocide. That’s right. Chinese Communist Party genocide denialists have infiltrated the U.S. State Department to impurify our precious bodily fluids.
My goodness!
Dr Strangelove Precious Bodily Fluids Quote
Aug 12, 2020 · Everyone loves to quote famous lines from movies so having a good knowledge of good movie quotes. Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made stanley kubrick s cold war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual and certainly without any choice.
Pure Zenz
So what did Pompeo and Blinken base their accusations of genocide on? There must have been a pretty strong body of on-the-ground reporting and research. Or not. It turns out that one guy is pretty much responsible for the whole narrative. His name is Adrian Zenz.
“Adrian’s research, as many of you know, has been key in establishing the existence of the camps in the first place, and in documenting the buildup of the PRC police state,” explained Hudson Institute fellow Eric Brown.
Zenz appeared almost overnight as a go-to expert on Xinjiang and Uighurs. Now he’s a regular on mainstream outlets and even on supposedly progressive news show Democracy Now. In fact, in Mike Pompeo’s official statement accusing China of genocide, he directly credited Zenz.
But most of his so-called research has been discredited, and he’s been revealed to be a straight-up fabulist. A Grayzone Newsinvestigation showed that Zenz’s claims of 1 million Uighur detained in camps were based “on a single report by Istiqlal TV, a Uyghur exile media organization based in Turkey, which was republished by Newsweek Japan.” In other words, no evidence, and not even an attempt.
Meanwhile, Zenz’s study accusing China of forced sterilizations didn’t contain any proof of coercion. The Grayzone showed how “Zenz consistently framed the expansion of public healthcare services in Xinjiang as evidence of a genocide in the making.”
Characterizing expanded access to birth control as genocide is what the Christian Right does.
So it makes perfect sense that Zenz – an evangelical fundamentalist himself – holds this view.
Jesus will cleanse the world of the infidels, and the righteous will go to Heavenly paradise.
Zenz’s first book is a psychedelic trip through the mind of a Rapture-ready Christer.
The tome is entitled “Worthy to Escape: Why All Believers Will Not Be Raptured Before the Tribulation.”
In it, the book claims that in the end times, “God’s refining process will wipe out all unbelieving Jews who refuse to come to Christ.”
So Zenz writes racist fantasies about Jews, like me. Who knows what he thinks will happen to Uighur Muslims! Yikes!
Jesus will cleanse the world of the infidels, and the righteous will go to Heavenly paradise.
He also says that Satan is using postmodernism to attack gender-authority structures and undermine what he believes are God’s unique but different role assignments for men and women.
Clearly, he is against women’s rights.
So does he support criminalizing birth control in his native Germany and here in the U.S. where he now resides?
Even more deranged, Zenz’s big genocide study claimed that women in Xinjiang receive 800 to 1600 IUD insertions per capita. That means every Uighur woman is surgically implanted with 4 to 8 IUDs every single day of the year.
It’s not even possible.
Evidently, none of the outlets that feverishly published his claims bothered to give even a cursory examination to the evidence, or lack thereof, that he presents.
Other reasons (besides genocide) for having fewer kids
In reality, the decrease in birth rate is a normal, predictable outcome of economic development. When people are more financially secure, they choose to have fewer kids and do it later in life.
In fact, China is pouring money into Xinjiang to develop its economy.
According to a 2015 U.S. government study, “To decrease ethnic instability in Xinjiang, the Chinese government’s plan is to economically develop the region.”
That’s right. Chinese Communist Party agents have also time-traveled to 2015 to infiltrate the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and write a study trying to justifying genocide. Damn you Xi!!!
As a result of this economic development, China’s birth rate is falling at rapid rates in all regions, which comes with its own set of problems, like an aging population – similar to what the U.S. is dealing with. So Chinese lawmakers are now pushing for the universal two-child policy to be changed to three.
But this rapture-ready fanatic Adrian Zenz isn’t the only source for these claims of genocide, right?
How about CNN: the self-described most trusted name in news? CNN says its reporting found that some Uyghur women were being forced to use birth control and undergo sterilization… There it is. Can’t argue with that.
…The article was “based on a report by Adrian Zenz.”
Uh oh.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum accuses China of crimes against humanity and genocide against Uighurs. They reference “leaked government documents” and “researchers,” …
Of course, referring to Zenz.
Zenz and the Genocide Choir
With Zenz at the center, a cast of shady characters have promoted this disinformation to support the phony genocide claim:
Rushan Abbas — former Pentagon contractor who worked for Radio Free Asia, a U.S. propaganda mouthpiece started by the CIA.
Darren Byler — a fellow at the Wilson Center, which is funded by the U.S. government and a host of other NATO governments, big banks and corporations. His resume shows he has also been funded to the tune of 100,000 dollars through the U.S. Department of Education.
He does panels with Louise Greve — the former vice president of the CIA cutout National Endowment for Democracy, who now runs the NED-funded Uyghur Human Rights Project.
There’s Human Rights Watch China Director Sophie Richardson — this cold-warrior wrote an op-ed in the liberal interventionist Foreign Affairs magazine calling for Biden to confront China over human rights. What the hell are the people at Human Rights Watch smoking to believe the guy who just bombed Syria and sponsors Israel’s project of apartheid has a shred of crediblity on human rights?
Then there’s the Australian Strategic Policy Institute – the self-declared independent, non-partisan think tank, which is totally dependent on funding from the Australian and American departments of defense, NATO, weapons makers, the Embassy of Japan, and the Embassy of Israel, among others.
All with the blessings of Jesus.
2018 and the sudden “genocide” drumbeat
The Uighur genocide claim was virtually unheard of before 2018. Up until that point, Western media coverage of the issue was dramatically different.
Take The New York Times. In the 1980s, it published a series of articles about how Uighur Muslims were actually prospering and Islam was flourishing under Chinese rule.
By the 1980s, this separatist movement was becoming violent. In one 1997 incident, the Times reported on, about a thousand Muslim separatists of the Uighur ethnic minority rampaged through the town Yining on Wednesday, smashing cars, burning shops and beating up ethnic Chinese to protest Beijing’s rule.
In 1994, the Times reported that Uighur extremists were returning from Afghanistan, where the CIA spent a billion dollars arming what it called a “University of Jihad.” The Times noted that “Afghan veterans have fought in two western provinces, Uighur and Xinjiang, where they have armed and trained Chinese Muslim rebels.”
In the wake of the U.S. destruction of Yugoslavia, the Times noted the separatists fantasized about a NATO bombing campaign
This Uighur separatist movement, its violent anti-Han rampages, or the militants returning from Afghanistan are barely mentioned in any of the contemporary Times reports claiming genocide.
In 1981, The Washington Postwrote about growing ethnic tensions in Xinjiang, noting that “Peking has taken pains to ensure ethnic rights and elevate minority group members to leadership positions. In Xinjiang, a kind of affirmative action program has been started at the provincial university to guarantee that 60 percent of new students are from ethnic backgrounds.” Today, none of this gets mentioned in the Post’s coverage.
How about Newsweek? Back in 2000, it reported that Xinjiang was a weak point that threatened to fragment China along ethnic lines, that Uighur separatists threatened the security of Beijing, and some might even join forces with Islamic “holy warriors.” Now it’s all genocide, all the time.
With these misleading or outright false claims based on manipulated statistics, the only evidence for a Uighur genocide is anecdotal, which is hard to prove or disprove. But the testimony in Western media is often full of contradictions.
Take the case of Sayragul Sauytbay. In 2019, she told the UK tabloid The Daily Mail that she witnessed concentration camp “inmates being flayed, raped by guards in front of other prisoners, given injections that made them infertile and force-fed pork.” Keep in mind this is the same tabloid that has spent years peddling Islamophobic hysteria and once warned about Muslim fanatics hijacking the royal wedding. Sauytbay has told similar stories in more respectable newspapers like Foreign Policy,Haaretz and Deutsche Welle.
But back in 2018, Sauytbay told the Globe and Mail that “She did not personally see violence.” For some reason, she completely changed her story. Maybe she was fearful and traumatized, or maybe she falsified it. Apparently, none of the outlets that published her testimony bothered to check into that discrepancy.
Then there’s Tursunay Ziyawundun. She’s the central character in the forced-sterilization narrative cooked up by Adrian Zenz. She’s delivered teary testimonies for the BBC, CNN and Democracy Now. A few months before those reports, however, she told Buzzfeed News, “I wasn’t beaten or abused.” Again, why did she change her story? And why did all of these media outlets fail to do a basic check into her past statements?
Older rumblings
In my research, the first mention of Uighur genocide took place back in 1997, when several so-called “Chinese dissidents” testified to Congress. One woman named Rizvangul Uighur claimed that China’s birth control policy involved murdering babies as soon as they were born. She said the one-child policy was so strictly enforced that “babies are being killed in [the] delivery room without seeing the mother’s face and world.”
Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) – a homophobic bigot from the Christian right – claimed that Uighur women “are often taken physically to the abortion mill. Forced abortions can be performed very late in pregnancy, even in the ninth month. Sometimes the baby’s skull is crushed with forceps as it emerges from the birth canal. Either the woman or her husband may then be forcibly sterilized.”
That’s the same Chris Smith who several months before was railing against abortion rights at the so-called March For Life rally and accusing Bill Clinton of murdering unborn children:
You are and your legacy will be abortion president. You know, mister president, that the scriptures admonish us to pray for those in authority. And we will be faithful to that. As believers we will pray and fast, and sincerely hope, that you reject the culture of death.”
Neither Rizvangul Uighur nor Smith bothered to mention that in 1997 Uighurs and other ethnic minorities were not subject to the one-child policy. So the birthrate in Xinjiang province was 19.66 – meaning there were nearly 20 births per 1,000 people. Meanwhile, in Beijing, the birthrate was 7.91.
Of course, there was a clear political goal in the bogus testimony delivered in Congress. It was coordinated to be released on the day that Bill Clinton met with President of China Jiang Zemin.
Members of Congress were demanding Clinton take a hardline approach to China, some even using racist epithets to warn of a Chinese invasion. “The White House will not wise up until there’s a full blown rice paddy on the east lawn,” warned Democratic Ohio Congressman James Traficant, whose career ultimately ended in a bribery conviction and expulsion from Congress.
After that, save for a couple of Voice of America articles, there was no mention in Western media about the Uighur genocide — until 2018…
…And the Donald Trump “War on China”.
The contemporary hypocritical propaganda barrage
It’s worth pointing out that the vast majority of American politicians taking up the supposed Uighur genocide cause are totally supportive of U.S.-sponsored genocides around the world. Like Chris Smith (yup, he’s still there).
The same Chris Smith who welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu with a statement of “unequivocal support for Israel” just a few months after it killed 551 Palestinian children in Gaza.
Or Florida Senator Rick Scott – also a bestie of the butcher of Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The neocon Michael Pillsbury – the same Michael Pillsbury who in the 1980s, as a state department official, oversaw the CIA’s arming of the Afghanistan mujahideen with Stinger missiles, the same mujahideen who would train Uighur jihadists.
The Uighur genocide is almost perfectly tailored for right-wing agitators who want to portray socialism as a totalitarian system akin to Nazism. “When people say ‘never again’ they were (sic) full of crap. They’re just full of crap. This is one area where the United States should be taking a leading role… shaving people’s heads, shipping them on trains and to concentration camps where you force them into labor and/or sterilize them,” declared Ben Shapiro.
“Many of them women who, of their own volition, had the Chinese government paramilitary forcefully end those pregnancies. Forcefully sterilize,” said Tim Pool. “They’re trying to sterilize the Uighur population but force the Han population genetic code into other Uighur women,” his fellow podcaster claimed.
Should I mention here that the U.S. government forcibly sterilized 1,400 Black women in a California prison? Haven’t seen any U.S. government officials or news media talk about that!
This propaganda deluge is having a powerful impact on U.S. public opinion. In 2017, just before the Uighur genocide narrative kicked into high gear, 53% of Americans had a favorable view of China – the highest in three decades. Now, a new poll shows it’s down to 20% – a historic low. That was accompanied by a 150% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in U.S. cities.
It’s the “sheeple effect“. It’s when zombie population mindlessly regurgitate the media narratives about things that they themselves have NEVER personally experienced. They just repeat without thinking. They regurgitate without consideration. They have no personal experiences to justify their beliefs.
"Oh, China is terrible."
How do you know this?"Everyone knows this. What a silly question."
Did you experience something bad while you were in China?"I've never been to China, but I have a friend of a friend who has. And he says it's terrible".
How do you know that the third hand information is correct, and accurate?"I know. I feel it in my bones, besides everyone knows that China is terrible."
Sheeple drink Brawndo. It has electrolytes.
Trillions of dollars worth of “caring”
So what is this all about?
Why did corporate media and militaristic right wing politicians, along with a surprising number of progressive dupes, suddenly start freaking out about a supposed genocide in China?
Why?
Xinjiang is the heart of China’s Belt and Road initiative, the economic plan that connects Asia to Europe and the Middle East. It’s an alternative model to the dictatorship of the U.S. dollar, where the World Bank and International Monetary Fund turn countries into neo-colonies for American corporations – a system backed up with the constant threat of military invasion.
The U.S. can’t deal with legitimate competition, so it’s resorting to smears in an attempt to isolate China diplomatically and slow its economic growth.
It’s either that, or the government and military that forcibly sterilized minority women in prisons, tortured in Abu Ghraib, relies on prison labor, and is waging genocidal wars against multiple Muslim-majority countries, just simply cares a whole lot about the Uighurs.
Sure…
But you know, China is starting to fight back
While they have been passively building, and negotiating, studying, researching, and making, other things are a-foot…
Companies, individuals in Xinjiang to sue rumormongering Adrian Zenz for causing reputation damage, economic losses
By Global Times Published: Mar 09, 2021 10:23 AM
A number of enterprises and individuals in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have directed lawyers to sue German national Adrian Zenz (who calls himself Zheng Guoen in Chinese), Xinjiang local news outlet ts.cn reported.
Local people said that Zenz spread "forced labor" and other rumors related to Xinjiang, which damaged their reputation and caused them to suffer economic losses.
They have filed a civil lawsuit with a local court in Xinjiang, demanding that Zenz apologize, restore their reputation and compensate them for their losses.
Adrian Zenz, born in 1974, is an infamous anti-China pseudo-scholar. He is a German far-right fundamentalist Christian who believes he is "led by God" on a "mission" against China, member of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a far-right organization established by the US government in 1993, and senior fellow in a research group set up by the US intelligence community against the vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang.
In 2018 when he was still a faculty member of the European School of Culture and Theology at Columbia International University, Korntal, he has gone almost overnight from an unknown researcher into a go-to pundit on Xinjiang, as the US steps up its disinformation campaign against China.
In recent years, Zenz has produced multiple sensational "reports" on Xinjiang on social media platforms like Twitter, and fabricated false academic research on Xinjiang, in which he spread rumors such as large-scale monitoring of local ethnic minorities and forced labor of the Uygurs.
These false claims have been pursued by Western media. Misled by such rumors on Xinjiang, some countries and companies have reduced or even halted imports of cotton and cotton products from Xinjiang, causing some cotton farmers and cotton processing enterprises in Xinjiang to suffer great economic losses.
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.
One the most profound realizations that one MUST arrive at is that the American (and Western) “news” is a massive propaganda organ. It’s not that they twist and distort the news. Oh, I wish it was that simple. No. Rather, they lie, and make up fanciful stories towards manipulation. That’s it, and nothing more can be said.
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Now, of course, you can categorize the the lies.
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You can say that the lies fall under categories. And of these, purposes for the manipulation of large groups of people.
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I really don’t think that this is all that difficult to understand.
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All these different organizations are vying for your mind. They want you to think certain ways, and in doing so it gives them advantage. Depending on who is involved, you can then map out the funding, and the then compare with the depth and breadth of the articles that the media bombards you with.
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I’ve posted a lot of articles about the anti-China narrative, and discussed the people behind this screed. Pretty much it’s a mix of religious fundamentalists, neocons, and hard-Right players. And when Donald Trump became President in 2016, the opened the funding floodgates, as well as staffed his administration with neocons, and the result was a “firehose” of anti-China disinformation.
They all are looking forward to getting involved in a hot war with “juicy and wealthy” China. They just want an EXCUSE.
You will find these articles all over the internet. Such as this one (below) that I pulled off of Free Republic right now…
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China's military is poised to outgun the West after HUGE growth
3/15/2021, 9:34:39 AM · by RomanSoldier19 · 12 repliesDaily Mail via msn ^ | 3/14/2021 | Marco Giannangeli
It follows an ominous warning last week by the commander of US forces in the Indo-Pacific that China may launch a military operation against Taiwan "in the next six years". This would likely lead to military reprisals from the US Navy and allies including Britain, which is sending its new carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, to lead a multinational strike force to the Far East in May. China commands the world's largest military, with 2.18 million soldiers, sailors and aviators on active duty. And after a recent 6.8 percent rise it will command a £200billion military budget this year. But it...
Oh, Ah.
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Read the text, of “ominous warning” and “military reprisals”. War in that far-away land is being jinned up, don’t you think? Any day now, some proud American Rambo’s are gonna “kick some slant eyed butt”, don’t you know.
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Not gonna happen.
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Why?
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Well, in the first case the American and UK military excursion into the South China Sea in late Summer 2020 was a disaster, and the seven aircraft carriers steamed back to American (and the UK) with their “tail between their legs”. Trump incensed that his orders were not carried out, fired his military brass as soon as then returned. It was a “Waterloo moment“, and scared the living shit out of the military brass.
And in the Second Case, please just keep in mind that Taiwan is part of China. No matter how much this is omitted in the neocon publications and articles. No matter how many times the American “news” talks about the USA “doing something”, nothing is going to happen. You can yell, scream and stamp your feet but that will not change the fact that Taiwan agreed to become part of China, and this union is recognized by the United Nations.
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Taiwan stopped being an independent nation, and became a Chinese client state in 1972 by [1] The Shanghai Communiqué and the 1982 [2] Joint Communiqué and [3] the August 17 Communiqué. It's the 23rd province of China.
All of this his was codified and made permanent on October 1971, when the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 2758, which recognized the government of the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate representative of China at the United Nations and established the One-China Principle.
American “news” is a big lie, and people are following it because just about everything in America has been corrupted beyond recognition. No one trusts the government, yet somehow they believe the media. They turn to alternative media in the belief that they have not been corrupted.
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Ah. But they have.
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But anyways,
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Aside from all that “noise” out of the “news”, China is moving on. It is on all fronts. So the USA doesn’t want to partner with China on anything. OK. No problem. But watch out. As I have said before; China does not play.
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Meanwhile check out what is going on with China and Taiwan right now…
China’s railway operator echoes netizens’ call for a high-speed rail route to Taiwan
By Global Times Published: Mar 14, 2021 03:03 PM
Reprinted as found. All credit to the author, and edited to fit this venue.
An aerial photo shows the Pingtan Strait Road-rail Bridge in East China’s Fujian Province. The first of its kind in China, the bridge opened on Saturday, shortening travel time between the provincial capital of Fuzhou with the island county of Pingtan to 35 minutes from around two hours. The bridge will make it more convenient for compatriots in the island of Taiwan to travel to the Chinese mainland. Photo: cnsphoto
China’s top railway operator said on Sunday that it has “taken seriously the building of a railway to the island of Taiwan,” echoing Chinese netizens’ calls as well as the Russian Ambassador to China’s wish to visit the island by train.
China Railways, the country’s top railway construction company, discussed the technical issues and routes of building the high-speed railway from East China’s Fujian Province to the island of Taiwan in an article published in its official WeChat account on Sunday.
No wonder Donald Trump wanted to ban WeChat, you cannot have the anti-China narrative polluted by facts.
In the article, it mentioned China’s National Comprehensive Transportation Network Plan, which was rolled out in late February and set the construction goals from 2021 to 2035 with a long-term plan extended. A route from Fuzhou to Taipei, in the island of Taiwan, was also listed in the plan.
China’s HST (High Speed Train) rail network as of 2020.
The plan soon drew heated discussions on Chinese social media platforms. Netizens also expressed a strong wish to “visit Taiwan by train.”
Close up showing the HST bridge between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.
Denisov said he is looking forward to taking a high-speed train to visit the island some day in an interview with Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV in early March. “If I could have a chance to visit Taiwan Province, of course I prefer to do it by train.”
Responding to such calls, the railway operator giant noted, “The dream that countless Chinese people have dreamt is finally drawing closer,” as the Beijing-Taipei high-speed rail has only “the last part” between the Straits left to be completed.
It further went on to explain that with the completion of the Fuzhou-Pingtan railway last December, all of the construction work on the Beijing-Taipei high-speed rail has been completed except for the last section, which will link the mainland across the Straits, referring to “the last part” from Pingtan to Taipei.
The Fuzhou-Pingtan railway, the nearest one on the mainland from Taiwan, was put into operation on December 26. Pingtan is only 68 nautical miles away from Taiwan’s Hsinchu, the closest point across the straits.
The Pingtan Strait Road-Rail Bridge, a key project of the Fuzhou-Pingtan railway, has a total length of 16.34 kilometers. It is the world’s longest cross-sea road-rail bridge and the first road-rail bridge in China.
Is this even possible, or is this a “pipe dream”?
Oh yes. It is absolutely possible. Consider that all of the neighboring nations are enthusiastically participating with China in establishing communication and trade routes and upgrading their infrastructure. And consider the a fore mentioned “Pingtan Strait Road-Rail Bridge” which was just completed last year. Which followed the HK – Macao – Zhuhai bridge effort (outside my front door)…
The Fuzhou-Pingtan railway in east China’s Fujian Province went into operation Saturday morning after seven years of construction, allowing visitors from the Chinese mainland and China’s Taiwan to travel more conveniently across the Taiwan Straits.
The Fuzhou-Pingtan railway in east China’s Fujian Province went into operation Saturday morning after seven years of construction, allowing visitors from the Chinese mainland and China’s Taiwan to travel more conveniently across the Taiwan Straits.
The 88-kilometer railway, designed to support high-speed trains running at a speed of up to 200 km per hour, connects the provincial capital of Fuzhou with the largest island in the province, which is the nearest place in the Chinese mainland to Taiwan Island, only 68 nautical miles (about 126 km) away from Hsinchu City.
The 88-kilometer railway, designed to support high-speed trains running at a speed of up to 200 km per hour, connects the provincial capital of Fuzhou with the largest island in the province.
Noting that they have been taking the “Strait” ship to travel between Pingtan and Taiwan, Yang Binghao, who is from Taiwan and runs a cultural and creative center in Pingtan, said that with the Fuzhou-Pingtan railway, “Taiwan compatriots can now transfer via railway after arriving in Pingtan by sea, and then we can easily travel to Beijing, Shanghai and other parts of the mainland.”
Yang believes that the railway will further promote the opening-up and development of Pingtan and facilitate cross-strait travel and communication, benefiting local residents and people from both sides.
Thanks to bullet trains running on the Pingtan Strait Road-Rail Bridge, it now only takes around half an hour for residents and visitors to commute between both places.
Thanks to bullet trains running on the Pingtan Strait Road-Rail Bridge, it now only takes around half an hour for residents and visitors to commute between both places. The 16.3-kilometer-long bridge, with a six-lane highway on top and a high-speed railway at bottom, is China’s first and the world’s longest cross-sea road-rail bridge.
The 16.3-km-long Pingtan Strait Road-Rail Bridge is China’s first and the world’s longest cross-sea road-rail bridge. /CFP
The new railway will link the island county with major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen through the transportation hub in Fuzhou, according to Li Fei, an official with the China Railway Nanchang Group Co., Ltd.
In 2009, the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone was launched in the county to facilitate cross-strait exchange and cooperation, aiming to become a “common home for compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits,” which currently houses more than 1,000 Taiwan-invested enterprises.
A young child ride the HST on the way to Taiwan.
Comprised of 126 islands, Pingtan is home to marvelous natural wonders and a number of tourist attractions such as Haitan Island, Tannan Bay, Pingtan Island National Forest Park, and Haitan Ancient City, and has become increasingly popular among visitors from home and abroad in recent years.
From January 20, up to 17 sets of bullet trains will run on the line every day, up from 9.5 sets plying currently, further boosting the development of local tourism.
So what is China doing to quench the anti-unification efforts?
Sure all this is fine and good. China is building bridges, and tunnels and aiding in economic development. However the United States is funding the Taiwan separatist movement. (As well as funding NGO’s such as the NED, and NID for insurgency efforts.) But what is China doing to quench those who want to fight a “hot war” for “American Democracy”?
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday stressed the importance of the one-China principle and 1992 Consensus in addressing the development of cross-strait relations.
The premier made the remarks during a virtual press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing after the closing of the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's top legislature.
The Chinese mainland welcomes dialogue with different parties regarding cross-strait relations to achieve the unification of China, Li said, before stressing opposition to any form of separatist activities or foreign interference in cross-strait affairs.
The central government will continue to enable Taiwan compatriots to share in opportunities on the mainland, he added.
So yeah. Who, as you well know, already have Chinese passports, is still able to buy property and set up businesses but will now be granted easy loans and smooth sailing in new businesses and ventures. China is “pulling out all the stops” to help integrate the Taiwanese with the mainland Chinese.
Some thoughts
When I was a young boy, the “news” was all about the “War in Vietnam”. Every day were reports on how our “brave young men were saving the world from communism”. And the media was all over it. From Walter Cronkite on television to magazines such as “Popular Mechanics (illustrated)” and “Vanity Fair”. In those days we were all afraid of “The Red Menace”, and the “Domino Effect”, and were terrified of the “loss of our freedoms”.
Domino theory, also called Domino Effect, theory in U.S. foreign policy after WorldWar II stating that the “fall” of a noncommunist state to communismwould precipitate the fall of noncommunist governments in neighbouring states. Thetheorywas first proposed by President Harry S.Truman.domino theory | internationalrelations | Britannica.com
In those days, as a young boy, I would watch Hollywood movies glorify war. I would envision myself flying in TheB-24Liberator bombing the shit out the of the evil Nazi’s (12 O’Clock High), or fighting on the front lines with John Wayne in the movie TheGreenBerets (1968).
John Wayne in the movie The Green Berets (1968).
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It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized that were I to follow my boyhood dreams, I would probably have been shipped off to die in some distant land. I would have died a virgin, and forgotten by the rest of the world. But no one else realizes this, and America is still playing the same old games that ended up killing thousands of Americans, and millions of civilians over the last fifty years.
This is just a typical example of how absolutely “off the wall” American media is when it comes to reporting what is going on in China.
It omits facts.
it omits history.
It omits contemporaneous news.
It fabricates news.
It distorts events.
It produces emotion laden articles full of fear.
It is, after all, a reflection of what America stands for.
I will generate more articles along these lines in the future. For now they will all fall under the heading… “America is having a hissy fit.”
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.
You know, the Western “news” is just propaganda. Nothing more. It is used to instill fear, control and manipulate huge masses of people, and to bludgeon them into predefined and specific types of behaviors. And of the many things that propaganda does (lie, distort, and emphasize incorrect narratives) is ignore real and substantive actual news. And yeah. They do this for a reason, don’t you know. And this article is going to talk about one thing that the American media is very quiet about; the Chinese people are much more prosperous than Americans are.
So forget that neocon belief that the Chinese people are shivering in fear and oppression from their all-power Chinese Communist overlords (it is the de facto narrative). They aren’t. They are overwhelmingly happy, approve of their government, and just living their life in near carefree abandon.
Which is why I enjoyed traveling outside of America. When I went to Australia, the relationships with the folk there reminded me of my boyhood days in the 1960’s and 1970’s. And when I went to South East Asia, it reminded me of the days of “keg parties” and “hanging out”… you know. Doing ‘nothin. It was glorious.
It was everything I hoped it would be.
In those lands I wasn’t barraged with “news”. Even being connected to the USA though Wifi (much faster than what you get in the States, and for FREE!) no one read the “news” like I would (do so). They just pretty much ignored it. It was a much smaller part of their life. Certainly much smaller than what we from the States would think. And as a result they were far happier because of it.
Imagine that!
The lack of regulations, rules, policing control, laws, and just about everything else that is part and parcel of the regulatory and all-controlling America is absent in Asia. And it’s just glorious.
But anyways…
The American (and Western) “news” is just a big mill and den of lies and distortions. It is at all levels, and if you haven’t figured this out by now, you are either stupid or have mental problems. They lie. they distort. They cause you to live in fear. They spew hate. They are just awful.
The dangers of 3G; your brain will cook when you answer your cell phone.
Oh, and 5G, that terrible Chinese radiation is much worse!
Mad cow disease will kill you when you eat a hamburger.
Y2K is going to have your toaster jump and strangle you in the kitchen.
Killer zombie hornets is going to attack your community.
Donate money now to SAVE THE CHILDREN in far away Africa.
Dangerous child abductors are prowling all over your neighborhood.
Ask your doctor about Prozac Plus, the new gateway to happiness!
You too can get a free trial of unlimited internet only $9.99, special conditions apply don’t you know…
Do something. Now! Now! Nowwww!
Number 6: Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment, and will die here like rotten cabbages.
Do you think I’m exaggerating? I’m NOT. It’s just that when you view the “news” narrative out of context, at a time when the media onslaught has subsided, it seems just so very silly.
Silly.
Like mixing wine and chocolate.
Um. I take that back. Make that’s a good pairing. I’ll have to give it a try. Anyone game to experiment with me?
Anyways back to the silliness about the United States. It is, really is, silly.
Sorry for being so darn harsh, but it’s true. American “news” is just plain silly. Like check out the latest “shit-storm” that’s a-brewing on Drudge today…
Anyways, lets leave the fairy tale world of American (and UK, Australian and Indian) “news”…
…and discuss something that really is intentionally omitted.
Number Two: I'm the boss.
Number 6: No. One is the boss.
It is the idea that not only is the rest of the world growing, and prospering, but that China is leading the pack and doing much, much… so much better than anything their American cousins can even realize.
What?
That’s right.
And that’s what happens when you have a capable, experienced leadership that is motivated to improve the lives of it’s people.
Observer: Questions are a burden to others. Answers are prison for oneself.
The Communist Chinese are wealthier than Americans.
Ouch!
How about that for rubbing your face in a pile of shit?
This article is from Yicai global. You won't find it in the States, unless you perform a serious search. It's not that it's blocked, but perhaps it's more likely "shadow blocked". It's not gonna find it's way into your daily news feeds. Reprinted as found with editing to fit this venue. All credit to the author Ben Armour.
There has been a lot of chatter in the [Chinese] press about the Chinese government’s setting a growth target for 2021. And specifically whether or not it was able to achieve its longstanding goal of doubling incomes in the last ten years.
While this year’s economic prospects are clouded by uncertainty, a recent study by researchers at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) indicates that China has already achieved its objective of building a moderately prosperous society (小康社会) – at least in its cities.
The study, published in the latest issue of China Finance, highlights the results of a comprehensive survey of urban families’ finances conducted at the end of 2019. It reports that median household net worth stood at CNY1.41 million or close to USD200,000.
Median household worth in China is $ 200,000 USD.
The US’s own Survey of Consumer Finances was last conducted by the Federal Reserve in 2016. If I adjust its findings for inflation, then median US household net worth was about USD104,000 in 2019.
Median household worth in the USA is $ 104,000 USD.
Thus, one can say that the typical US household is only about half as rich as the typical Chinese urban family.
Number 6: [referring to the chess game] Why do you use people?
Chessmaster: Some psychiatrists say it satisfies the desire for power. 'the only opportunity one gets here.
Number 6: That depends what side you're on.
Chessmaster: [quickly] I'm on my side.
Number 6: [quickly] Aren't we all.
Chessmaster: You must be new here. In time, most of us join the enemy - against ourselves.
How is this possible?
Since per capita GDP in the US is close to five times higher than in China, how can we explain such a surprising result?
The very unequal distribution of wealth in the US is a big part of the story.
The super wealthy is skewing all the numbers to be much higher than they would be otherwise.
The graph below shows that while median US household wealth is about half that of Chinese urban families, average US household net worth is about 80 percent higher than China’s USD413,000.
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The ratio of average to median net worth is a measure of how equally wealth is distributed.
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If everyone’s wealth was exactly the same, the ratio of the two net worth measures would be 1.0. China’s mean household net worth is double its median. The ratio in the US is seven times, pointing to a much more unequal distribution of wealth.
The Ideal = 1
China = 2
United States = 7
China has far better financial, and social equality than America has.
What are the attributes that contribute to this situation? Reason one.
Median Income. Since it lies right in the middle of the wealth distribution, we can think of the median household as “typical. ”Half the families are richer and half the families are poorer than it is.
On average, American families are wealthier than Chinese ones. There are a lot of really wealthy American families that pull that average up.
But the typical American household remains poorer than its Chinese urban counterpart.
Note that I am making these comparisons in 2019 US dollars and am not accounting for the fact that a US dollar buys more in China than it does in the US.
Reason Two
A second reason that Chinese urban households are relatively wealthy is that home ownership is quite widespread.
According to the PBOC study, 96 percent of urban households own residential property. The corresponding figure for the US is only 64 percent.
Median Data
96% of Chinese own their own homes.
64% of Americans own their own homes.
The gap between US and Chinese in home ownership is even more striking at the low end of the income distribution. In the US, only one-third of the families in the lowest income quintile own a home. In China, 89 percent do.
Low Income Data
89% of China’s poor own homes.
33% of American poor own homes.
In fact, many Chinese families own more than one property: 31 percent of them have two and 11 percent have three or more. On average, each urban family owns 1.5 residential properties.
Chinese home ownership
Average family owns 1.5 homes.
31% of Chinese own 2 homes.
11% of Chinese own three or more homes.
Chinese family wealth does not simply rest on inflated real estate values.
Residential property represents just under 60 percent of household assets, with financial assets and other real assets (shops, productive equipment, vehicles, etc.) each accounting for close to 20 percent.
Moreover, from the information in the study, I estimate that the price-to-income ratio of these households’ residential property holdings at 3.7. This is fairly close to the median house price-to-income ratio in the US, 3.6, according to Demographia’s most recent survey.
Home price / Income for China = 3.7
Home price / income for the USA = 3.6
Reason Three
The third reason for Chinese urban households’ high net worth is their relatively low indebtedness.
Seventy-seven percent of US households have assumed some sort of financial liability (a mortgage, a car loan, student debt, etc.). In China, only 57 percent of the urban households have incurred such liabilities.
In debt to financial loans – USA = 77%
In debt to financial loans – China = 57%
Not only do fewer Chinese households carry liabilities, but what debts they owe are small relative to their assets. The debts of the median Chinese household, which does have liabilities, only amounts to 16 percent of its assets. In contrast, the median indebted American household has a leverage ratio of 36 percent of its assets.
American debt to assets = 36%
Chinese debt to assets = 16%
Reason Four
The final piece of the puzzle is understanding how Chinese urban households can have such a high rate of home ownership and such a low rate of indebtedness.
Chinese households do have much higher savings rates than their US counterparts and that is an important factor. But more important was the way in which the housing stock was privatized.
Up until the late 1990s, almost all residential property belonged to state-owned institutions, which provided low-rent accommodation to their employees. As part of the state-owned enterprise reform program, the government relieved firms of the burden of providing housing for their workers. Urban households were able to purchase their apartments from their employers at reasonable prices, leading to today’s high rate of home ownership and supporting urban prosperity.
A China First
(Yicai Global) April 27 — China may be the first country in the world to have reached a 96 percent urban home ownership rate, according to the central bank.
China has a 96% home ownership rate in the cities.
In an article the People’s Bank of China published in its China Finance journal today it also noted that the bulk of assets held by urban families is physical.
Chinese assets tend to be tangible, physical “brick and mortar” items.
American assets tend to be intangible, stocks, bonds, pensions, potential worth.
Home ownership in developed countries is mostly around the 60 percent level, according to data from Trading Economics. In the US, the figure was 65.1 percent at the end of last year, US Department of Commerce statistics show. The PBOC report puts China’s home ownership 28.5 percentage points ahead of the US.
Chinese home ownership = 96% (urban)
USA home ownership = 65.1%
Typical (developed country) home ownership = 60%
The reports also said Chinese urban households prefer risk-free financial assets, with homes making up nearly 70 percent and financial assets 20.4 percent.
The average wealth of urban households is CNY3.18 million (USD449,200), with a median value of CNY1.63 million, per the report. The difference between the two is about CNY1.55 million, indicating an uneven distribution of household assets.
Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangsu province ranked as the top three for family riches, with CNY8.9 million, CNY8.1 million and CNY5.1 million, respectively. The lowest three provincial-level units are the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Gansu province in northwestern China and Jilin province in the northeast.
Households in urban areas generally take out loans. Some 56.5 percent of those surveyed are in debt. Among them, the total owed per household is CNY512,000 (USD72,346), with roughly 54 percent owing less than CNY300,000, 35.6 percent owing CNY300,000 to CNY1 million, while the remaining 10.5 percent owe over CNY1 million.
Mortgages constitute the bulk of household debt.
Some 77 percent of indebted households have home loans averaging CNY389,000, making up over three quarters of total household debt. The PBOC’s urban resident household assets and liabilities research team from its Statistics and Analysis Department canvassed more than 30,000 households in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and cities across the country in mid-to-late October.
Wow.
It’s time to celebrate!
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Um. No, this isn’t right. Not enough food.
A real celebration requires FOOD!
.
Ah. Much better.
Pretty Amazing Stuff
Yes it is.
So what is not being reported in the American and Western press? It is that China is not some backwards, dirty, disease ridden infested dark smoggy slime-ball nation. But rather, a growing prosperous nation where most people own their homes. Where most people are debt free, and those that are in debt with loans are not too worried about it as the debts are small relative to their income stream. It’s a big, big change when you compare that to America.
How can Americans (and others in “the West”) have this kind of idea? Well consider what consists of “news”.
...The dramatic detention of a handful of foreigners in recent years has instilled a deep fear in some people, especially those with politically adjacent occupations. As President Xi breeds a culture of nationalism and forges increasingly hostile relations with Western governments, some fear that if a diplomatic spat between their government and Beijing occurred while they were in China they could become a target...
Um…
So just in this paragraph we see…
Dramatic detention of foreigners!
Deep fear is present.
President Xi breeds a culture of nationalism!
President Xi is hostile to nations in the West.
And that is just ONE lone paragraph.
Do I have to point out the absolute falsehoods, the manipulations, the distortions and the lies in the four bullet points above, or are you aware of the reality?
It’s a non-stop bullshit garbage narrative like this that is pumped relentlessly into the brains of Americans, non-stop, 24-7.
I makes me want to have a fine libation, and some delicious food, I’ll tell you what.
[over the opening of each episode - Number 2 played by various actors] Number 6: Where am I?
Number 2: In the Village.
Number 6: What do you want?
Number 2: Information.
Number 6: Whose side are you on?
Number 2: That would be telling. We want information... information... information.
Number 6: You won't get it.
Number 2: By hook or by crook, we will.
Number 6: Who are you?
Number 2: The new Number 2.
Number 6: Who is Number 1?
Number 2: You are Number 6.
Number 6: I am not a number, I am a free man.
Let’s take a look at what China is today, shall we. Here’s some videos (in no particular order) that I just pulled off my Douxing feed this morning. Just you click on the picture and it will open up in a new tab.
High Speed Trains.
There are everywhere in China. Fast. Cheap. Comfortable. Convenient. Takes you anywhere and everywhere. The American news is again talking about how soon, one day, America too will be as good as China. And the talk is all about having high speed trains, like China has.
Of course they never mention that America is literally twenty years behind China in this regard, or that America has already spent 77 billion dollars for a cardboard and fiberglass mock-up. Or that America started on the American HST at the same time that China did, but with over ten times the funding level. And while China today has hundreds of lines, thousands of Kilometers of track, hundreds of trains, and stations, the United States has nothing.
But some day soon. You just wait and see. Right?
In China, HST is average, normal, and no big deal.
Just click on the picture and the video will pop up in another tab.
Guangzhou
Guangzhou is a “working class” city. Much like Pittsburgh, PA is. It’s big. really big. But it’s got a real “local” feel to it. It’s not cosmopolitan like Beijing, or Shanghai are. It’s just full of average people. Going to work and living life.
Here’s some gals going out for a nice dinner, some great friendship and some wine. Wouldn’t you all wish that you were there with them? I do. I’ll tell you what.
Some young gals having a nice dinner in Guangzhou China.
Chinese Transport Air Force
The Chinese, since there have been so many restrictions placed on them by America, and the UK, were forced to develop their own systems. This is everything from their own space stations, and Mars lander to military aircraft, and computer systems. All “home grown” and mass produced at a frenzy and pace that is stunning to behold.
We hear about it all, but then when you see just how many state of the art systems are in use, it just boggles the mind.
A Typical Chinese family
Here we have a typical Chinese family in their home. Not some kind of dirt floored hovel, is it? Do they look like they are starving, and begging for American “democracy” to “save them”?
Why so many children? I thought that the Chinese kill babies and that you are only allowed to have one </sarcasm>. But take a look at the mother and her 19 year old daughter. The Chinese don’t age like Americans do, because they EAT MUCH HEALTHIER. No GMO hormones, and no one is taking anti-stress, and anti-depression medications.
Outside of Zhuhai
This chick is a dancing and carrying on in a park right outside the supermarket where I shop for my groceries. Yeah. It’s pretty much like this. This is obviously on the weekend, judging from all the people. Must be on a Sunday.
A typical park
The Chinese have made improving the lives of their citizens a top priority. This is ALL that the government does. I would say that a full 100% of their effort is towards helping the people, improving their quality of life, and setting up defensive measures so that evil people cannot run “color revolutions” against them.
Most parks are now, beautiful, well maintained, and tranquil. Like this.
Movie making
One of the big omissions in American “news” is that just about everything is made in China. But if you listen to them, you get the idea that China only makes cheap pens, rubber duckies and the low-end products for Wal-mart. It doesn’t. All of the high-tech stuff is designed and made in China. All of it.
All of it.
Like this movie camera kit that is used to make the movies that Americans are not permitted to watch. LOL.
All this is about reality
If the masses of people could think critically for themselves, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. By the way Rod, there is a war. It’s raging and has enveloped this planet. It’s a war for our minds. Many have been captured. I know, I see them every day. And I read what they write.
-Ohio Guy
I think that most of us are living in an artificial construct; and artificial reality. it is one that is constructed and based upon lies and untruths. And so, believing these lies and untruths we live our lives, making decisions, and behaving in certain ways that do not… and should not.. be part of our reality.
I suppose that you could point this out to anyone. You could point at them and say..
"How dare you live like you do? Your ideas and your thoughts do not match mine. You must change and agree with me! For my reality, and my understanding is the only and correct way of thinking."
So, yeah. Let’s keep a real sense of perspective here.
It doesn’t matter what other people are doing. Not really. Not if they are Americans, or Chinese, or Zambians. All that matters is what you are doing with your life.
If you are happy, having fun, trust your government, then that is fine. You can keep on believing what you want to believe. You can keep on doing what you are doing, and listening to the news as you see it. It’s working for you. Keep it up.
But if you are not, then maybe you should reevaluate your life; your reality. You need to ask whether it is an actual reflection of the truth. Or instead, are you living something else instead.
Are you like “Number 6” in the 1968 television show “The Prisoner” where you live in a nice pleasant place, but you can never leave it. And no matter what you do, you never get any straight answers and never know your true and real situation?
"The Prisoner" is a unique piece of television. It addresses issues such as personal identity and freedom, democracy, education, scientific progress, art and technology, while still remaining an entertaining drama series. Over seventeen episodes we witness a war of attrition between the faceless forces behind 'The Village' (a Kafkaesque community somewhere between Butlins and Alcatraz) and its most strong willed inmate, No. 6. who struggles ceaselessly to assert his individuality while plotting to escape from his captors.
I think that for many Americans, the answer is YES.
It’s all a big farce. Elections are held, but no one really has any power. The reality looks nice and pleasant, but there is this grinding negativity just under the surface, and no one ever gets to glimpse their real reality.
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Since its initial telecast, back in 1967, this enigmatic classic has evoked every reaction from awe to contempt. Given the amount of serious critical attention THE PRISONER has received, and given that a whole society has been created in its honor, I'd say the awe has won out, and I vehemently agree that THE PRISONER deserves to be honored as one of the truly artistic programs created for commercial television.
However, I can also understand the frustration many viewers have felt. Over the course of its seventeen episodes, this offbeat spy thriller becomes further and further offbeat until it ultimately transforms into surrealistic allegory. I confess I'm not sure whether this transformation was intended as a complete surprise, or whether you were supposed to know where the show was going, but in either case, I think you can better appreciate the series if you can see the earlier episodes as preparation for what's to come.
THE PRISONER's title character is a British secret agent (series creator Patrick McGoohan) who may or may not be SECRET AGENT's John Drake. The story begins with him suddenly and mysteriously resigning, then just as suddenly and mysteriously being rendered unconscious and transported to a place known only as The Village, the location of which is known only to those who run it. The Village is a prison camp, but with all of the amenities of a vacation resort,. Attractive dwellings, shops, restaurants, etc. exist side by side with high-tech methods of keeping order and extracting information from those who won't give it up willingly.
Those who try to escape get to meet Rover, a belligerent weather balloon capable of locomotion, and seemingly of independent thought. It appears (to me anyway) that the authorities can summon Rover, send it away, and give it instructions, but that it acts more or less on its own initiative. Rover deals with fugitives by plastering itself against their faces, rendering them either unconscious or dead, depending on how bad a mood it's in. Twice, we see it haul someone in from the ocean by sucking them up into a whirlpool it creates.
Citizens of The Village, including those in authority, are identified only by numbers. Our protagonist is known only as No. 6 throughout the entire series. The Village is run by No. 2, who in turn reports to an unseen and unidentified No. 1. No. 1 is apparently an unforgiving boss, because No. 2 is always being replaced.
Shortly after he arrives in in the Village, No. 6 is informed, by the reigning No. 2, that he should count on remaining there permanently. If he cooperates, life will be pleasant and he may even be given a position of authority. If he resists -- well, the only restriction they're under is not to damage him permanently. To satisfy his captors, No. 6 need only answer one question: `Why did you resign?' His question in turn is, `Who runs this place? Who is No. 1?'
Most of the episodes deal with No. 6's attempts to escape, and/or his captors' attempts to break him, although there are a few side trips. Several episodes suggest that No. 6's own people may be involved with running The Village. Some of the episodes are fairly straightforward, while others leave you with questions as to exactly what went on. It's important to note that several of the more obscure episodes -- for example, `Free for All' and `Dance of the Dead' -- are among the seven episodes that McGoohan considers essential to the series.
And then we come to the final episode, `Fall Out,' which promises to answer all the burning questions the viewers have been anguishing over for seventeen weeks -- and which so frustrated and angered those viewers back in 1967 that McGoohan had to go into hiding for awhile. Of course, I can't reveal any of the really important details, because, as No. 2 says in the recap that begins most of the episodes, `That would be telling,' and as all of us IMBD contributors know, `telling,' is frowned upon. However, to come back to the point with which I started, you should be prepared for a resolution of an entirely different nature than the one you'll probably be expecting -- a resolution that forces you to rethink your entire concept of the Village, and of the intention of the series. If you aren't ready, you'll be frustrated. If you are, you can accept THE PRISONER is the spirit in which it was offered.
Yes. The 1968 version of the televisions show “The Prisoner” says it most clearly.
When I saw the first episode of this series, my jaw dropped in amazement. Here was a TV series that was entertaining and actually made you think. Nothing was ever what it appeared, no one had a real name, you never knew who was the good guy or the bad guy (or if they were one in the same!). The "final" episode was what could only be described as PSYCHEDELIC.
This TV series was, and still is, way ahead of its time.
Perhaps America today is a big prison. The inmates don’t realize that they are trapped in one, as it appears to be open and free. But in functional reality it is just one big enormous prison.
The New Number Two: Good day, Number Six.
Number 6: Number what?
The New Number Two: Six. For official purposes, everyone has a number. Yours is number six.
Number 6: I am not a number. I am a person.
The New Number Two: Six of one, half a dozen of another.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my China and America Comparisons Index here…
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When I lived in Massachusetts I used to drive about and explore the beautiful, beautiful countryside. It was always glorious. New England, and most especially Massachusetts is just breathtakingly beautiful. I, and my wife at the time, would visit the tiny quaint towns, the historical buildings and walk the thousands of quaint trails in the meticulously preserved wooded areas. And as we drove we would encounter the strangest things in the middle of the road. These things called “round a bouts” were a continuously and vexing feature of Massachusetts that I never really got accustomed to.
RoundaboutA roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.-Wikipedia
Now, the point of this is that I would go and get on these things, and it would be a “free for all”. You wouldn’t really know when to get off, and instead your would go around, and around until you found your exit. For the locals, it’s no big deal. But for a new person entering these things, it tended to get really messy and confusing.
Some areas you stop and wait for traffic. Some areas you yield to traffic, and some areas you wonder what is going on. We (when I lived in Mass) said that it was often a “free for all” during “rush hour”.
Now roundabouts are inherited from the British who really seemed to like them. Why, I’ll never know. But they kept them on and enhanced them to a point where they are just a royal mess and point of confusion.
Check out this roundabout in England. It’s called The Magic Roundabout. Magic Roundabout was voted the worst roundabout in 2005.
The Magic Roundabout
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Now, do you see those little points with arrows going around, and around? Those are mini-roundabouts. There are five of them in this particular roundabout. When a car reaches that point, they are to go around and around until a point opens up for them to pass into the right (or is it the left) lane.
Ah.
Modern life. We try to make things simple and orderly and end up making a very stressful, confusing and bewildering situation for everyone.
It’s really no wonder that many people in the United States are completely stressed out…
Stressing Americans
I guess the days of Mayberry RFD are long gone.
And you know, you really need to ask yourself “what happened”?
What happened to that great and glorious quality of life that we used to enjoy and were oh so very proud of being part of. What happened to it?
People, I have to ask, is the quality of life in America getting better, or is it getting worse?
Americans certainly have a lot more “money” than they did when I was a kid, but that doesn’t mean much because the U.S. dollar has only a fraction of the value that it did back then.
1971 – Burger King Meal – $0.55
2021 – Burger King Meal – $5.00
And without a doubt our electronic devices have become much more advanced, but that doesn’t mean that we are happier.
Happiness. In fact, everywhere I look, American people seem to be deeply unhappy.
It is rare to see someone actually smiling in public, but of course there is a good reason for that. If you smile too much, someone might accuse you of being creepy.
As Americans, we are being trained to not express emotions and to keep to ourselves. Being friendly is considered to be “suspicious”, if you tell a joke there is a very good chance that you will deeply offend someone, and if you express strong opinions you might just get “canceled”.
Even though we are far more “wealthy” than they were, I imagine that our culture is not too different from what East Germans experienced before the Berlin Wall came down.
East Germany before the unification in the early 1980’s greatly resembles modern America today.
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Hate and Division. There is so much hate and division in our society, and everyone seems ready to rat out those around them at the drop of a hat. So most people are careful to keep to themselves, but at the same time most people are desperately lonely.
Lonely.
Isolated.
Alone.
Zombies. These days, most Americans walk around like a bunch of zombies. In fact, as a result of mental health problems and stress, a majority of Americans are exhibiting at least one of the symptoms of post-concussion syndrome…
A survey of more than 31,000 people shows that insufficient sleep, mental health problems, and stress were the causes of a whole host of symptoms doctors are used to seeing in head injury patients. Symptoms of what doctors call post-concussion syndrome (PCS) range from persistent headaches, dizziness and anxiety, to insomnia and loss of concentration and memory.
While 27 percent of people report having several of these symptoms, between one-half and three-quarters say they experience at least one. The most common symptoms are fatigue, low energy and drowsiness. Yet despite their findings, researchers believe the number in the general population could be much higher.
Of course one of the primary reasons why so many people are acting like zombies is because we have been drugged out of our minds. Americans take more legal drugs than anyone ever has in the entire history of the world, and each year the pharmaceutical companies come up with even more drugs for us to try.
Drug Abuse. In particular, because we are so deeply unhappy Americans take boatloads of anti-depressants. More than 50 million Americans are on anti-depressants right now, and it gets worse with each passing year.
But even though we are taking so many “happy pills”, Americans continue to kill themselves at a staggering pace, and this is particularly true for our young people.
In North Carolina, one school superintendent recently shared the fact that “the suicide rate among teens is higher than the COVID rate of death in their county”…
The debate to reopen schools for in-person learning has highlighted an alarming idea – that students are not just falling behind academically, but at a heightened risk of death by suicide.
“One of our local superintendents recently shared with me that the suicide rate among teens is higher than the COVID rate of death in their county,” Sen. Deanna Ballard, a Republican from the 45th district, recently told CBS 17, though she declined to name the superintendent or county. Ballard did not respond to NC Health News’ requests for comment.
Isn’t that insane?
Teen Suicide. You can’t just blame the pandemic for the rise in suicide either. In fact, the national suicide rate for teens was skyrocketing before the pandemic ever began…
The national rate of suicide in young people increased 57 percent between 2007 and 2018, according to the CDC.
“Even before the pandemic, we’ve been seeing an increase in youth suicides,” said Virginia Hamlet Rodillas, hotline manager for National Alliance on Mental Illness NC, which operates a statewide helpline.
If our society is so wonderful, then why are so many kids killing themselves?
The truth is that our society has become so sick and so twisted that life seems completely empty to so many of these youths. Life is such a wonderful gift, and every day should be enjoyed to the fullest, but our society has become so evil that many teens are killing themselves rather than live in it one more day.
There is hope even for those that are facing the darkest circumstances, but most people don’t realize that because our society certainly doesn’t offer any hope.
Life Expectancy. Overall life expectancy has been dropping in the U.S. as well. In fact, during the first half of 2020 life expectancy in the United States declined by a full year…
It’s already known that 2020 was the deadliest year in US history, with deaths topping 3MM for the first time. But the latest batch of morbid data is in, and they suggest things are about to get worse on average as life expectancy in the US dropped a full year during the first half of the year.
Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time a baby born today is expected to live. From January through June of last year, that was 77.8 years for the entire U.S. population, down from 78.8 years in 2019. It’s the lowest level since 2006, the report said.
Healthcare. Our healthcare system has become a complete and utter nightmare, and it is not going to get any better any time soon.
Education. Speaking of nightmares, our system of public education has become a sick joke. Just look at what has been going on in Baltimore…
A shocking discovery out of a Baltimore City high school, where Project Baltimore has found hundreds of students are failing. It’s a school where a student who passed three classes in four years, ranks near the top half of his class with a 0.13 grade point average.
Tiffany France thought her son would receive his diploma this coming June. But after four years of high school, France just learned, her 17-year-old must start over. He’s been moved back to ninth grade.
Millions upon millions of young people graduate from high school each year, but many of them can barely read, write or speak in public.
I could go on and on.
Life Satisfaction. Just about every system that you could possibly name is in the process of failing, and that is probably why American satisfaction with the way our country is functioning is at the lowest level ever measured.
Americans’ satisfaction with seven broad aspects of the way the country functions is collectively at its lowest in two decades of Gallup measurement. This includes satisfaction with the overall quality of life in the U.S., assessments of government, corporate and religious influence, and perceptions of the economic and moral climates.
The average percentage satisfied with these seven dimensions has plunged to 39% at the start of 2021. That compares with 53% a year ago, the highest average in more than a decade amid strong economic confidence and before the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S.
So what do you do when your entire population is unhappy, drugged up and facing a bleak future?
You blame it on someone else.
Some comments on the “blame game”
You can look at the American “news” and listen to the groundless, lying and nonsense and come to the conclusion that China is so enormously evil that it must be eradicated from the surface of the earth.
But is it really?
I argue (and so do others) that the A-number one American government answer to stopping the “pitchforks and torches” is to blame some other nation for all the ills that Americans experience.
Sort to like this…
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Ai!
Playing the “blame game” has been pretty effective so far.
It has. It really has.
You blame another group of people, and then you lob bombs and a propaganda campaign against them. The American flag is raised and patriotic movies flood the airwaves.
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Americans might be sad, lonely and unhappy, but at least ‘Merica “kicks ass”.
But 75 years of fighting wars in far-off and distant lands is really wearing thin. People are not getting happier, and the patriotism can only last so long.
Not to mention that you must be judicious on who you decide to pick a fight with.
Caitlin Comments
Here’s some thoughts by Caitlin Johnson…
Caitlin Johnson has been one of the most prolific tellers of truth over the last several years. This is not empty praise. She churns out solid, relevant, and hard hitting insight and analysis on a near daily basis and from my perspective, she has been on the correct side of every issue she has engaged with. She recently wrote:
“In a time of great need the US government is letting its citizens freeze, go broke, get evicted, and die of preventable illnesses so obviously it’s of paramount importance right now that Americans rise up with one voice and direct their righteous anger at China. I’m developing a special disdain for people who mindlessly regurgitate US anti-China narratives, especially people who are normally skeptical of US government claims. There’s just no excuse for this nonsense. The geostrategic agendas are so obvious, the barefaced liars so familiar, and the facts so readily available for anyone intellectually honest enough to look”.
It is with this same mindset that Mr. Billy Bob penned the article below. Reprinted from an earlier version that has since been expanded upon and elaborated. I edited it to fit this venue, from the raw, emotion-laden brilliance that Billy Bob has been famous for.
He (and myself) share Caity’s frustration with those that want to claim the mantle of the left but whose words are seemingly written by State Department apparatchiks…
…and the comments (on my side of the ocean in “Sinoland”) is a flying in crazed abandon! Check it all out.
Rant-a-thon Numero Uno
We’ve all read the laundry list of Western propaganda that is designed to falsely depict China as a brutal dystopic, authoritarian shithole, where everyone hates their government and are totally miserable.
It’s interesting that with regards to Western propaganda targeted at China, the lies are simultaneously proportionate but the exact opposite of truth.
So, Mao who did more good for more people than anyone else in the history of the known universe, is known as “the greatest mass murderer of all time”. Or the Chinese government that according to a 2016 Harvard study has a satisfaction rating of 96% (compared to the 38% enjoyed by the US) is casually described by the Western press as “authoritarian, corrupt, unjust, and one of the biggest human rights violators on the planet”.
For people that fail to recognize the chasm of incongruence here, and are incapable of coming to the only possible conclusion, please ensure that your fork is properly corked before continuing so you don’t injure yourself.
The false indoctrination that has taken hold of far too many self identified “leftists” goes something like this:
"...the CCP is entirely opaque, forbids a free press and completely censors free information... that a few hundred members of a single ruling party dictates policy and is unelected... that political opposition is all but illegal and completely suppressed... that no workers own the means of their own production... that China has the largest increase and concentration of new billionaires while income and wealth inequality is also at its largest, due to rampant exploitative and equally destructive capitalist practices in the past decades... that China engages in imperialism via debt and increased militarism to its Asian neighbors... that China is committing genocide against the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang... that China oppresses, exploits, and impoverishes it’s citizens."
The Most Necessary and Fundamental Context: Class War
There are several mitigating factors that need to be kept in mind when analyzing the issues brought up above.
First and foremost is the reality that our planet is in the midst of a class war . It is a war where an infinitesimally small group of obscenely rich plutocrats, industrialists, and oligarchs, seek to maintain their power. They seek to maintain their wealth, power, and privilege by enforcing a global system of political and economic control. Yet doing so without any moral restraint whatsoever.
The Western ruling class consensus sees China as the enemy and is looking for any possible way to subvert, weaken, divide, and destroy their society.
These gangsters of capitalism are masters at their craft. They have successfully dismantled the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Syria among others. They have regime changed scores of countries, most recently, Libya, Ukraine, Honduras, and Bolivia.
They will not hesitate to exploit any weakness or to kill millions of people to defeat China and maintain their global supremacy.
To ignore the fact that China must defend against this very real threat. It is a valid threat posed by Western imperialism. Thus to simply analyze China’s system in a vacuum, detached from the fundamental context of class war, is to demonstrate a cluelessness about the most important aspect of the big picture.
Cluelessness.
Keep the citizens in the West ignorant, and bombard them with lies. That way, they will acting like robots, and automatons and are easily manipulated to do your bidding.
Keep them clueless.
Cherry-picking what you want to believe while ignoring the facts staring you straight in the face.
This (the desire and threat of Western imperialism to kill and destroy without restraint in the maintenance of their global supremacy) is everything.
This is the entire ballgame.
Nothing else comes anywhere close to this fundamental reality in terms of importance or relevance for humanity and the planet we inhabit.
A Propaganda Battle Over Perception:
Does China censor speech? Of course they do as it would be naïve and reckless to allow subversive Western lies and divisive capitalist propaganda, free reign over the airwaves.
A class war is taking place and the propaganda battle is an integral front.
China censors divisive lies while the West censors truth. It’s really that simple.
The Chinese people aren’t starved for truth. Truth is not censored in China.
China censors lies that are intended to destroy their society. The West censors truth which threatens their hegemony.
There is a tremendous difference here and failing to recognize this fundamental difference results in a misguided analysis that is detached from reality.
The Farcical and Self-Defeating Arrogance of Promotors of Liberal Governance:
The Chinese working class correctly rejects the Western governance by “democracy”. As they should. It’s a farce, and a full half of the American population recognizes this. Face it; putting the entire enterprise to a vote every four years…
…or engaging in some bourgeois parliamentarian democracy…
…with all the gridlock that entails and which is sure to be far less effective in furthering working class interests.
Westerners arrogantly perceive this lack of liberal democracy in China as an indictment because their liberal minds have been deluded by nonsense and are detached from political reality.
Democracy is the best.
Democracy means FREEDOM!
Democracy give the “little guy” power over the government.
The Chinese see the lack of Western liberal democracy as a great thing. It’s really rather simple. This is because they prefer stability and the rapid advancement in living standards to gridlock, political chaos, and turmoil every four years.
The Chinese working class collectively says “HELL NO” to Western pleas for liberal democracy and I for one agree with them.
Hell no indeed. Long live the dictatorship of the proletariat. May they continue to work just as hard advancing working class interests over the next 70 years, as they have over the past 70 years.
Judging China Using Unreasonable Metrics:
China is condemned by pseudo leftists because no workers own the means of their own production, but this is an entirely illegitimate bar.
Where exactly on this planet does anyone own the means of their own production? One may as well condemn China for still utilizing money, for maintaining borders, or for not eradicating scarcity.
This is not legitimate criticism.
China’s banks are [1] nationalized, their biggest industries [2] are publicly owned, [3] the private sector is often owned by party members and it is [4] subservient to party diktats and their five year economic plans which are designed [5] to achieve specific social goals.
The pseudo left also attacks China for having classes.
This too is no more legitimate than blaming China for not yet eradicating scarcity or for not abolishing private property. The nature of economic growth is to allocate growth disproportionately.
It’s entirely true, China is not a classless society.
So what?
China has not eliminated class and…?
Well…
And…?
Classless societies simply do not exist at this point in time. But in China, it is the working class that has the monopoly on power. It is the dictatorship of the proletariat that tolerates the capitalist class but only as long as they obey the law and are advantageous to the economy, exactly as Mao explained.
China is indeed far from perfect.
Room for improvement exists and this is acknowledged by the CPC. They have had tremendous success in their public battle against corruption and inequality. They have a police force that is devoted to exactly this., problems which have resulted from unprecedented economic growth. and the CPC is actively and successfully attempting to curtail these negative externalities while at the same time, trying to maintain growth, increase productive forces, and continue to raise living standards.
Oppressed, Angry and Scared?
I’ve seen Westerners point to China’s “conviction rate” and claim that such a rate proves “innocence has nothing to do with the justice system”.
I’m curious how such a conclusion is deduced from the data.
What conviction rate is optimal? At what conviction rate would we believe that justice is being served in a fair manner?
Is the 90+% conviction rate in the US optimal and proof of a fair justice system?
What about 93% for Israel?
What about the 99.9% conviction rate in Japan?
Is the Japanese justice system even less fair than China’s?
Or, are Westerners just being bamboozled into drawing bullshit conclusions from the dishonest presentation of decontextualized statistics? I’m pretty sure it’s the latter.
It is claimed that the Chinese are throwing themselves off of buildings into “suicide nets”...
...though China’s suicide rate is 40% lower than that of the US.
Western propagandists claim Chinese are miserable and simply too scared to speak out against their government...
...though professional Western scientific polling companies claim China is one of the happiest places on earth.
The “narrative” being pushed through the Western “news” is fantastical and has entered the realm of fantasy.
In China, Poverty is GONE.
Extreme poverty was eradicated this year and now every Chinese has “a home, a job, plenty of food, education, safe streets, health and old age care.
Meanwhile there… [are] …more drug addicts, suicides and executions, more homeless, poor, hungry and imprisoned people in America than in China.
500,000,000 urban Chinese… have more net worth and disposable income than the average American.
Chinese mothers and infants… [are] less likely to die in childbirth than Americans are.
Chinese children graduate from high school three years ahead of Americans.
Chinese children will all outlive our American children.
Ninety-eight percent of Chinese listed as ‘poor’ already own their homes (paid for completely with no mortgages and taxes EVER on it) and what’s more…
…President Xi has scheduled 2021-2035 to bringing GINI below Finland’s.”
“Imperialism” of Peace-Through-Mutual-Prosperity?
And what about imperialism?
Is China just as imperialist as the Western ruling class which the pseudo left seems to only condemn after they are called out for their hypocritical attacks on anti-imperialist nations?
Please, Western imperialism is the only imperialism that actually exists.
People! Keep in mind this important fact. Defending oneself from imperialism is not the same as engaging in imperialism.
China has not sandwiched the US with military bases just off it’s northern and Southern borders. China has not been arming, training, and funding US separatists for years. China has not been working with Narco terrorist death squads, intolerant radical jihadists, or neo-nazi militias in order to perpetrate politically motivated acts of violence and murder. China hasn’t regime changed nearly a country a year for the past 70 years. China doesn’t have embargoes and economic sanctions against nearly 40 countries in order to force their political capitulation.
Seriously, the pseudo left needs to just stop with the “China is imperialist” bullshit. It’s not even close to true.
Genocide or Winning Hearts and Minds?
Hands down, the crown Jewel of the West’s dishonest propaganda offensive and the one which they are investing all their capital in and pinning all of their political hopes on is the claim of “Uyghur Genocide in Xinjiang province”.
Much needs to be said about this particular strategy to destabilize, weaken, and subvert Chinese society but for the sake of brevity I will confine myself to explaining China’s perspective on the issue.
Here are some highlights regarding the terrorism problem faced by China:
“In February 1997 the CIA-instigated bombing of public buses in Urumqi that killed nine people died and injured more than 70.
In 2007-08, Uyghur separatists exploited the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing to internationalize their cause. An attempted suicide bombing on a China Southern Airlines flight was thwarted but a terrorist attack in Kashgar in Xinjiang killed 16 police officers four days before the start of the Games.
In July 2009, Uyghur extremists in the provincial capital Urumqi killed 200 people, mostly Han Chinese. True to the imperial double standard, Washington refuses to characterize such deadly attacks as acts of terrorism.
Since 2013, thousands of Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority from western China, have traveled to Syria to train with the Uighur militant group Turkestan Islamic Party and fight alongside al-Qaida, playing key roles in several battles. Syrian President Bashar Assad’s troops are now clashing with Uighur fighters as the six-year conflict nears its endgame.
The violence continued through 2014. There were two more failed hijackings of commercial planes as well as scores of bombings, killing tens of civilians each time.
The knife attack at the southwestern China city of Kunming railway station in March 2014 was a watershed, resulting in 33 dead and 141 injured. NATO member Turkey subsequently gave passports to four of the fugitives involved in the railroad station massacre.
In 2015 Uyghur-linked terrorists staged a Bangkok bombing which targeted mainly Chinese tourists and left 20 dead. Thailand offered to send Uyghur terror suspects back to China to face justice and defied the US demands that the suspects be allowed to travel onward to Turkey.”
Genocide in China?
There is a new report on Xinjiang that's been hailed by CNN, Guardian, Vox etc as the "first independent/non-governmental report" that confirms the genocide narrative.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22311356/china-uyghur-birthrate-sterilization-genocidehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/09/chinas-treatment-of-uighurs-breaches-un-genocide-convention-finds-landmark-report
But the report is from Newline Institute, a previously unheard (?) of think tank. Moreover, it's funded by a university (Fairfax University of America) that has just 150 students and in many ways looks like a diploma mill. From Wikipedia: "In March 2019, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia threatened to revoke VIU's license to operate in the Commonwealth of Virginia after an audit found rampant grade inflation and severe deficiencies in the academic rigor of VIU's online courses.".
-MoA
And then this interesting comment comes up…
LOL ur right, that looks like a dodgy think tank founded in 2019 by a certain Ahmed Alwani, who also happened to have served on the advisory board of US AFRICOM.https://newlinesinstitute.org/people/ahmed-alwani/The report contains contributions by the questionable Dr Adrian Zenz, i think MoA has also mentioned him beforehttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-09/chinese-firms-sue-german-researcher-at-center-of-xinjiang-claimsThat "university" had 181 students in 2019, it is literally 1 building... conveniently near Washington... i'm guessing this Alwani guy is a CIA asset or gets paid by one of their other million agencies?
-Posted by: #ashtag | Mar 10 2021 22:11 utc | 36
More propaganda operating out of propaganda mills. But not to worry, the internet is gonna shake some trees for “apples of truth”…
The report contains contributions by the questionable Dr Adrian Zenz, i think MoA has also mentioned him before
Not only that, the bugger is listed as a member of the "Newlines Team".https://newlinesinstitute.org/people/adrian-zenz/
Posted by: farm ecologist | Mar 10 2021 23:29 utc | 46
And then we cut to the chase and find this…
This 'Think Tank' is in fact a front for the International Institute of Islamic Thought an islamist neo-conservative organization in the US, linked to Egypt’s Muslim brotherhood, who’s members have pleaded guilty to sponsoring terrorism.The director of the Newlines institute, Ahmed Alwani just happens to be the Vice President of this organization. He also served as an advisor to the U.S Africa command.In 2006, a scholar of this group, Sami Al-Arian, pleaded guilty to “aiding terrorism” and was given a five year prison sentence.The Washington Post at that time described the group as “the nation’s largest terrorism-financing investigation,” and stated it was linked to a number of Muslim Brotherhood affiliates.Yet now, the mainstream media seem to be absolutely content for Newlines, which is a effectively front for IIIT, to spread propaganda on Xinjiang ...Posted by: Arch Bungle | Mar 10 2021 23:34 utc | 48
So, China faces a serious threat from Western sponsored terrorist separatists, but did they really respond to this threat by initiating Genocide?
Give me a fucking break! Will you guys.
Think people. T.H.I.N.K.
Does genocide truly sound like the go-to for a government who’s top priority has been raising living standards and eradicating poverty?
What a ridiculous farce to suggest that China would believe it’s best interest would be served by secretly committing genocide. As always, nothing could be further from the truth and the truth is exactly the opposite:
“Some 600,000 Uighurs were lifted out of poverty in 2016, and another 312,000 in 2017. More than 400,000 have been relocated from remote villages to places where they are gainfully employed.
Neighborhood religious institutes have been set up to educate citizens on the perils of religious extremism.
These community centers where classes are held to detoxify radical Wahhabism were labelled “re-education camps” or concentration camps by the western press, and those attending the classes termed “incarcerated”.
Programs to eradicate poverty are implemented to train and prepare Uyghurs for jobs in towns and cities.
The Chinese government, through various programs, has been winning the hearts and minds of ordinary Uyghurs. This is very bad news for the US and Uyghur separatists who are making a desperate, all-out bid to unravel the work done by Beijing to eradicate religious extremism and poverty in Xinjiang.
The deluge of fake news from Western corporate media since the beginning of this year seeks to demonize the Chinese government, painting it as a gross violator of human rights, when the truth is the exact opposite.”
"Xinjiang’s GDP grew 8% last year and is expected to accelerate since it is a gateway for the Belt and Road Initiative. Its future is bright and we can expect its recent problems, like Tibet’s, to fade into memory within three years."
The Only Rational Conclusion:
In summary, each and every one of the anti-China talking points pushed by the Western propaganda apparatus and which are dutifully parroted by Western pseudo leftists, are easily demonstrated to be false and dishonest.
The China described by the pseudo left agents of imperialism simply does not exist. In actual China the people are very happy and they appreciate their government to a degree that is simply unheard of by Western standards. This appreciation is understandable as the CPC has been tremendously successful in developing a happy, healthy, and prosperous society.
So called leftists that *honestly* bash China are confused and are totally upside down regarding political reality. Their support for Western imperialism through the regurgitation of anti-China talking points needs to stop.”
Some Comments (Not from MM)
Hi friends, always happy to see the lively discussion on anti-China nonsense. Billy Bob sure wrote up a great piece and I will definitely share it somewhere in coming days. Meanwhile I’ve had a couple more pieces recently published all along the same lines hope you’ll enjoy…
Ah. The “mainstream fodder” for a very gullible and manipulated American populace. We call them sheeple, because that is exactly what they are. They are lied to so egregiously, and so fantastically that they believe the narratives that their owners, the PTB tell them.
Such fantasies such as…
"We don't hate the Chinese people, just the Chinese government."
Show such a profound level of ignorance, that it is incomprehensible. That’s like saying “I don’t hate pizza, I just hate eating pizza“. Duh! China is not like the United States. It’s not “lip service”. China is the Chinese people. The government of China is composed of the Chinese people. It’s a flat hierarchy that is “grass roots” from the very smallest hamlets on up.
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And the inability to understand this most basic attribute of China is to display a profound and stunning lack of knowledge, insight, and understanding of China.
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That includes not just an understanding of China, but of America as well. The notion that Americans are “free“, and that they stand for the “principles of liberty though democracy” is so profoundly ignorant, and an absolute insult to the founders who established America int he first place.
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As I have repeatedly stated, the founders not only warned against democracy, but they wrote in the Federalist papers that democracies always turn into oligarchies. And if the oligarchies do not collapse from internal revolt by the citizenry, then they turn into military empires. Empires that historically are destroyed and erased from the surface of the earth.
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The stupidly is thick in America these days. And trying to talk with an average American is a cross between “The Stepford Wives” and “A Wal-mart shopper”. No matter what side of the political spectrum that they come from. They all parrot what they read…
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…not what they experience.
The Stepford wives.
But back to my point…
New technologies, and new ways of doing things, can lead to real horrors.
On April 26, 1933, the interior minister for the German state of Prussia issued a decree creating a new secret state police, or Geheime Staats Polizei, abbreviated: Gestapo.
The Gestapo was tasked with stamping out all opposition to Germany’s new Chancellor and the party he brought to power one year earlier.
It operated by collecting tips from ordinary citizens, including even school children. And this network of Gestapo informants changed Germans’ behavior almost overnight.
Even a joke about the ruling party could land you in a Gestapo interrogation room. Talking politics around your children became a dangerous gamble.
According to Erik Larson’s book In the Garden of Beasts, 37% of denunciations “arose not from heartfelt political beliefs, but from private conflicts with the trigger often breathtakingly trivial.”
For example in one case, a grocery store clerk reported a customer who insisted on receiving the wrong change. The customer was accused of tax fraud.
Another man lent a banned book to his friend, and was quickly denounced by his friend’s wife.
The new Chancellor— who encouraged the behavior — was so shocked by the citizens’ eagerness to rat out their neighbors that he remarked, “We are living at present in a sea of denunciations and human meanness.”
That Chancellor, of course, was Adolf Hitler.
The secret police didn’t need wire taps in every home or spies on every street corner. They found an army of willing, eager informants in the general population.
The volume of denunciations was so great, in fact, that the Gestapo actually had to ask people to stop reporting political crimes to them, because they were overwhelmed and found it impossible to process them all.
Obviously Germany in the 1930s is an extreme case, and I’m not saying that the West today is in the same boat. Not even close.
The similarity, however, is how quickly things changed.
In Nazi Germany, the entire culture changed literally within a few months. In early Spring of 1933, people were still civil to one another. By the summer, they were ratting out their friends and neighbors to the secret police.
Similarly, it wasn’t that long ago that people in the west felt free to speak their minds and state an opinion.
Today saying the wrong words can get you fired, cancelled, and your life turned upside down.
For example, lately there’s been a number of so-called “fact checkers,” i.e. self-appointed censors, who are upset about a new app called Clubhouse.
If you haven’t heard of it, Clubhouse allows people to discuss different topics in audio-only chat rooms.
The audio-based content does not allow recording. And that means there is no record of conversations.
As one fact-checker laments:
“...there are no screenshots. There is no way to drag up old Clubhouse posts years later like a user might do on Twitter. There is no way to record conversations—meaning there is no way to prove that someone said anything controversial at all. . . Users on Clubhouse know, or at least believe, that they can openly speak their mind with zero repercussions.”
The horror!
This drives the ‘fact checkers’ bananas. They want people to be afraid to speak their minds. They want people to fear being denounced if they do not adhere to the doctrine of wokeness.
-Simon Black
Our society, no matter where you live, has been growing and expanding. new technologies confront us every day, and as we run head-first into the utilization of technology, and to the adaptation of our lives to fit that monster we create, people become profoundly unhappy.
Unhappy people tend to topple governments.
Unhappy people tend to topple governments.
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Which is why there is the American idiom about “torches and pitchforks”. And it’s a real thing. The ruling class, no matter where they live, do not want to hang from ropes on scaffolding.
But America has a solution!
It’s called distraction.
Find someone, anyone, and vilify them. Make it so that they are hated and despised to the extent that they are no longer considered to be human, but rather instead some kind of illness or disease that must be eradicated. And that is the game that the monied elite in Washington DC has been playing with China these last four years.
All prep for a hot “kinetic” war.
American war machine meme about China.
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It’s the same old, game, and the same old playbook. Same old fun & games. But here I am telling you all on MM…
China. Does. Not. Play.
Asia is unifying, or perhaps best stated, they have already unified.
Any attack anywhere on Asia risks a devastating nuclear salvo that will eliminate America from the face of the earth, and turn the North American continent into a radioactive wasteland where the rest of the world dare not tread. Do not be lulled into the false belief that America is invincible, or that it is blessed by God, or that America has the best, and most modern equipment. None of these lies, and illusions are true.
But it need not be that way.
America can focus on providing for it’s people. Not on blowing up “mud huts”, slaughtering defenseless fields of sheep and donkeys, or picking fights with people who are very, very dangerous.
The biggest failing of the USA is its massive disregard for human life and human wellbeing, a tragedy we inherited from our British forbearers and have yet to cast-off. And to our great misfortune, that anti-life sentiment is deeply rooted in the Federal Government. Ehret exposes some of it; Max Blumenthal's article on the genocidal sadist and Biden admin member Richard Nephew documents such behavior; couple it with Native American policy; mass killing of civilians in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Central and South America, Southwest Asia, The Balkans, Ukraine, etc., and your damn right we ought to suspect the very worst from that government. Monsters do exist.Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 10 2021 21:51 utc | 35
America needs to focus on Americans.
America should focus on its people.
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Not “lip service”. Not “token efforts”. Not “Blue Ribbon Panels”. But actual programs, spending actual money to raise the standard of living for Americans from the class-feudal lifestyle that it has devolved into, to a modern and healthy society that embraces culture, and differences. Where America will move away from the blue-grey nightmare into a colorful and vivacious active society…
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.
Here is another post from the Robert Greene book “The 48 Laws of Power”. It suggests that you say as little as possible, and use this technique to gain control over the thoughts and actions of others. It advises laconic and taciturn speech mechanisms.
LAW 4
ALWAYS SAY LESS THAN NECESSARY
JUDGMENT
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.
Video
Here’s Robert Greene when interviewed about this law. VIDEO.
Video.
TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW
Gnaeus Marcius, also known as Coriolanus, was a great military hero of ancient Rome. In the first half of the fifth century B.C. he won many important battles, saving the city from calamity time and time again. Because he spent most of his time on the battlefield, few Romans knew him personally, making him something of a legendary figure.
In 454 B.C., Coriolanus decided it was time to exploit his reputation and enter politics. He stood for election to the high rank of consul. Candidates for this position traditionally made a public address early in the race, and when Coriolanus came before the people, he began by displaying the dozens of scars he had accumulated over seventeen years of fighting for Rome. Few in the crowd really heard the lengthy speech that followed; those scars, proof of his valor and patriotism, moved the people to tears. Coriolanus’s election seemed certain.
When the polling day arrived, however, Coriolanus made an entry into the forum escorted by the entire senate and by the city’s patricians, the aristocracy. The common people who saw this were disturbed by such a blustering show of confidence on election day.
And then Coriolanus spoke again, mostly addressing the wealthy citizens who had accompanied him. His words were arrogant and insolent. Claiming certain victory in the vote, he boasted of his battlefield exploits, made sour jokes that appealed only to the patricians, voiced angry accusations against his opponents, and speculated on the riches he would bring to Rome. This time the people listened: They had not realized that this legendary soldier was also a common braggart.
Down on his luck, [the screenwriter] Michael Arlen went to New York in 1944. To drown his sorrows he paid a visit to the famous restaurant “21.”
In the lobby, he ran into Sam Goldwyn, who offered the somewhat impractical advice that he should buy racehorses.
At the bar Arlen met Louis B. Mayer, an old acquaintance, who asked him what were his plans for the future. “
I was just talking to Sam Goldwyn ...” began Arlen.
“How much did he offer you? ”interrupted Mayer.
“Not enough,” he replied evasively.
“Would you take fifteen thousand for thirty weeks?” asked Mayer.
No hesitation this time. “Yes,” said Arlen.
-THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES, CLIFTON FADIMAN, ED., 1985
News of Coriolanus’s second speech spread quickly through Rome, and the people turned out in great numbers to make sure he was not elected. Defeated, Coriolanus returned to the battlefield, bitter and vowing revenge on the common folk who had voted against him. Some weeks later a large shipment of grain arrived in Rome. The senate was ready to distribute this food to the people, for free, but just as they were preparing to vote on the question Coriolanus appeared on the scene and took the senate floor. The distribution, he argued, would have a harmful effect on the city as a whole. Several senators appeared won over, and the vote on the distribution fell into doubt. Coriolanus did not stop there: He went on to condemn the concept of democracy itself. He advocated getting rid of the people’s representatives—the tribunes—and turning over the governing of the city to the patricians.
One oft-told tale about Kissinger... involved a report that Winston Lord had worked on for days.
After giving it to Kissinger, he got it back with the notation, “Is this the best you can do?”
Lord rewrote and polished and finally resubmitted it; back it came with the same curt question.
After redrafting it one more time—and once again getting the same question from Kissinger-Lord snapped, “Damn it, yes, it’s the best I can do. ”
To which Kissinger replied: “Fine, then I guess I’ll read it this time. ”
-KISSINGER. WALTER ISAACSON, 1992
When word of Coriolanus’s latest speech reached the people, their anger knew no bounds. The tribunes were sent to the senate to demand that Coriolanus appear before them. He refused. Riots broke out all over the city. The senate, fearing the people’s wrath, finally voted in favor of the grain distribution. The tribunes were appeased, but the people still demanded that Coriolanus speak to them and apologize. If he repented, and agreed to keep his opinions to himself, he would be allowed to return to the battlefield.
Coriolanus did appear one last time before the people, who listened to him in rapt silence. He started slowly and softly, but as the speech went on, he became more and more blunt. Yet again he hurled insults! His tone was arrogant, his expression disdainful. The more he spoke, the angrier the people became. Finally they shouted him down and silenced him.
The tribunes conferred, condemned Coriolanus to death, and ordered the magistrates to take him at once to the top of the Tarpeian rock and throw him over. The delighted crowd seconded the decision. The patricians, however, managed to intervene, and the sentence was commuted to a lifelong banishment. When the people found out that Rome’s great military hero would never return to the city, they celebrated in the streets. In fact no one had ever seen such a celebration, not even after the defeat of a foreign enemy.
Interpretation
Before his entrance into politics, the name of Coriolanus evoked awe.
His battlefield accomplishments showed him as a man of great bravery. Since the citizens knew little about him, all kinds of legends became attached to his name. The moment he appeared before the Roman citizens, however, and spoke his mind, all that grandeur and mystery vanished. He bragged and blustered like a common soldier. He insulted and slandered people, as if he felt threatened and insecure.
Suddenly he was not at all what the people had imagined.
The discrepancy between the legend and the reality proved immensely disappointing to those who wanted to believe in their hero. The more Coriolanus said, the less powerful he appeared—a person who cannot control his words shows that he cannot control himself, and is unworthy of respect.
The King [Louis XIV] maintains the most impenetrable secrecy about affairs of State. The ministers attend council meetings, but he confides his plans to them only when he has reflected at length upon them and has come to a definite decision.
I wish you might see the King.
His expression is inscrutable; his eyes like those of a fox. He never discusses State affairs except with his ministers in Council. When he speaks to courtiers he refers only to their respective prerogatives or duties.
Even the most frivolous of his utterances has the air of being the pronouncement of an oracle.
-PRIMI VISCONTI, QUOTED IN LOUIS XIV, LOUIS BERTRAND, 1928
Had Coriolanus said less, the people would never have had cause to be offended by him, would never have known his true feelings. He would have maintained his powerful aura, would certainly have been elected consul, and would have been able to accomplish his antidemocratic goals.
But the human tongue is a beast that few can master.
It strains constantly to break out of its cage, and if it is not tamed, it will run wild and cause you grief. Power cannot accrue to those who squander their treasure of words.
Oysters open completely when the moon is full; and when the crab sees one it throws a piece of stone or seaweed into it and the oyster cannot close again so that it serves the crab for meat. Such is the fate of him who opens his mouth too much and thereby puts himself at the mercy of the listener.
=Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519
OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW
In the court of Louis XIV, nobles and ministers would spend days and nights debating issues of state. They would confer, argue, make and break alliances, and argue again, until finally the critical moment arrived: Two of them would be chosen to represent the different sides to Louis himself, who would decide what should be done. After these persons were chosen, everyone would argue some more: How should the issues be phrased? What would appeal to Louis, what would annoy him? At what time of day should the representatives approach him, and in what part of the Versailles palace? What expression should they have on their faces?
Finally, after all this was settled, the fateful moment would finally arrive. The two men would approach Louis—always a delicate matter—and when they finally had his ear, they would talk about the issue at hand, spelling out the options in detail.
Louis would listen in silence, a most enigmatic look on his face. Finally, when each had finished his presentation and had asked for the king’s opinion, he would look at them both and say, “I shall see.” Then he would walk away.
The ministers and courtiers would never hear another word on this subject from the king—they would simply see the result, weeks later, when he would come to a decision and act. He would never bother to consult them on the matter again.
Undutiful words of a subject do often take deeper root than the memory of ill deeds....
The late Earl of Essex told Queen Elizabeth that her conditions were as crooked as her carcass; but it cost him his head, which his insurrection had not cost him but for that speech.
-SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 1554-1618
Interpretation
Louis XIV was a man of very few words. His most famous remark is “L‘état, c’est moi” (“I am the state”); nothing could be more pithy yet more eloquent.
His infamous “I shall see” was one of several extremely short phrases that he would apply to all manner of requests.
Louis was not always this way; as a young man he was known for talking at length, delighting in his own eloquence. His later taciturnity was self-imposed, an act, a mask he used to keep everybody below him off-balance.
No one knew exactly where he stood, or could predict his reactions.
No one could try to deceive him by saying what they thought he wanted to hear, because no one knew what he wanted to hear.
As they talked on and on to the silent Louis, they revealed more and more about themselves, information he would later use against them to great effect.
In the end, Louis’s silence kept those around him terrified and under his thumb. It was one of the foundations of his power. As Saint-Simon wrote, “No one knew as well as he how to sell his words, his smile, even his glances. Everything in him was valuable because he created differences, and his majesty was enhanced by the sparseness of his words.”
It is even more damaging for a minister to say foolish things than to do them.
-Cardinal de Retz, 1613-1679
KEYS TO POWER
Power is in many ways a game of appearances, and when you say less than necessary, you inevitably appear greater and more powerful than you are. Your silence will make other people uncomfortable.
Humans are machines of interpretation and explanation; they have to know what you are thinking. When you carefully control what you reveal, they cannot pierce your intentions or your meaning.
Your short answers and silences will put them on the defensive, and they will jump in, nervously filling the silence with all kinds of comments that will reveal valuable information about them and their weaknesses.
They will leave a meeting with you feeling as if they had been robbed, and they will go home and ponder your every word. This extra attention to your brief comments will only add to your power.
Saying less than necessary is not for kings and statesmen only.
In most areas of life, the less you say, the more profound and mysterious you appear.
As a young man, the artist Andy Warhol had the revelation that it was generally impossible to get people to do what you wanted them to do by talking to them. They would turn against you, subvert your wishes, disobey you out of sheer perversity. He once told a friend, “I learned that you actually have more power when you shut up.”
In his later life Warhol employed this strategy with great success.
His interviews were exercises in oracular speech: He would say something vague and ambiguous, and the interviewer would twist in circles trying to figure it out, imagining there was something profound behind his often meaningless phrases.
Warhol rarely talked about his work; he let others do the interpreting.
He claimed to have learned this technique from that master of enigma Marcel Duchamp, another twentieth-century artist who realized early on that the less he said about his work, the more people talked about it. And the more they talked, the more valuable his work became.
By saying less than necessary you create the appearance of meaning and power.
Also, the less you say, the less risk you run of saying something foolish, even dangerous. In 1825 a new czar, Nicholas I, ascended the throne of Russia. A rebellion immediately broke out, led by liberals demanding that the country modernize—that its industries and civil structures catch up with the rest of Europe.
Brutally crushing this rebellion (the Decembrist Uprising), Nicholas I sentenced one of its leaders, Kondraty Ryleyev, to death.
On the day of the execution Ryleyev stood on the gallows, the noose around his neck. The trapdoor opened—but as Ryleyev dangled, the rope broke, dashing him to the ground.
At the time, events like this were considered signs of providence or heavenly will, and a man saved from execution this way was usually pardoned. As Ryleyev got to his feet, bruised and dirtied but believing his neck had been saved, he called out to the crowd, “You see, in Russia they don’t know how to do anything properly, not even how to make rope!”
A messenger immediately went to the Winter Palace with news of the failed hanging. Vexed by this disappointing turnabout, Nicholas I nevertheless began to sign the pardon.
But then: “Did Ryleyev say anything after this miracle?” the czar asked the messenger.
“Sire,” the messenger replied, “he said that in Russia they don’t even know how to make rope.”
“In that case,” said the Czar, “let us prove the contrary,” and he tore up the pardon.
The next day Ryleyev was hanged again. This time the rope did not break.
Learn the lesson: Once the words are out, you cannot take them back. Keep them under control. Be particularly careful with sarcasm: The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay.
Image: The Oracle at Delphi. When visitors consulted the Oracle, the priestess would utter a few enigmatic words that seemed full of meaning and import. No one disobeyed the words of the Oracle— they held power over life and death.
Authority: Never start moving your own lips and teeth before the subordinates do. The longer I keep quiet, the sooner others move their lips and teeth. As they move their lips and teeth, I can thereby understand their real intentions…. If the sovereign is not mysterious, the ministers will find opportunity to take and take. (Han-fei-tzu, Chinese philosopher, third century B.C.)
REVERSAL
There are times when it is unwise to be silent.
Silence can arouse suspicion and even insecurity, especially in your superiors; a vague or ambiguous comment can open you up to interpretations you had not bargained for.
Silence and saying less than necessary must be practiced with caution, then, and in the right situations. It is occasionally wiser to imitate the court jester, who plays the fool but knows he is smarter than the king. He talks and talks and entertains, and no one suspects that he is more than just a fool.
Also, words can sometimes act as a kind of smoke screen for any deception you might practice. By bending your listener’s ear with talk, you can distract and mesmerize them; the more you talk, in fact, the less suspicious of you they become. The verbose are not perceived as sly and manipulative but as helpless and unsophisticated. This is the reverse of the silent policy employed by the powerful: By talking more, and making yourself appear weaker and less intelligent than your mark, you can practice deception with greater ease.
Thoughts and Conclusions
Offer no speech. Respond laconically if at all.
And that is all that I need to say about this.
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Heh, heh. Make no mistake, you will need to be prepared. And this post / article is my notes that I use to make sure that I am a well-prepared “boy scout” when I go off to one of these venues next time.
So, here is a handbook or a check list that I have made of what you should and should not do when going to a business KTV in China. This is also part story. It is a narrative of my latest excursion and the mistakes that I made there. Maybe an astute reader might learn a thing or two in the process.
If you all don’t know what all this is about, then I would suggest that you first read my series of posts on Business KTV’s in China and Asia. You can click on this link and go there directly.
Warning. This is adult stuff for adults. It can be offensive to people with softer personalities. Read at your own risk.
Introduction
Ohhh. I am so sore.
It’s been three days now, and my body is still not up to par. I attribute it to massive quantities of fake Hennessy VSOP, and my age, and the over all stress of the long trip to and from the factory and the clubs. But next time, I will be better prepared. I’ll tell you what.
It’s day three, and I am still sore…
My arms feel like an elephant is squashing them.
My joints are all gritty and sandy.
My shoulders and neck are puffy and sore.
My stomach is slowly healing.
You know, I’m really pretty good with these kinds of adventures, but the last year (the year of the dog) 2020 was terrible. On all fronts, and in all areas, and the pandemic and the world-wide industrial / economic collapse was horrible for business, as well as for business trips to the KTV venues.
Seriously, I hadn’t gone to any of these venues for a long time. Maybe twelve months. And as such, I was not really ready for my lack of conditioning.
Blame the pandemic.
But…
Yeah. I take full responsibly for my lack of preparation and conditioning.
It’s like body building, or sports. You have to maintain a certain degree of exercise and stamina. You need to practice and give your body warm-up exercises and exercises so that you will be fit for the game or the event. And that is so true about working, and business KTV’s.
But next time…
Next time…
I will be far better prepared. And while you all might think that I am an expert in these matters (well, I am), I also make mistakes and have issues. And you all need to prepare for what you will expect, and how you can handle them. Let’s talk about these things right now.
Your health
If you are younger, say under 40 years old, your health will not be that much of an issue. You can be wildly out of shape, but still be able to enjoy a business outing and KTV venue. The problem comes when you start getting older.
I am in my 60’s. You can say that I am 60-ish. Heh heh, and I am no longer that young 20-year old stud full of piss and vinegar. So, this article is written for us older folk. maybe 35 and up who actually go to these venues. (After all, and you need to keep in mind, that most men who go to these venues are over 35 years old.)
So, I am going to be blunt.
Long before you start going to any of these business venues, you will need to perform daily exercises. If you are not moderately healthy, then these venues and a dinner and drinking will absolutely wreck havoc on your body. As I well am experiencing now. You must be moderately healthy. Moderately.
Try to do daily exercise.
It doesn’t have to be anything overly strenuous, but it should be some sit-ups, some pushups or some arm curls. Alternatively try some walking, or bicycle riding. All very important. Don’t put if off. It’s not to work out hard, the purpose is to maintain a moderately healthy lifestyle. A “couch potato” will never be able to enjoy one of these venues.
On the good side is that older men who exercise will see results faster than when they were young. So instead of needing to do 100 pushups when I was in my early 20's, I now only need to do 20.
On the negative side, it's much harder to do those few pushups. Yikes!
In general, I do eat well, and I walk most every day. But still one bad batch of fake hard alcohol can put me down “surer than shit”. I’ll tell you what.
It’s not that the other bosses know that the alcohol is fake. They thought that they were honoring me by giving me Hennessy, but it was fake. I can tell. I do know my whiskey and my VSOP. They just didn’t know, and they would lose their “face” if I told them. So when offered such a drink, you need to be prepared.
And if offered, you need to drink it.
When offered alcohol
Now, I have covered this before, but I will revise it to these new “rules of engagement”.
Suggest that you drink White Wine. Or, bring your own alcohol with you.
53 degree white wine is powerful and potent stuff for certain. But it is real. REAL. The really expensive stuff is good, and will not give you any head or muscle aches. But it is really pricey. So knowing that everyone will intend to get drunk, make sure that you are drinking real, and genuine alcohol. Not some kind of locomotive degreaser mixed with flavorings to approximate an expensive Western beverage.
And all Chinese know the differences between “good” white wine and “cheap” shit.
I am not being facetious.
Hennessy cognac
They say that sales of Hennessy cognac in the whole world exceeds its production by 3-4 times. This means that only every 3-4 bottle Hennessy – original cognac, and the volume of counterfeit reaches 80%.
However, this information is not confirmed. But, most likely, not very far from the truth.
One of the leaders in the number of counterfeits of course, is the Hennessy XO cognac to distinguish a fake, you need to pay attention to the following signs:
1. Volume of 0.5 liters. Hennessy XO Cognac in 0.5l. is performed. Original cognac is bottled only in bottles of 0.35 and 0.7 liters.;
2. Sheath tube. Original plug and the shell made with special technology (including laser engraving and hologram Holosleeve), very snug to the glass bottle. Casing should be reminiscent of the inexpensive wines produced domestically.
A very large number of fake accounts for the lion’s share of Hennessy VSOP cognac counterfeit accounts, bottled in the form of a jar, 0.5 liter. Therefore, we recommend absolutely refuse to buy a bottle of Hennessy VSOP in this form and volume. Better buy regular round bottle.
If no reasonable alternatives not, and buy a bottle of brandy-flask is inevitable, then you should pay attention to the following (they are similar to symptoms for Hennessy XO):
1. Cap. It should not resemble the usual vodka. Hennessy cognac house a lot of attention to producing jams and their protection, discussed above.
2. Relief image of a hand with a halberd. It must be present in the upper part of the front side of the bottle.
-How to verify the authenticity of the alcohol (10 pictures)
The best time to suggest this is before the dinner. If your hosts don’t have any bottles on hand, you go out ad buy some real stuff from a supermarket.
So make sure that you do so way before anyone goes into their office storage closet and pulls out some XO, VSOP or Whiskey from one of the cases in their stash. Ask for either real white wine, or real red wine.
Other than that, you stick with beer.
In this instance, the factory paid 1000 RMB for this bottle of fake Hennessy at a restaurant in a small village town. Of course it was fake. By the time it was purchased, it was too late to say no. Ugh!
Have your aide specify either white wine, or red wine. No hard alcohol.
The red wine is usually hit or miss. It depends on the size of the company and a little bit about the owners experience with wine. In general, I would say that about 70% of the time that the red wine would be real. But it’s the remaining 30% of the time that you got to watch out for.
My preference is always for red wine. It’s healthier for you, and will help us older guys in the bedroom.
But white wine is a guarantee that the alcohol is genuine.
Some “white wine”, 53 degree pure power from my personal stash.
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Make sure that you specify either red or white wine, and stay away from hard alcohol if you are going to have any romping and play in a business KTV.
Avoid Fake or potentially fake alcohol
It’s not just the terrible side effects, fake alcohol can really harm you. It can damage your body and trigger cancer. Do not fuck with it.
Drinking alcohol containing these chemicals can cause nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, drowsiness and dizziness. It can also lead to kidney or liver problems and even coma. Methanol, a substance which can be used in fake vodka, may cause permanent blindness.
-The dangers of fakealcohol | Drinkaware
Some notes on the girls
This last trip I was offered three or even more girls to have fun with. They really wanted me to have a good time, and well, the more the merrier, right?
I was not thinking (all that fucking fake alcohol) and declined. I just settled on one chick.
What was I thinking? I told them my usual “I’m a man, not a machine”, but in hindsight, I was wrong.
This particular factory always offers me multiple girls to play with. Why did I decline? I don’t know. Maybe it’s my prudish side.
The first group(s) of girls were short-time girls. We told them to go away as we were only interested in long-time girls. Here we see the manager talking to the girls.
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Next time, I’ll ask for a basketball team sized entourage of chicks and see what happens. Maybe they will get a volume-discount from the manager. LOL.
Have your aide specify that if possible, you are fine with multiple long-time girls.
And that’s another thing.
Why the Hell didn’t I get the name card of the manager. I must always get her card. You know, for future referrals. Ugh!
Have your aide get the business card of the Girl’s manager for you.
All in all
Over all, this last business trip was the first one that I had in over twelve months due to the fucking coronavirus.
Only one in twelve months!
Unbelievable!
Keep in mind that these excursions used to be from one to three times a week.
I blame it solidly on the coronavirus, and the fucking asshole who unleashed it on CNY 2020, Donald Trump and his army of neocon assholes.
RANT – WARNING – RANT -WARNING – RANT – WARNING
So, and a nice big FUCK YOU to Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo. I hope that you get a taste of the turmoil that you unleashed on the rest of the world.
In my view it is like America has had a massive case of diarrhea for the last forty years, and Donald Trump was the orifice that enabled it to spew forth. It’s just that he painted a big old bulls eye on me, my business, my family and my friends. FUCK HIM.
Let’s keep all that shit in the United States, ok? Let it rot and fester and get resolved THERE. Stop trying to release it upon the rest of the world. OK? Am I clear about this?
Anyways, I know that my strong opinions on Trump and his anti-China crusade is going to rankle the hides of my of my American readership. Sorry. But you were (for the last four years) just spectators.
You were spectators of the “news”. You read this article or that article, and you clapped with glee as he terrorized this other nation and that other nation. It was fun, because you weren’t affected. “Look at us! Woo Woo”
So what? You only had to pay 30% more for your appliances, and goods. No biggie! In your mind anything was fine just as long Donald Trump was “sticking it to” those hyper progressive Marxists. No more social-reengineering! That’s worth it, right?
America was a republic for less than 20 years, and then became a democracy. Democracies always become oligarchy-ruled military empires. The only way off this “merry-go-round” is either a complete collapse of the government or an evolution to some other kind of government structure. And, judging from the 2020 election, it seems that most American want Marxism. I think it’s stupid, and crazy, but who am I to say? Whatever floats your boat, eh?
Yeah. So, Trump, yeah, he built a wall. Didn’t he? And he put Hillary Clinton in prison. Right? That’s what he did, right? He got America back to working, and more restaurants and stores are open than ever before! He’s a genius!
Americans are now proud to be called Americans. Why; a whole two other nations in the entire world now accepts Americans! You can travel to West Gianna, and East Bumfuck without problem. All thanks to the reincarnation of Jesus Christ himself! And the great new realignments in the Geo-Political area that Mike Pompeo has mapped out.
Yeah. I get it.
I was like youse guys.
This God damn fucking clown painted a big red bullseye on China. Then this fucking jackass carpet bombed China with FUCKING seven (S-E-V-E-N) bio-weapons. First to destroy all the food, and then to destroy the Chinese people. All these honking big assed viral agents are so enormous that it takes weeks for them to dissipate under normal H-UV.
Then he steamed five carriers comprising three separate assault armadas to the South China Sea. Yeah, and you all laughed and clapped so happy that Donald was going to finally “teach China a lesson”. Woo Hoo! Weeeee!
Except it didn’t work out that way. Did it? Nope. The USA (and British) navies were thoroughly tromped by the Chinese, and the navies slithered back home. It was a MASSIVE DEFEAT. And I am going to write about it… soon. It’s a very interesting story. And one that you won’t read about anywhere else.
The USA got it’s ass handed to them. Bet ya didn’t read about it on FOX, CNN or MSN, did you?
You see, America is crude and judges by appearances only. And China presents a nice pleasant face while holding some very strong and powerful capabilities. It’s an often over looked aspect of China. One that only idiots and fools make.
Only fools misjudge by appearance.
Only an idiot would judge a person by it’s appearance. You need to see the entire picture in great detail. You do not make a cardboard cut-out, and throw darts at it. Thinking that there won’t be any repercussions. Oh there will be. And Trump has sent in motion some very long-term negatives for the people of the United States.
So. No. I’m not going to give him a pass. And neither is anyone else.
RANT – WARNING – RANT -WARNING – RANT – WARNING
Anyways… Phew! I’ve got off the subject again.
All in all, I was prepared. More or less. The news about the trip and the resulting plans were given to me the day before the event. Normally this would be considered “short notice”, but I was ready. And super willing, let me tell you.
It is no accident that I was ready and willing to visit a factory and talk with colleagues. This is, and has been, an important part of my life. What is a restaurant without customers? What is a hospital without patients? What is a pet store without pets? Meeting and talking about product design, development and manufacture is my life. And it has been asleep ever since Donald Trump decided to unleash the pandemic upon the world.
So when the time came, I was up for it.
And it pretty much went well.
The drive to the factory
Most of the factories are far away from where I live and my offices. Typically they are at least a one hour drive, and this one was a four hour drive. We hit the road and drove out of the various third tier cities until we hit real countryside, and then it was just the winding band of the highway rolling in and out through tunnels and over these enormous bridges.
Driving to the factory.
Urination and smoke breaks were every hour or so. And we made good time. The rest areas were pretty much the same, though the pandemic had really put a “damper” on the travel plans of many a Chinese citizen, and so some of the normally open venues in the various plazas were shut down, with rolled corrugated doors locking things silent.
I would say about 20% of the stores and “fast food” establishments were shut down.
But the driving was nice. We drove through the green hills, under a nice blue sky with the mandatory or obligatory white cumulus clouds. It was fine, if long.
And it was great to see my friends and associates. They looked good. And it was great to sit down and drink tea, smoke some cigarettes with them, and generally deal with the matters at hand. On the work scene, it was great to get back to a factory, and the smells and the feeling of the environment really energized me.
After doing our business at the factory, we de-camped for the night’s festivities. Left left the car at the factory and then from that moment on, we were under the full hospitality of the factory and our fellow boss friends.
Dinner
Of course, the factory was in the more rural areas, and so we drove for about twenty minutes to a larger town. You might refer to it as fifth-tier city. And there we sat down on the veranda while the table was being laid out, and the alcohol was being decanted.
First Mistake
From now on, I will always insist on either White Wine or Red Wine. No "hard alcohol". This was a fake VSOP, and they offered it as homage to me, but I know fake, and fake alcohol is very bad for one's health.
This is an issue that should have been brought up by my aide while at the factory. As they discussed the drinking libations in the office over tea. I need to step up my game, I'll tell you what.
We had some delicious food. As you all can well see. It was some local Guangzhou fare with (hairy) crab, shrimp, fish, turtle, shellfish, and more.
Endowed with criss-crossing waterways on the Pearl River Delta and a meandering coastline along the South China Sea, Guangdong Province is a paradise for seafood lovers. Archaeologists suggest that the history of Cantonese seafood diet can be traced back to as early as 10,000 years ago. Today, fresh seafood still plays a prominent role in Cantonese culinary culture.
Fresh fish. Steamed with light local seasoning.
Guangzhou is the capital city of Guangdong, which is famous in China and throughout the world as the home of Cantonese food, known here locally as Yuecai or 粤菜. Cantonese food is perhaps the most famous Chinese food around the world, mainly because the first and second wave Chinese immigrants came from the south of China; Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan.
And it is a center of food. Well, we were in a small town of Gurandong, and the local regional tastes of the food were unique and special. Really special and very delicious.
Seafood in Cantonese cuisine is famous for its optimal preservation of authentic flavor and scintillating freshness. Steaming fish seasoned with light soy sauce, ginger and spring onions is one of the favorite dishes for Cantonese foodies. Only the freshest fish can be selected to cook in this fashion; otherwise, strong spices and juices are required to cover the repugnant odor. The time used to steam the fish also needs to be strictly controlled to ensure the perfect tenderness of the texture.
Fresh steamed river shrimp.
Guangzhou, near the sea, is rich in seafood, offering many delicious dishes. Reputable seafood dishes cover Salt and Pepper Shrimp, Salmon Sashimi, Steamed Scallops with Minced Garlic, Curry Crabs, Cheese Lobster, etc.
Deep-fried garlic with rice noodles is a widely accepted dressing for steamed shellfish such as scallops, oysters or prawns. Springy scallops or prawns are boiled and garnished with garlic and rice noodles. Cantonese people prefer the light and delicate dressing that brings out the natural sweetness of seafood.
Shellfish with garlic, ginger and peppers.
Historically, Cantonese foodies’ craving for seafood used to be largely constrained by poor storage conditions. But, you know, back in the 1980s, the seafood restaurants introduced fish tanks from which waiters would pull the still live animal, weigh it and send it to the chef to be cooked.
Today, such “cook-to-order” eateries are a popular and iconic practice in all Cantonese seafood restaurants.
Check out my hairy crab.
The hairy crab that I demolished. Delicious.
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You know, all food aside, it was this decision to accept the fake alcohol that was the big mistake that affected the rest of the night.
Now, I was well prepared otherwise.
I had taken four capsules of the anti-alcohol herbal remedy twenty minutes before dinner, and then again about one and a half hours into the meal. The stuff works. You will feel the effects of the alcohol, but it won’t be all that bad.
Always take the JinBao medicine when engaged in these adventures.
The problem is that it doesn’t work with fake alcohol (locomotive degreaser). It only works with real potable alcohol.
Anti-alcohol absorption medicine. You take four capsules at least 20 minutes before drinking. It will greatly retard the absorption of the alcohol into your blood system.
So…
Well, I did take the medicine and it did help somewhat.
But the problem was that this stuff was fake. You could take it the moment you took a sip. Hennessy is smooth. This was like drinking gravel. While it is possible that it was just locally distilled spirits with a name of a well-beloved Western alcohol on it, it is just equally possible that it has other “alterations” and substances included to make it more “delicious”.
How to distinguish a fake from Hennessey original
Cork - sits tightly and does not "go" from side to side with a slight effort. It has a company logo and brand name.
Bottle and container - no damage, scuffs, cracks and so on are allowed.
The original cognac is produced in a more pot-bellied bottle. In addition, the capacity has a large width in comparison with a fake.
Fake Hennessy has the color of weak tea with lemon. The original features a rich cognac color.
The absence of an excise stamp is the brightest sign of a Hennessey fake. If the excise stamp has blurry letters or text in a foreign language, then this is also the most obvious sign of non-original products.
The original cognac has excise stampin which in Russian (in the case of Russia) the volume of the container, the name of the beverage and the duration of exposure are indicated
The bottle of original cognac is engraved in the form of clusters and grape leaves.
The front side of the original bottle has a sticker, on the back side of which there is a Hennessy brand logo.
The bottom of the original bottle has a clear symmetrical pattern.
In Russia, you can not buy Hennessy cognac volume of 0.5 liters. If you see a container of such a volume, before you - fake products.
-How to detect real Hennessy from fake. Cognac "Hennessy …
What ever those other things were, they pretty much gutted out this ol’ body of mine.
Medicine bag
Every traveler to China for business needs to carry with them some medications. You might never need them, but if you are an “old fart” like myself, you probably will need to have them on hand.
Of course, you need to be able to slow down the absorption of alcohol into your system. If you are over 40, this is mandatory. Thus the picture above of the Jiu Bao.
And, being older, you will probably need some kind of antacid. I was prepared in this area as well. I carried two different types. Both are similar to the TUMS that you can buy in the United States. Antacid is very important. Whether it is just a ton load of good alcohol, or a few glasses of fake alcohol, or seafood, or spicy food, or the side effects of ED medication, you will need to have something to control your stomach upset. Here’s what I brought…
Antacids used during the next day on the trip back home.
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Now you all shouldn’t misunderstand. The purpose of this business meeting and fun is to have and build a good and great relationship. This means that I must give the host the best face as possible. You do not, NOT, refuse anything.
In general, to avoid all these problems, you will need to really reduce your alcohol intake. Yet you must do so without losing face to the other bosses. The way to do this is to do something that I forgot to do. I needed to tell the other bosses that I have a “weak stomach” and that I couldn’t have anything spicy, or drink too much alcohol. And they would have honored me. I would tell them that I could drink jut a little bit, but if I drank too much, I might get really sick and then show them this bottle…
My excuse to lower the amount of alcohol that I drink.
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Now, most people who have never been to China won’t understand, and teetotalers won’t get it. Just like Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo couldn’t “get it”. In China you are judged by how much you drink. If you do not drink, you are not trusted.
Which pretty much doomed Donald Trump’s meetings in China from day one.
So what I should have done was drink some, and then refrain from serious drinking. I could participate on a few “bottoms ups”. But no more than ten. And then just sip on some sudsy beers in the KTV.
Then shown them this bottle of medicine to that they wouldn’t lose face. (The medicine is for hard drinkers who are starting to get alcohol-related tears or problems int heir stomachs. It’s worked for me before, but it’s been so long since I’ve done this that I had forgot the most basic rules for an older man going to a KTV; seriously reduce your alcohol content.
After the dinner and off to the KTV
Now, I knew that this particular visit would include a KTV visit, and this KTV visit would include girls. Every other time it did, and I have had some remarkable times at these establishments with these folk.
So, right off the bat, on the day of the trip I took a Cialis in the morning.
It is advertised that the Cialis would take at least three hours before it could even be considered to work, so why so early? Let me tell you a little story…
Just like there is fake VSOP, there is fake Cialis. Mostly, the fake Cialis is a mixture of Viagra (Sildenafil). Now, this is NOT what we want. The purpose of the Cialis is to "lay forth a ground work foundation" where my old-man body starts to respond to sex like it was 40 years old. And Sildenafil doesn't do that. It is an ED that gives you an erection that lasts for about 40 minutes, and then it is gone.
So that is what happened to me once. I am ready to go, and am heading out to the countryside, away from a pharmacy, and I plopped in this drug only to find myself getting an erection 15 minutes later is the car on the way to the factory. And then absolutely NOTHING when I really needed it, later on in the night.
So by taking the Cialis early on in the morning, you can see if it is fake or not. If it is fake, then you can troop over to a pharmacy and get something else. But at least you will be ready.
And for me, yeah. It did kick in when I needed it, but the fake booze was too strong and far too fake.
The KTV
Look, I’ve talked about the KTV before. Big room, singing and dancing and all that. This KTV was a big place with tons of girls, but a little tiny sign pointing to a parking garage. It was nice, and big and had all the trappings. Maybe not as nice as other venues that I have played in, but this one had a great an diverse selection of girls and the prices were really reasonable.
My aide talking with the factory boss at the KTV. When we just sit down and arrive.
.
The first group of girls being trooped out were short-time girls. And my aides made it clear that I wanted long-time girls for the night. So they trooped out and a new batch after batch, after batch came out. Our factory sponsor got a free girl to play with, I guess that she was new and “learning the ropes”. And I was told to pick out two or three girls, and I declined. (What was I thinking?) and I settled on the first girl, in the first line up. WTF?
A pretty lass, for certain, but I was not up to my game.
Next time will be different.
The long time girls trooped in in squads of eight or so, there must have been about twenty or so groups before we were satisfied.
.
And we played some dice, drank some beer, and then at 11:30 pm, my aide came and told me that it was “Cinderella time” and I and the chick were driven to our hotel for the night. This was not an accident. This is a SOP from now on. My aide stayed behind and got shitfaced drunk until 3am at the KTV with the other bosses and managers, while us top Bosses either went back home or went to the rooms with our gals.
Cinderella rules are in effect, and all arrangements must be pre-arranged.
Full time girls are multiple shots, but all I wanted to do was sleep. So we slept and got to play around at 7 in the morning the next day. And after she left for home, I started to compose some notes on what went right and what went wrong. And here they are…
What I did Right
Being myself, and having to wait for a long, long time for such an opportunity to be at a factory and to meet with other bosses was a great thing. And I made sure that I was ready. So I did many things right.
Brought and took the alcohol-reducing medicine. This helped a lot, but the medicine could not do anything about the fake booze. No matter what you take, the locomotive degreaser that you drink will mess up your body surer than shit.
I wore the appropriate clothing. I checked the weather reports for the regions we were going to. I dressed to fit my role and made sure that it was comfortable and appropriate for the venue.
I took Cialis in the morning. The only thing is that instead of three hours to work, it didn’t seem to do anything until 12 hours later. But it was “good” and “real” and it did it’s job. It’s just that I had to get a lot of the alcohol and locomotive degreaser out of my system first.
I brought Viagra and took it. But the timing was off. It did not start after 15 minutes. It is unknown why not. Maybe the fake alcohol. Instead, I couldn’t so anything. So we went to sleep. It took 3 hours to turn on. And we were both asleep, and by the time it finally did actually kick in, my chick didn’t want to have sex then. Now, I had taken the medicine at the right time, on the way to the hotel. But it did not actuate. In case anyone is aware, if you drink so heavily, and the Cialis is suppressed, a boost of Viagra will kick things in motion.
I brought extra condoms. Usually I rely on the girl to have the condoms. Don’t. If she runs out, then what? Always have some condoms on you. They are not expensive and you can select the size that you prefer. I didn’t need or use them in this instance, but I was a good boy-scout.
Left KTV early at 11:30pm. Me and the other boss went our own ways. This was pre-planned with my aide(s) and it makes life much simpler. In effect you box in the events of the day. You know when you will eat, party, and sleep. You have control over the timing, not your host.
Got a long-time girl, who was briefed in expectations. This was also pre-arranged. No short time girls. A long-time girl will spend the night and you will get the opportunity for multiple shots. You will also be able to rest. These meetings while there is a fun component to them are always stressful, as you can see by the medicines that I must take. What was she told? Multiple shots, all pre-paid, and not to bother me with tips or charges.
Brought antacid. Initially, I questioned myself, but figured better ready than sorry. And I was so very correct in bringing the medicine. I had terrible gas the next day, and my stomach was a gurgle all the next two days.
Brought stomach medicine to show as an excuse to control drinking. Yes I did, but I FORGOT to show it. WTF? So, even though I had it on me, with me, and ready to pull out my jacket pocket, I forgot all about it, and even when I saw them pull out the VSOP (which I knew was fake, from prior adventures) I still held back. Never again.
Brought a change of clothing. The days of an over-night business trip and returning home with the smoke-filled alcohol smelling clothing are over. I had brought a fresh change of comfortable clothing and it was really nice to put on the next day.
Selected a cheaper inexpensive hotel early on. I had previous adventures with this particular factory where the girls would select the hotel for us to stay at. Not us, and not the factory bosses. And the girls, well, they selected some really pricey ones, and the prices were so high, we suspected that they got a cut out of the rate. This time the factory boss selected the hotel based on our criteria and he handled all the details and got the room himself. So we did not need to deal with it.
What I did wrong
I did many things wrong, and they all detracted from my enjoyment, my health and my happiness. I tell you this that they will not be repeated. OMG! When I see a bottle of XO, VSOP or any other hard alcohol, the alarm bells should be ringing! “Do not touch that!”
I drank hard, fake alcohol. I should have shown the stomach medicine bottle and refrained from heavy drinking of hard, fake alcohol. I could, and should have drank only a sip. A sip as in a tea-spoon.
Moderation in smoking. I should have severely limited my cigarette intake. I needed to accept but only occasionally, and then only taken a few precious few puffs. Not more.
Tended to my ejaculation discipline. What is the point in getting a long-time girl if you cannot get multiple shots? Eh? My aide had specified 2 shot ejaculations. Before and after sleep. But I was not up for it. The fake alcohol tore me up. (And he was stunned that I did not take advantage of this opportunity.)
Brought a spare bottle of water. The two bottles in the hotel are never enough. After drinking you need water, and so you need to make sure that you bring an extra bottle with you to have on hand.
Brought some instant coffee. This is not a critical issue. But most hotels in China do not have coffee, or serve coffee, and if you get a breakfast (most of these kinds of establishments don’t offer that service) won’t have coffee. So you bring your own. I should of brought a few packets. Just keep them in my kit in case I needed them. It would have been nice.
Bring aspirin. What was I thinking? Always bring aspirin.
Bring / Use a cock-ring (even if it is homemade). A “cock ring” is a mechanical contrivance for older men, and for men with ED. Cock rings are rings that are worn around the base of the penis and sometimes the testicles to make erections harder, bigger, and longer-lasting. They come in different materials, from flexible silicone and rubber to leather and metal. A ring for ED works by slowing the blood flow back from the erect penis, allowing it to stay hard longer. It works best if you’re able to get a partial or full erection. The thing about this is that I have always considered this a sex toy, but now as an older man, I see it as a prosthetic to help me maintain an erection. Don’t be proud. If you need help in the bedroom, you need to get all the help you can. Make sure that the size fits you and make sure to wash the device afterwards.
Exercise (pushups, sit-ups and arm curls). For months prior to the trip, I had stopped exercising. When the time came for fun, I was out of the game. You need to make sure that you have a minimum level of physical exercise.
When offered multiple girls – accept. Uh. Duh! Do not let bad fake alcohol throw you for a loop. Keep with the plan. Be up to the task and make sure that you up your game.
Some final words
From a business point of view, the trip was a success. I had some gains, and I really enjoyed visiting the factory and meeting up with my friends and colleagues. It was really great. The food was outstanding, the friendships were strengthened, and I made some new friends in the process.
But, I made some mistakes. Mistakes that detracted from my enjoyment and pleasures, and possibly damaged my health. And I wasn’t the only one to notice this.
When I came home my wife was furious! “How stupid was I to let myself get so drunk that my weekend following the trip was so lame.? I should know better” And she was right. I do know better, and the Trump Pandemic interruption to my normal state of affairs is no excuse.
Don’t be like me.
Plan ahead.
Know what to expect.
Avoid fake and hard alcohol like your life depends on it.
Make sure your aide knows what arrangements to make.
Be healthy and maintain that health.
Remember that you have two tasks; conduct business, and maintain face.
Focus.
And hopefully you’ll all have a great time in your future adventures in a business KTV.
I’ve got another one coming up. Let’s see if I can handle it better. We will see.
Do you want more?
I have more posts on this subject in my Business KTV Index here…
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After reading my post on "Snapshots of life in China. Surprise! It doesn't look anything like Alex Jones says it is.", Ohio Guy commented that he is falling in love with China, but he is trapped in that God-forsaken mess known as the United States. Well, that response got me to thinking.
People who have gone to other nations, and who have seen how other nations do things, they have pretty much concluded that the "Exceptional America - the Land of the Free" is all pretty much FUCKED UP. And they have written about their impressions and thoughts on this matter.
Here are some stories from expats who have lived in Thailand.
I have collected some of the more interesting stories and decided to post them here. Indeed, it’s a tough call on which to accept and which to discard. They are all so very good. As such, there are pages and pages of this. I have just included this choice selection to “round off the corners” for the interested reader.
Beware of other expats
First off, whether you are in Thailand or in any other Asian nation, beware of other expats…
“The biggest "rip offs" I've seen and encountered have been perpetrated by expats on other expats. My best friend here is a 76-year-old Thai man and his family who have always shown me more generosity and kindness than I could ever possibly repay. On the dark side, one so-called expat "friend" actually had someone email me his fake obituary to avoid repaying loans I had made to him. I kid you not!”-Stickman
I can certainly vouch for that. Ouch! In fact, I no longer meet other expats for a coffee or informal talk. It’s simply not worth my time of day. Most are sadly pathetic. Not all, mind you. Just a lot of them. What I mean is that quality of what one would expect is rather low.
I just received a friend request on one of the expat forums. This guy is going to visit China for a week and wants to sit down with me and talk about tax and investment strategies with me over coffee.
LOL.
I told him I didn’t have any money. None.
He responded “how can that be, how are you going to help the poor people?”.
Ugh!
What planet is he on?
He wants me to trust him, a total stranger, with my money. He expects me to let him fly in, buy him coffee, give him money, and let him fly away with it...
I have met more than my fair share of young bright-eyed teachers, interns, and students on travel for the “experience”.
Interspersed with this group are the grubby tattooed covered “carnies” who now go by the moniker of “backpacker”.
Carny or carnie is a slang term used in North America for a carnival employee. It also refers to the language they use, particularly when the employee runs a "joint" (booth) (i.e. a "jointie), "grab joint" (food stand) , game, or ride (i.e. a "ride jock" or "ride operator") at a carnival, boardwalk or amusement park. The term "showie" is used synonymously in Australia.
Give me a break . They are just nomadic beggars without a home.
The older expats, for the most part are better.
They are typically trying to make a new life abroad, whether it is part of a retirement concept, or just out of raw need. They tend to be a little desperate. It’s tough starting out on scratch in your 50’s or later.
The problem is that within this mix of desperate “good guys” are a significant number of experienced fraudsters. I’ve had more than my fair share of bad experiences, thank you.
British conman Tony Kenway, 39, was shot twice in the head as he climbed into his Porsche in Pattaya in January. Police believe the hit was arranged by a rival underworld figure.
The Times reported that Kenway was one of ten shady UK mafia figures operating in Pattaya.
At the time of his murder, he had been out on bail and was scheduled to front court the following month.
“Tony Kenway had a call center that employed foreign staff and made calls to Australia and Britain. He had two different companies that were involved in the scam,” an unnamed police source told The Sun.
“The aim was to get people abroad to give their life savings. It was not small amounts. He was strong and pushed them for big investments. He promised them a big win. Like winning the lottery. The people who paid the money lost out. It was big amounts, millions and millions of Thai baht that many different people paid to him.”
The source said Kenway’s victims were foreigners because he “did not dare” target local Thais.
(https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2711874/british-businessman-tony-kenway-shot-thailand-boiler-room-scam/)
Luck comes your way…
When you live in an area for some time, opportunities come and go. Some are quite noteworthy. For instance, here’s a “lucky guy” and his story;
“I went to a club on Soi 11 a few months ago and a mamasan who runs a massage shop I know well was there. She invites me to her table, buys me and my friend unlimited drinks for the next 3 hours and then tells me I can sleep with any of the girls on her table for free, oh and if I don’t like the girls that I can go visit her shop tomorrow and sleep with anyone who is there, again for free. The more I live in this social circle the more I realize how truly free I am. There are fewer hang-ups compared to other circles which have stupid ass logic and taboos.”-Afarangabroad
As always, please have fun.
One of the things that I do happen to know is how to dance. In fact, I was involved in semi-professional ballroom dancing for over five years. So I can dance a spell, and all women, no matter where they live can follow. They really can. Even if they don’t know the dance moves, they can instinctively follow. It’s truly amazing that women have this innate ability to follow in dance.
“Does sanuk (fun and the pursuit of fun) trump money in Thailand? You know, it just may. Talking with a friend who does not like to pay for lady drinks and considers them an unnecessary expense, he has found a way of keeping the girls with him when they're not up on stage yet not buying them a drink, or at the very most, buying just one. He dances with them right in the bar – and they love it – probably because he's a decent dancer. They forget all about the lady drinks because they are having so much fun – and the other girls in the bars seem envious. Yes, it would seem that sanuk really does trump money, even for the ladies of the night.”-Stickman
What about visitors?
Ah. You live in an interesting place. Everyone wants (or at least say they want) to visit and stay a while. Oh, it sounds so nice. But, is it really? What about when your friends actually come to visit?
“You didn’t mention, when a friend arrives in Bangkok with his GF, it’s a big pain in the ass for me too. I have to entertain him and his bird in a non-threatening environment, often for up to 3 nights in a row, even more when they return from the islands or up north.So we sit in some artsy gaff in Ekkamai sipping overpriced cocktails and discussing the weather, I get flashes of us beering it up at some dive full of sexpots only he could dream of. Add to that the rules in most lap dance joints back home, you cannot touch. If you do you’d risk a team handed beating off the bouncers. In Bangkok he can touch and even get to sleep with these young vixens without any strings attached.Would most men be tempted to cheat under these circumstances?”-Pat 26 January, 2017
Thailand Men…
What about the guys in Thailand? Well, they are an interesting bunch for certain. Consider this story;
“One of my wife's aunts had been married to a Thai gent who had spent time in prison for murdering someone for a motorbike. He was not much of a husband as he regularly beat her and eventually left her with two teenage children. Child support? Dream on! To make a long story short, she met a well off man from Norway and he popped the question so they set a date to marry in the village. Two days before the wedding she received a call from the ex, "I am going to bomb the wedding and kill everyone." The police were contacted to supply security and the wedding went off as planned, but everyone was on edge the whole day. Around 10PM the ex called, "I am sorry but I started drinking whiskey this morning and could not come and bomb the wedding. I will kill you some other time." What a polite chap!”-A Polite Killer
Thailand Girls…
What about the girls in Thailand? Some expats claim that they are all money-grubbing crooks, while others say they are all angels. What are they?
“I have the following to contribute. I have lived in Bangkok 7 years and have dated every kind of Thai gal imaginable. In regard to your opening piece about Thai good girls, it is my opinion that one can break Thai gals into 4 categories:
1) Good girls– just as you stated, they are controlled by their families, are raised to always be conservative and do the right thing, and would make excellent wives in my opinion for those guys who want the gal “to be seen and not heard.” This is the type of gal 95% of Thai guys want to marry.
2) Nice girls– The largest group by far, these gals are raised to be good girls but are so only in front of their families. With their friends or boyfriend they are more outgoing, very interested in sex if they have one special guy, and a lot more fun and interesting than the good girls. They are usually polite, fun and sociable. This is my target group.
3) Party girls– They don’t work in naughty nightlife places, but these gals drink, sleep around and love the nightlife. They can be a lot of fun, but they are basically the female equivalent of us (all of us party guys who love booze and broads) so be careful with your heart.
4) Bad girls– the gals who work in the naughty nightlife or any other arena where the main goal is to trade sex for money. Any additional comment would be superfluous.
I think most Thai parents try to influence their daughters to be good girls, but would be more than happy if they became nice girls. Party girls most definitely hide their real persona from their families, and unfortunately bad girls are usually trained from birth to be so by their greedy families. Speaking only of Bangkok, I would estimate the breakdown by percentage to be the following: good girls – 10%, nice girls – 75%, party girls – 10%, bad girls – 5%.
Thailand can be full of adventure. The stories who have lived there are certainly interesting.
“…When Nok shows up she’s got a good body, nice face, white skin, she doesn’t like talking Thai but speaks Lanna to me which I hate but I roll with it. So I ask her if she wants to go get noodles, “sure” she says.
So she gets on the bike and I ask where she wants to go using those exact words. She says wherever I want. Not the best thing for a chick to say to me, so we drive off.
And I’m thinking “stuff it”. I’ll just take her to the curtain hotel.
She I drive over to the Love Boat a short time hotel around Jed Yort and park in the parking space and walk inside. She’s standing outside looking a little confused (she really is from the mountains) and I said “it’s ok, come inside”.
When she is inside she’s looking around and asks me “so how long have you lived here for?” I can’t stop but laugh, this girl really doesn’t know anything.
If you’ve never been to a curtain hotel in Chiang Mai it’s basically a parking spot with a door, the door is unlocked you walk into the door there is a room and then they pull a curtain behind the car, you pay by the hour and you pay when you leave not when you arrive.
Inside the room and the curtain already pulled I tell her we are going to have sex. She tells me she doesn’t want to and thought we were just going to get noodles. I say we can get noodles after we have sex.
She doesn’t seem pleased but gets on the bed and goes along with it anyway, wasn’t that much fun honestly but since the room only cost me 160 baht for the hour I figure it was worth it. I ask her afterwards why she had sex with me and she said she had sex before so why not. No I didn’t force her either guys! We have a shower get dressed and I drive her home.
When we get to her place she asks me “are we not going to have noodles”?
I tell her next time.
A week later I call her up and tell her that I felt bad about last time and that I want to buy her noodles again. She seems hesitant and so I assure her that this time we really are going to eat noodles and that last time I was just bad and want to make it up to her.
So this time I pick her up at her apartment around 10pm at night she hops on and again I ask her where do you want to go. Again she says “Up to you”.
So without hesitation she jumps on and again I drive straight to the curtain hotel and have sex with her again. After cleaning up she asks me are we going to have noodles now, I tell her I’ve already eaten and I’ll drop her off back at home.
A few days later I call her up again and she picks up the phone, I say what are you doing? Nothing she replies, so I ask her “Do you want to go for noodles”.
Many men, most especially Americans have “had it” (Are tired of, or exhausted from…) with “the way life” is for men in the States.
How a person lives their life. In the United States, this is work in a job where you give everything to a company who will fire you with no notice, taxed where most goes to the government and you don’t qualify for anything back, and where society limitations and the latest round of anti-Male…anti-white… anti-man… attitude is far too oppressive to live acceptably.
This is a typical response and is quite accurate in that it reflects the feelings of many of my fellow male Americans.
“Yeah because spending 40+ years sucking your boss ballz all day long to earn a medium salary and having a single monthly intercourse with your fat wife (that is going to divorce you and take about half your earnings after 10-15 years) is not being a loser. Call us loser as you please, making our own jobs, our own money (even if it’s little) and creampie tight pussy all year long isn’t that much of a bad life.I need to go, it’s almost 2pm, time for my morning blow-job before I start my daily hour of work.”-bkkyolo 17 April, 2017
Yes. He is right and he is telling us all how he feels. To all those readers who aren’t listening are not paying attention… It is exactly how he feels.
Yet, it is more (much more) than that. It is about betrayal on all levels.
Not just by society.
For society has turned him into an unappreciated moneymaking machine to his wife, but also the nature of business, which terminated the longevity of his career. No longer can he work and retire on a pension.
In fact, more than likely he will be forced to start new from scratch in his 50’s after he has been stripped of all his possessions. (Like myself.)
Yet, it is even more than that. It is the absolutely criminal nature of the government that he must toil under as well. The decision to escape all these conditions is a valid one, and he is absolutely justified in making it.
Want to know what I am referring to?
If you want to understand why the status quo is unraveling, start by examining the feudal structure of our society, politics and economy.
Consider the revelations coming to light about Hollywood Oligarch Harvey Weinstein perfectly capture the true nature of our status quo: a rotten-to-the-core, predatory, exploitive oligarchy of dirty secrets and dirty lies protected by an army of self-serving sycophants, servile toadies on the make and well-paid legal mercenaries.
Predators aren't an aberration of the Establishment; they are the perfection of the Establishment, which protects abusive, exploitive predator-oligarchs lest the feudal injustices of life in America be revealed for all to see.
The predators reckon their aristocratic status in Hollywood/D.C. grants them a feudal-era droit du seigneur (rights of the lord) to take whatever gratifications they desire from any female who has the grave misfortune to enter their malefic orbit.
Indeed, anyone who protests or makes efforts to go public is threatened by the oligarch's thugs and discredited/smeared by the oligarch's take-no-prisoners legal mercenaries.
The dirty secret is that the oh-so-hypocritical power elites of Hollywood and Washington D.C. circle the wagons to protect One of Their Own from being unmasked.
The first weapons of choice in this defense are (as noted above) threats from thugs, discrediting the exploited via the oligarchy's paid goons and lackeys in the mainstream media and dirty lies about what a great and good fellow the oligarch predator is.
The last line of defense is a hefty bribe to silence any peasant still standing after the oligarchs' onslaught of threats, smears and lies.
Should the worst happen and some sliver of the truth emerge despite the best efforts of the thugs, corporate media, legal mercenaries and PR handlers, then the playbook follows the script of any well-managed Communist dictatorship: the oligarch predator is thrown to the wolves to protect the oligarchs' systemic predation and exploitation of the peasantry/debt-serfs.
Just as in a one-party Communist dictatorship, an occasional sacrificial offering is made to support the propaganda that the predators are outliers. Rather than the only possible output of a predatory, exploitive feudal status quo comprised of a small elite of super-wealthy and powerful oligarchs at the top and all the powerless debt-serfs at the bottom who must do their bidding in bed, in the boardroom, in the corridors of political power, and in the private quarters of their yachts and island hideaways.
Media reports suggest that the real reason Mr. Weinstein has been fired is not his alleged conduct over the past 27 years but his loss of the golden touch in generating movie-magic loot for the oh-so-liberal and politically correct Hollywood gang that was pleased to protect Mr. Weinstein when he was busy enriching them.
What's truly noteworthy here is not the sordid allegations and history of payoffs--it's the 27 years of intense protection the Hollywood/ media /D.C. status quo provided, despite hundreds of insiders knowing the truth.
Just as hundreds of insiders with top secret clearance knew about the contents of the Pentagon Papers, and thus knew the Vietnam War was little more than an accumulation of official lies designed to protect the self-serving elites at the top of the power pyramid, only one analyst had the courage to risk his career and liberty to release the truth to the American public: Daniel Ellsberg.
Why are we not surprised that Hollywood, the corporate media and Washington D.C. lack even one courageous insider?
If you want to understand why the status quo is unraveling, start by examining the feudal structure of our society, politics and economy, and the endemic corruption, predation and exploitation of the privileged oligarchs at the top.
Then count the armies of self-serving sycophants, toadies, lackeys, hacks, apologists, flunkies, careerists and legal-team mercenaries who toil ceaselessly to protect their oligarch overlords from exposure.
Open your eyes, America: there are two systems of "justice": one for the wealthy and powerful oligarchs, and an overcrowded gulag of serfs forced to plea-bargain in the other.
If John Q. Public had done the deeds Mr. Weinstein is alleged to have done, Mr. Public would have long been in prison. As Orwell observed about a totalitarian oligarchy, some are more equal than others.
Here’s another…
“Two reasons I come to Thailand, warm weather and sex! Although some times the birds are not quite as fit as I would like, too tight to pay more than 1500 baht for ST 555! I do like Thai beer and food though, so that’s four reasons, actually apartments are cheap, so that’s five.I bought Harvie’s ebook on freelancing, I got bored of writing for clients, so instead I write about rustic decor and shabby chic, Well, it pays for trips for to BKK and being down right dirty…”-The Bamboo Bazaar 26 April, 2017
Honeymoon Period
Ah, it’s all fun and games when you arrive. Yet, how long it is sustainable before it gets dry and old?
“I reckon the honeymoon period for the average new expat to Thailand, irrespective of financial position, age, nationality etc is around 2 years. During the honeymoon period everything is wonderful and the new arrival may feel like he is in paradise. Some new expats become quite defensive when long-timers make comments about the country or the expat lifestyle that aren't positive.I often receive emails from new arrivals who feel the tone of this column and the site in general errs on the negative. I wouldn't say it's negative, rather that it's realistic.As a regular Thai female reader of this site (yes, they DO exist) said to me recently, many of the criticisms simply reflect the harsh reality of life for foreigners in Thailand. Those were her words. Get through the honeymoon period – it lasts a different period for each of us, but figure it to be around a couple of years – and then let me know what you think. Ignorance is bliss.”
-Stickman.
Going back home…
What about when you return back to your home country?
“I have found it is now unacceptable to visit Thailand in the eyes of many westerners back home. I recently rode the train from the USA to Canada. Upon entering customs in Canada the cheeky immigration woman saw a 30-day entry stamp in my passport showing I had been to Thailand on a holiday two years previously.She immediately grilled me with questions as to why I would ever go to Thailand and what I was doing there. She sent me to a private area where all my bags, camera and computer were thoroughly searched. Like most males returning to their home country from a visit to Thailand, this type of harassment by immigration officials has unfortunately become typical and expected. However, I have never heard of it happening when traveling solely within North America. I have been branded guilty and am being harassed simply because I took a holiday to Thailand!”-Stickman Blog
Yeah, the social justice warrior types can make your life miserable…
“I met a man and his wife (she wanted to know about the Land of Smiles) in Cambridge (near Boston). Before the main course was served she was being rude in an ignorant feminist way. I just kept smiling. Did you know that all single men that go to Thailand are pigs?I did not know that. I gotta tell ya. Life for me is just one learning moment after another.”-Stickman
Do you want to move to Thailand?
What about advice for those who might want to move to Thailand?
“I have some advice to any westerners out there contemplating moving to Thailand.If you are rich and are sensible with money, then go ahead. If an international company or similar offers you a high salary job in Thailand then fine. If your are retired or have steady funds from aboard and want to live modestly on those funds, go ahead, but watch yourself. And if you're a young dude traveling around the world, and you want to spend some time in Thailand teaching or whatever for experience, then that's OK too.If you don't fall into these categories then "don't" consider it for a moment. Many middle aged westerners in particular (including professionals) like the idea of living there, having a business or making some money and "enjoying life" in Thailand. But very few make it. (Forget about western restaurant or bar owners and alike you might meet in Thailand boasting about their good life there. It is common for faltering foreigners to keep up appearances). Mostly they end up broke or crazed, sometimes both, then they leave. Thai business, visa and residency laws get you in the end. The "Thai way" will get you in the end. Have a minor run-in with a wealthy or important Thai and your status and possibly your life will be at risk. Their whole culture is geared around making sure that foreigners pursuing individual efforts are not successful. It's ingrained in them from an early age to believe that they are the never-colonized master race of Asia (yes they really think that) and their mythology runs so deep you'll never budge it. Remember, in Thailand you'll never have any real business, legal or ownership rights. But Thais can go to your country (very possibly) and buy and own anything they can get their hands on (because of the more tolerant business laws). To Thais, this is just further evidence of how clever they are, and how foolish are the foreigners to go to Thailand.Remember too, that Thailand is dominated by a comparatively small military-industrial elite. They have all the power and most of the wealth in the country. (Sounds like America, actually. In America the ILLUSION of the ability to “move ahead” is promoted in the mainstream media, but the reality is something other than that.)
The idea of western foreigners living in the country and achieving wealth and status through individual entrepreneurial efforts is seen as a threat to the hegemony that they have over the Thai underclass – the bulk of the population. For this reason, it is never allowed to happen.Think of Thailand, for westerners, as being a bit like a casino. A casino is a place with a touch of excitement, the lure of good fortune / the good life, and a place for fun, even with a bit of a risk. Go to a casino every now and then for fun and that's OK. Go there everyday all-day and you will ultimately lose, because the House Advantage will always get you. So it is in Thailand. The Thai "House Advantage" will get you. They make sure of it.Of course, if going to Thailand with all your money and slowly losing it and ending up teaching English for a pittance (because that's about all you can do), either illegally or working legally but being treated like a serf by Thai institutions, appeals to you then go ahead. And running around the country several times a year getting visas, or always being at the mercy of authorities on visa matters might be your bag. If so, then go ahead, at least you'll be able to spend your nights at cheap restaurants sharing your impoverishment and frustration with other exploited western teachers. If not, think seriously.In case you are thinking, let me say that I am not a former go-go bar owner gone bust, I have not lost my all doing business with Thais, no I haven't been cheated of everything by a bar-girl, no I haven't been reduced to the indignity of teaching English for a pittance. I have my own money, have spent a lot of time in Thailand, and have done some business there, have observed the experiences of a lot of foreigners, can see what goes on, and have enough concern to want to tell others about it.If my words can prevent even one westerner of modest means from selling up and going to "enjoy life" in Thailand (and getting shafted in the end) then that will be something. Don't make the mistake of thinking that as a foreigner (even with professional skills) you can "make a contribution" to Thailand, no matter how good your intentions or needed your skills may be. Your contribution will *never* be welcomed, only your money. There is a saying in Thai that captures it well: "farang roo mark my dee" – foreigners who know too much [about Thailand] are no good. Gullible tourists, however, are great.So, go to Thailand as a tourist if you like, enjoy what you enjoy there, but don't be taken in by the culture or people, as many westerners have, and don't under any circumstances give up anything back home to go and stay there unless you are financially secure for life, or know exactly what you are doing.There is a tradition of resident foreigners in Thailand not telling you the truth about the country because they don't like to admit to themselves and to others about the mistake they have made in moving there. But especially now, with the financial mess Thailand has got itself into through a mixture of greed, incompetence, arrogance and corruption, and the prospect of difficult times ahead (to say the least) it is time for plain speaking.A final comment to anyone who strongly disagrees with these comments. Unless you have lived, worked and conducted business in Thailand for many years, I'm not interested. The views of "oh how can you say that, Thailand is really great" 2 week tourists carry no weight with those of us who know Thailand and Thais well. “- John Zachary SmithStickman says:Controversial, and will no doubt get certain folks fuming. While I don't agree with it in its entirety, there are a lot of points that I do concur with. The points you make are food for thought and should NOT be dismissed immediately!
Ah, but other expats have totally different opinions. Here is a retort to the above article;
“I have a feeling that I am in a position that frankly very few farang have ever been in. The odds seem to justify my opinion considering I work for a Thai company in Chonburi with 4,500 people and am the only farang here, let alone the only one that is not a teacher in the entire industrial estate.I'm 33, have a work permit, do the same professional work I did back in my country, make a pretty damn good income and am treated extremely well both at work and in the town I live.Based on everything I have seen, read and heard, I feel like I have won the lottery. I sense I am in an incredible position compared to how ruthless and xenophobic Thailand is portrayed.I haven't met one Thai person who has been rude, derogatory or angry at me for being here. In fact I've only received the opposite. Adulation, even just for being a farang (which perplexes me).Most of my friends (all Thai) have university degrees and are intelligent people. I asked a few of them why they love farangs and the answers I got back were (hell, I'll quote one verbatim) "I think farang people are just perfect".I get drinks and food bought, given or offered to me all the time.I've had more interest from beautiful women since arriving here 2 months ago than I had in 10 years back home. I don't get farang prices at shops or stalls and to top that all off I can barely speak Thai to save my life.This isn't aimed as a gloat email. It's more a case that sometimes there are examples that differ from the norm, as per the Don't Move to Thailand post.I feel like this country is one of the last bastions of optimism left in the world and I plan on trying to be as good and honest with the people here as they have been with me. I don't know if Thailand attracts fools who cannot make it or I lucked out. Either way, sometimes stereotypes can be broken.I love this country and it's been incredible to me. “- A happy camper.
Those who Returned Home
What do others have to say about Thailand? You have got to be careful.
“Whenever I get depressed I feel like I just want to run away to Thailand. Rent a nice place, get on Tinder, join a gym and start a new adventure. But I have learnt from my mistakes and going to Thailand is not the answer. Whenever I go I always start off on the right path. I always say to myself, enjoy the sun, no hookers, go out and explore, join a gym. That usually lasts a week. Then I get lost down soi 4, I get drunk, I wake up late. I ignore Tinder dates and just bang hookers. I even ended up with a few ladyboys hanging out the back of me on occasions. Disgraceful. Life is about good company and staying away from trouble.As I get older I have come to the conclusion that while one's freedom is important, too much freedom can send a man feral.”-Stickman[i]https://www.stickmanbangkok.com/weekly-column/2016/06/bangkokescortcom-revisited/
Living in another country can change you.
“After living in any Asian country for more than 10 years, one definitely does not fit into one's homeland. I've been back in my home country for nearly 10 months after living in Japan for almost 20 years, having extensively enjoyed the hypnotic allures of such cities as Tokyo, Bangkok, Beijing, and Shanghai along with numerous trips to the mystically appealing islands on Thailand.Returning to the West can be a shock!I now fully understand why many of the expats I met found it difficult to live in their native country and had to return to Asia. It reminds me of trying to fit a square block into round hole. No matter how you place it, it just does not fit!To all of you foreign residents in Thailand and in Asia, enjoy your existence there, because when you return to your homeland, you will dream of those exciting days when you lived in Asia! Know well you can easily leave Asia, but it can never leave your heart! It's a stern price to pay for the sights, sounds, sensations, and pleasures one takes from Asia!”-Stickman
Not everything is perfect when you return home…
“I would have to disagree with one of your readers complaining that beer in a Bangkok a gogo is now more expensive than in a pub in England. In some cases it is (I assume he can't live in London), but you just can't compare having to wait 10 minutes to get served in an English chain pub by one of the 2 bar staff to the instant service you usually get in a Bangkok gogo whilst watching the dancing with a lovely in a thong sitting on your knee!”-Comment on Stickman Blog
The reality of taking a Thai woman to America…
“Many American men bought in to the whole idea that Thai women were more marriage type than the angry American women we encounter all the time. Sadly, for many of us that is not true. I work every day, come home dirty and earn my pay. I took good care of my family. The only way to keep a beautiful Thai woman happy here is the same as anywhere – you must have money to keep them in high status with their family back home and keep them entertained here. And if you live in small-town USA, you are wasting your time thinking they will be happy. I know many will disagree with this, but wait about three years and then see.”-Stickman (Having Two Homes)
Thailand is an adventure, but is it a “rest of your life” destination? Many argue against it.
“There is something very sad about an older man still being a slave to his desires and vices. It takes strength to stop lying to oneself. It's uncomfortable to consider we might be wrong or that we're really just a slave to some 45 kg girl. A photo you took of old guys sitting around waiting for their next fix was almost my future.Thailand will never change, but it always changes us.The venom some readers spit at you is jealousy. You are making many people reevaluate their lives in Thailand and that is scary for them. The truth is that they don't need Thailand as much as it needs them.I've noticed quite a change with the men and women I work and come in to contact with lately here in Canada. They somehow smell something different about me, even when I say nothing. Maybe that I project no desires, I'm unapologetic, professional and not overly polite and stumbling over myself. I'm comfortable in my own skin, I don't need them and they respect that.I can thank Thailand.I would still suggest to any single man to go and check it out, but just don't get caught up in that black hole long-term. Go have some fun, boys, but remember, your coffin probably won't be buried in Thailand and eventually we all need to come home.”-Stickman
Thailand will change you. Just remember the four rules. Living as an expat WILL change you. However, Thailand will change you in ways that are beyond my ability to convey.
"A man with a hard cock has a soft heart and a soft cock equals a cold heart".
Do NOT believe that Thais have the same values you may harbor.
Do NOT act on any impulse to come to the aid of another person being attacked – for any reason.
DO understand that your presence is tolerated ONLY because of the currency that accompanies you.
DO acknowledge that your well-being depends upon your strict adherence to the above.
You’ve been warned, farang. Otherwise, enjoy your stay!
Although all of this should, by now, be common knowledge to regular visitors and expats, it never hurts to reinforce the obvious. This was made even more obvious by the recent beating and knife attack on a Belgian male who came to the aid of a Thai woman being attacked in Satun by her husband. And no-one should be shocked that the husband first went to secure a knife and the help of his brother before launching his assault.
Thailand will expose you to realities and situations that will provide you with new perspectives.
“A few weeks back, I get a call from a distant cousin about his daughter coming to Bangkok with her boyfriend and was asked if I would mind showing them around. They are in their 20s and figured out their own way around, but they did meet me one evening for dinner. At the end of the evening, the 20-something daughter said to me, "I would like to get some new boobs. Can you recommend someone?"I have a nurse in my network who works in one of the better clinics, a phone call was made and an appointment was set to meet the doctor the next evening. We show up at the clinic – the girl, the boyfriend, my girlfriend (translator) and me. She was very satisfied with the interview and we left. But there was a small issue….she wanted to see and feel what new boobs would be like. Could I arrange that too?Like now, tonight, as they are off to Samui in the morning! Sure, no problem! You would like me to find a girl who has had them done, so you can feel them like right now? Yes! Off to Nana we go. In a ladyboy bar, a round of drinks later (double for the boyfriend who was freaking out), "There, pick the one you would like to be like!" She pointed to one very good looking "girl" and my girlfriend went on to explain the situation to her.Off they went to the toilet: the candidate, the translator and the model. They came out after a while, all of them with a huge grin on their faces: the cousin because she got to feel and take pictures to show the doctor, the ladyboy who was now 500 baht richer, and my girlfriend who could no longer keep a straight face.Just another typical evening in Bangkok!”-Stickman
Perhaps here is one of the best descriptions of what it is like to live in Asia (for three years), and then return back to America. It’s honest, and harsh, and if the reader has no idea what the writer is talking about then I strongly suggest you leave the USA and experience life…
“I'm writing this from the West Coast of USA, in a very quiet, very peaceful duplex. I have returned to the US after 3+ years living in Bangkok. I'm still deciding what really happened out there. My decision to move to Thailand, back in 2010, was based on a lifelong dream of living out of the US for at least one year of my life. I had originally wanted to live in Europe, but during the time I was looking for the right place to land, European economics were in meltdown. So I started researching Asia. For work purposes I almost went to Singapore, but then decided Bangkok would be more fun.
I was right.
It wasn't just the sex. I never had trouble landing women in the States. I broke up with a very attractive Thai / Cambodian woman in the US before I left. She was fun, but a bit of a bitch at times. I know enough about women to understand that ratio changes the longer you're in a relationship. Married, she would have been a bitch that was a bit of fun at times. She wanted kids and I didn't. That was that. Before that I had two different 20-something girlfriends, great sex, lots of drama, not long-term but fun. I had learned stellar game skills and liked landing semi long-term relationships with pretty women. It was worth the pursuit, the hunt, the thrill of the conquest and of course, all the great sex. So I didn't go to Thailand for sex. I went to fulfill a lifetime goal of living out of my country for a year, and when I added up how I was supporting myself, what the costs of living were, and the fact that English teaching provided a safety net if things went wrong, Thailand just made sense.
I landed in Bangkok and fell in love with the place. I had lived most of my life in New York City, and spent time in Paris, Rome, London, LA, Berlin, Caracas and many other amazing places. But Bangkok blew my mind. The chaos, the sexiness, the otherness, and just how freaking different it was from the staid, plain US was like medicine. Even New York City – supposedly that wild town – is to me, a very processed and predictable place when compared to Bangkok.So I loved it. I traveled Thailand for a month and returned to Bangkok.I set up shop pursuing my dreams. I got lucky with real hard work, landed my business contacts back West, and managed to live for more than three years in Thailand. I had a nice condo, pool on the roof, and money to play with. There were a few rough patches for sure, but also some nice straight-aways. Basically, it turned out to be what I was looking for: the adventure of a lifetime.
That adventure meant broadening my horizons. I loved learning the language. I was a Thai language class nerd. I made a few Thai friends and played badminton religiously. I put a damn good pool game together. I travelled all over, made expat friends, and had a blast. I even finally got a local job offer in my industry, which is really tough to do, and held that for a while, living the Bangkok executive life although admittedly not on the high end of that scale. Still, it was all really remarkable.
However, when a job offer came up with an old employer in the West, I took it. After more than three years, I was ready to leave. They flew me back, settled me here, and I plugged in. I actually landed on the fourth of July, if you can believe that. And I was thrilled to be back. I hadn't been back in the US for even a holiday the whole time I was in SE Asia. Any time I had to travel, I had gone all over Thailand, Laos or Cambodia. I love SE Asia, but my reasons for repatting were professional. The jobs are better in the US. I stayed with mine for five months. It was a contract. When I was offered a full time job, I turned it down in order to start another business I had been planning. And that's where I am now.
I loved being back in the States when I landed. I loved being back in familiar settings, and hearing familiar speech. I loved catching up with friends. I fully intended to plug back in here, and resume life where I had left it when I had jetted to Thailand. Thailand had been working against me in the half year before I left. I was getting fed up with the visa issues, and the outsider status. I became depressed at how hard it was to positively affect the business world there, or even the fate of the country. I like to think I can make a difference where I am. Of course, there are charities, and I did a bit of work with those. But ultimately, Thailand is for Thais. God bless them for that, is my attitude.In this One World homogenization that is happening, I have lots of respect for countries that retain national values and identities. Although I respect it, that doesn't mean I wasn't frustrated by it, and ultimately, living as a constant outsider was getting to me.I had also come to the conclusion that marrying a Thai, or even having a serious Thai girlfriend wasn't what I liked, due to the many reasons cited in other posts here. I dated “civilians” who weren't in the leisure industry, but found the culture gap too huge to leap. Plus the adjustment I had to make in terms of being 3rd on the totem pole (Family, Career, Boyfriend) never did it for me. After that decision, I partied too much. I was drinking and balling and more than a bit adrift before I left. That's why I was really happy to be back in the US. It was just time to go. My hand had been played. I felt very lucky to leave when and how I did.
But here's the problem.
After the glow of happy returns wore off, I have to be honest with the fact that I just don't like the US lifestyle. I came back to give the west a full on fair shake. I even saw it with new eyes. And there's much I really love about US that I had to be away from before I could appreciate it. It truly is a tremendous land of amazing professional opportunity, as well as a place where self development is encouraged and valued.Every system is crooked, but the corruption here is way toned down compared to SE Asia. The work place has some clowns, but is largely a meritocracy, where good workers are advanced, and losers get let go. People try hard. They want to make things better. The innovate. But what's really turning me off is how processed it all is.How boring.It feels like this grey machine. A conveyor belt. Relationships feel flimsy. Everybody works. Watches TV. Works more.The amount of hostility towards men is repulsive, as it plays out in the workplace and in media. But the underground of MGTOW and Red Pill is filled with a tremendous amount of hostility as well.I just really can't believe how unhappy and depressed most people in the west are.It's like there is this War on Love, destroying relationships between lovers, friends, and communities. There's not much neighborhood or local cohesion. I feel everybody keeps busy busy busy all the time, working buying and watching, working buying and watching, to avoid admitting how bleak and punishing the average life is here. I don't want to support it. I don't want to fit in and be part of it.
I have no regrets I left Thailand, and in terms of timing, when I was pulled back here was really a blessing. But I can't deny the fact that I feel a huge void in my life out here. I believe what I miss most is the excitement and adventure and just fantastic thrill – with all the tribulations that went with it – which living abroad in SE Asia provides. I just had more fun there. I felt more alive there. And what's also really difficult is that all of the experiences I had in Thailand aren't really welcome out here.Beyond the natural bias that women have of "men who go to Thailand", I'm just shocked that nobody really wants to know what life in another land is like. Maybe I'm a bad story teller. But maybe Americans are just living in their bubble. My countrymen have little frame of reference outside of their work and TV shows. It's heartbreaking, really. So much of the world, so much to see and hear about, and nobody wants to hear about it. I read a lot of columns on Stick that talk about how Thais don't really know much about the outside world. But in a way, the Americans don't either. So I'm left with this huge piece of living, and no place to process it. It's disheartening.
The place runs well.The trains are on time, as they say, but psychologically, I feel the West is a very hostile and weird place these days. Especially when it comes to men / women relationships. I am shocked at the deterioration in relationships that I have seen, in just the past ten years. It's just so aggressively mercenary. The romance has been drained from the punch. There's very little charm in the process. I found dating pretty pointless, but still fun and sweet enough in Thailand. Even it if leads nowhere beyond walking around a mall and having some sex, it was lighter and more pleasant.In America, dating is this grim operation to perform: shit tests, hoops, Social Market Value, and the flat-out rude bossiness that has become the modern American woman. Joyless. Probably that's what this entire post comes down to… that one word: Joyless.America is not a life.It's a job. The job is work. And work sucks.
Thais value fun. They like life light. Sanuk isn't just something in tour books. They have an art to daily living that has a pleasant ambience based on a healthy injection of “I don't give a damn”. All of us who have lived there have been on the maddening side of it. But from where I'm writing now, I see it now as a great way to resist the corporate take-over of every part of life.Why the fxxk should we all have to work so hard?Who's getting rich off our sweat? Just this morning I read that a new crisis on American college campuses is that many American university students are killing themselves or crowding counselor's crisis centers. Shouldn't higher learning be a better experience? They are probably feeling total dread at what the American system has laid out for them: joyless toil. It's like we're all fighting as hard as we can to jam our way into jobs that shred us.Why?Life shouldn't be so damn serious. Thais know that. I miss that. I miss them. I miss their land.
With luck I'll be back and honestly, probably bitching about lots of the things I just heralded in the previous paragraph. lol. Should fate decide otherwise, and slugging it out in the US is my path, I have my memories. They will remain a precious jewel for life. Either way, I am richer, wiser, and more the man I dreamed of being for having spent my time in LOS.
Enjoy it out there, gentlemen. Play smart and it's a brilliant part of the world to live life. Play dumb and it's still one hell of an adventure. My time there was a blend of both and I wouldn't trade it for anything. “- “After 3+ Years in Thailand, Reflections From Home” by Rich Archer on the Stickman Blog. Reader submission. May 2015
The Top 10 types of expat in Thailand
Let's talk about steriotypes. There are some particular sub-sets of Thai expat that you can spot a mile away. I knwo that it is bad to type-cast a typical expat, but it's boat-loads of fun, and it's a natural thing to do. Here are some sub-sets that you can use as a guide. Jus tkeep in mind that there are plenty of other varieties of expats floating around Thailand.
Here are just some major classifications of Thailand Expat that are pretty obvious. You can point them out with big splayed brushes, and will pretty much be right on target. Check them out…
1. The search of a wife Finding looking for love in the West daunting? Or had a few failed marriages? Head to Asia and find a wife there instead. Right?!
Thailand is the place for sex.
Thailand is not the place for love.
If you indeed want to find true love in Thailand, then expect to change and adapt to the way that things are done in Thailand. Not the other way around.
These gentlemen come to Thailand for the sole purpose of finding love and maybe a wife. There seems to be some belief that Asian women are going to be more polite, obedient and submissive than the women in their own country.
Oh! Boy or boy are they going to get a shock.
Others are looking to ‘trade in’ their older, western model for a younger, prettier Asian version. And where are you going to find this source of Asian ladies? At an expat bar (or on the internet these days). And so the well-trodden path and litany of perilous adventures begins. We know how most of these relationships end.
Of course there are many western men, and women, who do find a Thai partner and live long, happy lives. But (please kindly be advised) they’re vastly out numbered by the stories of love-gone-wrong in the Land of Smiles.
Don’t take life too seriously
Read a couple of hundred stories on the internet before moving in with the Thai GF. Realize that you must have deep pockets. As wll as a wallet that resembles Alladan's magic lamp. Oh, and one more thing; Guys, please keep in mid that the bar girls don’t actually love you.
2. The businessman Many professional expats live, mostly in Bangkok, working for big international companies on salaries that would make them rich in any country. They can afford to, and do, live the high life.
Some are single but others bring their family along for the adventure.
They rent a big house.
They have a live-in maid.
They have a driver and live a great life indeed.
But, living their life in an artificial bubble in their working years, they rarely transition into a more mundane retired life in ‘normal’ Thailand.
3. Retiring in Thailand The mantra used to be that you could move to Thailand and live off your pension (which would translate to lots and lots of baht), walking the Phuket beaches, shopping in Bangkok or living a quiet life in Chiang Mai.
Ah, yes. The perfect retirement lifestyle.
Other single, mostly, men would be lured by a carefree life of cheap beer, endless beaches and a seemingly endless supply of attractive young ladies in the many bars. (And who wouldn’t be lured by such wonderful attributes?)
A lot of this has changed in recent years.
The Thai economy has gained strength, along with the Thai Baht. With some international currencies have comparatively deflated. Which means that people hoping to live off their overseas pensions or savings are not getting the same bargain they once did.
This is especially living in tourist hubs like Bangkok, Phuket or Pattaya, the cost of living has been rising in recent years pricing them out of the retirement market.
If you’re contemplating a retired life in Thailand spend some time on the internet and come and spend a few months in selected locations. Try before you buy and don’t start packing the crockery until you’ve done your homework and your calculus.
4. Teaching English The English teacher is found everywhere in the LOS (Land of Smiles) and is still a reasonably sure-fire way to extend your time living in Thailand.
These teachers usually break down into four categories….
Some are career educators and love teaching English.
Others are backpackers trying to extend their stay and top up their travel budget.
There are some older guys who have spent their life savings and will do anything to stay in Thailand.
Finally, there’s the bored wives who want something useful and meaningful to fill their days whilst their husbands work for larger international companies.
There are numerous TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) courses around the country. The pay’s not great and you’ll be living a local lifestyle rather than the lap of luxury. But many former teachers remember their time teaching English in Thailand fondly and say they’ll never forget the smiling Thai children.
5. The entrepreneurial spirit Savvy business people often come to Thailand for some better weather and the chance to make their fortune. The joke used to be that if you wanted to start a small business in Thailand, just invest in a big business here and wait a few years.
But many actually make a go of it and end up doing well.
Like starting a business anywhere else in the world, do your homework and make sure you tick all the right boxes, including a business and marketing plan (in a foreign country).
The flashy, brash real estate hacks that sell one property a year and spend the other 364 days sitting at the beach bar spending their commission, are a local cliché and a dime a dozen. Same goes for the internet hacks, the blogger hacks, and the travel-lifestyle hacks. It’s all nonsense. Don’t buy into the lies.
Remember that the paperwork and administration requirements of a Thai company can be bewildering and you WILL need some good local advice before you open up shop. Take someone who’s already done it for a few years to dinner and ask lots of questions.
6. The bored wife Many of the categories mentioned so far have a predominance of males. Life for a single foreign woman in Thailand can be a challenge. Kudos to those who cut through the cultural issues and make a go of it.
There’s also the wives and partners of the many, many men who get to work in Thailand and bring their families with them. The live-in maid, driver and shopping trips eventually get boring and they will often be looking for other things to do. In most cases their visas won’t allow them to legally work. So many do end up doing various charity and volunteer work (thought you should be very clear about what your visa will and won’t allow you to do).
There are numerous expat groups around the country to provide information, social outings and community for the many mums or spouses who find themselves at a loose end whilst the husband works in the office. Jump on your computer and do some homework and you’ll discover a whole new world of other woman out there.
Your next coffee or movie gal-pal is as far away as the internet.
7. The fresh-starter For whatever reason, Thailand seems to attract its fair share of misfits, vagrants and social outcasts that can’t seem to get their act together in their home country. So they come to Thailand where the cheap booze, beaches and travel brochures have lured them.
Of course they find a very different culture and an entirely new list of reasons they can’t fit in and get their life established.
Some are just running away from …
Bad marriages
The law
Anything-they-don’t-want-to-confront.
The long term prognosis for many of these misfits isn’t good. We end up reading about them as over-stayers, drink driving road deaths or victims of balcony falls.
8. Sexpats ‘Sexpats’ are notorious and much-maligned.
They come to Thailand, lured by a slightly old-fashioned notions of the Kingdom as an easy place to find sex. And sometimes, in some locations the opportunities are still available, for a price. Sexpats usually hang around other expats who are less likely to frown on their indulgences. The three P’s – Patpong, Patong and Pattaya – sum up most of the popular sexpat locations.
In most cases they’re here for a good time, not a long time.
They will frequent the sleazier locations in Thailand pursuing their goals and, eventually, running out of money or getting bored. Or getting into trouble. Or contracting any number of available STDs.
9. The serial complainer Nothing, absolutely nothing, will ever be as good in Thailand compared to where they come from. They will find fault in everything from the traffic to the food to the government to the medical system to the culture to the visa system to the corruption to the heat to the roads to the culture to the girls.
Surprise!
Thailand is a foreign country with a rich, frequently bewildering culture. The longer you spend here, the less it all makes sense. But that’s part of the glorious adventure of living in Thailand. Whilst many expats revel in the wonders and excesses of Thai life, some just wallow in their own self-righteousness.
Many of these haters and complainers have never been to Thailand but are happy to share their wisdom, often, in chat rooms and social media.
Blah, blah, blah.
Worse, there are plenty of haters living amongst us who bore us sideways with their whinging and complaining. They can be directed to the nearest international airport where they are invited to escape the country they so despise and return to their homeland or just go somewhere else, anywhere really.
10. The digital nomads We see them tapping away on their keyboards at cafés and work spaces around the country. As long as they have wifi their business is open. They’re trading stocks and shares, selling property, gambling, posting stories, filing news reports, selling stuff on their Facebook pages – they’re working.
If you can run your business outside of a traditional office, hey, why not do it sitting next to a beach or high up in a mountain overlooking Chiang Rai. The digital nomads fall between the cracks in the Thai Immigration system and often have to run the gauntlet of dodgy visas and visa runs although a recently introduced Smart Visa helps some of them get a proper visa.
There is an increasing range of co-working spaces opening around the country and almost every café in Thailand will now have wifi – whether it’s working or not is another matter. Then again you can always tether your phone to your laptop and use your smartphone’s wifi.
However, as I have mentioned above, do NOT mistakenly believe that you can become a rich and successful person by banging around on your keyboard in a foreign land. If so, then Metallicman would have the wealth of George Soros. This is an option only for people who already have a successful online operation and they are able to port it over to Thailand without interruption.
Comparisons
For many Americans, Asia is Heaven. America has become the land of the heavily taxed serf, a land of the obese and argumentative, and the ugly. And when you leave the “wonderful shores of exceptionalism”, you discover that you wasted 50, 60 years of your life following a LIE. It’s an ideal that might at some time, long ago, existed for other people…
…but one that you never got a chance to participate within. So for you’se guys, like me. Asia is Heaven.
You go from this…
American girls tend to be on the chubby side.
To this…
This is what women are like all throughout Asia. They make fine wives, are fantastic, playful companions, and admire their man. They NEVER, ever belittle them in public.
This says it all, I would think;
“The expat rule is, you have found paradise and you don’t want to share it with anyone, especially those you believe to be unworthy.”-Stephen365
And, with that I must add, do not debauch yourself to death…
An interesting write up about judgemental people, mostly Americans, of the “ugly American" persuasion.
It is a great read, and spot on;
The act of seeing a prostitute in Western countries has been demonized, sometimes even more so than the act of prostitution itself.
In many states in the U.S., if you’re caught soliciting a prostitute, you’ll be arrested and charged, and your name will appear in the Newspaper and on the Newspaper’s website. Then when anyone Google’s your name, the first thing to come up will be the article about you trying to see a whore.
Many feminists sympathize for the “poor working girls,” who are simply misguided, while vilifying the evil “Johns” who take advantage of the women by buying sex from them.
You pay her $300 for her to tell you to “hurry up,” and yet you’re the one taking advantage of her - oh the irony!
Don’t be THIS guy…
An American male aged 55 just fell off the 27th floor landed right near the pool.
He wrote a letter before jumped said that he ran out of money, his visa is expired and express a wish to live in Thailand longer.
It’s a sad story indeed. You spend your entire life working inside the “American Dream”, only to be taxes, swindled, and squeezed out of everything.
Then you take what little remains and go somewhere where you are appreciated.
Yet, when the money dries up, everything is over.
Sad. Looks like he'll be here forever now.
http://www.livingthai.org/video-of-american-falls-to-his-death-in-pattaya.html
Or this fellow…
60 Year-old British Expat Found Dead in his Rented Room in Buriram Province.
Upon entry of the rented room police found the body of James Track, 60 on the bed, surrounded by beer bottles, Deputy interrogation chief Pol Capt Decha Thongprapa said.
Pol Capt Decha said the Briton might have died from consumption as it was revealed to him by other tenants that his wife had threatened to break up with him due to his drinking.
http://www.chiangraitimes.com/60-year-old-british-expat-found-dead-in-his-rented-room-in-buriram-province.html
Things are different in Thailand.
Things are different; prostitution is more accepted and you certainly don’t have to worry about getting arrested for bar-fining a girl. We’re not usually judged for it in Asia, but we’re judged even more harshly by Western women than men who solicit prostitutes in their own country.
Because now we’re not just taking advantage of a “misguided woman”, and now we’re actually taking advantage of a “very poor and uneducated, misguided third world woman”.
Yeah. Right.
I’ll have to remember that the next time a bar girl begs me to spend the night with her.
I’ve been targeted numerous times by groups out there who try to shame me for “the proliferation of the prostitution scene.” It’s as if I tell people that it’s wrong NOT to see prostitutes, or that it’s wrong to treat them well when you do see them.
Some of these people act as if the prostitution scene in Thailand exists only because dirty old white men come here and throw their money around in ways that uneducated women simply can’t refuse.
This implication is mean spirited and outright false.
1) I find that to be an insult to Thai women; they’re not robots and they are acting on their own free will. To imply that they don’t know any better is another way of calling them stupid. Most of them are much more calculated than feminists give them credit for being, usually saving hordes of cash by the time they’re done in the profession.
2) The prostitution scene in Thailand has a long history that has only recently included white men. The facts are that most of the “Johns” throughout the country are Thai. But feminists, and those quick to point the finger, live in some sort of vacuum where they think that Soi Cowboy and Walking Street are the only prostitution havens in Thailand.
Feminists, and basically all Western women, have always been on that side of the issue. But lately, I’ve noticed a new group of people quick to throw stones at any man who would dare see a Thai prostitute: foreign men! These guys fall into different categories, I’ll list them for you.
1)The dating guru who insists that it’s STUPID and PATHETIC to have to see prostitutes since it’s so easy to score here with an unlimited amount of non prostitutes. In other words, “do as I do or you’re dumb and sad.” I’ve had my successes in the dating scene here, but I don’t see what that has to do with the prostitution scene.
2)The man who takes care of his wife’s Thai daughter from a past marriage, as his own, and is repulsed by the thought of her selling her body to foreign guys when she becomes of age. I don’t blame the guy for not wanting to see it happen to the girl, but it won’t happen if he does a decent job as a parental figure in her life. If he fails as a parent, and she does become a prostitute, it’ll be his fault, not the fault of the “johns” she sells herself to.
3) The “fragile heart” guys, otherwise known as: walking contradictions. These are the guys who fall in love with the first bar girl they buy sex from. They become so consumed with their “love,” that they have to find a way to justify the fact that she was sexing and fucking 20-40 guys per month for the past year or two. So, for whatever reason, some of these guys start to visualize the johns as being the villains. It doesn’t sound like a particularly healthy way of handling the situation, but that doesn’t seem to stop them. The craziest thing about it is that they themselves were a john when they first met the girl. They find a way to separate that from the evil guys who did the same thing as them, just without the falling in love part.
4)The guys who are just “above it all.” Most of these guys are outright liars, the rest of them are just judgmental assholes. Finding guys who have never truly seen a prostitute in their entire lives, especially those who have been to or live in Thailand, is even more rare than finding a guy who never had an alcoholic beverage before. I suppose there’s a few of them out there, but there’s a lot more guys out there who simply say they’ve never seen a prostitute, despite that being a lie. And if a guy saw a prostitute even one time in his life, and vows that he never has and is repulsed by anyone who does or has, that is just a sick and twisted way to go about things. Now, for those few guys who truly have never seen a prostitute, good for them. I’m not going around saying that they’re prudes or pussies for not doing it; I actually don’t care. I wouldn’t judge them either way. But if they are going to judge me, simply because I don’t adhere to the same moral codes as they do, then they can go and fuck themselves!
5)The religious type. If a guy’s religious code dictates that I’m a sinner, then so be it. Prostitution is known as the “oldest profession in the world.” It’s also pretty damn harmless compared to some more obvious “sins.” I don’t judge anyone for being very religious, that’s their prerogative. But I just wish some of them wouldn’t so often judge others that just don’t happen to follow the same religion with the same passion. Some of these guys are quite the hypocrites, because they’ve seen hundreds of prostitutes, but since that was “before they were saved,” that doesn’t count anymore.
I’m not even going to discuss the group of people out there who makes it like any “john” is basically a rapist sex trafficker; obviously those people need more help than most prostitutes. But that is basically the final end of the spectrum of people who hate on anyone who has ever been with a prostitute before. We’ve gone through all of the groups, and they all have two things in common: they’re judgmental and intolerant people.
Conclusion
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the matter, and to follow through in the way they see fit. Just as everyone can have their feelings on the topic, I have mine as well. I don’t judge others who don’t see me eye to eye on it; it’s just my own personal code.
This is true whether it is about China, or Thailand. About work, career, or pretty girls. It is the same regardless about how you live your life and what you do with your time. All men need a code; a code of behaviors.
And that is, that seeing prostitutes is like drinking alcohol – its fun sometimes, but it’s best to do it in moderation, and it’s important not to become completely addicted to it.
Like alcohol, if you’re not somewhat cautious, there can be some downsides. But if you can stick to the limits that you set, you’ll be fine.
Do you want more?
I have more posts long these lines in my KTV 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.
People have asked me, shyly (of course) if I could tell them a few things about how sex works within China. Ai! It’s a big subject, for certain. But you know what? It isn’t all that different from sex anywhere else in the world. You have people who fall in love and have relationships and have sex as part of that relationship, and then you have people who do not. These people trade sex for money instead.
Since China has always been the subject of sensational lies so that others may profit, it’s difficult to find any reasonable and good information on the internet about these subjects short of going on a “monger” website.
Monger
Short for whoremonger, i.e., one who frequents whores and prostitutes.
-Urban Dictionary: monger
Most people who visit Metallicman aren’t really “mongers”. Most are just healthy normal folk with a pretty decent interest in the universe around them. And that means just about everything.
That’s a good thing.
This post is some old information that I had buried in one of my pages. Um. Pages are different than posts. And unless you are an expert in the layout of Metallicman, the chances of you finding some of my intentionally buried pages will be difficult. I resurrected this page, updated it with some information and am placing it here as a post. If you have never seen it before, then you are in for a treat. Enjoy.
I found this on Daspora-ChinaSmack. It describes how an American got involved in the KTV scene and got tangled up with prostitutes in China. It’s a good read, even though the spelling is atrocious …
Also please take note, again, that this was not written by myself. It is the opinions of that author as he relates his experiences in regards to KTV’s, girls who charge for sexual services and how it works.He is responding to a long chain of discussion in which people are talking about prostitution inside of Asia, and China in particular. Here we pic-up his comments after a few pages of nonsense by basement millennials, holier-than-thou women, ignorant teenagers, and a few genuine people looking for answers…
Southernorthener
You guys actually have all the facts but kinda lose sight of reality..Ive been in china for years.. i have a regular blog but its a rated since i have a normal life i lead that is quite in the spotlight so to speak..but i actually want to write this down desperately..i have another life in the north of china.Its hard to explain, and sort of unbelievable, even for me at times, but i'm going to go out on a ledge here since i cant change a whole nations opinion, but i can at least share my experiences with you folk and hope that someone listens…Here it goes..
I'm basically like a pimp...
...a real nice pimp, and i work in the KTV and security industry when I'm not doing my day job..and I'm a foreigner.
It sounds so different than it actually is though…
First off…let me just correct some wrongs and wrong some writes..
[1] (The girls) They aren't forced into KTV...
[2] The money is certainly theirs, only some goes to the mommies, but the cash they get in their hands is theirs.
[3] Not all are what we call “chu tai de”, which means that go out, for sexs, The ones that do go out range from old and desperate with a pimp, or young and horny without a pimp and all the variations in between.
So remember..they are not all hookers...
...why would they be when there are saunas every other block with actual skilled sex workers?
What happened to me was that i started doing business with a guy that had a factory...
... but was actually a gangster...
... or not even a gangster, where I'm from, gangsters have guns and they are ruthless..
These guys are a bunch of semi successful middle aged men who have groups of young guys from anhui, henan, dongbei just buzzing around them with shaved heads gold chains and nike sneaks..
Photo is from a phone that was “found” by an interested person. On it were numerous photos of a mob boss and his crew. This is, we must assume, his crew. It is representative of the kind of people that this article talks about.
They get paid to protect them from...
I don't even know what...
...and they live in dorms like little goons working for the man, but hardly any of them can fight, and only if you have thirty of them with machetes to they actually become dangerous...
So this one guy I was doing business with is friends with a big KTV owner, another balding “gangsta”... who's got like fifty boys who all work security for the KTV...
... you'd be surprised about how much they get used...
So I became a relative lieutenant in the ranks of these boys, and the cheering and the free ciggies never stop flowing from the ranks upwards...
I happen to come from a quite violent upbringing and actually was a real little thug, petty shit though growing up in the ghettos of the states...
But unthinkable for some of these so called gees...
...so for me fitting in with this crowd was natural...
...although I myself have changed my ways, and I stopped to steal cheat or...
...well lets leave it at that.
So I gets hooked up with a KTV girl, my family is in the South of course, Chinese wife, kids, the lot..
Shes super young and she doesn't fuck for money...
She takes the 400 rmb a night and spends it pretty fast but takes care of her drunken father and grandparents...
...the mom is in sechuan somewhere and doesn't give a flying fuck...
So since i was being taken to KTV every night by the Chinese bosses for like eight months, I basically would help her get paid...
...and help her to book the room, which they get perks for...
...she was damn hot, and everyone wanted to bang her, but no one knew she was actually just 17, standing taller than I, at 5’10.
Chinese mob boss with some of his staff and some KTV girls in a KTV. It’s a pretty typical scene in China. Photos apparently came off a phone that used to belong to a “Chinese Mob Boss”.
She was totally in love with her current boyfriend that had gone to Japan, and was actually supporting him by working at KTV...
...but he was there...
...I was here...
...basically though we hit it off because in this city I, was a foreigner , but I was doing business, and getting taken out by gangsters and business people every night...
...so ...
...basically she only started to like me because I wasn't just an English teacher...
... aka I had money, and I had friends that could help her if she got into trouble...
To make a long story short, I got an apartment, with four rooms, went back to the South, came back , and four of her girlfriends were staying in the house...
...all known prozzies (prostitutes)...
...even one that I possibly have done, I could never be sure if it was actually her, at any rate she never caused any grief with the lil missus...
...little wife...xiao lao pou..the new mamasan in town.
Chinese triad gangster in a KTV with friends and some KTV hostesses. The drinks and the cigarettes flow easily.
Everyone in the city (in the game) started to hear that she was getting them business and shed get a cut...
...so in fact it was her who started the pimpstressing...
... but later when my big bro found out, he told me to be careful and gave me the numbers to a few boys that would come if anything went down and I kinda took over in the protection area...
...eventually things did go down ...
...when a guy didn't wanna pay and kept a girl in a hotel room...
...suffice to say the ending was not pretty...
...for him, and I started receiving extra income...
Going forward more, and back to the conversation at hand ...
...it's business...
...they all know what they are involved in and the cash is theirs to keep...
...the cut to the pimp is actually protection fee, and its not nearly as exorbitant as it is in the states...
its actually pretty legit...
...most the girls are all pulled from the hometowns and some go on to open clothes and make up shops...
...which my KTV girl eventually ended up doing...
The nasty part is there though...
...and there are clients that want the girls to do ice with them before sexs...
...huge cost though and usually there are boys nearby...
...but then again, there are girls who choose to do that since in one night you can make four nights money...
Its strange I know...
...and I don't know exactly how I got involved , but I did...
...then there's a whole world of DJ's! That actually make almost as much as the girl but they only clean up and pour drinks!
Those are great to date...
...also KTV's themselves range from nasty group-on sexs in the room to fucking 30000 rmb bottles of lafitte and all college educated girls...
...lafitte mixed with sprite...
You'd be surprised a lot of these places the girls go to school, work on and off...
...its up to them, they get multiple males all paying things for them, which in my opinion...
...more power to them...
...they are not all bimbos and hoes...
...that's were some of you are wrong...
...they are not all slaves...
...and the work can range from easy to difficult, sadly directly correlative with their appearances...
(At) some KTV's you can grab them anywhere you want and the mamasans scream at them to be more open...
...others, the boys will come in and beat the shit out of you if you touch the wrong girl...
...in this case my girl...
...its weird that people actually pay up and beyond a hundred USD just for the company but for their sake...
...that's their newfound cash culture...
...whether its right or not its too early to tell...
But then again look at our potato chip eating fatty couch surfing culture we have...
...that we basically got the same way. By being a developing nation that eventually has a bunch of people getting exactly what they want since they got the cash to spend...
You know the problem I see is that a lot of foreigners can't and will never be able to see the real truth...
One, because ...
...I'm talking a minimum expenditure of over ten thousand rmb a night at some of these places...
And two, because to actually know if shes smart or not, or if she knows what the hell shes doing...
... you have to be able to speak with her...
...and not conversational Chinese (either)...
Another photo of the mob boss inside yet another KTV. This is pretty typical for China.
I'm talking speaking in shanghainese for hours upon hours finding out what this person has up there...
...that's when you get the real picture...
...and sadly those foreigners are few and far between...
...I'm one of them, and funnily enough I never asked to be, but I have a nack for languages...
...and hustlin...
Just know that the KTV world is way more complex than it seems...
...and that with everything in life stereotypes exist for a reason, but there will always be exceptions to that rule..
...and in china...
...exceptions can be millions of girls who know exactly what they are doing and are taking advantage of rich men's horny tendencies and deserve a little more respect than most tend to give them...
I got a lot of respect for them gals.
Southernorthener
Oh and I forgot to say...
...I didn't know she was 17 either ! Hahahahah
Anyway...
...I know I'm no saint...
...and rereading this I'm wondering why the fuck I just said all that to a bunch of you-all strangers...
...but thing is I think I got a pretty unique outlook round these parts...
...and I read diaspora and china smack all day..
... (the) thing is I never comment, because I got funny grammar due to a lack of formal education...
...and I'm always a bit scared of being misunderstood or laughed at ...
...never found something I really wanted to comment about until now...
Diaspora is funny though...
Because I feel like backwards diaspora...
I've been here so long all my foreigner friends tell me I've become Chinese...
...and I came here so young and stupid, that I basically grew up here...
...plus I'm not even fully American, so I don't feel American, that's for sure...
...and to top it all off I live fully Chinese...
...to the point where people think I'm Chinese?!
They all think im xinjiangy...
...its kind of weird...
...in the end ...
...Chinese culture seems to go over the heads of the Chinese so much that I would find it fucking hard for most foreigners or ABC's or whatever to fully get it after a year or two or even five living here...
Also its so layered...
...there's cultures for every class...
...for every province for every city! There's languages for fuck sake between cities...
...you can expect huge culture differences as well...
...china reminds me a lot of America actually..,
...just more open about there Americaness than even Americans...
...cheating lying backstabbing bribery violence prostitution drugs...
Its what America was built on...
...yet know that we've kind of cleaned up certain aspects of our western lives we are here to point piss and shit in the general direction of the big red brother yeah?
I don't know..its all fucked isn't it.
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my Business KTV 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.
It’s funny how life can take you on interesting roads, and on journeys that you might otherwise not have taken. Here, we are going to discuss my experience on an R&D project that I headed while I was working in Boston, Massachusetts. It’s not associated with MAJestic in any way, though I cannot help but think that I was “led” towards it by my thoughts and intentional “signposts”. This R&D project involved the remote control of insects.
The Time and the Place
This entire story took place within a two year span of time from 1990 to 1992 (plus or minus six months either way). The company that I was working with at that time was Holmes Products, which was THE top supplier of consumer appliances to Walmart, and Target (as well as some others).
I was the Head of New Product Development, and my title was “NPD Manager”. The company was located Milford, Massachusetts. It was located in “Granite park”, which was a small mountain of rock that jutted up outside of Milford.
One of the many fond memories that I have of this company, and this area is the concept of “Summer hours”. The Company owner allowed us to only work seven hours a day in the Summer instead of eight. We would get off one hour earlier to enjoy the warm Summer afternoons. To make this happen, he would tack on a half-and hour to the days leading up to the Summer. It was a great system and we really did appreciate it.
The Background Story
It turns out that five years previously, a (former) employee at Holmes Products worked in the drafting group. He drew up the CAD drawings on the CAD software known as ProE. He was fired. He was a troublemaker, lazy, and a liar. He had concocted schemes to obtain over-time pay, when all he was doing was just clocking in and out without actually sitting at his station.
Anyways. He was fired.
Five years later he comes to his old boss, now my supervisor, with this invention of his. He had movies, and ugly-ass prototypes made out of children’s metal lunch boxes. He was able to clearly demonstrate that some mosquitoes would be attracted to his invention and that they kept on trying to “bite” the metal surface of the lunch-boxes.
The long-story-short is that the owner of Holmes Products, Jerry Khan was intrigued and asked me and my boss if we could develop this products. We said yes, and offered a timeline, and a budget, and he gave us the “green light” a “go-ahead” to develop it with specific milestones that must be met. If we couldn’t meet those milestones we would abort the project and continue on with other projects that we were working on (at that time).
The inventor would be given a salary (to keep him happy and out of our hair) and be permitted to observe our efforts, and work with us in the remote testing of this project.
The Blue Light
There are a lot of mosquito killing traps on the market that utilizes a UV blue light to attract and kill mosquitoes. THEY DO NOT WORK. This machine might attract moths and an occasional fly, but they do not work on biting insects… insects that bite humans and animals as part of it’s life cycle. These lights do not work on “blood feeders”.
Some types of mosquitoes found in the United States.
We setup a R&D Project
This project was named “The Elephant Project”.
As with most R&D, and NPD efforts, it’s usually just done with a small and tight knit of people. Maybe the software world more resembles the science-fiction concept of the development of new devices and systems, with enormous teams of engineers and billions of dollars in funding, but not us in military, or consumer appliances. We had a small team of five people, of which all also were working on other projects as well simultaneously.
We had a lab inside the office complex, with a lock and closed circuit television. The lab had maybe eight bench / tables, compressed air source and was adjacent to the small machine shop that was staffed with four experienced machinists and model makers.
I hired a project manager / lead engineer to supervise the development process. My role was being his boss. As I had many other simultaneous projects in development at that time. That does not mean that I was “hands off”. I took a special interest in this project from the Git-go, and made sure that the project kept on track and did not stray too far off the “project road map”. As well as get “my hands dirty” building prototypes and working the various issues that come up in every R&D / NPD project.
We collaborate with the inventor
Now, of course, the inventor wanted to “be the boss”, and acted like a “little Napoleon”. Honestly and truthfully, he was a royal pain in the ass, and would make surprise visits and expect us to treat him to free lunches, mess up our schedules, come in and wreck up the lab with one of his frequent alarmist explosions of anger and just be a general asshole.
But that was the price that we had to pay. So we “took it on the chin” and just accepted it.
Now, he might have “invented” this concept, and went ahead with promoting it, but he knew nothing about project management, the theory of experimentation, the actual design of mechanical systems, and mechanical development. All he knew was how to draw pretty pictures on a computer screen.
After a few of his disruptions, we pretty much kept him away at “arms reach” and went our own way with product development efforts.
In short, we developed the product and he was able to take what we did, fly off to Steamy Florida with the prototypes and test them in the semi-tropics. It was an agreeable situation for everyone involved.
Development of Prototypes
The thing was that we didn’t know what was making the mosquitoes want to bite the metal. If we could discover their “secret” then we could replicate it in different ways. Perhaps cheaper, and consumer product friendly ways, that would make a viable product for sale in the market place.
So, the first thing in our development plan was to try to figure out just what was attracting these mosquitoes.
So we built up a number of prototypes with this in mind. They consisted of an electrical mesh (to entrap and kill the mosquitoes) that surrounded the test mechanism. With most mechanisms being a tin of heated water that is pumped into a pulsed array of tubing that would move and vibrate with each pulse.
We made a number of these prototypes. Perhaps ten solid testing units and four experimental units that were used to various modifications and to help us answer a few questions as they would come up. (As they always do in a new development venture.)
We had a little production facility making these hand-crafted prototypes, and a special rack that we would sit them in. On the top of each one was a number (we used the big number stickers from Home Depot that people put on their front porches to give their addresses with), and tracked the changes on each unit as time went on.
Testing of Prototypes
Now, since Holmes Products also made Air Purifiers and Humidifiers, we had a testing chamber. This was a small room that was 2 meters by 2 meters by 2 meters. It was a nice square chamber. Next to it was a window and a control booth.
What we would do is obtain 100 pure bred female mosquitoes (Aedes Vixis) and release them in the chamber for one hour. We would count the attempts at biting by using a capacitance sensor when they landed on the (electrical killing) grid.
We would also take turns being a human subject. Here we would strip down to shorts and a tee shirt, and sit on a chair in the room for one hour. We would then count the number of bites that we would have. Yes.
No kidding!
At the start of the project, we noticed that a machine was capable of replicating approximately 20% that of a human.
After eight to nine months, with successive improvements, we were able to have the machine equal to that of a human with approximately the same number of bites on the machine that a human would receive. But even at that it wasn’t the “wow!” moment that we were looking for.
Breakthrough!
One day while filming a test, we noticed that one of the prototypes (number 5) was malfunctioning. One of the latex tubes had a kink in it and with each pulse of hot water into the tube the tube would shutter and expand, and then contract. It resembled a glove that you blow air into, and then release. Each time the tube would grow bigger, and the walls of the latex get thinner. And with each increase in size, the mosquitoes would pause in mid flight.
They wouldn’t bite, though. But boy oh, boy did they take notice.
Finally, at one split second of time, when the tube was blown up to enormous size before contracting again, all 100 mosquitoes in the chamber simultaneously converged on the moving, vibrating bubble of tubing…
…right before it exploded.
Working with Tufts University
Well, we discovered the mechanism. It had to do with vibration, heat, and a certain set of conditions. But how could we best understand what is going on?
Well, we went to the local university and asked an expert to work with us. We found a mosquito entomologist.
And we worked with us, and observed the chamber trials, and the field trials. Though his suggestions and advice, we were able to improve and tweak the machine to replicate 800% that of the performance of a human.
Seriously, it was amazing.
The little buggers would swarm over the machine.
It would attract all kinds of mosquitoes from five miles out, and they would converge on the machine in huge piles. It looked like old coffee ground piling up on top of the machine. Each mosquito was busily trying to climb over all the others to feed on the machine.
Human feeders, dog feeders, bird feeders. It did not mater what their preferred host animal was. They wanted the machine!
How it worked
Well, it turns out that there are these little tiny hairs on the legs of the female mosquitoes. They feel the subsonic vibrations of their preferred feed hosts blood capillaries. And what the machine did was replicate the vibrations that the tiny hairs would feel. And this would trigger the female biting mosquitoes to head towards the source of those subsonic vibrations.
And it wasn’t just mosquitoes either. It was all biting insects, from flea to ticks and anything in between.
Success
We constructed a few “demonstrator units” that were absolutely stunning in effectiveness. And while the team started work on pilot models prior to production, I started on work for the remote control of these critters.
I had developed a system where I could selectively beam subsonics to the creature and confuse it as to where the source of the subsonic originated from. In short, I created a “carrot and stick” method to lead the mosquitoes to a given target.
Whether the target was an electrical killing grid, or a person that I was angry at made no difference. I could remotely control entire swarms of blood-feeding mosquitoes.
The company is sold
While all this was going on, the company that I was working in was sold. the owner, Jerry Khan got $300 million dollars for it. The new owners decided to make some structural changes.
This was 1992, remember.
So we had layoffs, and you might call them up-sizes, or down-sizes or restructuring efforts. But the point was that all new product development and R&D would end.
The engineers would be laid-off, and instead the existing products would be kept on “life support” without any further development efforts (no “living development” of existing products) in favor of acquisition of other appliance companies.
The Project is killed
The project, as will all the other on-going projects, were all killed. Development efforts all stopped. The model shop was reduced in staffing, the R&D group shuttered, and the NPD group reduced to only one or two people.
The Sales force (however) was increased, as was efforts to acquire other companies. To this end “experts” were hired whose entire role was the acquisition of companies. So in short, the company completely changed once it was acquired. It grew larger and absorbed many smaller appliance companies, it cut staffing levels, and grew enormous levels of dept.
But that didn’t really matter to me. I was out of work and “on the street“.
I am laid off
I was given one hour notice and escorted out the building on a Friday. At the time this was pretty much standard practice. And it really sucked.
At the time I was married to my first wife who was showing signs of her mental illness. The layoff, sent her “off the deep end”, and her behavior became unbearably erratic. She started to paint the bathroom mirror with fingernail polish, started to read and collect discarded egg shells, and started to break into people’s houses because she “heard the screams of trapped women in the basements”.
I dealt with things to the best of my ability while conducting a full-scale job-search. I worked some fast-food (Wendy’s) to make ends meet, and dealt with my wife going through a full-blown schizophrenia episode….
And YES, it really sucked.
And YES, I was still part of MAJestic at the time.
And YES, I was still going in and out of slides as part of my MWI mission parameters.
And YES, it has made me a very different man. And when I was retired with all the associated unfairness, my thoughts were very, very black.
The project is sold off to Lentek
The entire project, all prototypes, technical information, and email trail was sold to another company for a few hundred thousand dollars. This other company was Lentek which had an interest in using carbon dioxide plumes to attract mosquitoes.
The only association that the new owners of the project had with us is their association with the mosquito entomologist that we had worked with. The rest of us were considered to be “disposable” and no longer useful.
And that was that.
Lentek goes broke and is acquired by American Biophysics
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. & ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 2004--The United States Bankruptcy Court, Middle District Florida, Orlando Division, recently awarded American Biophysics Corporation (ABC), manufacturer of the Mosquito Magnet(R) Advanced Mosquito Defense System(TM) (www.mosquitomagnet.com), all of the intellectual property rights, including all trademark and patent rights, for Orlando, Florida-based Lentek International, Inc.'s (Lentek) carbon dioxide-generating "Mosquito Traps." Lentek filed for bankruptcy on July 11, 2003 and was liquidated by court order on June 17, 2004.
The bankruptcy court ruling in favor of ABC is the result of an investigation ABC initiated with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against Lentek in November 2003, alleging a violation under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as amended (19 U.S.C. 1337). ABC accused Lentek of violating its patent rights relating to methods and devices for trapping insects - including its patented Counterflow(TM) and propane combustion technology - by Lentek's manufacture and distribution of their insect trapping devices, known as the Protector Mosquito Trap or the Mosquito Killing Machine.
American Biophysics “sits” on the technology
Well, was the market flooded with this new technology?
Nope.
It turned out that American Biophysics has their own method of entrapping and luring mosquitoes. They would use Carbon Dioxide plumes and then vacuum up the mosquitoes. Their device worked, though not nearly as well as our “elephant project” did.
American Biophysics Mosquito Magnet.
However, the business model was far superior. You see, their device for catching mosquitoes required that the owner continuously purchase tanks of carbon dioxide. This steady revenue flow was exactly what the owners of the company wanted. they didn’t make money on the devices themselves, just on the the replacement tanks of gas.
Our device was a “one buy deal”. You bought it, and it would last for twenty to forty years. It might be super effective in attracting and killing mosquitoes, but no sustainable business model could be wrapped around it.
In short, the new owner of the technology embraced the use of carbon dioxide plumes and order to attract mosquitoes provided that replaceable packets would provide a stead income stream for the company. Our “Elephant Project” which used the generation of subsonics to lure and trap mosquitoes was shelved simply because it could not offer a stead revenue stream.
Conclusion
This is simply a story about one of the many, many projects that I worked on while I was involved in my role within MAJestic. As I lived life, I was monitored and my reality adjusted accordingly. I was (I suppose) “the canary in the coal mine“.
Canary in a coal mine
Something or someone who, due to sensitivity to his, her, or its surroundings, acts as an indicator and early warning of possible adverse conditions or danger. Refers to the former practice of taking caged canaries into coal mines. The birds would die if methane gas became present and thereby alert miners to the danger.
This little story has many lessons within it. I do hope that someone benefits from the knowledge that I wish to share.
Just because you have a “better mousetrap” does not mean that it will automatically be marketed and sold.
The people who develop, invent, and design these products are considered an expendable resource to use and discard.
It was China who snapped up all the technical expertise while America was throwing them away like used toilet paper. Now, the USA is complaining and crying. Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo! China bad! America Great! You reap what you sow, fuckers.
Were I to be a malevolent fuck, I could use my expertise for personal gain, and create weapons that would really would be on a level far, far above that of “Joe Average”.
Everything that is going on right now is being monitored, observed, and a great reset is building. You all have no idea of the magnitude of the tsunami that is building up.
Hey! Do you want some more?
Yah. I have more posts 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.
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.
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.
As I write this, the “Trump trade war with China” in on it’s third year. It has been one heck of a roller-coaster ride, and today I can definitely say that, contrary to what the mainstream American media reports, China is just happy as can be waiting the “trade war” out.
China is not starving, ready to collapse towards famine.
There aren’t layoffs of millions of people
Huawei hasn’t collapsed, and sitting by waiting for America to develop 5G technology
Here, we review the current state of affairs between the USA and China in the building “cold economic war”, and then investigate options that can move the trade war as a positive win for America. Because right now, it is just floundering. And the only ones really getting “dinged” by it are the Americans that have to pay higher prices for their manufactured products.
This article is all about making America #1.
But first, we need to see things as they actually are. Not as how we want them to be. In many cases that means that we must erase some preconceived notions that we might hold dearly.
To help a person that has collapsed in the street, you need to know WHY he collapsed. Was it heat stroke? A heart attack? A gun shot wound? Or, was he just sleepy. You need to know the TRUE situation in order to provide the proper assistance.
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.
The Lose-Lose scenario
At the start of the Donald Trump presidency, myself and others sincerely believed that the trade disagreements between the USA and China could be resolved. We believed in a win-win scenario. One in which both side so the table came back with something resembling success. A win-win for everyone.
But, unfortunately, that did not happen.
Instead, what developed was a policy of “lose – lose”. That is to say, that both sides would lose. However, the idea was for Chinese to lose much more than America would. Thus it would be a positive gain for America, and thus provide the USA with a greater amount of bargaining power.
The USA would lose a little bit, but recover quickly.
The Chinese would lose a lot, and maybe not recover for decades.
Personally, there is no doubt in my mind that this lose-lose strategy is a NeoCon strategy.
Because it is complete and utter nonsense, and has no bearing what so ever on reality.
As such, it is no surprise that it would be enforced, embraced and cultivated by Neocons within the trump administration. For every time it looked like the trade issues would be resolved, there would be some kind of problem. And each and every problem resolved around a Neocon-related issue.
I like to point my fingers at war-monger extraordinaire John Bolton, but I could be wrong.
To Bolton, the support of allies is proof of US military weakness, not diplomatic strength and he is yet to meet an arms control agreement he likes. The latest casualty amidst their wreckage of the pillars of the US-crafted global order is the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
How and Why
Why in the heck would anyone really want a lose-lose situation? Really, it’s crazy right? I mean, why go to a restaurant that has discount week-old meals for a cheap price when you know that you are going to get sick afterwards? Why do it?
Maybe on the HOPE that there is a CHANCE that you won’t get sick.
The understanding on how anyone would possibly want a lose-lose trade agreement is clear once you see the distortions of reality that neocons live under.
China is forever a third-world nation.
America is a long-term first-world nation.
China is dependent on the United States for labor, food, and status.
America doesn’t need China, and we can reopen all our factories again easily.
Each and everyone of these assumptions parrot the American mainstream press. And, as such, each and everyone is completely and absolutely wrong. It’s what Americans WANT to believe, not what is really going on.
China is not what the American mainstream press says it is. Instead it is something else. The mainstream American press produces “news” and “reports” that appeal to American emotions. Not to provide them facts and information. Remember, the only way that America can operate efficiently is with a just and well-informed populace.
People!
A healthy America requires an educated and well-informed populace. Otherwise, America is doomed to suffer through the mistakes of the mass-mob, as well as the manipulations by those that control them.
Changing things around.
Right now, the trade situation is at a standstill.
China is waiting everything out. They will let events play out. For they play “the long game’.
America is willing to suffer though events as they transpire. They believe that China is feeling the same kinds of pressures that Americana feel. For Americans believe that the Chinese, just like Americans, play the “short game”.
The only thing is… China just isn’t experiencing any kind of serious pressures.
In reality, for the Chinese owned businesses, it’s all just a slight down-tick in trade and a very slight increase in prices on imported goods. The ones that are hurting are the American businesses that operate within China. They are feeling the vast brunt of the trade-wars, as well as their support networks. Most of which are HK based.
"The Trump administration made a very serious miscalculation in launching the ‘trade war’ with China. It believed that either, or both, the leadership of China would submit to the Trump administrations threats or the Chinese population would not be prepared for a serious struggle with the US. Both calculations have proved entirely wrong. China’s leadership did not surrender to but hit back against the US attacks. Furthermore anyone who follows China’s domestic discussion, on what is now by far the world’s largest internet community, knows that this line was strongly supported by the Chinese population."
- China prepares for economic ‘prolonged war’ with Trump
The big issue in China today, and I can tell you this personally, is that there is a global slowdown going on. This slowdown was triggered by the Trump Tariff wars, but was not caused by them. The global slowdown was forecast for years, and China has long prepared for it.
The Chinese play the "long game" and plan in terms of centuries. American play the "short game" and plan on quarterly results (once ever three months).
Thus, as far as the tariff situation is concerned, they are just content to let things play out and allow America to eat itself alive…
China is playing the “long game”. America is playing the “short game” (quarter by quarter). In this situation, the “long game” favors China. The “short game” harms America.
One of the reasons why these authoritarian regimes like China are much more popular in the eyes of millennials around the world than among older generations, is that the younger people feel at least China focuses on the future, invests a huge part of their economic product into the future, and have a plan.
Look at the United States. Look at these countries today. They’re unable to focus on anything beyond next month. They can’t even formulate a budget. They can’t get anything through Congress. And all they’re doing is embarrassing themselves.
-McAlvanay
In the long run, the United States can be harmed immensely unless this situation does not turn around.
The very first thing that needs to happen is to do a deep purge of the neocons in the White-house.
President Trump's agenda is at odds at the neocon agenda. In many ways they are direct opposites.
These people do not want any kinds of win-win trade situation. Instead, their world view is one of “us vs. them”. They believe that there can only be two types of people in the world; The “hammers” and the “anvils”.
Neocons hold a mid-1850s mindset. They think in terms of nations, wars, and geographical conquest. They do so at the expense of understanding the Earth as a living (kind of) organism that we all inhabit.
Here’s my narrative on one of these neocons. Open it up, as it will open up in a new tab. Read it. All neocons are the same. They do not love America, American conservatism or tradition. They love power and empire building.
They believe that there can only be one leader in the world, and that is the United States. They believe this because we have “democracy!” (whatever the heck that is supposed to mean). The rest of the world is to live under our subjugation.
No other relationship is possible.
Now, Donald Trump did actually purge neocon John Bolton from his staff, and then immediately contacted Xi Peng in China wanting to resume trade talks.
The American media of course does not associate the firing of Bolton with China. To them, it's all just a coincidence. Bolton was fired for other reasons, like Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and Syria.
According to the mainstream American press, calling China and Bolton’s firing within minutes of each other was just a coincidence. Nothing more.
What China is
The way that Donald Trump tells it, China’s manufacturing sector is close to collapse, fatally wounded by Washington’s tariffs on Chinese imports.
Last month the American president was celebrating how China’s supply chain was “breaking up like a toy because companies are moving out”. A few days later he talked again about how Beijing was desperate to call a halt to the trade row. “You know why they want to make a deal?” he crowed. “Because they’re losing their jobs, because their supply chain is going to hell and companies are moving out of China and they’re moving to lots of other places, including the United States.”
But if Trump’s tariffs really are designed to torpedo China’s manufacturing base, he may have to think again.
Washington will have announced levies on about $550 billion of Chinese goods, when the full tariff quotas come into effect at the end of this year. That could affect up to 5% of China’s manufacturing capacity, according to calculations from Qu Hongbin and Jingyang Chen, two economists at HSBC.
But the impact of the tariffs isn’t going to be the same across the manufacturing sector at large. Much depends on the type of goods being made. Lower-end, more labour intensive industries such as furniture and textile production are taking the biggest hit, with companies shifting their factory lines to countries like Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh.
-Week in China
China is many things. One thing it is not is what the neocons think. China has leap-frogged the USA in so many areas that it’s just too tiring to elaborate upon. Maybe one or two videos might help add some perspective in this matter.
Some facts. (Opens up in a separate tab.)
But maybe we can ignore the charts, tables and figures. Not everyone can follow them. (Given the really poor state of education in the United States today.)
Rather than the charts of facts and figures that I have in other posts, some informal quick peeks into what is going on in China might be refreshing. Here are things that are EVERYDAY sights in China, but that you will not see in the United States.
For starters…
One of the first things that people are beginning to see when they cross into China and go through Chinese customs is a robotic customs officer. They will instruct you to input your biometics into the Chinese data base.
The robots, named Xiao Hai, have state-of-the-art perception technology and are able to listen, speak, learn, see and walk. Ten robots have started working as customs officers at three ports in China’s Guangdong province, authorities said. They were the first batch of intelligent robots, to be used by Chinese customs at the ports of Gongbei, Hengqin and Zhongshan, Xinhua news agency reported.
The robots, named Xiao Hai, have state-of-the-art perception technology and are able to listen, speak, learn, see and walk. Based on a specialized customs database, the robots can answer questions in 28 languages and dialects, including Cantonese, Mandarin, English and Japanese.
There are some particular problems they cannot solve, and customs officials said they will link the robots to their customer service hotline in the future. With face recognition technology, the robots can detect suspicious people and raise an alarm, according to Zhao Min, director of Gongbei customs.
Then, once you leave customs, you walk out into the bright daylight and confront traffic. China has traffic galore as they are a very populous nation.
Check out this MICRO VIDEO of the amazing traffic technology being implemented in Chinese cities this year…
Chinese traffic lights. As 3D holographic laser light presentations. Meanwhile the USA is still using 1960’s technology in traffic control.
It’s not even funny how much the Chinese have pushed ahead of American technology. While American industry has been hiring “Diversity officers” to hire employees based on minority “disadvantage”, China doubled down and only hires and promotes on merit.
The Chinese are a serious people. They do not play around.
Their products are excellent. For instance, when President Trump shut off all the Huawei 5G products and development in the United States, China said fine. You see most of the Apple, Motorola, and LG products are all designed in China. (Aside from some leadership positions.) Not in the United States.
There will be a retreat in technological, educational, and manufacturing leadership. The attempts by Donald Trump to thwart the global strategic trade supply chain has not been successful, and only aggravates an already dire situation.
So all the Chinese workers, the engineers, the developers and the designers, they are all inside China. They live in China. They are Chinese, and are paid Chinese wages and salaries. So when the United States government started to crack down on this outsourcing, they politely bowed, and left. They left the American owned companies. They walked across the street. And then they joined the Chinese owned companies. No problem.
With this influx of American-trained talent, China just took off.
They sprinted ahead and are now galloping forward at a healthy clip. The American companies are now in a kind of funky planning stage on how to react to the disruptions in their supply chains.
Check out this MICRO VIDEO of the latest wrap-around visual technology in the new Huawei phones. Pretty darn impressive.
Almost all communication products are designed in China. So if American companies cannot hire the Chinese engineers to make the products, the Chinese companies would instead,
And of course, there is there growing drone and robotics industries. Both of which has dwarfed anything in the United States.
For instance, today all public fireworks displays in China come along with these lighted drone formations. These make an enormous three dimensional visual canvas. This is, I must admit, quite visually stunning. When I first saw this in 2014 I was stunned. And today, it is so very commonplace that no one seems to give it a second thought.
Check out the impressive swarm drones in this MICRO VIDEO below…
Chinese swarm drones.
It’s like those super modern high-speed trains everywhere. “Oh that thing? What you’ve never ridden in one before?”
High speed rail is fast, cheap, clean, economically and ecologically friendly. It is accessible, and a great way for getting from one point to another. There are no long TSA lines. The seats are big, roomy, and the ride is comfortable and smooth. And the cost. Well, the cost is about 1/6 the cost of an airline ticket.
Read more (opens in a separate tab) here…
People! Seriously, China got started about four decades ago, and kept on running. They are moving forward, and perhaps (from their point of view) it’s a good thing that people are oblivious just how quickly and far that they are advancing.
So you know they are advancing in robotics, and in synthetic memory and minds. How about sex toys? Are you aware of the quality and scope of the Chinese sex toy industry? It’s taking the world by storm, I’ll tell you what.
Off the shelf standard sex doll. This one is warm to the touch, can talk and converse (in multiple languages) and has some limited mobility circuits.
Here’s another sex doll.
They come in a wide range of styles, shapes, weights and performance. Personally, if you are desirous of purchasing a sex robot, I would advise getting the premium model. They come with additional features that help mitigate the price tag amount.
This sex doll has limited functionality, being more a doll rather than a robot. However, it is totally and completely customizable. You can select anything from eye color, skin tone, body softness, height, check size, and many other attributes.
The point here is that everything from custom genetic designed pets, electric vehicles, to yes, even sex dolls are made in China and they are made well in China.
No one in America is apparently aware of this.
Go ahead, ask an American “China expert” on [1] the gongbei robotic customs officers, the [2] holographic traffic gates at cross-walks, the [3] 5G integration of Shenzhen, or [4] to name all the different makes and models of electric cars debuting out of China this year. He can’t.
And thus… he’s no “expert”.
Just an actor, pretending. He found a nitch a few years back and has been milking it over the years. But, you know, China is not America it’s rate of change is about 20x that of America’s. You need to really pay attention to keep up with all the changes.
Or else you will just be regurgitating “sound box” echo chamber narratives from like-minded individuals.
One of the many, many new housing subdivisions in China.
John Bolton actually stated in late September 2019 that (I am paraphrasing) “… the tariff wars has sent China back twenty years…”.
Twenty years, eh?
Ah, the ignorance is great in this one. Either that, or he has a tumor in his head. It’s a typical characteristic of neocons, don’t you know.
Most of the companies in the US–China Business Council (an organisation of about 200 American firms that trade with China) think that investment will continue to flow. A full 97% of the council’s members say their operations in China are profitable, and 87% report that they have no plans to relocate any of their activities to other countries.
Some of the difficulties of ‘reshoring’ manufacturing jobs back to the US were brilliantly revealed by the recent Netflix documentary American Factory too (see WiC464).
In the meantime there is little sign that the Chinese supply chain is being eroded, because of the tariff pressure from Washington.
“Trump’s claim that an exodus of foreign firms will force China to capitulate to US demands to settle the trade war is wishful thinking at best,” Lardy concludes.
-Week in China
Knowing the trade situation as it is, what can be done to salvage it?
That’s what this article is all about.
It’s about us taking a pragmatic, realistic look at the way things are, not at how we wish them to be, and planning on implementation of changes for our own personal benefit.
Let’s look at each issue and figure out how we can reduce or ameliorate the situation successfully. In so doing, let’s tackle the American mainstream (conservative & liberal) narratives. Let’s do it one, by one, and see how we can migrate things into “our” favor.
It sure beats sitting in a dark closet and trying to shoot darts at a target that we cannot see. Eh? Or, to put it another way. We don’t want to go around to tree after tree, pissing indiscriminately.
American mainstream media reporting on the trade wars.
Here’s some Mainstream media issues, and what the “informed” American populace thinks about China. Let’s take each one, dissect it, and see what we can do about it. OK.
$500 B trade deficit.
Global Supply Chain.
Made in China is bad.
China is ripping the USA off!
Chinese are unable to buy American products.
Chinese products are poor quality, simple and break down.
Chinese workers are slaves that labor for nothing.
Fair Trade
Dumping products
Stealing IP
They are dirty Commies!
Tariffs will bring back jobs.
For starters let’s tackle the A-#1 reason why the trump Tariff Wars exist in the first place. It is because America is losing $500 billion dollars every year to China, and we (pretty much) need to reduce that amount in order for America to be vibrant, healthy and prosperous.
[Issue 1] We are losing $500 billion every year to China
This is based on the fact that we have a trade deficit in goods for about $500B. This is a fact, Jack.
But, what is the composition of that deficit? Where within that composition can we move things to our advantage, and what parts should we ignore as hopeless?
Well, when we study the deficit we note that it is only based on products. It doesn’t include services. And in this area we have a surplus with China. We export those services to China. There are things that they cannot do, but we can. It’s our strength.
I propose that we increase our strength in this area. Work on our strengths, not play to our weaknesses. No matter how good it sounds politically. Give and take.
We provide services. They give us products.
Why not put a tax on the services that we supply to China? That tax can then be used to offset the tariffs that Americans must pay in imported products.
Play on our strengths. It’s a win-win for Americans.
[Issue 2] The Global Supply chain.
Then there’s the global supply chain.
Today we have a global business environment, and no wishing for the “good old days” is going to put that “Genie back into the lamp”. That “train has left the station”.
China imports a lot of natural resources and components from other countries to manufacture and assemble the finished goods. China buys chromium from Africa, and that goes into the metal alloys in cell-phones, drone motors and automobile electronic chip-sets.
Now, China does import other raw materials.
And yes, they do import a lot of raw materials out of the United States. And, no, I’m not talking about wheat, rice, and barley. I’m talking about uranium, and other precious metals that we have. Not to mention coal. China wants our coal. China wants our natural gas. Why not give it to them?
…at a price, don’t you know.
Again, that little bit of extra cost to buy from Americans can be used to offset the imbalance in tariffs. It would be a win-win for the American consumer.
Continue our exports to China, only raise the prices on them. Not prohibitively high, but gradually over time. Another win – win for Americans. Be smart. Think long term.
[Issue 3] Made in China.
Not every product made in China is Chinese.
It’s not. Many Japanese, British, German, French, and yes… American products are made in China. Actually 40% of “Chinese” exports are actually products of foreign (multi-national) corporations based in China. Many of which are American owned.
You’d never hear that in the American mainstream media.
Like Apple and their iphone. Like all those hobby drones that you can buy in the stores. Like the automobile electronics found in all the Fords, General Motors and other American cars. They are all American, but manufactured in China.
They are all American products, manufactured, designed and built in China.
Check out this graph…
Chart of the Chinese exports of goods, broken down by resource type, over the last ten years.
Thus, all these “Chinese” goods, aren’t really Chinese at all. They may be American, Japanese, South Korean, German etc.
You see, it’s easy to consider trade as products from one nation to another. But the fact is that the way business, and manufacturing is conducted today does not resemble in any way the old “made here, stays here” formula.
We need to take that into account.
We could by law, force American companies to make their products in America. That is, forbidding them to manufacture parts and components outside of America. It would be a law specifically targeting “supply chain management” outside of the USA.
American products should be made in America. We can still buy from China, but those products that are made by American companies need to be made in America.
No tariffs that Americans need to pay. More jobs for Americans. Yet another win-win.
[Issue 4] China is ripping us off!
This is pretty much the narrative. It doesn’t matter if you are an American Conservative, a liberal, or a member of the American mainstream media, this is the mantra.
Cheap junk in Walmart – China’s fault!
High prices for iPhones – China’s fault!
Power tool breaks – China’s fault!
US oligarchs and corporations decided to move American jobs abroad not China.
China smiled and took the business. But, seriously, their attitude was "Meh, whatever!". You see, everyone was coming to China to manufacture their products. America had to stand in line.
They raked in the profits, and gave the American consumers some benefit in being able to purchase inexpensive goods.
They came to China with bucket loads of cash. They promised the Chinese the world and gave them blueprints, technical specifications and trained them how to make their products. Then they sat back, drank their chardonnay while the money poured in.
US oligarchs and corporations decided to move American jobs abroad not China. They raked in the profits, and gave the American consumers some benefit in being able to purchase inexpensive goods.
Yes.
Never forget, US consumers and businesses benefit from inexpensive Chinese goods and labor. So, let’s not blame China for the lost manufacturing jobs. If you want to do something about it instead of eternally complaining then…
…ONLY BUY AMERICAN.
What’s so darn hard about that?
So stop your moaning and groaning. Start today. Stop buying anything that even resembles something imported. Period. You cannot change the world, but you can change your little part of it. Begin now. Begin today.
[Issue 5] They don’t buy our products!
This is another outright lie that is somehow broadcast in the United States. The actual reality is quite different. The Chinese place a high value on American products. In fact, in terms of personal value, to a Chinese person, owning a Buick is about equal to owning a Lamborghini. Yes!
It’s one of those jaw-dropping things that boggles the mind of most Americans. For in America, a Buick is considered a robust typical family car. While in China, it is considered the height of luxury, good taste, while at the same time being fiercely loyal to one’s family.
In China, the Mary Kay company gives her top saleswomen pink Buicks.
Perhaps that’s all part of the reason why GM sells more cars in China than in the US.
Not to mention that Apple sells more iPhones in China than in the US.
For United States semiconductor giant, Qualcomm, 65% of their revenues come from China.
Boeing sold 1000 planes to China in the last five years.
In fact, most major US corporations consider China as their #1 or #2 market.
So, yes, China has a very open market and it buys a lot of American services and goods, but a lot of them happen to be made in China. Similarly, corporations such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFC etc. profit enormously from their thousands of branches in China.
Starbucks continues to open thousands of new stores each year, mainly outside of the North American market. The company has a five-year plan with several goals to continue driving growth. Starbucks wants to be the employer of choice and invest in those employees who continue to deliver superior customer service. Starbucks has always been on the forefront of valuing employees, especially its part-time staff. The company has stated it will grow to 30,000 locations globally and work on creating new reasons for customers to visit its stores throughout the day.
The Chinese love, just love American products. If you really want to offset the trade imbalance between the two nations, then sell more products to China. This means a retail presence inside of China and far greater social and industrial brands than what is presently established.
The Chinese end up buying more American products (especially if they are made in America) and the Americans take home more money. The Chinese are willing to PAY MORE money for an American product just by virtue of it’s reputation. Don’t squander this advantage.
Sell more products to China, they will be happy, and the Americans will be raking in the money. It’s a win – win for America.
[Issue 6] Chinese products are crap
If Chinese products are crap, why do Americans keep spending $500 billion a year on buying crappy things?
Are Americans stupid, or powerless to change things? Is it that the deplorable Americans are just uneducated simpletons. Not hip to the wily ways of the Chinese?
Is that the narrative?
This narrative makes no sense. Not really. Everyone seems to think that all China makes is the cheapest toys in Walmart, but it’s only Americans that makes the computers, iphones and drones that fly in the sky.
Wrong! The roles are actually the reverse.
Don’t forget that BMW manufactures most of their cars in China.
BMW debuted its Vision Future Interaction Concept, a Mirrorless i8 Concept and its Internet of Things concept. It’s a very large suite of new technologies and it’s all extremely impressive. However, BMW wants to make it disappear into the background and make it invisible to customers.
Also, iPhones, Nike shoes and Prada bags are all made in China.
And Chinese brands like Huawei and OnePlus are actually beating Apple. So it’s not as if Chinese can’t make high-end, high-quality products.
They can, and they do.
We need to recognize the true and real state of things. That way we can best be able to decide on courses of action that actually work.
Instead of the progressive liberal Marxist "feel good" legislation.
That said, if you pay someone $1 an hour, don’t expect amazing products that will last for a lifetime. You get what you pay for.
You can only pick two.
Also, Chinese corporations are working their way up the value chain. Chinese high-end smartphones (Xiaomi and OnePlus) are already #1 in large consumer markets such as India; and, within five years, Chinese electric cars will be globally popular as well.
Chinese electric vehicles dominate. More Chinese electric vehicles are made in China than in the rest of the world combined.
To understand how to take advantage of the global situation, you must first understand it as it exists. We need to see things as they are. Not as we want them to be. That way, we can leverage the situation towards our very own benefit. It will be a win-win for Americans.
A win-win for Americans.
LeEco announced its investment in a joint venture between Aston Martin and Faraday Future, a direct competitor of Tesla, further signalling its intentions in the space. The front of the car features an LED loop that can be lit in different spots such as indicators or fog lights. The rear passenger doors, known as ‘suicide doors’ open from a hinge at the rear, as opposed to the front. They’ve also waived a previous law that protected home-grown companies from being gutted by foreign competition, as long as they invest in electric technology.
That’s led to a boom in EV startups such as NextEV and CH-Auto who, along with LeEco, could turn the car industry on its head. Especially given the size of China’s domestic market has now surged past America’s to become the largest economy in the world. Chinese EV companies have also been poaching talent from the likes of BMW to help make China the electric car center of the world.
[Issue 7] Everything in China is made by slave labor
It’s not.
The Chinese have a much stronger work-ethic than Americans have. We might not want to hear it, but it is true.
There is nothing good or bad about it. It has do do with society. The higher percentage that Americans have for leisure transmits in more time to attend church, more time for personal education, and more time to spend with the family and making the best of the life that one has. Let the Chinese work themselves to the bone. Americans don’t need to as we have what is known as work-life-balance. It’s a good thing… for us.
Let others live their lives as they want. If they want to work 12 hour days and on Saturdays, let them. Live and let live.
They also have different laws, different customs, and different culture. Thus comparing labor in China to that of the USA is like comparing apples to oranges.
Here is a brief comparison between three factories. One is an American non-union factory. One is a union American factory. One is a Chinese factory. One of the first things that the astute reader will notice that, aside from the pay, there is little else of value that the union provides the employees.
The second thing that you will notice is that the Chinese employee is granted all kinds of things that an American would never, ever be provided with. Like free housing (as in a personal apartment), free internet, three free meals a day, and many other things unheard of in the United States.
This is a quick generalized comparison between factories in the United States compared to factories in China. It is a gross simplification on many levels. However there are some things that need to be taken into account. firstly, the Chinese make far less money than their American counterparts. On the other hand, they get many perks and things that Americans can only dream about.
If you want to buy a product at Walmart, and you like it’s price, then go for it.
Sears tried to compete against Walmart, and lost. They offered better quality, warranties, and (for a spell) better working conditions in the factories that supplied the products to them.
It didn’t work.
When I buy something made in Wisconsin, I do not know about the working conditions that the product was created under. What I do know is that I liked the product and so I bought it.
China’s electric vehicle start-up Nio launched its first mass-produced model over the weekend, in a home market marked by competition with companies such as Tesla. The ES8, which starts at 448,000 Chinese yuan ($67,765) is half the starting price of Tesla’s 836,000 yuan ($126,470) Model X in China.
Complaining about situations beyond your control, outside of your understanding, and trying to moan and groan about it is fruitless. If you think that the Chinese labor like slaves, then DON’T BUY CHINESE PRODUCTS, and shut the heck up.
It’s a win win.
[Issue 8] We want Fair Trade and China must lower their tariffs
It’s not as if the only thing that stands in the way of US progress is China’s tariffs. Consider that we imported 8 million cars last year.
We imported Eight Million cars.
Eight / Million / Cars.
Maybe we should buy American goods, before we demand that others buy American products. Eh?
Imported vehicles to the United States. Most of the vehicle imports to the USA come from Canada and Mexico. While China is certainly the leader in automotive manufacture by volume, type, and differentiation, it hardly exports any vehicles to the United States.
Also, even if China eliminates their tariffs on our exports, US corporations will find that it’s still cheaper to manufacture goods in China, rather than making them here and shipping them over.
It’s not about nations. It’s about the oligarchy and the companies that they control.
Let’s not forget that the US already has a lot of protectionist tariffs, quotas, barriers and subsidies for various products and business sectors. Every government in the world has to cater to its people and special interest groups.
Finally, since WWII, the US has enjoyed an extraordinary privilege of being able to easily print the global reserve currency and wantonly borrow from the rest of the world.
Be careful what you wish for.
For a true “level playing field,” all currencies must be equal, which Americans won’t easily accept. Yeah. Can you just imagine if China could sanction western countries and arrest western CEOs for violating Chinese sanctions! Like the USA does.
Be careful what you wish for.
Most Americans, American companies, and the company stockholders would be most unhappy if China began to play to the same rules that the United States have implemented over the last four decades.
I would advise that we get on the good side of China. With China as a friend we can merge with shared benefit. Treating them as an enemy does the opposite. Work together for the betterment of all. It’s a win – win for everyone.
[Issue 9] They operate at losses and dump products
It is true. There are some state-operated Chinese entities that keep operating while losing money and simply rolling over their debt. China allows that to create employment for its people and also, sometimes, to capture the global market.
However, US corporations such as Amazon, Uber, Netflix and others do the same as well.
Moneys flow toward utility. The Chinese fund factories. The USA funds institutions.
China is a nation that values work, labor and production. America is a nation that values medicine, social reconstruction and government, As such, China will make the products that Americans will use under regulation.
It’s just the way things are.
China is a nation that values work, labor and production. America is a nation that values medicine, social reconstruction and government. You can easily see where all the money is going in America. Just look at the top three items. As such, China will make the products that Americans will use under regulation.
Truthfully, the only difference being that the US corporations are subsidized by commercial banks and the Federal Reserve Bank. While the Chinese factories are subsidized by the Bank of China.
We need to recognize that within the framework of utility. When we do, and grasp the true nature of things, it becomes easier to accept the truth. China makes the things that Americans use. Embrace that reality. It will be a win – win for Americans.
[Issue 10] They steal our IP
IP = Intellectual Property.
Most of these accusations are unwarranted.
It makes for great arguments, and a pretty decent media platform from which to espouse upon, but really, it’s just nonsensical. No one is sneaking around “stealing things”.
The Chinese company just buys an American company fair and square. Then , since they own the patents and the equipment and the intellectual property, they can do with it as they wish.
Carpetbaggers
In general, the term “carpetbagger” refers to a traveler who arrives in a new region with only a satchel (or carpetbag) of possessions, and who attempts to profit from or gain control over his new surroundings, often against the will or consent of the original inhabitants. After 1865, a number of northerners moved to the South to purchase land, lease plantations or partner with down-and-out planters in the hopes of making money from cotton. At first they were welcomed, as southerners saw the need for northern capital and investment to get the devastated region back on its feet. They later became an object of much scorn, as many southerners saw them as low-class and opportunistic newcomers seeking to get rich on their misfortune.
If China is stealing our IP, how come Tesla just opened a new plant in Shanghai and Boeing just announced a new factory in China?
If China is a thief, how come Intel Corp. has funded Horizon Robotics, a Chinese startup?
If China is a threat, why does Warren Buffet own 10% of BYD, China’s biggest electric car manufacturer?
Every western hi-tech firm — Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Dell etc. — has branches in China and they wouldn’t do it if China is just stealing their IP. They are not stupid. Are they?
Yes, China required transfer of technology in many industries, but it was a voluntary, consensual business transaction. Driven by greed to conquer the Chinese consumer market, western corporations obliged. Also, arrogance made the West assume that Chinese copycats will never be good enough.
Fast-food giant McDonald’s is selling a controlling stake in its China business to a group of investors led by state-owned Chinese conglomerate Citic in a deal worth up to $2.1 billion, the companies said Monday. The transaction is part of a global business overhaul being carried out by the American company to keep up with changing tastes that have resulted in declining sales. Under the terms of the deal, Citic Ltd. and its investment management unit Citic Capital will acquire 52 percent of the business while another partner, Washington-based private equity firm The Carlyle Group, will own 28 percent.
There are definitely problems with Chinese espionage and those must be opposed and stopped. However, most people confuse blatant theft of intellectual property with it being given away. And for the last couple of decades, the American companies did just that. They gave the technology away so that the American company owner can make enormous profits in the transaction.
America lost it’s technical edge, so that a hand-full of individuals could profit from it. These Americans sold out America so that they could become filthy, filthy, rich.
For America to become great again, we need to arrest and imprison those that gave away our strengths, our knowledge, our technologies, our resources for their own personal profit. They should be in jail instead of drinking chardonnay in one of their many mansions. It’ll be a win – win for Americans.
[Issue 11] But they’re commies!
In spite of China’s “communist” party, CCP, what they have is a unique mix of socialism, capitalism and Confucianism. Don’t treat them as a cardboard cutout, a cartoon of something evil. They are not, and you should be ashamed to fall for the 1930’s-era propaganda template.
Chinese communism is NOT the same kind of communism that we Americans have come to think of. It is something all together different.
The private sector is vibrant — [1] 90% of new jobs are created by private enterprises, [2] venture capitalists are investing more in Chinese startups than in American counterparts, [3] the upper middle class is growing rapidly (200 million), [4] there are 3.5 million millionaires and [5] two new billionaires were created every week last year.
Two new millionaires every week!
China is not your textbook “communist” country.
While the Chinese government is certainly authoritarian, relative to western democracies, it has accomplished an economic miracle over the last four decades that’s unprecedented in human history.
800 million people were lifted out of poverty and the GDP grew 40-fold in 40 years.
That’s why 84% of Chinese trust their government and 68% say that the government is the best institution to lead the country to a better future.
To understand how we can “beat the other team”, we need to understand who they really are, what their tactics are, how they call their plays, and their strengths and weaknesses. It will be a win – win for Americans.
[Issue 12] Tariffs will bring back jobs
Tariffs can only bring back jobs if there are American alternatives to the Chinese products. That way the tariffs will price the Chinese products at a disadvantage to American products. And the consumers will want to buy American products.
But…
The vast majority of products under the Trump tariff schedule has no comparative American-made alternative.
Thus it will be the American consumer that will be paying the tariffs, as they will have no other alternatives.
This is a real big problem, and perhaps the real heart of the problem with the “trade wars” today. We need to realize how legislative actions produce unintended consequences…
In the 1990's Bill Clinton and his Democrat controlled Congress, single-handedly devastated the American ship-building industry. You see, they laid a "wealth tax" on boats. As they (incorrectly as it turned out) that only wealthy people could afford yachts, and small boats.
What happened, is that everyone stopped buying boats. As a result the entire ship-building industry collapsed. It took decades to recover, and even today it is just limping along.
You see, most of the products that Americans buy comes from China, and that there are zero alternatives. This is a problem. This is a really big problem.
Factories do not grow on trees.
You cannot snap your fingers and immediately start making televisions sets, drones, robots, kitchen appliances and shoes from nothing. You need talent, knowledge, machinery and a skilled and talented work force.
But, you do know, that most of the American work force does not have this background. Their background is in the service industries.
Thus creating a factory, or even moving it from China to the USA is a very difficult thing to do. Check out this link (opens up in another tab).
You see, Trump’s 10% or 25% tariff on Chinese goods won’t create enough incentive for most manufacturers to start building products in the US. At the most, US companies will simply move the manufacturing to other developing nations such as Vietnam, Thaliand etc. Moreover, Chinese Yuan has already fallen 10%, thus largely neutralizing the first round of tariffs.
Considering that every major business/lobbying group, corporation and economist is against tariffs and trade wars, it’s highly unlikely that jobs are going return from Asia, Mexico and elsewhere.
Tariffs and retaliatory tariffs can also lead to a big loss of jobs or even a recession. There have already been endless stream of stories about layoffs and lost sales.
While it’s true that some Japanese and German automakers who want to avoid confrontations may build new assembly plants in the US, others may be forced to relocate some existing factories from the US to Europe and China to avoid the cross-border tariffs.
Make a favorable environment for other nations to put their factories in America.
Reduce regulations so that the factories will want to move to America.
Limit the taxes on employers, and on workers so that the American factory worker has a chance to compete.
It will be a win-win for Americans.
Conclusion
There won’t be any winner in the trade war. China in 2019 isn’t China in 1990. We should stop treating it as such. That is crazy.
At the same time, the West should be mindful of history — the Opium Wars and the following Century of Humiliation are etched in the Chinese national psyche. China has worked very hard and sacrificed a lot in the last forty years; and they’re not going to give up their dreams. They are a nation of achievers.
The Chinese are a serious nation and do not play around. If this trade situation is not handled carefully, things can turn really bad for America. It’s not going to be anything like Americans expect.
(Aside from the total collapse of America at every level...) I think there are two other options.
One would be a crisis and defeat. That is something we have not experienced in America. What that would look like we can only speculate by looking at other examples of defeated nations, what has happened to them, and how they have adjusted to their post-defeat role.
You might look at the defeated Axis powers after World War II as an interesting test case, and we have written a little bit about that. One thing that might even be most disturbing of all, is that no real crisis ever ultimately expresses itself, which actually, oddly enough, may be the worst outcome of all.
That is to say, everything we see about our world today, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, democracy sort of ebbing away, people feeling powerless over their political lives, people feeling less and less a sense of civic participation or belonging, and we have kind of turned that up.
There is an interesting book by Tyler Cohen. He is a very popular writer now, he wrote Average is Over and The Great Stagnation. He wrote a recent book called The Complacent Class. If you want to read a book about America’s future in the absence of a fourth turning, read that book.
The real rate of return gets lower and lower, we kind of approach the stationary state, productivity growth kind of ebbs to nothing, we become a kind of nominal market society, but one in which all the markets are dominated by a few very large companies with enormous market power and concentration.
In that kind of society, highly stratified, not feeling at all like what we think of as being America, is, I think, the scariest one, one in which global problems, problems of global order are not rectified. And it is one that disturbs me the most.
-McAlvany
So, let’s get rid of the zero-sum mentality, drop the aggressive posture, come up with tangible goals, and negotiate with respect and a smile.
The tariffs have slowed China’s economy, which grew 6.6 percent in 2018, its slowest rate in almost three decades. Meanwhile the United States grew an amazing 1.7 percent. The most astounding growth in decades.
For goodness sakes. Everyone can win. We just need to stop playing the neocon war – war -war game. It’s going to really… REALLY harm the United States. And I do mean BIGLY.
So, let’s think smart. Address things as they really are, and work for a win-win for everyone. Now is the time to do it.
12OCT19 Update
Trump said the U.S. and China have "agreed in principle" on a preliminary trade agreement. Trump acknowledged that differences remain on major issues on which the two countries are divided, but the White House still decided not to push ahead with a planned increased to tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods next week.
The move would have raised those tariffs to 30% from 25%.
"There's too many factors at play for him to just issue threats to governments, China's or anybody else's, to just follow along with what he says," said Wang, referring to the U.S. president's previous threats to slap additional penalties on Chinese goods.
-USA Today; Senior China adviser: Trump to blame for delays in securing final trade deal, says China has been 'accommodating'
Links about China
Here are some links about my observations on China. I think that you, the reader, might find them to be of interest. Please kindly enjoy.
China and America Comparisons
As an American, I cannot help but compare what my life was in the United States with what it is like living in China. Here we discuss that.
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is the real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Who doesn’t like to look at pretty girls? Ugly girls? Here we discuss what China is like by looking at videos of pretty girls doing things in China.
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and enjoyment.
Parks in China
The parks in China are very unique. They are enormous and tend to be very mountainous. Here we take a look at this most interesting of subjects.
Really Strange China
Here are some posts that discuss a number of things about China that might seem odd, or strange to Westerners. Some of the things are everyday events, while others are just representative of the differences in culture.
What is China like?
The purpose of this post is to illustrate that the rest of the world, outside of America, has moved on with their lives. That while they might not be as great as America is, they are doing just fine thank you.
And while America has been squandering it’s money, decimating it’s resources, and just being cavalier with it’s military, the rest of the world has done the opposite. They have husbanded their day to day fortunes, and you can see this in their day-to-day lives.
Summer in Asia
Let’s take a moment to explore Asia. That includes China, but also includes such places as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan and others…
Some Fun Videos
Here’s a collection of some fun videos taken all over Asia. While there are many videos taken in China, we also have some taken in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea and Japan as well. It’s all in fun.
Articles & Links
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.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
Part 8 of 17.
About the Girls
Let’s talk about the KTV Hostesses.
The Chinese culture is not the same as American culture is. It is very traditional. Girls expect a traditional man, and they take on traditional roles. In their young years, from around 18 to around thirty, the girls will concentrate on building a career (if that is their preference) and attracting a mate. In today’s society, the female is expected to be married, take care of a family and have a baby.
It sounds so strange to us Americans.
For we have had decades of new progressive values rammed down our collective throats. We have been taught that men and woman (as well as just about all of the other 64 genders) have the same values and interests. We are taught that it is very sexist to be attracted to a pretty girl. We are taught that looking at an attractive girl is the same as raping her. We are taught that men don’t own women, and the highest complement that a woman can have is to be superior to a man in every way possible.
It’s no wonder that America is the way it is today.
Meanwhile the rest of the world has traditional values. Women are taught to be attractive. They want to be attractive. They want to be ladylike, and they yearn to become a mother with a family and a man that supports them. They learn how to budget for a family. They know how to cook, care for sick family members, and do what ever it takes to support the man to earn and make money. For in a traditional society, the man is the bread-winner. The wife tends to the home. She tends to the family, and she tends to her man.
In China, young women do what ever they can to increase their chances for finding “Mr. Right”. Though, in Chinese terms, this doesn’t really equate to heart-felt love. Instead it equates to finding a good strong “family man” who will work hard, support the family, and support her family. In a like way, Chinese men feel the same way. They want to become the strong man in charge of the family. They want to be able to provide for their family. They want to participate in the education and growth of their children.
One way of having fun, and meeting a good potential husband is to work in a KTV as a KTV Hostess.
KTV Hostesses
The ladies spend hours getting ready for work.
Prior to showing up at work, typically around four or five, the ladies will be at a hair salon. They will get their hair all fixed. They will have their nails done, and have a professional makeup artist apply the makeup. There is an entire sub-culture of salons that cater only to the KTV trade in this respect. Once all dressed up, they make their way to the KTV and clock in. There, they go to their lockers and see which dresses and outfits that they are assigned to wear for the day.
In Shenzhen, you can often see these gals in the salons in Louhu village getting ready for the night’s adventures.
Once everything gets settled, the lights might come on so that people can check their phones, and notice where the chargers are. As all girls have the latest in cell phone technology. All rooms are fully Wifi enabled. They will typically get out of their costumes and put on party clothes so that they can be more comfortable with the clients. Here, you can see that the girls have changed out of their formal costumes and are wearing their outside clothes. In this case, mostly short party dresses.
The girls typically share an apartment with another girl or two. If they have a string of men that support them, they might have their own apartment that is provided to them by a love-struck hopeful. It’s not really an issue, as typically the men only visit China once every three or four months. They can rearrange their busy schedule (and trust me, for some gals, it is really busy) and make time for their one man to visit China.
Girl Types
The girls are semi-predictable.
Chinese ladies are very beautiful when they are 22 years old. They know how to take care of themselves, and spend a lot of time to look well and dress properly.
The youngest girls at a Business KTV will be no younger than 21 years old typically. The younger girls, of course, use the money they earn for new clothes, phones, and fashion. They tend to make many blunders. They often lose their phones, get too drunk, and get tangled up with bad people. Somehow they always seem to brush it off adroitly. This means that they might end up trying some drugs, or having their money stolen, or get into a fight with another girl. The younger gals that I know are usually out of the business after one or two years. These girls tend to get pregnant really young, maybe 23 years old. In China having a baby under 28 is considered very young.
Girls in their middle 20’s, say 25 to 27, who have already been doing this for a few years have decided to earn money for their own purposes. They are fully ready to get married and channel all their money into looking good and snagging as many hopeful men as possible.
Here is a selection of “typical” 25 year old girls in China. Also just as beautiful as their younger counterparts. However, at this age, they are much more focuses and motivated in finding a good mate and establishing a good family.
The girls in their middle-20’s, if they have the beauty, they migrate to the cities and go to the very expensive KTV’s. Here they can make enormous amounts of money, as well as meet some very powerful people. Again, the end goal is to get married to a “good man” (by Chinese standards) and have a family by the time they are 28.
Those who are older than this, typically are focused on setting up their own business. For one reason or another, they no longer rely on the objective of having a man provide for their family and children. They believe that they can do it on their own. Their objective is thus different. It is to set up their own business, where they can control the finances, and establish a family. This could be anything from their own hair salon, fashion boutique, or food franchise. I have met a girl who owns a number of famous Western franchises in China. I don’t know about you guys, but it would take me a century to save up to buy a McDonald’s franchise on an engineering salary.
Here is a selection of some Chinese ladies that have reached thirty years of age. The Chinese female form certainly ages well. At this point in time of their life, they have decided to move forward on their life alone, and career, business and other pursuits take precedence over finding a mate.
Most of the managers of the girls fit this last profile.
The girls generally get ready for work around 3pm. They get dressed, have their nails and hair done. They show up for work around 5 to 7pm depending on the venue.
The business KTV’s are open up until 6am. Most others tend to close a little earlier.
If you are having fun at a business KTV, then you MUST watch the time. Otherwise, you will be terribly drunk and end up going back to your room around 3, or 4 in the morning.
Now, here is the rub. After a solid 9 to 12 hours of heavy drinking, you (unless you are under 25) will be too exhausted to provide any energy in your penis for sexual activity. And no, Viagra or Cialis will not be much help either. Even if you had the lift, all you will want to do is… sleep.
So…
Use the Cinderella rule. You leave the KTV before 12 midnight. Pick a time somewhere between 11 and 12. No later.
Then, you will no be so exhausted, or sleepy and can be able to get your money’s worth of fun.
Further take note, that the girls all turn into pumpkins at 6 am. So if you are looking forward to some morning heat, remember that it will have to occur before 6am, because the girls will be out of there and on their way to their families.
So another reason to leave the KTV early (before the rest of the guys finish partying) that that if you leave at 3 am, you will only get three hours with that gal, and at that, you will spend most of the time sleeping.
Be advised and take note.
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
This is part 2 of 17.
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.
Tea Ritual
China has many different kinds of rituals for tea. By now, you would have experienced the business negotiations over a tea ritual that occurs at the factory in the office. This is a dinner tea ritual. Here, you use tea to wash the cups and plates.
For our purposes, I like to call this small event the “Chinese business tea ritual”.
Almost all restaurants in China have their dishes pre-sanitized and bubble wrapped for protection. This is very common, from the farthest point North to the extreme Southern end of China.
Granted, all the cups and plates are pre-sanitized. They are in these clear shrink-wrapped bubbles, that you need to break open to get the dishes out of. I typically use my chopsticks (quaizi) and punch a hole in the sealed plastic. Then tear it open with my hands. The idea is to get all the dishes out of the bubble wrap. Then, once they are out, you pour the scalding hot tea all over the dishes and utensils to clean them.
Once the dishes have been washed, you then pour the (now dirty) tea into a large clear bowl that is provided for exactly that purpose. The bowl will be passed around and then taken away by one of the waitress chicks.
And, that is about all there is to the “Chinese business tea ritual”.
Drinks
Before the food starts to arrive, there will be the decision on what kind of alcohol that you will be drinking. Typically, beer is a drink for lunches. Evenings, especially for a night of hard drinking will have to get started off right. If given the choice, I vote for red wine.
The wine in poured into a large glass carafe. One person, typically an aide of the factory boss will take on this responsible, or at the very least will instruct the waitress to do so.
Everyone who has every been to China knows about Gan Bei. This is a fundamental part of Chinese culture, and if you are unaware of it, then you really have never visited China nor participated in the culture there.
“Red wine” is drunk not like wine is drunk in the West. It is quaffed down in glasses “bottom up style”. (Gan Bei!) Typically, you will need to drink to everyone at the table individually. Then multiple times with your host. You will also be expected to drink with your aides.
There are really three ways of drinking;
Full glass (reserved ONLY for the boss and to cheer an agreement.)
Half a glass (the most common) called “ye ban de ban”.
One fourth a glass (offered about mid way though the meal) called “ye ke”.
Drinking red wine permits you to be able to stand up straight after your meal and be able to walk to the KTV without having to be supported by your aides. This is pretty important to save “face”. Though if everyone is drinking VSOP, XO or that God-forsaken 53 degree “white wine”, you will all need to be carried out.
White Wine (BaiJiu)
In China today Baijiu is drunk almost exclusively at meals, as alcohol is a very important part of Chinese dining culture. Baijiu is served in shot sized glasses and used during toasts to show respect and build relationships.
When toasting, the Baijiu glass of is gripped with both hands, with either one hand on either side, or with one hand/finger on the bottom of the glass. After a Er Guo Tou (二锅头) is a cheap type of Baijiu available every-where-toast the Baijiu is usually consumed in one gulp.
Following a toast, the glass can be turned upside down or tilted forward to display that one has consumed the entire glass, and thus give face to your friend, partner or host.
The best white wine in China is Moutai. It is pure moonshine and comes in 53%. Ugh!
If you do decide to drink VSOP or XO, make sure that it is mixed with green tea, else you will get too drunk too quickly.
One should pay attention not to raise his/her glass higher than those of the respected elders; When two glasses clink, how high people hold their glasses shows hierarchy. When the host toasts you, keep his glass higher. These insights hold true at most dinners with hierarchy, such as corporate dinners with bosses, meals with clients and multi-generation family gatherings.
Personal Note.
Some younger factory bosses or owners will get excited and try to show you respect by trying to slam dunk Gan Bei. Do not fall for it. Aside from trying to make you unable to stand up, it will completely decimate your blood fluid pressure in your nether regions. Which really sucks, if offered full-on hospitality.
Always moderate your drinking. Afew Gan Bei's are fine. Just keep it under thirty in total. In general, the rule should be occasional drinking. Have your second (in command) drink for you.
In many places in China, especially northern China, the drunker a person becomes via being toasted with Baijiu (or other liquors and alcohols) the more Face has been conferred upon them. Therefore, it can be common for visitors to China to be entertained by well-meaning Chinese hosts who are intent on showing them as must respect as possible, by getting them as drunk as possible, on an completely unfamiliar and relatively strong liquor.
In the United States, the “diversity manager” would have a heart attack!
Be respectful (jìng jiǔ敬酒)
jìngjiǔ 敬酒 : “respectfully proposing a drink.” People will likely toast you to show their respect and hospitality. As a foreigner, you’re not expected to do likewise, but it will be much appreciated if you do. Once you’ve started, make sure you toast everyone who might outrank you. If the people are many and you’re worried your head might not take it well, you can tick them off in twos and threes; it’s perfectly acceptable.
When someone toasts you, you should immediately stop eating and drinking to accept and toast in response. All people sitting at the same table must stand up, upon the initiative of one of the guests, and toast in succession; Remember, one should never refuse to participate in a toast. If you turn down a drink, your Chinese counterpart may feel like he has lose his face.
If you’re the one offering the toast, you’re putting yourself in an inferior position, which means you have to be the more respectful one. Thus, it’s better if you stand up and empty your cup completely. The other person may remain seated and drink just a bit, but usually they will go out of their way to show you the same respect.
Important Note
As a Westerner, it is our default understanding to assume that this is just “drink”. That this is just “dinner”, or that this is just “socializing”. It is no such thing.
These are time honored rituals that have been cultivated in Chinese culture for centuries. You, as the person who participates in the rituals, are now being judged on your ability to “join the fold”, or (to use the common parlance) “join the tribe”.
Don’t fuck it up.
In The United States, there would be these networks of “good old boys” and they still exist, though they have gone underground. You will be judged in your ability to handle yourself. You will be judged in your ability to make decisions under drink (pressure) and you will be watched. It is sort of a friendly game…
However, failure might have some nasty consequences in your future relationships with the host. Oh, they’ll take your money, for certain. However, if you want the best attention, the best timing, the best care and concern, then you had best be able to give YOUR best during this period of time.
This is all about relationship building.
A Little Story
I was once asked to be interviewed by a Doctorate student at a UK university about Guangxi. Now, guangxi is the “business relationships” between individuals in China. As is the case with most intelligent students in the university, she had a tremendous amount of book knowledge, but zero personal on-hand experience to put everything in context.
So during the interview, she told me that the way that the Chinese do business is rather “old fashioned”, and “obsolete”. She commented on how possibly could China ever be able to compete against the world using these arcane methods?
Well, after a second or two of thought, I responded. First of all, I told her, China is and will continue to be the, the world’s leader in manufacturing. Perhaps they are doing something right, rather than something “obsolete” and “outdated”.
Second of all, I asked her what the “new and improved” method was to conduct business? She responded that you use the internet to research factories. You compile data on the strengths and weaknesses of each, and then use a comparison matrix to sort out the best factory to work with.
At which point I said… “Yeah that might work… might“.
In reality, the best price will come from a very large and high volume factory. It will be well poised to give new clients competitive pricing, established quality and have the work and industrial environment that you are looking for.
But…
If your order is small, as (after all you are the new “kid on the block”). You will be put on the bottom of the priority list. Much larger, well established clients, will push your orders to the side. Oh yeah, you will eventually get your product, but they will often be late, and it will be you who will have to deal with the consequences to your supply chain.
Building relationships have a purpose.
It is better to have a tight and strong relationship with a small factory, than a nameless and faceless one with a huge factory. As we used to say in America,” it is better to be a big fish in a little pond, than a little fish in a big ocean.”
So, I say to her…
What is the importance of dating? Why don’t you just go immediate to sex when you see an attractive guy? Why do you go through the ritual of coffee, dinner, dance, some wine, a stroll or two and maybe a night cap? Why all the ritual? Why not go straight to the “big event”?
She said, to get the know the person. To prove that that person is worthy of your time, and to see if you are comfortable being with that person.
I responded. That is the same purpose of the Chinese dinner, drink and KTV. Exactly.
Oh Yeah…
While I am at it, if you decline anything…anything… it will affect their opinion of you. This is why many expats, in the business world, take up smoking, drinking and other vices. You cannot afford to lose face. Because nothing will cause a company to lose face more than sending a teetotaler to negotiate contract terms with a Chinese factory.
So, when you are offered a cigar, take it and smoke it. The same is true with cigarettes, (especially the high-test versions that they will give you you…ugh!) and of course… eat what they feed you, drink what they offer you.
If you don’t have the stomach or the constitution for this level of social interaction, then you should be in another line of work. Working with Chinese factories is not for you.
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
This is part 3 of 17.
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.
Dinner
Let’s talk about the Chinese business dinner.
You will most likely NOT eat Western food. If they offer it to you, decline. You are in China. You want to make their face as big as possible. Suggest their local delicacy, or a restaurant that cooks the same kind of meals that their home town makes. Let the factory boss select the restaurant.
Keep in mind that Chinese food is really different. Far different from any kind of “Chinese food” that you might find in the United States, for instance.
Most Chinese people don’t even know what chop suey actually is. There is nothing even remotely resembling it in China.
Since Chinese food first began being served in the USA in the 19th century, it has had generations to evolve and suit US tastes, so much so that it’s completely disconnected to traditional dishes served in China, both now and then. What Americans eat in the USA, the stuff we call “Chinese food” is wildly different from anything that you can obtain in China.
You know, most Chinese people wouldn’t recognize a plate of sticky orange chicken if it was splattered in their face. Not only the dishes, but how they are prepared, and the dish and plate sizes are all very, very different from what you would find in the States. Not to mention the “fortune cookies”.
Now, typically, the driver will either take you back to the factory where you will meet the others for the dinner, or you will drive directly to the restaurant.
In almost all cases, there will be a private room reserved in the restaurant. This is a private dining room. It will typically have a nice bathroom, a set of sofa’s and comfortable chairs, a television, and a huge circular table.
Most private rooms in China look a little something like this. They consist of a large central table and comfortable furnishings.
You, as the boss will be led to the room, and offered the “boss seat”. This is a chair that faces the door. You sit down, and everyone else arranges themselves around the table. The seating arrangement is hierarchical, with the various ranks of the individuals placed strategically around the table. The driver of the car(s) will also attend the meal, though they will typically be silent and not participate into any of the discussions.
You will be offered some cigarettes, just like at the factory. As the boss it is your responsibly to accept the cigarettes, or else you will lose face. Oh, yeah, it’s not healthy and all that second-hand smoke nonsense. Well, if you are doing business in China, you will need to adopt local customs. You do not want to lose face. You accept the cigarette. You take a drag. You hold it in. Tilt you head back, and stare up at the ceiling and then exhale the smoke slowly.
You need to adapt to Chinese culture. Do not lose the face of the boss. Else they might serve you dog’s head or something equally disgusting as a way to just see how low you can go.
Don’t test them.
Out of politeness, you will be offered a menu and you can select what to eat. As I typically live in the Guangzhou region, I will choose Guangzhou style food. This is easy to do, as the menu consists of full-color glossy photos of delicious food. Guangzhou food is typically steamed lightly. It is very fresh and very tasty. Now, if you were in Hunan or Sichuan, the food would be very spicy and delicious. That’s a good thing too.
Anyways, as a general rule, you order two dishes more than the number of people at the table. So, if there were six people around the table, including yourself, you would order eight dishes. (Oh, yes, everyone shares the dishes. This is quite different from the West where everyone gets their own meal.)
Being in Guangzhou, you order one thing that walks (pig, beef, mutton), one thing that flies (chicken, duck, goose), and one thing that swims (fish or seafood like shrimp). If there is a near certainty that you will go to a business KTV and you might have an all-night companion, you should make sure to order a nice large plate of oysters. Just make sure that they are fresh. Otherwise, watch out!
In general, once the three main dishes are ordered, I usually like to order vegetables, tofu, and assorted other dishes such as braised pig fat, flat bread, and maybe jellyfish. Let the other (hosting) people make suggestions and nod your head in violent agreement with their selections.
The waitress, or room manager will ask what you want and take your order. You, with your aide, will select the pictures and work out the details. While the picture might say a thousand words, there is typically a discussion of lively banter on what kind of fish, how to cook it, what spices to use, etc. Let them work out the issues.
Then, some condiments will be placed on the table. These might include peanuts infused in vinegar and spices (a personal favorite), some long white bars, that are actually pickled carrots (I love the things.), and some chicken feet. Try them all. It’s all good.
The Food
I have another post that covers the many different types of food that is available in China. For China is THE place to eat, and eat well. Of course, the ill-informed, and the media-manipulated sheeple will retort that Chinese food is terrible that they “milk rats” and eat dogs and cats. But this is just simply manipulative propaganda to keep Americans living in ignorance and fear. They take something truly rare and unique and blow it all out of proportion.
Don’t be like the ill-informed ignorant masses. There’s no need to be. If Chinese food is so bad, then why do Chinese men live an average of 15 years longer than American men? Think people, think.
Eat, for goodness sakes! Enjoy the food. Savor it. And thank the host for their very fine taste in delicious wonderful food.
Spicy Food
Oh, and one more thing, “spicy” in Chinese is “Ma” and “La”. There are, in other words, two families of spicy dishes. Both of which are way… way… out of the league of Americans. Trust me, if you think that you can handle Chinese spicy food, then ask for “zhong la” (medium spicy). What ever you do, don’t ask for “da ma la”, else your ass will be burning for a week.
There are two regional culinary areas of spicy food. They are Hunan, and Sichuan. Hunan food is cooked with a ton of hot chili peppers. It is very delicious and super flavorful, but yao oh yao! Sichuan is also tasty. They use both the Ma pepper corn seeds and the chili peppers. So delicious, and so you need to be careful in how you eat and how much you eat.
Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.
The Table
Of course, as mentioned previously, you will have your own private eating room. It will have a television, some sofas, and a large (well adorned) central table. It will probably be covered in a fresh white table cloth. In the central will be a large glass circular rotating table (a lazy Susan) where the dishes will be placed. As customary in China, you might have a box of disposable tissues or a full-on linen napkin.
You, as the guest, would sit at the head of the table. You [1] would face the door with the table between you and the door. The host would be to your right [2]. Your aides would be to your left [3]. It would sort of look a little like this…
Typical formal seating arrangment for a circular table where the host would entertain a business client. The client [1] would sit with his aides [3], in such as way that the boss [2] can easily communicate with all of them.
There will be some differences in the way the food is eaten. It goes far beyond using “chopsticks” (quaizi) instead of a knife, fork and spoon. For starters, the meals are communal. They are shared meals. This differs from the West where every gets their own individual plate. Here are some of the major differences…
Chinese usually eat communally and share their dishes with others. Westerners usually enjoy individual servings.
Chinese cooks chop everything into bite size pieces, thus people don’t need knives to cut it, and just pick up their food with chopsticks. Westerners cook food in big pieces and serve it with knives and forks for cutting it up.
Chinese usually don’t remove bones, and just cut them and the meat into pieces. They cook fish whole. Westerners usually eat filleted fish, and meat with whole bones, or no bones. This took me a long time to get used to. Be careful when eating, and if you eat fish, try to eat fish out of the ocean. The bones are larger and easier to remove. River and pond fish have billions of tiny, tiny bones. My wife chews it all up and spits the bones out like a sub-machine gun. Me, I have a real difficult time.
Chinese always cook vegetables — frying, stewing, boiling, and steaming — sometimes with soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. Western salads, or just boiling vegetables in water, are virtually unknown in China. Even at home, when the wife makes me a salad, she cooks the lettuce for thirty seconds or so.
Ingredients: Chinese cuisine uses many ingredients rarely seen in Western cuisine, like winter melons and yams, tree fungi and lotus pods, frogs and dogs, feet, tongues, ears, and all manner of internal organs, etc.
Using spices: Chinese cooks like to add fresh/dried spices when cooking, like ginger, spring onion, mint, pepper, garlic, chilies, etc. Western cooks usually use processed spices like pepper powder, ketchup, etc.
Seasoning bottles: You usually won’t find any salt, pepper, tomato sauce, or mustard on the table in a Chinese restaurant. But if you have breakfast at a dumpling and steamed bun shop, you can enhance the flavor with soy sauce or vinegar from a bottle poured into a dipping dish.
Desserts: Sweet desserts are served after Western dinners, while Chinese have fresh fruit or tea for dessert. The most common is watermelon. I always love the end of the dinner watermelon. It’s almost always cut up in little pie-slice shapes.
Round tables vs. square tables: Chinese traditionally eat at round tables, particularly family meals, as it’s convenient to share dishes with others, especially with a lazy Suzy. Roundness symbolizes unity in China. Westerners eat at square tables, which is more convenient for individual meals, with long tables for bigger groups.
Cooking methods: Where Westerners limit themselves to boiling, frying, roasting, and baking usually, Chinese use more methods of cooking, like steaming, stewing, sautéing, braising, and quick-frying with a wok. Chinese usually use animal/peanut oil to fry food; Westerners use more butter, sunflower oil, and olive oil.
Some things I am so used to that I don’t even think about it. But the reader should note. Rice is served separately. Every person will get a bowl of rice. You eat your food over the rice and consume the rice with your bite-sized nuggets.
It is just fine and dandy to spit out bones, grizzle and other things you don’t like. You can use the plate (provided) or on the tablecloth next to the plate.
Oh Yes, before I forget… Smoking
It is very common to smoke all over China. It is rare to visit an establishment with a non-smoking sign. Usually, they will be Western restaurants such as Starbucks, McDonalds and KFC. It is VERY RUDE to tell anyone not to smoke. If you do so, you will be looked up with extreme disfavor.
If you don’t like how other people live their lives, then stay in your home nation. What ever you do, don’t be the “ugly American” and try to force your norms of behavior on others.
"Ugly American" is a pejorative term used to refer to perceptions of loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless, ignorant, and ethnocentric behavior of American citizens mainly abroad, but also at home. Although the term is usually associated with or applied to travelers and tourists, it also applies to U.S. corporate businesses in the international arena.
If you are dining as part of a business trip, and you are offered a cigarette or cigar, how to accept will establish the pace at which you may or may not be accepted. To decline would be a terrible move. Oh, yeah. They will take your money for sure.
Just watch what happens when things don’t go well.
Tips
No one tips in China. You are not expected to. In fact, as the guest of honor, you will be treated with extra special care. Anything you need would be provided for you. All you need to do is ask.
Toothpicks
The Chinese use toothpicks just like they used to be in the United States (before the Bill Clinton Presidency). You will find either a toothpick container on the table or some individually wrapped toothpicks for your use. Go ahead and use them. When using them you cover your mouth with one hand while you pick at your teeth. That is the Asian technique that is common throughout Asia.
Drinking
As mentioned previously, you would be drinking hard alcohol during dinner. This would typically be “white wine”, “red wine” or Whiskey. If you drink Whiskey, XO, or VSOP it will (typically) be mixed with green tea with ice. Green tea is actually unsweetened green tea that is mass produced and dispensed in bottle much like soda is in the States.
By the time dinner is over, all of the hard booze will be gone. Thus, when you go to the KTV you will start a while new round of drinking. Often, this is simply beer or, maybe some more VSOP. You need to be able to control and monitor your drinking. Remember…
This is work. While that are pleasurable aspects to these fun games, it is serious business and you do need to have your wits about you.
Sometimes…
Sometimes you might have the dinner in the same building as the business KTV. This will be a one-place-does-it-all environment. You would be welcomed on the first floor and maybe go to the third floor for dinner. Then to the KTV on the 6th floor and then to the hotel rooms on the 11 or 12th floors.
In this case, there might be groups of gals led into your dining room. Then they might wear their costumes and share a bottle of wine or two with you and your associates. This is a nice light time and lets you get into the spirit of the night. It would be along the lines of this…
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
This is part 4 of 17.
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.
Respect and “Face”
Let’s talk about respect and face in China.
“To me, your “face” is your position and standing in the eyes of others, and it also has to do with the degree of respect you receive. Face can also be saved up over time and used to accomplish things later on. If you drove a fashionable or luxurious car to attend a friend’s party, then the majority of your friends would feel that you had face. Also, if you can achieve something through your personal contacts that others cannot through normal channels, you would also be thought to have face. You can gain face if you are praised by your boss, or if you accomplish a difficult task at work. However, if you greet others warmly at social events, but are met only with indifference, then you would lose face. Questioning someone’s ideas or opinion in a public setting would cause that person to lose face.”
– James Tan, Sales Manager, Shanghai
When a client relationship is established in China, the client more often than not receives more Face in the early stages of a relationship from the “seller.” Face must be given to the client to make him or her believe that the seller is worthy of their money and time.
Sometimes giving Face to a contact entails simply words and compliments, though sometimes gifts are required and invitations to dinners, entertainment, or other social events.
To the Chinese there is a natural order in society as well as business, and if one is unwilling or unable to show the proper amount of Face to those that feel they deserve it, then one will likely be judged to not have good character. This has the potential to wreck business deals and sour relationships, so with regard to the issue of Face most Chinese business people tread with care.
Food and Eating
Now, you will need to be a little buzzed when the food is set out. In China they eat everything. So if you are a bit squeamish, you had best be fortified with strong liquor. Fish are presented with all the bones, so you must be careful and eat around them. In the USA the cook guts the fish (fillets it), and throws away the head, tail, and fins. Not so in China. They love that stuff.
The Chinese eat everything. They love the differences in flavors and textures.
Chicken will have everything thrown into one pot. This will include the entire bird from heart to legs, and everything in between. The only thing missing would be the feathers. And you, you as the host will be given the chicken head on a plate.
It will look something a little on the lines of this…
Cooked chicken head. All ready to eat. Enjoy yourself. Show the boss some respect and pop this sucker in your mouth and suck on it. Just make sure you had some alcoholic beverage first.
For me, I really wow everyone buy sticking the head in my mouth and sucking on it for five or ten minutes, then I spit it out in a napkin.
I always get a round of drinks out of it.
Personally, I think it helps make me a little strong in the bedroom area, if you know what I mean. (Heh heh.) There must be some mineral, vitamin or protein that is in the fish head that is good for older men, me thinks. Almost as good oysters.
Try everything.
The single biggest cultural conflict I found was the Western rule that you should finish the food put in front of you with the Chinese rule that a guest should never be left with an empty plate or cup, and should always be urged to eat and drink. At first, I felt that I was in a contest to try to eat and drink everything they gave me, until I realized that it was acceptable for me to politely refuse to eat or drink more.
-What are the biggest cultural shocks when you visit China
The host will make sure that you bowl is filled. Unlike the United States, a full bowl is a sign that you are finished eating. In the States, we couldn’t leave the table until everything was cleaned off our plates. “Waste not, want not” is the saying I believe. Well, that doesn’t go down too well in China. I must have gained fifty pounds before I figured it out.
Make sure that food remains in your bowl.
Oh, yeah, in China it is totally fine to spit things out on your plate. So you eat some fish, you can spit the bones on the plate near you or on the table cloth. Same with the bones, grizzle, and chicken claws.
Finally, the Chinese do not use "fortune cookies". They haven't the foggiest idea what they are. Most think that it is disgusting to have written paper inside a cookie that you eat.
Warnings
No matter what, you need to understand that while there is an element of playful fun involved, first and foremost this is a BUSINESS activity.
Often, you will start talking about contracts and business relationships when both you and the host are shitfaced. Often you will have a girl on each side of you making sure that you do not pass out, and are able to converse while the loud music is playing.
This is an important event, and the business aspects should not be drowned out by the fun, the sexy playful behavior or the alcohol. This is work, and the best leaders in China can DRINK. You, if you want to maintain any kind of decent face, will also be expected to.
What ever happens, you don’t want this. (see below’s video) Not for you, and not for your companions. Take heed.
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
This is part 5 of 17.
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.
KTV Prep
Eventually, the bottles of wine will be empty. Everyone will be full.
The aide will gather the left over bottles. Any cigars you are smoking will be finished. The aide will call the KTV and make sure that the room is reserved. He will typically get up off from the table and call at the side of the room, or in the hallway. The boss might call the manager of the girls (they operate outside of the club), and make what ever arrangements that he has in mind.
The Manager of the Girls
The girls will, of course need a manager. Here, we talk about the KTV girls management. It is much like the management of any group of people in a business. You need to monitor the staff, identify your resources, and make sure that you are providing value-added benefits to the clients. Not to mention the obtainment of clients and keeping them.
Typically (but not always) the manager of the girls will be an attractive woman in her 30’s. Hard as nails, and no-nonsense. Most have raised up through the ranks to get where they are today. Think Sharon Stone in the movie Casino.
You build relationships with these managers. As such, you get to know them. They manage the girls and they provide promotions and arrangements as necessary.
Sometimes girls want to be with their friends. So they would only work with a client if their friend can participate. I’ve seen this with two girls, and three girl teams. The only thing about this is that you need to make sure that all of the girls are equally playful. No one wants to spend any time with a sour-puss that has some home or family issues. Or even worse, a gal who just stands there stamping her foot anxiously and demands that both girls leave. Yikes!
Sometimes the girl has had a bad run of luck, and hasn’t been selected all week. So the manager would promote the girl. Maybe offer a reduced price, or extra services, or extra-long time, or maybe cart Blanche on the activities involved in.
Sometimes the timing is really bad, as all the girls are at home during holidays, or a number of the most popular girls are sick. The manager would need to make this clear and work out arrangements that might make some of the more unpopular girls more attractive to the client.
Often, the girl might not want to be physical with you. That is fine. That is her choice. The manager will then find a girl that will want to. In general, I would rather be with a girl that is enthusiastic to be with me, than a girl I picked based on appearance. No matter what you might think, the truth is that there will always be some girls that would really want to be with you.
Management Fees
Now, the management fee for the girls is actually quite small. This is something that surprised me. In The United States, I was under the impression that all prostitutes had pimps and the pimp would take the vast bulk of the money the gals made. Not so in China.
Chinese girls for the most part are Han Chinese. This is the same race as the Koreans. In a like way, the Han Chinese and the Koreans are very similar. This picture is a mixture of both Korean and Chinese girls. Can you tell who is who?
The manager is paid by both the girls and the KTV. The payment amount is often quite small. Maybe a few hundred RMB a month (Maybe $30 / month).
They make their money in volume, and repeat customers. If you have a troop of one hundred girls, that’s a solid $3,000 USD per month on girls alone. That is un-taxed, and keep in mind that that is actually equivalent to maybe $20,000 / month. This is because the cost of living in China is much less than that in the Untied States.
The General Quality of KTV Hostesses
Of course, none of these girls are “bottom of the barrel” skanks. In China, the ability to make money is ranked highly in desirable traits, so the girls are all extraordinarily beautiful. These gals are all skilled in singing, dancing, being able to control alcohol intake, and having fun. They are the exceptional women of the region.
They tend to be along the lines of this. Long hair, beautiful face with stunning eyes, and sweet lips. They have a fine figure (nice ample chest) and a friendly and welcoming demeanor. They are pleasant, and kind, and sweet.
On a scale from 0-10, with a 5 being average, you would find that most girls at a Chinese Business KTV are in the 9 – 10 range. Which means, in every lineup you would find multiple girls that your would find personally attractive.
No, you won’t find any enormous back women with asses the size of trashcans jerking about. That is reserved for Obama’s America.
Chinese girls tend to be well proportioned. In general, they all have long or longish hair. Short hair can be seen but it is a rarity. Most have black or brown hair. Some girls dye their hair, but this is also unusual. All the girls, even the darker girls from the South will have light or lightish skin. It’s a sign of beauty in China.
Personally, I love the oval eyes. When one of these beauties look at me, I just melt into their eyes. Also, most Chinese have brown eyes. Their face tends to be oval. Much like this girl here…
They will be playful. They will be nice and polite. Some might be a little aloof, but you would be too, if you stood in 15 lineups before getting chosen.
Their skin is so smooth and soft. Many of the girls have experimented with dying their hair, and so you might find some girls with light highlights in their hair, and dark roots. It is normal for Chinese to have from brown to coal-black hair. You can tell their natural hair color by looking at their eyebrows.
Once, the girls have been introduced to the clients (as discussed later), final payment arrangements will have been established by the KTV and the manager. The money that exchanges hands goes into two batches. There is a direct “tip” that is given to the manager as a “thank you” for their services, and the transaction between the girl and the guy who selects her. In the case of the boss buying the girl, it is handled by his side. The girl gets 100% of that money.
Anyways, more about that later…
Whatever arrangements are made, eventually you will be led (oh yes, boy… you will be led) to the car and then to the KTV.
Typical Chinese KTV hostesses. They wear different outfits, and it is not unusual for them to change in and out of the different outfits all night depending on the client and the situation. I always like the “Gone with the Wind” look where the girls would dress up in these huge flowing dresses, and have their makeup all done up. It’s a real experience, let me tell you.
From that moment on, you will be given “Red Carpet” treatment. You have proven yourself. If you handled yourself well, you out drank the boss, out smoked the co-workers, and ate a chicken’s head and spit it out. You gave the boss great face. Now, it is his turn to repay the favor.
How he will give YOU face.
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
Here we talk and discuss about a Chinese business KTV companion and their selection.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
Part 7 of 17.
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.
The General Scheme
In general, you can select a person to have a good time with. If you are a guy, this would be a girl. If you are a girl, this would be a guy. This would be your Chinese business KTV companion for the evening’s events.
You pay them, maybe 300 RMB ($50) and they will play games with you, sing with you, dance with you, and talk with you. This is all over China. It’s common from Bars, to clubs, to hotels to KTV’s. It’s a great way to pass the time, and make some new friends.
They are rent-a-companions. It’s a common scheme throughout China and began a long, long time ago. You can obtain these companions at any bar, club, or KTV.
The basic setup is (for guys) a group of girls will work with the establishment and position themselves off to the side. In a large club, this might be near a side door, or near the stage. They are paid a small amount by the club to be available. When a new person enters the club, whether an individual or a group of people, the manager will welcome them. He / she will take their orders for drinks and set them down at a table or location. In a KTV, this would be a “good” room.
The manager would also ask if anyone would like a companion. If so, the price of the companion would be added to the bar tab or club bill. Then, they would wave the girls (or guys) over and you would select one or how many you want.
The girls tend to be young. This is from around 18 years to maybe 21 years old. The older girls either get married, get a different job, or graduate to the KTV scene. Being a youngish companion, the girls need to be watched by the manager. Or else they would just sit there and play with their cell phone. They would do this instead of playing with the patrons, getting them drunk and singing and dancing.
And this is how the basic setup works.
The difference is that at a Business KTV, the girls are (slightly) older, more mature, better dancers and singers, and much more beautiful. And..
And… they are also willing to spend more (ahem) quality time with you afterwards. They also tend to be more frisky. Heh heh.
All for a price, don’t you know…
Age of the girls
Where the companions at a bar, or club might be youngish girls in the 18 to 21 year range, the girls at a KTV tend to be older and more experienced.
The age of the girls differs from most other KTV and bar avenues. Inside a business KTV, the girls are expected to provide a service. That means, that they are forbidden to sit there and play on their cell phone once they are selected. That means that they must play with the client, and monitor his drink intake. It means that they must control the environment so that he has a good time and does not lose any face. Young girls are too inexperienced, or not mature enough for this level of responsibility.
The girls in a business KTV are typically between 22 and 29 years of age. I would guess that the highest percentage of them are around 23 to 25 years old.
The girls that you will encounter as Hostesses in a Business KTV in China will tend to be attractive, and stunning. These girls are really high quality, young and intelligent.
Girls at a KTV – The Lineup
The girls at a KTV will be presented to you in numerous ways.
Firstly, they might welcome you at the door when you come in. It is not at all unusual to go through a gauntlet of 400 to 700 girls when they are lined up this way. And, even more commonly, small groups of girls, from ten to thirty girls will be brought to your KTV room where you can select them from a lineup.
The girls will be trooped in, and the music will be turned down. The lights will be turned up so that it isn’t so dark, and the manager will introduce the girls to you and your associates.
The girls will all be wearing matching clothing. Or, if it is a big establishment a couple of different types of dresses. I used to wonder about this, but it’s all pretty simple. The girls go in and out of different costumes as part of their presentations to the various clients. Some are involved in other skits or activities such as selling cigars or working in one capacity or the other so they might be wearing a different uniform. Some girls will be pulled in off of an activity where they are scantily dressed. In that case, they might wear a white man’s shirt to cover themselves with.
Your job, at this stage, is to select a girl to be your hostess for the night.
Girl Selection
The most important thing, and the only thing that you have any degree of control over is the selection of the Hostess.
Pick the girl that strikes your fancy. If she is in the first line up, so be it. I typically get a girl by the time the third line up enters. I mean, goodness, if you cannot find an attractive girl when 60 attractive females are paraded in front of you, then you are useless.
You can ask the girls to turn around so you can see their backsides.
You can also ask which ones speak any English. Though, for the most part the KTV’s are loud and noisy. So we just use YouDou or WeChat to translate. In any event, you want a girl that you will have fun with. So, pick a girl that suits your fancy.
If you see a different girl that you like better, swap them out. The girl won’t care. Not really.
During the selection process the girls will typically all have a number pinned to their dress. This number is the number of the girl and is used for billing purposes.
There will also be variations in color. The color range is usually based on three stages; cheap, middle, and expensive. Maybe yellow, green and red for example. As an American, my tastes do not match those of a Chinese man. So, as a result, a cheap priced girl I might find fantastically alluring, while an expensive priced girl might be too thin or pale for my tastes. In any event, if the boss is paying your way. Price is no object.
The girl will remove the number shortly once she settles down with a client. Generally, she will continue to wear the introductory dress for the first hour or so, then she will leave to go to the locker room and change into her day to day clothes. High-end girls will typically change into a nice party dress, while more “regular” girls will change into street clothes. This might be a sweater and a pair of jeans or something similar.
In all cases, I personally find the girls to be much more alluring when they are wearing their “own” clothes. But, that’s just me.
Often, I have been given the opportunity to select two girls, and even three, to play with. Sometimes it is planned, and sometimes it just works out that way. You knew can know. Personally, I like having three girls play with me, fuss all over me, and have fun with. It’s just… well…
… you know, I am just a man. I am not a machine.
I am a man. I am not a machine.
Now, this is not the USA. You can play with the girls and you most certainly will. Throughout China, the girls are “hand’s on”. Which means something different than what the American idiom means. Instead, it means that you can pretty much explore their entire body with your drunk roaming hands. Now that pretty much remains the case whether or not you take them to the room upstairs with you.
All companions are this way. From the young girls in the bars and clubs to the girls in the KTV establishments.
However, please take note, that a slimy drunk slob is not someone that any of the Hostesses would want to spend any time in the room (or bed) with. So, as a rule, I for the most part remain a gentleman, and only initiate sexual contact when edged on by the other boss, or if presented with that opportunity by the girl herself.
KTV hostesses lining up at the start of a workday. Like all companies in China, there is a morning “tailgate” where the new of the day is presented and the workers are reviewed for appearance.
That being said, depending on the time, place, and the situations, sometimes the girls might elect to go semi-nude. They will take off their dress and be with you only wearing their panties. Unlike the United States, the rest of the world doesn’t have the same kind of taboos about woman’s’ breasts that Americans have. So if this is indeed the case, just enjoy and have a good time.
It will be a good time.
Sometimes the girls might come to you.
Depending on your role and the conditions, it just might be favorable for you to just stay in your hotel room, and call up for some girls to be your companions. That’s fine.
If that occurs, for what ever reason, it will look a little something like this… (Sorry for the quality of the video, I was having trouble extracting an embedded video in MS Word.) Check it out…
Selecting a companion in your hotel room.
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
Part 9 of 17.
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.
Pricing
Of course everything at a KTV comes at a price. If you are being given hospitality, you won’t need to pay for anything. However, it is always a good thing to have an idea of what the costs will be like. The days of $50 USD for dinner and all-night sex are long over. KTV activity has a price tag associated with it. So let’s look at the KTV prices.
Here we discuss the pricing scheme; the “KTV prices”. Yah. It looks so easy when things are given and provided to you. However, in reality on this planet, everything comes at a price. Do not think that it is just “freebees”.
Never the less, you should understand that if you are given this kind of hospitality, you are expected to be “worth the investment”.
Keep in mind that $1 USD = 6.3 RMB. So, to get a handle on these prices, consider 100 RMB = $16. And a 1000 RMB = $160 dollars.
Renting the KTV room alone will vary from a few thousand RMB to 20,000 RMB and up. If the boss has a running VIP account, the rate might be lower, but offset by his repeat business. Location is everything. Two KTV’s in different areas can have wildly different pricing schemes.
Just having a pretty girl to be with you and play will vary from 300 RMB to 750 RMB for four hours. Guys are more expensive for the girls to play with.
Stripped down playfulness might cost you another 500 to 2000 RMB. All of the girls in the room will strip down to their panties, and play with you. Trust me, on this, don’t decline if offered.
Drinks are usually provided as part of a “meal plan” where beer and drinks are provided with snacks. This will cost from 500 RMB to 7000 RMB.
High end drinks like whiskey and XO, will be at a premium price. They will have package deals. For instance, a bottle of Johnny Walker Red with ten bottle of green tea for a “sale” price. Most drinks will be fake, or cheap whiskey in an expensive bottle.
The girl will run from 600 RMB to 5000 RMB for a “short time” with “one shot”. (One “shot” is one ejaculation.) Multiple shots and longer periods of time (longer than 40 minutes) can be negotiated. The standard “short time” is around 40 minutes. If the phone starts ringing off the hook after 20 minutes, you are not getting your money’s worth.
“Long time” girls will be double that. A “long time” is an overnight sleepover. This will typically allow for two shots. One before bed and one upon awakening. These girls will leave at 6am, so make sure that you don’t wait until the “crack of dawn” to take her to your room. To get the most “bang for the buck” leave before 11pm. That gives you seven hours of frolic fun.
Additionally, some girls might ask for further “tips” and prices. Make perfectly clear that all expenses have been taken cared of before you go to the room under what ever expectations you might have.
While the vast bulk of girls are in their mid-20's to thirties, be cautious. I have heard of, but never experienced, younger girls lying and working as KTV hostesses. These girls might be under 21, and I have heard that they can be as young as 14! Make absolutely clear that the chick that you are with is what you want, and that she is an adult. Her behavior, more than anything else, will tell you her age.
Anyways, it should be understood that the boss could easily spend 60,000 RMB for you to have fun with and provide you hospitality. This is $10,000 USD.
Do not take the hospitality lightly, and don’t insult his face in the process.
Singing
All KTV’s have a huge big-screen television that is hooked up to the KTV machine. It is a touch activated screen that you can pick a song out of. The songs are provided along with some kind of cheap video (if the actual MTV video is not available). Ask your English speaking aide to assist you.
The screen to select the KTV songs is a touch activated device. There are different systems in use. But, all use a basic search engine technique and basic controls. You can search by name of song, artist, album, year, gender, theme, emotion, and a host of other criteria. These devices have everything from children’s songs to songs suitable for grandparents.
Typically, I carry in my wallet a list of groups, singers and songs that I can program and search for in the KTV. Else, you would have a dickens of a time trying to think of a song to sing. The environment is noisy and the songs that the other people are all singing are Chinese. So you will have a real hard time thinking of a song.
Once you pick out a song, you can adjust the percentage of the vocals to sing along with. It can be anywhere from 100% (as in listening to the full song) where you just sing along, to 0%, where the only vocals are your own. Personally, I like around 60% that way it doesn’t sound so bad. No one really cares how well you can sing. They just want to see you release emotion. As that is the entire purpose of a KTV in the first place.
The reverb and sound can be adjusted with echo and other effects. I personally don’t like the effect. However, others do. You just go with the flow and use the presets unless someone else says differently.
There are decades of technology behind this. Today, you can connect to the KTV player and sing to songs on your smartphone. You can search the internet, if there aren’t any songs on the local hard drive. You can do all kinds of things. HERE is a link to one manufacturer that makes these devices.
Dancing
Often people get up and start dancing. You know, the Chinese are often nerds, and so the girls and the guys will get us and shake their body to the music. Not me. I took five years of professional ballroom dancing lessons. I can dance.
Which surprises the heck out of the girls. Most of the girls don’t get much of a chance to dance with a real dancer. Instead, they are fun and just content to dance with each other and shake and gyrate…
It’s a happy and welcome surprise. These girls are trained and experienced Hostesses. they can follow my lead in dancing, and it is a real pleasure. We do the foxtrot, the merengue, the waltz, the two step and of course the Rumba and Tango. You know, for a guy like myself, just being able to dance, with a experienced and qualified partner is worth everything.
Yet, truthfully, there is absolutely nothing wrong with formal dancing, shaking and gyrating or some kind of line dance. You do what ever makes you feel wonderful. And since this is a KTV, just have fun. No one will make fun of you. It’s all about having fun.
Now, the ballroom dances are very popular in China. Often huge classes are held outdoors in the empty plazas in front of the malls and such. People dance and learn the movements on their own. But, to dance with a partner is just… magical.
I typically start out rather easy with a two-step or something basic. If they can follow well, then it eventually evolves into a tango. There, I like to get really dramatic, and the girls really get into it as well. It is truly amazing. There is something about booze, sex and dancing that brings out the raw emotion in us all.
Dancing the tango. It’s a dance of battle and wits. Once led properly, the woman can release and let herself go. She becomes the dance. The experience becomes magical.
But heck… It’s all about having fun. Whether you are at a KTV, or in a club or in a bar, enjoy life. Seriously, life is far too short to get all worked up and bothered about things that have no direct connection to our lives…read “so called news”.
Get out and enjoy yourself. If this housekeeper can enjoy herself, why not you? Eh?
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
Post 12 of 17.
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.
Your Aide / Wingman
A very important part of your visit to a business KTV is to have an aide or wingman to look after you. They will make sure that you are registered into the room, and that your passport will not get lost or misplaced. They will keep an eye out for you and help you out of the KTV room when it is time to go.
If you are not careful, these girls will eat you alive.
Working Hours
The girls generally get ready for work around 3pm. They get dressed,
have their nails and hair done. They show up for work around 5 to 7pm
depending on the venue.
The business KTV’s are open up until 6am. Most others tend to close a little earlier.
If you are having fun at a business KTV, then you MUST watch the
time. Otherwise, you will be terribly drunk and end up going back to
your room around 3, or 4 in the morning.
Now, here is the rub. After a solid 9 to 12 hours of heavy drinking,
you (unless you are under 25) will be too exhausted to provide any
energy in your penis for sexual activity. And no, Viagra or Cialis will
not be much help either. Even if you had the lift, all you will want to
do is… sleep.
So…
Use the Cinderella rule. You leave the KTV before 12 midnight. Pick a time somewhere between 11 and 12. No later.
Then, you will no be so exhausted, or sleepy and can be able to get your money’s worth of fun.
Further take note, that the girls all turn into pumpkins at 6 am. So
if you are looking forward to some morning heat, remember that it will
have to occur before 6am, because the girls will be out of there and on
their way to their families.
So another reason to leave the KTV early (before the rest of the guys
finish partying) that that if you leave at 3 am, you will only get
three hours with that gal, and at that, you will spend most of the time
sleeping.
Be advised and take note.
Going to the Room
They will help you and the girls into the elevator and you will ride it to your floor. It will be something like this video below. The girls will take the lead and show you where the room is and help you get settled. They will open the door with the card key and place the card in the activation slot.
All the hotels in China utilize electronic locks. This is either with a magnetic card or some similar mechanism. Households for the most part utilize keys (if they are rented) or thumbprints if they are owned. The newer houses also are staring to use face and retinal scan recognition technology.
It will be like this if there are two or more girls with you…
Otherwise, if you are just going with one girl. It might be a little like this..
Or, like last week when it was warmer out, it might be a little like this…
The girls will file into the room and my aides will collect my gear and keep it safe with him. I will retain my glasses and cell phone. Then we will call it a night.
My aides will then go off to their own individual rooms with their companions. And I will be left alone with the girls. The girls will typically find a outlet to plug and charge their cell phones with. They will check their WeChat, and confirm any last minute messages. Often they will have other guys (fans?) sending them messages that they need to respond to. I just let them take a few minutes to get settled.
Turning In
The girl or girls get settled in. If you are there with three girls, typically two will rest in the other bed and you will be with one girl. Then they will take turns with you. If we are all too drunk it is simply a matter of passing out for five or so hours. Otherwise, showers are used and everyone gets clean.
Don’t trust the bath towels. I don’t care if they are sanitized. You use them everywhere except down in the groin area. Trust me, you don’t want to get the clap or some other serious illness. Use a condom.
Brush your teeth.
Make sure that you take your eye glasses off, or they might get broke while you are romping and playing around.
If you really like the girl, get her WeChat, so that you can get together again in the future.
Sometimes, you just want to decompress for a bit before you engage in any kind of sexual activity. When this happens I like to see where they are from and so I ask all kinds of questions about their hometown and the food that they eat. Often we talk about life and dreams. I’ve had more than a few chats about bitcoin, setting up international trade, and tax/tariff laws in the United States. Honestly I was really impressed with one gal who had a dog grooming business and a massage parlor on the side. She had her act going on.
Some of the girls are quite wild and experienced, but I am just a rather boring old Joe. So we just keep things simple, which in a way is kind of a relief to the girls. Now, keep in mind, that if you are there with multiple girls make sure that they are all EQUALLY engaged, or else the one who has been neglected all night will want to leave – thus spoiling all the fun.
Sometimes the girl will leave behind a trinket or two for you to remember them by. That’s a nice thought, but I just throw them away. If I don’t have their WeChat contact information, I probably won’t ever see them again.
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
Page 14 of 17.
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.
The Next Day
Ah… the next day. Hangover…
The movie was fun, but it”s a different story when you actually live that life and experience those scenes. This is from the Movie “Hangover II”, which I personally think was the best in the entire series.
You wake up. Your mouth tastes like a soggy ash-tray. The sink is usually stained from purple colored vomit (wine and dinner debris), and the girls are ready to finish you up for the day. While the girls are waking up, you go to the bathroom. Brush your teeth, get ready, and then go back to bed.
There will always be the “eager beaver” who will want to be first on. So let it be. Just make sure that the other girls get some. At this point, I cannot stress hard enough the importance in controlling your alcohol tolerance and the necessity of being ready for the morning festivities. Reliance on little blue pills will not cut it alone.
Eventually you will all be finished and exhausted, no doubt.
Going everyone’s separate ways
Typically the girl(s) will finish up. They will take another shower and get their clothes on and leave. They will probably get your clothes for you. You will find them neatly folded and ready for you.
The girls will most likely open the shades and let some light in the room. They will check their messages and send out some status updates and then say good-bye and go out the door. It’s sort of like this…
Since chances are, your were pretty darn buzzed when you rode to the KTV, you had no idea where the hotel was or what it looked like (outside of the bright lights). With the window blinds drawn, you will be able to see what the community looks like in the full daylight. It might be a city, or a rural village. You can never tell until the morning.
Once they leave, you just lay there while your aides and managers wake up. They will tend to give you a call and then you will meet the boss again for breakfast.
I would advise Jiu; congee which is made from rice. It’s a kind of rice porridge out of pork or chicken. Put something warm in your stomach for goodness sakes.
My preferred meal after a long hard night of drinking and fun is to have some nice warm congee. Often, we will eat dumplings and doujung with this as well.
Then get ready for the trip back home…
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
Page 18 of 18. This is the last page of the series.
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.
Summary
This was a compilation of information that is sorely lacking on the internet; information regarding “Business KTV operations” in China. It is a huge industry, it employs millions, there isn’t one single factory or business boss that hasn’t gone to one. Everyone knows about it. But…
But no one ever talks about it.
Those that try, are often shouted down by the ignorant and the legions of enraged SJW who want to make the world perfect with unicorns prancing under a rainbow hued sky. They shout back in anger and feigned disgust. So, what happens? People just live their lives, and keep quiet.
Well, now you know.
You know, knowledge is a good thing. Overall, I think that it is refreshing to hear the truth about things rather than live a lie painted by others. That’s how you grow, experience life, and make decisions upon.
We need to look at the “big picture”. We need to see how everything connects together. We need to see the reality of what is, before we try to change things to make something “better”, “improved”, or “wonderful”. Or else we will have to endure a childhood wearing bubble wrap…
Or a lifetime of eating plastic cardboard boxes…
Or, banning things because… you know… just because…
Now, while the Business KTV has a degree of prostitution, you should not be blinded by that sole aspect of it. The true and real purpose of a Business KTV is to reward high performing bosses and talent for contributions to the company.
Or, perhaps you think that Alibaba, and Huawei got to be so big by giving their high performers paperclips and cheap pens with logos?
Is a Business KTV good or bad?
Seriously, the thought that I would be rewarded with a fun night with other bosses really motivates me. That is far superior to the ball-point pen with a logo that said “Success is a way of life” that Magnavox gave me for saving the company five million dollars.
It is also superior to the coupon for a free coffee at Tim Hortons that Pollak gave me for designing, producing, and perfecting the E-ETRESS system.
I personally think that it is far superior to the corporate note pad with the company logo on it that I got out of Delco Electronics for perfecting a remotely programmable SIMM on the ECM modules.
When you work and toil in your corporate job, look at how they reward you.
What motivates you to work harder? Which is the better reward for skipping vacations, working overtime with no monetary benefit, and working weekends? Which is the better reward when you save the company a few million dollars?
I think that the Chinese system is superior.
Important Notes
Never refuse the offer for a dinner or KTV. While the boss might accept and agree to work with you, it will be done so reluctantly with a “clothespin on his nose”. As you have insulted him, his factory / business, and the Chinese culture.
Understand that the arrangements for a dinner, KTV room, and girls have already been arranged days ahead of time. To think or expect otherwise is an insult to the boss who places a great deal of time and effort into your meeting with him.
Going to a KTV does not guarantee any kind of sexual encounter. That is up to the participants and the environment. Remember, it is the girl that decides what will happen. You never make that decision, no matter how much you want to.
If you are unwilling to do business in China using Chinese industrial norms, then you should expect the consequences. Don’t, for the love of God, be the “Ugly American“.
"Ugly American" is a pejorative term used to refer to perceptions of loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless, ignorant, and ethnocentric behavior of American citizens mainly abroad, but also at home. Although the term is usually associated with or applied to travelers and tourists, it also applies to U.S. corporate businesses in the international arena.
Take Aways
KTV’s are popular in China.
The business KTV’s cater to bosses. They have their own ways of doing things.
Both women and men can enjoy themselves at a Business KTV.
There is the potential for sexual pleasures at such a KTV, but it is not guaranteed.
Visiting such an establishment can be expensive, thus they are typically only reserved for special occasions and special business relationships.
Female hostesses work at a KTV for various reasons. The most common is to find a mate with a good job and a steady income. You go to where the best likelihood of finding what you are interested in, is.
Male Hosts work at a KTV for their own reasons. I do not know their reasons. It varies from person to person. I do not know what they are.
If you go to a Business KTV, take ED medication, and control your drinking.
The best way to impress a Chinese boss is to drink hard and eat a chicken’s head.
When having sex with a stranger use a condom.
FAQ
Q: How can I find a Business KTV? A: Ask the factory boss in the town that you are doing business with. He will probably be able to point you in the general direction. Else, you can go into a Business Hotel and chat with the manager there and ask where any exciting girls and girl action might take place.
Q: Is a Business KTV the only type of prostitution available in China? A: No. Not by a long shot. In fact, it is a rather small subset of society that caters only to company leadership, management and bosses.
And, keep in mind, the potential of prostitution in a Business KTV is determined by the aggressiveness and the ambitions of the local girls / women in the community where the KTV is located. They determine the need, the rates, and the quality of care.
There are other venues such as escorts, and the like that a person can visit and use if all you want to do is to have sex with a girl. If all you want to do is to have sex, you can go to a salon, or pick up a street walker for maybe $25 to $50. It need not be expensive. You go, get the gal, pay the money and get yourself off. It’s far better than reliance on internet images and magazines.
Besides, these gals have families to support. Instead of giving some rich California software king your money to download an x-rated porn movie, give it to the girl’s so her children can eat dinner and her husband can get a new pair of work boots.
Q: What are the types of prostitution in China? A: There are many.
Mistress or Second wife (二奶, èrnăi): She gets a monthly salary in exchange for regular sexual favors. Even if she usually does not offer romance or family life, sometimes she lives with the customer and may wish to marry him.
Packaged girl (包婆, bāopó ): Similar to second wives but only work for limited time, as on business trips. These two upper tiers correspond to the ancient concubine, although the second wife and packaged girl are mostly kept secretly rather than in the household. Only rich men can afford them, therefore these girls are often considered to be linked to corruption.
Female companions (陪女, péinǚ): You can find them everywhere in China: restaurants, karaoke – the (in)famous KTV xiăojie, – bars and clubs. Often, in bars and most typical establishments, they usually stay in a corner playing with their cell phone and drinking some cocktails till a customer arrives. Many of these girls are employed to dance, sing, drink with the customers that pay for a table or, it the case of KTVs, for a room. Some of them will eventually leave with the customers. Business KTV’s is a subset of this class, where the best girls work.
Escorts. These girls are available either to your room, or at their house or at a mutually agreed hotel room. They advertise on the internet, and tend to be moderately expensive. A typical example is this link for Shenzhen massage. The girls are all attractive and speak English.
Escorts can make a good decent salary, and like all industries, rely on repeat customers. Most work hard at it for five to ten years and then retire after they either traveled the world, established a family, or started a business.
Ding dong girls (叮咚小姐, dīngdōng xiăojie): Literally like pressing a door bell “ding dong”. Typically, they go to a hotel that seems to have a lot of customers – single and lonely men. What they do is that they rent a room there and call the other rooms offering their services. They do this by sliding a card under your hotel room door. This is usually a “massage.” Of course. having a massage with a happy ending is legal in China. It used to be that they would knock on your door, or slide a card under your door to offer you some fun services. Now, it is quite possible for other more intimate participatory services can be offered for a reasonable fee. That is always negotiable. You can add to this category also the girls that look for customers on QQ (the Chinese MSN) or on the web in general.
Ding Dong Girls cards that were slid under my hotel door when I was staying in Shanghai. You can find these cards all over China.
Hairdressers and masseuses (发廊妹, fàlángmèi): Chinese hair salons and massage parlors are the place to go if you want to get a cheap “happy ending” (usually by masturbation or oral sex), especially the ones full of bored half-naked girls lighted up by pink lights you can find close to a train or subway station.
Typically the girls will be sitting around in the salon waiting for a customer to walk in. Truthfully, there are usually many many girls, often thirty to fifty that occupy one room. Great selection. Low prices and happy endings all around.
The fàlángmèi are often migrants from the countryside and perform contractual work under a proprietress (lăobănniáng) or a pimp (pítiáo) who provide them with housing, clothing and food, as well as a cell phone and monthly subscription. They do not make much more money than a worker, unless they receive tips from the customers.
Street girl (街女, jiēnǚ): The name explains everything. They solicit customers in the halls of the hotels, bars and other entertainment outlets. They may offer petting (shàngbànchăng, first half) or intercourse (xiàbànchăng, second half). Street prostitutes may be accompanied by a lăobănniáng or work on their own. They are those at greatest risk of being apprehended by the police. We also call them “chicken girls” which is the English translation of 街女.
Here is a group of ladies photographed so that their faces remain hidden. You can easily see that they are free of tattoos, piercings, rashes or pockmarks typical of drug abuse, of normal weight – not obese – and pretty normal girls.
Underclass girl (下工棚, xiàgōngpéng): They live in urban slums (such as they are), or the seedier and poorer neighborhoods in the fifth tier towns. They can typically be found at construction sites. They fill a social and sexual void, as the migrant workers usually have left their wives at home, and are paid with food.
Q: Is prostitution rampant in China? A: No. It might seem like that because If you were to compare percentages you would be surprised to find that prostitution, by percentage of the population, is actually very tiny. Remember, China has a huge population.
Like any other nation, prostitution will exist. However, China is a very conservative and traditional nation. Prostitution is not considered to be a good thing.
On the whole, if you want to see a prostitute, you should to go Thailand or the Philippines. Not China.
China is NOT a sex monger’s paradise. It is a paradise for hard workers, those who strive and achieve, and people who believe in working together for the common good. If you work hard, study hard and do your best, China will reward you. There are no easy routes in China.
In China, it is the person with their “nose to the grindstone” that becomes a success.
When I see articles saying that China accepts prostitution and that sexual sales and slavery of young children exists, I get mad. That is absolutely not the case. NOT AT ALL. I tell you this two times. China has been very hard on the prostitution industry and many things that are fine and dandy in the West is forbidden in China. Such as unedited R-rated movies, and such. China is a conservative, traditional nation.
Q: What is the best alcohol to drink at a KTV? A: For a business KTV, you will need to drink with the boss. After that event is finished, please heed my advice and chill out. You can drink all the beer you want. Alternatively you can drink severely watered down whiskey. Take it from me, you don’t want to wake up nude with three girls ready to have fun with you, and you are way too drunk (too much alcohol in your system) to “get it up”. Heed my advice.
Q: Are these girls clean? Do I need to wear a condom? A: Yes the girls are clean, and yes you do need to wear a condom. They work six days a week, most of the year. They typically have three to seven sexual adventures per week with who knows who. You do not want to catch any type of sexually transmitted sickness.
Also keep in mind that while the condom might be good, note that if you have a cut, a bruise, and a pinch from the zipper fly in your jeans, then don’t have sex. Illnesses can be transmitted through sweat and precious bodily fluids just as easily. When in doubt take care and be careful. If need be, cancel and reschedule until you are all healed up down there.
I advise NEVER to have any sexual romps with anyone if you have a cut or an open wound, no matter how tiny, and no matter where it is located. Do not take the chance.
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
Page 16C of 17.
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A younger Girl
Let’s talk about the stunning Chinese women. Now, here is a younger girl. While most of the gals will be in the middle to late 20’s there are those that are around 21 to 23 and these gals are just as cute, and just as fun loving as the older girls. They are just fun to be with and a gas to play with.
This girl looks like a firecracker, and I’ll bet that she is. What fun she would be with. Though, I do have to advise that it is unusual for the younger girls to be interesting to talk to, unless you want to talk fashion, APPs, trends and movies.
A Typical Girl
The next girl is also typical. You will note how fun and great all these girls are. Like all women they can have a serious side and a pensive side, but also a fun side. When I go to a KTV I want to have fun. I don’t want to get too serious, and I just want to have a good time.
I want to drink, play games, sing and dance. Girls like this next girl are typical and will absolutely be a great gal to play with.
The beautiful Chinese face
Here, in the next video, is another beautiful girl. Take a look at her awesome face. This face is pretty much the Chinese ideal. It is a heart shaped face with a pointy small chin. Notice the big brown eyes, and the happy lips and the proportions of the eyebrows and cheekbones.
What’s this all about?
Yes, I am talking about the kinds of Chinese girls that you would find in a business KTV. Yes, I am talking about what they look like, and the novelty of being able to pick a companion out to play with. But why is it important?
It is important to have fun. And having fun is the mechanism that runs the business KTV.
I love to watch the girls…
I love to watch beautiful girls. I especially love to watch them dance. I find it hypnotic. I can drink beer all day, and sing and dance and play games with these attractive beautifies and never quite. If I had my way, I would have dinner with them and just enjoy the time playing with my dog and laughing together.
Life is about living. If you are not enjoying life, then you are doing something terribly wrong.
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
Page 16A of 17.
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.
What are the girls like?
Every trip to the KTV is different. However, the Chinese business KTV girls tend to be attractive and high energy. Unlike the stereotypical image of Asians, most gals in China tend to be very curvy, sweet and very attractive. Sort of like these mini-videos can attest to.
Please wait for the mini-videos to load. They are worth the wait. If they are not loading, or taking too long, then reload your browser. They are worth the wait.
If you ever had a dream of having a Chinese girl friend, or dating one of those attractive K-Pop girls, well then come to China. All of the girls here are like that. They love to dance. They love to sing. They love to drink, and they love to have fun. What’s not to love?
What’s more, they are super intelligent. They are conservative (Chinese conservative) in values and are probably the smartest people that you will ever meet. Here is a video of a Chinese dance troupe. The point that I want to make is that this is exactly what the girls are like. They are lively, happy, thin and well built. This is the norm in China.
Of course, every girl is different.
There is no one-size-fits-all stereotypical Chinese girl. What I can say is that stereotypes that many idiots have in the United States about Asians are all seriously out of date and terribly incorrect. (You know, that they look like preadolescent children, that they don’t have breasts, and that their pussies are sideways. Ugh!)
Chinese girls… the real deal.
Most of the Chinese gals I know are something quite different. They are stunningly beautiful, and have a great set of legs and really nice tight asses. They are tend to be a bit on the bigger side on breasts. They also usually have long hair and really deep brown eyes. Here are some very typical Chinese girls…
This first girl, is typical in a tiny compact package sort of way. She is petite. She is short, but not tiny. She is curvy and has a great build. She has a great face and a wonderful smile. I mean, just look at her! Can’t this stunner just melt your heart? My goodness!!!!!
I remember seeing a girl like this in a line up at one KTV. She was at the tail end of a last group of girls. Now, let me explain. What often happens is, as the night goes on, certain girls aren’t selected. So what happens is that the business manger brings these (leftover, unselected) girls around to the various rooms and offer their services and companionship at a greatly reduced rate.
I suppose it’s like how you can by day-old fruit at a mark-down in a grocery store. Now, on the surface, the girl didn’t look all that spectacular. She was just an average girl wearing one of those glittery white costumes. She had these large round glasses, she was tiny and was ho-hum. But, let me tell you what, after she dressed into her day to day clothes, she was a stunner! She partied and had a great time with the guys and let me tell you what…
…many girls are like that.
You just cannot judge a book by it’s cover. In the lineup she looked small, with maybe a B-size cup, but when she changed, she was transformed into a stacked vixen. Woo baby!
Stacked Chinese girls
Now, speaking about stacked girls… I do happen to like Chinese girls with a nice rack. I am an American male. Um… that is, pre-Obama and the media push for enormous plump negro women. Now, I do like a healthy well-proportioned woman.
I like the proportions, and the womanliness that they portray. It’s a personal taste and I find that when I am viewing a lineup, I often look for girls that have a very curvy body instead of a thin model-like appearance.
Sort of like this girl…
Indeed, eh?
This next girl is what I would describe as very typical. Most KTV girls would have their hair much longer, but aside from that, the build is quite typical. Notice the skin color. Most Chinese, especially the Han Chinese have pale skin, big eyes and a really nice round face. This gal is typical, and seriously, don’t you just love her?
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in
China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted
HERE,
but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO
flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down
into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and
you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
This is part 9B of 17.
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.
NSFW Parties
What are we? Children? All the term “NSFW” is designed “to protect the children”, yet at most of these venues there isn’t anyone under the age of 25. So, it’s all kind of silly trying to maintain NSFW standards designed to protect pre-adolescent children.
In America everything is so PC. There is even a term for hiding behavior in such a way that you might not lose your job. NSFW means Not Safe For Work. Heck, only in America or some selected European Socialist "Paradises" perhaps. Not in China.
So everybody is well fed, well drunk and you’ve had your fill of beer, karaoke, weird Chinese snacks and “hands on” strip shows – now what? It’s up to you… usually.
Sometimes, depending on the arrangement with the girls manager, the parties can get really fun, as these two videos can attest…
The girls will typically have a good time. I know that I certainly do.
Their enjoyment is directed by their manager, who works out what ever arrangement that is proper with the host boss. They will be edged on by the other girls who might inspire playful acts of a sexual nature and other curious events.
The basic idea is to get drunk. Lower your inhibitions and have a good time.
As these videos attest, being with a cute gal (both of you) getting drunk and playing around is a great reward for an ambitious boss.
The
KTV is a refuge. It is a controlled environment where a person can
become someone else and behave differently. In China, everyone wears a
mask. This is a face (mingzi) that defines their role and how they
conduct their business. For many bosses they only have two roles; Boss
and Family head. Each time, they must exist within that role.
They come home and the wife and the children expect the father to be a
traditional father. He will play with the children. He will help them
learn. He will support the wife and take care of things that she needs
help with. He will do this within the role and the face that he must
wear.
Then, he goes to work. He puts on the Boss face. Here there is
actions and behaviors that he is culturally restrained to follow. He
must maintain that appearance. He must always be calm and collected and
stern and in control.
The problem is…
There is never an opportunity for him to let loose and be himself.
Never. Never, that is until he goes to a KTV. There, once he is inside
the doors, he is in a world where he can be himself. It is a protected
world. The doors are closed and sealed. Guards protect the people
inside. Female entertainment is provided, and if the KTV is half decent,
the girls are vetted to make sure they do not prey on the clients.
In
a KTV environment, the boss gets to “let his hair down” which is a very
difficult thing to do in the Asian culture. In Western cultures
everyone is “doing their own thing”. Not so in Asia. Thus the need for a
release value where a hard working alpha male can have a release from
the stress of life.
He eats, drinks and is merry. Then he can go upstairs to the hotel
room and have a nice long happy ending with the girl that he had
selected. Else, she might ride home with him to a different hotel. All
of which is under the helpful and watchful eyes of his aides, the girls
and KTV managers, and the security guards that are stationed for
protection.
The KTV is a place for fun.
Now who doesn’t like to smoke, drink, sing and dance with pretty
girls? It’s a rare person indeed. When I grew up we used to have keg
parties in the woods and we always would sing, and carry on. We always
loved it when the girls would play with us and have fun. This is
universal.
There are all kinds of fun activities that take place. They vary from
singing and dancing to smoking cigars, and playing poker. One of the
most common things to do is play “rock, paper and scissors”. This is an
ancient Chinese drinking game. I guess that it was ported to the United
States during the great migration of Chinese right after the American
Civil War.
Here’s some chicks playing during dinner…
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.
Page 16B of 17.
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.
My “Ideal” girl
So many beautiful Chinese girls. This next girl is what I personally consider the “ideal”. She has a rocking body, a great disposition and beautiful face and hair. This is the kind of “girl next door” image that made the magazine “Playboy” so famous.
When ever I see a girl like this in a lineup, I snatch her up immediately. Gawd, I could just eat her up. The problem with this, however, is these girls at the KTV are very savvy and astute with enormous EQ’s. They will eat guys like me, and like you (the reader), for dinner. We have to be careful least we would be like puppy dogs following them about everywhere.
But really, look at her! She’s awesome!
What’s more is that she is not considered beautiful by Chinese standards. They like girls with a thinner build.
The Chinese men and ideas of beauty revolve around a fish shape. They like to see the girls wear the long flowing dress and see the nice fish shape of the ass and the legs. This girl is far too curvy for the basic Chinese tastes.
But me, on the other hand, …OMG… she is awesome!
A curvy girl
This next girl is also very nice, and also very attractive. You will note that she also has a curvy body. This is quite normal in China, and will not be all that obvious until she takes off her clothes. And there is a reason for this.
The Chinese business KTV girls in the KTV’s tend to dress to appeal to the Chinese men in the audience, and thus they would tend to minimize their bust size and try to slim down to more of a fish shape. Can you believe that? Seriously, that’s what they prefer to do.
So, you might not be aware about how stunning the girl might look without her costume on. Look at her. She’s most certainly a stunner.
An Attractive Chinese Girl
This next girl is what constitutes an attractive girl to the Chinese attractiveness criteria. In just about any book, she would be considered to be attractive. I most certainly find her attractive. Don’t you?
You would find that many of the Chinese business KTV girls in the KTV lineup would have the same overall look and demeanor. It’s a different look, but heck… I love all girls. Big, tall, short, thin, buxom, slender, smiling, and sad. I can’t control myself. I just want to sing a song with them, dance on the dance floor and share a fine meal.
If you want to return to the start of this series, please go HERE.
Let’s spend some time talking about what it is to be an American. For we are all a very unique and special breed of person. This is a truth that should be obvious to anyone who has the ability to think. After all, what would the 20th century look like were America not to have existed? That being said, the sad reality is that we take this role for granted.
Oh, we certainly say that “America is the best”, and we wave the flag around a lot, but we do not really and truly appreciate just how spectacular we actually are.
Here, in this article, I make the argument that we Americans have gotten used to being unique. I also posit that others, with evil intent, have used this knowledge to deceive Americans and have made us believe many untruths. They have convinced us of many things that are just not so. They are lies, or at the very least, distortions of the truth. These lies and falsehoods have deceived us. They have tricked us. They have enslaved us. Yet, we continue to follow the lies that allow us to follow a dangerous path.
The way that they have enslaved us is through deception. What a American is has been redefined. And as such, has become so inclusive that everyone and everything from the welfare-immigrant to the ratty village dog down the street now considers themselves “American”. When they are absolutely and positively not.
Being a United States citizen does not automatically qualify you to be an American. No matter how loudly the progressive left shouts this from their mainstream media outlets. Being an American is a state of mind, an attitude and a way of life. You don’t automatically become an American just because you get food stamps. You don’t automatically become an American simply because you were born here. (That includes birth-right immigration.) And, you don’t automatically get to call yourself an American by being in possession of a Green Card.
Being an American is a [1] way of life, and [2] a thought process, that [3] comes through earned experiences.
Others with evil intent have altered the meaning of what An American is. They have done this for their own purposes, just like they have redefined what “gender” is, “being white” is, and the history of America is. Here’s some misconceptions, or excuses, that we allow to enslave us.
Buckle up…
“Americans live in the United States”
Being an American is an idea, and a behavior. It is not limited by geography.
While many Americans live inside the geographical confines of the United States, not all do. Americans live all over the world, and some even live outside and above it.
The International Space Station with the American Space Shuttle docked to it. Americans are everywhere. They are not limited to Earth-bound geography.
Further, just living inside of the confines of the United States does not qualify that person as an American. Are the (reported 30+ thousand) illegals in the United States American? What about those that want to overthrow the government? Like the radical Marxists, the Antifa, the BLM and the radical SJW types? Are they Americans?
America is a great place, full of wonderful people. However, if you even suggest that there are other places, outside the USA, that are equally nice, you will be laughed at. When you tell a person that it’s a big beautiful world, full of fresh opportunities and a sense of freedom, and most people will look at you like you are crazy.
In their mind, there is only one place on the entire planet that is wonderful. That is the USA, and the USA alone.
To them, the rest of the world looks like a dark and dingy place. It looks like El Paso on a cloudy day. It looks like a Brazilian garbage dump or a “Save the Children” commercial. The rest of the world has shabby buildings, poorly dressed people, terrible food, and miserable people.
The rest of the world as described by CNN. The world is a grey and hopeless place. We must all count our blessings that we live in America and not in a Brazilian garbage dump. That’s why taxes must be kept high. Else the nations would collapse and become this image. Yikes!
That’s not true. it’s not even remotely true.
For decades, if not centuries, Americans have been subjected… dare I say it,; bombarded, with the notion that there is one “greatest” nation on the planet. It is the geographical nation known as the United States of America. Nothing else even comes close.
Of course…
That was, of course, because the United States was populated by Americans. Americans ran the nation. Americans invented things. Americans defended their freedoms. No other nation, no other country; no other geographic region possessed such a high percentage of hard-working Americans. The United States was alone in that regard.
Thus, over time, the United States became associated with “being an American”.
Ah, but, things have changed since then.
Today, real Americans are no longer a majority in the United States. They are a minority. There are over 30 million illegal non-citizens in the Untied States today. (That is six times the size of New York City.) Nearly one half of the legal population believe that security is more important than freedom. Many of these very same people do not work, nor do they want to work. They just want to feed off the government trough. In their sloth, they elect like-minded people to rule over them. (Which is the fundamental idea behind “vote harvesting”.)
Time Magazine promoting the idea that everyone is an American. It’s just the unfair immigration laws that prohibit people from becoming legal Americans.
As a result, because of these people, the United States has changed into something else.
The United States is only as great as the Americans that occupy it and rule it.
That being said, let me make something perfectly clear. Being an American is an attitude and a behavior. It is not limited by geography.
So, let me say this. Americans live all over the globe. We are special whether we live in Timbuktu, or Omaha. Being an American is not defined by geography. It is defined by attitude.
In my mind there is no comparison between an American Cowboy that happens to be living and working in Japan, or Socialist ignoramus Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who has never set foot outside of the United States. The two are NOT the same. They might both be United States citizens, but they are NOT both Americans.
Being an American is an idea that burns in our hearts.
Here is an American talking about his life. Is he bragging about all the women that he banged on his casting couch? Is he talking about the money that he made on bitcoin, or the new software startup that he is planning at Starbucks? Nope. None of that.
If the concept about liberty and freedom does not burn in your heart, if that idea is foreign to you, if that concept is alien to you, then you are NOT an American. This is true whether you physically live in the United States or not.
Quang Nguyen who escaped from Vietnam and founded Caddis Branding Agency said,
”You see, America is not just a place on the map, it isn't just a physical location. It is an ideal, a concept. And if you are an American, you must understand the concept, you must accept this concept, and most importantly, you have to fight and defend this concept. This is about Freedom and not free stuff. And that is why I am standing up here.”
That was absolutely true, not so very long ago. The United States was certainly was the best – and it was unique. It was populated by Americans. These Americans made it special.
But that United States no longer exists, except as an ideal. Moreover, the geography it occupied has been co-opted by the United States, which today is run by globalists who treat it just like another nation-state. And, most unfortunately, one that’s become especially predatory toward its citizens.
It has.
The United States has changed. It no longer is what it was first intended to be.
In the 1960’s, when I was a young boy there was no such thing as the “Federal Police” – The DHS. We fought wars, but only one at a time. While there were taxes, but we didn’t need to have both parents work just to GET BY.
The United States has changed.
President Ronald Reagan tells it like it is. No one listened. Those presidents that followed him ignored his warning and the nation has suffered considerably since.
The United States is no longer the freedom loving land that it was established as. With each law, was a removal and limitation on freedom. Today, the laws are voluminous, with over two centuries of freedom limitations and restrictions.
Liberty does not thrive when you must pee in a cup to get a job.
Freedom is never having to ask permission to eat, drink or do something with your own body.
We need to take a good hard look at our life inside the United States. We need to make comparisons to what it was like for our parents, our grandparents, and our founders to see how far changed and different our life is today. It is only through these comparisons that we can see if our excuses to look outside “of the box” has any merit.
Real Americans yearn for a life where they do not ever need to prove themselves, ask permission to do anything, or maintain records of their activities. Real Americans yearn for Liberty.
In the British colonies, an early version of the DHS (the Department of Homeland Security) seizes a citizen under the suspension of Habeas Corpus during a “no-knock” raid. We need to look at our history using modern terminology and situations to truly appreciate our past.
“My parents and grandparents were born here; I have roots in this country.”
True. This is a truth that many of us have. It is a truth that I have. Though, truthfully, my grandparents immigrated here from Europe. The life that they found here was better than what they left.
Can I say truthfully that the life that my grandparents left – as it is today – as worse, the same or better than what I have as an a American? If being an United States citizen places you at ANY kind of disadvantage, then the liberties that was promised to you by them are lost.
This idea is based on the concept that here; in the United States that you have a place to live free under liberty. For that is what Americans yearn for. It is a chance to better the lives of your children.
The United States was founded by Americans FOR Americans.
It has since changed.
This idea of United States being for Americans with American values, was at one time true. You could really provide a decent standard of living for your family and your extended family. But this is no longer true.
It has been taken over by people who no longer share the American values. Today the only people who have a chance at a successful life are the privileged.
Nothing should be a greater slap in the face of balance and equality as to how Hillary Clinton is treated by the oligarchy. When you have a shoplifter getting 100 year prison terms, and a serial criminal getting no punishment, obviously the scales of justice are completely out of wack and no longer functional.
For we live in a stratified society today.
It is a society that benefits from having multiple balkanized groups of disparate people. A handful of wealthy oligarchs profit from this arrangement, while the rest of the nation suffers. This is the r/K strategy, and it is alive and thriving in the United States today. The r/K strategy benefits the wealthy.
When people start to refer to “the rich”, and we have two sets of laws; one for the rich and one for everyone else. Then, we know that that our “roots” and history in this nation is on a short leash. Soon, the leash will get shorter and shorter and the world that we grew up in will no longer exist, and what ever roots we had will be of no consequence.
The idea that America still represents the people that live there is an outdated concept that no longer has any validity. The situation has reversed itself and as time increases, it is becoming more an more untenable for the inhabitants of middle America.
Now, I do understand. This is an understandable emotion; everyone has an atavistic affinity for his place of birth. This includes our friends as well. If you buy this argument, then it’s clear your forefathers, who came from Europe, Asia, or Africa, were made of sterner stuff than you are.
Buck up and be a man. Things change. Situations change, and we have the responsibility to move with the changes. We owe it to ourselves and to our children.
A real American fights for Freedom, Liberty and Justice when there is a reasonable chance in obtaining them.
However, when the situation is untenable and the ability to procure the basic needs required of an American is no longer attainable, then the real American relocates elsewhere in the direction toward real freedom and real liberty.
We see this with many Americans home schooling their children. We see this with many Americans moving out of progressive socialist enclaves like California, Detroit, and Baltimore. We see this with many Americans wanting to put the brakes on unlimited immigration and the resultant balkanization of the United States.
We see this today. It’s all over the news. It’s just not framed in this kind of understanding. It is framed in other terms…
“Trump is trying to limit the options of other global citizens who only want a small piece of the American pie.”
“No way! I’m not going to be unpatriotic.”
Patriotism is one of those things very few even question and even fewer examine closely. I’m a patriot, you’re a nationalist, he’s a jingoist. But let’s put such a tendentious and emotion-laden subject aside.
Here, I am going to make my stance clear on this matter. Being an “Patriotic American”, is an American (that follows the criteria of the American ideal) that supports other like-minded Americans.
Being a patriotic American is NOT saying proudly that you support the Untied States, and all the people in the nation. For that is ludicrous. That is like saying that you support everyone, everything, all the time. It does not make sense.
Yet, if you query any Internet search engine, that is what you will discover.
In their minds American Patriotism is blind support for the United States government in everything that it does.
In that understanding, patriotism is support for the seven far off wars that the United States is currently fighting. (Hey! Quick sanity check; can you actually identify the seven nations that we are fighting. Quick…3…2…1… identify them.)
Today a true patriot – an effective patriot – would be acting on his / her own beliefs. These beliefs would be fundamentally founded on the basic principles of freedom and liberty. And a real patriot understands that America is not a place; it’s an idea. It deserves to be spread.
America is not a place. It is an idea; an idea of liberty and freedom to pursue life with the tools that God granted us. If you are somewhere where the tree of liberty is withering, you have the responsibility to either tend to it, or leave. A true American lives a life in Liberty.
A real American does not NEED a place to define who or what he is. Being an American is an idea, and an ideal. A true American live a life of freedom and liberty. If where he lives does not permit that kind of life, he moves elsewhere where he can live and flourish.
A True American patriots would act in terms of liberty and freedom, and would support other (like minded) patriots.
“The best work is here where I am. I might not be able to earn a decent living elsewhere.”
Spoken like a person with little imagination and even less self-confidence. And, likely little experience or knowledge of economics. Seriously.
For many, many years, perhaps a good solid century the United States was THE place where you went to invent things, build things, produce things, and sell things. America was the only place where there was a sizable middle class that would purchase your products. America was the only place where you could get your products made. America was the only place where you could build up your life from scratch.
Times have changed.
The rest of the world does not look anything like it is portrayed on CNN, MSNBC or WaPo. It does not look like it is portrayed on FOX or Drudge either. The rest of the world is carrying on. They are living life… on their terms.
There are growing and sizable middle class communities all over the globe. You can find them in such diverse places as Argentina, Namibia, Lithuania, and China. These growing communities hunger for products. They yearn for technology. They welcome investment, and growth.
Yet closing your eyes and pretending that ONLY the United States has a middle class is a siren song. It’s a “feel good” belief that is an illusion. It prevents you from seeing what really is. That is dangerous.
Buck up! You are an American. We came from the likes of David “Davy” Crockett, James Bowie, Paul Revere, and William B. Travis. They weren’t afraid of anything. Yet, here we are today.
A real American welcomes others, of like mind, to join us. In our minds, the world would be a far better place with everyone living as an American tending to their families and bettering their communities. Don’t forget who and what you are!
You are an American!
A true American can live and thrive anywhere on the planet. In point of fact, though, it tends to be easier to earn big money in a foreign country, because you will have knowledge, experience, skills, and connections the locals don’t. Even at the bare minimum, you can speak English. Couple that with any working skills that you have picked up over the years, and you might be pleased to discover just how much of an expert you actually are.
In the movie “Joe vrs the volcano”, the character Joe Banks was miserable living a life without freedom and liberty. Then, when given the change for adventure (with a terminating finality) he takes it and discovers that there is more to life living for money and security. He is the quintessential American.
BTW… Being an American is not defined by gender or culture.
The really great thing about being an American is that it is an attitude and a way of life. Anyone can be an American. A man, a woman, a transgender, a gay person… or anyone of those mysterious other genders (that I am still not clear on) can become an American. All you need to have is a strong inner yearning for Freedom and Liberty.
It is that yearning for freedom and liberty the right to be left alone…followed by the right to be forgotten are very important to the American.
Americans tend to be hard-working salt-of-the-earth types. You won’t find them sitting on a latte in Starbucks, protesting some injustice way off in Africa, or demanding a handout. They work for a living and provide for their families.
And, yes, you do not have to reside inside the United States to be an American. I have met people all over the world that are far more “American” than many United States citizens I see about. Oh, you know who I am taking about; those folk in the welfare lines, riding scooters inside wal-mart, or protesting in frilly pink hats.
When every anyone hyphenates their name, using the terms like African-American or Indian-American, or Cuban-American they are not being an American. They are identifying themselves as something else entirely. They might as well call themselves a resident of Talfamadore. That is how out of touch they are with what an American stands for.
Americans view themselves simply thus. They have no need to segregate themselves into some other kind of sub-class or group.
“I am unhappy, but I don’t have enough capital to start my own company, change my life, or make a move.”
Well, that was one thing that kept serfs down on the farm. Capital gives you freedom. On the other hand, a certain amount of poverty can underwrite your freedom, since possessions act as chains for many. For me, I didn’t experience true and real freedom until I lost just about everything that I had.
Possessions are limiting.
Wal-mart shoppers in line for their weekly run. Since when did the United States government start providing motorized carts for the obese? Since when did people start needing them to buy groceries. This picture sums up what is wrong with the Untied States today. It is no longer the land of Americans.
A real American doesn’t need them. A real American can pick up with nothing in a strange land and build up a life from scratch. Remember, being an American is a concept; an idea. It’s not a place.
Being an American is portable. You carry it with you no matter where you go. You have a feeling of self worth, and ability. When the need comes, an American will do what ever it takes to build his / her life from nothing.
Ron Swanson. I am an American. Know what this is all about. Do not fall for the illusion that being a United States citizen makes you an American. It does not.
Many United States citizens cannot do this. They are too afraid, too tied to the government, and living off the meager handouts provided to them. Whether it is food subsidies, medical attention, or reduced bus fares. They vote for more “free” stuff. They demand a paternal government.
As a result many United States citizens are becoming fat and lazy. They demand their “free stuff”. They exchange their liberty and freedom for glitzy baubles and commercially promoted gizmos. It is so insidious that even our pets are becoming overweight.
Todays’ culture in the United States does not promote the ideas of liberty and freedom. It promotes sloth and a lazy culture demanding immediate gratification. It has even affected our pets.
Real Americans are so unlike these domesticated cattle that it just amazes me that they are considered to be Americans at all.
“I don’t want to give up my U.S. citizenship to live as an American should.”
There’s no need to.
I advise that every real American to live his or her life in freedom and liberty. If you can still do so in the United States, that is fantastic. Surround yourself with other like minded Americans, and teach your youth the importance of being an American.
However, there are very strong and large forces that are in the process of making the United States the antagonistic opposite of liberty and freedom. These people are a THREAT to all Americans, but most especially to you and your family.
America is not a democracy, though the 12th and the 17th amendments tried to make it that way. Now, America today is a bastardized mess with the worst elements of both a Republic and a mob-ruled Democracy. Ugh!
Yes, these people are a threat. Over time, their power has increased to a point where now they can seriously influence your freedom and liberty. I suggest that you do what you can to protect you and your family for their influence.
If you can, use what leverage you have at the county and state level. Make the changes needed for your happiness. If you cannot, then a serious reconsideration of life outside the United States is warranted.
Real Americans are unhappy unless they are living a life of freedom and liberty. Their very being screams for this. If they can no longer achieve it in the Untied States, they must reluctantly move elsewhere and work towards a life living elsewhere.
“The United States is a democracy with freedom for everyone.”
If you think we still have a democracy or a democratic republic, ask yourself this: When was the last time Congress did something that the people of America supported that did not align with corporate interests? … You probably can’t do it
Oh, and by the way, the ability to vote does not define freedom.
They vote in communist nations. They vote in dictatorships. They vote in totalitarian nightmares. Voting is an illusion that rulers give to common people to give them the illusion that they have some degree of control.
If America was truly supportive of the people, then the internal American government would be supportive of this ideal. However, it is not. They run and operate against this idea and concept. They are supportive of the oligarchy and fight violently anyone that opposes them.
Everything they do has to do with corporate and personal interests. Trying to find them do something that is for the citizens alone is just about impossible. It’s like trying to think of something that rhymes with “orange.”
You feel like an answer exists but then slowly realize it just doesn’t.
Even the democrat think-tank at the Carter Center and even the former President Jimmy Carter believe that America has been transformed into an oligarchy. This is where a small, corrupt elite control the country with almost no input from the people.
There’s some news stories: “Senate Easily Passed Trump-Backed Criminal Justice Reform Bill.” There are 87 votes in the Senate for it, and yet things the American people have expressed for decades that they want, have voted over and over and over again to say that they want, have sent somebody to Washington from outside the political system to get done, and there’s no hope.
There’s not a shining chance that this is gonna get done. And they gloat and they applaud and they celebrate in Washington over this. Some of this stuff is just so frustrating and maddening and defies any kind of common sense explanation.
This is swamp behavior at its best.
This is the greatest illustration of how much of a game all of this actually is. We’re made to think that it’s cutthroat and real. And, meanwhile, it’s just all a game, how this stuff happens, in Congress, in the House, in the Senate in Washington.
The rulers need the myth that we’re a democracy to give us the illusion of control.
The United States is an oligarchy. It was founded by Americans with the American values of liberty and freedom. However, other United States citizens, non-Americans all, altered it into a democracy that has evolved into an oligarchy. It is not the place where Americans can find happiness any longer.
The truth is that the United States was founded as a Republic to provide freedom and liberty for like-minded Americans. Then, in short order non-Americans who were elected to office, altered the constitution by the 12th and 17th amendments to make the United States into a democracy.
I cover this great travesty here…
People, while we have been bombarded with the notion that the best type of government is through “rule by mob”; a democracy. that is a big lie and deception. For it puts vast amount of power into the hands of a corrupt few.
I write about it here..
And, along these lines…
“America has an accountable and legitimate voting system. I don’t want a dictatorship.”
Sure. What ever you want to believe. Though, most people stop believing in the Easter Bunny at 5 years old. And Santa Claus at seven years old.
Gerrymandering, voter purging, data mining, broken exit polling, push polling, super-delegates, electoral votes, black-box machines, voter ID suppression, provisional ballots, super PACs, dark money, third parties banished from the debates and two corporate parties that stand for the same goddamn pile of fetid crap!
Even a casual observer, overseas, and outside of the Untied States media bubble can see this. Either [1] you are too stupid to see what is directly in front of your eyes, or [2] you do not want to face the reality and the consequences of what that reality means.
My guess is that most people do not want to face the truth. For the implications of it and what it means are ugly. I write about it here…
The elections in the United States today are all just political theater. The politics in the United States today are all just theater. The mainstream news, and even elements of the alternative news, are all theater.
America’s election system is broken. It is filled with fraud of different types and so many problems that the results of elections rarely represent the will of the people.
What part of this sounds like a legitimate election system?
No, we have what a large Harvard study called the worst election system in the Western world. Have you ever seen where a parent has a toddler in a car seat, and the toddler has a tiny, brightly colored toy steering wheel so he can feel like he’s driving the car? That’s what our election system is—a toy steering wheel. Not connected to anything. We all sit here like infants, excitedly shouting, “I’m steeeeering!”
And I know it’s counter-intuitive, but that’s why you have to vote. We have to vote in such numbers that we beat out what’s stolen through our ridiculous rigged system.
Americans need to vote, and make sure that non-Americans cannot. The election process needs to be fixed, else the United States continue the dark road towards enslaved serfdom.
Real Americans live for their freedom and liberty. When someone or something works to steal that and take that away from them, they take actions to secure it. Americans simply cannot live as kept creatures surviving off handouts from the government. They whither and dies. Those that survive take drugs and opioids to make their existence tolerable.
“We have an independent media that reports news and keeps the elected officials accountable.”
Ah. Have you been watching the American media lately?
Translation: “We’ve done everything we could! We’ve lied about him. We’ve tried to find the truth. We’ve tried to make everybody hate this guy, and they’re getting tired of us telling you about it!”
So rather than slink away and go away, they add to it. They ratchet it up.
“Murphy went on to say that she believed that negative news about Trump hurt Republicans in the midterms. ‘I do think that he has paid a price if you look at the results of the midterm election, and so I don’t think people are turning a blind eye,’ she said.
“‘I think their one mechanism to show “hey, this bothers me,” “hey, this upsets me,” is through voting,'” and who knows if there’s a point to that. Pfft!
How does this stuff not hurt to some extent? I mean, that’s its purpose.
Our media outlets are funded by weapons contractors, big pharma, big banks, big oil and big, fat hard-on pills. (Sorry to go hard on hard-on pills, but we can’t get anything resembling hard news because it’s funded by dicks.)
The mainstream press media are considered and called “fake news” because they do not report news. They are comprised of entertainers who’s job is to manipulate the public.
The corporate media’s jobs are to rally for war, cheer for Wall Street and froth at the mouth for consumerism. They are primarily a collection of globalist progressive liberals with an inherent belief that government should take on a parental role, while the rest of the population obeys their dictates.
American media are elite that live within their own bubble of reality. they report DOWN to the United States citizenry.
It’s their mission to actually fortify belief in the myths I’m telling you about right now. Anybody who steps outside that paradigm is treated like they’re standing on a playground wearing nothing but a trench coat.
No one in the media holds Congress accountable for anything…
Your tax dollars at work.
“We have an independent judiciary that will give me a fair shake if I ever get into trouble.”
The criminal justice system has become a weapon wielded by the corporate state. This is how bankers can foreclose on millions of homes illegally and see no jail time, but activists often serve jail time for nonviolent civil disobedience.
Anyone who still believes this myth after the huge amount of inaction by Attorney general Rip Van Sessions should be ashamed of themselves.
Chris Hedges recently noted, “The most basic constitutional rights … have been erased for many. … Our judicial system, as Ralph Nader has pointed out, has legalized secret law, secret courts, secret evidence, secret budgets and secret prisons in the name of national security.”
If you’re not part of the monied class, you’re pressured into releasing what few rights you have left. According to The New York Times, “97 percent of federal cases and 94 percent of state cases end in plea bargains, with defendants pleading guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence.”
That’s the name of the game. Pressure people to take the plea deal because they don’t have a million dollars to spend on a lawyer. (At least not one who doesn’t advertise on beer coasters.)
The United States judiciary no longer serves Americans. They serve the interests of the monied elite. To these people, you and your family, are just resources from which they can extract from what they may and discard the rest.
“The police are here to protect you. They’re your friends.”
That’s funny. I don’t recall my friend pressuring me into sex to get out of a speeding ticket. (Which is essentially still legal in 32 states.)
The police in our country are primarily designed to do two things: protect the property of the rich and perpetrate the completely immoral war on drugs—which by definition is a war on our own people.
Justice is no longer blind in the Untied States. There is no longer equal justice for all. The scales are so obviously corrupted that it might just be beyond redemption. We might need to destroy everything and start all over again.
We lock up more people than any other country on earth. Meaning the land of the free is the largest prison state in the world. So all these droopy-faced politicians and rabid-talking heads telling you how awful China is on human rights or Iran or North Korea—none of them match the numbers of people locked up right here under Lady Liberty’s skirt.
Americans cannot practice freedom and liberty in the United States. You risk fines and jail time for smoking in a restaurant, driving without a seat-belt, eating sunny-side up eggs, or using a plastic straw in some locations. That is not freedom. Especially when it comes with career-ending, family-ruining penalties.
“Buying things will make you happy.”
This myth is put forward mainly by the floods of advertising we take in but also by our social engineering.
Most of us feel a tenacious emptiness, an alienation deep down behind our surface emotions (for a while I thought it was gas). That uneasiness is because most of us are flushing away our lives at jobs we hate before going home to seclusion boxes called houses or apartments. We then flip on the TV to watch reality shows about people who have it worse than we do (which we all find hilarious).
United States citizens are cattle for a select few can profit from.
If we’re lucky, we’ll make enough money during the week to afford enough beer on the weekend to help it all make sense. (I find it takes at least four beers for everything to add up.) But that doesn’t truly bring us fulfillment.
So what now?
Well, the ads say buying will do it. Try to smother the depression and desperation under a blanket of flat-screen TVs, purses and Jet Skis. Now does your life have meaning? No? Well, maybe you have to drive that Jet Ski a little faster! Crank it up until your bathing suit flies off and you’ll feel alive!
As if being told to buy things isn’t enough, the system is rigged so that the government and the rich oligarchs profit from all transactions. There are taxes and fees associated with everything you do. There is no escape from them. Like it or not. These go to many things, but the narrative that it’s all for bridges and roads far way short when other nations with much less tax revenue have better roads and bridges than the Untied States has.
The dark truth is that we have to believe the myth that consuming is the answer or else we won’t keep running around the wheel. And if we aren’t running around the wheel, then we start thinking, start asking questions. Those questions are not good for the ruling elite, who enjoy a society based on the daily exploitation of 99 percent of us.
The United States has turned into a huge resource farm. The resource consists of the United States citizenry, what they consume, what they do, and how they behave. True Americans cannot thrive in this environment, as it is inherently unhealthy.
“If you work hard, things will get better.”
This is an obvious lie. Yet few understand it.
I am reminded by the movie “Joe vs the Volcano”. For it speaks volumes in this instance…
Joe Versus the Volcano gives 20 minutes of its
hour-and-42-minute runtime to the horrors of Joe’s job at American
Panascope (Home of the Rectal Probe). And it’s significant that the
first thing we see as people trudge to their jobs is Joe literally
losing his sole.
I’ve never seen the soul-sucking despair of a bad job summed up better than in this scene. And as if that hellish circular conversation isn’t enough, there’s the green light, the buzzing flourescents, the coffee that can best be described as ‘lumpy’, and the coworkers, who are just as sad and defeated as Joe.
Watching this, I’m reminded of all the crap jobs I’ve taken to pay my bills, which I can only assume was the point: rather than the fairytale careers of most rom-coms, JVtV was trying to dig closer to the exhaustion that lies at the heart of American capitalism.
Against this despair, Joe makes only a single palliative gesture: bringing a musical lamp in as a Band-Aid to a gushing wound.
The first 20 minutes of the film are so bleak, in fact, that when Joe is finally diagnosed with a terminal ‘braincloud’ his impending death comes as a relief. This moment is even coded as comforting in the film: where Mr. Waturi’s basement is a hideously green, fluorescent dungeon, the doctor’s office is warm and wood paneled, lit by small glowing lamps and a roaring fire. It’s the first inviting space we’ve seen in the film, and we’re only there, with Joe, to learn that he’s going to die.
Then we’re shunted back to the office, where we have to confront the realities of capitalism again. Joe doesn’t have any savings, he can’t afford to go on a final trip, there’s a hole in the bucket list, but Joe has to quit.
Even with that horror written on his face, he uses his last moments at American Panascope to appeal to his boss and coworkers. Surely they can see that life in this office is actually a living death?
When Waturi, sneers at him, “I promise you, you’ll be easy to replace!”
Joe snaps, pushes Waturi against the wall, and yells,
“And why, I ask myself, why have I put up with you? I can’t imagine, but now I know. Fear. Yellow freakin’ fear. I’ve been too chicken shit afraid to live my life so I sold it to you for three hundred freakin’ dollars a week! My life! I sold it to you for three hundred dollars a week! You’re lucky I don’t kill you!”
This is the first time it becomes explicit: Joe has been selling his life without questioning the transaction (the way most of us do), and only now that he sees an endpoint does he realize how much more he was worth. This distillation of life into money is made even more explicit the next morning, when Samuel Graynamore shows up at his door.
According to Deloitte’s Shift Index survey: “80% of people are dissatisfied with their jobs” and “[t]he average person spends 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime.” That’s about one-seventh of your life—and most of it is during your most productive years.
Are you living the rat race? Is your life a constant struggle and then you get a paycheck so you can buy things? Well, that is the life in the United States. However, that is not the way it is in the rest of the world. There is balance.
Ask yourself what we’re working for. To make money? For what? Almost none of us are doing jobs for survival anymore. Once upon a time, jobs boiled down to:
I plant the food—>I eat the food—>If I don’t plant food = I die.
But nowadays, if you work at a café—will someone die if they don’t get their super-caf-mocha-frap-almond-piss-latte? I kinda doubt they’ll keel over from a blueberry scone deficiency.
If you work at Macy’s, will customers perish if they don’t get those boxer briefs with the sweat-absorbent-ass fabric? I doubt it. And if they do die from that, then their problems were far greater than you could’ve known.
So that means we’re all working to make other people rich because we have a society in which we have to work. Technological advancements can do most everything that truly must get done.
This is what work and what a career has become in the United States today. I argue that this kind of consumer-focused life is not acceptable for Americans who live for liberty and freedom.
So if we wanted to, we could get rid of most work and have tens of thousands of more hours to enjoy our lives. But we’re not doing that at all. And no one’s allowed to ask these questions—not on your mainstream airwaves at least. Even a half-step like universal basic income is barely discussed because it doesn’t compute with our cultural programming.
Scene from the movie “Joe vs the Volcano”. Americans yearn for freedom. When we work at a job that stifles this freedom we become unhappy. We become sick. We become ill. Remember back in the 1990’s when we had the term “going postal”? It is a natural progression of what happens when freedom and liberty are suppressed.
Scientists say it’s quite possible artificial intelligence will take away all human jobs in 120 years. I think they know that will happen because bots will take the jobs and then realize that 80 percent of them don’t need to be done! The bots will take over and then say, “Stop it. … Stop spending a seventh of your life folding shirts at Banana Republic.”
One day, we will build monuments to the bot that told us to enjoy our lives and … leave the shirts wrinkly.
There are many misconceptions about work. In the United States today, work is a tool used to control. However, it doesn’t need to be that way. A true and real American can identify what work is necessary and what work is trivial. He / she can balance their life and work without interruption from an intrusive government or legions of busybodies.
And this leads me to the largest myth of our United States society.
“You are free.”
I’m not talking about the millions locked up in our prisons. I’m talking about you and me.
As I have mentioned elsewhere, freedom is the ability to sit down at a restaurant with your dog, smoke a cigarette, drink a beer and eat a dish of sunny-side-up eggs without having the police called on you. Freedom is the ability to drive without worrying if you will get pulled over by the police.
I understand there are certain restrictions on freedom we actually desire to have in our society—maybe you’re not crazy about a big pile of shit awaiting you in the middle of your walk to work. But a lot of our lack of freedom is not something you would vote for if given the chance.
Try smoking a cigarette with your breakfast and coffee at the Waffle House.
Try sleeping in your car for more than a few hours without being harassed by police.
Try bringing your dog into a McDonalds and having a big Mac with him.
Try maintaining your privacy for a week without a single email, web search or location data set collected by the NSA and the telecoms.
We are less free than a dog on a leash. We live in one of the hardest-working, most unequal societies on the planet with more billionaires than ever.
Meanwhile, Americans supply 94 percent of the paid blood used worldwide. And it’s almost exclusively coming from very poor people. This abusive vampire system is literally sucking the blood from the poor. Does that sound like a free decision they made? Or does that sound like something people do after immense economic force crushes down around them? (One could argue that sperm donation takes a little less convincing.)
Point is, in order to enforce this illogical, immoral system, the corrupt rulers—most of the time—don’t need guns and tear gas to keep the exploitation mechanisms humming along. All they need are some good, solid bullshit myths for us all to buy into, hook, line and sinker. Some fairy tales for adults.
It’s time to wake up.
I would like to reemphasize that it’s pure foolishness to have your loyalties dictated by the lines on a map or the dictates of some ruler. The nation-state itself is on its way out. Oh, the one wold order may never materialize, but the ideas of nations that represent the joint will of the citizens may never be wholly recoverable.
We need to carve our a home for fellow Americans where ever we are, and secure it from encroachment.
Dangerous Encounter. Real Americans fight and strive for liberty and freedom.
The world is changing. Over time it will increasingly be aligned with what we call phyles, groups of people who consider themselves countrymen based on their interests and values, not on which government’s ID they share.
Americans need to gyrate to an American-phyle and realize that entire swaths of the physical United States no longer welcome us.
I believe the sooner you start thinking that way, the freer, the richer, and the more secure you will become. You heard me correctly. Real Americans do not NEED the United States. The United States needs us.
The United States is populated with non-Americans
As long as we allow them to vote, and dictate their desires the United States will continue it’s downward spiral towards mediocrity. It is the duty of all Americans to either take control of this situation or leave it and protect our families before it is too late.
The United States is populated with non-Americans. Unless action is taken promptly there will no longer be any chance for recovery.
Conclusion
There are many lies that have developed over the years that have become accepted as given truths. They should not ever be considered a truth at all. As such, evil people have twisted these beliefs into something dangerous and are using these twisted narratives to control real Americans. Do not let them do this to you.
The United States is a geographical area.
It was initially set up as a Republic for like-minded Americans.
Americans place liberty and freedom first on their priority list.
Over the years the United States has changed.
Today, Americans are a minority in the United States
As such, Americans have two choices. They either can actively try to Change the Untied States back to be the home for Americans or leave for greener pastures. There are no other alternatives. There isn’t a middle ground, and sitting on the sidelines expecting an elected President to do it all on his own is lazy and unbecoming of an American.
When dealing with things that are important to us, we sometimes need to make a statement; a point. Sometimes it is necessary to paddle an out-of-control child, imprison an out-of-control lunatic, and shoot a dog with rabies. Americans cannot wait until others take on this role.
I know what freedom is, and it is not what the Progressives want us to believe it is. A person who is free is never afraid.
A person who is FREE is never afraid.
Here’s a shout out for FREEDOM!
Here
is a shout out for real freedom. There is nothing better than living
life on your own terms, and doing so without guilt or regret. That is
what true and real freedom and liberty is all about.
Here’s to the freedom to speak your mind without fear! (Image Source.)
I will end with this final comment on the movie “Joe vs the Volcano”;
The film’s point is …” The point of the journey is to make thoughtful choices about how to live, and the volcano is life itself.
The original title for this post was “Excuses that keep us enslaved.” Changed on 31DEC18.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this
post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss
growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with
the society within communist China. As there are some really stark
differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified
about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that
are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a
personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome
to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
This is the story what happened after I left the Navy. True to form, I did as I was instructed. After years of becoming a “Rocket Scientist”, then to flight school to become a Naval Aviator, I seemingly “threw it all away” to become an unemployed hobo living in a broken-down van. I seemingly went full-on “Unibomber”. I was a real life Jason Bourne.
Well, That’s what it certainly looked like to others.
I did not remember my meeting with the Base Commander. I did not remember my implantation, the egress portal, or any of the very pretty girls. I did not remember what happened at all. All that I remembered was exchanging my role as a Naval Aviator for one within MAJestic. Everything else was all forgotten. The big change to me, oblivious to everyone else, were the college-level educational sessions that I had during my dreams. On and on…
I was a lost orphan in the wilderness…
I want to believe. Yes, after all my schooling, education, training, and sacrifice… and it was a sacrifice. I did not do the “fun things” that everyone around me participated in. Instead I worked hard for my dream. And, I obtained it…only to forget everything and find myself wandering alone…aimlessly in America. WTF?
To everyone else I was absolutely certifiably bat-shit crazy, and even I had my doubts concerning my sanity.
Industrial Contractions
In was 1981.
At that time, America was suffering from the first of what would eventually become a sequence of many industrial contractions. I entered the labor force at the same time as the (#1 employer in the nation) Steel Industry collapsed.
Collapsed isn’t the right word for it. Perhaps Armageddon, or maybe MOAB realignment would be better.
Industrial contractions are normal. Yet, how it influences your life, depends on who is running the government at the time. But this wasn’t just closing a factory of two. It was the wholesale shuttering of an entire industry that employed hundreds of thousands of people.
Entire states were devastated. The “Industrial Heartland” was renamed “The Rust Belt”. And I, I was stuck straight down in the middle of it. Ouch!
A Story
Let me relate a little story.
This event took place about two centuries ago. It took place in France, which was at the time, one of the top developed nations on the planet. They possessed an enormous military, and was the center for art, culture and science. To support this, they employed an enormous bureaucracy of high-paid clerks and analysts.
According to Jacques Necker, everything was just fine.
Jacques Necker was the fiance minister of France. He was the expert in the national budget, and he and his little army of "bean counters" monitored the movement of taxes, and outlays throughout the nation and their global empire. They were well-paid, experienced, and monitored the financial health of the nation.
In 1781 he published a report called Compte Rendu au Roi.
This was an amazing document. This report astounded everyone because it simply confirmed what all the French elite had been saying all along. Despite extraordinary public services and military spending, France had a net credit position of +10 million livres. In other words, the country was in perfect fiscal health.”Sounds great. Sounds legit. (Sounds familiar…) Right?You know what, though?
It turns out that Necker had "cooked the books". Rather than being 10 million on the positive side, France had racked up 520 million livres worth of debt. This was a pretty serious problem as they could no longer afford to pay interest.Yikes!France had spent decades accumulating prodigious debts.
[1] They built monuments, and parks.
[2] They constructed the splendid cities that still inspire awe today.
[3] They explored the world and expanded their empire.
[4] They engaged in almost constant military conquest in far-away lands.
But you know what? This all came at great cost.
However, it never seemed to matter. The French government knew they were the world’s dominant superpower. As such, they overspent their national income. For them, it was as if it were their divine privilege to do so.
When you are the dominant nation, you can spend money without consequence.
As William Olphus describes in his book Immoderate Greatness: Why Civilizations Fail, the French “tended to see the natural world as cornucopian-- that is, as a banquet on which they were free to gorge without limit.”Nearly all superpowers see the world in this way. “We’re #1 therefore we no longer have to be fiscally prudent.”
For those of you who are unaware of the fourth Turning, here are the origins of the theory. Sir John Glubb, having seen his own British Empire fade as the world’s superpower throughout the 20th century, wrote The Fate of Empires in 1978.
Glubb argues that great civilizations start with an Age of Pioneers-- those who work hard and build wealth.It then progress rapidly through an Age of Commercial Expansion, Affluence, and Intellect.
Then, it falls and decays in an Age of Decadence. This is a decadence in which the entire society feels entitled to a level of wealth that they neither earned nor can longer afford.
Even when faced with obvious fiscal realities, they make no changes. Only when a crisis erupts does the society demand action. And of course, at that point, it’s too late.
(All credit to Simon Black for the bulk of this story.)
We discuss this later on in how the <redacted> cultivate this nursery.
Anyways, the point herein is that our government fails us, the people that it is suppose to protect, when there are industrial downswings of a significant nature. Do not buy-into the explanation that it is “normal”. It is not. It is a failure of the government. Nothing less.
Back to the narrative
With the collapse of the steel industry, the “backbone” of American labor was broken. (It would take many years to recover.) At that time, no one worked. Unemployment was rife. People could not comprehend what was happening.
Layoffs were new, and unheard of.
When confronted with a laid-off person, the assumption was that they were fired.
To be fired, you had to be a particularly super lazy person.
As until that point in time, most companies offered work FOR LIFE with generous pensions. In the larger companies, it was possible to retire in your middle 40’s, with retirement in your 50’s common-place.
Up until that time, work was everywhere, and people could obtain work as a High School drop-out. It was pretty much “known” that if you had a college degree, you were “set for life”. Meaning that you would always be employed, have a great income, and never have to worry about being unemployed. It was a different time. Only the most tardy and lazy would ever lose their jobs.
Up until the 1980’s, most employed Americans never worried about losing their jobs.
As such, being “laid off” was much harder at that time than it is today. You were looked upon with disdain. As such, and personally, it was a difficult time for me, indeed.
“In the dust of defeat as well as the laurels of victory there is a glory to be found if one has done his best.”― Eric Liddell
Let’s wind back the clock somewhat. Let’s review what happened… (It’s my method, don’t you know…)
Found Work after the Navy
I left the Navy and after a (short) period of several months, I eventually found work elsewhere. I managed to obtain numerous interviews, and found a position back in (good old) Western Pennsylvania. At that time, the steel industry was still big and powerful.
I obtained a “management slot” in a small but growing steel company. (Small is relative. At that time, Edgewater Steel employed 6,000 people.) As such, I worked as an engineer for a number of months in a steel factory in a suburb of Pittsburgh. At that time, the nation was just beginning to feel the strain of International competition. As such, many companies maintained their traditional industrial working models.
I went to work, did my job, and everything was pleasant.
A Need to Move to California
A person works at a stable job. You fall into routines. Life becomes predictable. However, I started to feel a strong urge to go to California. It began maybe six months into my new job. As time continued, the urge became more and more demanding.
It became truly urgent.
It began to become an obsession. I bought a road atlas and started to look at the maps of the roads leading to California. California was where I wanted to go. California was where I needed to go. California was on my mind night and day. I could not shake the thoughts away. I had to find work in California. As a result, I started to apply for work at jobs in California, and I started to outfit a van that I turned into a small camper so that I could go there and look for work. It had to be California.
California was the place for me.
Prior to my experience with the Navy, I would have never adopted such a personality. I was stable. I was boring. I was a “work horse”. I was the person who never quit; who never complained. I was a great follower. I was an even greater worker. I would have made a great lemming. Now things were quite different; I was the restless adventurer. I could not be satisfied with anything short of the gnawing of my soul. My mind would latch on to the idea and the concepts haunting me. They would not stop. They were relentless. I had to go. It had to be California. I had to leave as soon as possible.
However, luck or life opened doors to make things happen.
Is luck a truly random occurrence?
Or is it, in this heavily extraterrestrial-monitored nursery environment, a particularly placed series of events purposely directed towards a set of achievable objectives?
In hindsight, based upon what I understand, the truth is obvious.
There is no luck, but rather pre-planned events initiated by quantum consciousness and implemented with help from our extraterrestrial benefactors.
Lay Off at my Factory
At exactly one year, to the month, of my (entering MAJestic) and leaving the Navy my life changed. I was given a “pink slip” at my job where I was working as an engineer. As luck, or fate, would intervene, I was suddenly laid off from my job.
Pink Slip
I was discharged from my duties and left the company where I worked. This was different from getting fired for poor behavior or poor work quality. This procedure is also known as being “down sized”. At that time, many companies were restructuring themselves to become more profitable. In the process they often reduced the size of their labor force.
I was one of the first.
Which meant that only a precious few understood what was going on. Everyone assumed that I was lazy and was fired. They did not understand what a "lay off" was. That would not happen for another decade and another 500,000 laid off people.
Working as an Engineer
In the steel industry at that time, all “management” were engineer-educated individuals who would rotate through different departments and climb the (internal) corporate ladder. The idea of an MBA-led career path in a major manufacturing industry did not occur until a decade later. (Though, I suspect that it began in the automotive industry a decade earlier.)
The mere idea that a non-engineer could ever manage a manufacturing company was laughable (at that time).
Fate
The idea of free will may have arisen because it is a useful thing to have, giving people a feeling of control over their lives and allowing for people to be punished for wrongdoing.
When you lose our job unexpectedly (As mine was. As the “low man on the totem pole”, I was the first to be “let go”.) it is a surprise. You become very disoriented. People around you do not understand, and are very confused.
They often blame you. (At that time, the term “lay off” was relatively new. Up until the the late 1980’s it was very, very rare for a person to be “laid off”. If you lost your job it was because you were fired. Exceptions abounded for “blue collar” workers, but “white collar” workers were never “laid off”.
So, when I was “laid off” early in my young career, I met a lot of misunderstanding and opposition. When mentioned to others the reaction was shock. I just didn’t “look like” the kind of person who would be fired at his work.)
I did not look, act, or behave like the stereotypical image of a lazy worker who was long overdue to be fired. I was young, aggressive, willing to work and put in the necessary hours. Yet, there was no work to be found.
Low Man
Low man on the totem pole means that the person is at the bottom in a hierarchical system. A totem pole is a statue of carved faces stacked one on top of the other. The face at the bottom is the last of the stack. The carved faces above it, would be higher up in rank or authority.
Today, getting “laid off” is very common. That was not the case in the early 1980’s. At that time, people tended to work one job for their entire lives, then retire on a company pension. It was a different time indeed.
From a Reference for Business…“Many of the layoffs in the 1980s and 1990s stemmed from reengineering, restructuring, and downsizing efforts to make U.S. firms more efficient and profitable in the face of intensified international competition.
Layoffs resulting from reengineering and restructuring were unique in that restructuring affected a large proportion of white-collar, managerial, executive positions. For example, the American Management Association found that two-thirds of employees laid off in 1994 were salaried, college-educated workers.Growth of foreign and domestic competition, stagnant earnings, and a slow economy motivated the first round downsizing and layoffs in the early 1980s. As the U.S. economy improved in the mid-1990s and remained strong in the late 1990s, large-scale layoffs continued at about the same rate—even at highly profitable firms—marking a break with historical layoff patterns.
During the late 1990s, many of the largest companies in the country underwent reengineering or downsizing, despite enormous profits.
General Motors, for example, continued to reduce its workforce, announcing in 1998 that it would cut 50,000 jobs to remain competitive, even though the company's profits rose 35 percent in 1997.AT&T led U.S. companies in 1998 layoffs with 18,000, followed by Compaq with 15,000, Motorola with 15,000, Raytheon with 14,000, and Xerox with 9,000. Furthermore, McDonald's Corp. laid off workers for the first time ever during this period as the company began to reduce its overhead and management personnel in an effort to increase productivity.A flurry of bank mergers —more than 370 of them—in the late 1990s also led to additional layoffs. The top five mergers of 1998 alone resulted in 20,000 job cuts. According to Fortune, banking along with media/entertainment and utilities jobs were the most prone to layoffs in the mid-to-late 1990s because of mergers, accelerated competition, and government deregulation.Layoffs resulting from downsizing continued throughout 1990s, despite low unemployment, a strong economy, and the lack of proven economic benefits from downsizing.
According to a Wharton School report, downsizing typically failed to boost earnings or stock market performance consistently. Moreover, other studies indicate that downsizing tends to cause low employee morale and tarnish a company's image. In addition, some reports found that a number of companies eventually are forced to fill positions left open by layoffs by paying premium wages.”Read more: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Kor-Man/Layoffs.html#ixzz56rMhb3FA
I worked hard to find new employment.
However, I was quite unlucky. No one was hiring.
Unemployment was rampant, and every week mass layoff announcements were being made all throughout Ohio, and Western Pennsylvania. 500 here, 3000 there, and an announcement of another couple of thousand. The work force was being shredded before our eyes, and all of us had to compete against each other for the few precious jobs available.
The term “the rust belt” was coined after miles and miles of enormous steel factories and support structures slowly corroded and rusted away in silence. This is Pittsburgh today.
Media Ignored the Situation
The news media ignored the situation (as did our Congressional representatives and Senators). Oh, eventually they managed to report on what happened…ten years later.
Rich fat cat congressman. The world of the rich does not look like anything that the common, main stream American experiences.
However, at the time, they concentrated with the news from Washington, D.C., Hollywood, and the new millionaire entrepreneurs out of California (Steve Jobs and Bill Gates for example.).
Then as now, the media were elitists.
They only reported on what THEY considered important. As such, they would always inject their own biases in their reporting. We, normal and “regular” people, were shunned and avoided by the mainstream press. We were considered unimportant. We were on our own. Nobody gave a “rat’s ass” about us “common” working folk.
The only thing the local news would report on was the layoffs. They seemed to ignore the causes and preventative measures. Instead they focused on a group of trapped whales up North in Barrow, Alaska.
Operation Breakthrough was an international effort to free three gray whales from pack ice in the Beaufort Sea near Point Barrow in the U.S. state of Alaska in 1988. The whales' plight generated media attention that led to the collaboration of multiple governments and organizations to free them. The youngest whale died during the effort and it is unknown if the remaining two whales ultimately survived. There is an absolutely great movie about this called “Big Miracle” made in 2012. It is worth a watch.
They focused on attempts to rescue geese in Canada.
A great movie regarding this is “Fly Away Home”. Fly Away Home (a.k.a. Flying Wild and Father Goose) is a 1996 family comedy-drama film directed by Carroll Ballard. The film stars Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels and Dana Delany. Fly Away Home was released on September 13, 1996 by Columbia Pictures.
Fly Away Home dramatizes the actual experiences of Bill Lishman who, in 1986, started training Canadian geese to follow his ultralight aircraft, and succeeded in leading their migration in 1993 through his program "Operation Migration." The film is also based on the experience of Dr. William J.L. Sladen, a British-born zoologist and adventurer, who aided Lishman with the migration.
They focused on how Ronald Reagan was going to cause World War III by insisting that the Berlin wall be torn down.
"Tear down this wall!" is a line from a speech made by US President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, calling for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961. Glenn Beck has a decent write up on this at http://www.glennbeck.com/2017/06/12/87-reagan-challenges-gorbachev-to-tear-down-this-wall/
Instead, they focused on how much better the nation was run under a Democrat President, you know, like Jimmy Carter. And lectured us (peons) on how now the roads won’t be fixed, and bridges won’t be built because President Reagan wanted to cut taxes on the middle class.
Yup. The infrastructure was going to collapse because no taxes would be collected. We must… must… MUST demand Americans pay taxes! They screamed into the airwaves, 24-7.
They screamed. They demanded. They ordered.
Stop taxing businesses. It is Americans that must be taxed! It is a fiscal necessity! They screamed on the airwaves.
Democrat Senator Nancy Pelosi believe that Americans are not entitled to the money they earn. SHe believes that it is the property of the government, and use of the money is only granted to elected officials.
My unemployment support was quickly running out. The bank (Mellon Bank) repossessed my motorcycle, and my car payments were going to be exhausted in a few months.
After nine months it would all be gone. There wasn’t any work in my “neck of the woods”, and I needed to find work or starve. For, as all American men can attest, if you are over 21 years old and are “able bodied” you are EXPECTED to find work and make your way in society.
Not so today.
Unemployment Support
The state government would pay a laid-off worker a fraction of their pay for a set number of months so that they would not starve. The amount depends on the state where you were living in. Massachusetts and California were the most generous (in my experience) while Arkansas and Mississippi were the most pitiful.
Today, I read many stories of children living with their parents until they hit their 40’s. Not so with my generation. You were physically evicted and “kicked out” from the home when you hit your 20’s.
Because of this necessity, I was forced to travel elsewhere to look for work. Of course, I was obsessed with going to California (for some reason, heh… heh…). To this end, I decided to travel there to locate work that would employ me.
Fate
Again, I must give pause to contemplative endeavors. Was this coincidence? Was this an artificially manufactured event that would discharge me? Was this part of a bigger picture that involved whole masses of people, events and staged events?
In my story, over and over again, there would be coincidences.
These coincidences would often times, on their own merits, appear to be logical and normal events. But on the whole, when taken together and viewed in contextual alignment, they all appear suspiciously suspect. They appear to be indicative of a grand scheme of manipulation. Indeed, this was a manipulation of great forces and powers far beyond the control of any one person or group of people.
There is, in truth, no such thing as a coincidence.
Everything in our lives is planned and scheduled by a very advanced system of control. It involves multiple dimensions, powerful energy states that reach well into the quantum sphere, and a degree of timing that is “timeless”. However, as I know this to be the case, I still often have trouble grasping with this truth. I still want to believe that I had a degree of control in the decisions that I made, and the actions that I followed. The reader will see evidence of this quandary in this blog, but please realize that I do know (as much as I do not want to accept it) that our lives are fated.
During this time, the economy in the United States was in shambles.
America was crushed and its’ industry collapsed. For many of us, it seemed that there was nothing special about the United States any longer. The United States seemed like just another nation-state, and, most unfortunately, one that’s become especially predatory toward its citizens.
At that time, the only thing that mattered was the lifestyle of the Congress-critters, the bankers, and the wealthy on their exclusive golf courses. How do I know? The media reinforced it to me daily.
In a way, the America television series “Dallas” reinforced the notion of “Fat Cats” and rich and powerful people. This, of course, paved the way to acceptability of folks like the Clinton’s who actually lived the life portrayed on television.
Meanwhile, the Japanese had rebuilt their industries and were aggressively capturing American customers. They offered cheaper prices, better quality and newer technology. America couldn’t compete (though it made efforts to try.).
Japanese effort to rebuild its' Industry
World War II had devastated the industries of Europe, and Japan. But, unlike the United States, which rested comfortably in the belief in continued economic mastery, the Japanese devoted all their energies to rebuild their industrial base. The fruits of their labors were just beginning to be felt in the early 1980’s, as stubborn American industries began to feel the pressure of foreign competition.
Changing demographics & Industry
The US became an unsustainable service sector based economy from the 1970s onward when service sector employment diverged from manufacturing without a corresponding boost in productivity.
This materialized as a galloping wallop of unemployment.
The numbers, or more accurately, graphs show the effects. When one looks at a graph of productivity growth over time the effects of this becomes clear. Adjusting for the WWII anomaly (which tells us that GDP is not a good measure of a country’s prosperity) US productivity growth peaked in 1972 – incidentally the year after Nixon took the US off gold.
Hum... could there be a correlation? I wonder...
Factories tried to recover, and they had sputtering bouts of success. Yet, the overall productivity decline witnessed ever since is unprecedented.
Despite the short lived boom of the 1990s US productivity growth only averaged 1.2 per cent from 1975 up to today. If we isolate the last 15 years US productivity growth is on par with what an agrarian slave economy was able to achieve 200 years ago. (With hindsight we know that finance did more harm than good so we can conservatively deduct finance from the GDP calculations and by doing so we essentially end up with no growth per capita at all over a time span of more than 15 years.)
In effect, US real GDP per capita less contribution from finance increased by an annual average of 0.3 per cent from 2000 to 2015. In fact, from 2008 the annual average has been negative 0.5 per cent.
In other words, we have seen an overall weakening of the US economy from the 1970s. The reason is simple enough. For we know that monetary policy broken down to its most basic form is a transaction of nothing (fiat money) for something (real production of goods and services). Thus, the true reason for the “recession” and the unemployment at that time becomes apparent.
While there were many things that the American companies could do, the most common reaction was motivated by profit concerns. Thus, for most of the American industry the reaction was not logical and planned, but was reactionary. The American reaction was to reduce the size of its work force.
The buzz word at the time was “efficiency”.
Efforts were made to stop the industry practices of “keeping people on” (Retaining employees in the belief that their skills and abilities could be used at a later date, even though there was no work for them to do at the present.) as “overhead”.
Workers were “laid off” and their responsibilities given to others.
Efficiency experts sorting out who to fire and who to retain.
What began as occasional layoffs soon became a flood of firings. Companies started to expect their workers to do the work of those laid off. Efficiency sky rocked, but only to a point. It was, unsustainable in the long run. Millions were unemployed, and work was difficult to come by. Since I too lost my job, I found myself in the same situation as thousands of other unemployed Americans. We were all out of work, and out of luck.
I needed to find work, and I needed to do so quickly.
It did not take me long to decide what to do. I decided to go to California. For, to me, California was the place for me.
California.
California.
California.
Outfitting a Vehicle
To this end, I outfitted an old van that I had bought. It was an old white 1976 Dodge Tradesman 100. Purchased for $2000. It was empty inside, but had a decent engine and frame. It was a mini-van and very popular at the time.
I insulated it, and installed wood panels made from old shipping crates. I placed a bed inside and added a partition behind the drivers and passengers seats. I fixed the engine and the drive train, and set off to find work. It was a great place to sleep in, and to haul stuff in, but without a bathroom, kitchen or shower it was rather inconvenient. It was, to put it bluntly, a mobile hotel room without a bathroom.
I equipped it with a bed and some rudimentary storage and set off to find work.
+ + +
I worked where I could find work.
I worked at many fast food restaurants. These included McDonalds, Wendy’s, Hardees, Carl’s Junior, What-a-Burger, Burger King, etc.
I was not proud. If I could get paid, I did the work.
I also worked as a janitor. I cleaned offices late at night, and places like the YMCA. I also worked as a temp and performed tasks ranging from digging ditches, cleaning out industrial scraps at construction sites, washing windows, and moving boxes for a storage company. When you are unemployed and hungry, you do what you need to do. You don’t sit down and wait for something to come to you.
Sure, my stomach growled. But, when I worked fast food, I got a free meal on top of my pay. That helped a lot. I would save one half of my burger for my wife. I’d take it to the van after my shift. I would also get some of the packets of lemon juice in the condiments section. We could add that to water with some sugar and make some cheap lemonade.
Of course, I traveled to California, but once I arrived there I didn’t know where to go.
I lived in the van (a mobile “camper” that I had created) and worked low wage jobs to make ends meet. (It was insulated with a bed, but no toilet and water. Good for an overnight sleep, but not so great for living in.)
Precisely because I lived in this manner, it was difficult for anyone to locate me. Obviously contacting me was extremely difficult. I would work in a town, and save enough money to repair the camper, and get enough gas and food for the next couple of months. Then, I would continue on my journey. It was a cautious adventure.
Dodge Tradesman 100. Also known as a “mini-van”. It was big enough for a bed and some clothing storage, but little else. Mine was white, with plain tires and utility rims.
Driving Past Ridgecrest
Curiously, as I drove west I kept on driving towards a remote town in the middle of the desert west of Los Angeles. The town was Ridgecrest and on numerous occasions I kept on finding myself driving towards it. But I never stayed there to look for work.
Instead, I kept driving past towards more potentially promising places to be employed. (The reader should recognize that while you might “feel” a “tug” or interest in a certain place, your mind will tell you to ignore those feelings. Instead your mind will instruct you what to do based upon what you are exposed to (news typically) and reason.)
The mind is in constant battle AGAINST your feelings.
The mind is in constant battle AGAINST your feelings.
Yet, for me it seemed that all roads lead to this obscure town. I would get lost and find myself in the middle of a flat desert plain, with nothing nearby. But looking up I would see a sign pointing to the desert city of Ridgecrest. It sure was spooky.
A reoccurring theme during most of my life was how I would have “urges” to inspire me to go and do things. These urges were nothing less than ELF directional commands sent to me. That is; commands originating out of the “Core Kit” dialogues.
More about that later.
On the road near China Lake in California. There is flat desert as far as the eyes can see with distant blue desert mountains in the distance.
All in all, I traveled in circles trying to go to some point in California. I felt “right” when I was driving in the direction to California, but I didn’t know where to go. I had no set destination.
The mind is in constant battle AGAINST your feelings.
As such, I visited many of the cities and towns in the state, but none “felt” right. While some were very beautiful (like Auburn, California) the urges would not let me rest.
The mind is in constant battle AGAINST your feelings.
It had been approximately two years since I had left the Navy.
The memories of what had truly happened there was completely erased from my mind. I remembered joining the Navy, and leaving the Navy. But I had no recall of what happened between me and the Commander at the base. I had no active recollection of his words, nor did I have any active memories of the transportation portal. It was all forgotten.
Like misplaced memories.
I had adopted a new life, and had accepted it. Occasionally as I drove the camper, I would muse about what my life would have been where I to have stayed in the navy as a pilot, but my mind would always end up focusing on the issues directly at hand at the time.
The issues were always about existing.
Where can we park the van?
How much money do we have, and how much gas will it purchase?
Where can we sleep, without getting hassled by people, or the police?
Where can I get work, and where will I be able to cash the check once I receive it?
Where can we get a shower and wash off the stink? (A seriously big issue indeed.)
Looking for Work
The reader should understand that I moved into a van to leave an area of high unemployment (that would later become known as the “rust belt”) to an area where I could find work.
I was not “finding myself”, or “exploring the world” as a backpacker.
I was not a hippy, finding “free love” and adventures with a bong, and a box of contraceptives.
No. Not at all. I had a mission. I had to find work in California. It was my one and only goal.
The Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is a region of the United States, made up mostly of places in the Midwest and Great Lakes. Rust refers to the deindustrialization, or economic decline, population loss, and urban decay due to the shrinking of its once-powerful industrial sector. The term gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1980s.
The Rust Belt begins in western New York and traverses west through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, ending in northern Illinois, eastern Iowa, and southeastern Wisconsin.
Previously known as the industrial heartland of America, industry has been declining in the region since the mid-20th century due to a variety of economic factors, such as the transfer of manufacturing further West, increased automation, and the decline of the US steel and coal industries. While some cities and towns have managed to adapt by shifting focus towards services and high-tech industries, others have not fared as well, witnessing rising poverty and declining populations.
I could not afford to stay in hotels.
I did not have the money. I knew of very few people in the state, and thus had no connections to visit. I had no place to “crash at” while I was looking for work. Being low on money makes one creative. I had to find a way to make it to California, and it had to be the cheapest way possible. Short of being a hitchhiker, or hopping a freight train, the only thing that I could think of was driving there myself, and sleeping the car while I looked for work.
I did the “sleep in the car” bit a few times in the past.
It did not work out too well. Cars are cramped, people can look into the windows, and you always wake up with a stiff neck and a sore back. (Not to mention getting eaten alive by insects.) No, to travel, I would need a small van. It did not need to be large. It just needed to be big enough for a small mattress, and a place to store my clothes. It would need to have a good engine, and be insulated from the cold. Aside from that, I could then be equipped with the necessities to find work in a place far, far away.
I did what I could on the basis of the little that I knew. I was, after all, in my mid-20’s and still very young and “wet behind the ears”. My father insisted that I stay in Pittsburgh and try to find engineering work there. I disagreed. In this case, I was right. (Pittsburgh didn’t recover until around 2005, about twenty years later, and then it’s recovery required other talents instead of engineering.)
If I had stayed, like some of my classmates, I would be on a life path that was truly unlike anything that I had studied to be.
Later, as I began my journey, I discovered the importance of a small shower and bathroom. I discovered the need for a small refrigerator and heater. I later bought myself a class “A” motor home about fifteen years later that possessed all these amenities. However, that is a story representative of another time.
Men need to work
I have strong opinions of people who do not work for a living.
This goes double for those who do not desire to contribute to society. Men NEED to work. We need to contribute to society and we need to take care of our family. It is a biological NEED. Rather than rant on, I prefer to let someone else rant on about this subject.
“Sitting at a regae bar last night with some mates I had an experience that happens quite a lot to me in Thailand and that's meeting backpackers. This guy comes to the bar and orders a drink and says hello to me. The American in me would never start a random conversation especially with this dude but the outgoing Aussie in me always has to say hello. I wish now I'd got a photo of this guy however the guy looks similar to the picture below.[Photo of a heavily tattooed man with piercings all over his body, and shirtless. Not provided here because it is ugly.]So the first thing I notice about this dude is the overly large earing he has stuck through his nose, the ear piercings that look like plates in his ears and the fact he is covered in tats. Not the kinda guy I'd hang with regardless of his personality because he'd probably scare the girls away, but whatever, I'm having a good time I say hello back and he starts to chat.I don't have a problem with backpackers in general but I can only stand them so much, the conversation always goes something like this:What's your name?Where you come from?Where have you been?Where are you going?After you've answered these questions the backpacker types start telling you how they've been to 18 countries in the past few months and how you should go here and have you been there "oh your missing out" that somehow I'm less than because I don't stick a bag on my back and sleep in $3 rooms with 10 other dudes. Inevitably after they tell you all about the world they have nothing left to say except how excited they are to put the bag on their back again and sleep in another shitty room.Listening to this guy last night I'm being polite and interested when he got to that point where he'd rambled on about his travels enough that he didn't have much more to say so he asks me what I do.
So I told him part of the truth, I own “Living Thai” a blog on Thai girls and Thai hookers and sex in Thailand.
Should of seen this guys eyes, he looks at me with total horror like I'm a child molester or something and he exclaims "I don't like that, that's wrong" maybe he was lost for words? Not sure, but I'll never forget this guys eyes it was priceless.So this guy is obviously offended by sex (looking at him you know he doesn't get much) or at least Thai hookers or the fact that girls sell themselves for money. So yes it's true, I'm a pimp, and this site is #1 for information about Thai hookers. I don't hide the fact or pretty it up in anyway and why should I? This is life dude, this shit happens and why should I make apologies for it?This is how these Khao San Road types are like, they'll be quick to attack you if you judge them for looping a bull ring through their nose or having enough ink to kill a whale and then attack you again if you don't also ink yourself up with tribal tats and stab yourself with rings making dance circles spinning fire singing coombaya the world is a lovely place. It's not dude, you gotta get outta your fairyland and talking to "like-minded" people to find out it's not. Try to understand the world for what it is not just suck up the shit you like. Open your mind a little.I don't need to travel around the world to know that the world is shit, it's dark, and there are terrible people doing terrible things. So many people pass through Thailand with their eyes closed believing if they ignore it or don't partake in it then it doesn't happen or that they are helping.
Many expats are like this too, they think cause they spend a few thousand dollars a month in Thailand that they are "helping" Thai people and Thailand should reciprocate with an easy and cheap visa so they can keep spending 30-40 thousand baht a month in the country. You're contribution is so small, no you do not make a difference especially to the average Thai.I don't normally talk to dudes that look like they just came out of a clown carnival (for reasons stated) but I'm not going to judge a guy off the bat because he looks like a freak-show either.
Maybe the dude would of respected me more if when he spoke to me i said "I don't talk to clowns".
It was a fine rant.
However the point must be made clear. When I moved into my van it was to look for employment. I had a need, a desire, and an urge to find work. I knew that I needed to find it in California, for at time all work was in California. Isn’t that were Steve Jobs was making his fortunes? Isn’t that were Bill Gates was raking in billions of dollars? Isn’t that were Hollywood is, and Silicon Valley is? Isn’t that where all the military technology was that will defeat the Communist Menace in the Soviet Union? California was a mecca for engineers.
It was where I should go.
Bill Gates in the 1980’s. The photo is a bit unusual in that he is sitting next to an Apple computer.
While Wall Street was the place to go if you had an MBA in Finance, California was where you should go if you were an engineer. California was where young, bright engineers such as myself, belonged.
I was of the generation of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.
Steve Jobs in the 1980’s. He helped redefine what Silicon Valley was.
I outfitted a van. I set it up as a comfortable sleeping quarters, so that I did not have to pay for expensive hotels. I took an unused bed mattress, and some scraps of old (living room) rug scraps and decorated the interior. (left over carpet from my parent’s TV room.) I used the Styrofoam from cheap (Wal-Mart) ice coolers as insulation, and then paneled over it with old hardwood from decades-old wooden freight pallets (I paid $15 for the lot.) . I put tinting on the interior windows, and installed a sunroof that I got for $5 from a local automobile junkyard.
I made sure that the motor and operation of the vehicle was perfect, and as such, I moved onward and outward. I began my search for work with less than one hundred dollars to my name.
Living the life of unencumbered freedom.
“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.”-Rose Luxemburg
Obviously, I did not follow the typical career development of a Naval Aviator. Instead I began, what I call, “The Big Adventure”. It was my rite of passage. While I “should” have been on a carrier flying high performance aircraft, like the rest of my classmates, I was a homeless, penniless, nomad wandering aimlessly in the hinterlands of America.
Some days would be great with extreme beauty and a fine proper meal. While other days were spend starving and avoiding the hot sun inside a sweltering metal box that I called “the camper “or old “urge”. True travel is not glamorous. Not at all.
Rite of Passage
Sociologists have identified three phases that constitute a proper rite of passage: separation, transition, and re-incorporation.
Separation: During this phase an initiate is separated in some way from his former life. In the case of the Mandan tribe, the young man was isolated from the village in a hut for three days. In other tribes, boys’ heads were shaved and they were ritually bathed and/or tattooed. In a more modern example, when a man has just enlisted in the military, he is sent away to boot camp.
His former possessions are put aside, his head is shaved, and he is given a uniform to wear. During the separation phase, part of the old self is extinguished as the initiate prepares to create a new identity.
Transition: During this phase, the initiate is between worlds-no longer part of his old life but not yet fully inducted into his new one. He is taught the knowledge needed to become a full-fledged member of that group. And he is called upon to pass tests that show he is ready for the leap.
In tribal societies, the elders would impart to the initiate what it meant to be a man and how the boy was to conduct himself once he had become one. The initiate would then participate in ritual ceremonies which often involved pain and endurance.
In the case of the new soldier, he is yelled at, prodded, exercised, and disciplined to prepare him to receive a rank and title.
Re-incorporation. In this phase, the initiate, having passed the tests necessary and proving himself worthy, is re-introduced into his community, which recognizes and honors his new status within the group. For tribal societies, this meant a village-wide feast and celebration.
The boy would now be recognized by all tribe members as a man and allowed to participate in the activities and responsibilities that status conferred. For the soldier, his boot camp experience would come to an end and both his superiors and his family would join in a ceremony to recognize his new status as a full-fledged member of the military.
During the all phases of the process, the men who have gone through the ritual themselves guide the young initiate on his journey. By controlling the rite of passage, the men decide when a boy becomes a man.
I had named my van after a story that I had read. I named it after the name of a hippy van in a story that graced most of the pages in a book known as the “Last Whole Earth Catalog”.
The Whole Earth Catalog (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998.
Steve Jobs compared The Whole Earth Catalog to Internet search engine Google in his June 2005 Stanford University commencement speech.
"When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation.... It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along. It was idealistic and overflowing with neat tools and great notions."
The Whole Earth Catalog (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays and articles, but was primarily focused on product reviews.
Above is a page from the Last Whole Earth Catalog. In the lower right corner, the reader can see a box with the image of an alligator or dragon and some words. That is the hippy story where I obtained the name whereas I named my van “ol urge”.
An adventure consists of extremes. You see the great beauty of life, and the depths of the abysmal.
After all of this, I became a “somewhat” normal person again. But, I (the truth) was anything but normal. Not only was I a highly trained, college educated, intellectual, but I was implanted with specialized probes; probes of unique abilities and secretive purposes. I didn’t know why, but I suddenly found myself questioning everything around me. I stared to ask questions about how humans lived in America and what my role was.
“This reminds me of when the Reagan Administration gave out blocks of cheese to Food Stamp recipients. Soon after the deliveries were made, bars around Philadelphia were serving grilled cheese sandwiches during happy hour.”-Posted on 2/13/2018, 8:30:33 AM by Opinionated Blowhard
I wondered why I couldn’t qualify for all the “free” stuff that the government promised me.
It was true. I could NEVER qualify.
I went to a welfare office in upstate New York to apply for food stamps. The woman behind the counter, a nasty prune face of a woman named Mrs. Slen (to this day, I will never forget her name) told me that she’d “just happen to know that engineers do not get laid off.” (She knew, she said, because she was married to an engineer.)
She said that I was just a lazy good-for-nothing person, and went out of her way to make my life extremely difficult in the pursuit of government benefits.
She would misplace my paperwork, and I would need to come in and do them all over again. She would call me at 5:45 and tell me that I would need to come in before 6:00 and sign something or the other. She would do all kinds of nasty things and make my life a “red tape” nightmare.
That was my life…
“They hide income. Dirty little secret is that some groups with “favored nation status” are rubber stamped through these programs and the bureaucrats look the other way.
Whereas some little old white lady will be put through the wringer and made to jump through several flaming hoops of administrative red tape only to be denied.
I saw this with my very own eyes.”-Posted on 2/13/2018, 8:10:58 AM by AbolishCSEU
So much for that little adventure…
I became Spiritual
One of the things that was constant during this period of time in my life were my night-time dreams. Once I fell asleep, my mind would rest, and after a while I would start to have these odd dreams. My consciousness sort of detached and I began to experience this “other” kind of existence.
It was really, really odd. Many of the “experiences” consisted of a kind of very…very…very…VERY vivid experience that communicated with my brain as an augmented dream. And they were always about going to school. I was always being taught things. I was constantly involved in education, and all sorts of weird things. Then when I woke up, I would look at the world around me and what I experienced quite differently…
I had a totally different point of view.
I started to wonder why real nasty people seemed to be so successful, and the softer nicer people all seemed to be destitute.
I became spiritual and in this train of thought, I moved upon faith and belief.
I became inspired within by an inner confidence… and upon that confidence; I embarked upon a new adventure… a greater adventure. An adventure fueled on … faith…
I became very spiritual and everything seemed, to me, to be connected.
The weather to the earth, and the movement of people to the movement of the moon. Things all seemed so interconnected to me. I began to question everything. Maybe it was living in the van, or maybe it was my experiences. Maybe it was due to the probes. I do not know why.
Travel
“A huge forest it was; and I was glad and grateful beyond measure for the scent of roots and leaves, the thick smell of the fir-sap, that is like the smell of marrow. Only the forest could bring all things to calm within me; my mind was strong and at ease.”— Knut Hamsun “Pan”
I often see inspirational pictures on the internet showing a map with some kind of words to inspire confidence to travel.
Yeah, it’s all good. But mostly, the people who do this sit comfy in their own rooms, and live their mundane day to day lives. They dream about travel, and they Photoshop about travel. They post articles about their travel dreams. They buy clothes that travelers wear, and expensive backpacks and gear. They collect interesting books and read about travel. But they don’t actually travel.
Typical Tumbler photo advertising for the joy of travel. These things can be found all over the Internet and serve to inspire us to leave our lazy-boy chair.
True and Real Travel
True and real travel is an adventure.
You leave your comfortable house with only $200 in your wallet, and you go. You just leave. You go make friends, or you visit friends you just made. You don’t buy expensive or trendy backpacks and nice looking road maps. That looks great in advertisements, but real travelers don’t use them.
Real travel is not only about the wilds of the forests, and the smell of nature. It is also about the dark and grimy stained gravel of a train yard, the back alleys behind centuries-old factories, the frighteningly-quiet cookie-cutter suburban neighborhoods with people peering out behind curtains.
It is all of this and more.
It is the empty quietness of an outlet mall at sunrise, the smell of a fresh pot of coffee being made at “Waffle House” at 4 am in the morning, and waiting outside on a grassy knoll while a “grease monkey” fixes your brakes. Travel is an adventure, and it isn’t always beautiful.
Real travelers, well, (for one thing) they stink. Showers are a once a week event. Their clothes are bought at Wal-Mart, or if they are really poor, the Salvation Army. Their note book is a $3 plain wire-wound affair. Their money is spent on the adventure itself. It is not spent on the trappings advertising the Dream-of-Adventure.
Today, like everything else, the “dream” has been packaged and marketed by corporate professionals. Many of whom have never set a foot in a park let alone the far off wilds.
Ah. The reader should not get confused. Backpacking serves a point if it is directed with set goals in mind. You take a trip for “X” period of time, with the goal of obtaining “A”, and “B” with the strong possibility that unknown factor “C” will manifest. You do it with what you have and you make do.
At the time, our trip took far longer than we wanted. The period of time was longer than we ever expected, and the discomfort in the van was worsening each month. Our goal of obtaining “engineering or career-related work” in California did not manifest, and the best we could do was low-end labor positions. This lasted for an extremely long time. (Without getting into too much detail, I ended up getting married with a girl from my “home town” and we embarked on this adventure together.)
Back Story
We eloped, let it be known. Her parents wouldn’t have anything to do with a “Pollack”. We got married at a midnight mass in an Assembly of God (aligned) church on a Halloween evening. For those of you who think it was a bit hasty, as we got married on our second date, we were married for over twenty years.
We only ended up getting divorced as a consequence of her health issues. These are complicated subjects and not really appropriate here at this time. Let it be stated that we started our adventure together, and it worked out just right.
Real Travelers
To my parents and my friends, they thought that I was just running around aimlessly. Indeed, much the same way that I view many of these “backpackers” out and about today.
Ouch!
When in truth, I was being directed towards California by the probes in my skull. Situations that permitted my ability to travel, and luck manifested at the proper time and place to make sure that my guided actions were truly manifest. On the physical, it appeared that I was an aimless wanderer. No one ever knows the true motives of others. No one really knows the situations of others, and the powers and forces that compel them to behave in (what appear to be) odd ways.
What is luck in a fated universe?
In fact, to see what true reality is, take away all the “on the surface conformity” and peer into the mechanisms that control and motivate people. If one does this, they will find and discover just how different we all are. In fact, even though others (relative to ourselves) are but “quantum shadows” of the reality of other souls, even their quantum supposed motivations are alien to what we know (as real) and what we expect.
State Parks are wonderful places for quiet reflection and calming peace. I urge the reader to take part and enjoy some of the many state parks that are all around us.
Real Travelers
“Real” travelers don’t wait for perfection. They go when the “calling” occurs. Often they are not socially, and financially ready to make the trip.
“Real” travelers drink coffee at McDonalds ($1.25/cup), and shun Starbucks ($8.50/cup). They go into small family diners at the crack of dawn as the fog is just starting to burn away by the morning sun.
From The Art of Manliness...
Many things in life are much better when done by hand in small quantities. Roasting coffee at home one or two pounds at a time produces just about the best coffee you’ll ever have. Most chains (Starbucks, notoriously) will actually over-roast so that every cup of coffee tastes the same, day in and day out.
They take all the unique character out of the coffee. Roasting at home will give you a variety of flavors that you never even knew existed in coffee.
Every man should know how to brew a decent cup of coffee. It’s an everyday skill that should be passed down from father to son, like shaving or mowing the lawn. It’s a manly ritual providing both utility and comfort.Consider history. Out on the trail, coffee was a staple among cowboys. Piping hot coffee helped a cowboy shake off the stiffness from sleeping on the hard desert ground, and it was also a good beverage to wash down the morning sour dough biscuits. However, cowboys didn’t have the luxury of fancy coffee brewers or French presses. They had to pack light, so all they usually had was a metal coffee pot, sans filter, to brew their coffee in. No matter. A cowboy could still make a decent cup of coffee. Here’s how.
Bring water to a near boil over your campfire.Throw your coffee grounds right into the water. (That’s right. Filters are for city slickers.)Stir the coffee over the fire for a minute or two.Remove the pot from the fire and let the coffee sit for a minute or two to allow the grounds to settle at the bottom of the pot. (Add a bit of cold water to help speed along the settling process.)Carefully pour the coffee into your tin cup so that the grounds stay in the pot.Stand around the fire with your left thumb in your belt loop and your coffee cup in your right hand. Take slow sips and meditate on the trek ahead. Make sure you tip the brim of your hat slightly downward.
Real Travelers go to libraries to read the news, and relax. (They dare not spend a quarter to buy the newspaper. They read it at the library instead for free.) They visit parks, use the bathrooms in laundromats, look for bargain food in grocery stores, and forage for food in orchards.
They buy day-old bagels, or nearly expired fruits and vegetables from grocery stores. In a pinch they “dumpster-dive” and forage for food outside in the back of fast food restaurants.
“Real” travelers live on the edge.
The entire time that I was traveling and looking for work, I avoided begging.
The closest that we (I was married at the time) ever came to begging was asking a church if we could park into their parking lot. Sometimes, we would accept the support they gave us. However, what I really wanted was work. I would have been just glad to get $10 to mow a lawn, rake some leaves, change someone’s oil, or helped till a garden.
I was young, in my 20’s, and I was willing to do anything.
Hard Life
In fact, the truth is that during our travels there were many times where we were actually starving. We had run out of money, and with no gas, and no income, and no work ANYWHERE we would find ourselves going without eating for weeks at a time. I would say that the longest that we ever went without food was three weeks.
The wife didn’t have a problem with it.
She thought she looked “good”. I on the other hand, well I needed to eat. Typically however, we might have to go without food from three to five days. Eventually we could find work at a restaurant and get a free meal as part of our work. If only I worked, I would save half the food in a napkin, and bring it home to my wife.
Sometimes we would see a house with a fruit bearing tree in the yard. We would then knock on the door and ask to collect the fruit. The people were often very nice about this. It kept us alive. For three weeks in California, we lived off of lemons. Our teeth almost fell out... yikes.
Other times it was raw onions and mustard packets from the fast food restaurant.
Sometimes we would dumpster-dive for expired burgers in the trash bin behind the Fast Food restaurants. We did what we needed to stay alive.
This should not be confused with some “adventurers” who backpack around the globe “on the cheap” and ask for handouts along the way to support their travels. Those people disgust me. They really do. They are “aimless” and “ill prepared”. They travel to a strange place to take pretty pictures, and meet a few people, so that they can have some “notch” in their belt of experience. They are not focused and directed with purpose.
During my travels, we never begged. Sure, we would ask for help like a place to exist and park the van. We would ask for some water. Many would give us more, but they did not need to. We just wanted to pay our way. Those that helped us were fantastic people.
Nevertheless, we never needed to beg.
Boomers
As opposed to (what is now known today as “backpackers”) begging, we were actually “boomers”.
Beggars are now referred to as "Backpackers".
Boomer is the term for migrants relocating to areas where work is plentiful.
The term comes from the idea that we would migrate to whatever area had work. That area would be “booming” with jobs and opportunities. Thus, we would move to that area, and thus became “boomers”. (Not to be confused with the deadly submarines of the same name.) The term originates from the California Gold Rush Boom. In the 1980’s it also pertained to the American Gulf Oil Rig Boom, and the Boom related to the need for Air Traffic Controllers.
We were “boomers”, and not “beggars”.
Here’s some photos of beggars in Thailand. Why in the world are they begging? The Thailand law clearly states that they must post enough money in a bank to buy a plane ticket out of Thailand. So they obviously have a means out. Even if that money was swindled, there are other options available to them. Yet they are not taking those options.
They are begging.
Begging for money in Thailand. Everyone has the chance to come across an unfortunate event than can cause them to start begging on the streets. However, that should be a last resort, and not a source of income.
I know. Accidents happen.
People get swindled and tricked. Situations occur where you lose everything. I get it. It has happened to me. I know that it happens. However, the only conclusion that I can come to, as someone who HAS been in a foreign land with absolutely no money, is that these people are NOT willing to work for money to survive on.
This disgusts me.
This happened to me in China. [1] Trapped in Hangzhou and had to labor to get airfare out. Also happened to me in the Philippines. Here [2] I was swindled and left for dead. [3] Happened to me in Hong Kong where I was stranded in the International airport.
Three times, I was stuck in a foreign land with no money. Yet, I will tell the reader this… I NEVER begged.
Look at the photos below. Why aren’t they doing something to earn money instead of begging? I understand that things can go wrong and you can actually need money in a state of emergency. This happens, and is a realistic event.
It has happened to me. So I do know. That is why there are Salvation Army soup kitchens and beds. People can be hit with bad luck. They can be swindled, and stolen from. They can be hurt in a strange area where no one knows them, and due to circumstances they might need to turn to strangers for support.
It happens. Yet, I must admit that I am very opinionated about the people in the above photos, because there are other options open to them. Yet they are not following through on what they NEED to do.
But… but…
But, this is Thailand for goodness sakes! Those gals could earn some quick money pulling a “short time” on their back (which is exactly what the local Thai people would think), and why the only ones giving them money were foreigners.
However, those girls should not need to even consider that, as those guys can work themselves. Indeed, they can dig ditches, and wash windows on the 34th floor of a downtown skyscraper.
I would do so, and have. I have done things that I did not want to do. I did the ugly, disgusting and dangerous work. I provided for my wife. But these guys, what is their malfunction? Heck, they can sell their expensive cameras, and watches.
Another young couple begging in Thailand. By law, you have to post enough money for a return flight out of the nation. So what is going on here? Were both of them swindled?
And I did. This is not some one-line justification, I actually did things.
I crawled under a San Louis Obispo restaurant into a vat filled with kitchen grease and emptied it out with a ladle into a drum, I had to crawl over dead rats, with swarms of cockroaches crawling over my body. I was covered in spider webs. It was hot, dirty, greasy, foul and putrid, but I did do it.
Other examples included crawling out to the end of a boom tower on a broken drag-line to fix a snagged cable. These are dangerous tasks, but you do what you need to do.
Begging should be a “last resort” activity.
How we got by
We parked the van in highway rest stops, church parking lots, or state parks (and game-lands). Sometimes we parked in the parking lots of cemeteries.
In all cases, we needed to get permission to park and just “be”.
Sometimes, we were not wanted. Neighbors or concerned citizens would call the police and they would come and “check out the situation”. It might be a flashlight knock on the wall of the van at three in the morning, or a flashing light swarm around the van. The police would come, handcuff us, and ask us some questions. Sometimes they would escort us outside the town limits, other times they would drive us to a charity or church to help us.
The police were kind, for the most part, and respectful of us.
At that time, there were no cell phones or “smart” phones. If we wanted to communicate with others we needed to make a phone call (often from a phone booth), or write a letter. When you write a letter, you need to purchase “stamps” that you would lick and stick on the top right side of the envelope. The contents of the letter was private. No one could open the letter aside from the recipient. If anyone did, they would risk severe federal penalties. Of course, in those days, people actually cared about privacy. Letters were then mailed either in “mail boxes” or taken directly to the Post Office to mail out directly.
Then, just as now, theft of mail and opening mail that isn’t yours is a serious penalty. I would have never thought that anyone would do such a thing. However, as I was to soon discover, it is pretty common in the lower rungs of society. Indeed, once you lose everything, or if you move to a new area where you know no one, you enter the ranks of the low and impoverished.
When I was in Syracuse University, I once saw my neighbor stealing my mail. I went to the Post Office, and complained. They took it quite seriously. Privacy was considered an important part of one’s life back “in the day”.
Of course, that seems so funny today. No American has any privacy. The Bill of Rights is meaningless.
You are preyed upon.
Everyone has an angle. Those with money see your weakness so that they can profit from it. Maybe use you for labor, sex, or for bait for a larger scheme that they have in mind. There are all kinds of people and we met some really despicable people. They came in all sizes and shapes. Some were obvious, like a slime ball who was waiting outside the Salvation Army and who had an interest in my wife (at the time). He wanted us to go into the alley in the back of the store to show us a used kitchen-stove he wanted to sell.
Some were not so obvious, like a church (Baptist) elder who offered to hire my wife to work in his office at night. You know, after working hours, to help “sort personal things out”. Some were just a group of rowdy college youths acting like a rabid pack of dogs. Obviously they didn’t know the terror they were inflicting on others.
The world is filled with all sorts of people.
The Best Time to Travel
The best time to travel is before you are trapped.
That is to say, before you are trapped in a job, or a career, or in a life with children and their schooling. Sure there are exceptions. For instance, people who sail the world and home-school their children on board, and those whom were born into a nomadic life. But for the vast bulk of Americans, the concept of travel is just that, a concept. Most Americans have never left the region where they were born in. Most Americans have traveled very little, and only one in five holds a passport (a dated reference). The world of true and real travel is one that most Americans do not participate in.
Photo is obviously from the 1960’s while I was involved in the great adventure in the 1980’s. Never the less, the styles of the mailboxes and phone booths were identical. Notice, that unlike today, everything was in English. If you couldn’t speak English, and could not write in English, then you were at a distinct disadvantage.
Of course, not every job can trap a person.
If the person is college educated; being unemployed for more than three months is often a career-terminating move. Thus, most college-educated people tend to become trapped in their jobs, professions and careers simply due to the fact that any extended leave would, in all probability, terminate their career and standard of living.
Other jobs; non-skilled, hourly or skilled are not so fragile. They can handle an extended leave of absence.
The photo above is not a photo of what my van looked like. None of those photos survived over the years. It is a photo of an outfitted van done in a similar way to mine. In my case, I took old used wood pallets and lined the interior of the van with sanded down pallet wood over closed foam urethane insulation from cheap ice coolers. The rear of the van was just one large bed. There wasn’t a commode, kitchen, refrigerator or shower. It was (more or less) a mobile “roof over my head” where I could sleep in privacy, and store my gear. For food we would eat in restaurants, or cook on the grills in parks and roadside rest areas. For showers we would use gas stations, or pay $3 to take a shower at the YMCA.
Start small and simple.
Save one week’s pay. Map out a journey 4 states away. Go there. Take a tent, live in hostels, and eat cheaply on outdoor grills. Plan on a travel duration of just under two weeks. Return. Then… when you return, plan your next adventure. The idea is to go to a place that is strange and where you don’t know anyone. Then go there. The point is just to DO it.
The Ronald Reagan America
“I felt like lying down by the side of the trail and remembering it all. The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long-dead relative, like an old dream…”- Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
For us, we began our “Great Adventure” during the 1980’s. Let me take a moment to reflect what the 1980’s were like. (As well as to remove myself, and the reader, from the rewritten historical narrative. During the years of 2008 through 2016, there was an ACTIVE effort to rewrite history.)
I was married at the time.
Though I will not relate that story here, it is a significant part of my life with great influences and interesting insights into the relationships my wife and I had while I was <redacted>.
While this manuscript is autobiographical in scope, it dwells primarily on the key focus of my relationship with the Martian exploratory group. Relationships with my family are only tangential to this. (Though there are some very curious cross-personality and cross-quantum influences that are mutually resonant.)
The “Great Adventure” refers to the period in my life that began with my layoff as an Engineer to when I returned to the naval base at China Lake to complete my ELF training and entanglement.
This period was one of travel and adventure. It was a nomadic life that was heavily influenced in me being “summoned” to California by the ELF probes, and me resisting the calls because I had no recollection of what had transpired at the base previously. This period was a period of excitement and adventure as no matter what we did; all roads lead to China Lake and my ELF entanglement. I could not avoid my destiny. My wife had no clue as to what was going on, but she did support me in my travels.
For they were different than the 1960’s and 1970’s that I “grew up” in. It was a time that was quite unique and very, very different from what the reader might experience today.
At this time, there were no cell-phones, the phones were either mounted on the wall, or were attached to it with a long cord. Computers existed, but were text only as green letters on a black screen… and were expensive! D&D was very popular, and people watched TV at home (“Where’s the beef?”) as their primary source of information and amusement.
Cameras used film, and they came in little polypropylene containers that looked like Barbie-doll size trash cans. You had to buy the film and it was expensive. A roll of twelve pictures would equal the cost of two Burger King lunches.
D&D
Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR).
The very popular role playing game known as Dungeons and Dragons.
Where's the Beef
"Where's the beef?" is a catchphrase in the United States and Canada. The phrase originated as a slogan for the fast food chain Wendy's.
Since then it has become an all-purpose phrase questioning the substance of an idea, event or product.
In the ad, titled "Fluffy Bun," actress Clara Peller receives a burger with a massive bun from a fictional competitor, which uses the slogan "Home of the Big Bun".
Record club advertisement. These advertisements became very popular in the United States, when all the radio stations were being bought up by mega media-companies. Suddenly all the music dried up to only about 100 “favorite ” songs out of a limited roster of 500 songs. To listen to anything else you needed to join a club. What a racket!
The so called “Silicon Valley” was just starting to take form. America was building up to finish the “Cold War” once and for all. We were going to out-produce those pesky Russian Communists until they would need to give up. (And, it worked!). The walls (figuratively and literally) came down.
Media was experimenting with CGI. Their early efforts were cautiously embraced. As a result, Max Headroom was terribly popular.
Computers
Computers were just leaving the hobby realm and entering the work force. Few people, aside from “nerds” owned a computer. The ones that were available were terribly expensive. For instance a “large capacity” hard drive would be 10MB and cost nearly $4000. The screen was monochrome and only presented text. It ran on MS DOS and utilized a “Dot Matrix” printer. Everything was off-white ABS plastic.
Max Headroom
Max Headroom is a fictional artificial intelligence (AI) character, known for his wit and stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled voice. He was introduced in early 1984. The character was created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton in the mid-1980s, and portrayed by Matt Frewer as "The World's first computer-generated TV host," although the computer-generated appearance was achieved with prosthetic makeup and hand-drawn backgrounds. Preparing the look for filming involved a four-and-a-half-hour session in make-up, which Frewer described as "grueling" and "not fun," likening it to "being on the inside of a giant tennis ball."
ABS
Interesting bit of trivia; the ABS material tended to age when exposed to UV light. Over time the white color plastic housings would turn into a disgusting dirty pee-yellow color. To extend the life of the product appearance, computer manufacturers would dye the plastic an off-white color. One of the secrets to selling old or used computers was to remove the plastic housings and then paint them bright white. People would snatch them up quickly, even though the electronics inside would be terribly obsolete. LOL.
CDROM’s had yet to be popular.
So people used “floppy disks” to store their work on. Music was available on records, 8-track tapes (Still available in the 1980’s, but their late 1970’s “hey days” were over.), and cassette tapes.
You could join “record clubs” that would send you a weekly catalog where you could purchase music on image alone. They would “pull” people in by offering them ten free tapes, then once locked in, you needed to make so many purchases a year. They also did this with books.
An iconic image in EVERY Design office. “Go ahead make one more change.” From Boston to Los Angles and every place in between, every design office, had this photo (and words) taped to the file cabinets or pinned onto the bulletin board.
Cordless telephones were just being made available. Each one was large, and typically had an extendable metal antenna that you would need to extend to obtain a half-decent signal. (Watch the movie “Risky Business” to see an example of this.)
This was the decade when the Nintendo NES came into our lives.
Indeed, many of us spent our time typing “cd games” into old IBM computers, loading some beeping game or another. But when you really think about it, that’s not much different from today. We still have consoles, we still have computer games, and we definitely still have beeping. The games themselves are different, the graphics are different (obviously much, much better), but the environment is still very similar.
You sit on a chair. You play.
The Goonies. Mean old country-club Republican forces a nice middle-class white family on to the streets for corporate profits. Oh Hollywood!
“Must-see TV” (of course) meant “The Cosby Show”.
John Hughes movies were very popular and they were light, happy and full of 1980’s energy. How can you forget the movies “Sixteen Candles”, “Ferris Buellers Day Off”, “Weird Science”, or “Career Opportunities”. Or what about John Cusack’s movies as “One Crazy Summer”, and “Better off Dead”. All are classics.
“I want my two dollars!”-Johnny the Paperboy
While I would dress for work, I would often pass by kids going to school and I was constantly surprised with what they were wearing. Typical attire, in California, seemed to be neon spandex biker shorts with just a T-shirt. Really strange indeed.
(Of course, I was in the middle of extreme world-line switching at the time.)
Work office attire consisted of polyester everything. No one wore jeans or polo shirts. Men wore ties on collared shirts. Both the ties and the collars on the shirts tended to be wide. The colors were all tans and browns with a distinct movement towards pastels. We all carried traditional briefcases. No one ever carried a backpack to work. If our bagged lunch would not fit inside the briefcase, we would carry it outside of it.
Office Coffee
All offices had a large tureen of coffee. Typically it was this huge metal cylinder with a spigot at the bottom. It would peculate coffee just like a conventional peculator. These tureens held maybe five gallons of water, and used up a sizable portion of a can of coffee to make. The tureen would be on all working day. This was popular from my father’s generational period in the 1960’s thought the 70’s and 80’s up into the 1990’s.
Later on, into the middle 1990’s this was replaced by restaurant-style individual coffee pots cooking on burners. Typically offices would use either two or four burner units. (Six burner units were rare outside of restaurants.) Unlike the tureens that were maintained by the company purchasing coffee and employees being responsible for making the coffee, the individual coffee pots typically came as part of a “service”. A person come come to the office every two weeks to make sure the coffee is stocked up properly and the machine was in working order. The cost for this service was much higher than just the cost of a coffee and tureen.
This added convenience for the workers came at a price. When the coffee came out of the tureen, it was free to the workers. Let me repeat. Work office coffee was FREE for the office workers.
Fast forward to the Bill Clinton presidency; the age of greed.
No one ever took up collections to fund the coffee. That didn’t happen until much later in the 1990’s under President Bill Clinton. (It wasn’t his fault. He “inspired” everyone to go after money and become successful. Everyone was trying to “find an angle”.
At that time everyone was trying to get rich.
Companies were trying all sorts of techniques to improve profits. The President at that time inspired CEO’s, who then implemented various “programs” to improve profits. I’m sure that there are a number of notable Dilbert cartoons on this subject.) In this environment, coffee became a “perk” that companies would use to “attract” talent and retain employees. Prior to that, it was an accepted norm. Everyone EXPECTED free coffee at work. (That, alongside with free health plans with no co-pays and no deductions from one’s paycheck.)
I was in my twenties. The advantages of this was not appreciated until I was older. Ah, the generation before me had it so so good!
As an aside, as of 2018, coffee is still free to the office workers in the UK, Australia and China (that I know of). It’s only in the USA that companies treat their employees as farmed cattle to exploit. (Indeed, I hear Google let’s all their employees drink for free or at low reduced prices, as long as you are not white or male…LOL.)
“(I) Was working 75 to 84 hours a week for years till they laid me off ... they call it the American Dream but I was trying not to fuck up while exhausted and never believed it. ... just ensuring ppl don’t die in with planes crashing ... nobody gives a fuck especially the assholes called our representatives.” -Vendetta Feb 6, 2018 3:29 AM Permalink
I owned a Beta-Max player.
In fact, I upgraded to the “super” Beta-Max player prior to purchasing the core unit. I guess that I was a little crazy about electronics at the time. However, I felt that buy purchasing the upgrade before I purchased the player gave me advantage.
I was correct. However, the advantage only lasted five years. Sigh.
I would be able to run off to the video store and rent a tape or two for the weekend. Over time, the high quality of Beta was replaced by the low-quality but low-cost VHS players. I like everyone else, eventually made the switch. Ah, it was a sad day indeed. For a while, unable to go to the store to rent videos, we would watch the old Beta tapes that we had at the house. Pickings were slim. We had “Roxanne” (Not to be confused with the television series of the same name.), “Spaced Invaders”, and “Soapdish”.
35mm film container. These came in metal tins with a screw on top and later, during the 1960’s came the plastic versions.
Life in the 1980’s
Carl’s Junior served food on wooden plates with a hot metal pan centered on it. They used real metal utensils, and a real serrated edge knife with a wooden handle. Drinks were provided in reusable brown plastic coffee cups, or tall plastic glasses for soda. A newspaper waited outside in a vending machine, and you could smoke in every restaurant. At that time, they still maintained a more-or-less hybrid existence; part restaurant / part fast food. (Sort of like Denny’s today.) Now, of course, they have devolved into just another fast food franchise.
Cross walk signs were in English. They did not use an array of LED diodes to form a picture of a standing or walking pedestrians. I guess that people then were able to read English, where today in the USA, you just are not ever sure.
Cell phones did not exist. Therefore, it was easy back then to isolate from the rest of the world, now you’re surrounded by world’s noise everywhere. Then you could isolate yourself. A quiet walk was for contemplation and enjoyment. It was possible.
Restaurants served a free tall glass of ice water with every meal, even for children. People used toothpicks and the ashtray on the table. (You could smoke in the restaurants as well, and buy your cigarettes out of a vending machine in the lobby.)
People smoked at their work desks. In fact, most desks were issued a clear ash tray when a new hire came on board. In the supply cabinet were usually a small stack of extra ash trays.
The meeting rooms all had big ash trays. Men carried lighters, as did women. Though, the small pack of lighters were still commonly available everywhere. Typically they would have the name and phone number of the establishment where they came from.
Some (typically Sales and Marketing types) would smoke cigars that would pollute the entire office. There was no such things as “designated smoking areas”. That was a creation of the Clinton administration to make work places safer (for the children), as well as to reduce the costs of insurance.
Thank you Mr. Clinton and your close buddies in the insurance agency. </sarcasm>
How the children, who were too young to work, be affected by secondhand office-smoke is beyond me. But you know, there is no logic in politics. It is just nonsense spewed out to control the masses through fear and confusion.
Smoking
Most men have a vice — some pleasure in life that isn’t necessarily safe or healthy, but can be partaken of in moderation. For many gentlemen that’s tobacco, usually in the form of a cigar or pipe. Sure, you can walk into the tobacco shop and grab whatever you recognize or is cheapest. Or you can become a bonafide connoisseur, understanding why one tobacco variety differs from another, where each comes from, and those you truly like. Go down to the local tobacco shop and have the tobacconist show you the ropes. And of course you need hands-on study! Smoke (and sip — tobacco always pairs well with whiskey) until you find the gems that leave you relaxed and smiling at the end of the day.
For the Children
“For the children” was a catch phrase of the Clinton Administration. Yet, it just boggles the mind how children would be affected by workplace smoke. You cannot work until you are 16 years old.
The connection between the Clinton's and the insurance Agencies
Don’t believe me? Don’t know what I am referring? Think that I am just displacing blame? Do your homework. Know your history. The Clinton's, and by extension, the DNC were conjoined at the hip with insurance companies. Then they started to diversify. You can well consider the high costs of drugs today to be directly related to their need for multiple mansions.
They started increasing all their premiums dramatically, and the presidential administration helped them along magnificently with all kinds of supportive (pro-insurance) rules and regulations.
This manifested in many forms. One of which was the banning of smoking from the workplace. Another was the increase in insurance premiums. Yet another was the plethora of optional programs that people could implement to “lower” premiums. Until the insurance agencies obtained political power, they were just a simple business providing a basic service. Now, today, companies are fearful of legal actions and increase in costs if they fail to do A, B or implement C.
Indeed, a typical work desk at that time would have a dial or push button phone, a little tiny calendar (given away by insurance agencies and the like), a large page-by-page day planner that you could write your appointments on, an ash tray (for your cigarettes or cigars), a desk lamp with an adjustable neck (to improve upon the piss-poor fluorescent ceiling lighting), and a large desk mat.
Men who were “white collar” and who worked in the office typically wore business jackets. We would arrive and take off our hat and coat and sit at our desk wearing our white shirt (long or short sleeve) and tie. This all started to change in the middle of the 1980’s and I pretty much welcomed the change to a more relaxed and informal working environment. Though, I did lament the loss of my coat rack.
However, with the relaxation of work dress standards came a tightening of work place behaviors.
During the Bill Clinton presidency, we watched the erosion of office worker respect. Culminating in cubicle work “farms” and impersonal bosses driven by Harvard MBA types. Watch the movie “Office Space” to see what I am referring to here. It is not a coincidence that the Dilbert cartoon became so popular during this time.
“Office Space” is a 1999 American comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes the everyday work life of a typical mid-to-late-1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals fed up with their jobs.
The film's sympathetic depiction of ordinary IT workers garnered a cult following within that field, but it also addresses themes familiar to white-collar employees and the workforce in general. It was not a big success at the box office, making $12.2 million against a $10 million production budget. It was well received by critics and sold well on home video, and it has become a cult film.
During the 1980’s most Americans spoke English. This changed during the 1990’s when it became to absorb large numbers of assimilated immigrants. At that time, you did not need picturial images of people walking. You could just spell the words “Walk”, and “Don’t Walk” and people would understand what you meant.
People flew flags on their porches during the fourth of July and did not worry about some social justice warrior or black lives matter radical burning their house down. Additionally, the “American Stars and Bars” (Confederate flag), “Don’t tread on me”, State flags, and MIA (Vietnam missing in action) flags could be flown as well.
In my ENTIRE life, I have NEVER seen a “rainbow”, Antifa, or BLM flag flown on someone’s porch.
I guess, I need to be in “Lala land” (Hollywood) or Wall Street and mingle with the face of the oligarchy (Hillary Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, and George Soros) to experience that reality.
The movies of that time were actually (in my mind) pretty awesome. “Sixteen Candles” was pretty typical for the time. I preferred comedies as they were “up beat” and positive with a nice happy ending.
You go to a movie, and watch it.
Then afterwards, you go out for a “stuffed pizza” and a pitcher of beer. At the time, I was terribly fond of olive, mushroom and pork thick crust pizza. Afterwards we would go and get a butterscotch milkshake on the way home. We were regulars at movie theaters. They were pretty cheap back then. Two people could go out and watch a movie and have a large pizza and a pitcher of beer for under $10. Movies that we saw in the theater included “Better off Dead”, “Hot Dog the movie”, “Lost Boys” and “One Crazy Summer”.
“As someone born in '91, I've been brushing up on my '80s movies, damn would that have been a good time to be alive.”- ThBurninator
Even McDonalds had tiny little disposable aluminum cigarette trays. Republicans used the color blue, and Democrats used the color red.
Reading the morning newspaper was a popular pastime and every weekend restaurants would share multiple copies of the Sunday editions of the paper to various patrons to read. Five dollars would fill your gas tank and it would last (almost) all week. Drive-ins were still very popular, and malls were everywhere. A price for two to watch a movie was under $5 on a Friday night. Yes. It was, a very… very different time indeed.
Democrats were Red
Democrats Used the Color Red
Globally, long-standing traditions dictate which colors represent specific political camps. Here, the assignment of red to the Republicans and blue to the Democrats is not a reflection of each group's ideology. Rather, this color designation is the supposed result of a collective decision made by major media networks.
The general public had no say in the matter. Neither the Republican nor the Democratic Party has ever officially chosen a color to represent its organization.
Up until former President Bill Clinton came into office, the colors were “more or less” defined as Blue for Republicans and Red for Democrats.
Today, the official (rewriting of history) explanation is that the advent of color technology, television networks created their own identifying colors, often alternating with each new election to avoid any appearance of favoritism.
It is an explanation that sounds plausible, but this is not really true.
Everyone recited the pledge of allegiance at the start of every class, at the start of every game, at the start of every school event, at the start of every cub scout meeting, and at the start of every Rotary Meeting. Bet you didn’t know that? The oligarchy narrative falls apart when history becomes involved.
I grew up during the “Cold War”. During this time, the political colors were set and established.
I do not care what colors were used in the turn or the century, or during the Spanish-American war. Or what colors were preferred during the revolutionary war. All that is academic babble.
My concern, especially in regards to this narrative, was what the colors were during the 1960’s through the 1990’s. This was the time that I grew up in.
The United States was smack dab n the middle of a "cold war" with two communist nations; Russia and China. Both of whom used RED for their socialist ideals.
Red = Soviet Union (Communist)
Red = Red Chinese (Communist)
Blue = Liberty and Freedom. As were the fifty stars (states) on the flag.
The simple truth was that for the most part during the 1960’s, 1970’s and into the 1980’s, Republicans were blue and democrats were red at the top and blue on the bottom.
(Oh yes, there were exceptions. However, the reader need not be fooled. The largest quantities of the most popular election buttons for Republicans were blue color. In fact, when I went to college, I could not find any that were a different color, and I looked!)
Vintage Bill Clinton and his Democrat party campaign tee-shirt. Red is the color of the “People’s revolution”. So it is very fitting that Democrat Bill Clinton would have a nice red tee-shirt for his political party.
Don’t believe me? Go to an antique store and look for Ronald Reagan election pins and Jimmy Carter pins. You simply cannot find red color Regan, Bush Sr, or Bush Jr election pins. At best you might find red and blue, but no only-red buttons. Neither can you find (too many) blue Jimmy Carter pins either. There are some, but they aren’t common. Far more likely is finding green color Jimmy Carter buttons. Why is this the case?
Why, you might ask.
Well, the answer is really quite simple. During the “cold war”, red was the color of communism. Both for communist Russia and for communist China. Conservatives then, as today, hate communism as it is the opposite of individual freedom. It is a collective society.
Reagan and Bush Republican tee-shirt from 1981. The Republican color was blue.
During the cold war, red was the color of communism. Red was the color of communist China. (Note the communist Chinese flag color.) Red was the color of the soviet union. (Note the color of the soviet union flag before the breakup.) Blue was the color of freedom and liberty.
However, a social collective society has been the bedrock of the Democrat party for most of the century so the Democrats never had a problem with the color red. That is why that during the cold war, most Democrats wore Red and most Republicans wore blue.
It is truly disingenuous for revisionist historians to use time periods around the time of the civil war to reflect the mindset of Americans during the cold war time period. Or the limited small quantities of specialty buttons that were produced for limited market segments to reflect the vast bulk of the overriding color scheme.
We are discussing the cold war, and it is this time period that I am discussing here. The reader must remember and must be reminded that the Democrats during this time period, for the most part, supported the efforts of Mao and his revisionist climate in China; totally ignorant of the mass killings.
Here is a nice campaign pin for Democrat Jimmy Carter and his VP candidate Walter Mondale. They were the “winning team” don’t you know.
They supported the “workers paradise” in Russia , though they officially deplored the military buildup. During the 1970’s red was the color of Democrats. Blue was the color of Republicans. Go to a antique shop or go online and purchase a Reagan/Bush campaign pin.
Read the articles in the 1972 Mechanics Illustrated magazines, and Men’s Adventure magazines of the 1960’s. Do not use the Internet to check your facts. The internet is all politically manipulated. The Internet is a blackboard that is continually being erased and rewritten. Go to a old book store and read the articles and look at the advertisements yourself. Check for yourself. Yes, there were exceptions. However, for the vast bulk of the time during the 1970’s this was the case.)
Truthfully, up until the year 2000, it was never formally established what the colors would be, though it was clearly favored that Republicans were blue and Democrats were red; forcing then (famous) political commentator Rush Limbaugh to remark; “Has anyone else noted that the networks switched colors?”
Thus, in 2000 for the first time, all the major news outlets agreed to use red for the Republican Party and blue for the Democratic Party. A switching of the political colors. I personally believe that this switch was mutually approved by both political parties, while it was initiated by the Democrat party for reasons unclear.
Reagan-Bush campaign buttons. A nice Republican blue color. Too bad that the oligarchy and their media has decided to rewrite history.
My personal opinion is that the Democrat party embraced the current populist trends at the time; they adopted the New World Order (NWO).
It is the overriding policy of what we call today “the globalist elite”. The color for this one-world-government was to be blue. As such the EU adopted blue as their unifying color. The color of the UN was light blue, and President Clinton (D) had all the Army insignia changed to match the baby blue color of the UN troops.
It is only speculation on my part, but I sincerely believe that the adoption of the color blue for the Democrat party had more to do with a future agenda of a global nature than any localized nationalist policy platform. The Democrats favor a global social world government. There is nothing good or bad about it. That is just the way it is.
Cigarette Vending Machine from the 1970’s and the 1980’s. Ah, back then you had the freedom to purchase cigarettes out of a vending machine. Ah, the good old days, when Americans were free.
“The 80s was a PC free culture for the most part. You can't have an open and honest discussion today because people will be more concerned about "how" their words will be misinterpreted vs. the content of what they are saying.”
- MAJ L. Nicholas Smith
“Saturday morning cartoons, Saturday afternoon cartoons, MTV with actual MUSIC, music with ACTUAL MUSIC, Bo Jackson, Wayne Gretzky, Hershel Walker, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Commando, Rambo, The A-Team, Air Wolf, Playing outside, free speech without the fear of being branded by some pussy who is offended by it, Yep pretty much to me, born in the mid 70's the 80's were the best decade ever.”
- SPC Andrew Griffin
“I miss the greatest president in my lifetime, Ronald Reagan, and the pride he instilled in America.”
- MSgt (Join to see)
Yes. I too miss the ability to practice “free speech” and the Bill of Rights. I guess ol’ Bush and Obama pretty much ended all of that. (Sigh.)
Before the Democrats, led by Bill Clinton banned smoking, you could smoke everywhere in the Untied States. Here is a (once) very common disposable smoking ash tray from McDonalds.
Yes, the Progressive Democrat Liberals have pretty much fucked the nation all up. (Don’t go PC on me. They did actually FUCK it all up.) It’s not just me saying this from the point of view of an American, but from the point of view from someone in MAJestic.
Service to Self Demons
<rant>
Jesus-H-Christ. If you the reader are offended, then put this fucking manuscript down and walk away. The Democrats fucking strip-mined American culture. They made debauchery and looting of Americans a national pastime. (Not just Democrats, of course. There are many socialist-inspired politicians who became RINO Republicans so that they could have a comfortable life through lying and cheating their constituents.)
How in the heck can someone become a billionaire without hurting another in some way?
It’s not just Democrats, but many Republicans as well. So I will repeat the question. How, in a reality balanced upon individual thoughts that manifest into actions, can a person become a billionaire without negatively affecting others? How is it possible? How?
Ponder that profound statement for a second.
If they weren’t so busy trying to manipulate others, alter the lifestyle and time progression of others, fixated on carnal desires of sex, sloth, and the greed of money how could they possible accumulate wealth? The accumulation of wealth is not a given. It is NOT an event that manifests for a handful of “lucky” people who happen to be at the “right place at the right time”.
Those are simplistic childish ideas and concepts. They are rooted in a belief that the physical is all that there is. It is one man (or woman) for themselves, and if they are aggressive enough, and have the right opportunities, and some skill in manipulation, they can take from others. They can take. They can take, and take, and take.
If there is one thing that the reader can get from <my words of wisdom> is that the universe does not work that way. Yes, you can alter your reality by thought. Yes, you can acquire wealth, and comfort and desirable relationships. Yet, everything comes at a cost. To acquire a large volume of “stuff” will have a corresponding large “cost” elsewhere. Other people will be affected.
This is not politics. Do not be so naive that a socialist model is heavenly derived. It isn’t. In fact, it is a manipulative trick used by the skillful to fleece the ignorant. There are no easy answers and pristine solutions. Every decision, thought and action comes at a cost. Some people do not care what the costs are for their desires and their actions. They only want the end results to manifest.
</rant>
Billionaire Democrat Oprah Winfrey introduces a young starlet to Billionaire Democrat Harvey Weinstein. We all what happened that night, don’t we?
Indeed. Oh…my…The 1980’s were a time of expression and freedom. Those of us who lived through that time do remember what free speech was.
Ah “free speech”. Don’t take it from me alone. Here’s some opinions from Reddit “What do you miss about the 1980s” we have these jewels…
“Kids being able to walk to the park without the cops being called. They also were immersed in social situations where things were scary, uncertain, and difficult allowing them to not have a nervous breakdown opening a bank account or saw a Halloween costume they didn't care for.”- savemejebus0
“No cellphone, no problem.
It was nice to be able to leave a note at home with 'went to run some errands'. Whoever came home and saw that would have to wait for you to return. If the phone at home rang and they answered, they would take a message or the answering machine would.
You could leave, go do what you wanted and not have to explain yourself in the moment as to what you're actuality doing.
If you wanted a private conversation, you went to a payphone, especially one with the long cord so you could sit in your car and roll the window up.
It was bliss! Now you have your digital GPS tracking leash with you at all times, either volunteering everything you do on social media, replying to every request for your location and if you don't reply, you're chastised for it.
I miss the days of being able to just get lost.
Now your berated for 'turning your leash off'. Where were you, who were you with, why didn't you answer, what are you trying to hide, I'm not important enough to reply to, you could have been dead, had a car accident, kidnapped, cheating and so on.
You have to have lived in that time to understand it. If you didn't, you don't realize how bliss it was to be able to get lost on purpose. Turning off your phone is like ignoring stomach cancer.”
- Ennion
MTV actually played music videos.
It wasn’t political, and staffed with urban ghetto blacks. The same was true with the NFL. They played football, and the networks didn’t run (what can best be described as) a negro version of a KKK rally during every single friggin’ game.
We had endured the horrific 1970’s where President Nixon (R) acted as a King. We were very jaded by the resultant investigation of the wiretapping of phones. Oh, how silly that looks today with 24-7 mass surveillance now, and the behavior of Eric Holder (DOJ) and Hillary Clinton. We saw what happens when a good-honest man; President Carter (D) (who was ineffectual as a president) becomes president.
Ronald Reagan
We, like the rest of the nation, were ready for a real change, and we got it. We lived during the presidency of Ronald Reagan (R). There will be many who have their own ideas about this time. But I will tell it through the eyes that lived through that time. Say what you will about “Ronald Ray-Gun” and the 1980’s, but the truth was that for me, it was a time of hope, and of adventure.
Ronald Ray-Gun
An enduring nick-name for the president during that time period. And important, as we really understand now. For not very well known is exactly how frighteningly close the world came to global thermonuclear war. Historical revisionists seem to conveniently forgotten the dangers of that time.
Thanks to a February 1990 report (National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 533 previously classified "TOP SECRET UMBRA GAMMA WNINTEL NOFORN NOCONTRACT ORCON") published by the National Security Archive at George Washington University after a 12-year Freedom of Information Act battle. The US and Soviets were dangerously close to going to war in November 1983, the bombshell report found, and the Cold War-era US national-security apparatus missed many warning signs.
That 1983 "war scare" was spurred by a large-scale US military exercise in Eastern Europe called “Able Archer”. It was because of this military operation that the Soviets apparently actually believed that it was part of allied preparation for a real war. (In part due to the very nature of Ronald Reagan’s public comments to that effect.)
The Soviet military mobilized in response.
US-Soviet relations had definitely plunged in the early 1980s, but since then experts have debated how close the US and Soviets had come to the abyss during Able Archer.
Read it here and be horrified; http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb533-The-Able-Archer-War-Scare-Declassified-PFIAB-Report-Released/#_ftn3 .
Of course, we know how how all this was avoided, and how the USA and Russia became friends again. However, the reader must realize the real and stark truth; we are now living in an alternate time line spawned from that event.
A time line, that switched in part, through significant extraterrestrial intervention by the <redacted>. (More detailed information about alternative world lines are addressed later on in the blog.)
Yes. Ronald Reagan may have had this nickname, but the truth is that he turned his back on the neoconservatives.
He fired them, and had some of them prosecuted, and when his administration was free of their evil influence (for the most part, though other neocons such as Orin Hatch continued to promote efforts to create global nuclear conflagration), and President Reagan negotiated the end of the Cold War with Soviet President Gorbachev.
The history is clear; the military/security complex, the CIA, and the neocons were very much against ending the Cold War as their budgets, power, and ideology were threatened by the prospect of peace between the two nuclear superpowers.
Everyone was optimistic. But you will not see that in any revisionist history books.
Ah, the rewriting of the past. Here’s El Rushbo on the rewriting of that decade by President Obama and his minions.
“President Obama micromanages the economy into the ground and tells the American people that our better days are behind us. He says the great days of America’s past were not really legitimate. They were built on phony policies, trickle-down economics from the Reagans. We stole resources from other nations around the world. Our superpower status was not deserved. We now must manage the decline. And I, Barack Hussein Obama, am the smartest guy in the world to manage the decline of the United States and its economy.His replacement liberates the economy, unleashes the United States economy to the point in under a year it is growing at twice the rate it ever grew under Barack Obama.
And yet we’re told Obama’s brilliant, he’s so smart, we can’t even stay in the same room with him. He’s so brilliant, we can’t keep up with the guy. He’s so brilliant, all we can do is bow at his feet and try not to be blinded by the light reflecting off him. Donald Trump is silly. He’s insane. He’s obsessed. His unfit. We need psychiatrists examining him. We need the 25th Amendment.”
The Iranians released the American embassy hostages, a large American “freedom” space station was going to be built. Americans were returning to the Moon and then Mars! (Plans later killed by President Obama (D). President Obama said that going to the Moon wasn’t worth it. We were there already. So we will go to Mars instead, he said. Then he killed Mars exploration because it was too expensive, he said. Then he goes around and gives $7 billion dollars to South Africa and $150 billion dollars to Iran. WTF? What world-line am I on? Jesus… maybe it’s time to get off.)
Release of Hostages
Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days (November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981), after a group of Iranian students, belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who were supporting the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
Space station Freedom
Space Station Freedom was a NASA project to construct a permanently manned Earth-orbiting space station in the 1980s. Although approved by then-president Ronald Reagan and announced in the 1984 State of the Union Address, Freedom was never constructed or completed as originally designed thanks to the efforts of Bill Clinton, and after several cutbacks, the project evolved into the International Space Station program.
1980’s Culture
Russia was tearing down the wall in Germany. Companies began hiring again, and everyone was hiring everywhere. MDMA was discovered, and the youth of the country learned to emote to each other. LSD was still being used, and everyone was questioning the roles that society fostered upon them.
Madonna had released her first of many albums, and she wasn’t such an aggressive asshole. Pastels were popular and everyone was dancing to Wang Chung.
Michael Jackson was only a singer, and yet had to “Beat It”.
Tear Down this Wall.
" Tear down this wall! " was the challenge issued by United States President Ronald Reagan to Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall, in a speech at the Brandenburg Gate near the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin.
MDMA
MDMA (3, 4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine) is an empathogenic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine classes of drugs. MDMA has become widely known as "ecstasy" (shortened to "E", "X", or "XTC"), usually referring to its street form, although this term may also include the presence of possible adulterants.
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide (INN) and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed- and open-eye visuals, synesthesia, an altered sense of time and spiritual experiences, as well as for its key role in 1960s counterculture. It is used mainly as an entheogen, recreational drug, and as an agent in psychedelic therapy. LSD is non-addictive, is not known to cause brain damage, and has extremely low toxicity relative to dose. (Though the DOJ would beg to differ on this.)
Madonna
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. She has been one of the most prominent cultural icons for over three decades. As such, she has achieved an unprecedented level of power and control for a woman in the entertainment industry. She attained immense popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. Madonna is known for continuously reinventing both her music and image, and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry.
Pastel interior design
Pastel colored interior design, inspired by a retro art-deco movement that was popular at that time.
Wang Chung
Wang Chung are an English new wave musical group formed in 1980. The name Wang Chung means "yellow bell" in Mandarin Chinese, and is the first note in the Chinese classical music scale. The group found their greatest success in the United States, with five Top 40 hits in the US, all charting between 1983 and 1987, including "Dance Hall Days" (No. 16 in the summer of 1984), "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" (No. 2 in 1986) and "Let's Go!" (No. 9 in 1987). In fact, the reader should note that many stereo stores, and clothing stores at this time, played his music endlessly during this time period.
Beat It
"Beat It" is a song written and performed by American singer Michael Jackson from his sixth solo album, Thriller (1982). The song was produced by Quincy Jones together with Jackson. Following the successful chart performances of the Thriller singles "The Girl Is Mine" and "Billie Jean", "Beat It" was released on February 14, 1983 as the album's third single. The song is also notable for its famous video, which featured Jackson bringing two gangs together through the power of music and dance.
It was a magical time, a heady time of life and adventure. As a result, we experienced both the good and bad that life had to offer us.
David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock vocalist, musician, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. In 2007, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Roth is best known as the original (1974–1985) and current (2006–present) lead singer of hard rock band Van Halen. He is also known as a successful solo artist, releasing numerous RIAA-certified Gold and Platinum albums.
Bad People
We were often taken advantage of (Many people saw us as weak and tried to capitalize on that weakness.) , and had many (close) encounters that were often quite ugly (This includes everything from robbery, manipulation, misuse, abuse and even violence.). But that is life. You just can’t hide away and expect happiness to come to you. You have to go out to it and get it.
For us, the 1980’s were an experience of life, lived as it were, through the eyes of young impressionable love. We saw both the good and the bad of life. Not everyone who looks poor is poor. Not everyone who looks rich is wealthy. Not everyone who acts religious is spiritual, and you will find friends in the most unlikely places and enemies luring behind the kindest smiles.
Both the good and the bad confronts the traveler. But most Americans that we met were good, and kind hearted. But we did, actually, come across a number of exceptionally bad people. That is always unavoidable.
“Love is the hardest thing in the world to write about. It’s so simple. You’ve gotta catch it through details, like the early morning sunlight hitting the gray tin of the rain spout in front of her house, the ringing of a telephone that sounds like Beethoven’s Pastorale, a letter scribbled on her office stationary that you carry around in your pocket because it smells like all the lilacs in Ohio.”— Don Birnham (The Lost Weekend — Billy Wilder, 1945)
We needed to find work, and in the process, our van took us on many adventures. We slept under the stars and hid in wide expansive parking lots. We worked at whatever jobs we could find. Sometimes it was manual labor, while at other times, we cooked in the kitchen.
We did whatever it took.
We would travel as far as the van could go. Then broke down, out of gas and money, we would find work. Then live off the money. Then, after a month or two, we would go again. We were always on the move. We were always living life. Always grasping what came before us with an open heart. Though, often times the hearts of others lay closed to us…
I remember once…
...we hadn't eaten in 4 days. We had collected some change out of a pay phone, and bought a can of spam with it, and a loaf of day old bread. We were parked in a roadside rest area. And so we went to one of the BBQ grills sitting there next to a picnic table and made a fire and were cooking our spam on it.When in the middle of it, a policeman came up to us. Apparently, a lady, driving a Buick, has seen us and called the police. The officer, then under her instruction, berated us for using the grills in the park. He told us that the grills were not to be used by us. But rather by people with families and children, and that they used charcoal, not sticks to make the fire... (You know) The whole time that he berated us, that old biddy watched on with a big smug smile on her face...The policeman put out the fire and threw away our food. Then threatened us with jail unless we left...
Yes, I remember those days.
Fat, smug, bitch with a capital BITCH. She, were she still alive, would be a female social justice warrior trying to “protect” others by enforcing her ideas of perfection.
Never mind that she is overweight to the point of obesity.
Never mind that she is living off the money of others, as she herself is unemployed.
Never mind that her only accomplishment was written in her High School year book.
She tries to justify her existence though the control of others. Especially those who, for one reason or the other, are unable to fight back.
Roadside grill with unknown child playing nearby. This was the exact kind of grill that we (starving young kids) were using to cook our spam on. A policeman came over and told us that we can’t use wood in the grill because it was not designed for wood use. (That’s actually a lie.)
A life lived in fear is a life not lived
Everyone lives in fear. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, has warned us along the way to watch out for crazy people and to be weary of strangers, but I’ve found that to be largely unnecessary.
They were just warning us out of their own fears of the unknown.
Most of the people who threatened us were well-established, locals who saw us as a threat to their calm and stable way of life. While we did meet some very dangerous people on the road, we were (typically) able to avoid them because, I think, we were just far too innocent and their hearts weren’t so cold as to corrupt the good that shined through our hearts.
Of course, we did meet some crazy and even evil people. That is what happens when you step outside the walls of your safe enclave. However, we were too kind, and too nice for anyone to really do anything bad to us. But there were some close calls. Truthfully, we found an equal proportion of bad people scattered about the population.
Some were obvious, and behaved stereotypically bad. While others looked like the pinnacle of respectability; and held important positions in the church, society and government. Yet, they were evil incarnate.
Yes, and we did meet some very bad people on the road. There were times when we could have been hurt dangerously, but we did not permit that to happen. When a person ventures out, it is natural to experience both the good and the bad in people.
Yes, we had SOME bad experiences. You experience life when you travel; both the good and the bad. But, most of our experiences were positive.
The vast, VAST, majorities of people in this country are good and were willing to help out however they could. Whether it’s by buying a meal or by letting you sleep in their house or at their business, people are more than willing to accommodate you in any way they can when they see you struggling. I figured this would be the case, but the extent is surprising to me, nonetheless. Americans are good people. Most have kind hearts. They are kind and understanding for the most part.
The only times that I’ve seen someone who wanted to help me out but couldn’t are when an individual has to abide by a chain of command. This includes almost all government services, and hierarchical organizations.
Sometimes it was a social service agency, that wouldn’t accept people without children, at other times it was a Church that wouldn’t help us (though, the woman behind the desk gave us $40 out of her own wallet). It was a lady at a gas station who wanted to let us sleep out behind their business but the company wouldn’t allow it. Or, a stranger who put an envelope on our front window contained $40 with the words ‘God bless you’. These people were the angels that held our hands along the way. These people did so in secret and told no one what they did. These are the “real” Christians who tried to make a good and positive difference in our lives, even though they knew nothing at all about us.
In short, people who are free to help, will. While those who are forbidden from helping still wish they could but are unable to.
There are “Christians” and then there are Christians.
Some are good and some not so. We found that Baptists and Methodists were very helpful. So were Catholics. Lutherans and 7th Day Adventists; not so much.
In general; charismatic Christian organizations were the most welcoming. With Assemblies of God being, by and large, the most accepting.
(Now, in the year 2016, the political landscape has changed substantially. President Obama openly states that Islam has been the very fabric of American culture.
What complete nonsense!
We traveled the entire country and never, ever saw a mosque or met someone of the Islamic faith.
Those that one sees today are fresh arrivals, usually less than ten years as a citizen. At that time, the vast bulk of religions in the USA were of Christian denomination. Do not let the media rewrite history. I say again; Do not let the media rewrite history.)
Ability
While we traveled about, we led a dangerous life in a rather “care free” manner. As such, we would find ourselves presented with “luck”.
Lucky 1
Luck presented itself to us. Many times during our adventures were were “lucky” to find money. Whether it was a $100 bill that would blow in front of our path, or a $20 bill that we would find under a rock. We were lucky.
Lucky 2
We became “lucky” to get free help. Once, our tire blew out in front of a house on a residential street. The woman came out of her house and gave us five (nearly new) tires that she had sitting in her garage. So much luck!
Lucky 3
For instance, I once was playing a game of backgammon. During the game, people noticed that no matter when I rolled the dice, they would always come up “snake eyes” (two ones). Therefore, they asked me to try to see how many times I could roll “snake eyes”. I said “what the heck”, and tried. Honest to God, I rolled 76 “snake eyes” in a row. This is a statistical improbability.
However, the reader should be made aware, that (even though I could not control my “off-world” training) I could alter my world-lines to provide me benefit. Somehow, in a way that I cannot vocalize, I was able to perform this “impossible” feat.
I simply moved my apparent world-line into the realm of one that provided auspicious favor to my cause. Perhaps it was the implants from the Navy… (More about this later…)
Or, maybe it was just luck.
Perhaps it was just my Faith…
This little event that I have just related is absolutely true. The reader needs to accept it as truth and study just HOW it was possible.
Was it because there was an “angel” looking over me? Maybe helping me along and providing little “guideposts” to tell me not to worry?
Was it simply because we had “faith”, and the faith altered our thoughts that manifested into the physical? How about that?
Or was it, as I will explain later on, the fact that the implants provided me with world-line dimensional switching ability. Since I was not yet “calibrated” (that would not happen <redacted> at China Lake), there wasn’t any control over how the world-lines would change. They were like a sea that I was floating upon, and depending on my thought process at the moment, I slid into alternative realities very easily and simply.
Ponder these points. Some “pieces of the puzzle” will start to fall into place later on in the narrative.
Faith
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”-Martin Luther King, Jr.
We acted on faith. We did everything on faith; that someday, somehow, everything would work out. Faith; that we would get food, showers, work, friends, and a hot meal. Faith; that there was a purpose to our wandering, and that our mutual love had direction. We did this even though, to others, we appeared aimless and without direction. And in doing, on this faith we often received random blessings.
Faith and belief are aspects of thought. Thought manifests reality.
Lucky 4
While hiking in the deserts of Arizona, we found a $5 bill under a stone. The money came to us exactly when we needed it. Often we would get just what we needed, and it was always unexpected.
Lucky 5
Once, while we were driving in the middle of the hot Texas sun, we discovered that we were getting low on gasoline. It was a serious situation. As we drove on, we just could not see any gas stations at all. The fact was that we were out of gas and only had $1.25 on us. We were just about to run out of gas and be stranded in the middle of nowhere, when we finally saw a gas station. So, in the middle of the desert, we pulled up to the only gas station for miles.
I got out, and with the precious handful of change in my hand, I walked over to the gas pump. I gingerly unhooked the hose and started to put the precious fuel into the tank. I knew that I only had what amounted to as spare change. All of what we had was going to go towards this gas. For us, literally every penny counted.
As I put the nozzle into the tank, and depressed the lever on the nozzle, there was a slight click. Suddenly and to my astonishment, the gas hose exploded! Gasoline squirted about everywhere. It poured out like a river. This was no small water hose; this was a full fire-hose explosion of gas. It sprayed everywhere. It was like a long thrashing snake that spewed out a torrent of fuel. The van and I were both flooded with gasoline. Gasoline flew out of the hose like a vomiting snake. It was out of control and lashed and flayed about wildly.
The gas station attendant was horrified! He quickly ran to the master switch and turned off the pump. But the damage was done. I was completely soaked with highly flammable gasoline. He ran up to me and quickly moved me to the side of the station. He turned on the water hose there and quickly hosed off with water.
What did he do? What could he do? He and the station manager were terribly apologetic and upset. They didn’t know what to do. Any other person might sue them. Out of the kindness of his heart, he gave me a free full tank of gas. He gave it to me and helped me clean up. I took a shower behind the station and we continued on our way.
One horrible event resulted in blessings beyond expectation. We needed a full tank of gasoline, but only had enough money for a small cupful. On faith, we were given just what we needed, exactly when we needed it. Sometimes what looks like a disaster is really a blessing in disguise.
Lucky 6
Yes. We had our trials. We once had a grey field mouse that move inside and lived with us. It would perform amazing acrobatics to get at the food that we tried to put out of harm’s way. We tried everything we could think of to get rid of it. All to no avail. We even dismantled all the woodwork on the inside (at a state forest somewhere in Georgia), and all that happened was that it just hunkered down inside of some of our clothes.
Ha! One day, while we were doing our laundry, a stray alley cat visited our van. It climbed in, rooted around, and left carrying that pesky mouse in it’s jaws. Now, why didn’t we think of a cat earlier?
At other times, our trials related to the weather. It was either too hot, too cold, too wet, or too humid. The reader should recognize that once the wood paneling and insulation was ripped out of the van, we were essentially living in a metal box.
Cold became frigid cold. Hot became torturous hot. Rain was impossible, as leaks started to form in the roof edging. We had to erect a tent on the inside of the van to keep the rainwater off of our food supplies and our bed. Nearing the end of our “tour”, we had become masters of the “jury rig”.
You know what?
We learned a lot about life. And, instead of comparing yourself to others, you need to stop. Just stop thinking about other people and what they think about you. You need to think about you, and the individual path that YOU are on. You, and everyone else in the world, needs to stop judging themselves by the standards set by media, government, religion, social groups, and instead think of only judging ourselves.
There will always be those who are richer or more prosperous. There is no use judging others.
Stop judging others.
Everyone has their own lives. What we see is the shadows of their existence as it pertains to our reality. So we need not get too worked up about how they live their lives.
When I carry on and rant about some SWJ or some corrupt individual in power, it is not because I am judging them in a comparative manner. I am relating my emotions related to that individual.
Most people make judgments comparatively. That is to say; “If it were me, I would not do what they did…”
That is different than getting angry with a person because he stole all of your grandmother’s life savings. The reader should understand that there are different ways of making judgments. These ways differ in thought intention. Unless you can control your thoughts, you will never be able to control your life.
How other people live their lives are not our business.
Though it is if it directly affects us. Indeed, there are many kinds of people on this planet, and many ways to live your life. Other people live other lives. Some have harsher lives, and some have easier lives. Some have terrible lives, but they look like their lives are easy and nice. Others have what appear to be absolutely horrid lives, and yet they are fine and happy. You cannot make a comparison at all.
A person, and their true situation, is NEVER obvious to the public.
Executioner talks about his work. Stop comparing ourselves to others. We are not in a race to see who accumulates more stuff.
Everyone on this planet is living a complex life that has invisible chains and entanglements far in excess than what we alone can bear.
It might look like they are doing well. It might appear that they have a nice job, and a new car, and a beautiful wife. It might appear that they are very successful. But the amount of money that a person has is not a measure of success. The appearance that a person has, or the clothes they wear are also not a sign of success. They are only characteristics that provide the illusion of success.
Life can end quickly. Pay attention to how you run your life.
Don’t judge them because they look rich. Don’t judge them because they seem poor. Don’t judge them because they seem promiscuous, or engage in vices. It’s no one’s business but theirs.
We must start to live our own lives. Not vicariously through the lives of others.
You’ve got to accept yourself; who you are and what you are.
It does not matter what has happened in your past. You are not what you have done or experienced. You are not what is valued by the employer who hired you. Your value is not your job. Your value is determined by only one person, and that is yourself. You have to accept it, with all the good and bad that exist inside you.
You’ve got wake up at five in the morning, brew some deep black coffee, and listen to the birds singing their sweet song in the glowing darkness of the new dawn. You’ve got to sit next to the cute girl at the train station who’s reading your favorite book and start a conversation with her.
You’ve got to go to that local attraction that you’ve been meaning to visit but never got the chance to see. You’ve got to start doing things, and stop thinking about them. You’ve got to come home after a bad day and burn your skin from a shower until it is lobster red. Then cool down with a quick cool blast. Then you’ve got to wash all your sheets until they smell of lemon detergent you bought for four dollars at the local grocery store. You’ve got to play with the local dogs and cats in the neighborhood and give them a treat or two.
You’ve got to live life.
Go to that Attraction
I lived in Boston for almost a decade and never visited Salem. It’s a great historical place, but I just felt that I could go out and visit it some other time later on. Instead, I just raked my leaves. I just would get two cords of wood for the fireplace delivered by pickup truck. I would go about my daily routine and eat at the local diner. I did not go out and see what was available right in front of me.
I wasted an opportunity.
Make it a point to better the world around you. Smile more. Complement people more. Praise people, and complement a stranger that you like their hair or dress. Be helpful. Be nice. Be kind. You have this physical life to live; live it well.
Live your life well.
“…She calls me Raymond, and that’s all right with me.”-Brett Eldredge, “She calls me Raymond”.
You, yes you, have got to stop taking everything so goddam personally. You are not the moon kissing the black-black sky. You are not some “lone wolf” who is without a pack to travel with. We are all interconnected. We all need each other.
You’ve got to compliment someone. You’ve got to help the old lady with her laundry at the laundry-mat. You have to talk to people at art fairs and tell them that their eyes remind you of green swimming pools in mid-July.
Am I making my point?
You have got to complement someone. Tell the girl that she looks good in that dress, whether she does or not. You have to tell that person who has a smile that their smile just made your day. You’ve got to help others; praise others; and do something with your life.
You’ve got to stop letting yourself get upset about things that won’t matter in two years.
You’ve got to sleep in on Saturday mornings and wake yourself up early on Sunday. You’ve got to stop worrying about what you’re going to tell her when she finds out. You’ve got to stop over thinking why he stopped caring about you over six months ago. You’ve got to stop asking everyone for their opinions. You have to stop trying to control things…
You have got to be you. Be the best you that you can be, and forget what everyone else thinks.
You’ve got to love yourself. You have to live your destiny. You have to do what you need to do, and not what other people thing you ought to do. You must follow your heart and live life like it was the most precious thing in the world. You must enjoy life, embrace life, grab life with both hands and gulp the golden nectar down your throat in sloppy splashes of foam. Then wipe your face off with both hands and smile a big toothy smile.
Anything less is a disservice.
“They stood at the top to a little rise."Feel," said Driscoll, his hands and arms out loosely, "Remember how you used to run when you were it kid, and how the wind felt, Like feathers on your arms, You ran and thought any minute you'd fly, but you never quite did."The men stood remembering, there was a smell of pollen and new rain drying upon a million grass blades.Driscoll gave a little run. "Feel it, by God, the wind. You know, we never have really flown by ourselves. We have to sit inside tons of metal, away from flying, really. We've never flown like birds fly, to themselves, Wouldn't it be nice to, put your arms out like this —" He extended his arms, "And run." He ran ahead of them, laughing out his idiocy. "And fly!" he cried.He flew.”
-Here there be Tygers
Full reprint of this fine Ray Bradbury story.
This was a great time for me and for my wife. It was a great and important time. We (I was married at the time) did it without money, often living way below the poverty line. Many times, we lived without any money.
We would walk together in the malls of the country. (The malls were commonplace at that time. It seemed that every town possessed a mall.) Inside the malls were an ever-changing smorgasbord of people. Different people, different faces, but they were all the same.
Everywhere we went, we were surrounded by all the things that we couldn’t afford, and really didn’t need. We would walk the halls of lavish extravagance; the things that glittered and beckoned to us. But, what we could not afford.
All we had was each other. We had love. We had food, and we slept in the van. Our needs and costs were low. This was our “Great Adventure”.
This period of time was an important one. For me to accept the “training” that would occur later in NAS China Lake, I had to change my viewpoints on many things. This meant that I had to learn new things and be exposed to different ways of thinking and different cultures. I had to change in ways that were not obvious.
This was intentional and it was absolutely mandated by our extraterrestrial handlers.
The basic choices in life
“Sometimes the only pay off for having any faith,Is when it's tested again and again every day,”-“Immortals” by the music group “Fall Out Boy”.
We discovered that life was a choice between two fundamental things. You could either have true freedom, or you could have security. It was always this. It was always these two divergent choices. You could work all the time and get money to buy what you don’t really need, but have a reasonable level of comfort. Or you could have freedom to do what you want, but not really able to do anything that costs money.
Let’s face it; there is a price on everything in the USA.
Out of necessity, we traveled at will. We walked and explored many places that the average worker saved up months to be able to visit. We went everywhere in the USA (on the meandering path that continuously pointed us to California). We saw ocean beaches, mountaintops, national forests, urban cities, and long forgotten historical monuments. We ate at local diners, and swam at (long forgotten) local water holes. We explored. We read a lot. We learned how to play musical instruments. We learned how to paint, and just used the time to meditate and pray. It was a heady time for sure.
Local Diners
I have always enjoyed eating a diner. I loved the “Airstream” shape and the shiny aluminum panels. It wasn’t until I moved to Massachusetts that I really began to appreciate them. In fact, I would suppose that most of the few remaining diners could be found in the Northeast (United States) in the “New England” states.
Now the food is basic Americana, of which you would see omelets, meatloaf, and hamburgers. What is so great is the “feeling” when you eat there. We are so accustomed in eating “fast food” that we have forgotten the “dining experience”.
Instead of a (Starbucks-style) paper coffee cup, you get a good solid (bang on the tabletop) coffee mug. Instead of flimsy (McDonald-style) flatware, you get solid metal silverware of substance and utility. Regarding this point, please read this interesting article found here; https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13411-015-0036-y , which states…
“We report a study conducted in a realistic dining environment, in which two groups of diners were served the same three-course meal. The presentation of the starter (centred vs. offset plating), the type of cutlery used for the main course, and the shape and colour of the plate on which that dessert was served were varied.The results revealed that the weight and type of the cutlery exerted a significant impact on how artistically plated the main course was rated as being, how much the diners liked the food, and how much they would have been willing to pay for it. The change in the shape and colour of the plate also affected the diners’ liking for the dessert.”
-Cutlery matters: heavy cutlery enhances diners’ enjoyment of the food served in a realistic dining environment
Local Water Holes
Here are some resources to get the reader started on this adventure; http://www.newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/2015/05/best_swimming_holes_in_upstate_new_york_ny_hidden.html and http://www.kcra.com/article/8-norcal-swimming-holes-you-need-to-check-out-this-summer/6347668 and http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/massachusetts/swimming-holes-ma/ and http://www.newenglandwaterfalls.com/swimmingholes.php . Enjoy!
“If we look at our world we are intellectually, technologically vastly overdeveloped with very primitive emotions, and that’s why the world is at risk.”-Rick Doblin (Neurons to Nirvana)
Was it a waste of our time? (My father certainly thought so.) Should I have better put the time to develop a career? (Like my university classmates? They were all working for big companies like IBM. And, at the time of this writing, are still there! Never laid off. Image that!) Should we have spent the time to save for a house, and then get a lawnmower, and joined a local church? (In other words, get “roots” and “raise a family”.) Was traveling alone together, and experiencing life as we did worthwhile?
YES. Yes, it was worthwhile. Absolutely!
Later on in my writings, I discuss in detail the feelings I have about my entire involvement in this program. I do have many feelings and emotions. They are complex ones. However, the memories that I treasure the most were those where I was poor, with nothing except my wife by my side.
I cannot show a nice mansion or great sports car to the reader. I cannot justify my lack of wealth and material comforts, but I can tell the reader that my life was enriched during this period. I can say that it was enriched in ways that I cannot vocalize upon. I can say that I was made a better, more caring and more understanding person because of those experiences.
However, this being stated, aside from the physical manifestation that I experienced, the reader must understand that I HAD to experience “American Life” in a typical fashion for that period of time. That was the ONLY way that I could be an effective “Dimensional Anchor”. I know that the reader (at this stage in the post and blog manuscript) has no idea what I am referring to, however what I experienced, and how I reacted to it, was an important part of my role in MAJestic.
“One of the bittersweet things about growing old is realizing how mistaken you were when you were young. As a young political leftist, I saw the left as the voice of the common man. Nothing could be further from the truth.”-29JAN18 5:21PM Thomas Sowell
Social Media
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”-“Time Enough For Love”, by Robert A Heinlein
When I grew up there wasn’t any kind of social media. None. There was no Facebook, QQ, Snapchat, or anything like that. There were no “mobile applications” because there were no mobile phones. Our entertainment was limited to friends, movies, outdoor activities, and television. No one had a cell phone, a PDA, or laptop. Software games were simplistic pixilated arcade machines that resided in movie theater lobbies or game rooms. For fun, if we were alone; we watched television. If we were with friends, we would participate in some kind of outdoor activity.
However, all of this has since changed.
Since the late 1990’s social media has hit America with a great ferocity. This is fine, and has it’s benefits, but one of the draw backs is that a person who has always lived in a world where social media dominates the culture cannot understand what it was like before social media existed. For them, it is very difficult to understand why people acted and behaved as we all did in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
When I was in my 20’s we did something that was known as “hanging out”. Rather than stay inside the house and watch television, or go to a bar, we would just go “hang out”. This may or may not have included drinking. It may or may not included drug use. It may or may not included doing a sport or outside activity. It basically involved being with friends together.
Examples of this (seemingly or not) boring activity can be seen in the movie “Dazed and Confused”, or in the music video “First Kiss” by Kid Rock. Much of that time was involved in cruising the streets in a car of pickup. Often we were in some sort of inebriated state.
Truthfully, the best movie ever made regarding what it was like in my high school, during my Senior year was the movie “Dazed and Confused”. While it took place in the upper great lakes region, I can affirm that it adequately and truthfully represented what my final year in high school was like in Western Pennsylvania. We kids…well, we all “hung out”.
Sadly, I really don’t see that happening any more.
Instead, I see people glued to their smart phone, and playing games… even when they walk! I can go to a restaurant, and the entire table is playing on their phones and no one is talking. What the hell is going on?
My generation worked and spent the money on our cars. I had a orange GTO and crused the streets in it with my stoner friends. LOL.
Heck, back in those days (before I got married) and well before I entered the US Navy, life was all about hanging out, being with friends, and “chillin’”. Some of the iconic scenes in the movie were so atypical that a failure to reproduce them here would be a great disservice to the reader.
Ah…
But I digress. Social structure back in my generation was quite different than what it is today. We had friends and spent time with them. Instead of going out to Starbucks any paying $10 for a caramel latte, and then sit down and use the WiFi to check our Facebook account, we would do something quite different. Indeed, we would spend the $10 on a keg of beer, or maybe two, and a shit load of “munchies” (food) and enough gas to drive to California and back. (Yeah. Prices were much cheaper then.)
Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris hanging out. Ah, the good old days.
Social reengineering did not occur with the ferocity that you see today. No one talked about “Niggers” or “White Privilege”. We just didn’t. At least not in my circles, we didn’t.
Instead we talked about television shows, movies, and what we liked or didn’t like about them. We would discuss Charles Bronson (He grew up in Butler, Pennsylvania which was only a half an hour drive from my High School house. ) getting “justice”. We would talk about Clint Eastwood and his many male-themed movies.
We also didn’t have so much taken out of our paychecks as you kids do today. We had money to spend, and time to enjoy life. We did not need to live in our parent’s basement, and live off them. We worked, even at minimum wage, and could afford our own place and our own car. My generation worked. We earned our place in society. We paid for our house by saving up for it. We paid for our car by saving up for it. When we were not working, we relaxed.
So what did we do? Why, we “hung out” and “chilled”.
Vincent Price and Alice Cooper Hanging out.
I ask the reader; how about testing your knowledge regarding the time period that I am referring to. Do you know how to develop the film that you took with a 35mm camera? Have you ever been to a “roller rink”, a “drive-in”, a stainless-steel “diner”, or visited an automat, watched the “evening night news” (this was before the 24-7 all-news networks)? Do you remember a twenty-five cent cup of coffee? Or, don’t you care, as nothing is better than smashing your piggy bank to buy a cup of Starbucks commercialized beverage?
Roller Rink
Having a roller-skating birthday party became something of a rite of passage for American children in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Roller rinks in the United States underwent significant changes in the 1970s. New plastics led to improved skate wheels—ones providing a smoother, quieter ride—and easier-to-maintain skate floors.
The Disco craze from popular 1970s culture led to another increase in the popularity of roller rinks—or roller discos, as some became.
Gone were the staid lighting and old-fashioned organ music as a generally older clientele were replaced by adolescents and twenty-something’s skating under mirror balls and special lights to disco beats.
The end of the Disco Era and the advent of inline roller skates hit the roller rink industry hard, with many rinks closing.
Drive In Theater
A drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles.
Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars. All teenagers from my generation went to drive-ins on Friday and Saturday nights.
Contrary to popular contemporaneous conventions, we never stayed home and watched television marathons, or surfed the Internet.
A Diner
A diner is a prefabricated fast food restaurant building characteristic of American life, especially in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, as well as in the Midwest, although examples can be found throughout the United States, Canada, and parts of Western Europe.
Diners are characterized by offering a wide range of foods, mostly American, a distinct exterior structure, a casual atmosphere, a counter, and late operating hours.
"Classic American Diners" are often characterized by an exterior layer of stainless steel—a feature unique to diner architecture. Diners share culture with drive ins, and car culture with hot rods and muscle cars.
Diners frequently stay open 24 hours a day, especially in cities, and were once America's most widespread 24-hour public establishments, making them an essential part of urban culture, alongside bars and nightclubs; these two segments of nighttime urban culture often find themselves intertwined, as many diners get a good deal of late-night business from persons departing drinking establishments.
Many diners were also historically placed near factories which operated 24 hours a day, with night shift workers providing a key part of the customer base.
Two Sterling Streamliners remain in operation: the Salem Diner at its original location in Salem, Massachusetts and the Modern Diner in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. I urge the reader to visit a diner. They are still one of my “little” pleasures.
Coffee
Up until 1976, coffee was one of the cheapest food items that Americans could buy. But sometime in the mid seventies, the producers discovered that they could raise the prices of coffee, and that Americans would pay. At that time I worked as a stock clerk in a supermarket, and well remember the price increasing.
First it increased 25%, then another 25%, then doubled. Then doubled again. Americans continued to pay the outrageous prices, because by that time, Americans were addicted to coffee.
Coffee was a staple of the American culture.
Every household had a coffee pot, that sat on the stove and was on all day. Much later, sometime in the 1990’s Starbucks found out just how far one could push the American love of coffee. They created a “coffee lovers” environment, and charged outrageous sums of money for what was nothing more than boiled beans. (Image how much a cup of boiled peas or boiled lima beans would cost. – The actual and real value of the cup of coffee you drink.)
You, my dear readers, are all being taken for a nice long ride by service-to-self individuals and the companies that they surround themselves with.
Indeed, life has changed, and the differences are both subtle and clamorous. This is important for the reader to understand. When I was involved in the MAJestic program, there wasn’t much of an Internet presence. If you wanted to learn about extraterrestrials or conspiracies, you read the local newspaper, went to the local library, or watched television.
While most people had heard of ET, and UFO’s, their exposure to them was much more difficult to experience. Today, with social media and google-style search engines it is effortless. But, when I was involved in the program, very few people took the kind of activities that I was involved in seriously. For them, the United States would have never been involved in that kind of activity.
Glass Piggy Bank. I never did need to break it. It was filled with mostly small change. It was easy enough to empty if you just shook it hard enough. In those days, even well into the 1980’s, a dollar could by you’re a Whopper at Burger King. In fact, I well remember paying a $1 for a Whopper in 2001! (Though that was during a period of “burger wars”.)
We believed in the United States government because we were uninformed, gullible, and saw no need not to. In those days, it was still possible to become a middle class statistic without obtaining a college education. (Indeed the most ridiculous concept in the old 1960’s cartoon “The Jetsons” was the concept that a factory worker could support a middle class lifestyle for a family of four.)
Grocery stores used paper bags. When I wasn’t working in the coalmines, I was a “box boy” at the local supermarket. I would stand there, in my apron and bow tie, at the end of the counter filling the customer bags with their groceries.
Work was everywhere, and the amount of government intrusion in one’s lives was minuscule compared to what is present today. We believed that the United States was good, righteous and just. (Even after the “Watergate” fiasco.)
We believed that the media would report the truth. (Bwahhhh ha ha ha ha ha…)
We believed that those we voted into office would represent us. (Gosh,…I am now lying on the ground, rolling, and laughing my ass off!!!)
We believed that our tax monies went to “just” purposes. (Oh, stop…stop! This is just too rich!)
That was what we believed! As strange and as unlikely as it might sound today.
Stop buying into the lie that your vote matters.
Your vote doesn’t elect a president. Despite the fact that there are 218 million eligible voters in this country (only half of whom actually vote), it is the electoral college, made up of 538 individuals handpicked by the candidates’ respective parties, that actually selects the next president.
The only thing you’re accomplishing by taking part in the “reassurance ritual” of voting is sustaining the illusion that we have a democratic republic.
What we have is a dictatorship, or as political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page more accurately term it, we are suffering from an “economic élite domination.”
We were very simplistic.
In every study of events prior to, say the year 2000, one must take into account that communication, activities and behaviors were fundamentally different than they are today. That difference should be recognized and applauded. Because (as the reader should be well aware by now) we are all connected in a quantum sense. Group thought, amplified by social media, directs our behaviors whether we want to recognize it or not.
That being stated, I enjoy social media as much as the next guy. Tumblr, QQ, WeiXin and Pinterest are my favorites, while fffound comes in a close number three. (Update fffound shut down a few years ago.)
“…a darkened auditorium with 264 silent people in the seats. on the stage, me, sitting on a stool, lit by a spotlight, the only light in the theatre. I hold up a photo of my cat, 10 people applaud, two or three hold up photocopies of the same photo, the rest do nothing, watching, waiting…Meanwhile a lone masked person in the back heckles me and throws popcorn at the stage.”-Unknown
I personally love Tumblr, as the quality of the pictures that you can find is outstanding. It is also a great site to find porn.
The problem with this is that you don’t want to see porn all the time, 24-7.
Yet, if you find a porn blog on Tumblr that you like, you will bookmark it and get on it’s feed. As a result it will “pollute” your normal and regular feed. You will be like other Tumblr users, who when using their computer in public or at work would whisper under their breath “Please don’t be porn. Please don’t be porn.” when checking their Tumblr feed. LOL.
You see, Americans have to pretend that they don’t like porn. We have to pretend that we are disgusted by looking at nude people. Yet the opposite is true. All men enjoy porn. At least soft-porn. Hard core stuff can get too ugly. And, that is the way it is, and no quasi-religious or SJW revisionist is going to erase that fact. Go explore the rest of the world. The rest of the world doesn’t really care. They DON’T CARE.
Anyways…
Americans have to be careful on how they express themselves on social media. The FBI, CIA, NSA and other government agencies are investing in and relying on corporate surveillance technologies. These technologies can mine constitutionally-protected speech on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
It is done (supposedly) in order to identify potential extremists and to predict who might engage in future acts of anti-government behavior.
For instance, a decorated Marine, 26-year-old Brandon Raub was targeted by the Secret Service because of his Facebook posts. As such, he was [1] interrogated by government agents about his views on government corruption, [2] arrested with no warning, [3] labeled mentally ill for subscribing to so-called “conspiratorial” views about the government, [4] detained against his will in a psych ward for having “dangerous” opinions, and [5] isolated from his family, friends and attorneys.
Reality sinks in…
“It was at a time when I didn’t seem to have much future.I had no job and no money for the rent. I was living in the Hollywood Studio Club for Girls. I told them I’d get the rent somehow. So I phoned up Tom Kelley, and he took these two colour shots—one sitting up, the other lying down. …I earned the fifty dollars that I needed…You’ll do it when you get hungry enough. ”-Mona (Marylin) Monroe
But all adventures must end.
Or rather, take on a new dimension. As it was, we moved out of the van, and labored to become prosperous. In so doing, we experienced corporate life, and the gold chains that come with it.
Corporate life in the 1980’s through into the new century was a life of beige and light grey cubicles. It was a fluorescent illuminated existence that combined the worst elements of greed with the stupefying aspects of social group behaviors. The 1980’s while employed was much akin to dull grey cubicle farms, the worst of corporate life, and consumerism.
I will not dwell on that period too much. For me, it was a dull void. Scant vacations, great salary, but little to show for it except for the shiny babbles advertised on TV.
Gold Chains
There are many things that Americans haven’t a clue about. One is how the American gold market is rigged in the favor of those who sell gold. That should be no surprise, but it was for me.
As it turns out, if you go to Hong Kong, or Dubai, and you buy a gold ring it is 100% gold. It is the real deal.
However, if you buy gold in the United States, it is 14 caret, or 7 caret, or “white” gold. It is NOT gold.
That's right. It is NOT gold. It is an alloy of gold (to make it “better”). What are these names? They are names for gold alloys. Sure, what is the issue you may ask. The issue is that in other nations when you buy 100 grams of gold it is all gold, but in the USA when you buy 100 grams of gold it is an alloy of only a small percentage of gold. Often very low; maybe as low as 5%.
So for a Dubai purchaser, 100 grams of gold is 100 grams of gold. But, an American who buys 100 grams of gold only gets 5 grams. This was a big shock to me, and I discovered it when trying to convert some of my gold rings that I had purchased in the USA to the equivalent (new style) in China. Yikes!
Consumerism
As Chris Hedges writes in Empire of Illusion: “Corporations are ubiquitous parts of our lives, and those that own and run them want them to remain that way.
We eat corporate food.
We buy corporate clothes.
We drive in corporate cars.
We buy our fuel from corporations.
We borrow from, invest our retirement savings with, and take our college loans with corporations and corporate banks.
We are entertained, informed, and bombarded with advertisements by corporations.
Many of us work for corporations.
There are few aspects of life left that have not been taken over by corporations, from mail delivery to public utilities to our for-profit health-care system. These corporations have no loyalty to the country or workers. Our impoverishment feeds their profits. And profits, for corporations, are all that count.”
Scant Vacations
OK, I am going to get off in a tangent. (What is this, the sixth tangent off this post? Jeeze!) Sorry folks, but this is important.
OK. The fact is this. If you are an American, you get a pitiful amount of vacation time. While “officially” most Americans are entitled to a minimum of two weeks vacations at “most” companies, it only applies to full-time employees who have worked at least five years.
However, most Americans typically don’t work at a company for more than five years. In fact, for all the positions that I held as a “white collar” engineer and manager, I typically was only given one-week vacation. In addition, often WHEN I was permitted to take this was mandated during either the Christmas holiday or during the mid-summer plant shutdown. Here’s some great articles and quotes on this…
“Let's be blunt: If you like to take lots of vacation, the United States is not the place to work. Besides a handful of national holidays, the typical American worker bee gets two or three precious weeks off out of a whole year to relax and see the world -- much, much, MUCH less than what people in many other countries receive."
And even that amount of vacation often comes with strings attached.
Some U.S. companies don’t like employees taking off more than one week at a time. Others expect them to be on call or check their e-mail even when they’re lounging on the beach or taking a hike in the mountains.
No legal obligation to offer vacation
So what’s going on here? A big reason for the difference is that paid time off is mandated by law in many parts of the world.
Germany is among more than two dozen industrialized countries — from Australia to Slovenia to Japan — that require employers to offer four weeks or more of paid vacation to their workers, according to a 2009 study by the human resources consulting company Mercer.
Finland, Brazil and France are the champs, guaranteeing six weeks of time off.
But employers in the United States are not obligated under federal law to offer any paid vacation, so about a quarter of all American workers don’t have access to it, government figures show. That makes the U.S. the only advanced nation in the world that doesn’t guarantee its workers annual leave, according to a report titled “No-Vacation Nation” by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a liberal policy group.
For what ever it is worth, from 1988 to 2001, while I was employed as an engineer, I took no vacation. While I qualified for two weeks, I was never permitted to take them.
Most U.S. companies, of course, do provide vacation as a way to attract and retain workers.
But the fear of layoffs and the ever-faster pace of work mean many Americans are reluctant to be absent from the office — anxious that they might look like they’re not committed to their job. Or they worry they won’t be able to cope with the backlog of work waiting for them after a vacation.
Then, there’s the way we work.
Working more makes Americans happier than Europeans, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Happiness Studies. That may be because Americans believe more than Europeans do that hard work is associated with success, wrote Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, the study’s author and an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Dallas.
“Americans maximize their… [happiness] by working, and Europeans maximize their [happiness] through leisure,”
So despite research documenting the health and productivity benefits of taking time off, a long vacation can be undesirable, scary, unrealistic or just plain impossible for many U.S. workers.
Maybe a chance for change
A recent report has found that the United States is the only advanced economy that does not require employers to provide paid vacation time. Almost 1-in-4 Americans do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays, trailing far behind most of the rest of the world’s rich nations, according to the report.
“No-Vacation Nation Revisited,” released earlier this year by the Center for Economic and Policy Research reviewed the international labor laws impacting paid vacation and holidays in 21 rich nations. The countries included 16 European countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States, all major economies that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Some highlights of the report:
For the United States:
Workers have no statutory right to paid vacations.
The sum of the average paid vacation and paid holidays provided to workers in the private sector ― 16 in total ― would not meet even the minimum required by law in 19 other rich countries, the report notes.
The lack of paid vacation and paid holidays is particularly acute for low-wage workers, part-time workers, and for employees of small businesses. (Workers in small businesses are less likely to have any paid vacation (69 percent) than those in medium and large establishments (86 percent); only 49 percent of low-wage workers have paid vacation, compared to 90 percent of high-wage workers; part-time workers are far less likely to have paid vacations (35 percent) than full-time workers (91 percent).
The gap between paid time off in the United States and the rest of the world is even larger when legal holidays are included. U.S. law does not guarantee any paid holidays, but most rich countries provide between 5 and 13 per year, in addition to paid vacation days.
For other rich countries:
Workers in the European Union are legally guaranteed at least 20 paid vacation days per year, with 25 and even 30 or more days in some countries.
Canada and Japan guarantee at least 10 days of paid vacation per year.
Five countries even mandate that employers pay vacationing workers a small premium above their standard pay in order to help with vacation-related expenses.
Most other rich countries have also established legal rights to paid holidays over and above paid vacation days.
Several foreign countries offer additional time off for younger and older workers, shift workers, and those engaged in community service including jury duty and for activities like union duties, getting married, or moving.
“The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation days and paid holidays,” John Schmitt, senior economist and co-author of the report, said in a statement. “Relying on businesses to voluntarily provide paid leave just hasn’t worked.”
According to the ILO, “Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers.”
Using data by the U.S. BLS, the average productivity per American worker has increased 400% since 1950. One way to look at that is that it should only take one-quarter the work hours, or 11 hours per week, to afford the same standard of living as a worker in 1950 (or our standard of living should be 4 times higher). Is that the case? Obviously not. Someone is profiting, it’s just not the average American worker.
American Paid Vacation Time & Sick Time:
There is not a federal law requiring paid sick days in the United States.
The U.S. remains the only industrialized country in the world that has no legally mandated annual leave.
In every country included except Canada and Japan (and the U.S., which averages 13 days/per year), workers get at least 20 paid vacation days. In France and Finland, they get 30 – an entire month off, paid, every year.
But Hey! It’s the price for living in the BEST nation in the world! Right?
“Corporate America: the place where the majority of post grads will find themselves, for better or for worse (but, for the most part, the worse). There is no college class or prep course that can help you prepare for the reality you are about to embark on for the rest of your life. There’s no smooth transition as you begin your life as a corporate slave.
You go from having the best four years of your life into a world of misery and greed.There will be highs and lows, ups and downs if you are going to devote yourself to this career path. Sometimes you will love your job but more often than not, this probably will not be the case. It’s hard to find the “right” job when you first exit college. Just because you had a certain major does not guarantee its respective career path will be right for you. Life in the real world versus what you learn in a classroom are two vastly different entities.
Unfortunately in many cases, you will sacrifice your happiness and freedom for a paycheck; you become a slave to “the man”. What are the other complaints about working for corporate America… No FreedomThe lower you are on the office totem pole, the more people you have to listen to when completing tasks. You have a rigorous schedule filled with tasks that your manager most likely assigned you. You cannot choose which tasks you would like to perform nor which order you want to complete them in as you are most likely taking orders from someone else. Until you run your own company, you are always going to be listening to someone else’s directions. Office BitchFor the abuse you take, you don’t make nearly enough money -- especially after taxes. You will take an endless amount of sh*t from upper management that can and will drive you insane.
If your boss is having an off day, guess who is going to feel the worst of it? You are.
You are at the bottom of the barrel and no feelings will be spared since you really do not serve an integral role in the company’s success. Obsession With MoneyYou think your first job will be an enlightening experience in which you will finally contribute something meaningful to the world. The problem is that upper management doesn’t want to waste their valuable time on someone that much below them. They would rather focus their attention on whatever task they have on hand.
They don’t care about you, all their focus is on whatever can make them the next dollar. Though they will try to give you the impression that that isn't the case. They might issue you a pen with a logo, or arrange some pizza at a meeting. People Are MiserableThe majority of people care about one thing about their job and that’s the figure on their paychecks. This is one of the biggest reasons people settle into a career path that makes them miserable. Sure, having the ability to afford luxuries is great, but is it worth your happiness?
Wouldn’t you rather work in an industry that brings you happiness and comfort than work at a career you hate just because you make a lot of money? Of course a paycheck is important, without it you couldn’t live -- but at the end of the day, that paycheck isn’t going to bring you the fulfillment that doing what you love does. The People You Work With SuckChances are you aren’t going to be working with people you would choose to associate with outside the office. Sometimes the person closest to your age is 10 years older than you: #fail. It’s horrible to be stuck inside an office from 9-5 without one person you can talk to. Thank the lord for G-chat. You’re BoredThe repetitive, mundane life corporate America offers you is not one of excitement. Life is full of surprises and opportunities; this is where happiness will manifest.
You know where it will not flourish?
Within the restraints of a 4×4 cubicle, staring blankly at a computer screen. Routine behavior will numb your mind whereas unpredictability will engage it. “Happiness is a state of activity,” as Aristotle has so famously said.
Your corporate life. This is why you obtained a nice four-year college degree.
You Realize This Reality Is A LieUnfortunately, as a generation we were raised with the idea that if we go to school, get a typical job and make a lot of money, we will be happy. Happiness should be a reflection of your personal ambition and success, not by what kind of car you have in your driveway. I would rather be struggling to make ends meet, working towards something I love than relishing in money working at a company that makes me miserable. No Creative OutletHow can you grow as a person if you are stuck doing the same meaningless tasks on a day-to-day basis? This type of environment will literally suck the soul out of you. Living your life in suspense is exhilarating; variety is what keeps things entertaining and exciting. Spending eight hours trapped in a small space reading over excel spreadsheets is not going to get your creative juices flowing.”
Thank you Ashley Fern.
This is all pretty much well known to those of us who had to sit in those grey boxes and stare at computer screens all day long. We did this with absolute dictatorial watching of office hours and battles over the scant vacation and leave time.
Couple that with the ever present risk of losing your job and you end up with a very, very stressful situation.
This was quite prevalent in the white-collar world during the time when I was employed. We lived the life shown in the movie “Office Space”. It was our reality. Welcome to the life that I lived (in the physical).
Peter Gibbons: You're gonna lay off Samir and Michael?Bob Slydell: Oh yeah! We're gonna bring in some entry-level graduates, farm some work out to Singapore, that's the usual deal.Bob Porter: Standard operating procedure.Peter Gibbons: Do they know this yet?Bob Slydell: No. No, of course not! We find it's always better to fire people on a Friday. Studies have statistically shown that there's less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week.
Life as an engineer in 1990’s America. Still from the movie classic “Office Space”. Office Space is a 1999 American comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes the everyday work life of a typical mid-to-late-1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals fed up with their jobs.
There was always some kind of “workplace improvement program” going on. It might be [1] a mandatory blood collection effort (it was, of course they couldn’t say that it was mandatory, that would be against the law… but it was. We all “knew” the consequences if we did not follow what was asked of us.
The government would make regulations to “protect” workers, and companies would either find ways around them, or simply ignore them.).
Consider my experience with [2] a mandatory weekend cleaning of the offices. (The company fired the janitorial staff, and so we all had to come in over the weekend to clean up.)
Alternatively, it might be [3] two trashcans that we would use to separate our trash into. (An on-going “green” effort that the company was promoting.) One for recyclables, and the other for non-recyclables. There were fines and punitive measures placed on us if we did not sort through our trash.
Here’s a true, and illustrative, story regarding this particular company initiative.One night I had to work late. After everyone else had left, I was working at my desk later at night. It was perhaps 7pm. As such, the janitors came in and began cleaning. One of the first things that they did was empty the trash. As I sat there, I watched them empty the trash. What they did was pick up the trash and empty it into a big-wheeled bin. They took the blue color recycle bin and emptied it into a big-wheeled trash hopper. Then they took the “regular” non-recyclable trash and emptied it in the same bin. I watched for a minute or two, and then paused in reflection.Innocently, I asked the janitor why he didn’t separate the trash, as he was “supposed to”. After all, we were being penalized for not separating the trash. In fact, if you were to report on another coworker (for failing to separate) you would be rewarded with perks; a coupon for a discount coffee or a free movie ticket. And they, as violators, would “suffer” the consequences…He responded that he didn’t need to.
No one came to collect the sorted trash. No one had set up a system to collect pre-sorted trash. So what they did was just mix it all together. They then would throw it all in the dumpster and it would be picked up by the garbage truck as was. What was going on was an illusion of company participation in a recycling program. However, there really wasn’t any actual effort to recycle the waste.That was corporate America.
Life was simple. Work all week, and look forward to Friday. Beer and pizza at the local restaurant, and then come home and watch a movie. Sleep in on Saturday, eat breakfast at a local diner, mow the grass and then go grocery shopping. Go to church on Sunday, then take a drive and look at yard sales. Go to sleep early because work started on Monday.
It’s not much of a life is it? But that was my life.
OK, back to my story.
So, I am working in whatever capacity that I could find in California. At that time, I was working various minimum-wage jobs. I worked as short order cooks, ditch diggers, roust-abouts, and janitors. It was unrewarding work, for little pay. However, I was in California.
I “felt” that I was where I needed to be.
That all changed when I got a call from the Navy…
The Rest of the Story
My stint from whenever I left my role as a Naval Aviator to when I went into “phase two” of my “training”. This was a confusing time. It was not easy. I was alternatively employed as an engineer, and laid off, trying to find work…hand to mouth. It was a period of searching for work. Living hand to mouth. Opportunities that crop up and disappear, and the lucky employed taking advantage of the masses of unemployed.
As confusing as my story sounds, just imagine what it was like participating in it.
All adventures end, and this adventure came to a sudden end when the Navy tracked me down and put me back on track in my program. That part of my narrative is covered elsewhere.
Conclusion
This post was a rambling collection of memories of an extreme period in my life.
I had been implanted with strange probes for both MAJestic and our extraterrestrial benefactors, then I was left alone on my own prior to being trained on how to use them.
During that time, I was like a sheet in the wind during a hurricane.
My perceptions, exposure and understandings were all altered. My world-lines were constantly switching on and off, in and out, and through and backwards, and I adapted as best I could. I existed in a state of extreme 1980’s. Most of that time switched between being employed in difficult working conditions, and poverty. There wasn’t any stability.
In the meantime, the MAJestic membership were trying to locate me, and complete my training. I was like Jason Bourne, with no memory or ability to control my skills, yet cognizant that I had skills, and purpose. I was the real life Jason Bourne.
Jason Bourne is a fictional character played by a talented actor. I was the real deal, and what I experienced did not look like anything that Hollywood could conceive.
Take Aways
After acceptance into MAJestic, I was altered with medical procedures and probes. Then, released to the public.
I was not yet trained.
For a period of time, I existed as “actuated”, but unskilled in using my abilities.
This post describes that time.
FAQ
Q: Why do you say such bad things about corporate life?
A: I was trained, and pursued an education towards being a Naval Aviator. Out of necessity, I found work within related engineering fields. At this time the work culture was not of producing things. Instead, it was a culture of making profits for the owners.
This change in intention, and the resultant thoughts affected the world-line. Thus, employees became something else. They became drones that serviced the owners of the companies where they worked. I was thrust into this environment out of necessity.
Q: Why do you disparage Backpackers?
A: There are many travelers who go by the title “backpacker”. Instead of exploring, adventuring and acquiring experiences, they do something else. They travel to distant lands, and try to get experiences without accepting the local culture and integrating within it. That means, of course getting work, and spending a few years fully immersed in that culture.
They are neither acquiring meaningful experiences, nor helping their community. They are instead, completing a “bucket list” of travel destinations. All without meaningful quantum realignments of their garbonic structures.
Q: Why are you so anti-USA? What is your problem with vacations?
A: Comparatively, there is something seriously wrong with a nation that does not permit it’s workers time to live and relax.
Now, if you personally want to work in a stressful environment without a break that is fine. I KNOW that it is very unhealthy and results in terrible side effects. Americans should have much more time off than what they generally receive.
Q: What is the issue about the colors Red / Blue for Political Parties?
A: History has been rewritten. That is disturbing.
That being said, the decision for the United States to embrace a communist and socialist model happened a long time ago, and the implementation was visible in the early 1990’s.
MAJestic Related Posts – Training
These are posts and articles that revolve around how I was recruited for MAJestic and my training. Also discussed is the nature of secret programs. I really do not know why the organization was kept so secret. It really wasn’t because of any kind of military concern, and the technologies were way too involved for any kind of information transfer. The only conclusion that I can come to is that we were obligated to maintain secrecy at the behalf of our extraterrestrial benefactors.
MAJestic Related Posts – Our Universe
These particular posts are concerned about the universe that we are all part of. Being entangled as I was, and involved in the crazy things that I was, I was given some insight. This insight wasn’t anything super special. Rather it offered me perception along with advantage. Here, I try to impart some of that knowledge through discussion.
Enjoy.
MAJestic Related Posts – World-Line Travel
These posts are related to “reality slides”. Other more common terms are “world-line travel”, or the MWI. What people fail to grasp is that when a person has the ability to slide into a different reality (pass into a different world-line), they are able to “touch” Heaven to some extent. Here are posts that cover this topic.
John Titor Related Posts
Another person, collectively known by the identity of “John Titor” claimed to utilize world-line (MWI egress) travel to collect artifacts from the past. He is an interesting subject to discuss. Here we have multiple posts in this regard.
What happens when you are given a five minute notice before your company lays you off? Then they hand you a NDA, and expect you to sign it, or else they will prevent you from getting food stamps and support. What then?
What options do you have? Another stab at getting yet another American job, and America boss in an American corporate environment? Is that what your options are? As an American man, just what are your options?
There are times when you just feel a screaming need to “bug out”.
But, let me tell you something. The world is yours once you have lost everything. That includes nations, food, culture and girls. You can go anywhere and be anyone. This is especially true for an American man who faced a vindictive ex-wife, or had an encounter with any of the many, many American alphabet regulatory organizations such as the IRS, DHS, CIA, FBI, ICE, FDA etc.
People, there is an entire world out there. It is big, and filled with all sorts of interesting and colorful people.
I urge the reader to divest themselves from the notion that the United States offers the only decent living arrangements on the globe. There are other places. Many others.
Some are better and some are worst. It is up to the reader to consider all of the options that lie before them and make determinations and judgments biased upon their own individual situation, preferences, and desires. Not (to make them biased) on fear or lack of experience…
You do not have to endure a life that is defined by others…
Introduction
The world is filled with interesting people, wonderful places, and really different ways of doing things. many of which are a pleasant surprise to Americans who have grown up thinking that the “American Way” is the only way to do things (as well as being the “best” way to do things).
The world is filled with fun and interesting people. The cultures and societies are different, and in many ways there are changes that lead to a more relaxed and fulfilled life. You just need to go out and explore and venture forth. Now, come on, don’t these two gals look like they would be a lot of fun to hang out with?
There are so many nations and places to choose from.
Written by a Man
Please note that this was written by a man. It is about things that might be of interest to a man. For similar posts written by women, I would suggest the Huffington Post, the Washington Post, or Salon.
Also note that this is a blog. It contains personal opinions. If you want to read something that is unbiased and doesn’t have opinions, try CNN. LOL.
Finally, many of the things that are commonplace in other nations are either banned, censored or illegal in the United States. This post does not censor for American sensibilities. As there are people all over the world that reads it. I just can’t sanitize it for Americans. That includes…
Buying beer on Sunday.
Doing drugs in Holland.
Prostitution chain-bordellos in Germany.
Public nudity in Iceland.
Smoking in public in China.
Being able to eat in restaurants barefoot in Cambodia.
Traditional gender roles in Brazil.
The giant penis festival in Japan.
Buying ED medicine without a prescription. (Common everywhere.)
If you are an American, and you are too sensitive to the realities outside of America, then I would suggest you leave. Exposure to freedom is not something to be taken trivially. Real freedom is not having to ask permission to do something. Real freedom is not taxed, monitored or prohibited.
Real freedom is not taxed, monitored or prohibited.
Multi-part Post
This post is part one of a multi-part post. My basic premise is that the world is a big place. Get out. Enjoy the differences. Savor them. Life is too short.
Let’s start by talking about a tiny mountain nation smack dab in the middle of Europe.
Switzerland
Ah Switzerland. Perhaps my number one ideal destination. However, not my number one practical destination.
For a relatively small, landlocked country, Switzerland contains an exceptional amount of natural beauty and cultural diversity—with four official languages and all the variety they represent. These 10 towns spread across the country demonstrate the best Switzerland has to offer in terms of spectacular mountain scenery, flower-lined nature paths, lakefront beauty, and picturesque historic centers.
Here’s an interesting article titled “Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture” written by Chantal Panozzo on February 1, 2016. Found here.
“During my Swiss career, I was employed by various companies from 25 percent to 100 percent. When I worked 60 percent, for example, I worked three days a week. A job that is 50 percent could mean the employee works five mornings a week or, as I once did, two and a half days a week.
The freedom to choose the amount of work that was right for me at varying points of my life was wonderful and kept me engaged and happy.”
And…
“At my former American job, I received 10 days of paid vacation per year, and each of those days came with a sizable portion of guilt if actually used.
But in Switzerland, my husband's company gave employees six weeks of vacation a year.
Most of the Swiss companies I worked for gave four — the legal minimum is four. Moreover, everything shut down between Christmas and New Year's, giving most employees like me another guaranteed week off.”
Wow, it sounds like a great place to work. You can work at your own pace, and attend to your family life. If you are too stressed, you can work out an arrangements where you work part time. If you have family issues, you can adjust things accordingly. If you need more money, you can work out an aggressive work schedule. This degree of corporate flexibility is a freedom that Americans do not possess.
Winter in the Swiss mountains…
Living in Switzerland would be awesome. You have the mountains, the seasons, the fresh air, and a more sensible pace of life. Spring is glorious and Fall is magical.
“About three years into my Swiss life, I lost my job. And I discovered that in Switzerland, being on unemployment meant you received 70 to 80 percent of your prior salary for 18 months.
The Swiss government also paid for me to take German classes, and when I wasn't looking for jobs, I could afford to write a book.”
And…
“When I gave birth in Switzerland, I was encouraged to stay five days in the hospital. So I did. The $3,000 bill for the birth and hospital stay was paid in full by my Swiss insurance. As was the required midwife, who came to my apartment for five days after I came home from the hospital to check on both my health and my baby's.
Had I been in the US for my delivery, the cost would have been much higher — and the quality of care arguably lower. The average price for a vaginal birth in the US is $30,000 and includes an average of less than a two-day hospital stay.”
Switzerland isn’t just beautiful—it’s actually outrageously so. I guess it’s what I always expected. Switzerland, with its glacial lakes, the Alps and all the nature, it’s all very stunning. This kind of natural beauty in Switzerland is calming and cool. Despite the famous red color and cross of the Swiss flag, the only color that comes to mind for Switzerland is honestly and truly blue. The sky seems to be a constant shade of blue: bold and beautiful when the sun is out, and gloomy & grey under the clouds. The water, so fresh and readily available in the country, runs clear and reflects the blues in the sky. The glacial lakes shimmer. This country is blue. And it’s beautiful.
You know, working in Switzerland might be something to consider. And, of course, maybe having a child born in Switzerland wouldn’t be a bad idea. What do you think?
France
So many places to move to. Let’s talk about France.
Many people have said to me, “Oh Diane, you’re so lucky. You live in France…” And I stop them right there. Luck had nothing to do with it. I didn’t fall out of bed one day to find my suitcase packed, money in the bank, with a first class ticket on Magic Fairy Airlines, destination: France.
No. It never works like that.
My goal was to move to France and my choices leading up to that move got me here. This didn’t just happen to me while I idly stood by. I moved to France last year to be with Tom, but the first time I moved to France in 2009, Tom wasn’t even in the picture…
-Oui in France
Did you know that it is very easy to become a citizen of France? Yes it is. Look at all the uneducated Africans who now live there. However, I am not referring to that, I am referring to the French Foreign Legion. You serve, and you become a citizen. It’s a tough option, but a reasonable one for a younger man to consider.
It’s a great option if you burned your bridges in the United States, and want to start off new and fresh with a new identification, a new name, living in a new area. You just have to EARN it. That’s all.
France has so many beautiful lesser-known little towns that are worthy of a visit. Whether you’re in the mood for sleepy beach towns, colorful villages, or icy slopes, there is a perfect French town for you.
When I was back in high school and planning to go to the Air Force Academy to be a pilot for the Air Force, I took French classes. I took them for three years, as that was an Air Force Academy requirement at that time. I never really used it except for many years later when I visited Canada, Vietnam and Zambia.
Moreover, an interesting blog about living in France can be found here.
Like the other entries here, it offers some glimpse of alternative realities that aren’t even considered possible in the United States, like for instance a Wine High School…
“About this time a year ago, we had lived in France for only three weeks when an announcement on the city’s website regarding an event for that weekend caught our eye—Wine Fair! We knew that we had moved to the world’s largest grape-growing area but we didn’t realize that there was a high school devoted to the craft just a few minutes’ walk from the house. With the promise of 30 wines, 6 beers, and 2 ciders, we just had to go…for a taste, of course.
One of my favorite things to do is to drink wine whilst eating bread with cheese, olives and assorted goodies. Image that being an everyday event. OMG.
High schools in France give students the opportunity to decide if they want to pursue a university degree or prefer a more hands-on approach to a career be it industrial or laboratory science, health and social sciences, music or dance, or trades that require internships, to name a few.
The Lycée Charlemagne, located not far from where we used to live by the castle, specializes in agriculture, so if you want to become any kind of farmer, including a wine grower, this is the place to be.
Since Carcassonne is such a magnet for tourists, other high schools here offer specialization in hospitality and the restaurant industry.
In contrast, we saw a TV program about Le Mans, the French city north of us that is famous for the Grand Prix road race, and is the city of choice for young people who want to learn all about automobile and motorcycle mechanics.”
A wine High School. How about that!
I well remember us complaining in High School (that was back in the mid 1970’s) that our peers in France and Europe were given wine with their school lunches. Meanwhile the Democrats in the United States were insanely active in raising the drinking age up from 16 to 21. They insisted on raising the drinking age…“For the Children”. Ugh! It was so frustrating being treated such that we were somehow stupider and immature than our peers elsewhere in the globe.
That’s Democrats for ya. Always thinking that they know what’s best… for YOU.
Boys and girls were free to drink and smoke as they were growing up. This all changed when the Democrats took control of various state legislatures and enforced vice laws.
On the subarctic island, consumer prices were on average 56 percent higher than the rest of Europe in 2018, making Iceland the single most expensive country, ahead of Switzerland (52 percent), Norway (48 percent) and Denmark (38 percent), according to Eurostat data.
In order to avoid unpleasant surprises, Quint Johnson, had done "some research," before travelling to Iceland from the United States for a week's vacation with his family.
"But it's been a little bit of a shock," the 22-year-old student told AFP, having discovered the chilling rates for familiar items like a simple hamburger with fries and a beer.
A glance at the menu at an Icelandic restaurant will tell you that a plain cheese pizza will run you around 2,400 kronor -- almost 17 euros ($19) -- a glass of wine will be at least 10 euros and a pint of beer costs about 7 euros.
"That's a big price jump compared to what I'm used to," Johnson said.
According to the consumer price comparison site Numbeo, a dinner for two in an average restaurant ends with a bill of about 85 euros, a bottle of wine in a shop is priced at around 17 euros, and a dozen eggs cost up to five euros.
-France24
Not only that, but there are few countries in the world that can say they do not have any mosquitoes and Iceland is one of them!
Beautiful Iceland. Sure it is cold, but when the sun comes out it is glorious. Not to mention that the environment lends itself to cozy comfort.
The following are excerpts from Larissa Kyzer who lived in NYC before she moved to Iceland. Her comments can be found here.
“Forget lying about your birthday: if you’re one of those people who likes to fudge your age, be forewarned. Your Icelandic national ID, or kennitala, begins with the day, month, and year of your birthday, and you will be expected to recite it to everyone, everywhere, for pretty much everything. Get a library card, give your kennitala. Sign up for a cell phone plan, give your kennitala. Rent a video, give your kennitala. Unlike the American social security number, it is intended to be a very public number.”
And…
“…always bring a towel! You’ll find that people go to the pools a lot--if only to chat in the hot pots (the geothermal jacuzzis that are at every pool)--and even though you can rent a towel (and a suit for that matter), you’ll save a fair amount of money in the long run if you bring your own. Plus, if you carry your swim things with you, you’ll be ready at a moment’s notice for a trip down the water slide, or a gossip session or football debate in the hot pots.”
The People
Icelanders are proud, somewhat stoic people. Look, they are a race of people that sought to make a living on a cold, barren island 1000+ years ago. Pride and stoicism were necessary personal attributes. You know a country prides itself on individuality when it doesn’t subscribe to having a McDonalds. It did once upon a time before the economic crash in 2008 but has no desire to see the chain again in spite of its economic recovery.
I really like the idea that the buildings are painted in bright colors and that the people try to make the most of the environment. It’s pretty darn cool, don’t you think?
Icelanders are not necessarily warm and emotive people. Get to know them though and you’ll have a loyal, lifelong friend.
Icelanders are educated and informed. The culture there expects education, many Icelanders have advanced degrees. They are up on politics and they tend to be very well-traveled. Lastly, Iceland is a very progressive political country. For example, Iceland may be the most gay-friendly country on earth.
Financial Stability
97% of Icelanders identify themselves as upper-middle class, lower-middle class, or working class. Thus, the financial equality found in this culture, allows for a more stable society to raise a kid. Additionally, higher education is essentially free, so the cost of raising a child is much cheaper in Iceland.
Scenic and beautiful, Reykjavik is a wonderful place. The people are great once you get to know them.
Weather
Iceland is a sub-Arctic country located out in the middle of the north Atlantic. What can I say, other than the weather is cold, grey and rainy quite a lot. You get long, cold and dark winters.
In the summer, you get long days – very long.
Basically, don’t expect good weather. But when it comes – Oh Lord when it comes – Iceland is glorious. When the sun does come out it is simply spectacular. The blue of the northern sky is luminous and magnifies the vibrancy of the surrounding landscape by a thousand-fold.
"In general, the pace of life was much slower than I was used to. Icelanders work hard and they play hard, to use an old cliche. Icelanders take long vacations, some up to 4 weeks in the summer!
As an American, this is unheard of. I submit to the average American, that if you had a 4 week vacation you wouldn’t (at first) know what to do with it. "
Pace of Life
"All of Iceland tends to start work at 9 and they stay till 5 or 6; City traffic follows this pattern without much deviation. Weekends are slower affairs. Men watch soccer.
People wake late - almost everyone. Typical citizens would go visit friends for coffee in the afternoon.
Coming from a country and large city where there was always a plethora of choice, Iceland was far more limited. For example, an Icelandic visitor to the United States will be overwhelmed by the choices in US supermarkets. She will say, ‘Why do you need 200 kinds of breakfast cereal?’"
Again, this is a little strange for me as an American. Most of the rest of the world just isn’t as hung up on the human body as Americans are. It’s not just Germany, you know. It’s friggin’ everywhere.
Icelanders are very comfortable with their bodies, almost too comfortable if you ask most Americans. But once you are in their country, you must obey their strict public pool etiquette; no matter how uncomfortable you may feel.
In addition to not allowing shoes in the locker room area, all men are expected to strip, and clean themselves in the public shower before heading out into the main pool area.
I’m assuming this is also true for women in the ladies locker room, but I’ll just have to take their word for it.Most public pools also have hot saunas, and the same behavior is expected regarding a post session wash. Icelander’s take these rules very seriously because they have natural geothermal swimming pools often heated by my mother nature.
Due to this unrelenting desire to keep their pools and locker rooms clean, they will have no problem bluntly telling you to strip.
Matt Eliason remembers his first time to the Laugardalur community pool in which he was scolded for not participating in the necessary public strip tease. However, the reader should relax that he has since adjusted to this uniquely “European” behavior and now show no shyness when following the public pool etiquette.
Walking out of a bar at 4am into daylight
It’s true, the geographical location of Iceland´s Nordic island situates itself in such a way that most summer days yield over 22 hours of sunlight. This presents an interesting dilemma when you are walking out of the club on a Saturday night (Sunday morning) and you take a step outside the dimly lit club into the broad daylight. A very interesting summary about the all-night party atmosphere, and the price of beer can be found HERE.
Lack of Big Restaurant Chains
With stores like Whole Foods, McDonald’s and Starbucks ingrained into the psyche of all Americans, being stripped of these cultural consistencies has an effect on your day-to-day life for good and for bad. What this means is that the convenience of going out at your own leisure and get a McBurger is just not going to happen. This is both a positive and a negative.Outside of Domino Pizza and a couple KFCs, Iceland’s economic environment encourages upscale classy restaurants, and forces out big box chains, due to the economics of importing cheap fast food. McDonald did have a brief spell in Iceland, but the business plan proved to be economical enviable.
Language
Everyone speaks English.
While it’s always a good idea to learn a few words of the language where ever you travel everyone Brianna encountered spoke excellent English.(There was definitely a chuckle or two when she tried out her very limited Icelandic).
Chile
OK. That’s enough of the areas about and around Europe. Let’s take a spin to South America. Let’s look at Chile.
Chile? Why Chile of all places? You might ask.
Girls from Chile tend to be beautiful. Monica Godoy is a successful and one of richest actresses from Santiago, Chile. Monica was born in May, 1976. She has worked in more than 30 movies, some best being Sucupira (1996), Pepe Carvalho (2004), Hijos Del Monte (2008), 40 y Tantos (2010), El Laberinto de Alicia (2011), and Secretos en el Jardín (2013).
Mr Simon Black has a blog and organization where he urges people to obtain second passports, citizenship, savings accounts and banks. He urges people to be more international so that they can keep their options open when things spoil in one geographical region or another. In his blog he suggest Chile as a destination for American expats to migrate to.
Good advice this. As I can personally confirm.
The cities of Chile have a small town feel. The pace of life is slower and more relaxed. People enjoy life more, and spend more time with each other. They savor life.
While I do not agree with everything that he has to say, I do follow his suggestions on prudent preparation. I dare say that many of the Jews living in Poland in 1938 would have not died under the Hitler military machine were they to be prudent and alert.
From Simon, an interesting article about leaving the United States and moving to Chile can be found here.
“Yesterday on the drive back to Santiago from one of our blueberry farms, I stopped to visit some friends who lived in the area. About a year ago they bought some land in Chile’s incredibly fertile 7th region, which boasts a rare Mediterranean climate. It never gets too hot, and it never gets too cold. Plus, the rich, volcanic soil is packed with powerful nutrients.
As long as you’re in the right spot to ensure ample water security, the place is an agricultural paradise (our agriculture company owns two large farms in the region). There are literally four other places on the planet with this combination– southern California, South Australia, the Western Cape of South Africa, and parts of the Mediterranean itself.”
And…
“Yet by comparison to those other places, land in Chile is remarkably cheap.
Our agriculture company purchased several thousand acres in this prime region back in 2015 for about $1,700 per acre. Similar property in California, especially given how much water we have, would easily sell for 10x to 20x that price.My friends bought several acres of land for themselves as a sort of homestead, and they’re now living in a gorgeous setting surrounded by mountains and multiple rivers with cool, crystal clear water and a steady supply of fish. They’re raising livestock and have a garden, plus I got them started with a gift of some baby trees which are already producing fruit in their first season.It feels like lifetimes away from when they were living in New York City.”
And…
“My friends purchased the land outright (again, land is inexpensive). Then they paid about $55,000 to build their home. The house is quite nice– comfortably spacious with four bedrooms. And it’s all wired up with the latest gadgetry and home automation, with all sorts of sensors to control appliances and conduct routine tasks.
So they now have a roof over their heads and plenty of land to do whatever they want, and they own it all outright… they don’t owe a penny on any of it.”
Continued…
“My friends had concerns. They were living in New York before and didn’t like the trends they saw in their home country. There was too much debt. Too much war. Too much money printing. Too many lies. Too much spying. Too much violence. Too much uncertainty.
They wanted to distance themselves from conditions that made them uncomfortable. So they made a very deliberate plan and took steps that led them to where they are today– living in their own paradise. And they couldn’t be happier.These guys aren’t hiding from the world. He’s still working in technology and she’s still producing art… exactly what they used to do.”
Unlike the United States, when you buy something like a house or a plot of land, you own it. That’s right. You do not have to pay taxes on “your” land or suffer it being seized. The smaller nation often has smaller regulations that you need be concerned about and taxes that are easily affordable.
Highway in Chile. Most of the world has nice highways. They have bridges, public transportation, railroads, toll-booths, and roadside rest areas.
Yes, other nations have highways, bridges and tollbooths. Often in far better shape than what is found in the United States.
Vietnam
As a boy, I would watch the news about the war in Vietnam. It seemed so remote and so “third world”. Which at the time, it actually was.
I, as a boy, enjoyed the fighting and the battles. I was totally unaware of the beauty, the people and the environment in Vietnam. Vietnam is very, very stunning.
Fast forward to today. Vietnam is a growing country that seems to possess all the attributes that seem to interest me. It has great food, beautiful women, long clean beaches, and totally isolated from the madness that the United States has become.
Here’s what an American expat who moved to Vietnam has to say about it;
“I’ve been living in Vietnam a while now, relatively speaking. Longer than I expected, in fact. When I tell anybody new to town how long I’ve been here for, they always raise their eyebrows and give me a suspicious look, just as I used to do when I first arrived.
I never planned to still be here (over 6 years and counting…), though I have some friends who’ve stayed much longer. The first year here felt very long indeed. I did what most single foreign men do when they arrive in Vietnam. I became a sort of ‘playboy’. I thought it was cool then, but now I’m ashamed of that behavior, although it was a difficult habit to break.”
There are all sorts of great bars all over Asia. Vietnam has some nice ones. You can get reasonably priced drinks and munchies and have fine companionship for the night.
And…
“You only need one type of wardrobe in Vietnam, there is much less crime, it is cheaper (unless you shop at Vincom Center or something), scenic, and the cities have a frantic yet laid back atmosphere that I feel is unique to Asia, if not the world (and I’ve traveled most of it).Zooming around on a motorbike can be dangerous but I’ve seen more accidents in England than here and it gives a real sense of freedom. Ho Chi Minh City in particular has a ‘small town’ feel (even though it’s huge) which I love.
It’s like a friendly village but with millions of people you can bump into. My friend once likened hanging out here to being in prison (but in a good way), in that “nothing ever happens, but anything can happen!” I want to.
Halong bay in Vietnam. The world is filled with many beautiful places. We need only pull ourselves away from our computers and go forth and explore the world around us.
No we do not want everything the same… a world where there is a Starbucks on every corner,or the same progressive laws that America has. We should go forth and explore the world and relish in it’s differences.
Being an expat, it’s easier to make a good life for yourself in Vietnam. I have almost too many friends, a nice apartment, a good job (I’m a ‘traveling teacher’, rather than a ‘teaching traveler’), lots of hobbies and everything feels quite easy.
However, one thing I probably lack, and it’s a big thing, is a strong local connection. Even after all this time, I find the cultural divide quite exhausting to overcome, at least compared to other countries I’ve stayed in. I have very few Vietnamese friends and I am now living the lifestyle I used to frown upon, that of the ‘expat bubble’. Can I just blame my battle with the language for this?”
Vietnam has many beautiful ladies. They are a lot like the Chinese, only with a little darker tan and speaks a different language. I find them alluring.
Compared to Thailand, Vietnam is different. It is another animal altogether.
“For 95% of Westerners Thailand is probably a better choice, be it as a holiday destination or a new home. Downtown Saigon can be stressful, at times feeling like organized chaos where you're the only one who wasn't given the script. The never-ending stream of motorbikes makes something as simple as crossing the road a worry. People are less friendly, getting around can be a challenge and there's much less to see and do than Bangkok.But where downtown Bangkok feels like just another international city with a Starbucks on every corner, movies opening the same weekend as the States and more signs in English than Thai, Saigon still feels distinctly like Asia. Vietnam fills me with a sense of adventure.”
-Stickman Bangkok
Night can be really nice in Saigon, Vietnam. There is life and activity. There are things to do, places to be, drinks to drink and fun things to do with friends. Sure beats hanging out in front of the television while you wait for Friday to roll around.
As an expat, he hits upon something, that I think all us long-duration expats feel more or less…
“To be honest, one of the only things I truly dislike about life here is some of the expats! That might appear somewhat ironic, but the neo-colonial attitude of some foreigners here angers me, especially as many of them were clearly not ‘cool’ in any way before they came out here. Now suddenly they can be seen strutting about, taking advantage of local hospitality and often looking down on a culture that they don’t even try to understand.”
Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam. The name Hạ Long means “descending dragon”. Administratively, the bay belongs to Ha Long City, Cam Pha City, and is a part of Van Don District. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various shapes and sizes. Ha Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which includes Bai Tu Long Bay to the northeast, and Cat Ba Island to the southwest.
Cambodia
Here is a bar street on the beach in Sihanoukville in Cambodia. It is considered a nice place to visit because the sex is cheap, the beer is cold, and the weather is warm. I like it because of the history. All during the Vietnam war I wondered about this place and what it must have been like.
“Many men get starry-eyed over a goal, imagining how life would be so great upon achieving it, but fail to play out the movie to its completion. Unlike Hollywood, life goes on, and you come back down to a basal level of happiness, no matter how great your achievement was. This is very common with men who want to travel to shitholes to meet good women.Imagine you visit a rough second-tier city in Colombia or Ukraine and meet a girl who is hotter than any other girl you’ve made love to before. And then what? Are you going to move to her city permanently?
Are you going to bring her back to the West so she can get corrupted like the women you left behind? Are you going to move her to another location where any children you have won’t have the benefit of seeing extended family? Understand that as soon as you experience the upsides from achieving a goal, the downsides come pounding at your door so that the overall cost of a goal is balanced with its benefits.”-“And then What?” by Roosh
Cambodia has always been a place that I was interested in. That with Laos, I have mutually considered them mysterious and stimulating.
During the 1960’s and the 1970’s, I watched the news and followed the descent into darkness as Cambodia was taken over by progressive leftists who (in the interests of “equality”) went about torturing and killing everyone. Now, few Americans know the horrible saga. All that is left is a legacy of the “killing fields”. (Yet, the leftists in Berkley, California want to duplicate this in the United States of all places. WTF?)
The Cambodian Killing Fields (Khmer: វាលពិឃាត, Khmer pronunciation: [ʋiəl pikʰiət]) are a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than a million people were killed and buried by the Progressive Socialist Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970–1975).
The tree where little children were killed by progressive leftists in Cambodia.
The mass killings are widely regarded as part of a broad state-sponsored genocide (the Cambodian genocide).
Analysis of 20,000 mass grave sites by the DC-Cam Mapping Program and Yale University indicate at least 1,386,734 victims of execution. Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a 1975 population of roughly 8 million.
In 1979, Communist Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea. They toppled the brutal progressive liberals that comprised the Khmer Rouge regime.
Now, Cambodia is reviving. I have numerous friends (mostly Chinese, with one or two from Eastern Europe) who have told me tales of how wonderful Cambodia is. It certainly sounds enticing.
One thing that attracts me about Cambodia is that it has not yet been sanitized by Starbucks, McDonalds and hoards of business investors turning it into an upscale mall. In China, Shekou used to be quaint with it’s own flavor, cheap booze and friendly locals. Now it is a very nice, but expensive mall that serves tourists. The locals just sort of avoid it. Sad.
Here is a nice write-up by a man about my age who lives in Thailand, and thought that it might be a good idea to visit Cambodia. He begins with his impressions of Cambodia taken in early 2001.
“Dusty roads with what can only be called contraptions on wheels.
Criss-crossing the city on the back of a motorbike after dark and seeing almost no traffic.
Ultra-slow, virtually unusable Internet connections.
Friendly, smiling children yelling “Hello”.
Arriving back at the hotel at night to find the doors had been padlocked shut from the inside and you had to rattle them to wake up a young Khmer sleeping on the other side who would unlock the door and let you in.
These are just some memories from my one and only visit to Phnom Penh, back in 2001.In the 10 years since I first visited the Cambodian capital it has changed markedly as I discovered on a recent trip.”
He then decides to return.
A group of cute and happy Cambodian girls. I really like the smiles and happiness that radiates from these gals. You know, we owe it to ourselves to surround ourselves with happiness and contentment.
Only this time it is ten years later. The year is 2011.
“Getting around Phnom Penh is easy. Tuktuks in the guise of a motorbike pulling a carriage, motorbike riders as well as a few taxis make up the choices. You can walk and a number of the sights are in the riverfront area, just remember to look the other way when crossing the road if you're used to Thailand.Someone seems to have told every tuktuk driver and motorcycle rider in town that foreigners don't like walking, for you simply cannot walk past one without being asked where you're going and if you'd like a ride.
The hassles are relentless, many times worse than any vendor hassles in Thailand.”
And he talks about the food…
National food in Cambodia is similar, and at the same time is completely different from the tradition of the neighboring countries. It is possible to claim that the Cambodians eat everything! The dishes of the food in Cambodia also feature many wild fruits and locally grown vegetables. Widely used and popular in the national food in Cambodia are pickled and fermented vegetables and fruits, which are collected for pickling at different stages of their growth, which give the final product a completely phenomenal taste.
“Thai food might be more varied and diverse, but Cambodian food uses certain ingredients you don't commonly see in Thailand.
Buffalo meat, for example, is found on many menus, and deep-fried tarantulas are sold alongside other creepy crawlies.
Much of what is available in the fresh markets fell into the mystery meat category. Amongst the more unusual things we tried was beef with wild ants – and giant-sized ants they were. A good source of protein I am told!
This is a scene of Battambang, Cambodia. It is a small community that has everything that you need, but not large enough to overwhelm you. It is certainly a small-town vibe about this place. It is calm. It is peaceful, and pleasant.
Revisiting places from that first trip a decade earlier, when the few popular bars were scattered around the city, the long-running Sharky just didn't do it for us. Similar in format to Bangkok's Woodstock, the American-themed bar and restaurant with a reputation for tasty Tex Mex food left us unimpressed.
Sunrise Tacos it isn't.Phnom Penh may not compare with Bangkok for high-end dining, but there is a huge number of mid-range eateries making it something of a foodie's dream. Many riverfront restaurants are chic without being pretentious.”
And the booze…
“Phnom Penh is an alcoholic's dream with ridiculously low prices. Stick with the perfectly drinkable local Angkor draft and you'll never have a hole in your wallet.
This is the colonial section of the capital city; Phnom Penh. Notice that even in this big enormous city there is a nice small-town vibe that lingers and presents itself.
A handle runs around $1.00 – $2.00 in restaurants, $1.50 – $1.75 in the hostess bars and in some bars and restaurants, happy hour prices can be had for less than a dollar, 60 cents in some outlets.
Pretty much everything, drink-wise, is considerably cheaper than Thailand. Cocktails in decent bars could be had for $3 or $4, $2 at happy hour. Beer Lao is widely available and cheap, and wine is considerably cheaper than in Thailand. And my pet hate, tax and service charges are nowhere to be seen!”
And (of course) the ladies of the “night” (but this is Asia, they work 24-7)…
“The vibe in the hostess bars is different to your typical Thailand bar. Upon entering, many of the girls scream "Hello" and once seated you'll find yourself surrounded by a half-dozen girls.
They will be keen to chat, but unlike their Thai sisters they almost never ask for a drink.
The lady drink hassles that mar the bar experience in Thailand are no issue in Phnom Penh. With that said, at what seemed to be an industry standard $3.00 for a lady drink – of which she gets $1.00 – it's hardly cost prohibitive. And if you do buy a lady a drink, she will never suggest you barfine her, and won't even hint about joining you at your hotel.
Club girls in a Cambodian KTV. The girls are friendly and happy to please. It is a great environment for those who like to have a great time.
Many bars have pool tables and the girls often suggest challenging you to a game of pool, and request a lady drink if they win. Don't expect to see a Cambodian winning the world pool championships any time soon!As far as the women in the Phnom Penh bars go, the prurient might say that the biggest difference between the Thais and the Cambodians is that there's no need for silicone bags in Cambodia. They tend to be dark-skinned, curvy and can have absolutely striking eyes. And yeah, they are busty.Personality and attitude-wise, they are rather different to the girls working bar in Thailand. The Cambodian girls are much less hardened, much less mercenary and general chit chat tends to be more relaxed. They are generally more playful than the Thais, but without any real flirting or sexual innuendo. Thai working girls these days tend to be more professional; pleasant on the outside but rock hard on the inside."
Here’s a couple in a bar in Cambodia.
Here is a typical man with a Cambodian girl in Cambodia. Most girls in Cambodia tend to be curvy with soft places where they belong. Many find them very attractive, and with dark eyes and great smiles they tend to be irresistible.
"The Cambodians might be more pleasant and the bars employ some pretty ladies, but in terms of looks at least, you don't see anything like you do in the likes of Rainbow 4 or Bacarra. What they may lose in the looks department they more than make up for personality-wise. There are few tattoos to be seen and while smoking is allowed in the bars in Cambodia, it is the customers who are puffing away. Very few Cambodian working girls smoke. Cambodian girls working in hostess bars make a point of saying that good girls don't smoke! In fact the girls in the bars don't even feel like bar-girls. Thai bar-girls with anything more than a month or two in the industry are for the most part, hard. Many of the Cambodian girls in the bars seemed quite sweet.”
And..
What is Khmer Food? Khmer food takes influences from a variety of countries. Cambodia was a French colony for many years and also has many Chinese immigrants, so both French and Chinese foods are widely found. In the west of the country, the cuisine is, naturally, influenced by the food of neighboring Thailand while in the east the flavors of Vietnamese cuisine are more evident. Coastal towns such as Sihanoukville in the southwest are famous for their seafood, cooked in many styles, including Japanese and European. Common ingredients in Khmer cuisine are similar to those found in other Southeast Asian culinary traditions – rice and sticky rice, fish sauce, palm sugar, lime, garlic, chilies, coconut milk, lemon grass, galangal, kaffir lime and shallots.
“What it costs for a night of these ladies' company, I don't know. Broaching the subject brought awkward looks from girls who seemed reluctant to discuss it. I was quoted $40 by ladies aghast that such should even be discussed, and they were probably more aghast when they realized I was only asking for the purpose of understanding how things work, not because I had any intention of being a naughty boy!
Locals tell me that hostesses will happily spend the night for $20 – 30, which seems awfully cheap. Bar-fines run $10, and drop to $5 after midnight, in some bars.
Some of the friendly club girls in Cambodia. They do like to please. Look at those smiles. What’s not to like?
There's much debate whether young South-East Asian women are “forced” to work in the bar industry. It's an argument that really doesn't hold up in Thailand where even the least educated can get factory work, which with overtime will provide a livable income. A comfortable life perhaps not, but it's honest work that one can feel good about.Cambodia is altogether different.
Many of the girls in the bars seemed to have very limited options. One girl, a striking looker with an uncanny resemblance to an ex-girlfriend, really tugged on my heart strings as we struggled to communicate and tell me about her life. The oldest of 3 children, the 24-year old long-haired beauty couldn't read or write. She had never been to school and she had almost zero employment options. Her only real options were working on a farm, for which she would make the equivalent of about $60 a month. The salary alone from bar work was that much, and she would also get $1 for every drink bought for her, as well as whatever gifts customers rewarded her with in the morning.”
While Mr. Stickman’s comments were from the perspective of a visiting (horny male) expat from Thailand, it should not be discounted. Most expats (judging from my trivial search on the Internet) to Cambodia seem to fall into a handful of categories;
Backpacker / explorers. They just traipse around the world on a trivial level to collect experiences to “wow” others in an attempt to boost their already insignificant ego. I tend not to associate with them. In my mind they are not experiencing life in depth. They are collecting trivialities. To experience life, you have to do more than just have a low-budget vacation.
Do gooders. These are often part of NGO’s set up by others with ulterior motives. They stay for the duration of their contract and then leave. They come with preconceived notions. (Usually related to sex, politics or religion.) They then try to implement their ideals, often fail, and head home afterwards.
Bad Guys. Anyone who wants to exploit others for money, labor, sex or the like. You see an occasional news article about these individuals. I have encountered them… all too often. Which is why many long-duration expats do not associate with other expats often.
Teach English. It’s always a good stepping stone into another culture. It’s also a necessity for those of us who have lost everything.
It would seem to be a great opportunity for someone to set up a factory or an industry in the area, but you would absolutely need to partner up with a local to be successful. Getting to know a local for just that purpose takes planning and an investment in time. Just saying, but if you are young and have the drive and the stamina to make something happen, Cambodia might be right for you.
Think of the beer. Imagine drinking it while eating some Cambodian steaks with a pretty local gal…
Cambodia has some nice local beers. Always the beer is great when ice cold. There is something fine about a beer and a hamburger in a tropical paradise .
I arrived in China when it was in it’s growth phase, and it worked out for me. Maybe Cambodia might be right for someone younger.
Attend University
There are some interesting takes on this “thing” about Cambodia. Consider one enterprising student who decided to attend university in Cambodia. Why attend a university in Cambodia? Because you can and it looks interesting on your resume. Roy, an American expat, who is working his way towards a degree in political science at the University of Cambodia, tells his story;
“Attending university in Cambodia is an adventure and much more interesting than slogging through classes at a community college back home. Right now I’m finishing my second term at University of Cambodia.
I love it here; the people are great. While there are a few students here from other ASEAN countries, I’m currently the only Westerner enrolled. Students and teachers all seem initially surprised, but quickly get used to having a barang in class.
As a native English speaker, I get asked about pronunciations, definitions and grammar; it’s a bit like being a living dictionary. There are also opportunities where I try to explain the oddities of US politics.The question I hear most often from my classmates is, “Why are you going to school in Cambodia and why did you decide to attend this school?” I explain that I love the country and the people. My choosing UC is based on instruction in English, the very helpful staff in registration and, if I’m going to travel halfway around the world to go to school, I want to be able to put something on my resume that makes it perfectly clear that I attended a university in Cambodia.There are no “student visas” in Cambodia but as a student you can get a business/ordinary visa without a work permit.”
Dual Pricing
Dual pricing based on race is very common in Cambodia, from the bus companies who charge white faces more to the hospitals that have one rate for Khmers and another for foreigners. Even the government-owned airline has one fare for Cambodians and another, much higher fare for everyone else. This is frustrating on many levels, not least when it’s foreign-owned businesses that are perpetuating what is, fundamentally, a form of racism. When asked how they can justify dual pricing based on race, race-based pricing advocates scramble all over themselves to defend the practice.
Cambodian nationality is, for the most part, based on race (non-Vietnamese minority tribes are the exception). Any child of a Cambodian mother is granted Cambodian citizenship, regardless of where he or she is born. The child of non-Cambodians, though born and raised in Cambodia, is not granted Cambodian citizenship. Ethnically Vietnamese families who have lived in Cambodia for generations are, for all intents and purposes, stateless as far as the Cambodian government is concerned. So the argument that the dual-pricing system is not racist because it is based on nationality is flawed, because there is no attainable path to Cambodian citizenship for non-Cambodians (and I don’t call paying a $50,000 “facilitation fee” attainable).
Moreover, non-Cambodian Asians often benefit from the dual pricing plan, paying the local rate even when they don’t speak much Khmer and are citizens of Western countries. In practice, actual nationality seems unimportant; looking Khmer matters more. Khmer-Americans are also given the “local” price by many businesses, whether or not they have Cambodian passports.
“I am a simple man who has been living in Cambodia for about 7 yrs. I return to my country of employ for some months at a time as I have a small business there which needs a little personal love every now and then.I have been to about 60 different countries and have lived for 3 months or more in about 15 of them. Some, for 1-3 years. I would say that on a humble scale I am reasonably worldly. I am definitely an adventurer.I have experienced dual pricing in quite a few different countries. Here it can be quite strong, agreed.The Chris with a capital C, made some good comments. Let us all think about this word racism. It’s a shocker isn’t it? Have I had better experiences in some countries than others, yes. Do I like the culture of some countries more than others, yes. Do I dislike the ego and blatant disregard for other nations well being that particular countries seem to display, yes. Do I like the smooth sound of some languages and not the guttural sounds of others, yes. Are there many examples like this, yes. Does this make me racist, maybe it does.Does Cambodia invade other countries, like so many of the world powers, no. Does Cambodia produce a huge amount of mass marketed products that are killing humans, animals and the planet, no. Does Cambodia steal the oil of other nations, no.I guess we all have our good and bad points.I can hear some of you saying that Cambodia does not have the wealth or power to do such things. And yet many of our countries have the power and have completely abused it. Which is less excusable?Expats, hmmm! That’s an interesting topic. We come here with more money than the average Khmer, can make more than the average Khmer, and have to pay more than the average Khmer… and in our own selfish way, that is apparently unfair. Seems like a fair enough tax system to me. How many of you pay full tax on your local wage? Maybe using local Khmer as an excuse for not paying full tax isn’t fair because that is as much a part of their culture as dual pricing.All around the world I have seen people from richer, more dominating, more arrogant cultures demanding everything they can get their hands on from some poor local. We so often take all the good we can get and then quickly complain or blog about something we didn’t like. Suck it up Humans. Take the good with the bad.Simple question… If the way of life in your own country is so good, then why are you here? To all the service men and women who are posted abroad without choice, please excuse this question.I now have a loving Khmer wife and 2 beautiful Khmer daughters. My mother-in-law lives with us too. It is a complete family. I am very lucky.Yes it is true that sometimes I pay more. Sometimes my wife and her friends laugh at me because I get better prices at the local shops and markets than they can. I speak quite a lot of Khmer but am not 100% fluent. I get some discounts because I have a Khmer family and sometimes my Khmer daughters get in free and I have to pay. Most importantly, I find gentle, wise respect gets me the best price, and it feels the nicest for me and others too.3 people go to a movie. 1 loves it, 1 doesn’t really care and 1 hates it. Same movie, only the minds are different. Suffering and happiness comes from the mind. If you don’t like something try changing your mind.I suggest that when you are troubled with the local ways that you go and enjoy an ice cold 50c beer, a $2 meal, or go for a free meditation at your local wat.”-GreyEarth
A Narrative by Ian
Here is a pretty darn and comprehensive report by a fellow who went to Cambodia. This is not the PC scrubbed Internet fare that is edited for millennial sensibilities and the PC rules (written or unwritten). It is raw and fresh, just like I like my sashimi. It is titled “My Phnom Penh Trip Report or Phnom Penh for Newbies”. Written by Stick Reader Ian January 5th, 2015. Enjoy.
“I had that nervous energy you get when you do something for the first time. I'm 58. At my age I don't often get to do something new. I'm boarding a Bangkok Airways flight to Phnom Penh and I haven't been to Cambodia before.
I've heard it's similar to Thailand of years past. I took the 2nd half of December off work so I could see my Thai partner for Xmas; I came all the way from Farangland to see her only to be told (several months ago) that she would go to the temple and thus be busy in the first week. OK, Cambodia here I come and I'll see her in the 2nd week of my vacation.
Translation; The man has been living in Thailand with a girl. He is an expat from the West. (Maybe from the UK or Australia. Ian is not a common American name.) His girlfriend will spend a week at a Temple, and he will go to Cambodia to see what it is like. He will be comparing it to Thailand, initally, and to the West (slang; Farangland) ultimately.
Naturally she changed her mind sometime after I booked the Cambodia trip. I said that was no problem — I was going anyway. Then she asked if I was angry with her? No, I wasn't. My expectation in life is if you say you'll do something then you do it. She said she was busy; I said I was going to Cambodia and that's the way it would be. I think it's best to live by your principles.
Thailand girls have a reputation for being “wishy washy”.
The real attraction of Cambodia was the prospect of Snookyville (that's Sihanoukville but often referred to as Snookyville, which I will continue to use in this post because I like the name). I've heard it's like Pattaya 30 years ago.Imagine that; a Pattaya of the early 1990’s. Everything cheap and fresh.I'm old enough to remember that and I liked it; I wanted to experience it again and see the place for myself. But when I investigated I found it was too difficult to get there. To my surprise there was no transport from the airport to Snookyville (maybe by taxi, but not using an inexpensive means of transport) and with my itinerary it wasn't practical to get there on the same day. Ditto for the return trip. With only 5 nights in Cambodia and the need to spend 2 of them in Phnom Penh I decided Snookyville wouldn't be the focus of my trip; I'd try Phnom Penh and see how that went. Maybe I'd make a flying visit to Snookyville, but the focus would be Phnom Penh.
First lesson. Transportation access is not that easy.
I thought Cambodia would be about getting laid and not paying much for it. Without going into every detail I'm outlining some of the things I experienced. My primer for newbie visitors to Phnom Penh. My trip report.
Here is his trip report. He expected to go to Cambodia for a lot of low priced sex. Here is what he experienced.
Arrival
I was worried about the visa on arrival process. I read about the dual currency economy. I knew I needed to bring US$ and while I don't have a problem with that I didn't think I understood how it would work. I figured this would be a cheap holiday so I budgeted $500 for the 5 days. (I budget that much for 1 day when I visit Bangkok, although I normally spend half of that on myself and give the other half to my partner. I'm Mr. Nice Guy; or maybe Mr. Dummy.)
Cambodian meal in Siem Reap. There is a mix of authentic Khmer cuisine, but also the local French influences and other international favorites. A couple of my own favorites include the stir fried beef loc lac and of course the french breads.
I needed $30 for the visa on arrival. I read I should have a visa photo with me when I arrive. I read it wasn't worth getting an e-visa, that it was just as easy to get the visa on arrival. That was bad advice. The visa on arrival process was frantic and disorganized; not exactly pushing and shoving but close to it. If I had an e-visa I could have simply gone to the Immigration queue and the arrival would have so much easier. Note that for next time. On the plane I met guys with similar plans to mine; one had been to Phnom Penh a few times before, the other was a newbie like me. Neither had an e-visa. The other newbie didn't have a photo and had to organize that in the arrival hall. I lost track of him in the Arrivals hall so I don't exactly know how things worked out for him. I saw him at the baggage carousel, so I know he survived. An e-visa would have cut 15 minutes and considerable stress out of the process.
If it were me, I’d pay the money. I would use an e-visa. You get what you pay for.
The taxi ride to the city was a microcosm of the visit. I read and was told (by the experienced traveler) that I should get a voucher for the ride that would cost $12. After looking around I managed to find the booth to get the voucher. But you don't pay for the voucher, you just hold on to it or maybe show it to the taxi driver. At the end of the journey you pay the guy $12. The voucher appeared to have no purpose except to reassure me of the price.True, I felt better knowing what the price would be and I could always push it in the face of the taxi driver if I felt I was being ripped off; but that didn’t happen. I paid the taxi driver $12 when we arrived at the hotel — he was happy and there was no argument about the price.And that's what the holiday was like. No stress; no fuss; prices are inexpensive so pay what is asked; obviously bargain where you can but everything seemed to be pretty well organized; if you didn't argue and accepted things as they were the whole process was low stress.I'm an experienced expat. I know when I visit other countries they're designed for their citizens not for me. It's up to me to experience their lifestyle and conditions. If I like it, that's great. If I don't, catalogue it and move on. No fuss, no furore.
Sounds like he understands the way of the world. Reader take notes.
Hotel and Getting Around
Thank you, Agoda. I selected what turned out to be a good hotel in the Riverside area that had a decent rate ($45 per night). They described themselves as a 3 star hotel which I thought was harsh; maybe not 4 stars but close to it. If you're new to Phnom Penh I recommend staying at Riverside. It's close to everything; it's easy to walk anywhere. There are lots of restaurants, pubs and bars close by. If you want to go somewhere that's too far to walk there are lots of tuktuks or motorcycle (motos) to use.In 6 days and 5 nights in Phnom Penh I must have said "no" 500 times to offers of transport. This is perhaps a downside of my visit; I can do that for a week without getting annoyed. If I was there for a month it would be different; although if I stayed for 3 months I'm sure I'd assimilate. Personally I like to walk. I get a better feel of the place, I'm in no rush and it was "winter" when I was there so it wasn't hot or unpleasant to be outside. (Around 25 – 27C every day with no rain.)
To put this in perspective, Southern China is nine months of 30 to 33C and very humid. (For you Americans in readership land, that is 90 to 95F and 90% humidity.) That temperature sounds absolutely wonderful.
Eating and Drinking
I have 30 years of experience visiting Thailand and think I know prices there quite well. I thought everything in Cambodia would be cheap and I was right & wrong. I was looking forward to eating on the streets and especially looking forward to eating good bread. I live in a country with poor quality bread and Thailand isn't exactly the patisserie capital of the world.
Street vendor selling bread in Cambodia. The bred is good and basic. It goes really good with butter and a nice strong local coffee.
I didn't like the look of the street food as much as I thought I would so I didn't eat much of it. There was bread everywhere but served with more fillings than I like. By "fillings" I mean pressed meats and a variety of vegetables. I didn't see as much plain bread as I expected and I had no ear for the Khmer language so had trouble asking for just a plain baguette. Even though I didn't like the fillings for the bread (served similarly to Vietnam rolls) I found they were good when I tried them. The baguettes were good quality, too, but I would have preferred to eat them plain.As I didn't eat much street food I was "forced" into restaurants. They were more expensive than I expected. In general I found the cafe and restaurant prices (in downtown PP) to be the same price as or even more expensive than food in the suburbs of Bangkok. But there was more variety in the Phnom Penh food than in Thailand; more western food options and the Cambodians use less spice. That wouldn't suit everyone but it happens to agree with me.
CAMBODIAN FRENCH BREAD WITH BEEF (NUM PANG ANG CHIA MUI SACH KO). Doesn’t this look great and delicious. I’ll bet that it goes great with an ice cold beer. I’ll tell you what.
Drinking was another matter. I can't remember being in a place where drinks were so cheap. In downtown PP, on Riverside which is a popular tourist and probably an upscale area for locals, it was easy to find happy hour with local draft beers for $0.75. Still on happy hour — bottles of local beer for $1; Beck's beer $1.25; Hoegaarden, Heineken, Guinness, Corona all $1.50; English cider (apple, pear or strawberry) $1.50; and every little hole in the wall bar and eatery has free wifi. As a visitor I didn't need or buy a local SIM card — free wifi everywhere worked well for me. Happy hour wasn't from 5-7 PM, it was generally all day and lasted until 8 PM, 9 PM or even 10 PM in some places.
Take note Americans. Even in Cambodia the Wifi is FREE.
Beer prices are very cheap. Hell, even in China, you can expect to pay a minimum of 30 RMB for a Hoegaarden ($5).
The drink prices were fairly consistent at pubs in that part of town. There are also hostess bars (this is why you're reading the article, right?). Surprisingly the drink prices weren't a lot different. A bottle of local beer in the bars was generally $1.00-$1.50; lady drinks were between $2.50-$3.50Hostess BarsMy research said the Cambodian ladies (in hostess bars) are less pushy than their Thai sisters and you could talk to them without being pressured into buying them a drink.That's true.You could ask them to come and sit with you. You could ask them to go away. You could buy them a drink. You could choose not to buy them a drink. Nothing seemed to be a problem. Having been around Thailand for a long time I don't feel it's right to string along the girls — they have to make a living — but they certainly didn't pressure me to buy drinks.When I bought them a drink it was me who offered and they happily accepted but I don't remember any lady asking me to buy a drink for her. If I didn't buy them a drink I'd leave a tip when I left and they were grateful. I think they get $1 for each lady drink so if I didn't buy them a drink I'd leave $2-$5 depending on how long I spent with them and everyone seemed happy. (I'm sure the bar wouldn't be thrilled but I'm not on earth to please everyone.)
Short Time… (Single shot sex, often under two hours.)
My research for the price of ladies' company was probably out of date. From going around I found the going price of ST (short time) was about $30 – $40 depending on the lady and the quality of the bar.
Long Time… (Overnight sex. Multiple shots.)
I only asked about LT (long time) with one lady who wanted $50. On night #1 I thought that was too much and declined. By night #2 I thought that was a dumb decision and went back to secure her services. She was happy to see me back and honor the previously quoted price. I suggested to her that she would have to be "enthusiastic" for that price; she said she would be and lived up to her part of the bargain. After 5 nights in Phnom Penh and being quoted $40 for ST by a few ladies I felt I was lucky to get my LT arrangement for $50; and stupid to pass it up on the first night. But, hey, that's why they call it a learning curve.
Cambodia is not Thailand.
Again my research said that hostess bars in Phnom Penh (and probably all of Cambodia) are not the same as Thailand. They don't have shows like Suzy Wong in Soi Cowboy, or Angelwitch in Nana Plaza; they don't have go-go dancers or coyotes; they don't feature skimpy outfits or near naked ladies to entertain you. You go into a bar; you choose a lady; you chat — the best you can with the language difficulties; you make a deal or you don't; you leave. As far as I could see that was about it.
That is how it works, don’t ya know…
The closest thing I found to a racy bar was a place called Cyrcee (pronounced seer-say). The description I got of this place was the ladies would give you a blow job before you could order your first drink. Well, that was an exaggeration. But it was a rocking little place if you like to be naughty.
You can find hamburgers all over the world. Here is a burger and fires in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap. Where’s the beer?
It's a normal hostess bar — no fish bowl or wannabe massage parlor. It had lots of ladies (about 20) with good variety. They weren't shy about what they offered or how it worked.There's a ST hotel across the road that costs $5 for the room; $10 for the bar fine and $30 for the lady.I am no longer a young man and as such there are limits to my powers (I wish I had the energy of yesteryear); yet the girl I chose managed to convince me to take her friend as well. The honest truth is I have tried this twice before in my life and each time was a disappointment. Instead of every man's fantasy of combined action both of my experiences were sequential with one girl doing her business and the other one a bystander; then the first one left and the second one had her turn.
Again, here is the truth. What you see on porn movies is all make-believe. This is pretty much how it goes down. My experiences have always been sequential affairs involving two, three, and once four girls.
These are not my best memories so I was reluctant to try it now. I raised the concern with these two ladies and they assured me they would work in tandem so I figured "at this price, even if it isn't good, I don't have that much to lose".Off I went with my two ladies and had a remarkably good time.I only wish I was 20 years younger but I'll cherish this as a good memory — the first time it's worked out for me like it does in the movies. If you want to go to Cyrcee I can't give an exact address but walk along 130 St heading west towards Central Market; you'll see the sign in the side street on the left just before the market; it's hard to find during the daytime (why would you want to go during the day?) but it's easy to see at night even though the sign is small.I just found out it's pretty easy to get Ceycee's address and a map if you Google it — let's leave it at that because the information is likely to be more current than anything I provide here.PP Street LayoutBefore going to Phnom Penh I was intimidated by the street numbering system and the advice on where to go. 136 Street; 130 Street; 148 Street; 51 Street…When you get there it's much easier to figure out. Even numbered streets go from east-west; odd numbers go north-south. Street numbers jump in large numbers; it's not a grid like Manhattan. Because of the irregular shape of the downtown area many streets start and end in a short distance. So when you're at Riverside you'll see the streets go 118, 130, 136, 144 & 148. You'll find all the street numbers somewhere in the city but they don't necessarily extend all the way across the city. It's the same for the odd numbered streets. It's much easier to get around when you learn this.ShoppingBelieve it or not I wasn't fully occupied with my "meet & greet" of the ladies. I like a bargain as much as the next person and think shopping in Thailand is great value. Phnom Penh was better. Clothes and shoes are inexpensive. Shops on the street and stalls in the Central Market had clothes for 50% to 66% less than Bangkok. Before going to Phnom Penh I bought a pair of trousers in a Bangkok Tesco Lotus for the bargain price of $15. After a few days in Phnom Penh I thought that was positively expensive. While I didn't research this extensively it seemed the prices in the roadside shops were relatively fixed and bargaining was the norm in the market.If you like a bargain you should visit the Central Market. They have lots of things — clothes, shoes, caps, hats, food — everything you could ask for. Many of the stalls had incredible inventory and selection of goods. The biggest challenge was choosing what to buy. And while I was happy with the prices I ran into some tourists who'd just spent a week in Siem Reap who complained the prices were double what they'd found there. So while I was happy they were turning up their noses saying everything was too expensive.Currency and How It WorksI said earlier I was intimidated by the idea of bringing and using US$. It really wasn't a big deal. Prices for tourists are quoted in US$. You pay and get change in dollars. The approximate exchange rate is US$1 = Riel 4,000. When change is less than $1 they give you Riel. You can pay in Riel if you want; in line with the easy going nature of the people everyone accepted the rate of $1 = 4,000. The actual rate was about 4,080 but not once did anyone say "No, you need to pay me 20,400" as opposed to 20,000 when something was $5. Considering it's a relatively poor country and almost everyone you meet would value the extra Riel 400 it's surprising that no one insisted on the extra few hundred. I've been in lots of countries where they want that extra 10c but in Cambodia everyone seemed relaxed about it.The one thing to be careful about is the quality of your US currency. I took money with me that I use in the US without a problem. But in Cambodia they're fussy. If a bill is ripped, torn, marked or too dirty they won't accept it. I had 2x $20 bills that no one would accept because one had a corner missing and the other had writing on it. No problem using them in the US but not acceptable in Cambodia. They are more forgiving of dirty $1 bills than 5s, 10s or 20s. I wouldn't recommend using 50s or 100s — they're too big for general use; it's better to stick to the smaller bills and use 20s as the highest denomination.Gratuitous Phnom Penh AdviceHere are some tips for Phnom Penh. 51 St around 172 St has a lot of pubs, clubs and bars. The Walkabout Hotel is full of freelancers, seemingly at any time of the day or night.
Here is a typical street scene in Battambang, Cambodia.
A place near there on 51 St called Zeppelin Cafe is a great place to go for a drink and listening to 70s guitar-based rock music. The owner, who appeared to be a Cambodian national with a ponytail, sits at the back of the bar with 2 turntables. He has an extensive collection of vinyl records (not a CD in sight) and plays what he wants to hear. He looks like a grumpy bugger and I doubt he takes requests — but it's a great place to sit down, have a drink and listen to some music you might have forgotten about. It's not a pickup joint and it's not the kind of place you can talk much — it is, after all, 70s rock featuring loud guitars.Just around the corner on 172 St is Pontoon, one of the most famous night places in Phnom Penh. It's a club or disco. Don’t go early. I went at 10:30 PM and it was dead. I heard later that it warms up around midnight. I was also told that it is "the" place to go in PP, has fabulous looking ladies (presumably freelancers) and lots of them. One of the challenges of advancing age is not having the staying power to roam the streets at 2 AM so I didn't get to find out; but people younger than me recommended it.On the corner of 51 St and 172 St is a place called Le Bon Cafe — a nice place to have a coffee, snack or light meal. It features both outdoor and indoor seating. The owners (or managers) speak perfect English so there is no risk of your order being misunderstood or the wrong item coming to your table. I dropped in during both the day and night; no matter what time I was there the owner / manager or perhaps a family member was there with perfect communications.Across at Riverside there are many cafes and pubs to choose from. The one I enjoyed most for a happy hour drink was on the corner of Sisowath Quay (the main river side road) and 110, 118 or 130 St; I didn't take note of the place's name and Google street view isn't helping me remember but the one at 110 St "looks" about right. Hint: it has this easily visible, non-illuminated Happy Hour sign at the front.You can't go far wrong with any place around there, but this corner pub / cafe had friendly staff, nice atmosphere and good prices. It was a place you can just sit down and watch the world go by.My hotel provided free breakfast which was quite OK. But I saw a place on Sisowath Quay called Camory Restaurant, near 110 St that offered breakfast for $3.95. They had a dozen choices for that price and I found I enjoyed it more than my hotel's free breakfast. Camory is also a hostel style guesthouse; they offer inexpensive accommodation and rooms with as many as 4 beds (presumably for a family or maybe for really good friends). If you stay there the breakfast is free.
Come on… How about the freelancers?
Going back to the ladies, another place known for freelancers is Sharky Bar on 130 St. I didn't find it interesting but I could have gone there at the wrong time — yet again. They have pool tables which seem to be popular. Note it costs Riel 1,000, all of 25c, for a game of pool. I read a ridiculous Internet post from some guy who complained he was aggressively confronted when he tried to leave without paying for 3 games of pool. He implied he was ready to fight the bouncers because he couldn't see the sign showing the price. It's amazing someone would be willing to go to hospital for a "principle" when all that's at stake is 75c. That's hard to understand.
Safety…
I walked around Phnom Penh by myself at all hours of the day and night. I was on main roads, quiet streets and dark back alleys. I didn't feel uncomfortable or threatened once. It was fine even on a quiet, dark street at night when I walked past 3-4 Cambodian men talking together and thought to myself "this might not be good". They kept on talking to each other and barely paid attention to me. I didn't feel there was any threat or safety issue in Phnom Penh.SnookyvilleI wasn't going to miss out on Snookyville. The original idea of going to Cambodia was to lose myself in multiple orgies in Snookyville. If I couldn't do that I was at least going to see it. Just like being in Pattaya 30 years ago — it was something I had to do.
What a disappointment.Again my "research" suggested there are several parts of town. There's downtown, Victory Hill, Serendipity Beach and some other beach areas. The beach areas were described as backpacker havens. As I'm on the older side of the scale I figure that backpackers and places that cater to them really aren't my thing.Victory Hill appears to be famous for a place called the chicken farm — a place with lots of freelancers who are supposed to cost as little as $5 a time. That didn't appeal to me either. And it seems the authorities have closed it down so even if it appeals to you it's unlikely you'll get what you want any more. So I figured it was a choice between Victory Hill and downtown. I plumped for downtown and chose an inexpensive hotel. It was a bad choice. The place was dead. There was virtually nothing around and very little entertainment.I'd read of a place called Charlie Harper's Bar that was supposed to be a happening place. With a name like that and Charlie of Two and a Half Men being the ultimate mongerer I figured it had to be good. By nothing more than good luck it was diagonally opposite my hotel. I walked in at 7:30 PM and it was quiet. There were some expats having a drink; a few had what looked like steady girlfriends but there were no other ladies hanging around. I thought it was probably too early.Drinks were similar prices to Phnom Penh. I noticed a sign that said "Lady Drinks $2". Not bad. I asked the woman at the bar when the ladies turn up so I could buy them a drink. She looked at me with complete surprise and said they have 4 ladies at the bar, they were all there right now and I could buy any one of them a drink. But they can't be barfined because they actually work at the bar.
What’s the point of that??
I can have a drink for myself and buy a higher priced drink for a lady who can't sit and talk to me or join me later? Who would do that? Not me.I asked if there was anywhere around that offered female company; she accommodatingly pointed to the street corner and said "up there, go to Kangaroo bar". Consistent with my experience in Cambodia I have to say she was helpful.It turns out Kangaroo bar is actually called Kangaroo Kitchen (even though it's a guesthouse and a bar). They did have ladies there; I couldn't figure out if they were freelancers or there was a bar fine involved. Of the 8-10 ladies I saw there was only one I found appealing. I spoke to her for a while but decided against taking things further and went back to my hotel alone.
Ah. It happens.
I also read that you shouldn't walk around by yourself at night in Snookyville. Be in a group of 3 or more people. If you're by yourself then go around by moto. I guess I could have gone by moto to Victory Hill or the beach area to have a look.
But after exploring the underwhelming downtown area I wasn't motivated to try. It was probably my fault for not being more adventurous.Snookyville was underwhelming. Maybe I chose the wrong place to stay. Maybe Victory Hill would have been great. Maybe the beach areas were better and not targeted only at backpackers.
I'll never know.
I didn't enjoy my day / night there and I'm unlikely to go back.The positive things I'll say about Snookyville are that my hotel was clean, air-conditioned and cost $20 for the night. I can't complain about that.
One of the first shocks to Americans who travel abroad is how much newer, cleaner and better buses are. America has only given lip service to public transportation. The rest of the world takes it quite seriously.
The bus fare to get there from Phnom Penh was all of $7 for a 5½ hour ride. Strangely the bus company wouldn't / couldn't sell me a return ticket. I figured I was being set up for a rip off on the return journey. When I bought my ticket in Snookyville to go back to Phnom Penh it cost all of $5.50The real problem with Snookyville is the 5½ journey from Phnom Penh.
If I went from Bangkok to Pattaya and had a disappointing experience I could always try again — it's only 1½ hours away. But 5½ hours each way means dedicating a full day by the time you get to and from the bus station. I won't do it again because I don't want to spend a full 2 days with the possibility of being disappointed.How Was My Budget?6 days and 5 nights in Cambodia. A budget of $500; 2x $20 bills I couldn't use so I effectively had $460. How did I do? I booked hotels using Agoda so paid for them on a credit card and therefore outside of the cash budget.
I ate good but not extravagant food, sometimes on the street but mostly in cafes and restaurants.
I'm not a big drinker but went out every night and drank more than I normally would in a year. I bought some shirts and a pair of basketball style sneakers.
I had a road trip to Snookyville. I had one LT and several STs. Visa on arrival was $30; taxis to and from the airport cost $24; I even managed a meal at the airport Burger King before I left. And ended up with $6 change from my $460.
I can't complain and I will go back.Subsequent trips will never be the same as the first one but I enjoyed my visit. And I realize that while I'm old and have lots of experience in Thailand I can still look forward to that nervous excitement of visiting new places because I haven't yet been to Laos, Vietnam or Burma.Oh, happy days.”
Panama
Here is an interesting article about moving to Panama. I personally have some friends who have moved there. They love it there. They are not making a lot of money, but the trade-off in lifestyle more than offsets any other concern. For me, nah, I don’t think that I would want to move there. It is too close to the United States. I would like to keep an ocean between myself and the kooky politics of the USA.
Map of Panama. This is a small nation with plenty of beaches, mountains, and water. It is tropical and full of life and adventure. What is not to love?
Simply by looking at the map, one would assume that that would possess both beautiful tropical beaches, and amazing mountains. It just must be amazing!
To read the article go here. It is titled; “Panama is still the easiest place to obtain residency”.
“Expats here live very well. English is widely spoken, the medical services are excellent, a high standard of living is available at a reasonable cost, and the nightlife is fantastic—from top quality restaurants to more exotic adult adventures. Panama was one of the first countries in the world to establish a program specifically aimed attracting retirees.They promised special discounts and a number of attractive benefits to anyone who could demonstrate a certain level of retirement income. The program worked, and foreigners showed up en masse. (Although many retirees are still waiting for some of those promised special discounts…)”
And…
“Over the next several years, the government established all sorts of immigration programs hoping to attract investors—from forestry to agriculture to finance. (With a whopping 52 ways to obtain residency, it’s clear the residency visa requirements in Panama are incredibly easy.)Then in 2012, they created an even easier way to become a resident: simply letting people in. They called it the Friendly Nations Visa. And it’s just about the easiest way in the world to obtain residency in any country.
Panama City Beach Florida cityscape at night; Shutterstock ID 103240559; Project/Title: AARP; Downloader: Melanie Marin
The list now includes over 40 countries, including the US, Australia, most European countries, Israel, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, and several Latin American countries. Citizens of any of these countries can obtain residency in Panama extremely easily by merely demonstrating ‘economic activity’ in the country.”
Poland
By my historical roots, I can become a citizen of Poland. My grandparents on my father’s side emigrated from Poland to the United States. You see, Poland has rules enabling relatives of former citizens to repatriate.
Everyone that I have talked to have told me that Krakow, Poland is awesome. I get the impression of a European level college town with friendly people and fine excellent food. Public transportation is cheap as is the finer things in life.
It was something that I have considered, but ultimately chose not to do. Not because I didn’t think it was an awesome place to live, but at the time, the Obama administration was getting too cozy with the EU. (Later, I discovered that it was his love of Brussels, rather than his care or concern for Poland.) I did not want to live in an American “backwater”.
Here is an interesting article written by an American that moved to Poland. It is called “Why living in Poland is like living in Hollywood” and can be found here. Some excerpts;
“Polish people often imagine America as a country where everybody’s rich or at least richer than Poles and more sophisticated – take any TV show where an average family lives in a nice, spacious house and for 16-th birthday kids get their cars.
Now when I am back in Florida I like to take day trips with my wife and daughter. When we were driving through Clay County I told my Polish spouse that it’s pretty nice out there to which she replied :
”Oh Mark please don’t make me move here just to prove how much I love you”.
She said that not because the place is off the beach or it’s a country side, she said that because the place is far from civilization, houses are often mobile and if you don’t have a car there is no way to go anywhere.”
Łódź (Lodz) – capital of Central Poland. This city has a kind of old world feel as well as a kind of European version of London feel to it. Nice, exciting and charming.
And…
“Poland was a socialist country so the country has a large social system built in. There are unemployment benefits and food stamps etc and housing. But this is nothing compared to going to grandma’s in the village and eating fresh food, even if unemployed.
It is a different reality.
You can live in Poland for nothing and people’s expectations are different. My wife was making 500 dollars a month, lived on potatoes, and still had a few dollars to take French lessons. No gadgets or cable TV but reality is different. She did not have a gym membership but walked everywhere and was in better shape than the excesses of the west.”
Gdansk old town – Warszawa. Charming, unique and awesome all words that I would use to describe this city and the people.
How about we start with some delicious Polish Hotdogs. Only they are made with fine Polish sausages. Cooked to perfection. Topped with all sorts of delicious toppings. Yum.
When you think about Polish food most people think of Pierogi. Pierogi are delicious, but there is much much more.
Bigos is a “Hunter’s Stew” that has rich flavoring from the meats and cabbage that are within the dish. Many cooks their Bigos stew for two days. Many Poles will use the largest pot available (can fit a large turkey) and let it simmer for around two days. During this time the house will have a delicious aroma. The color comes out a very dark brown almost black.
Another favorite dish in Poland is Paszteciki. My relatives have all made this. I just cannot remember a holiday when we weren’t eating these during the holidays. They are wonderful little snacks that you can just pop into your mouth as other items are cooking. Pass the Paszteciki!
Below are a few honorable mentions.
Golabki – Cabbage roll stuffed with meat and rice with a red sauce.
Kapuska – Made different ways depending on the season. The one I enjoy has tomatoes and grounded up giblets.
Potato Pancakes – Very good, but have to be careful because of the starch and cholesterol.
Apple Pancakes – I never had apple pancakes like my Mother-in-law makes them here. We are surrounded by apple orchards and have time to make a lot of different apple dishes.
Paczki – Polish Donut. Known for the rose filling. Who knew that roses not only smell great but taste delicious as a dessert.
Delicious polish food. My grandmother, and all my relative had perogries often. While not an everyday meal, it was common enough for me to miss when I left for university. These little puppies are cooked in butter with caramelized onions. Yum.
Shoes off when entering a home – Completely understandable. Your home is your clean sanctuary. You’ve been walking around all day in those shoes… Bathrooms… Office spaces… Dog poo? Take your shoes off and let your feet breath.
Women’s role / Man’s role – There is a clear line in what is expected of both sides. However, where some feminist may find it offensive, many women love it! Sure no problem the woman can clear the dishes off the table and clean and put them away, and the man can go outside and pick up the dog poo, mow the lawn, and vacuum the stairs.
Fast Meal – It is always a good idea to keep bread, cheese, or fruits and veggies on hand to whip up a fast meal for expected and unexpected guest. Along with the meal make sure you have plenty of tea and coffee to offer as well. Don’t be rude offer guest in your home refreshments.
Tipping – Tipping is very popular in the United States. For the most part you’re expected to tip your servers, carpet cleaners, maids, etc. as a show of appreciation for the service given. In Poland and Germany it isn’t normal. The amount on your receipt is what is expected. Giving a tip is appreciated but don’t feel that it is necessary.
Germany
Germany, home of beer and fine German sausages. It is a land with amazing forests, wonderful history, and a climate that is suitable to me. Cars can drive without speed limits, prostitution is legal, and I could spend the rest of my life visiting all the historical world war II historical sites.
It’s a beautiful land with seasons, fine food, and a population that is attentive to their role in society.
Germany is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Depending on where you go, you might find Roman ruins, medieval villages, sparkling new cities, or Baroque city centers. It’s just plain awesome.
Here is a nice article on some lessons that an American expat was exposed to as part of their new life in Germany. Some of them are amusing…
“Especially in the former East, freikörperkultur, or free body culture, is an important part of German identity. Decades of oppression lead to a particular appreciation for the experience of freedom and nudity without a direct relationship to sexuality.
This can sometimes be difficult for Americans to buy, particularly when your coworkers casually invite you to the office’s nude sauna or suggest a naked swim in a nearby lake. Adjusting to this culture without getting weird took some grit, finesse, and more than a few awkward encounters.”
Free body culture. Nudity with friends. I can see how it would take some time getting used to, but then again. Meh. So what?
Well, “Free Body Culture” is very, very taboo in the United States. You could easily be arrested and locked up for sexual deviance. Not only that, but you could easily be put on a Sex Offender registry because you didn’t want to wear pants and underwear. Yikes!
Americans would be arrested for things that people in other nations take for granted as normal behavior.
Germany has many charms. If you don’t mind the “free body culture”, there are many other things to like. Like for instance, the fine food, sausages and delicious beer. But it is more than that. It is…
“Moving to Germany meant an inexorable slowing of the pace of my life.
Particularly in Saxony, there are strict rules about when stores can remain open. Most businesses are closed in the evenings and all day on Sunday. Additionally, Germans benefit from frequent holidays and typically at least a month of paid vacation.
This gave me some anxiety at first, particularly when I forgot to leave work early enough to get groceries or didn’t have time to go to the bank.
Over time, however, I learned to both plan my days and to enjoy the break from chores rather than obsessing over lost time. After a few months, I was occasionally leaving work at 3pm to go watch the football game with friends instead of trying to cram a few more hours of work. I still got as much done as usual, but I felt much happier and less burned out.”
It sounds like a real welcome relief to me. I’ll tell you what.
Saarburg is most beautiful town in of the Trier-Saarburg district in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. It covers an area of 20.36 km2 (7.86 sq mi). Saarburg is a medieval-themed town located in Germany. Despite the small number of people (around 6500) the city is a peaceful and beautiful place to live. There you have all the necessary things for a nice and comfortable life. In Saarburg has all kinds of schools, good shopping, a strong health care to the St. Francis Hospital etc.Saarburg is the major and largest center in Trier-Luxembourg region. The main feature of the city is beautiful river Saar.
There’s also another blog written by Amanda Schaefer . She is an American expat living in Germany. Her comments can be found here.
“Be a good hausfrau. The sidewalk in front of your house is directly correlated to your social acceptance in the neighborhood. Shovel and salt it before 8am if it snows and make sure it's swept clean of minuscule dirt particles at all other times.
And wash your windows, too.
If you are American, people know it. I don't know how they know; they just do. You can stop wearing Nikes everywhere, throw your elastic-waisted pants in the garbage, and take off your baseball cap but they will still see you coming from a mile away. Inexplicably, after several months of living here you will also be able to distinguish other Americans in a crowded place before hearing them speak.
Water is served in tiny glass bottles with their own special designer cup, typically at room temperature. Don't ask for tap water unless you want to be forever shunned. The good news is that beer is usually either the same price or cheaper than a dainty little bottle of water. This results in guiltless day drinking.
And what about holidays?
Carnival is as exciting as you imagine! It's like Mardis Gras and Halloween on steroids. There are endless parades with intricate floats, everyone wears painstakingly-crafted costumes, and all of the candy thrown from the floats is washed down with beer-- lots and lots of beer.
There isn't a bad place to participate in the Carnival festivities. In fact, you can attend lots of different celebrations because there are so many villages and each has its own parade. Just be sure to use the right salutation: In and around Köln, it's, "Alaaf!" Almost everywhere else it's, "Helau!"”
OK. So it is traditional. Women must keep the home presentable for the neighbors. You have to be a good citizen and an acceptable resident. I am sure that that might ruffle up some pink hair on some militant American feminists out there.
Germany is interesting in other ways as well. Ways, that I am afraid will upset most sensibilities of your average American.
For instance, prostitution is legal and quite accepted in society. It is LEGAL. It is ACCEPTED. It is considered a societal need.
(Damn! Why did my dad decide to move to the USA when he could of just as easily stayed in Japan, or Germany?) So, if you are a man living in Germany, and need to have a little bit of sexual release, you just get up and go to one of the many thousands of establishments that cater to your manly needs.
Let’s talk about this for a while. After all prostitution in the United States get’s a bad rap. Of course, prostitution in the rest of the world doesn’t look anything like the sorry excuses found in the United States. It’s quite different. In Germany, it’s part of society, and everyone tends to visit them from time to time.
Visiting a Chain-Bordello, the FKK
Yes, in America we have chain fast-food restaurants like McDonalds, and KFC. We have chain restaurants like Red Lobster, and Denny’s. We have chain car-washes, car oil-changes, and chain laundry-mats. Well, Germany has chain-bordellos.
Yeah, I have a number 2 doggie-style with extra BJ, please.
This is one of those places that every guy really needs to see to believe before they die. To quote a blogger; “Having sex with prostitutes at FKK Oase in Frankfurt needs to be added to your bucket list right now.”
Many guys probably have no idea what an FKK is, so I will break that down first.
Not all FKK’s are created equal, but calling them a lavish brothel might be the best way to sum them up. I would say that this is certainly the best way to describe it. It is like going to a Roman villa filled with all sorts of beautiful nude girls who are willing to provide you with pleasures on demand. Yikes! Nero, never had it so good! These are places where guys go to live out their fantasies and be pampered in every way possible.
I wonder why I never heard about this before?
Hum, let me check. Oh, yes. Google blocks much of this information. Why am I not surprised? Americans must be protected against foreign ideas and thoughts that might crush the progressive narrative by the ruling oligarchs. Americans must be dumbed down to meet the lowest IQ, and the shabbiest behaviors so as not to offend anyone.
You know, something exactly like this…
Harrison Bergeron is a 1995 cable science fiction television movie film loosely adapted from Kurt Vonnegut’s 1961 short story of the same name. The film takes place in a dystopian future in which the US government mandates total egalitarianism in all things, by having most people (those with high intelligence) attach wearable mind “handicapping” devices to their heads and showing only mind numbing shows on TV.
Harrison Bergeron
The story centers on a high school student named Harrison Bergeron whose brilliance makes him a pariah. He is recruited by a secret organization whose purpose is to operate the functions of society that cannot be handled by the unintelligent.
While he thrives in this environment for a time and even falls in love with the girl who introduced him into the organization, he ultimately pays a personal price and comes to see the true social structure as unethical and immoral, and thus rebels, even if it means making a sacrifice.
In this reality, it is mandated that all people be equal in all things. To this end, the social norm of this society has become egalitarianism.
Citizens strive to be of equal wealth, intelligence, athletic prowess and social status to all around them. Through a process of selective breeding, mankind is perfecting the perfectly average human being.
What is not accomplished through arranged marriages is made up for through technological means, the most prominent of which are only showing mind numbing shows on TV, and a headband device worn by all citizens which modulates intelligence, dialing up or down a person's IQ in order to arrive at a 'perfect' 100.
Cover your eyes now. Because I am going to describe it for you in reader-land. This knowledge might be harmful to you. It’s probably classified as dangerous “Hate Speech” by the liberals. Knowledge is power. Soak it up. It’s ok.
Take off your stupidity headsets. It’s ok. Do it now.
Now let’s talk about what life is outside the artificial reality that the United States has become…
Contact and address of The FKK Oase FrankfurtAdress: Ober-Erlenbacher Straße 109 - 61381 Friedrichsdorf
Region: Hesse
Country: Germany
GPS: 50.242484, 8.675508
Phone: +49 6007 930551
Site web:FKK Oase
They can be called sauna clubs by some, you can get a massage, go for a swim, or have sex with any of the hundred hot women from around the world that work there. Pricing is different from place to place but generally you pay an entry fee and then pay for sex acts as you go.
As is typical in Germany, everyone walks around near naked or fully naked, including the guys. At some you can have public sex in full view of everyone else, others make you do the action in private rooms.
There are many different FKK establishments. All with different decor and pricing arrangements. For example, let’s talk about FKK Oase in Frankfurt. The following is from a website called a guys night life. Enjoy…
“FKK Oase is located a bit out of the way. You can ask a taxi to take you there or save some euros by taking the S5 train to the Friedrichsdorf station and then getting a taxi from there.When you arrive you pay a 69 euro entrance fee then go to the locker room to take a shower, lock up your clothes, and put on the robe. Guys wear a thin robe here, though some just walk around naked.
FKK in Germany. This is one of their promotional ads. They host nudity and sex for a fee at many scenic locations. Oh, for those of you readers who haven’t grown up past five years of age, cover your eyes because this chick isn’t wearing panties! Whoops! NSFW warning. Heh heh. (Nice Butt, eh?)
The girls generally are fully nude though some will wear sexy lingerie or extremely skimpy bikinis. There are multiple different areas to hang out here, one room has a stripper pole with couches.Then there is a small movie theater that they call the kino where porn is on display. There are many couches and a couple of beds in here, don’t be surprised to see guys getting blowjobs on the couches and live sex shows on the beds.If you want to be the one putting on the show just ask one of the girls around and she will likely be down. There is also a big backyard area with a pool and bar.There are many pool chairs, hammocks, cabanas, and another place for people to have sex on an elevated area. There is a mirror on the ceiling of it so people underneath can look up and watch.This is all done in a Roman theme with statues and the like. You can sit by yourself and take in the scene, move from one area to another, and pick a girl any time you want.”
Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Here’s a photo of FKK with some of the girls there, showing their butts. LOL. (PS. If you are an American under the age of 21, you need to self censure. This might burn your retinas, and cause you to behave erratically.)
Promotional image from FKK. Photo credit to FKK. Love all the cute butts. Heh heh.
“As mentioned you pay a 69 euro cover when you enter and then from there everything is done between you and the girl. The standard price is 50 euros and that gets you a bbbj (blowjob with no condom) followed by covered sex.
69 euro = $79 USD
Certain things will cost extra and they won’t come cheap. For instance most girls will ask for an additional 50 euros to cum in their mouth, most won’t do anal sex but if they do you will have to pay a premium for it.
50 euro = $57.30 USD
Many of the girls will be fine with doing things anywhere in the facilities. You can head to the kino and get blown while watching a porn and then move to a bed and be the star of the show if you like. Just make sure to confirm with the girl that she is up for that before you begin.There is no pressure to take a girl, you have already paid the cover so if for some reason you don’t want to have sex that is fine. You also are free to have sex with as many girls as you want and can afford.Threesomes are definitely possible, but you shouldn’t expect too much interaction between the girls. Pretty much anything can be done here for a price.”
How about that?
A bordello treated like a buffet. Outstanding! What’s not to love?
“Looks can be subjective but ya they are pretty hot. They walk around naked all day so you are not going to see many that don’t have very good bodies.Many of the prostitutes are from Eastern Europe and the vast majority of them are white. Every once in awhile you might see an Asian, Latina, or black girl.As far as how many you don’t really need to worry as there will always be plenty to choose from. The girls have even been known to complain that they have too much competition there.During peak hours there might be as many as 150, and even at slow times there should be close to 50. Since they are all in good shape you will have no problems finding one that suits your needs.The sheer number of girls working here make it one of the best FKK’s in Germany. While this isn’t an extremely cheap way to monger it is definitely an experience that any guy would love to try. As many as 150 in shape naked girls around and you can get with any of them at any time."
“Newbie returns from FKK OASE FrankfurtHi All,Finally got to Frankfurt and my first taste of an FKK recently. Got there about 08:30pm and left at 12:30am on a Friday night and this is my take on the night from a newbie perspective.Getting there:As I was staying in Friedrichsdorf, which I believe is the nearest town and train station. I walked down to the Train station and been as nervous as hell I got into a taxi there and as soon as I sat into it the driver turned and said FKK OASE and I was on my way (Did not even have to tell him). I
ts about a five to 10 minute drive and the club is out in the middle of the countryside so not to worry if you find yourself driven along a narrow road with no houses etc on it..What to expect on entering:Once inside the door there is a small reception area and the lady took my money and also put one band on my left arm to say I had paid and another on my right with key to both my lockers (Clothes and Money locker). Was offered a towel only but asked and was also given a robe. Note at reception just five feet to your left through the door it the bar area and my first glance at the girls and boy was I impressed.The Club layout:Using the reception as a certain point. From reception you first need to go to the locker room / changing area. Just enter into the bar area, turn right through the next doorway and on forward down the stairs and into a large modern locker room and find the locker with the key number to match change and back up the stairs, bring your money to your second locker which are in the bar area to the right of the doorway that let from reception.
These lockers are only big enough for your wallet and the other lockers only your clothes so if you had a large bag you might be in trouble. Back at the doorway from reception to your left is a the bar on an L shape and beyond that is the main Room with a dancing poll in the centre and comfy sofas all around with some high chairs and tables.
Enough to seat 40 and to the far right of the room you'll find the KINO again 3 rows of comfy sofas facing onto the large screen showing porn and also on a couple of occasions seen full on BJ action during the night and was offered it a couple of times myself but been shy declined.
The bar / main room area would be the same size as a large pub in Dublin. Back to the door at the reception area and turn right though the doors for the locker area and instead of going down the stairs to your left are the rooms and to your right the Jacuzzi / sauna area which also has rooms to one side.
This basically has a large Jacuzzi maybe holds up to 10 and some deck chairs around it and the sauna rooms to the far right side with the pro massage lady in a room in the corner to the far left. These guys is a legit massage and one of the girls tells me she is quite good. 30 euro apparently. Beyond the the sauna rooms it the entrance to the outdoor area and as it was dark did not see much of this but looks like a large pool with deck chairs all around reports of it been great in the good weather I'm sure are true.The Girls:Now for the most important bit. After putting my wallet away and at this stage to be honest I had been a little blown away by the quality of the girls and I had only gone to and from the locker room yet. Back up at the bar I got a free Fanta then sat down in the main room.
As said many times before girls were all in high heels only a few with stockings. I'd estimate that there were about 50 girls in the club at 8:30 and this dwindled down to about 25 by 12:30. Seemed to be a slow night and this was confirmed by one of the girls.
Of the 50 at least 35 were an 8 or above, another 8 I'd rate as 7 and the others I did not find attractive. High odds indeed. Almost all the girls are slim, with small B / A cup boobs and appear quite tall in the heals and 80%+ Romanian and the majority in the 18 to 25 year old bracket. Of the girls I'll pick out the 2 I found most attractive.1: A blond that I immediately seem on entering the bar. But she left at 09:00 so did not speck to her. She has quite an incredible body, Jennifer Aniston is her prime. I just could not believe what I was seeing and had to stop and stare like an idiot just for a minute she was just that good.2: Julie 18 Year old Romanian, This girl it so sweet and innocent and a drop dead looker to match. 170cm tall teeny body, back hair. Got her in the room for an hour and was very pleased. She talked away and as near as a GFE as your going to get. She but a smile on my face when she said without any hesitation the she was to young for a drink as she might regret what she would do like any other teenager, but I could only see the contradiction given the circumstance with a very large smile.Oh Yes some girls will approach and will take no for an answer if you give it in a polite way and others will sit down or walk about expecting a wink or a node and the'll be over to you in a hurry. Some are sweet talking about where your from and what your doing in Frankfurt and more are full on whispering about the great BJ she'll give you in the KINO and the great fuck you'll have together. Its up to your own taste what you want really.Newbie lessons learned:1: When I go again and I will, I would go about 3pm, and leave at 10:30pm as to get the day and night shift together. After 10pm the crowd both girls and men dwindled abit and this took from the atmosphere I though.2: Once you see a girl you like and want approach quickly as she will get taken or leave as happened above with the blond.3: The space indoors in the club is not quite as large as I though from reports but it still quite big and if there was a large crowd I'm sure it would be very packed.4: You kind of phase out the other gents that are there and anyway everyone kind of minds their own business. And just in case your wondering. All ages / sizes and mostly singe gents with a few small groups. All respectful of the situation and no loud and rowdy types.Conclusion:The best way of describing it would be to close your eyes and picture going to the local pub / bar / disco where the 18 to 25 year old set go and pick out all the attractive girls and have them nude in only their heels and then replace the guys with men of all ages/looks sitting about in robes / towels and that's the nearest picture your going to get without actually been there.Will I go back YES YES YES and I plan to explore other FKK's as well.”
A listing of FKK clubs in Germany, can be found HERE. It’s a very extensive list, my God!
While America has been all caught up with prohibition of drinking alcohol on Sundays, and display of woman’s breasts when breastfeeding, the rest of the world moved on without these silly restrictions. Men can go work, at their leisure, then come home and relax. If the wife is too tired or busy for sex they can go out to a men’s club and get some release. Win – win.
In other nations, men are men, and women are women, and there is no such thing as anything else. I don’t care what the pseudo American intellectuals have to say about the 38 genders. They are only complaining because they were able to obtain funding via political organizations by keeping various narratives alive.
Finally, Let me end this discussion of what awaits you in Germany with this screen capture of a Twitter conversation. You see, in America the progressives are trying to make everyone equal, even though people are not equal at all. The differences are our strengths. Not our similarities.
But, you can’t explain that to the militant millennials.
Silly girl. So you want equality, eh? Image that THE YEAR IS 2081, and everybody is finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General. A science fiction story…yes. Trying to be implemented in the Untied States today by progressives in 2018…absolutely YES.
George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear.
He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.
Go read about this Science Fiction story (and movie) that has become the progressive dream, and is trying to be implemented today. Read HERE.
In short, we don’t want to treat everyone the same, because everyone is different. Some are smarter. Some are stronger. Some are taller. Some are hard-working. Some are lazy. Differences is what should be treasured. Not sameness.
Gaussian IQ spread of different nations. This graph tells us a lot about the differences between people in different nations.
Anyways, continuing on about Germany… Let’s talk taxes…
Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe so for the ambitious I there's a lot of opportunity here. However taxes are high as fuck if you are comparing it to life in the US. I'm from NYC so I am used to paying high taxes but over here is another level. Sales tax of 19% is worked into prices of everything here. The only forgiving things here is that rent is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than in NYC and that's where you end up coming out ahead financially. -6 Years in Germany
Conclusions
We, as Americans, have a very retarded and corrupted view of the world outside the American borders. To us, it seems frightening and dark. We are constantly bombarded with “Save the Children” advertisements, and told that they need our money to support their infrastructure (isn’t that right, Barrack Obama?). The truth is something quite different.
In the movie “Forrest Gump”, there is a saying “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.” Well, that is true. But you know what? You can choose the box.
The initiation of sex and relationships vary from culture to culture. In Thailand, for example, the relationships tend to be different than that of the United States. This is true for most of Asia.
Men, I am speaking as a man, need to recognize that we are not chained to the life that we have created. When things become uncomfortable, or untenable, we can change our life. We make a plan, and then execute the plan. These are my thoughts on this matter.
Best Regards.
Take Aways
Depending on your own individual situation, leaving America might be an option worthy of consideration.
There are many nations to choose from. Some have higher taxes, but great food. Some have lower taxes, and pretty girls. Some have great history, art and culture, while others are just fun places to be.
You are getting older with each hour. Spend some time thinking about your life and what you want out of it. It might include going to another area that is different from the United States.
FAQ
Q: What is the best nation to visit? A: I do not know. It depends on the individual. Their money, interests and experiences. For me, I found that I actually found that I enjoyed the Asian nations. The United States is nothing like I grew up in. It is something completely different today.
Were I to live in the Untied States today, my life style would be a pale shadow of what it is currently.
Q: Why do you only think about men, what about women? A: I think about women a lot. But I am not a woman. I can only relate my thoughts and experiences from my own point of view. That includes things that interest me as a man.
Truthfully, I am not interested in how a woman might think if she was in my shoes. In fact, it is impossible for a woman to be in my shoes. Woman do not have the ability to function as a node within my MAJestic role. It is physically IMPOSSIBLE for them. Call it sexist if you may. But that is the truth.
Part of growing up is throwing away our childhood fantasies and becoming an adult. You are placed within your reality, and it is up to you to make the best of it. You are either a success at it, or you fail. It’s pretty cut and dry.
Two Part Post
This post is part one of a multi-part post. My basic premise is that the world is a big place. Get out. Enjoy the differences. Savor them. Life is too short.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
This is a compilation of the many, many things that American Democrats (often radical totalitarian communists wearing the mantle of “progressive liberals”) want to ban. This is a running tabulated list that originated from an earlier post about busybodies. There, I argued that Social Justice Warriors (SJW) was just another name for a busybody.
This is a set aside list tabulated by request. It supersedes the extensive list on an earlier post about busybodies. Remember, boys and girls, all bans are a restriction on freedom. Go ahead and shake your head in disbelief. These people are friggin’ lunatics.
The first known democrats. Yup. They sure as heck wanted to ban fire. You know… for the children.
Ban hotdogs in public schools (All processed meat is bad, don’t ya know…)
Ban hotdogs in children’s hospitals (Hum. It seems like there is a trend here…)
Ban hotdogs and all meat from public schools (Oh no. It’s the vegetarian arm of the DNC!)
Ban the betel nut (No shit! Have you ever tried it? Good golly, it was banned because they couldn’t find advantages in it. Not because it was dangerous!)
Ban Christians from public office (Ok, this is a Bernie Sanders ban, and he is a “progressive Independent”, not a “Democrat”. That what is in a name? After all, he did run as a Democrat primary candidate.)
Ban the Sale of Spells (Witchcraft Magic should be free, don’t ya know.)
Ban riding bicycles on Iowa roads that are used to move food from farm to distribution points (Organized by the Citizens for Safety Coalition of Iowa (CFSC)… sounds like a George Soros organization. Eh?)
Ban men masturbating (as an act against an unborn child)
Hey, is it just me, but has anyone else noticed a trend here?
Busybodies do not realize who and what they are. They justify their behaviors by being righteous and just. They think that they are making the world a better place, and the threat they are contributing to society. When the fact is that that are doing none of these things. Instead their ego has taken over and deluded themselves to cover up the fact that they are just horrible, horrible people.
Busybodies always have a reason, a justification or a need to fulfill. When they are children, it is to show just who is better, stronger or more powerful. If they are smart, they become a “know-it-all”. If they aren’t, they become a bully. It is almost always associated with some emotional issue.
Today, as adults the motivations are not so clear and obvious. I personally think that it is more related to them coveting a new mansion or two, myself. Their excuses are pretty much predictable. “It’s for the children.”, or “It’s to put an end to racism.”, or it’s to “make the country safer”, or “it’s to end the divide between one group of the other”. Ugh! Nah. It’s all just bullshit excuses.
I am not the only one who noticed this.
“In fact, you probably did five illegal things before breakfast without having a clue about it, which you'll find out about the moment some liberal decides you have to be put in your place and looks for a way to do it. Liberals control what you eat, what clothes you wear, what TV you watch, what kind of car you drive, what size soda you can drink, and even what toilet or light bulb you can use in your house. Complain about it and you're accused of wanting to end restaurant inspections and safety standards that prevent cars from exploding.”-John Hawkins
Even my father, who was a life-long staunch Democrat, questioned the actions of these radical progressives. Now that he is dead and buried, I am sure that he will still be voting Democrat, even though, his heart is no longer in it.
LOL!
The truth is plain as the nose on your face. They have no interests for anyone else except themselves. Someone gives them some money, and they use their power and influence to do their donor a favor (or two or three… for a price.) They come up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, but come on… please. It is obvious that they are just busybodies that have found a way to get rich being a stingy busybody. What a racket!
This is a funny meme that I found on the Internet. You know, it wouldn’t be so funny, if it wasn’t true. I think the reason why memes are so popular is that they inject humor into everyday situations that make us look at a given issue in a new light.
Taxes?
What they cannot ban, they try to tax. There are so many examples of this.
Sound familiar? Yup, this is the democrat party today. They do need to be reigned in. We cannot allow mentally deranged people to control our society.
This list supersedes the original list. All additional updates on Democrats banning things will be placed here on this simplified and direct list.
Commentary
A story I've told many times:
A few years ago at a neighborhood gathering, I overheard a neighbor listing all the things she would ban (long list), and she would also force businesses to pay fair wages, and she would force rich people to pay more taxes, and on and on.
I moved up to the group and said, "Maybe people don't want that. There might be a lot of unintended consequences."
She spun around and saw me. "You!" she said. "You're a Republican! You people just want to control everything!"
I said, "I'm a Conservative. I just want to be left alone. You, on the other hand, seem to have a VERY long list of things you want to control."
She hasn't spoken to me since.
- ClearCase_guy
Take Aways
The Democrats in America really believe that they are better than everyone else. They want to force people to act and behave in the manners that they approve of. This is for selfish reasons ONLY. Oh, yes, they use excuses. Such as “for the children”, to “make America better and safer”, and for “Global Warming”. However, it’s all just excuses. They really do not care.
They just want to exercise POWER over others.
In lieu of that, they wish to personally profit from the changes that they implement. They are extraordinarily evil people. Don’t ya know.
This girl has just encountered a Democrat utopia. It is a place where everything is nice and tidy just like the rulers want. You, however, are just a lowly serf for the oligarchy. Sorry. I know it is heartbreaking knowing your position in life.
The Democrats’ electoral strategy is very simple and straightforward:
Identify an injustice or slight that has been perpetrated on a specific victim group
Blame that injustice or slight on Republican policies
Propose a free government handout program that will alleviate their hardship
Show how the funding for that handout will come from raising taxes on white conservative “rich people” who don’t deserve their ill-gotten financial fortunes anyway.
Ban things as necessary to consolidate power.
The moral of the story: the sole reason we now suffer these ever-more-outrageous encroachments on our rights, our liberty, and our very lives from such obnoxious idiots is that, for far too long, they’ve been allowed to get away with it unscathed—the most important and telling word in the above headline is, after all, “SURPRISED.” I just bet they were, and why wouldn’t they be? They’ve never had any of their own shit splashed back on them, by anybody. Not in many, many a year, they haven’t. Our indulgence has only unleashed their demonic insanity.
Plus, being Leftists, they simply cannot stop themselves from using each unanswered infringement as a springboard for the next—an eternal escalation which is written into Progtard DNA the world over. They cannot and will not be content until every dissenting voice is silenced, every dissenting opinion suppressed, and every dissident cowed, controlled, crushed. Maybe not even then, in truth.
All of which means that until we start seeing a lot more Lefty heads smashed with metal poles, strangled activists, and Leftists in high-speed car chases fleeing for their lives in leg-wetting terror, what we’re going to keep seeing instead is more and worse nonsense from them. None of us are happy about this sorry state of affairs, nor should we be.
Being non-Leftists, all any of us Normals really want is to simply be left alone. But this is the corner they’ve forced us into just the same, and we’re never, ever going to be allowed out of it. That corner is going to get smaller and smaller, drawing in on us all with every successive Leftard win, until there’s no ground left for us to stand on at all. If we want out, we’re going to have to fight our way out.
So be it, then. Those stout Spanish farmers, Argie cowboys, and Aussie BBQers have shown us the way. It’s a pretty safe bet that the next larcenous “protest” held by pushy vegan “activists” will be a lot sparser attendance-wise; I expect the female Limey contingent in particular will find themselves with something a lot more pressing to do on that date next go-round. The farmers’, cowboys’, and BBQ fans’ sterling example ought to be followed to the letter hereabouts, lest we soon find ourselves in a much worse fix than we already are—with a much longer, harder, and more desperate fight to get out of it on our hands.
-Cold Fury
The Original Post
This post was spawned off an earlier post about busybodies. You can read that very long and lengthy post here…
"Did you really think we want those laws observed? We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against...
We're after power and we mean it...
There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals.
Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone?
But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt.
Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
Dr. Ferris from Atlas Shrugged
Democrats want to Ban (or Control) Everything
You know, how can I possibly write anything without offending someone? I really do not know if it is possible? Yet the truth is the truth.
Today it is a Democrat that wants to ban motorcycles (of all things).
What is their friggin’ problem?
Well, there is [1] a part of me that wants to believe that they are well intentioned, but think that everyone else is stupid. That belief is one where they believe that they are better, smarter, and greater than everyone else. (Sound like an SJW? Hum?)
Then, [2] there is a part of me that believes the truth; that there is a money angle involved. Some business, or foreign nation, comes to the representative and pitches a new law or two. In exchange for the promotion of that law, the represent can get a huge sum of money. This sum of money might be public (like a campaign slush fund) or private (as in a brown bag full of cash). As time move on, I am more and more convinced that the reasoning is the latter.
Hey, I grew up in Pennsylvania, and the potholes in the roads are STILL not fixed. You think that it is a minor oversight? Why do you suppose that is the case? Do you think that graft doesn’t exist?
"I believe a self-righteous liberal with a cause is more dangerous than a Hell's Angel with an attitude. "
-Ted Nugent
China and America Comparisons
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
I often hear Conservatives explicitly state that America is a Constitutional Republic. They argue this, because the United States Constitution set the organization and layout of the nation as a Republic. It states this explicitly as such. Meanwhile, I often hear Liberals, Democrats and Progressives repeatedly state that America is a Progressive Democracy. They say this, mostly because I guess, they don’t know any better. They parrot what they have heard.
Today, sadly, America does not function like either a Republic or a Democracy. It functions as something else. It functions and operates as an Oligarchy. It really does. Let’s look at this issue and try to determine what is going on in America; the most significant nation on this planet…
Introduction
Americans are brought up to believe all sorts of myths about the country we call home. We’re told our economy is a free market meritocracy governed by the rule of law. We’re told our civil liberties, enshrined in the Bill of Rights, are inviolable and protected by the most powerful military in the world. A fighting force entrusted with the admirable and monumental task of defending freedoms at home, and democracy and human rights abroad. We’re told we exist in a system of self-government, in which our votes matter and our voices heard.
In practice, none of this is true.
- Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog
There are many, many people who have addressed this issue. The arguments are rather simple and blunt.
If America is an actual Republic, then why is there a Federal Reserve, Senators that are popularly elected, and federal agencies that override the tenth Amendment. Republics that follow the Constitution will have none of this.
Alternatively, if America is a Democracy, then why are the populist issues resolved in the favor of the wealthy elite? Why are we endlessly involved in empire building? Why are we involved in six wars simultaneously? Why are we giving away money to other nations instead of helping our people?
The truth is that the reasons behind all this is complex. While I will touch on some of the causes briefly, I will to discuss other aspects as to what America has become and what America is FUNCTIONALLY today.
Officially, What America is…
America is a constitutionalrepublic; see U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 4. A ‘nation’ is a population under a central government. It is the cruel, despotic, lawless system forced on us by Dishonest Abe Lincoln and by D.C. ever since. Yes, I know; politicians use it all the time. Yet, despite the semantic argument since the Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist debate: by law, these united States are a republic, not a nation. For more on this, see this blog article.
-America Again
First Off – Amendments Changed the Constitution
When it comes to the relationship of U.S. citizens to the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington D.C., there’s no indication that anything remotely resembling self-government is happening. Rather, the relationship is far more like that of a servant to a master.
The powerful in this country have declared themselves above the law and beyond accountability on too many occasions for it to be an accident. Rather, it’s clearly unwritten public policy at this point.
For starters, key players who pushed the Iraq war during the George W. Bush administration, such as John Bolton, are never held accountable. Instead, they’re promoted to even more influential roles many years later.
-Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog
Our Constitution was set up as a mechanism; a nation, where people could self-govern themselves. The framework was established as a Republic. The founders absolutely detested Democracies and did not want the United States to be anything even remotely resembling a Democracy.
However, the people that followed them, thought otherwise. They felt that a limited government where people had self control of their own governance was a folly and needed to be “improved“. Thus a number of amendments were drafted up by the Convention of States to change the United States away from a Republic and into a Democracy.
In 1803, a mere 27 years later, the 12th Amendment was ratified. This was done in a rather short time. It took a mere six months to quickly ratify this amendment. This Amendment made both the President and Vice President electable by popular vote. You know, like a Democracy does.
Then, in 1913, a the 17th Amendment was ratified. It established the direct election of United States Senators by popular vote. You know, just like a Democracy does.
These two changes were significant.
If you take a hamburger, and remove the beef patty, what is it?
Is it still a hamburger, as Conservatives claim?
Is it a sandwich, as Liberals claim?
Or, is it something else; Two slices of bread with condiments in between?
They changed the United States Constitution in a fundamental way. They turned it into a Democracy with only the smallest vestiges of a Republic scattered about in the tattered remains of the once impressive document.
Prior to these two Amendments, a citizen would only vote for their representative. Their representative would represent their interests and would appoint a Senator.
While there were Presidential elections they no way reflected what we have today. You elected the President you preferred. Now, there is the potential to elect a Republican President with a Democrat Vice President. Although it has never happened, just imagine the chaos that would cause!
Changes for more “mob rule”
Once America was changed into a Democracy, then “mob rule” could be used to implement collectivist and socialist intent. The idea being, that the wealthy would benefit on issues of substance where they could control the hearts and minds of the people.
Over time, other amendments were added to convert the Democracy firmly towards a “Social Democracy” if not a completely Socialist nation.
The first task was to expand the size of the “mob rule”. More people voting, especially the ignorant or easily manipulated, would enable greater control of election outcomes…
In 1870, the 15th Amendment was drafted. It prohibited the denial of the right to vote based on race, color or previous condition of servitude. Suddenly voter roles expanded and grew significantly.
In 1920, the 19th Amendment gave the right of women to vote. This just about doubled the size of the voter roles, and significantly skewed the demographics of the voter. As most women tend to vote on social issues, while most men tend to vote on other issues.
In 1961, the 23rd Amendment gave the people of Washington, D.C. the right to vote. Yes, you the reader are right, this amendment made it so that “the swamp” can influence election outcomes.
In 1964, again yet another amendment was drafted, the 24th Amendment. This prohibited the revocation of voting rights due to the non-payment of a poll tax or any other tax. It provided free, and unfettered, voting ability to citizens.
In 1971, the 26th Amendment prohibited the denial of the right of US citizens, eighteen years of age or older, to vote on account of age. Again, helping to expand the voting base, and preventing people from asking questions why this 140 year old person is still voting Democrat.
All in all, five amendments were composed and passed that expanded the voting pool. With each expansion, the net impact of a given citizens vote diminished. The United States truly became a Democracy run by manipulated “mob rule”.
Hey! Answer me this…
With all the issues that America has had over the decades, why are the bulk of the amendments so friggin’ focused on expanding the voting base, and diluting the power of the individual voter? Well?
Other Changes
Other things completely changed the United States fundamentally. While the citizens had their voting influence diminished, the wealthy wanted to take advantage of that situation. Amendments needed to be put in place to siphon money away from the citizens into government programs. These programs would favor the wealthy, and provide them with a great deal of power.
In 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery. Good eh? Not so fast. It only abolished it if you were not punished for a crime. Since a high percentage of Americans had been arrested and punished, that means that involuntary servitude is legal in the United States for a significant percentage of the population.
Oh, again 1913, the 16th Amendment brought forth taxation of all Americans.
It has reached a point where as the exact reasons for creating America in the first place; “Taxation without Representation”, is openly and brazenly practiced by the American government…
Many Other Changes
Once control of the voting population was guaranteed, and the control of the people through taxation, then those in power (publicly or in secret) could do what they wished. They could take words and phrases in the Constitution out of context. They could be involved in Empire building. They could collect huge sums of money and send it off elsewhere to do their bidding.
Here are the people who operate the enormous bureaucracy in the United States. You know, the ones that say one things and do the other. John Brennan. James Clapper, and their ilk.
With no opposition, people could get appointed to positions of power and operate unopposed, doing blatant illegal activities and get away with it.
Same thing with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. He lied under oath about domestic government surveillance, gets caught following the Snowden revelations, and then nothing at all happens to him. He leaves government many years later, joins a think tank, and becomes a CNN contributor.
Of course, this whole above the law thing extends well beyond government officials. We saw how bankers who tanked the global economy as a result of systemic and extremely lucrative fraud schemes received bailouts instead of jail sentences. We should never forget that not a single bank executive went to jail. When a class of powerful super predators are placed above the law, society dies.
It’s still a relatively under appreciated fact that the most powerful players commandeering and influencing the U.S. economy, in a fashion similar to a communist politburo, are a collection of unelected central bankers. These people can bring an economy to its knees via interest rate hikes at a moments notice, or bail out powerful financiers should that need arise as we saw explicitly in 2008/09.
-Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog
There are many aspects of this that we could address…
Why is there a FDA?
Why is there a military presence that operates inside the USA; the DHS?
What does “for the common good” actually mean? It cannot simply mean “everything“.
At what point does the 10th Amendment matter, or is it just fine to ignore it?
How many ways can “cannot be infringed” be misinterpreted?
But, I don’t have the time and the energy to rehash old arguments. These issues, and others clearly point to something being amiss, but what it is, is far too complex an issue to address now. In my mind the only thing possible is scrapping everything and starting all over from scratch.
Political Parties
I want to touch on America’s dominant political parties. Two corrupt organizations that fully support and defend the pernicious, abusive relationships described above.
While they certainly disagree on many things, when it comes to supporting the existing paradigm that empowers politicians while in office, and enriches them when they leave to become lobbyists, they are united.
Basically, the two parties bicker about how to deal with the symptoms of a rigged and systemically corrupt government, but never confront or oppose the structural root causes of it all.
-Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog
I argue that the mere presence of political parties is a substantive sign that the nation is not running at all as it was intended. It was intended that substantive citizens of good moral character and intelligence would vote for representation at their local level. It was intended that everything would operate at the state level, and the United States federal government would manage the interactions between the individual states.
That is not what we have today.
We have an empire that is run by an oligarchy.
All this turmoil and conflict today boils down to the final stages of transformation. In the mind of the oligarchy, they are so close to turning the Untied States into their vision of perfection; one where they rule over easily manipulated mindless serfs. We are almost there.
We are almost there. We are one election away from this becoming our reality.
Peter Strzok in his meeting with Congress. He pledged to have systems to prevent an elected President from taking office, and promised that those who voted for the President would not get their wishes fulfilled. Instead, he would take care of it, as he had backup plans.
We are rapidly getting to the point where America is simply going to be ungovernable.
In order for any government to function, a certain percentage of the population must be willing to recognize that government as legitimate.
For example, if everybody in the country suddenly decided to quit paying taxes there wouldn’t be too much that the federal government could do about it. They could put some of us in prison to try to scare the rest of us back in line, but if the rest of us refused to be intimidated our system of taxation would collapse.
Every system of government depends upon the fact that most people will willingly submit to it, and we are rapidly getting to the point where a large portion of the population will not submit to being governed.
-Authored by Michael Snyder via The American Dream blog
We were all Suffering through the Incompetence of Washington, D.C.
There was at a point in time, when I was a child, before the Federal Reserve still hadn’t completely decimated the US Dollar. It was still worth around twenty cents. As the dollar kept on losing value, both parents needed to go to work. This fact, forced the breakup of the American family. The family had to break up, as the mother had to work as well as the father.
Look at the graph yourself. It is obvious whoever is running the American monetary supply is doing a FUCKING PISS POOR JOB at it. This is an obvious fact. It means that the entire system must be scrapped and replaced with one that maintains it’s value over time. If our elected officials were actually doing their job, they would have noticed a problem at the very start of this fiasco.
The decline of the USD since the Federal Reserve was established. Today the value of a dollar (2018) is less than one cent compared to what it used to be.
The Value of the US Dollar since the establishment of the Federal Reserve. The performance of the first ten years should have told everyone what a huge fucking mistake that they made. The truth is for the last 90 years, the value of the USD has had an unstoppable downward vector.
“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country.A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men.
We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."
- Woodrow Wilson. Quoted in “National Economy and the Banking System," Senate Documents Co. 3, No. 23, 76th Congress, 1st session, 1939. The origional quote was published in "The New Freedom" in 1913.
There is a lot of debate on this particular quote. You can look at watch the sparks fly as the debate a rages on. Oh, my goodness! It is all so silly! One side says “here is the quote”, and the other side goes “Oh, No no no. He never said it! It’s all revisionist history. The Income Tax was wonderful!” It really is silly.
Here is my take.
The value of the USD (United States Dollar) was pretty stable. It had it’s ups and downs, but for the most part it was pretty consistent. It was stable. Then, after the passage of the 16thAmendment, the value of the USD dropped like a stone. It plummeted to 50% of its value within a ten-year span of time. It dropped 50% in a decade. That is horrifying!
Only a fucking idiot wouldn’t regret the decision to establish the Federal Reserve.
You have a fairly stable dollar. Some powerful “associates” convince you to change the system that is working just fine, and replace it with a different system. So, low and behold, you put a new banking system in place. Then suddenly, right before your eyes, the value of the dollar collapses. It goes completely to shit. Every year it gets worse and worse!
So…
[1] So, ok, maybe the former President didn’t say that quote. If so, then he was a fucking idiot. He was evil and selfish and couldn’t read a simple chart. That is the only conclusion that you can come to, if this quote did not belong to him. Because that is, what the statists are arguing. They are saying that the President was just fine and dandy and happy with what happened with the imposition of the Income tax and the Federal Reserve. He saw the result of the change, he saw the value of the dollar collapse, and agreed that it was all good and well.
[2] If the quote is indeed accurate, then he is a normal person who is able to read charts, and ended up with regrets. This is what a normal and sane person would be. They would see that what they put in place went to complete shit. This would be what a normal person would do. Personally, I can live both concepts. And you, the reader, should as well.
Anyways, with the collapse of the USD, now everything became more and more expensive. Both parents now had to go to work. The children needed to be cared for, and the government stepped in to do just that. Over time they created a situation where the children were being trained to become complaisant mindless serfs.
America is a Dictatorship
“Anybody who thinks we’re not doing too badly has not been flying on an airplane lately. That’s about as authoritarian-fascism as you can get.”
-Ron Paul
First of all, there is no longer any realistic question as regards whether the US in recent decades has been a republic, or instead a democracy.
It’s been decided through analysis. According to the only scientific analysis of the relevant data, that has been done in order to determine whether the US is a republic or a democracy.
American military vehicles deployed on American soil in defiance of the US Constitution. All vehicles were delployed under direction and orders from President Obama. These vehicles are fully equipped for military grade weapons and counter measures. If George Washington saw this he would be rolling in his grave.
There is no question about it.
The study proves that functionally, the USA is neither a democracy or a republic. It is instead a dictatorship.
The US is definitely a dictatorship that’s perpetrated by the richest on the planet, against the American public-at-large. Not the richest people in America. No. It is a dictatorship run by the richest people on the planet.
The fact is that those who control money don’t need to live in the United States to control it’s operation and administration.
The American people have been fed endless lies for a very long time, and while people are starting to wake up, too many continue to fall for the same old deranged partisan nonsense. Obama was supposed to save us from Bush, then Trump was supposed to save us from Obama. Half the country now prays for some yet to be determined Presidential savior like Oprah to come rescue them in 2020. This is the definition of insanity.
America Functions as an Aristocracy
America functions as an aristocracy. Only the desires of the wealthy are transformed into law. As a result the average American is disenfranchised.
The study proves that the USA is a dictatorship.
But, it is not run by a dictator. The President is not a dictator. In other words: the US Government functions as an aristocracy, otherwise referred-to as an oligarchy, or a plutocracy, or a kleptocracy. By whatever name, it’s ruled by a tiny number of the extremely wealthiest and their agents, on behalf of those few super-rich. This is done against the concerns and interests and needs of the public (everyone else).
Oligarchy – government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes.
Plutocracy – government by the wealthy.
Kleptocracy – government ruled by corrupt politicians who use their political power to receive kickbacks, bribes, and special favors at the expense of the populace.
Therefore, instead of being rule by the public (the “demos” is the Greek term for it), it’s rule on behalf of a tiny dictatorial class, of extreme wealth — by whatever name we might happen to label this ruling class.
As such these rulers create “secret societies” within the government to carry out their objectives. This has been given a name. Collectively, these secret societies are known as “swamp” in Washington, D.C..
In order for American citizens to take control of their government, two things must occur. Firstly, the secret societies that operate in Washington DC must be eliminated. This “swamp” must be drained. Secondly, the American government must put the needs and interests of American first before everything else. This goes in direct opposition of what the global oligarchs desire.
An Investigation into what we have Become…
That study, the one that discovered that the United States is a true and actual dictatorship was startling. The authors of the study, professors Gilens and Page, explained that it examined…
“1,779 instances between 1981 and 2002 in which a national survey of the general public asked a favor/oppose question about a proposed policy change,”
It compared those public-policy preferences against the interests of two types of people. The first group; [1] the public, versus [2] the public-policy preferences regarding those same issues, by the super-wealthiest in the world (not the richest in the United States).
The findings were troublesome.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed and his friends have a great deal of power over the lives of individual Americans. People like him affect American media and form public opinion in America. They help fund the Democrat party, and will decide whether or not the Untied States will get involved in another war.
It found that only the public-policy preferences by the super-wealthiest (and their paid agents), not the public at large, made any discernible difference in the legislation related to policy. Read that sentence TWO times, please.
It found that only the public-policy preferences by the super-wealthiest (and their paid agents), not the public at large, made any discernible difference in the legislation related to policy.
Thus the public-policy preferences of the GLOBAL WEALTHY do, at far higher than mere random chances, become enacted into laws.
Russian oligarchs are growing increasingly nervous over the U.S. Treasury’s upcoming “Official Oligarch” list, which is being created pursuant to an Aug. 2, 2017 law requiring that the Treasury and State Departments identify officials and oligarchs as determined by “their closeness to the Russian regime and their net worth” in order to penalize the Kremlin for its alleged meddling in the 2016 election.
Whereas, the public-policy preferences of the public are ignored, in the United States. They are totally and completely ignored except in political rhetoric and promises; pure frauds perpetrated to deceive the public.
Here is a video summarizing the Gilens and Page study.
The study came to these conclusions by looking at numerous factors. It was done not only on the basis of examining thousands of cases and doing the statistical analysis of the data. That is what fundamentally Gilens and Page had done. Rather, it was also done on the basis of observations of how the US federal government has been functioning in recent decades.
George Soros is fixated in manipulating the United States into his version of the NWO. He has poured billions of US dollars in Democrat coffers, funded radicals and militants and is very active in funding and ordering the deep state activities.
As can be expected, the scientific study is vastly more reliable than is any individual’s mere opinion about the matter. That is most especially true about “fact checking” organizations. For they are completely owned by wealthy globalist interests.
State Level Corruption
Furthermore, there exists evidence that even in local or state governments in the United States, considerable corruption exists. (Some places have this corruption more than others.) In other words, “the swamp” is not geographically located. The level of corruption has saturated every government agency, organization and function. It has reached far and wide, and has tendrils that run deep, deep into everything.
Obviously, an extreme slant prevails in favor of the rich.
“The best reporting on the depth of America’s dictatorship is probably that being done by Atlanta Georgia’s NBC-affiliated, Gannett-owned, TV Channel “11 Alive,” WXIA television, its “The Investigators” series of local investigative news reports, which show, up close and at a cellularly detailed level, the way things actually work in today’s America.
Although it’s only local, it displays what meets the legal standards of the US federal government in actually any state in the union; so, it exposes the character of the US government, such that what’s shown to be true here, meets America’s standard for ‘democracy’, or else the federal government isn’t enforcing federal laws against it (which is the same thing as its meeting the federal government’s standards).”
-Here is How Corrupt America Is. June 2016
What was exemplified in this reporting by that excellent investigative team could be called “corporate organized-gangsterism,”.
Democrat Senator saying during Congressional hearings that the Bill of Rights does not apply to citizens. Rather it is a document that protects the government from citizens who would abuse the privileges that the government provides to them. The “funny thing” about this is that this quote is now restricted on Internet search engines. Yeah. No friggin’ shit. Type it in Bing or Google. I dare you. Image is a screen shot with closed caption.
That is what we should all call it. This gangsterism was being led by an operation, “ALEC,” that was founded by politicians whose careers are funded by numerous global billionaires.
"This CMD Special Report cuts through the PR spin and exposes the funding and spending of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Almost 98% of ALEC's funding comes from corporations like Exxon Mobil, corporate "foundations" like the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, or trade associations like the pharmaceutical industry's PhRMA and sources other than "legislative dues."
Those funds help subsidize legislators' trips to ALEC meetings, where they are wined, dined, and handed "model" legislation to make law in their state. Through ALEC, corporations vote on "model" legislation with politicians behind closed doors."
ALEC Operations
A issue of the Washington Post’s “PowerPost” section was titled “The Finance 202: Tax overhaul’s big test comes now”, and it described in detail what was shaping the 2017 Trump Administration’s tax-overhaul bill. Old news right? Pay attention to the point; this article reported that the lobbyists were shaping it 100%.
Ah yes.
The article is a superb nitty-gritty, down among the weeds, description, of the monetary deals, the horse-trading, that were being made, not only for corporations, but for the wealthiest non-business lobbies. This is for all of them, including ‘nonprofit’ ones.
Yet please note that almost all of these lobbyists, depend overwhelmingly upon billionaires for their funding.
What’s being carved-up and served, is being carved-up from governments, and being served to the super-rich.
So: is it any wonder why Gilens and Page found what they did?
They found that “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy. While mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.”
By “mass-based groups” was being referenced what the left often calls “movements” or “grass-roots” organizations. After all, what happened from “Occupy Wall Street”?
Nothing. It was a big waste of time and effort.
Authentic movements get marginalized, because the billionaires’ ‘news’media despise them. Fake ones, such as the Kochs’ “The Tea Party ‘movement’,” get weaponized, because the billionaires’ ‘news’media treat them extensively, and often grant them respect. Top-down’s the way, in any dictatorship. That includes in America.
How It Works
Both Political Parties can win and retain power only by deceiving (defrauding) the public, and serving the billionaires, though in different ways; some conservative, and some liberal.
Virtually everything else than that service to billionaires (and to centi-millionaires) is just frauds by politicians. This is because, at least after around 1970, only the richest 1% or (usually far) less are actually being served by the US federal Government.
America has been a dictatorship of the Wealthy since 1970.
It’s not the billionaires that are defrauded by politicians; it is clearly the public that is being defrauded by them.
The money, the huge amounts of money that is flowing towards these foreign billionaires are coming from the taxation of Americans.
I was talking with a Chinese woman named Sara about America. She had travelled to Alaska, California and Los Vegas. She said that she liked it. She thought that it was very beautiful, but awfully quiet. The thing that amazed her were the taxes. Everything she did and paid for, in the United States, had some kind of tax associated with it.
You buy a pizza, you pay a tax. You ride on a road, you pay a tax. You rent a room, you pay a tax. You purchase a new handbag, you pay a tax. You visit a park you pay a tax. You park your rental in a parking garage, you pay a tax. You rent an Internet connection, you pay a tax.
She said it was so disturbing. Nevertheless, she reasoned that it was ok because at least you get free healthcare out of it…
The public are served only to the extent that the public’s interests are the same as the billionaires’ interests.
Voters are Ignored – There is NO Representation at all
The Gilens and Page study found that the public’s policy-preferences are simply ignored. Oh, not at all what is stated publicly on the news media, but instead ignored in the political outcomes.
Indeed, we need only see how poorly the Republican Congressmen and Senators behaved in 2017 once the Republican candidate, Donald Trump won.
They were expected to behave and meet the promises that they made during the election cycle.
However, they found that they could not do so. If they did so, they would anger their financial backers and lobbyists.
The US Government, thus, is of a few people (the policymakers), by the billionaires, and for the billionaires, and that’s just an established fact.
They control us.
Yep. She most certainly looks like a terrorist. I am sure that she needed a full cavity body check. You know, just to be sure.
They control everything and possess “secret societies” that operate with the “official” and public government structure. These “secret societies” carry out the wishes of the true leadership; the true and real owners of us citizens.
“Now that we know what the declassified House memo says about government misconduct, we also know what it means: The Washington swamp (the deep state) is bigger, more vicious and more dangerous to American liberty than even a cynic could have imagined.”
-Michael Goodwin
Additionally, aside from the numerous ties to the oligarchy, the “deep State” has various “pockets” of individuals involved in their own agendas. They utilize the American government, and fund and finance their actions from within the organization.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton depart the former Governor of New York Mario Cuomo’s funeral in Manhattan, New York January 6, 2015.
There are many such secret societies. MAJestic is one set up in the late 1940’s, but there are many others. Below is an article regarding a secret society set up by former President Obama to push a politically progressive agenda after he left office.
“A source on the inside has informed me of a top secret meeting that is alleged to have taken place between prominent intelligence community officials, both currently serving and retired.
The source details a meeting that took place in Virginia of December 2016 at the The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner.
Officials met for several hours, there were some very, very prominent intelligence officials there, including Robert Mueller, James Comey, Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, John Brennan, James Clapper, Leon Panetta, Phill Mud, David Petraeus, Michael Hayden & former Attorney General Eric Holder.”
- medium.com
They control us. They do so by monitoring us, and making sure that we “behave” in accordance with their permissions (permissible behaviors). When anyone deviates, in even the slightest amount, an “iron fist” clamps down and smashes the poor citizen into “squashed jelly”; Eviscerated into a state where it is impossible to continue in any kind of normal life.
This is far, far, far beyond what was envisioned by the founders when the Constitution was first established.
“The pretense is that somehow Congress lessened the standard for spying that is set forth in the Constitution. It is, of course, inconceivable that Congress can change the Constitution (only the states can), but the conspirators would have us believe that it has done so.The Constitution, which was written in the aftermath of the unhappy colonial experience with British soldiers who executed general warrants upon the colonists, forbids that practice today.That practice consists of judges authorizing government agents to search for whatever they want, wherever they wish to look. By requiring a warrant from a judge based on probable cause of criminal behavior on the part of the very person the government is investigating, however, and by requiring judges to describe particularly in the warrants they issue the places to be searched or the persons or things to be seized, the Constitution specifically outlaws general warrants.This is more than just a constitutional violation; it is a violation of the natural right to be left alone.”- Judge Andrew P. NapolitanoPublished December 12, 2013
Conclusions
America is not a Republic, though it was intended to be one.
It was changed by amendment into a Democracy, and then altered over the years into a Socialist Democracy.
Abuses of voting, and manipulation of the public has created a situation whereas individual Americans have no control over “their” government. Instead, the American government is controlled by wealthy non-American oligarchs.
Therefore, the United States is nothing like it was initially intended to be. It is instead a Empire run by internal secret societies working deep within the Washington DC “swamp” that do the bidding of wealthy non-American oligarchs.
America is an empire. It functions as a dictatorship. However the President is not the dictator. Instead the nation is ruled by a collective of non-American oligarchs.They operate and control the nation via secret societies that collectively are known as "the swamp".
Take Aways
America was set up as a Constitutional Republic.
The 12th and 17th Amendments turned it into a Democracy.
There were five amendments that effectively diluted the representation that Congressmen had with their constituents. (The 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, and 26th.)
Wealthy foreign oligarchs have taken advantage of this situation, and set up secret societies that operate within the American government.
The secret societies go by the collective name of “the swamp”.
Because foreign interests control the American government, we have…
Continuous wars all over the globe.
American citizens treated as “cash cows” for an ever growing tax burden.
The mainstream media that operates as a propaganda machine.
Huge outlays of cash that goes to foreign nations to be used on non-American projects.
What You Can Do?
There are many, many people pointing out that there is a huge “swamp” in Washington DC that needs to be drained. There are others who point out that foreign influences are too strong, and others that point out the folly of the news media propaganda. All of this is fine and dandy, but it’s just a bunch of people complaining. There are no substantive answers and directions to reverse this situation.
Or are there?
I suggest the reader go to these sites to get an idea of people who are taking positive and proactive steps to put the government back on track.
Q: Is America a Constitutional Republic today?
A: No. America stopped being a Constitutional Republic with the passage of the 12th and the 17th Amendments to the Constitution.
Q: Is America a Democracy?
A: No. If America was a democracy, then the votes of the people would determine policy. This is decidedly not the case. Policy that is implemented in Washington DC and in the state capitals are predominantly determined by foreign interests.
Q: Is America an Empire?
A: Yes. Read the definition of what an empire is…
An empire is a sovereign state functioning as an aggregate of nations or people that are ruled over by an emperor or another kind of monarch. The territory and population of an empire is commonly of greater extent than the one of a kingdom.
An empire can be made solely of contiguous territories, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Russian Empire, or of territories far remote from the homeland, such as a colonial empire. Aside from the more formal usage, the word empire can also refer colloquially to a large-scale business enterprise (e.g. a transnational corporation), a political organization controlled by a single individual (a political boss), or a group (political bosses).
Q: What is America today?
A: America is an empire. It is a dysfunctional empire. It functions as a dictatorship. However the President is not a dictator. Instead the nation is ruled by a collective of non-American oligarchs. They operate and control the nation via secret societies that collectively are known as “the swamp”.
Our government is massively in debt. Currently, the national debt is somewhere in the vicinity of $21 trillion. Approximately half of our debt is owned by foreign countries, namely China, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Parents, no longer viewed as having an inherent right to raise their children as they see fit, are increasingly being arrested for letting their kids walk to the playground alone, or play outside alone. Similarly, parents who challenge a doctor’s finding or request a second opinion regarding their children’s health care needs are being charged with medical child abuse and, in a growing number of cases, losing custody of their children to the government.
Court rulings undermining the Fourth Amendment and justifying invasive strip searches have left us powerless against police empowered to forcefully draw our blood, forcibly take our DNA, strip search us, and probe us intimately. Accounts are on the rise of individuals—men and women alike—being subjected to what is essentially government-sanctioned rape by police in the course of “routine” traffic stops.
Americans can no longer rely on the courts to mete out justice. The courts were established to intervene and protect the people against the government and its agents when they overstep their bounds. Yet the courts increasingly march in lockstep with the police state, while concerning themselves primarily with advancing the government’s agenda, no matter how unjust or unconstitutional.
Americans have no protection against police abuse. It is no longer unusual to hear about incidents in which police shoot unarmed individuals first and ask questions later. What is increasingly common, however, is the news that the officers involved in these incidents get off with little more than a slap on the hands.
If there is any absolute maxim by which the federal government seems to operate, it is that the American taxpayer always gets ripped off. This is true, whether you’re talking about taxpayers being forced to fund high-priced weaponry that will be used against us, endless wars that do little for our safety or our freedoms, or bloated government agencies such as the National Security Agency with its secret budgets, covert agendas and clandestine activities. Rubbing salt in the wound, even monetary awards in lawsuits against government officials who are found guilty of wrongdoing are paid with taxpayer funds.
Americans are powerless in the face of militarized police. In early America, government agents were not permitted to enter one’s home without permission or in a deceitful manner. And citizens could resist arrest when a police officer tried to restrain them without proper justification or a warrant. Daring to dispute a warrant with a police official today who is armed with high-tech military weapons would be nothing short of suicidal. Moreover, as police forces across the country continue to be transformed into extensions of the military, Americans are finding their once-peaceful communities transformed into military outposts, complete with tanks, weaponry, and other equipment designed for the battlefield.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
Let’s look at the disclosure of element of the CARET program at PACL. It is actually a very informative disclosure, and as such it was denounced as a hoax by the NSA and related MAJestic support organizations. However, the reader should not be confused. This is a valid disclosure, and as such, it is useful to “smoke out” which UFO and investigative organizations have been compromised by the USA government.
I cover this disclosure exactly as it was presented. Today, of course it is pretty difficult to find the actual disclosure, at least in the United States. I also present some commentary and related information that is spawned off this disclosure.
Introduction
“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.”― Stephen Hawking
This is the entire text of the “C.A.R.E.T. disclosure”. I place it here in complete verbatim as was provided on the Internet. This disclosure is perhaps the most authentic extraterrestrial disclosure made public in the five decades of secrecy. (Aside from MJ-12)
While it is well known that major UFO and debunking organizations have derided this disclosure as a fraud, I happen to know that it is not a fraud at all. Instead it is a valid disclosure of a small part of one of the myriad of extraterrestrial reverse engineering efforts of the 1980’s.
C.A.R.E.T. is a VALID and ACTUAL disclosure of (associative) MAJestic documentation.
The disclosure contains an explanation, with selected pages from three separate reports; [1] A Research Report, [2] An Inventory Review, and [3] a Linguistic Primer. Also included were some actual photographs. Additionally some Q&A dialog occurred prior to the disclosure source going “x-ray” (silent).
This disclosure is not a fraud, fake or hoax. It is a real and valid actual disclosure. The reader should read the section concerning the United States disinformation efforts to fully appreciate the magnitude of the disclosure. If the reader chooses to believe that, it was just an elaborate hoax, fine. But it isn’t, and I am the “real deal”, so I tell the reader that if you believe me, then you must also believe the validity of C.A.R.E.T.. Alternatively, if you do not believe me, then you can’t possibly believe the C.A.R.E.T. disclosure.
“It is my view that most people dismissed the (C.A.R.E.T.) phenomena without bothering to look at the weight of evidence and testimony in it’s entirety and instead allowed forum debunkers and pseudosceptics to decide the evidence for them. Don’t let anyone live in your head rent free – as the saying goes.”-will galison May 1, 2014 at 11:37 am
The US government has devoted a lot of time and money and resources to denounce this disclosure as a hoax. In fact the NSA has even set up numerous denouncement websites and organizations. Obviously someone is deeply offended. Look at all the time and effort that was put into this. Someone obviously had [1] a lot of money, and [2] a lot of time on their hands. There was a lot of effort to debunk this “hoax”. Why? Here is just one of the many websites;
I ask the reader this; how many hours do you think went into writing all these articles (on this website)? How much time and money went into the design (of the website). Is this website a simple hobby site written by a concerned blogger? All of this is for a mere sighting and the release of a mere handful of pages? Look at the effort behind this. Do you, dear reader, have the time and energy (after work) to do the same concerning an article that you read about. This is an obvious; absolutely OBVIOUS example of NSA redirection and suppression.
(Working people, with families, and a life outside of work do not have the time to devote to pages and pages of website generate denouncements. Pulling one or two hours a night was a really difficult thing to do. But these websites sprung up within weeks of the disclosures. All of which is highly suggestive that time, money and effort were purposefully devoted to this effort. Just what kind of person devotes such time to a mere hoax?)
The following is the actual disclosure. I am presenting it exactly as it was released. However, certain foot notes and minor editing corrects might be present for the purposes of understandability. Header and address information is provided in a different font for readability purposes.
First Disclosure
Explanation of the Recent "Strange Craft" Sightings
by "Isaac" from CoastToCoastAM Website
Greetings Coast to Coast AM,
I have information that can explain a great deal of what is going on in the photos provided by Chad, Rajman, the Lake Tahoe witness, as well as the photos taken by Jenna and Ty in Big Basin, CA…
I'm going by the alias "Isaac" while I release this information. I'm an electrical engineer and computer scientist and used to work in a program called "CARET" that was concerned with research and development based on extra-terrestrial technology. Many key elements of the technology I worked with during my time with CARET are clearly visible in these crafts. This work was done in the 80's in Palo Alto, CA, so it's no surprise to me that these sightings are taking place within such proximity to that area.
Attached to this email you will find numerous scans of photographs and documents from my CARET days that pertain to what I'm going to tell you, and would like to share with your audience. In addition, I have put up a small website that has very high resolution copies of all of these scans, as well as a lengthy letter that explains a lot about me, the CARET program, and these sightings. I've been listening to your show since 2002 and would like to work with you to get this information out there. Please read the text at the website for the rest of the details, as I am taking a fairly significant personal risk and would like to make sure it's worth it: isaaccaret.fortunecity.com
All I ask in sharing this information is that it's kept together. There are 4 photos and a total of 15 pages of scanned documents. If you'd like to resize them for your website, that is fine... I want people to have easy access to this information IN FULL. I feel this is reasonable and it is all I ask. I am NOT trying to sell anything and the only reason I created this very simple website is to ensure all the information is presented correctly and in one place.
--Isaac
The mysterious photographs of the materializing drone as photographed by “Chad” as placed on the Internet resulted in the C.A.R.E.T. disclosure by Isaac. The former middle manager released to the public a limited series of documents that helped to explain the craft that caused such consternation on the Internet.
My Experience with the CARET Program and Extra-terrestrial Technology
by "Isaac"June 2007 from IsaacCaret Website
This letter is part of a package I've assembled for Coast to Coast AM to distribute to its audience. It is a companion to numerous document and photo scans and should not be separated from them.
You can call me Isaac, an alias I've chosen as a simple measure of protection while I release what would be called tremendously sensitive information even by today's standards. “Sensitive” is not necessarily synonymous with “dangerous”, though, which is why my conscience is clear as I offer this material up for the public.
My government has its reasons for its continual secrecy, and I sympathize with many of them, but the truth is that I'm getting old and I'm not interested in meeting my maker one day with any more baggage than necessary! Furthermore, I put a little more faith in humanity than my former bosses do, and I think that a release of at least some of this info could help a lot more than it could hurt, especially in today's world.
I should be clear before I begin, as a final note: I am not interested in making myself vulnerable to the consequences of betraying the trust of my superiors and will not divulge any personal information that could determine my identity. However my intent is not to deceive, so information that I think is too risky to share will be simply left out rather than obfuscated in some way (aside from my alias, which I freely admit is not my real name).
I would estimate that with the information contained in this letter, I could be narrowed down to one of maybe 30-50 people at best, so I feel reasonably secure.
Some Explanation for the Recent Sightings
For many years I've occasionally considered the release of at least some of the material I possess, but the recent wave of photos and sightings has prompted me to cut to the chase and do so now.
I should first be clear that I'm not directly familiar with any of the crafts seen in the photos in their entirety. I've never seen them in a hangar or worked on them myself or seen aliens zipping around in them.
However, I have worked with and seen many of the parts visible in these crafts, some of which can be seen in the Q3-85 Inventory Review scan found at the top of this page. More importantly though, I'm very familiar with the “language” on their undersides seen clearly in photos by Chad and Rajman, and in another form in the Big Basin photos.
One question I can answer for sure is why they're suddenly here. These crafts have probably existed in their current form for decades, and I can say for sure that the technology behind them has existed for decades before that. The “language”, in fact, (I'll explain shortly why I keep putting that in quotes) was the subject of my work in years past. I'll cover that as well.
The reason they're suddenly visible, however, is another matter entirely. These crafts, assuming they're anything like the hardware I worked with in the 80's (assuming they're better, in fact), are equipped with technology that enables invisibility.
That ability can be controlled both on board the craft, and remotely. However, what's important in this case is that this invisibility can also be disrupted by other technology. Think of it like radar jamming. I would bet my life savings (since I know this has happened before) that these craft are becoming visible and then returning to invisibility arbitrarily, probably unintentionally, and undoubtedly for only short periods, due to the activity of a kind of disrupting technology being set off elsewhere, but nearby.
I'm especially sure of this in the case of the Big Basin sightings, were the witnesses themselves reported seeing the craft just appear and disappear. This is especially likely because of the way the witness described one of the appearances being only a momentary flicker, which is consistent with the unintentional, intermittent triggering of such a device.
It's no surprise that these sightings are all taking place in California, and especially the Saratoga/South Bay area. Not far from Saratoga is Mountain View/Sunnyvale, home to Moffett Field and the NASA Ames Research center. Again, I'd be willing to bet just about anything that the device capable of hijacking the cloaking of these nearby craft was inadvertently triggered, probably during some kind of experiment, at the exact moment they were being seen. Miles away, in Big Basin, the witnesses were in the right place at the right time and saw the results of this disruption with their own eyes.
God knows what else was suddenly appearing in the skies at that moment, and who else may have seen it.
I've had some direct contact with this device, or at least a device capable of the same thing, and this kind of mistake is not unprecedented. I am personally aware of at least one other incident in which this kind of technology was accidentally set off, resulting in the sudden visibility of normally invisible things. The only difference is that these days, cameras are a lot more common!
The technology itself isn't ours, or at least it wasn't in the 80's.
Much like the technology in these crafts themselves, the device capable of remotely hijacking a vehicle's clacking comes from a non-human source too. Why we were given this technology has never been clear to me, but it's responsible for a lot. Our having access to this kind of device, along with our occasionally haphazard experimentation on them, has lead to everything from cloaking malfunctions like this to full-blown crashes.
I can assure you that most (and in my opinion all) incidents of UFO crashes or that kind of thing had more to do with our meddling with extremely powerful technology at an inopportune time than it did mechanical failure on their part.
Trust me, those things don't fail unless something even more powerful than them makes them fail (intentionally or not). Think of it like a stray bullet. You can be hit by one at any time, without warning, and even the shooter didn't intent to hit you. I can assure you heads are rolling over this as well. If anyone notices a brilliant but sloppy physicist patrolling the streets of Baghdad in the next couple weeks, I'd be willing to guess how he got there. (I kid, of course, as I certainly hope that hasn't actually happened in this case)
I'd now like to explain how it is that I know this.
The CARET Program
My story begins the same as it did for many of my coworkers, with graduate and post-graduate work at university in electrical engineering.
And I had always been interested in computer science, which was a very new field at the time, and my interest piqued with my first exposure to a Tixo during grad school. In the years following school I took a scenic route through the tech industry and worked for the kinds of companies you would expect, until I was offered a job at the Department of Defense and things took a very different turn.
The TX-0, for Transistorized Experimental computer zero, but affectionately referred to as tixo (pronounced “tix oh”), was an early fully transistorized computer and contained a then-huge 64K of 18-bit words of magnetic core memory. The TX-0 was built in 1955 and went online in 1956 and was used continually through the 1960s at MIT.
My time at the DoD was mostly uneventful but I was there for quite a while. I apparently proved myself to be reasonably intelligent and loyal. By 1984 these qualities along with my technical background made me a likely candidate for a new program they were recruiting for called “CARET”.
Before I explain what CARET was I should back up a little. By 1984, Silicon Valley had been a juggernaut of technology for decades. In the less than 40 years since the appearance of Shockley’s transistor this part of the world had already produced a multi billion dollar computer industry and made technological strides that were unprecedented in other fields, from hypertext and online collaboration in '68 to the Alto in '73.
Private industry in Silicon Valley was responsible for some of the most incredible technological leaps in history and this fact did not go unnoticed by the US government and military. I don’t claim to have any special knowledge about Roswell or any of the other alleged early UFO events, but I do know that whatever the exact origin, the military was hard at work trying to understand and use the extra-terrestrial artifacts it had in its possession. While there had been a great deal of progress overall, things were not moving as quickly as some would have liked.
So, in 1984, the CARET program was created with the aim of harnessing the abilities of private industry in silicon valley and applying it to the ongoing task of understanding extra-terrestrial technology.
One of the best examples of the power of the tech sector was Xerox PARC, a research center in Palo Alto, CA. XPARC was responsible for some of the major milestones in the history of computing. While I never had the privilege of working there myself I did know many of the people who did and I can say that they were among the brightest engineers I ever knew.
PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated), formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California, with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology and hardware systems. Founded in 1970 as a division of Xerox Corporation, PARC has been in large part responsible for such developments as laser printing, Ethernet, the modern personal computer, graphical user interface (GUI) and desktop paradigm, object-oriented programming, ubiquitous computing, amorphous silicon (a-Si) applications, and advancing very-large-scale integration (VLSI) for semiconductors.
XPARC served as one of the models for the CARET program’s first incarnation, a facility called the Palo Alto CARET Laboratory (PACL, lovingly pronounced “packle” during my time there). This was where I worked, along with numerous other civilians, under the auspices of military brass who were eager to find out how the tech sector made so much progress so quickly.
My time at the DoD was a major factor behind why I was chosen, and in fact about 30+ others who were hired around the same time had also been at the Department about as long, but this was not the case for everyone. A couple of my co-workers were plucked right from places like IBM and, at least two of them came from XPARC itself. My DoD experience did make me more eligible for positions of management, however, which is how I have so much of this material in my possession to begin with.
So in other words, civilians like myself who had at - at most - some decent experience working for the DoD but no actual military training or involvement, were suddenly finding ourselves in the same room as highly classified extra-terrestrial technology.
Of course they spent about 2 months briefing us all before we saw or did anything, and did their best to convince us that if we ever leaked a single detail about what we were being told, they’d do everything short of digging up our ancestors and putting a few slugs in them too just for good measure.
It seemed like there was an armed guard in every corner of every room. I’d worked under some pretty hefty NDAs in my time but this was so far out of my depth I didn’t think I was going to last 2 weeks in an environment like that. But amazingly things got off to a good start. They wanted us, plain and simple, and our industry had shown itself to be so good at what it did that they were just about ready to give us carte blanche.
Non Disclosure Agreement. A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict access to or by third parties. It is a contract through which the parties agree not to disclose information covered by the agreement. An NDA creates a confidential relationship between the parties to protect any type of confidential and proprietary information or trade secrets. As such, an NDA protects non-public business information.
Of course, nothing with the military is ever that simple, and as is often the case they wanted to have their cake and eat it too. What I mean by this is that despite their interest in picking our brains and learning whatever they could from our way of doing things, they still wanted to do it their way often enough to frustrate us.
At this point I'm going to gloss over the emotional side of this experience, because this letter isn't intended to be a memoir, but I will say that there's almost no way to describe the impact this kind of revelation has on your mind. There are very few moments in life in which your entire world view is turned forever upside down, but this was one of them. I still remember that turning point during the briefing when I realized what he'd just told us, and that I hadn't heard him wrong, and that it wasn't some kind of joke.
In retrospect the whole thing feels like it was in slow motion, from that slight pause he took just before the term “extra-terrestrial” came out for the first time, to the way the room itself seemed to go off kilter as we collectively tried to grasp what was being said.
My reflex kept jumping back and forth between trying to look at the speaker, to understand him better, and looking at everyone else around me, to make sure I wasn't the only one that was hearing this. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, it's a lot like a child learning his parents are divorcing. I never experienced that myself, but a very close friend of mine did when were boys, and he confided in me a great deal about what the experience felt like.
A lot of what he said would aptly describe what I was feeling in that room.
Here was a trusted authority figure telling you something that you just don't feel ready for, and putting a burden on your mind that you don't necessarily want to carry. The moment that first word comes out, all you can think about it is what it was like only seconds ago, and knowing that life is never going to be as simple as it was then. After all that time at the DoD, I thought I at least had some idea of what was going on in the world, but I'd never heard so much as a peep about this. Maybe one day I'll write more on this aspect, because it's the kind of thing I really would like to get off my chest, but for now I'll digress.
Unlike traditional research in this area, we weren’t working on new toys for the air force.
For numerous reasons, the CARET people decided to aim its efforts at commercial applications rather than military ones. They basically wanted us to turn these artifacts into something they could patent and sell. One of CARET’s most appealing promises was the revenue generated by these product-ready technologies, which could be funneled right back into black projects.
Working with a commercial application in mind was also yet another way to keep us in a familiar mind state. Developing technology for the military is very different than doing so for the commercial sector, and not having to worry about the difference was another way that CARET was very much like private industry.
CARET shined in the way it let us work the way we were used to working. They wanted to recreate as much of the environment we were used to as they could without compromising issues like security. That meant we got free reign to set up our own workflow, internal management structure, style manuals, documentation, and the like. They wanted this to look and feel like private industry, not the military. They knew that was how to get the best work out of us, and they were right.
But things didn’t go as smoothly when it came to matters like access to classified information.
They were exposing what is probably their single biggest secret to a group of people who had never even been through basic training and it was obvious that the gravity of this decision was never far from their minds. We started the program with a small set of extra-terrestrial artifacts along with fairly elaborate briefings on each as well as access to a modest amount of what research had already been completed.
It wasn’t long before we realized we needed more though, and getting them to provide even the smallest amount of new material was like pulling teeth. CARET stood for “Commercial Applications Research for Extra-terrestrial Technology”, but we often joked that it should have stood for “Civilians Are Rarely Ever Trusted.”
PACL was located in Palo Alto, but unlike XPARC, it wasn’t at the end of a long road in the middle of a big complex surrounded by rolling hills and trees. PACL was hidden in an office complex owned entirely by the military but made to look like an unassuming tech company. From the street, all you could see was what appeared to be a normal parking lot with a gate and a guard booth, and a 1-story building inside with a fictitious name and logo.
What wasn’t visible from the street was that behind the very first set of doors was enough armed guards to invade Poland, and 5 additional underground stories. They wanted to be as close as possible to the kinds of people they were looking to hire and be able to bring them in with a minimum of fuss.
Inside, we had everything we needed. State of the art hardware and a staff of over 200 computer scientists, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, physicists and mathematicians. Most of us were civilians, as I’ve said, but some were military, and a few of them had been working on this technology already.
Of course, you were never far from the barrel of a machine gun, even inside the labs themselves (something many of us never got used to), and bi-weekly tours were made by military brass to ensure that not a single detail was out of line. Most of us underwent extensive searches on our way into and out of the building. There it was, probably the biggest secret in the world, in a bunch of parts spread out on laboratory tables in the middle of Palo Alto so you can imagine their concern.
One downside to CARET was that it wasn't as well-connected as other operations undoubtedly were. I never got to see any actual extra-terrestrials (not even photos), and in fact never even saw one of their compete vehicles. 99% of what I saw was related to the work at hand, all of which was conducted within a very narrow context on individual artifacts only. The remaining 1% came from people I met through the program, many of which working more closely with “the good stuff” or had in the past.
In fact, what was especially amusing about the whole affair was the way that our military management almost tried to act as if the technology we were essentially reengineering wasn't extra-terrestrial at all. Aside from the word “extra-terrestrial” itself, we rarely heard any other terms like “alien” or “UFO” or “outer space” or anything.
Those aspects were only mentioned briefly when absolutely necessary to explain something. In many cases it was necessary to differentiate between the different races and their respective technology, and they didn't even use the word “races”.
They were referred to simply as different “sources”.
The Technology
A lot of the technology we worked on was what you would expect, namely antigravity.
Most of the researchers on the staff with backgrounds in propulsion and rocketry were military men, but the technology we were dealing with was so out of this world that it didn’t really matter all that much what your background was because none of it applied.
All we could hope to do was use the vocabulary of our respective fields as a way to model the extremely bizarre new concepts we were very slowly beginning to understand as best we could. A rocket engineer doesn’t usually rub elbows much with a computer scientist, but inside PACL, we were all equally mystified and were ready to entertain any and all ideas.
The physicists made the most headway initially because out of all of our skills, theirs overlapped the most with the concepts behind this technology (although that isn’t saying much!)
Once they got the ball rolling though, we began to find that many of the concepts found in computer science were applicable as well, albeit in very vague ways. While I didn’t do a lot of work with the antigravity hardware myself, I was occasionally involved in the assessment of how that technology was meant to interface with its user.
The antigravity was amazing, of course, as were the advances we were making with materials engineering and so on. But what interested me most then, and still amazes me most to this day, was something completely unrelated.
In fact, it was this technology that immediately jumped out at me when I saw the Chad and Rajman photos, and even more so in the Big Basin photos.
The “Language”
I put the word Language in quotes because calling what I am about to describe a “language” is a misnomer, although it is an easy mistake to make.
Their hardware wasn’t operated in quite the same way as ours. In our technology, even today, we have a combination of hardware and software running almost everything on the planet. Software is more abstract than hardware, but ultimately it needs hardware to run it.
In other words, there’s no way to write a computer program on a piece of paper, set that piece of paper on a table or something, and expect it to actually do something. The most powerful code in the world still doesn’t actually do anything until a piece of hardware interprets it and translates its commands into actions.
But their technology is different. It really did operate like the magical piece of paper sitting on a table, in a manner of speaking. They had something akin to a language, that could quite literally execute itself, at least in the presence of a very specific type of field. The language, a term I am still using very loosely, is a system of symbols (which does admittedly very much resemble a written language) along with geometric forms and patterns that fit together to form diagrams that are themselves functional.
Once they are drawn, so to speak, on a suitable surface made of a suitable material and in the presence of a certain type of field, they immediately begin performing the desired tasks.
It really did seem like magic to us, even after we began to understand the principles behind it.
I worked with these symbols more than anything during my time at PACL, and recognized them the moment I saw them in the photos. They appear in a very simple form on Chad’s craft, but appear in the more complex diagram form on the underside of the Big Basin craft as well.
Both are unmistakable, even at the small size of the Big Basin photos. An example of a diagram in the style of the Big Basin craft is included with this in a series of scanned pages from the [mis-titled] "Linguistic Analysis Primer". We needed a copy of that diagram to be utterly precise, and it took about a month for a team of six to copy that diagram into our drafting program!
Explaining everything I learned about this technology would fill up several volumes, but I will do my best to explain at least some of the concepts as long as I am taking the time to write all this down.
First of all, you wouldn't open up their hardware to find a CPU here, and a data bus there, and some kind of memory over there. Their hardware appeared to be perfectly solid and consistent in terms of material from one side to the other. Like a rock or a hunk of metal.
But upon [much] closer inspection, we began to learn that it was actually one big holographic computational substrate - each "computational element" (essentially individual particles) can function independently, but are designed to function together in tremendously large clusters. I say its holographic because you can divide it up into the smallest chunks you want and still find a scaled-down but complete representation of the whole system.
They produce a nonlinear computational output when grouped. So 4 elements working together is actually more than 4 times more powerful than 1.
Most of the internal "matter" in their crafts (usually everything but the outermost housing) is actually this substrate and can contribute to computation at any time and in any state. The shape of these "chunks" of substrate also had a profound effect on its functionality, and often served as a "shortcut" to achieve a goal that might otherwise be more complex.
So back to the language.
The language is actually a "functional blueprint". The forms of the shapes, symbols and arrangements thereof is itself functional. What makes it all especially difficult to grasp is that every element of each "diagram" is dependent on and related to every other element, which means no single detail can be created, removed or modified independently.
Humans like written language because each element of the language can be understood on its own, and from this, complex expressions can be built. However, their "language" is entirely context-sensitive, which means that a given symbol could mean as little as a 1-bit flag in one context, or, quite literally, contain the entire human genome or a galaxy star map in another.
The ability for a single, small symbol to contain, not just represent, tremendous amounts of data is another counter-intuitive aspect of this concept. We quickly realized that even working in groups of 10 or more on the simplest of diagrams, we found it virtually impossible to get anything done. As each new feature was added, the complexity of the diagram exponentially grew to unmanageable proportions.
For this reason we began to develop computer-based systems to manage these details and achieved some success, although again we found that a threshold was quickly reached beyond which even the supercomputers of the day were unable to keep up.
Word was that the extra-terrestrials could design these diagrams as quickly and easily as a human programmer could write a Fortran program. It's humbling to think that even a network of supercomputers wasn't able to duplicate what they could do in their own heads. Our entire system of language is based on the idea of assigning meaning to symbols.
Their technology, however, somehow merges the symbol and the meaning, so a subjective audience is not needed. You can put whatever meaning you want on the symbols, but their behavior and functionality will not change, any more than a transistor will function differently if you give it another name.
Here's an example of how complex the process is. Imagine I ask you to incrementally add random words to a list such that no two words use any of the same letters, and you must perform this exercise entirely in your head, so you can't rely on a computer or even a pen and paper. If the first in the list was, say, "fox", the second item excludes all words with the letters F, O and X. If the next word you choose is "tree", then the third word in the list can't have the letters F, O, X, T, R, or E in it.
As you can imagine, coming up with even a third word might start to get just a bit tricky, especially since you can't easily visualize the excluded letters by writing down the words.
By the time you get to the fourth, fifth and sixth words, the problem has spiraled out of control. Now imagine trying to add the billionth word to the list (imagine also that we're working with an infinite alphabet so you don't run out of letters) and you can imagine how difficult it is for even a computer to keep up. Needless to say, writing this kind of thing "by hand" is orders of magnitude beyond the capabilities of the brain.
My background lent itself well to this kind of work though. I'd spent years writing code and designing both analog and digital circuits, a process that at least visually resembled these diagrams in some way. I also had a personal affinity for combinatorics, which served me well as I helped with the design of software running on supercomputers that could juggle the often trillions of rules necessary to create a valid diagram of any reasonable complexity.
This overlapped quite a bit with compiler theory as well, a subject I always found fascinating, and in particular compiler optimization, a field that wasn't half of what it is today back then. A running joke among the linguistics team was that Big-O notation couldn't adequately describe the scale of the task, so we'd substitute other words for "big". By the time I left I remember the consensus was "Astronomical-O" finally did it justice.
Like I said, I could go on for hours about this subject, and would love to write at least an introductory book on the subject if it wasn't still completely classified, but that's not the point of this letter so I'll try to get back on track.
The last thing I'd like to discuss is how I got copies of this material, what else I have in my possession, and what I plan to do with it in the future.
My Collection
I worked at PACL from 1984 to 1987, by which time I was utterly burned out.
The sheer volume of details to keep in mind while working with the diagrams was enough to challenge anyone's sanity, and I was really at the end of my rope with the military's attitude towards our “need to know”. Our ability to get work done was constantly hampered by their reluctance to provide us with the necessary information, and I was tired of bureaucracy getting in the way of research and development. I left somewhere in the middle of a 3-month bell curve in which about a quarter of the entire PACL staff left for similar reasons.
I was also starting to disagree with the direction the leadership wanted to take as far as the subject of extra-terrestrials went. I always felt that at least some form of disclosure would be beneficial, but as a lowly CARET engineer I wasn't exactly in the position to call shots.
The truth is, our management didn't even want us discussing non-technical aspects of this subject (such as ethical or philosophical issues), even among ourselves, as they felt it was enough of a breach of security to let civilians like us anywhere near this kind of thing in the first place.
So, about 3 months before I resigned (which was about 8 months before I was really out, since you don't just walk out of a job like that with a 2 week notice). I decided to start taking advantage of my position. As I mentioned earlier, my DOD experience got me into an internal management role sooner than some of my colleagues, and after about a year of that kind of status, the outgoing searches each night became slightly less rigorous.
Normally, we were to empty out any containers, bags or briefcases, then remove our shirt and shoes and submit to a kind of frisking. Work was never allowed to go home with you, no matter who you were. For me, though, the briefcase search was eventually enough.
Even before I actually decided to do it, I was sure that I would be able to sneak certain materials out with me. I wanted to do this because I knew the day would come when I would want to write something like this, and I knew I'd regret it until the day I died if I didn't at least leave the possibility open to do so. So I started photocopying documents and reports by the dozen. I'd then put the papers under my shirt around my lower back, tucked enough into my belt to ensure they wouldn't fall out.
I could do this in any one of a few short, windowless hallways on some of the lower floors, which were among the few places that didn't have an armed guard watching my every move. I'd walk in one end with a stack of papers large enough that when I came out the other end with some of them in my shirt, there wouldn't be a visible difference in what I was holding.
You absolutely cannot be too careful if you're going to pull a stunt like this. As long as I walked carefully they wouldn't make a crinkling noise. In fact, the more papers I took, the less noise they made, since they weren't as flimsy that way. I'd often take upwards of 10-20 pages at once. By the time I was done, I'd made out with hundreds of photocopies, as well as a few originals and a large collection of original photographs.
With this initial letter I have attached high resolution scans of the following:
A page from an inventory review with a photo that appears to depict one of the parts found in the Rajman sighting and parts very similar to the Big Basin craft
The first 9 pages of one of our quarterly research reports
Scans of the original photographs used in that report, since the photocopies obscure most of the details
5 pages from a report on our ongoing analysis of the “language” (inappropriately titled “linguistic analysis”), depicting the kind of diagram just barely visible on the underside of the Big Basin craft
This material is the most relevant and explanatory I could find on short notice.
Now that these are up, If I decide to release more in the future, I'll be able to take my time and better search this rather large collection of mine that I've sadly never organized.
I'm not sure what I'll be doing with the rest of the collection in the future. I suppose I'll wait and see how this all plays out, and then play it by ear. There are certainly risks involved in what I'm doing, and if I were to actually be identified and caught, there could be rather serious consequences. However, I've taken the proper steps to ensure a reasonable level of anonymity and am quite secure in the fact that the information I've so far provided is by no means unique among many of the CARET participants.
Besides, part of me has always suspected that the government relies on the occasional leak like this, and actually wants them to happen, because it contributes to a steady, slow-paced path towards revealing the truth of this matter.
Since Leaving CARET
Like I said, I left PACL (Palo Alto CARET Laboratory) in '87, but have kept in touch with a great many of my friends and coworkers from those days. Most of us are retired by now, except of course for those of us that went on to get teaching jobs, but a few of us still hear things through the grapevine.
As for CARET itself, I'm not sure what's become of it. Whether it's still known by the same name, I'm quite sure it's still active in some capacity, although who knows where. I heard from a number of people that PACL closed up shop a few years after I left, but I've still yet to get a clear answer on why exactly that happened.
But I'm sure the kind of work we did there is still going strong. I've heard from a lot of friends that there are multiple sites like PACL in Sunnyvale and Mountain View, also disguised to look like unremarkable office space. But this is all second-hand information so you can make of it what you will.
Around 2002 or so I came across Coast to Coast AM and have been hooked ever since. I admit, I don't take most of the show's content as anything more than entertainment, but there have been occasions when I could be sure a guest was clearly speaking from experience or a well-informed source. For me, there's just something very surreal about hearing all this speculation and so-called inside information about UFOs and the like, but being personally able to verify at least some of it as being true or false.
It's also a nightly reminder of how hectic things were in those days, which helps me enjoy my retirement all the more. Knowing I'm not part of that crazy world anymore really is something I enjoy on a daily basis, as much as I miss some of it.
Conclusion
What I've shared so far is only a very small portion of what I have, and what I know.
Despite the very sheltered and insulated atmosphere within CARET, I did ultimately learn a great deal from various colleagues, and some of what I learned is truly incredible. I'd also like to say that for what it's worth, during my time there I never heard anything about invasions, or abductions, or many of the more frightening topics that often pop up on Coast to Coast AM.
That's not to say that none of it is true, but in my time working alongside some of the most well-connected people in this field, it never came up. So at the very least I can say my intent is not to scare anyone. My view on the extra-terrestrial situation is very much a positive, albeit still highly secretive one.
One thing I can definitely say is that if they wanted us gone, we would have been gone a very, very long time ago, and we wouldn't even have seen it coming. Throw out your ideas about a space war or anything silly like that. We'd be capable of fighting back against them about as much as ants could fight back against a stampede of buffalo.
But that's OK. We're the primitive race, they're the advanced races, and that's just the way it is. The other advanced races let them live through their primitive years back in their day, and there's no reason to think it will be any different for us. They aren't in the market for a new planet, and even if they were, there are way too many planets out there for them to care about ours enough to take it by force.
To reiterate my take on the recent sightings, I'd guess that experimentation done in the last couple months on a device that, among other things, is capable of interfering with various crafts onboard invisibility has resulted in a sudden wave of sightings. It may not explain all of the recent events, but like I said, I'd bet my life that's exactly what happened at Big Basin at least, and it's probably related in some way to the Chad, Rajman and Tahoe sightings.
So, despite all the recent fanfare over this, I'd say this doesn't mean much. Most importantly, they aren't suddenly “here”. They've been here for a long time, but just happened to turn unintentionally visible for brief periods recently.
Lastly, there are so many people selling books, and DVDs, and doing lectures, and all that, that I would like to reiterate the fact that I am not here to sell anything. The material I'm sharing is free to distribute provided it's all kept intact and unmodified, and this letter is included.
I tend to question the motives of anyone charging money for their information, and will assure you that I will never do such a thing. And in the future, just to cover all the bases, anyone claiming to be me who's selling a DVD or book is most certainly not going to be me.
Any future releases from me will come from the email address I've used to contact Coast to Coast AM, and will be sent to them only.
I'd like to make this clear as well to ensure that people can be sure that any future information comes from the same source, although I must be clear: at this time I do not have any future plans for additional information. Time will tell how long I will maintain this policy, but do not expect anything soon. I'd really like to let this information “settle” for a while and see how it goes.
If I find out I'm getting an IRS audit tomorrow, then maybe this wasn't too smart.
Until then, I'm going to take it slow. I hope this information has been helpful.
27JUN07 Update from Isaac
From: IsaacSubject: Re: "Drones"Date: June 27, 2007 Received 1:34 PM, Albuquerque, New MexicoTo: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Isaac: "There are a few misconceptions that I have noticed so far and would like to clear them up, and will also answer your questions:
1) I realize now that I did not make this clear, but I should clarify that I am not responsible for the blacking out of the Q4-86 report. Most of the copies I was able to make came from documents that were already archived, which meant that they had already been censored for use by outside parties that needed access to some, but not all, of CARET's information. I'm trying to share this information, not hide it, but if I did feel that if a given topic was too sensitive for some reason, I would make it clear that I had personally covered it up and probably try to give a reason why.
2) I do not understand the question about why the diagram would be "formatted for 8.5 x 11"... As I mention in my letter, the diagram is a reproduction, not the original. We had a team of technical artists painstakingly copy the diagram from its original source, which was a slightly curved panel not unlike the one seen in the Big Basin craft, although this one was apparently inside the craft, not on the outside. We copied it into a drafting program over the course of about a month.
Our software was understandably primitive by today's standards, but it was still orders of magnitude more powerful than a pencil and paper would have been. This made a task that would have otherwise been nearly impossible relatively feasible, albeit extremely time-consuming. I can assure you, "they" did not make anything particularly convenient for us. One of the reasons we chose to reproduce that particular diagram was because out of all the diagram-artifacts we had access to, it was on the flattest surface.
Since the geometry of the forms is extremely important, curvature of the surface it's printed on must be "corrected" if it is to be reproduced in a surface with a different contour (such as a flat page). This can be done in a number of ways, by either using a mathematical model to reverse the effect of the surface curves on the diagram's shapes, or by methods of physical measuring that allow precise measuring of irregular surfaces. In either case, however, it adds a significant new dimension of labor to an already extremely labor-intensive task, so it's avoided whenever possible. We really just needed one or two accurately copied diagrams to serve as convenient examples for our own work in decoding and reproducing it, so luckily this was not something we had to do often. Some experimentation was being done on ways to "scan" the diagrams as well, using an almost completely automated process that could automatically account for curved surfaces, but during my time there, very little progress was made on this front.
3) I think the confusion over the quality of the documents stems from the fact that he (critic) is under the impression they (CARET document) were typeset. They were not. First of all, I'm no guru when it comes to graphics or design, but being in close contact with numerous people from places like XPARC will give you enough background to know the lay of the land. What's first important to note is that systems capable of desktop publishing had been in development for many years before CARET, mostly starting with the Xerox Alto (in 1973), which XPARC developed themselves.
In fact, I once remember hearing from someone related to the original Alto team that Boeing (I believe) used the Alto to lay out and print the documentation for one of their planes (or something to that effect, I heard the story years ago). The joke was apparently that there was so MUCH documentation that the plane itself could essentially be filled with the pages. Furthermore, laser printing itself had also been around for many years (albeit in an extremely expensive form), and was also developed within XPARC (more or less). Other systems, such as PERQ and Lilith, also came out around the late 70's and while none of them turned into major commercial products, they were not uncommon among large companies and [mostly] universities and were put to very productive use.
These systems were also the inspiration for the Apple Lisa and Macintosh, which was of course perhaps the biggest factor in the consumer-level desktop publishing boom of the late 80's and early 90's. By 1984, there were quite a few options available for producing these kinds of documents, they were just ABSURDLY expensive, so they weren't on every street corner. Obviously it was nowhere near as turnkey and simple as it is today, but it was a very crude approximation of the same process with similar tools. We just had far less features and everything was a hell of a lot slower. But the point I'm trying to make is that while our method of documentation was somewhat advanced for its time, and also somewhat uncommon, it was hardly unattainable by a sufficiently motivated, financed, and well-connected organization.
I had very little contact with the technical writers for the most part, but I do know that we were using this kind of technology for both page layout and printing. CARET was expected to produce a massive amount of detailed, well-formatted documentation that could be easily modified and re-used for numerous drafts and revisions, and we would not have been able to keep up using traditional page layout and typesetting techniques. The mid-1980's were a very transitional period for these fields, and I would suggest that people do not assume we were using run-of-the-mill standards.
One of the things I appreciated most about CARET was that if the technology was available, and we needed it to work better or more effectively, it was given to us with little debate. But typesetting and digital page layout are apples and oranges, so I think most of this is a moot point anyway.
The bottom line is that many people both inside and outside the engineering world frequently underestimate how long we've had a lot of the technology we have. 99% of the algorithms we use today were developed decades ago, they just didn't have the same practical applications immediately available. Most of the engineers of the 60's and 70's would have been right at home with today's developments and technologies. The only difference is that things have gotten smaller and faster. In the vast majority of technologies, that is the only thing that REALLY changes from one era to the next. If I told the average person that we had speech-synthesizing technology in 1936, they probably wouldn't believe me.
I could show you a prototype of a simple drafting/design system that was operated by a light pen directly on a screen from the 1960's. You could draw a shape freehand, then immediately rotate it, modify it, duplicate it, or whatever. You could draw lines connecting different objects, then erase them by simply drawing a squiggly line over it. The computer could interpret the squiggles as a sign to erase something, all in real time. And this was half a century ago, and decades before CARET. Think about that for a moment. The point is, most of what we have today is much older than we think. The only differences are that it's faster, cheaper, and a marketing team has given it a glossy finish and found a commercial application for it. But if you take away some of the speed, power, ubiquity and consumer appeal, you'll find a lot of today's technology scattered throughout much of the 20th century. I hope this is helpful.
Isaac"
27JUN07 Update from Isaac
More from Isaac:From: IsaacSubject: Re: "Drones"Date: June 27, 2007 Received 4:28 PM, Albuquerque, New MexicoTo: earthfiles@earthfiles.com
Isaac: "1) While I wasn't a major player in the (CARET) organization, I was hardly 'some worker.' My middle-management position is the only reason I was able to make out with what I did. Bear in mind that even someone in my position would never get the chance to leave with even the smallest of actual artifacts, but paperwork smuggling was feasible for anyone who wasn't subjected to the frisking.
Also, let's not forget that paperwork only proves so much. I'll be the first to agree that everything I've provided could be faked, I suppose. It is, after all, just a series of images. While the powers that be obviously don't want this material leaking if they can help it, they're certainly aware that scans of documents aren't in the same league as UFOs landing on the White House lawn. I'm not the first person to leak a document or a photo, and I won't be the last. The information I've shared is very unlikely to change the world, and this is the reason I'm not worried about being literally murdered if I'm identified. I'll face consequences to be sure, but it's not the kind of thing they kill for.
2) Of course the manual doesn't look anything like typical government and military documents. The entire purpose of CARET was to recreate the look and feel of silicon valley private enterprise, populate it with private industry engineers, and let it tackle the problem of extraterrestrial technology research. Style manuals were among the numerous things we brought with us from the 'outside world.' I'm not sure what else can be said about this. I agree it's uncommon for non-standard documents to come out of this kind of research, but it's even more uncommon for people like myself (and even more so for many of my co-workers) to be brought into this kind of project in the first place. Most of us were decidedly not military men. I find it a lot more bizarre than the fact that we were able to design our reports a certain way. CARET was an exception to many of the usual rules.
3) If he (one of many critics who emailed Earthfiles and which I shared with Isaac) believes the pictures are fake, I certainly can't do or say anything to prove otherwise. He sounds very sure of himself.
4) Most importantly, be very wary of anyone who claims to 'know the mind' of extraterrestrials. The comments he's made are, to put it lightly, naive and extremely presumptuous. Firstly, he's referring to 'the aliens' as if there is a single collective group of them. The universe is not split into 'humans' and 'non-humans,' any more than Earth is split up into 'Spanish' and 'non-Spanish' or something equally arbitrary. There are numerous races - and again, like our own races of humans here on earth, they do things in very different ways.
His comment that 'the aliens don't do this or that' is akin to saying 'humans don't speak Japanese.' Well, many humans don't, but Japanese humans certainly do. The point is not that his statement is right or wrong, but simply that it's phrased illogically. He then goes on to suggest that the design of the drones is wasting space, which is again, alarming in its arrogance. We had some of the brightest minds in the world spending years just to understand a single facet of their technology, while this individual claims to be able to assess basically every detail of a given design after looking at a single photo and conclude that it's inefficient. I'm not even sure such a statement should be dignified with a response, and I'm sure you can understand why.
To be honest, whoever this person is, I wrote him off as soon as he said 'the aliens would never design as these pictures depict.' That's about as presumptuous (if not ignorant) as a statement on this subject can be, at least coming from a fellow human. Unless there's an alien engineer on the other side of this email, there's simply no way such statements could have merit. I'm really only writing this as a courtesy to you.
At best, he's been exposed to technology from a radically different race, and at worst, he doesn't know what he's talking about. This individual may have access to real information, and he might not. If he is a fellow 'whistle blower,' then I'm not interested in attacking him. If he's not, and is simply making things up, then I'm even less interested. Whatever he is or isn't is not for me to say, but judging by the way he talks about this issue I have my doubts.
It's a big world and these are complicated issues. A sense of humility and the admission we don't know everything is one of our greatest assets.
Isaac"
20JUL07 Update from Isaac
July 20, 2007
Update: Since posting this Earthfiles report, I have received several emails from professionals such as this one on July 28, 2007:
"I note that several readers have expressed reservations about Isaac’s hard-copies of the research material on the basis of page layout and the sophistication of the word processing. Typically the claim runs along the lines of 'couldn't do that back then.' I find it interesting that some people claim such authority when clearly they do not really know.
The fact is this: The Xerox 860 was in wide use in the early to mid-80's as was the top-of-the-line dedicated Word Processor. It wasn't a PC or a general purpose computer though; all it did was WYSWIYG word pro (in fact pre-dating the WYSIWYG feature of the Mac which came a couple of years later). By today's standards it was huge, very expensive and was somewhat complicated to use. I was in the publishing business at the time and we sold newsletters to the accounting and legal profession. They were produced on the Xerox 860 by our dedicated '860 Operator' and resulted in very high quality documents that looked typeset. The layout could be 100% controlled including justification, although the fonts were mechanical font wheels that had to be swapped in and out. The printers were huge and very high-end in quality. (As a note: photocopiers were very high-end even then, although in the mid 80's were still electrostatic/toner based).
Given that CARET was 'next door' to XPARC I see nothing unusual in the quality or layout of the documents and any skepticism raised on that account should be declared completely invalid. Here is a link to a reference page re the X860:"
http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/xerox860/index.html
27JUL07 Update from Isaac
July 27, 2007 Albuquerque, New Mexico - After the Isaac letter and CARET document were released on June 26, 2007, one of the criticisms was expressed this way:
"Looking at the so-called 'documentation' that goes with this stuff, the text-formatting is obviously done with relatively recent vintage page-layout software. You can tell by the perfect nature of the block justification.
"That type of extremely precise (even in word-spacing), indeed perfect, text-formatting DID NOT EXIST IN 1985, particularly in a laboratory or even corporate environment. After looking at all of the fancy 'documents,' including the Macromedia Freehand or Adobe Illustrator-designed 'alien diagrams,' I state now and for the RECORD that this whole thing is a HOAX, and will be proven to be such."
Another critic wondered why the extraterrestrial diagrams were formatted for 8.5 x 11-sized paper? Other repeated criticism was that if Isaac really wanted the public to see some of the research facts behind the aerial "drones," why did he blacken some of the CARET document text?
One of many critics emailed these comments, which Isaac addressed in 2nd reply below:
"This is a big hoax. For one thing, the US Government would NEVER allow this information to left in the hands of some worker. Another thing, the manual does not look anything like a legal NASA or a government document either. The pictures of the 'artifact' are photo-shopped and I can tell you that the aliens DO not label every single part as pictured. The anti-grav unit pictured is fake. The photos of the drone on the floor are model parts. The configuration of all the drones sent in to you and others is something the aliens would never design as all these designs pictured show gross misuse of space. All their ships are based on the use of space. Not one inch to them is wasted and if you look at the history of 'probes' from EBE's they are SMALL and fast. I think you have been had. I am surprised that you and George Noory etc. are easily tricked by this. I would definitely check with your reliable contacts deep in the 'Know' and find out for yourself."
I emailed these issues to Isaac and on June 27, 2007, I received his replies in two separate emails indicated by receipt times, which Isaac gave me permission to share in an Earthfiles follow-up. My delay in reporting these emails is that I had an indication from Isaac that I might be able to interview him by phone. So, I waited, hoping the interview would occur. But to date, that has not happened.
Communication from Issac Ended after 27 July 2007
Isaac initiated his disclosure in June 2007. It created a firestorm of denunciation and ridicule. Suddenly at the end of July 2007, all communication stopped abruptly. All went silent after 4-5 weeks from the first disclosure.
Approximately 4 to 5 months later CGI versions of the CARET images made their debut. By the end of the year, a music video was released and heavily promoted by the mainstream media. This effort proceeded in parallel with a debunking effort by the NSA. Spelunking though the website archives one can easily see that the debunking websites all sprung up at about the same time (within weeks) and were very active through 2008 effectively trying to rewrite history and disparage the disclosure.
While Isaac was not in the same program that I was in, there is no doubt that he violated confidentiality restrictions that he had agreed to back in the 1980’s. I am confident that he suffered the consequences for this disclosure. I lament his loss. We all should realize that if we have information we need to do what Edward Snowden did and provide a mechanism so that all of the information might be disseminated properly upon our demise.
Pages from the Q4-86 Research Report
The report that was the primary subject matter of the “C.A.R.E.T. disclosure” was the December 1986 Q4-86 Research Report for the “Commercial Applications Research for Extraterrestrial Technology” (C.A.R.E.T.) from the PACL staff at the Palo Alto Caret Laboratory. This report was presented in a three-ring binder format. Note the author’s name is censored out as well as the street address for the Palo Alto Caret Laboratory.
This is the first page of the fourth quarter report for the year 1986 of the Palo Alto CARET Laboratory. In it is a “executive summary” of the projects and an overview of the rest of the documentation. The goal of the research has been to “…achieve a greater understanding of extraterrestrial technology within the context of commercial applications and civilian use.” It describes that what is commonly referred to reverse eingineering of extraterrestrial technology which is known as “extraction”. It delineates a specific goal with is an “extraction package” that can be used as a sort of building block by which other technologies might be built upon.
This is the third page of the December 1986 Q4-86 Research Report for the “Commercial Applications Research for Extraterrestrial Technology” (C.A.R.E.T.) from the PACL staff at the Palo Alto Caret Laboratory. It contains the executive summary of the contents in the report. “…virtually all aspects of most extraterrestrial craft seem to incorporate its use in some way.”
This is page 4 of the December 1986 Q4-86 Research Report for the “Commercial Applications Research for Extraterrestrial Technology” (C.A.R.E.T.) from the PACL staff at the Palo Alto Caret Laboratory. “Additionally, PACL has been provided with a small device capable of controlling A1 by activating and deactivating it, as well as switching between its three primary modes of operation. This device, assigned the identification code S1, is of particularly sensitive importance, as it is the only known method of controlling A1.”
This is page 5 of the December 1986 Q4-86 Research Report for the “Commercial Applications Research for Extraterrestrial Technology” (C.A.R.E.T.) from the PACL staff at the Palo Alto Caret Laboratory.
This is page 6 of the December 1986 Q4-86 Research Report for the “Commercial Applications Research for Extraterrestrial Technology” (C.A.R.E.T.) from the PACL staff at the Palo Alto Caret Laboratory. “Research in the internal functionality of A1 began in late (1986) and as such, little is currently known. What is certain, however, is that the device contains no moving parts whatsoever, does not feature any kind of control interface in the form of buttons, switches, or levers, and, apparently, can only be manipulated by the technology contained in S1.”
“While initial experimentation indicated that the artifacts were composed of a consistent solid material, experiments on A1’s component mode suggest that the artifacts are more internally complex…” Page 7 from the Palo Alto CARET Laboratory 1986, fourth quarter research report.
This is page 8 of the December 1986 Q4-86 Research Report for the “Commercial Applications Research for Extraterrestrial Technology” (C.A.R.E.T.) from the PACL staff at the Palo Alto Caret Laboratory. Most of the text has been redacted from the manuscript leaving only one visible photograph
This is page9 of the December 1986 Q4-86 Research Report for the “Commercial Applications Research for Extraterrestrial Technology” (C.A.R.E.T.) from the PACL staff at the Palo Alto Caret Laboratory. Most of the text has been redacted from the manuscript leaving only one visible photograph.
Pages from the Q3-85 Inventory Review
Part of the disclosure featured segments from other documents as well. This is a page from the Q3-85 Inventory Review of the components being reverse engineered at PACL at CARET. I must remind the reader of the NSA efforts to downplay or disparage this disclosure. After all, they developed a complete MTV Video Music track and supportive CAD models to the public to “prove” that his release of information was nothing more than just a “publicity stunt”. I should hope that the reader knows otherwise. Look at the pictures above. Does this “isolated page out of a report” look like part of a “publicity stunt”? Do these objects look like CAD files placed upon a photographed background? Think people! Think!
Pages from the Linguistic Primer
This is page 119 from the Linguistics Primer by PACL for the CARET project. This page features figure 14.11 which is a full view of diagram D39-08-117c. This page has penned in notations made by one of the researchers. The researcher who made the notations was obviously European as they did not use conventional American notation for numbers. (The number seven and the number one are obviously written in the European style.)
This is page 120 from the Linguistics Primer by PACL for the CARET research project. In it, figure 14.12 describes an “Isolated view of a three-node AB-type semaphore cascade, extending from an exterior vertex of an octal junction.”
This is page 121 from the Linguistic Primer by PACL for the CARET project. In it figure 14.13 clearly describes a “Rotary junction with orbital sub-junction connecting to an octal switch”.
This is page 122 of the Linguistic Primer by PACL for the CARET project. In it, figure 14.14 is described; “Compound junction in a dual-link union with heavy-state tri-switch and diffuser”. The reader should note that the tri-switch is unbalanced. The angles between each of the three “arms” do not equal 33.3333 degrees. In fact, the tri-switch is perhaps the most interesting object in this report.
This is page 123 from the Linguistic Primer by PACL for the CARET project. In it is described figure 14.15; “Parent junction with three non-orbital child junctions”. This page shows a series of junctions below a tri-switch. I am most interested in the interface in the lower right of the octal junction.
The Photographs
The reader should note that at no time during the NSA rewriting of the C.A.R.E.T. narrative, did they provide a physical model of this device shown in the picture above. Nor did they provide the supposed CAD drawings that described it. Again, the debunking of this disclosure was “full-on”, loud, boisterous, but incomplete. There were serious omissions from the debunking efforts.
If the entire C.A.R.E.T. disclosure was all a CGI publicity stunt, then where are the CGI models of the above item? Where are the actual physical models that this photo came from? Obviously they would have to provide the models, and the software files. But they didn’t because it was too complex and too expensive to do. The belief that they could overwhelm the mass public with the disinformation effort was largely successful. Nothing is ever 100% successful, and MAJestic and the NSA realizes this. They strive for a mere 80%success effort. Their goal is to bury the disclosure from exposure to the vast bulk of the American population. They are not concerned with the handful of “true” believers, as they view them as largely impotent.
This is a closeup of the two I-beams that are connected to the antigravity device.
This is the fourth photograph that was part of the disclosure. Here we have another closeup view of the two I-beam structures that are part of the antigravity device.
Here is the fifth photograph of the personal antigravity mechanism showing the two I-beam structures. Note that both I-beam structures are “floating” above the surface and are connected to the main unit without any physical attachment.
Other Opinions
Many different witnesses came forward at the time of the disclosure, from all different professions and walks of life and sightings spanning as far back as 1985. The testimony of these individuals is very hard to ignore. However, the subject matter has been largely ignored thanks to a deliberate debunking campaign. Tht campaign centered around the misinformation that these craft were simply products of CGI manipulation. Yet the sincerity, depth and breadth of the witness testimony obliterates the theory that this was CGI and / or viral marketing. Some CGI videos appeared, but they were obvious fakes and have nothing in relation to the truth of this subject.
Even some die-hard believers fell for the debunker propaganda and still to this day MOST people are not familiar with the many hours of recorded interviews conducted by Linda Moulton-Howe on this subject, and so simply cite “something they heard in a forum” or “I heard that…”. I urge those people to THINK for THEMSELVES.
Internet Searches
This might be the last repository of information concerning the C.A.R.E.T. disclosure in the world. The NSA has been very busy erasing every evidence of this disclosure. Today, it is just about impossible to find anything regarding this. (In the United States. Elsewhere in the world it is still possible to dredge up some information. But it is not at all easy.)
Pretty amazing for a “hoax”.
Typically, the NSA wants as many hoaxes as possible to self-propagate on the Internet. This serves the important purpose to “prove” that there is nothing to disclosures and other information regarding extraterrestrials. Obviously the NSA is not treating this disclosure as a hoax, but rather is trying to eliminate all evidence of its existence. Obviously the United States government has devoted time, finance, and every media resource at it’s disposal to disparage this disclosure.
Just a kind reminder, as if the reader doesn’t realize this by now. The media itself is part of the Deep State. They all are educated in the same universities by professors with horrible values, and taught the same things. They go to the same clubs. They socialize with each other. They have the same basic psychological, political, economic and philosophical underpinnings. So, of course, they look at the world through the same lens. And avoid mention of things that might be inconvenient, or conflict with their worldview.
Bing
The Microsoft search engine, out of the United States; Bing.com cannot find anything associated with C.A.R.E.T. at all! This is in every form that I tried. This is absolutely amazing. Absolutely zero hits. In fact, the absence of any kind of hit is indicative of some kind of filtering or omission software; one that specifically censors a given word or phrase. If the reader dares investigate, they will find some text at the bottom of the page that reads “Some results are removed in response to a notice of local law requirement.”
My conclusion is that the website absolutely targets the phraseology and omits every discovery from disclosure. Thus, someone, or some organization specifically censors the Bing Search Engine for C.A.R.E.T. terms, words and phrases.
This included “CARET”. “C.A.R.E.T.”, Isaac, UFO, extraterrestrial, “unspecified” reverse engineering, and all kinds of combinations of the aforementioned statement.
Wikipedia
There used to be a page in Wikipedia concerning C.A.R.E.T. but it has since disappeared. Initially, I believed that it was relocated to some other aligned page, but this was not the case.
Someone deleted the information on Wikipedia. They did so expertly. I sent an e-mail to Wikipedia concerning the deletion. (Not all deletions are so expertly done. There is often some residue of raw links left in the code.
Not in this case. This website was WIPED CLEAN and then SCRUBBED, DISINFECTED, and then POLISHED afterwards.) When I queried about the deletion to the website, I received no response back. That is, in itself unusual, as Wikipedia always have responded to my inquiries previously. The reader should note; they never responded back to me. Therefore, I have no idea what happened regarding it.
To visit Wikipedia to search for this listing go HERE.
Google
In 2011, there was no problem at all finding anything on the Internet regarding C.A.R.E.T.. At that time, it never occurred to me that it would be censored by the US government.
In 2013, when compiling some information, I discovered that it was getting difficult to find the information. Google search results almost uniformly submitted debunking statements in every search result.
As of 2014 you could still locate information concerning C.A.R.E.T. on Google, though you would have to go three or more pages deep before you could find anything of interest.
As of 2015, all traces of C.A.R.E.T. has disappeared from Google and are unable to be found using that search engine.
In 2016, I again attempted to use Google. Absolutely zero hits.
Yahoo
Yahoo is a very famous website. They provide news, e-mail services, and various other services such as Yahoo.Answers. What is not so well known is that they are also a search engine. Since it is not a “priority” search engine, there is every belief that they could find information on this subject. To my surprise, this was true. The American search engine; Yahoo, was very successful in finding hits for this subject.
It is my guess that the NSA doesn’t think that Yahoo! is a viable search engine any longer.
Other Sources
The reader does not have to rely on using American-censored Internet search engines to find information on this disclosure. Here is a collection of sites and sources that one can use directly. It is my sincere hope that they are not blocked in the United States. If they are, I would strongly urge the reader to take a vaction to another nation and use the Internet there (As well as the local search engines. Do not use Google.).
Read Isaac’s original whistle-blower testimony on the C.A.R.E.T program. This is the best site to obtain full resolution scans of all his provided documentation.
The reader should be aware that you might have to use a VPN to tunnel through the Internet blocking software that is installed in most ISP’s in the United States today. Or, alternatively visit a different country than the USA and access these sites. The United States government does ABSOLUTELY block websites that it considers “hostile” to “national interests”. I do not know if these websites fall under this cloak, but I would not put them out of the loop by any stretch of reason.
Here are the people who operate the enormous bureaucracy in the United States. You know, the ones that say one things and do the other. John Brennan. James Clapper, and their ilk.
Alienware
“ What of the characters appearing on the drones being used by Dell for their Alienware computer line? I always tended to think that Dell was approached by the government and used as part of their disinformation campaign. The company was doing poorly before the release of Alienware; if the government or someone posing as an investor were to approach Dell with large a large sum of startup money for a subsidiary, on the condition that the name Alienware and a given “font” be used, how could they refuse? Does anyone know anything about this?”-Jonas July 1, 2014 at 8:58 am
“I knew about the alienware use of the symbols and graphics of the Caret stuff. It was a clear opportunistic use of the mystery behind this at the moment.”-truthseeking2015 July 27, 2014 at 10:51 pm
The company Alienware uses the C.A.R.E.T. disclosure as a screensaver and wall paper. Nice, but it tends to make people think that this is not a legitimate disclosure. (BTW; what they provide is anything but accurate. The artwork is disconnected nonsense and has and illustrates no constructive purpose. It just looks attractive. It is similar to the writing utilized, but not functional in any way.)
CARET images used for profit purposes.
It is important to note that, in general, the misdirection and disinformation strategy for C.A.R.E.T. was a success.
Many people, even ones who you would think would know better, fell for it. As soon as some sort of “reasonable excuse” was presented, everyone went to that solution mindlessly.
Conclusions
During the 1980’s into 2007, various strange objects were viewed hovering, floating and moving about in the sky silently. These objects were photographed and discussed.
Strange object that was found floating and hovering silently in the sky. It was photographed as shown.
An entire write up on the various sightings of these drones can be found at TRUTHFALL. They pretty much befuddled everyone who encountered them. No one knew what they were. They look like mechanical contrivances, most certainly but they have no known writing or anything that can be used to identify them.
Another photo of this mysterious drone object. It was taken by a different person at a different location at a different time.
Then, a fellow known as Isaac said that he knew what these items were. He submitted the photos, documents and the text reproduced herein. Other people have also contributed various curiosities…
“I cannot remember whether they told him what it did, or if he discovered it, but he said the characters had to be on this metal, in this order, and in a particular electromagnetic field, they cloaked themselves. He said it worked by bending light. He said that the thing I had taken a picture of was simply malfunctioning, and that is why I saw part of it for a moment. He said it worked on the rods and cones in our eyes,in that it bent light. He said some animals could still see them, but if working properly, they would be nearly invisible. He called it “clear jello”.
Other people piped in…
“From what I gathered in my email correspondence from Isaac, he indicated that I was seeing them only because they were being tested by the U.S. and, had they been working properly, I would never have seen it. He said some folks only see the boom or the cage, due to a malfunction of the apparatus that bends light around it; he said that is why sometimes we will swear we just saw something in the air, then suddenly it is gone. He also indicated that dogs may be able to see them even as cloaked, and when we look at what they are barking at, we see nothing.”
After the sightings came to prevalence in 2007 a series of badly thrown together CGI YouTube movies and photographs then emerged. Some were produced by fame-seeking photoshop junkies desperate to showcase their ‘talents’, some by copycats and those desperate for viral video status. However, absolutely none of the CGI hoxers came even remotely close to resembling the original images. Nor could they explain the ever growing number of witnesses, from all ages and walks of life and geographically separate locations in the United States.
There are websites that really go all out to convince everyone that this is all just hoax. You can go visit them if you want. They are wrong.
This is an actual disclosure of technical information related to the reverse engineering of extraterrestrial technology forty years ago. To understand the level of technology that MAJestic is dealing with, please kindly take a moment to study the linguistic primer.
Strange drone taken at a different time and place by a different person.
Take Aways
There was a disclosure of reverse engineering efforts made during the 1980’s of acquired extraterrestrial technology.
This disclosure included excerpts of various documents, photographs, and an explanation.
Following the disclosure, there was a massive debunking effort that involved everything from multiple websites, a small army of trolls, to a music video with CGI effects. Today, most well-known UFO and similar websites consider this to be a hoax.
This is NOT a hoax. It is a real disclosure.
FAQ
Q: Is CARET and PACL a hoax?
A: No. Throughout the 1980’s MAJestic had numerous reverse engineering efforts in process. There were also efforts related to providing support to our extraterrestrial benefactors. I cannot directly comment on specific issues, but I can confirm that the information that Isaac provided back in 2007 rings true based on my experiences.
Q: What happened to Isaac?
A: He’s probably dead. He gave away and published unacknowledged special access program documentation. He was under the assumption that maybe the worse that would happen to him would be an IRS audit. No. I am afraid that he is probably dead.
Q: What about Metallicman disclosures?
A: My role at this time is doing exactly as I am told. I could not prevent it if I wanted to. And, for what ever it is worth, I hate doing things for free. Yet, I am fucking compelled to do what I am doing. If MAJestic wanted me to stop they would do so.
MAJestic Related Posts – Training
These are posts and articles that revolve around how I was recruited for MAJestic and my training. Also discussed is the nature of secret programs. I really do not know why the organization was kept so secret. It really wasn’t because of any kind of military concern, and the technologies were way too involved for any kind of information transfer. The only conclusion that I can come to is that we were obligated to maintain secrecy at the behalf of our extraterrestrial benefactors.
MAJestic Related Posts – Our Universe
These particular posts are concerned about the universe that we are all part of. Being entangled as I was, and involved in the crazy things that I was, I was given some insight. This insight wasn’t anything super special. Rather it offered me perception along with advantage. Here, I try to impart some of that knowledge through discussion.
Enjoy.
MAJestic Related Posts – World-Line Travel
These posts are related to “reality slides”. Other more common terms are “world-line travel”, or the MWI. What people fail to grasp is that when a person has the ability to slide into a different reality (pass into a different world-line), they are able to “touch” Heaven to some extent. Here are posts that cover this topic.
John Titor Related Posts
Another person, collectively known by the identity of “John Titor” claimed to utilize world-line (MWI egress) travel to collect artifacts from the past. He is an interesting subject to discuss. Here we have multiple posts in this regard.
Yup. It’s true. America Taxes it’s Expats without Representation. Exactly like King George did back in 1775. However, given everything, today it is only much, much worse.
This is not something that you are going to have CNN pontificate about. You won’t hear about this on MSNBC, WaPo or the Huffington Puffington Post. Nope. It’s all “under the radar”. It’s quiet and hidden from most Americans.
They want you to have a trivial mind-set. They want you fixated on article summaries that do not exceed two paragraphs. They want you to have a short-term memory, and they want your attention directed elsewhere. Anywhere but on how your life actually is.
The moment the die was cast, and the law was written, it was determined. No, this wasn’t “just” another law. No, this wasn’t “just another” in a long string of usurpation of liberty. Nope. This was something else entirely. It was the last straw of a bale of hay that broke the proverbial camels back.
This was the law that proved once and for all that you Americans are just cattle.
Oh, we know this, after all, we are treated like cattle. We are raised and educated as cattle. We are separated (“Animal Farm” style) into cattle and owners. It’s just that we had at least a semblance of unity and order.
Not any longer.
There should be no question about it. When your government treats you like cattle, you are – for all practical purposes – just that; cattle.
Introduction
No single event caused the revolution. It was, instead, a series of events that led to the war. Essentially, it all began as a disagreement over the way Great Britain treated the colonies and the way the colonies felt they should be treated. Americans felt they deserved all the rights of Englishmen. The British, on the other hand, felt that the colonies were created to be used in the way that best suited the Crown and Parliament. This conflict is embodied in one of the rallying cries of the American Revolution: No Taxation Without Representation.
-The Root Causes of the American Revolution
While there were many causes and reasons why America came into being, the first and foremost was when Britain treated it’s American citizens as cattle. At that time, there wasn’t an America. Everyone who lived in America were British citizens. However, since they had no representation; no one to address their grievances with, they were expats.
They lived in the “grey area” of non-people.
They were subject to British laws. They were subject to British rulings. They were subject to British taxes. However, they had absolutely no control, dispute or avenue to participate in governance. As such, functionally, the British government treated them as cattle.
They were a useful mechanism to obtain profits and taxes. The government could raise the taxes, apply levies on goods, implement tariffs and make laws, all without a peep from the British citizens in the American territories.
Those who lived in America didn’t like this situation one bit.
True to expectations. A percentage of them revolted. They demanded that they be allowed to have a representative to talk to the government on their behalf. However, the government would have none of that. Why “rock the boat” when you have a good thing going, they reasoned.
Well, out forefathers could not stand being treated like cattle. So they revolted. The revolution that they had against the British empire became famous. It became known as “The American Revolution” against tyranny.
How the British government treated the British expats in the American territories back in 1775, British citizens were considered to be cattle. They were a free source of labor, income and a resource for the government to use as it determined.
Well, you know, if you go on the internet there will be all kinds of “experts” and “historians” who will pontificate on the causes of the American revolution. But, you know what? They really revolted against one basic principle. They simply did not like being treated like cattle.
The American Revolution was the direct result of being treated as cattle.
Why Cattle?
Basically, a government is rather simple. You see, a government raises taxes to support the benefits that it provides to it’s citizenry. Taxes are raised to help the citizens who pay the taxes.
That’s all that there is to it. Fundamentally.
Now, make no mistake, in order to function properly, the government requires a “feed back loop”. This is to guarantee that the populace is being adequately cared for. In Democratic and Republican societies, this is in the form of representatives and representation. If things go wrong, or bad, the population have a means to communicate with their government to address concerns and problems.
Without this feed back loop, the government is not representative.
When there is not a feed back loop, the population toils, not for themselves or their communities, but rather for the government alone. They pay taxes, but who knows what the taxes would be used for. There isn’t any feed back loop.
The population becomes a utility; an element that can be milked which provides nourishment to the leadership and the government, but not to the population. The population becomes cattle.
This is what citizens become when there isn’t a way for them to control, or (at the very least) give feed-back to their government. They become useless pawns. They become product. They become cattle that can be farmed for profit.
When the population works and toils, and pays taxes to the government, but does not see the benefit of those taxes; nor any control on how those taxes will be used, the government is a full-on tyranny.
The people are cattle for those who rule.
Tale of two Expats; One British and One American
Yeah, we revolted from a tyrannical government. Big whoop! Where has it brought us to? I will tell you where. It brought us around full circle. We are now at a point in time where it is better to be a British Citizen than an American Citizen.
Here I am. I am in China. I am surrounded by many British expats, and a handful of American expats. The British are far…far… far better off than the Americans are.
When in their home nation, they pay less in taxes than Americans do (this is true, no matter what the WaPo and Blue Ribbon panels have to say), the government follows British Common Law, and not arbitrary laws designed to police behavior. Which pretty much sums up American law. We have laws for just about everything, and when you boil them all down, they pretty much revolve around policing the behaviorof people.
Drive a car, you MUST wear a seat belt.
You cannot buy liqueur on Sunday.
When hunting you MUST display the permit visibly.
You cannot ask for a person’s age or sex on a job advertisement.
In England, however, they pretty much follow British Common Law. Which generally means that criminal laws are formed and written to protect people from becoming a victim. Under British Common Law, if you do not have a victim, you cannot have a law. Criminal laws requirea victim.
Steal someone’s car, the owner of the car is a victim.
Stab someone, and the person who is stabbed is a victim.
Run your car on someone’s rose bushes, and the owner of the roses is a victim.
Not so in the United States. Laws are written not to protect you. they are written to enforce behavior.
Law in the United States
Just like fences are constructed to keep cattle penned in. Just like dogs are used to round up the cattle, and just like electric shock fences are used to keep the cattle in place. So, the United States uses law.
In the United States, laws are used to enforce the behavior of the citizen-cattle.
Moo.
The laws are not used to enforce any behaviors of the elite and the ruling class. They have their own system of government, rules and things. They are not subject to the same rules as us cattle are.
Whether it is the rich and the powerful in Hollywood, or the wealthy in Washington D.C., they have their own rules of behavior. They are able to get away with blatant crimes. They can get away with obvious crimes, and survive with only a “slap on the wrist”. Us cattle are treated differently.
They can rape at will, over and over again, and not suffer any consequences. They can steal 30,000 top secret documents, put it on a server that is a direct line to a foreign government, and still be walking the streets instead of being strung up by a rope and hung until death. The can sell government secrets, property, and resources, and pocket the money directly all without a single peep from anyone.
Comic from Ben Garrison on the law and the outrageous crimes of Hillary Clinton and her immunity from the law.
America has two systems; one for us cattle and one for our owners (rulers). The British has one system. Everyone must follow the law and play by the same rules. Though, there is some recent evidence that Muslims in the major cities have their own tiered approach to laws.
Lock her up by Ben Garrison at Grr Graphics. All credit to the artist. Hillary Clinton sure has managed to get away with a lot. This is a characteristic of a third world banana republic. It is not the characteristic of a functioning Republic.
When I talk to my British friends, I am often astounded. They are my age, with similar career backgrounds. Yet how can they be doing so much better than myself?
How?
Specific Examples
For instance, when they die the government does not seize their property to pay “back” taxes. It’s their property. They do not have to report the sale of the house and the property to the government. There just isn’t any kind of inheritance taxes.
Finally, when they are in China, they pay only the local taxes. They don’t report their income to the British version of the IRS, have their bank accounts monitored, and seized, and once they step outside the shores of their nation, they don’t have to pay expat taxes. We Americans do. In fact, the consequences for not paying taxes is terribly severe.
American must pay the local taxes, and also American taxes. We have to pay taxes on everything as if we lived in the United States. We pay double taxes. We are forced and compelled to report on our income and the various worth of properties and possessions outside of the United States with severe consequences if we do not meet their expectations on our worth.
Therefore, if you live abroad for 10 years, and then return to the United States, the IRS may question your failure to file returns for those ten years and later can make assessments based on their best estimate of your income. The interest and penalties on any old tax amounts owed grows faster than you can imagine and after 4-5 years may exceed the amount of the original taxes owed.
-TaxMeLess
In short, a British expat has it much better than their American counterpart.
You see, British expats are treated as full-on citizens that are abroad (outside of their home). American expats are treated as cattle to be “milked” for all they are worth. This is true whether or not they are in-country or an expat abroad.
The Law
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a 2010 United States federal law requiring all non-U.S. ('foreign') financial institutions (FFIs) to search their records for customers with indicia of 'U.S.-person' status, such as a U.S. place of birth, and to report the assets and identities of such persons to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
-Wikipedia
Hum… What ever happened to the fourth amendment in the Bill of Rights? Am I correct in assuming that the 16th amendment made the fourth amendment null and void?
FATCA allows government personnel to locate U.S. persons not living in the United States, so as to assess U.S. tax or penalties.
-Wikipedia
What ever happened to the right to privacy, the right to be forgotten, and the right to be left alone? I guess that cattle don’t have those rights. The owners of the cattle must know where each and every animal is, and what its value is, so that they can profit from it.
The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (of which FATCA is a part) was passed on party lines: It narrowly passed the House, with no Republican members voting "yes" and passed the Senate with only one Democrat member voting "no".
President Obama (D) signed the bill into law.
-Wikipedia
Yup. Why am I not surprised that it was Democrats that want to treat American citizens as cattle that have no privacy.
Democrat Senator Nancy Pelosi believe that Americans are not entitled to the money they earn. She believes that it is the property of the government, and use of the money is only granted to elected officials.
The Notification
The IRS now has new power over passports. The IRS can't take your passport exactly, but it can tell the State Department to do so. Whether this is a good idea can be debated, but it is now the law. It wasn’t even an executive order that did it. It came from Congress over a year ago in H.R.22, adding Section 7345 to the tax code. It isn't limited to criminal tax cases, or even cases where the IRS thinks you are trying to flee. The idea was proposed and rejected in 2012.
But by late 2015, Congress passed it and President Obama signed it. Now, over a year later, the IRS has finally released new details on its website. If you have seriously delinquent tax debt, IRS can notify the State Department. The State Department generally will not issue or renew a passport after receiving a certification from the IRS.
-Forbes
The Despots who Nurtured and Created the Law
Here’s a nasty group of elected Democrat congress-critters who are upset that President Trump has lowered taxes, and are putting minorities to work instead of providing them social benefits. They have been very unhappy with that. They take it personally, as if someone is sealing water out of their backyard pool using a teaspoon.
As mentioned previously, the law that placed this burden on Americans was forged by Democrats. It was rammed through a Democrat controlled congress, approved by a Democrat controlled Senate, and signed into law by a Democrat President.
Fundamentally, this legislation…
Connects the IRS with the department of State. (Tagging the cattle.)
Permits Americans to be taxed outside of the United States, beyond territorial borders. (Milking the cattle.)
Forces foreign banks to report on what Americans do with their finances without privacy protection. (Monitoring the cattle behavior.)
Forces foreign individuals and institutions to report on the locations of Americans abroad. (Monitoring the cattle location.)
Forces Americans to return to the United States, if they do not pay enough in taxes. (Return the cattle to it’s owner.)
The deputy director general of legal affairs of the People's Bank of China, the central bank of the People's Republic of China, Liu Xiangmin said "China's banking and tax laws and regulations do not allow Chinese financial institutions to comply with FATCA directly.
-Wikipedia
The rest of the world does not do this. Really, only America does this. ONLY. AMERICA. DOES. THIS. Other nations, even communist ones, treat their citizens with due respect. They are not permitted to treat anyone like cattle. Hard to believe eh?
How does America get away with this? Why won’t the people complain to their representatives?
via GIPHY
One of the key tenets with life in America is the understanding and the realization that the American government works hand-in-hand with the mainstream-media to control Americans. Part of that is a constant flow of propaganda covering many subjects over long stretches of time. The key is that you really need to keep Americans stupid and distracted to make this work…
via GIPHY
One part of this propaganda is the idea that everything done by a communist nation is BAD, and that everything done by a “free” democratic nation is “good”.
However, the work-around this lie to to make some astute and fundamental observations. Namely…
America is NOT a democracy. Nor is it “free”. (At least not in terms recognized by the founders of the nation, as written in the “Federalist Papers”.)
China is NOT communist. Actually it is a “Free Market” social dictatorship. (Mr. Mao might have founded the nation, but it was Mr. Deng who set economic and social policy.)
This law affects all Americans. It also affects all green card holders.
The idea behind it is to make sure that no American citizen can live a life without paying “his fair share” of taxes. The individuals who forged this legislation were outraged that wealthy Americans can utilize “tax havens” to reduce their tax burden. However, this legislation functionally does not affect those people that this was supposedly targeted for. It affects much poorer Americans abroad.
The moment you use your passport, the IRS is now notified. They now expect the American citizen to either return home, or earn money. The money earned is to be taxed.
Failure to do so will result in the wrath of the IRS tax police.
Historically, when Americans didn’t want to pay taxes without representation, the ruling government hired aggressive para-military forces to take control of the situation. Their goal was to instill order through fear and very aggressive subjugation of the population.
What now?
So, let’s suppose that you are an American who obtained a job teaching English in China. You must pay the local Chinese taxes, and then must pay American taxes. The Chinese taxes are automatically deducted from your pay. They tend to be small.
Then the entire amount, including what was already paid to the Chinese government, is considered taxable income. Americans must file their taxes, and probably use an expensive tax accountant to do so. It is more than an inconvenience. It places American expats at a decidable disadvantage to other expats in the work force.
There is nothing you can do about this.
Since expats no longer live in the United States, they do not have a representative in Washington D.C. to address their grievances with. The last time that this situation occurred was in 1776. Americans did not like being ruled like cattle, and shot the elite trying to rule them.
The movie “The Patriot” depicted the situation in America when Americans were treated like cattle by an uncaring and evil ruling class.
Conclusions
Americans are treated like cattle. They are intentionally kept stupefied and confused so that they can be effectively “milked” for personal gain by the people in power. This has become absolutely obvious with the passage of H.R.22, which added Section 7345 to the tax code.
The democrats want to rewrite the Constitution to better enable them to profit individually at the expense of the nation. They have been systematically revising the law and putting people and forces in positions of power to implement their desires.
America has moved so far from the original intention of the Constitution, that in many cases it operates in the exact opposite manner than what it was intended.
Take Aways
Americans are treated like cattle.
When Americans work outside of the USA they are taxed without representation.
Dual taxation of Americans is now permitted by the IRS.
American expats are placed at a disadvantage when overseas.
Americans have no expectation of privacy.
Americans are no longer safe and secure in their personal papers.
FAQ
Q: I do not live outside the USA. How does this matter to me?
A: This simply illustrates your value and worth in terms of what our elected rulers think. If they can treat expats in this manner, what makes you think that they will not treat penned up American-cattle worse? I argue that this is an obvious five-alarm warning bell that is flashing and screaming. I think we should take heed.
Q: Why do you say that America treat’s it’s citizens like cattle?
A: Because it does. In fact, it does so exactly. The only thing that it does not yet do is sell the cattle to other nations. I’d give it another fifty years or so before this happens. I mean, it makes sense. They want to import as many ignorant people into the United States as possible and they want to tax everyone and everybody to an excessive amount.
Q: The IRS says that the payment of taxes are voluntary. Why don’t you just stop paying taxes?
A: It’s not voluntary. It is compulsory, no matter what the IRS says. The failure to pay your taxes would result in serious fines and troubles.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
This post is a little rant that I composed after President Obama announced that he would redirect NASA funds towards Muslim “outreach”. I dusted it off, and updated it, and placed it herein as a launch board to my discussion on the realities of space exploration in the age of the “fourth turning”.
"When I became the Nasa administrator, he (Mr Obama) charged me with three things. One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; (secondly) he wanted me to expand our international relationships;
and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering."
-Head of NASA, Charles Bolden.
That’s pretty bad.
NASA went from exploring space, and expanding our understanding of the universe, to becoming a political tool. It became a tool that would [1] pipe money to teacher’s unions, [2] be used to funnel money into the UN, and three [3] funnel money into Muslim nations.
But that wasn’t what I was so worked up about. What got me so riled up was the reaction that my various friends had to the announcement. In their minds, there was no benefit for humans in the exploration of space.
No benefit.
They parroted the public narrative that NASA is the sole and only mechanism for the exploration of space. They parroted the narrative that humans are only intelligent life in our universe, and that if there were anything of value in “outer space” that the government would truthfully announce it to the population…
I dusted this rant off, and posted it herein with revisions. Presented with the introductory comments and for reader enjoyment.
Introduction
“If the US does not stop their imperialist campaign to destroy our economy and keeps mingling in our affairs with China, we will be forced to reveal the truth about their secret moon program,…
… These classified documents will expose the campaign of delusion and lies the US government has played on behalf of the American people and the rest of the world for the past 60 years,”
-The supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-un
Let’s look at this question for a minute…
All during the decade of the 1960’s America was geared toward space exploration. Every magazine, every article, every book was written about space exploration. Those of us whom lived through this period remember it well. Most of the television programs revolved around space exploration, and how one needs to study hard to become a scientist.
While NASA was busy trying to go to the moon, the rest of us were watching movies about exploring space. This included the television show Fireball XL-5.
As a much older and experienced man, I see now how this was manipulation on a grand scale. Through the media, through the magazines, through the movies, through the television, and through the educational system, Americans were programmed to study, excel and advance towards space exploration and conquest.
Everything was directed and focused to this end. Everything.
Don’t believe me? Then, go through the archives of Scientific American, National geographic, Life magazine, Mechanics Illustrated, Science Illustrated and other period literature of that time period.
The first American in space. Here is a photo on the deck of the aircraft carrier that retrieved him.
Yes. You need to do some research. You need to scan the old magazines and the articles and advertisements in their pages. You need to dust off old National Geographic and Life magazines. You need to go through old Boy’s Life magazines and go through all the magazines that were popular during the 1960’s.
Do your research.
Not on the Internet, that is a blackboard that is constantly being erased and rewritten. No. Instead, go into the old used book stores and read the actual paper tomes that lie there… forgotten and covered in dust.
Since the early 1970’s United States manned space exploration beyond the upper atmosphere abruptly ended. It came to a complete stop. The programs were shut down. Everything ended. Engineers were laid off. Blueprints were archived or discarded. Equipment was sold and auctioned off. Program managers were reassigned, and all manned space exploration beyond low-orbit ended. It all stopped. No one planned further manned space adventures and all the funding went towards more pressing concerns at that time; roads, bridges and infrastructure.
Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, and was supported by the two-man Gemini program which ran concurrently with it from 1962 to 1966. Gemini missions developed some of the space travel techniques that were necessary for the success of the Apollo missions. Apollo used Saturn family rockets as launch vehicles. Apollo / Saturn vehicles were also used for an Apollo Applications Program which consisted of three Skylab space station missions in 1973–74.
Except that it didn’t go there. It did not end there.
Americans went to the moon. We had three additional spacecraft ready, completed with complete crews all ready to launch. However, all was put on hold. The crews disbanded. The rockets disassembled and scrapped. Why?
What happened?
The money just disappeared. It vanished! Poof! Gone! No bridge construction was funded. No new parks were created. No large-scale public works, dams, and projects occurred. Go ahead. Do your research. 1974 through 1977. Where were all the social public projects? You know, the ones that supposedly got all the funding that was transferred out from NASA?
The money didn’t go there. It went secretive. The funding went black.
Not only did America mothball and disassemble it’s space infrastructure, but the media support for space exploration evaporated. The number of television shows regarding spacemen and their adventures dropped to near zero. (Replaced by social situation comedies like Julia, and Three’s Company, and the Mod Squad.) Everything suddenly came to an end. It all ended.
Billions of dollars in investment… gone.
Thousands of very talented engineers, designers, and scientists laid off and unemployed.
Already completed spacecraft… discarded and scrapped out.
Large facilities, buildings, roads, bridges, and related infrastructure abandoned.
It is equivalent to a family spending their hard-earned money on a new swimming pool. Then completing the pool, filling it with water. Giving everyone swimming lessons. Then just when the first person decides to take a dive off the diving board… they drain the water. They padlock the gates, and tell all the neighbors that they no longer have a desire to swim.
If you were a neighbor, wouldn’t you think it was just a little strange, if not outright suspicious?
The countryside is strewn with all kinds of ruins and debris representative of when the United States was interested in publicly exploring space. Since then, many programs went deep black, and the population was dumbed down to an understanding that there was absolutely no benefit in space. That we needed to concentrate on the needs on this planet. The narrative was a change in focus. It went from explore the wondrous world around us to focus on the social issues of our neighbors.
What was the real story? What really happened?
If Facebook suddenly closed its doors and went off line, wouldn’t it be natural to ask why? What if it was Google, or Microsoft? NASA’s space exploration program in the early 1970’s was just that enormous, huge and well known.
Yet no one questioned the government’s excuses. At least no one that was provided a media voice. Indeed, the media suppressed all stories that questioned what was going on. In fact, if memory serves me right, they actually made fun of the laid off engineers who now, broken and unemployed couldn’t find work.
At that time it was easy to control the people. The government controlled most of the popular media. They could manipulate the population quite easily and readily.
When America was a first-class nation, we were involved in exploration of the universe for all of mankind. The direction towards scientific exploration with manned bases and outposts on other programs ended at the end of the Nixon Presidency. The final nails in the coffin were nailed shut by President Jimmy Carter.
Now consider what has happened in the last fifty years.
How have we, as a species, advanced in the last half of a century? Sure, we have computers, social media, and fast food. However, how have we grown as a species? Have we improved our habitat? Have we expanded outwards to new and interesting directions?
The only thing that the United States can show is trillions of dollars in a series of endless wars and conflicts, the need to tax Americans more and more, and a severely dumbed down population.
The Chinese plastics model company has made a model of the last time that man has set foot on another planet (officially). Their model of Apollo 17 is a sad reminder of how American politics can alter the future course of a nation.
What really happened?
Do you really believe that really happened?
That one minute we were on the verge of colonizing another planet, then suddenly everyone started to realize that we had no business in space at all. That suddenly manned space exploration must end. Money must be saved. Robots must be used.
That out of the blue we stopped everything.
It all came to a screeching halt. The rocket-ships, already made and ready for launch at their rocket pads, had to be torn down and sold for scrap. You actually believe that?
Some spectacular adventures on the moon, I would say. This was the last visit that Americans officially took to the moon, way back in 1972. That was a long, long time ago.
Do you believe that there was no further interest in space exploration at all? Are you trying to convince me that what the media tells us, and what the public budgets say is all true. That the ONLY benefit of manned space exploration is for propaganda and public relations purposes to further a geo-political agenda? That the programs were too expensive to maintain for mere political purposes. (That is the official line right now. Don’t believe me? Goggle it!) Moreover, you actually believe that?
The costs for just one aircraft carrier exceed $12.9 billion dollars. (USS Gerald R. Ford, first in its class of warships, cost $13 billion with a total program cost of and additional $37.3 billion. Total cost is around $50 billion.) The budget for NASA at the time of building this carrier (2005) was $15 billion. This was around one third the cost of just one aircraft carrier.
Consider comparative costs. The argument for having a base on the moon is that NASA's budget would double. Indeed, to maintain a manned presence on the moon would be a mere fraction of the cost of one of our many, many, many aircraft carriers.
The reader should consider the costs of other programs to put things into perspective. The argument that there is no money to fund manned lunar exploration is nonsense.
The USA as of 2016 had 12 aircraft carrier battle groups. (10 in use, 2 in reserve, and three in construction. As of 2016. This does not include the smaller, and more numerous, helicopter carriers.) Each one over $50 billion dollars in real costs plus operational costs for the battle group. Not to mention all the aircraft, manpower and supplies. The numbers do not add up. The accounting does not match the official pronouncements out of Washington, D.C...
The need to maintain a strong military is not the issue. The issue is whether we can sustain a military empire at the expense of scientific exploration. We need to really question the official narrative.
The last man to officially walk on the moon. Apollo 17 way back in 1972.
As now, as the veil is falling from the swamp that exists in Washington, D.C., we can truly see the massive crime, fraud and corruption that festers there.
Here is the official narrative that we have come to be convinced of…
“The levels of federal spending which NASA had received before 1966 had become untenable to a public which had become financially wary, particularly as they experienced a major oil crisis in 1973, which shifted the nation’s priorities."
-Andrew Liptak excerpt from “The Real Story Of Apollo 17... And Why We Never Went Back To The Moon”
Not true. Here is just another example of the rewriting of history. The Apollo space program was amazingly popular at the time. Read the newspapers from that time period. The termination of the program came as a shock to most Americans.
The reader should recognize that there was absolutely NO homegrown swelling of anti-space movements during the 1970’s. There were no campaigns against manned space exploration. The congressional offices were not flooded with letter campaigns demanding it be shut down.
The decision to abate the space exploration efforts were driven top down.
"Spending in space was something that could be done, but with far more fiscal constraints than ever before, limiting NASA to research and scientific missions in the coming years. Such programs included the development of the Skylab program in 1973, and the Space Shuttle program, as well as a number of robotic probes and satellites.”
-Andrew Liptak excerpt from “The Real Story Of Apollo 17... And Why We Never Went Back To The Moon”
Parroting the official Democrat party platform, no doubt. That, space exploration should be limited to near-earth observation for climate change, a focus on robotic missions, and termination of all manned exploration. This was done in favor of greatly expanded social programs and “blue ribbon” investigative panels.
Think people.
If this fellow is correct then, if fiscal realities are really the cause, then why did President Obama GIVE AWAY $7 billion to South Africa without any benefit to America? Wouldn’t he have saved it to help Americans? After all, it is our money. Seven billion dollars is one half of the entire NASA budget. Then he…
Come on! This has had nothing to do with “fiscal realities”. Rather it has to do with something else. Do not piss on my leg and tell me it is raining.
Pallets of $100 bills were flown to Iran in unmarked planes and given freely to them by President Obama. This was done without approval by Congress or the Senate, and without any signed agreement with Iran.
The Official Narrative
Do you really think that the United States [1] finds no military advantage in space; either strategic or tactical?
All one need do is read the military literature on strategy. Here’s a typical example;
“…what you can create is something like an air defense bubble; and one of the lessons the Chinese have taken away from the wars of the past twenty years – Desert Shield, Desert Storm, the Balkans, Afghanistan – is that air superiority is essential to winning modern wars.”.
You also need to understand our technical limitations... For instance, aside from launching an ICBM or SLBM, as these rockets do travel through low earth orbit to reach their assigned targets.
Do you really and honestly believe that the government [2] finds no technical or manufacturing advantage in space? Really is that what you believe? Do you honestly tell me [3] that the military sees absolutely no advantage in interplanetary capable transports.
The last mission (officially) to the moon was a long, long time ago in 1972. Here, Apollo 17 worked hard to justify their existence and NASA, all the time their fate was sealed by an uncaring political machine.
Do you believe that the military sees no advantage in [4] weapon delivery systems and [5] high technology outside the gravity well? Do you think that the military did not [6] employ everything in their ability to study the moon, and understand any mysterious objects discovered there?
Ah…
The mysteries of the moon.
So many mysteries.
"At the same time the last (public) manned Lunar Mission was leaving the Moon, a man named Ingo Swann was having a secret meeting with a group of scientists at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California. He had written to the researchers with a proposal to study a new discipline called Parapsychology.
Ingo Swann was a successful person capable in the field of remote viewing. He remote viewed locations on the moon for some researchers during the 1960’s. Ingo is the person at the end of the table on the right.
Swann successfully demonstrated his own abilities at locating objects at a distance and describing them with uncanny accuracy -- a talent we now know as Remote Viewing. As the research continued they discovered an unusual phenomenon that remains a mystery -- the ability of Remote Viewers to "see" a location when supplied their geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude). The ability is remarkable even when the viewer has no knowledge of navigation or familiarity with the location. Ingo Swann seemed to be very good at this and was utilized by the CIA to describe certain secret locations inside the Soviet Union.In his book, Penetration, Ingo Swann described how he was asked by the government to remote view some coordinates on the Moon in 1975.After Swann had attained his mental state, the assistant Axel was told to say the word, "Moon", followed by the coordinates and he would then describe what he saw. After mentally "landing" on the Moon, at a precise coordinate, Ingo described a pattern he saw in the sand. What they actually look like are like rows of largish tractor tread marks. But I don't understand how this could be, so they must be something I don't understand. They are just marks of some kind. Strange, though. He was then directed to the next set of coordinates... but something seemed wrong.I'm sorry, Axel, I seem to have gotten back to Earth here... Well, there are ... some ... I have no idea. But whatever it was it couldn't be on the Moon. After a coffee break of about fifteen minutes, Ingo and Alex got back to the task of remote viewing the Moon. Alex gave the coordinates and Igor began to describe what he saw.Well I am in a place which is sort of down, like a crater I suppose. There is this strange green haze, like a light of some kind. Beyond that, all around is dark though. I am wondering where the light is coming from ..."Ingo suddenly jolted and wanted to stop. Alex asked him, "What else?"Well, you won't like this, I guess. I see, or at least I think I see, well... some actual lights. They are giving off a green light... I see two rows of them... yes, sort of like lights at football arenas, high up, banks of them.Up on towers of some kind... Well, Axel, I can't be on the Moon. I guess I have to apologize, I seem to be getting somewhere here on Earth. After being reassured that his viewing was indeed on the Moon, Ingo considered that he was being asked to remote view a Russian base of some kind and that they had established an outpost on the Moon ahead of America. He was asked to continue and given the coordinates again.There is a noise of some kind, like a thumping. I can see one of the light towers better now. Hey, it seems built of some very narrow struts of some kind, thin like pencils. Like some sort of pre-fab stuff right out of Buckminster Fuller's stuff. Let's see... hey, there are some of those tractor-tread marks everywhere. If I guess these are about a foot wide, well then, let's see, if I compute as correctly as I can, well... Well, tall -- about or let's say over a hundred feet. But?... Well, I got a glimpse of the crater's edge. On it I think I saw a very large tower, very high that is. Big, really big! Well if I compare it to something I am familiar with in New York, about as high as the Secretariat building at the United Nations -- which has thirty-nine floors in it.Ingo was then told that what he saw was real but that it was neither made by the Russians nor the United States. Without saying who made these structures, Ingo understood. Shocked, he asked for a break for the day before resuming the session the next morning.Again he was given coordinates and was asked to make sketches of what he saw. He described a mining operation with domes and tubes, bridges, nets and what looked like houses. In one house he saw a kind of people. I saw some kind of people busy at work on something I could not figure out. The place was dark. The air was filled with fine dust, and there was some kind of illumination -- like a dark lime-green fog or mist. The thing about them was that they either were human or looked exactly like us -- but they were all males, as I could well see since they were all butt-ass naked. I had absolutely no idea why. They seemed to be digging into a hillside or a cliff.They must have some way of creating a good environment, warm and with air in it. But why would they be going around naked? Ingo then had a strong feeling of fear. He wanted to run away. One of the humanoids he was viewing had looked in his direction, as if he had sensed that he was being watched. I think they have spotted me, Axel. They were pointing at me I think. How could they do that... unless... they have some kind of high psychic perceptions, too? At this point, Axel told Ingo to stop the session, saying that he didn't want to put him at any risk. Obviously, whoever these beings were, they were not friendly. This is why we have not been back to the Moon.
So, what is it? Choose one. [A] That we have discovered extraterrestrials on the moon, or [B] that we discovered that there was no benefit in exploring space? What is the answer?
Is it “A” or “B”?
Are you trying to tell me that our concerns are only related to what is defined by the borders of our country and it has nothing to do with spaceflight? (Especially with what we know about the CIA, NSA and other agencies of the American military state seem to be directed at both international and domestic objects of interest.) Do you really believe that?
One of the problems with such absolute secrecy that is maintained in government black-budget programs is that everything is questioned, and real purposes are often doubted. I myself, often find myself questioning the motives of the United States government.
Here is an example of what happens when there are so many secret programs that one can’t tell what is valid and what is not.
In an anonymous email, the whistle-blower claimed that 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko wasn’t a comet at all but something from which NASA started receiving signals 20 years earlier.
NASA scientists had noted that the comet seemed to be performing the impossible feat of changing trajectory in space by itself. The ESA scientific mission was merely a smoke screen for a military reconnaissance mission by American and European governments to find out what was going on.
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko photographed on 5AUG14.
The email explained the whistle-blower’s logic:
“Do not think for ONE MOMENT that a space agency would suddenly decide to spend billions of dollars to build and send a spacecraft on a 12-year journey to simply take some close-up images of a randomly picked out comet floating in space.”
Consider the numerous examples. For instance, in 1962, Secretary of Defense Robert Mcnamara authorized Project 112 (Project SHAD) involving years-long testing of chemical and biological weapons on unsuspecting civilians and American military personnel.
This was done in secret without consulting or informing President Kennedy.
Until 1998 the DoD (Department of Defense) denied the existence of Project-SHAD therefore test subjects who survived were unable to claim disability payments for health issues suffered as a result of the project.
Today, the project remains classified.
Do you really believe that for almost 50 years since we walked on the moon, that the government and the military had concluded that space exploration has no advantage at all? This is either from either a military, tactical, or political standpoint?
Next Generation Spacecraft Design
Can you really expect me to believe that the development of space technology is so slow that it takes 20 years to develop a replacement for Apollo? A spacecraft that started from absolute zero to putting men on the moon within nine years.
On January 14, 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush announced the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) as part of the Vision for Space Exploration.
The CEV was partly a reaction to the Space Shuttle Columbia accident. The CEV effectively replaced the conceptual Orbital Space Plane (OSP), which was proposed after the cancellation of the Lockheed Martin X-33 program to produce a replacement for the space shuttle.
This CEV eventually evolved through redirection of NASA under President Obama (on October 11, 2010, the Constellation program was cancelled by President Obama) and the crewed vehicle became the Orion MPCV.
The ORION MPCV was formally announced by NASA on May 24, 2011. The first mission to carry astronauts is not expected to take place until 2023 at the earliest. With functional missions to begin from one to three years later. 19 + 1 = 20 years.
The replacement is called the Orion. It is a four man crewed spaceship that is an identical clone to the three man Apollo spacecraft that was developed from scratch in less than nine years over 40 years ago.
Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a planned, beyond-low Earth orbit (LEO) manned spacecraft that is being built by Lockheed Martin for NASA, and Airbus Defense and Space for the European Space Agency for crewed missions to the Moon, asteroids and Mars.
It is planned to be launched by the Space Launch System. Each Orion spacecraft is projected to carry a crew of 0–6 astronauts, though the expected crew manifest is to be limited to four; that is one person larger than the Apollo space craft.
Keep in mind that the Apollo spacecraft was designed nearly 50 years ago using very primitive technology and manufacturing processes. No CAD systems were used, nor hand held calculators, let alone computers. It was done using slide rules and drafting tables. They didn’t even have copying machines back then.
The slide rule was a device that was used before hand held calculators became available. The first calculators started to be available when I was in tenth grade.
Not everyone feels positive about NASA’s human spaceflight program during Obama’s presidency, but there are very few who offer unqualified praise for the president.
The truth is that he just never really showed much interest in space.
While Obama did propose bold changes early on to NASA, seeking to more closely align the agency’s goals to severely reduced funding levels, the Democrat controlled Congress objected and the president retreated almost immediately. He did not fight it. Instead, he focused in what Congress demanded, an expansion of social programs and an increase in taxes.
He chose to invest his limited political capital in other areas, effectively ceding most power over NASA’s human spaceflight programs to a Congress largely driven by parochial interests. And when an agency needs a unified purpose and the means to achieve it, this is rarely a formula for success.
Slow NPD
Why is the development of space technology so slow?
We went from sliderules & crude computers to handheld iPads with full media capability in less than 30 years. But we couldn’t do that for oxygen regeneration systems, transport systems or communication as well? Do you honestly believe that?
No matter how you look at things, and what you might believe, the following is undeniably true.
In the early 1970’s there were sudden [1] substantial and profound changes in the direction of space technology as perceived by the public. [2] All manned space exploration efforts came to a complete stop, with only [3] small public relations projects observed. (Apollo-Soyuz and the NASA Skylab.)
Is there any question concerning this first three points? Do you, the reader disagree with them? (Pause. Think about it. Think really hard.)
Jimmy Carter would address the American people from the White House in these televised productions called “fire side chats”. He would discuss the need for Americans to adjust to the new reality. Where the costs would increase for things, but that they must pay more money in taxes. He treated the American people like ignorant children.
The Black Project Explosion
Now, not well reported on was another truth.
Because at that same time, there was an [4] explosion of black-project funding. (This is undeniably true.) The black-projects were such that there were [5] no detailed congressional oversight, and no true and real accounting processes in place.
It should be painfully obvious to anyone who looks at these curious facts objectively that indeed something must have happened at that time. The truth be known; it is obvious. With the closure of all public space exploration efforts, came an explosion of black-budget efforts of unknown scope and value.
But what happened?
Certainly if something big had occurred there would be people who would be talking about it. There would be some evidence of something strange or unusual. But we just can’t seem to find any evidence.
No magazine articles were written about this. No true and real disclosures except for a mere handful were exposed. Not a peep came from anywhere. For decades the public was lulled to sleep. The public no longer focused on the sciences and technology but in more trivial matters; matters that the media can control.
When America left the moon, we turned our backs on Space.
NASA was redirected by President Carter to conduct some low earth orbit activities. He continued to finance the Space-Lab, but at a “life support” level, and killed it the very first chance he got. The Space-Lab fell to the ground after the orbit decayed and Carter payed Australia for the bother to clean up the debris left scattered all over the Australian desert.
The short-lived Skylab habitat that was killed by then President Jimmy Carter (D). It was permitted to crash into the remote Australian desert.
We focused on “Earth Shoes”, social justice, empowering women, and a reality that had television commercials singing “We are the World”. Space exploration was of no great importance. We needed to enact clean air legislation, clean water legislation, and healthy food legislation. We needed legislation, and lot’s of it! STAT!
Advertisement from the tail end of the 1970’s. It was a different time with different hopes, dreams and values. Of course, today you wouldn’t see this advertisement. You would have something totally different…
All of which would be managed by the federal government. Yessur! They will just tax the people more to support these great ideals. Universities were given generous grants and funding to prove “global cooling”. Then they were given more money to prove “global warming”. All the time, the most popular singers in the nation were paid to sing their hearts out “for the world”.
It was a non-stop liberal love-fest. All paid for by YOUR tax dollars.
We are the world – a globalist dream of sunny days, rainbows and unicorns. If only the people of America would give all their money to all the poor people in the rest of the world, everyone would be equal. Oh, how wonderful. Let’s focus on that! Everyone got in on the gig. Even Pepsi which had some notable commercials. Yuppur, we would scare away global cooling and the world will be a better place.
Instead of looking outward, we started to look at the world where we lived. At that time, the government told us that they could fix everything. All we needed to do was hand over all our money and let them do all the work.
We could trust them, don’t you know.
With the continuous prodding of the media, we did so. Taxes were raised on working class. Unable to save, they started using credit. When the industries failed, so did many families as well. The result, was an economic decline of enormous proportions.
From the ashes of that ruin arose President Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan was an avid outdoorsman who believed in individual liberty and self-initiative. He believed in the United States and for the potential for individual greatness. Could this program be his own individual brain-child?
But, through all this turmoil and change, one fact remains. We left space. We shut down all of our ambitious space exploration efforts. We shut everything down. Doors were closed, then padlocked, and abandoned completely.
We laid off the scientists and engineers.
In the process the “best and the brightest” that took humans to the moon lost their jobs and their careers. They were forced to work as “bag boys” in grocery chains, or flipping burgers in fast food restaurants. many lost their families as well. Their skills were used and discarded. Their contributions forgotten.
Scene from the movie Falling Down. The film stars Michael Douglas in the lead role of William Foster, also known as D-Fens, a divorced and unemployed former defense engineer. The film centers on Foster as he treks on foot across the city of Los Angeles, trying to reach the house of his estranged ex-wife in time for his daughter’s birthday party. Along the way, a series of encounters, both trivial and provocative, cause him to react with increasing violence and make sardonic observations on life, poverty, the economy, and commercialism.
There are no statues for these heroes that made the moon missions possible. There are no television documentaries regarding them. All is quiet.
Yet, we do give Al Gore millions of dollars and a prize for a Powerpoint presentation on “Global Warming” . Or was it “Global Cooling”? The excuse for taking our money away has swung back and forth so many times, I just can’t keep up with the narrative.
Frozen statue of liberty. There’s only one thing that we can do to stop the coming disaster… pay more taxes! That is the answer and that is the solution. We must do it to save the children.
Obama received millions, and a prize for…being a negro while being a President. No friggin’ shit. And the crew of idiots who gave him that award not only regretted it, but lost their jobs in the process. What a bunch of globalist activists…
Obama was granted the Nobel Peace prize within months of being elected. It surprised everyone, including himself. As he didn’t do anything yet to deserve it. Of course the committee later back-tracked on the reward and claimed that they were flush with the excitement of having a globalist socialist in office, and were drunk at the time they made the decision. They tried to “quietly” ask for it back, but they never got it back, nor the money that they gave Obama. Later on, they were fired and left the committee in shame.
In our world-line, the fox runs the hen-house. The fox is interested in eating the hens, and has no interest in anything other than that. Space be damned. There are no hens there!
The NASA Space Exploration Today
Here is a comparison on the 1960’s era Apollo module, and the Obama announced 2020’s era Orion spacecraft designs. We are told that there are substantial changes to the design. Most notably Wifi access, touch screens, and video cams. Other than that, it is almost identical. It is amazing how technology can advance in fifty years, isn’t it?
The Orion spacecraft is an identical design to that of the Apollo spacecraft. It is slightly larger and uses the latest state-of-the-art technology, but the basic major components are unchanged. It is still launched using a rocket with a gantry; it is not reusable, it still uses the same kinds of maneuvering thrusters, and the same kind of life support systems.
This is the replacement for the Space Shuttle; a reusable space plane that could be used to ferry things into orbit. It was replaced with this; a throw-away expensive one-shot clone of a nearly 50 year old design.
Why was the space shuttle retired without a (reusable) replacement, and why is this costly inefficient design the most advanced system that NASA can come up with? Why?
For those of you readers who do not agree with me; consider this argument. Is the United States government actually being truthful? Is the dialog and narrative from the President, and the rest of the political appointees truthful? Do you actually trust the United States government?
When President Obama opens his mouth and tells you that unemployment is in the lowest levels in a century, and that Americans have never seen such prosperity, that you believe him?
Do you really believe that those who are now running things have your best interests at heart? Do you really believe that the space program and NASA is real and used for the betterment of United States technology? Or is it just a colorful “smoke screen” designed to give the illusion of space exploration, when the actual programs (the hidden and secret programs) are much more robust and well-funded. Do you really believe that the United States government would never lie to the American people? Hah? That the United States government would ever lie to Congress or the American people?
“I have documents showing that the CIA invented the whole thing (Global Warming).. Global Warming was invented to both scare people, and divert their attention from other human-made dangers like nuclear weapons.
The CIA gave millions of dollars to any scientist who would confirm the theory, so many unscrupulous scientists did what they were told in order to get the money.
Now, there is so much fake data to confirm that Global Warming “exists”, that they actually convinced everyone that it was real.”
- Edward Snowden
I will tell you why this is the case. I will tell you why everything is so quiet; why it is so dark and silent. I will explain to you why there is an elephant in your living room, and why no one recognizes what it is doing there. I will tell you, but you won’t like the answer.
What happened
NASA equipment lies abandoned and rotting throughout the United States. When the decision was made to switch from manned space to robotic earth observation, many facilities were no longer needed, and so they were abandoned, sold off as scrap or junked.
What happened should be obvious to the reader now. Sometime during the late 1960’s and into the middle of the 1970’s there was a change in direction regarding space exploration. The public aspect of space travel was converted to a much scaled down federal program. While the non-public aspect of space travel went deep black.
“The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”
-Maximilien Robespierre
When the “dust settled”, President Jimmy Carter left the White House, and President Ronald Reagan took office. He immediately increased funding for BOTH the “white” (the public) efforts in space exploration and the “black” efforts in space exploration.
The “white” projects are well known. They include the “Freedom Space Station”, which was later scaled down and internationalized by Democrat President Bill Clinton. As well as the Space Shuttle program. (Later killed off by George Bush.). Not to mention, space-based laser research, the MX missile program, and next-generation spacecraft such as the X-30 NASP.
The space station Freedom was intended to be an American only habitat that would serve as a stepping stone to the moon. Other vehicles would then shuttle between it and the base on the moon. It was thus, intended to be much larger than what the ISS is today. All that this was killed by Democrat President Bill Clinton who re-purposed the station for near earth observation and monitoring.
The National Aerospace Plane, the X-30. It was an idea of then President Ronald Reagan, and was continuously mocked and ridiculed by the mainstream media as the “Orient Express”. It was wildly successful. It was so successful that it went “black”.
Consider that in 1960, a report entitled “Proposed Studies on the Implications of Peaceful Space Activities for Human Affairs” was prepared for NASA by the Brookings Research Institute.
The report contained a section entitled “Implications Of A Discovery Of Extraterrestrial Life” which was a 190-page report resulting from a one-year study which concluded that public knowledge of life on other planets could potentially cause the collapse of our civilization or, at least, cause profound changes.
Perhaps this, and other reasons, contributed towards stuffing all manned flight and technology research regarding extraterrestrials into the deep black.
The “black” programs are NOT well known. They are either completed, in process, or are being redeveloped into other efforts. I am not authorized, nor qualified to comment on them. Except to say that C.A.R.E.T. is a pretty good example of the work that was going on.
Of course… you all do realize that it was just a (wink, wink) internet hoax? Don’t ya know. Nothing to see here. Heh, heh.
PACL personal anti-gravity device that was being investigated and reverse engineered in 1984. Of course, this has already been debunked by all the MAJOR organizations with thousands of hours of thoughtful insight into how this could not possibly be a real disclosure. Don’t you know…
All programs that deal with extraterrestrials fall under the MAJestic jurisdictional umbrella. These are black programs, with all technologies that require “hands on” work regulated to deep-black carve outs.
In the case of the Dragonfly Drones, ‘they’ (agencies unknown and those protecting the truth of the drone presence here on Earth) went to a whole heap of trouble in their discrediting efforts. This involved creating and releasing multiple hoaxed CGI drone videos which were extremely unconvincing. They went to the trouble of setting up websites to try and convince a now intrigued public that the drones were just a marketing stunt or an outright hoax. ‘They’ also heavily utilised the services of bought and paid for trolls whose job it was to create confusion by interlacing the story with more falsehoods and layers of misdirection.These trolls have been, and still are, embedded deep within the UFO subculture. They operate within forums, blogs, social media as well as the traditional print media, radio and television. They conduct counter-intelligence efforts using every available avenue. These targeted and sustained campaigns to obfuscate the truth have been going on for a long long time and no doubt some of the perpetrators of spin have created a veil of respectability within their own sphere of influence such that they would never be accused of perpetrating disinformation.
-Truthfall
Some Insight
According to recent polling data, also suspect, the vast majority (over 80%) of Americans believes that the United States knows about extraterrestrials but is refusing to tell the American people about what they know.
Let’s go back to the middle 1960’s. Say around the time of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. At this time, the Beatles singing group was very popular. We were in Vietnam trying to “save it from communism”, and “It’s a small world after all” was a big hit all over America. We were looking at the world as a small place that needed unity through the United Nations. We were looking towards moving off this planet and establishing colonies on other worlds, with the moon as a first step.
Postcard for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The theme for the fair was global unity and togetherness. This all took place while the entire United Sates was trying hard to race to the moon.
Now, suppose, just suppose, that [1] some type of contact was made between one or two key extraterrestrial species operating within our sphere of influence. Further suppose, that [2] over time, a relationship developed in which they laid out some very basic ground rules;
Earth is permitted to be occupied by humans.
Space is the realm of our extraterrestrial benefactors.
This did not happen overnight. In fact, the initial relationship that was established in the 1960's had been cultivated after over a decade of contact in various forms.An organization, that was set up back in the late 1940's, became the only point of contact with these extraterrestrial creatures. This organization, otherwise known as MAJestic, had been very active during the 1950's. They had used reverse-engineered radar systems obtained from Operation "Paperclip" to de-cloak and disable the operational parameters of extraterrestrial vehicles.The wreckage and crew were then acquired and studied. Eventually culminating in negotiations and understandings between MAJestic and one of the key extraterrestrial species.
In this relationship, all space flight is monitored, and eventually controlled by MAJestic. That is out of necessity, as MAJestic is the organization that liaises with our extraterrestrial friends.
More Complications
Of course things are never that simple.
The more we got to know our new-found extraterrestrial friends, the more we learned. What we discovered was not what we really wanted to hear.
There were many, many extraterrestrial species all around us.
Our world, wasn’t really “ours”, it was “theirs”.
Our planet is a “sentience nursery”; a protectorate, a special preserve.
We are not the first species to evolve in this nursery, nor will we be the last.
Those extraterrestrials that monitor and police this nursery have been doing so for many, many, many years.
Those extraterrestrials are far more scientifically advanced than we could even hope to understand.
As such, certain deals and arrangements were worked out. The details of which can be found elsewhere and are considered contentious anyways. For now, let’s just keep everything really simple.
An agreement was reached.
We would support the policing and monitoring of this planet by working with the species assigned to this task.
This species is well known in conspiracy circles. They are known as “the greys”, or “the Pleiadians”, though they are neither grey nor from that particular solar system.
In exchange they would allow us to reverse engineer certain technologies.
Thus we have a system whereas humans participate in assisting of the biological monitoring of this planet. This might help explain such things as “abductions”, “cattle mutilation”, and similar events. And we have a situation whereas carve-outs operate within MAJestic in regards to technology and advanced sciences.
Even more complications
But, you know, things are not ever so simple. To begin with…
There are more than one species that is involved in this planet. While the “greys” might be involved in monitoring and policing this sentience nursery, other species have other purposes here. In fact, if I may be so bold, there is an arrangement where the “greys” work under the supervision or “understanding” of a much more powerful, and older species.
This older species is quite different in appearance. It is an invertebrate species. It also perceives our reality quite differently than we humans do.
While the “greys” police and monitor this reality…
This other species is involved in the construction of the reality that we inhabit.
They can move in and out of our reality as easily as we go up and down stairs.
They can also move in and out of other realities, such as “Heaven” at will.
Which of course is why I am involved in this disclosure in the first place. And, is why, my role was so important, but impossible for most humans to understand. (Sigh.)
Summary & Conclusions
Black Programs
There are elements within the United States that are active in reverse engineering technologies given to us by our extraterrestrial benefactors. There are also elements involved in sentience evolution of humans. All elements and members fall under MAJestic purview. These people, and the organization operate as carve-outs and are not part of the United States government.
Extracted from the fourth quarter report by an individual. C.A.R.E.T – Commercial Applications Research for Extraterrestrial Technology. The project was operated out of what was made to look like a normal Silicon Valley computer / tech office building, but inside, teams of scientists protected by intense security were attempting to reverse-engineer and understand the non-human technology – a process known as ‘extraction’.
White Programs
The United States government, instead, has it’s own space exploration program known as NASA. Currently, they are trying to duplicate 1960’s technology that was given up in the 1970’s. Since then, NASA has been re-purposed for robotic earth monitoring, and Muslim outreach. If current projections hold up, NASA might be able to have a clone of the Apollo spacecraft called Orion. This might happen in a little over a decade.
The big talk while Obama was President was to use the Orion spacecraft to go next to a chunk of rock in space the size of a dishwasher. Then move it to earth orbit where it can be studied. Woo woo!
The plan established by President Obama is to capture a rock the size of a dishwasher and then haul to to earth orbit where “scientists” can study it. Maybe he was thinking of making a music video to glamorize this rock -collection effort. Maybe having someone like Jay-Z rap about big rocks and such…
Take Aways
All American led space exploration came to an end in the 1970’s.
This was the result of direct contact with an extraterrestrial species.
From that moment on, all “actual” space exploration efforts went deep-black.
NASA was cut down in size to keep public perception intact.
Today, we have two space programs. They are a very active black program, and a token white (public) program.
MAJestic is the organization that handles all issues regarding extraterrestrials.
FAQ
Q: Why is the black side of space exploration kept secret?
A: It is kept secret for numerous reasons.
If it was out in the open and public, the United States government would try to gain control of it. That is unacceptable as the government would twist it and distort it into something different and dangerous. You see what Obama did to NASA, imagine if he had the power of teleportation, dimensional switching, MWI, invisibility, and space travel…
Other reasons include the fundamental need to keep humans ignorant of our situation and our place in the universe AT THIS TIME. Sentience growth is something that humans need to work out independently of any extraterrestrial intervention of knowledge. This is an extraterrestrial requirement.
The reverse engineering of technology is a national security issue, and there are many nations who would do whatever was possible to obtain access to some of the technologies that are locked within the confines and understanding of MAJestic.
Q: Why are you so critical of the Orion spacecraft?
A: The old-fashioned rocket ship design of the 1960’s was long ago determined to be unfeasible for active exploration of space. Instead other systems were devised, of which the Space Shuttle was but one. These solutions all worked towards the idea of making space affordable to humans. Orion does in the exact opposite direction. It is a disposable vehicle that is so expensive that it is often a unique and custom device for single-purpose use.
Q: Will man ever go to other planets other than the moon?
A: What gives you the idea that we haven’t yet? What gives you the idea that we don’t have other methods of transport aside from spacecraft? What gives you these assumptions?
MAJestic Related Posts – Training
These are posts and articles that revolve around how I was recruited for MAJestic and my training. Also discussed is the nature of secret programs. I really do not know why the organization was kept so secret. It really wasn’t because of any kind of military concern, and the technologies were way too involved for any kind of information transfer. The only conclusion that I can come to is that we were obligated to maintain secrecy at the behalf of our extraterrestrial benefactors.
MAJestic Related Posts – Our Universe
These particular posts are concerned about the universe that we are all part of. Being entangled as I was, and involved in the crazy things that I was, I was given some insight. This insight wasn’t anything super special. Rather it offered me perception along with advantage. Here, I try to impart some of that knowledge through discussion.
Enjoy.
MAJestic Related Posts – World-Line Travel
These posts are related to “reality slides”. Other more common terms are “world-line travel”, or the MWI. What people fail to grasp is that when a person has the ability to slide into a different reality (pass into a different world-line), they are able to “touch” Heaven to some extent. Here are posts that cover this topic.
John Titor Related Posts
Another person, collectively known by the identity of “John Titor” claimed to utilize world-line (MWI egress) travel to collect artifacts from the past. He is an interesting subject to discuss. Here we have multiple posts in this regard.
We live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups. I ask, in my writing, 'What is real?' Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. “
-Philip K. Dick
Not strictly limited to politics, Snopes.com is a website that supposedly attempts to debunk and invalidate urban legends, Internet rumors and other stories of uncertain origin. Today, they are the voice of the statist globalist oligarchy.
Of course, others mostly rich country-club Democrats, think otherwise. They point out the mission statement at the website. It is officially an “independent entity” privately owned by its operators.
Snopes is a long established website which emerged from the alt.folklore.urban newsgroup and was originally a reference site about urban legends. In recent years it has become a staunch defender of the official narratives, to the extent that it has been referred to as "the go-to website for CIA propaganda".
-WikiSpooks
Not for profit?
The owners, Barbara and David Mikkelson, have both publicly stated that they receive no funding in any form. Curious. Most curious. This is really, really interesting. You know, it sure is curious that someone who has no income, no funding, and no sources of income can live in an upscale mansion. Not only that, but do so in one of the most expensive sections of California, travel the world extensively, and drive around in some very, very expensive cars
Ah, but that’s ok. You know.
Whether you are hob-nobbling with Democrat Senator Diane Feinstein, Race baiter (the Reverend) Jessie Jackson, or international arch villain George Soros, we all know that you are never influenced by their money. (Wink, wink.)
“Just used Snopes to check the following: Hillary Clinton farts pixie dust which cures gay children of cancer. Turns out it's true!”
-Comment byZero Point
Full of Lies and Half-truths
This group has been caught in more than a few outright lies, disinformation and distortions of truthful and actual events. This is true whether it is a study on whether Donald Trump sits on a solid gold toilet when he takes a dump, or how the Palestinians funded their network of attack-tunnels.
As far as UFO’s and other extraordinary events are concerned, they are firstly, a mouthpiece of the status quo. Do not expect them to understand quantum physics, chemistry or anything too cerebral. Their interest lies in the dissemination of popular trite responses to extraordinary events. They do in a way that finds its greatest appeal to an audience of a dumbed-down populace of limited education.
It’s got what plants crave. Idiotcracity is a 2006 American science fiction comedy film. The film tells the story of two people who take part in a top-secret military human hibernation experiment, only to awaken 500 years later in a dystopian society where anti-intellectualism and commercialism have run rampant, and which is devoid of intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, and coherent notions of justice and human rights.
They are promoted by Google
They must certainly have a great relationship with Google. I say this as they tend to be ranked in the top five websites whenever a relevant search is conducted. Do you, the reader, have any idea how difficult it is to obtain a decent ranking on Google? It’s not for the faint of heart, for certain.
If this does not SCREAM collusion, then nothing will.
See elsewhere for the hacked evidence by Julian Assange in 2016 showing this connection to be true and real.
While I have not been able to find an obvious tie between this organization and the United States government myself, the disconnect between their sustaining income and actual work outlay is quite large.
Where do they get their funding? And how are they able to devote the time to do all the work that they do? What do they live on? How can they devote 80 hours a week to this “hobby” of theirs? Are they independently wealthy? Are they “blue bloods”? Do they invest in cryptocurrency? What is their secret?
There is an obvious void that is unexplainable at this time.
Ties to the DNC Political Party
Circumstantial evidence definitely seems to indicate ties with the DNC political party.
Yup, the political machine known as the Democrat National Party is quite busy with all kinds of efforts in progress. Whether it is social re-engineering, towards getting the Untied States into a global thermonuclear Armageddon, or trying to import illiterate waifs from South America, this organization is quite the busy work-horse.
This couple is responsible for fact checking everything from the radar profiles on UFO’s to whether or not Bill Clinton’s cat was fed well while in the White House. They are experts in everything apparently. You know what? I really like their cat. Though, I think that he eats a little bit too much, the poor thing.
Enter Metallicman
You get on the internet and you start chatting with someone. They disagree with you. You disagree with them. You state what you know and offer facts. They pull out a "fact check" from Snopes.com and all discussions cease.
How absolutely convenient. All on-line discussions that have a conservative, traditional or Christian point of view are automatically discounted as 'FALSE".
In August 2016, there were a number of DNC staffers who died under suspicious circumstances. After a major DNC email leak that Wikileaks insisted that came from inside the DNC, three individuals associated with the email system were found dead.
Rumors persisted that these killings were intentional and were the result of the staffers leaking the emails to the press. Of course, if that was the case, then the management of the DNC had something to do with it. But, not to fret, the DNC insisted that the murders were random. They assured everyone that they were not associated with the DNC in any way.
DNC staffer Seth Rich was mysteriously murdered in the streets of Washington, D.C., on July 10. Although it is being investigated as a robbery, his wallet, credit cards and watch were not taken.
The 27-year old was shot in the back on July 10 at 4:15 a.m. near his affluent neighborhood, while he was reportedly walking home from his girlfriend’s apartment. Police still have no suspects, witnesses or motive. His mother told the local NBC station that there were bruises on his face, knees and hands, apparently from trying to fend off his attackers.
Some are speculating that Hillary Clinton is behind the murder, because Rich could have been the DNC staffer responsible for leaking the 20,000 damaging DNC emails to Wikileaks.
The allegation is that powerful Sanders allies convinced Rich to leak the data. He had previously worked on the U.S. Senate campaign for Nebraska businessman Scott Kleeb, who lost his election. The Clinton Global Initiative provided funds for a clean energy business started by Kleeb, which had come under investigation after losing $300,000 in 2010 and another $300,000 in 2011 despite the subsidies.
Rich was also previously employed at a data firm that had worked with the Clintons. After news of possible corruption emerged between the Clinton Global Initiative and Kleeb, supposedly that led to Sanders’ cronies pressuring Rich to leak what was going on, so it is very possible he could have had access to the DNC’s emails.
Julian Assange of Wikileaks said on TV that it wasn’t Russian hackers who intercepted the emails, as the Hillary Clinton campaign has alleged; instead, any one of a number of staffers within the DNC could have leaked them
As the rumors started to fly, Snopes took center-stage.
They immediately squashed all rumors. They publicly and officially labeled the suspicion over Shawn Lucas, John Ashe, and Seth Rich’s deaths as “FALSE”. This was a great relief to the DNC and everyone else associated with the Democrat party.
Soon, all the main-stream media parroted the Snopes pronouncement. The investigations were “proven” to be concluded and just random occurrences. They loudly and repeatedly stated that the investigations were over and the DNC was vindicated.
Which was really strange as all investigations were on-going at the time. The investigators would even begin to suggest any conclusions.
The former President of the United Nations General Assembly, John Ashe, mysteriously passed away on June 22. This was a few days before he was scheduled to begin pretrial meetings involving shady financial dealings regarding a former Clinton crony.
Local police officers said he died from dropping a barbell on his throat while working out, but the UN oddly first claimed he died of a heart attack.
The 61-year-old was supposed to testify against Chinese real estate developer Ng Lap Seng, who was implicated in the “Chinagate” scandal for funneling money to the DNC for Bill Clinton through Arkansas restaurant owner Charlie Trie.
Ashe was arrested last year for allegedly taking over $3 million in bribes from Chinese businessmen, including over half a million from Ng Lap Se, in exchange for building a United Nations conference center in Macau.
Dominican attorney Henry Shillingford questioned his death, “It is strange for Antigua’s most senior diplomat to be implicated and die under such troubling circumstances.”
The New York Post’s Page Six ran a skeptical article questioning the circumstances. A source told the paper, “During the trial, the prosecutors would have linked Ashe to the Clinton bagman Ng. It would have been very embarrassing. His death was conveniently timed.”
So, with all this controversy, Snopes automatically labeled the rumor “False”. This is strange, since how did Snopes know that it is false? The police haven’t even completed any of their investigations yet! And, if you were to ask the police themselves, they would say that they have no public conclusions to provide.
Political Ties
Mikkelson has previously publicly stated that Snopes does not take any political positions whatsoever. Well, that was a lie.
His current wife, has a history of participation in liberal politics. The Daily Mail reports that Young ran for the U.S. Congress in Hawaii on the Libertarian ticket in 2004, during which time she distributed cards that read “Re-Defeat Bush” and condoms with the words “Don’t Get Screwed Again” printed on the wrapping.
Elyssa Young is also know as Erin O’Bryn and maintains a website advertising her services as an escort with photographs of her over the years. She was pretty successful over the years, and has run for political office.
On her campaign website, she outright stated, “Let’s face it, I am an unlikely candidate. I fully admit that I am a courtesan.” Ultimately, her campaign was unsuccessful, and she lost to Democratic incumbent Neil Abercrombie.
Propaganda for the Oligarchy
Snopes certainly seems to be the mouth-piece of the people in power.
As I have mentioned numerous times in the past and in my various posts. Question everything and everyone. Most especially question those who have quick and easy answers for everything. For nothing is black and white. The world is a complex place, with situations that can astound when investigated.
Nothing has an easy answer.
In the case with Snopes, when there is a mountain of dead bodies piling up, and the status-quo media is saying “there is nothing here, move along now”, there is an obvious disconnect between observed reality and the preferred governmental narrative.
Victor Thorn, who wrote four books exposing the Clintons, reportedly killed himself with a gun on his 54th birthday, August 1, while on top of a mountain near his Pennsylvania home.
The books he wrote were Hillary (And Bill): The Sex Volume, Hillary (And Bill): The Drugs Volume, and Hillary (And Bill): The Murder Volume, and his latest which was published in February, Crowning Clinton: Why Hillary Shouldn't Be in the White House.
According to the Inqisitr, Thorn had appeared multiple times on The Russell Scott Show and told the host,
“Russell, if I’m ever found dead, it was murder. I would never kill myself.”Joe Montano, an aide to Hillary’s running mate Tim Kaine, died of a heart attack on July 25. He had worked for the DNC and was only 47.
A man named Larry Nichols claimed on the Pete Santilli Show that he was hired as a hitman for the Clintons, and killed several people years ago.
What is comes down to is this: how many other politicians have you heard of who have had so many mysterious deaths associated with them? You don’t hear of a Bush body count. You don’t hear of an Obama body count.
You never hear of a Jimmy Carter body count, a Ronald Reagan body count, a JFK body count. So what gives?
Snopes, the left-leaning internet myth debunker, labels the Clinton body count as false. However, the main site that hosts a list of the Clinton body count reports that is admittedly constantly under attack by computer hackers on the behest of Hillary Clinton. I guess that that curious (and inconvenient) fact never made it into the Snopes calculus.
Soap Opera Management
Before we proceed too much further, please take into account that people - good and bad - live life. They get into situations. They get into troubles. They have personal problems.
This is certainly the case for the CEO of Snopes.
The fighting and the arguments and accusations thrown against him by his ex-wife should not be taken at face value. Rather they should be considered as a side of a very complex man embroiled in a difficult relationship...
The CEO of Snopes.com has been accused, in divorce proceedings, of appropriating company funds which he allegedly spent on expensive holidays and prostitutes.
The Daily Mail reports that the CEO of Snopes, David Mikkelson, has been embroiled in a vicious legal battle with his former wife. She was more than just his wife, she was the co-founder of Snopes; Barbara Mikkelson.
I am sorry for both of them. The more that I read about them, and the lives that they have led, the more they seem to be meant for each other. I really hate it when people end up going in different directions. It’s really very sad.
It is important for all of us to make peace with ourselves and with those around us. However, it is just simply not right to deceive others for the sake of personal wealth and prosperity.
The couple divorced sometime around 2014, but legal proceedings have continued between the couple. Honestly, both of them must be living a hellish existence dealing with this. Maybe, on a hot and steamy night, one would wake up and yell to the ceiling, “can’t this ever end?”
Barbara has claimed that her former husband embezzled money from the company. Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail state that Barbara accused David of “raiding the corporate business Bardav bank account for his personal use and attorney fees.”
Barbara also claims that David embezzled $98,000 over four years, which “he expended upon himself and the prostitutes he hired.” (Wow. Now, that’s a lot of prostitutes.)
Barbara claims that David spent $10,000 from their business accounts between April and June of 2016 to fund an expensive 24-day holiday for him and his “girlfriend.”
In a court filing from June, Barbara claims that David has “been depleting the corporate account by spending monies from it on his personal expenses,” and that David’s access to account debit cards and check books must immediately be revoked “right away before there are no funds left in the corporate account.”
Well, all sorts of dirty laundry comes out in the wash. You can’t fault the guy for wanting a divorce from a woman that he once loved so tenderly. Now they are apart. So what if he is lonely and wants to go out with other women? You know, if he is lonely, why not pay for some fun with other women? Will ya, give this guy a break? Huh?
I do feel sorry for both of them. This divorce has wrecked their lives, their source of income, and the website that they both put together. Sad. So, sad.
Software giants assisting Snopes
It was announced that Snopes would be helping Facebook to determine and label “fake news” with the help of ABC News and Politifact. Lordy!
Enormous Salary
George Soros was an early contributor to Snopes, and has provided financial backing to the organization for years.
A key point of contention during the divorce proceedings was David’s salary.
David demanded that his salary be increased from $240,000 a year to $360,000, a sum that David agreed he would settle for, but believed was below “industry standards.” He argued that he should be making up to $720,000 a year.
“As I said, based on industry standards and our revenues, my salary should be about 2x to 3x what it is now,I’ll settle for $360K with the understanding that it’s to be retroactive to the start of the year.”
- David wrote in an email to Barbara in April of 2016.
Barbara disputed David’s request, stating that it was “not even in the galaxy of reasonable.”
That all being said, where in the heck does this money come from?
Prostitute Employer
The fact-checking website that more recently set its sights on determining if “fake news” was indeed fake has found itself in a financial collapse after it was discovered that the owner and his new wife were living an outlandish lifestyle. There are also reports of embezzling and hiring prostitutes on the company’s dime according to a new report by the Daily Mail and a lawsuit filed by shareholders of the website.
-Philosophers-stone
According to the Daily Mail, David has remarried since his divorce from Barbara in 2014. I for one, am happy that he found love. Maybe his first wife didn’t understand him, but now that he found another, I am sure that she will be able to mend his hurting heart and put the pieces back together.
His current wife, Elyssa Young, works as an administrative worker at Snopes.
The key of contention is that she previously had a lengthy career as an escort. She was a pretty good one apparently, and also worked as a adult film star working under the name Erin O’Bryn. Good for her.
Escort advertisement for Snopes investigator and wife of the founder.
Reviews for Young’s “services” have been left on her personal escort website as recently as 2015. Young’s websites and Twitter account describe her as “a mature and experienced courtesan, idealist, activist & dreamer.” Her website further states, “Here’s the donation I request for my time, companionship, and entertainment” with “non-negotiable” rates of $1,200 for her minimum four hours and $5,000 for 24 hours.
$1,200 for a “short time”.
$5,000 for a “long time”.
You know guys, she’s a bit on the expensive side. So either she is way overpriced, or she is extremely good at what she does.
Elyssa Young was a model for adult magazines in the 1990s, and appears to have continued posing for photographs until recently. She is now an administrative worker at Snopes.com and travels with her husband David Mikkelson, its co-founder
Questionable Processes
The rapid acceptance of the point of view of the oligarchy is a point of contention. It tends to force the use of the website to justify their actions.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, David Mikkelson stated that Snopes did not have a “standardized procedure” for fact-checking “since the nature of this material can vary widely.”
He also stated that the process “involves multiple stages of editorial oversight, so no output is the result of a single person’s discretion.”
When asked about the requirements for becoming an employee at Snopes, Mikkelson stated, “Accordingly, our editorial staff is drawn from diverse backgrounds; some of them have degrees and/or professional experience in journalism, and some of them don’t.”
Preoccupation with Sex
Also according to the Daily Mail, another one of Snopes’ lead fact-checkers has a history of sex blogging. Yes, they definitely fit the r-strategist behavior snugly.
You know, it’s fine to have hobbies. I happen to like sandwiches, drinking, singing and dancing. Others like to play with sex toys. Heck, what ever makes your boat float, what ever… It’s all good. How can we make such judgement on a person. Maybe she is a really good fact checker who likes to play with herself. What’s wrong with that?
Writing under the pseudonym Vice Vixen, Snopes fact-checker Kim LaCapria regularly wrote about sex and fetish gear on her own blog, which was described as a lifestyle blog “with a specific focus on naughtiness, sin, carnal pursuits, and general hedonism and bonne vivante-ery.”
One of the debunkers on Snopes is also an escort, who loves to play with sex toys and enjoys sex to it’s fullest. I cannot fault that. Anyone who doesn’t like sex has a real problem with their identity. That being said, is she qualified to discuss pulsed radar emissions from high speed transitory vehicles? I say do what you love.
LaCapria’s blog often featured reviews of sex toys.
One particular review reads, “If you are doing something to your fella, and you apply this to the base of his cash-and-prizes while you carry on, he will scream and perhaps cry.”
On another blog, LaCapria once described what she did on her day off, writing that she “played scrabble, smoked pot, and posted to Snopes.” She then added, “That’s what I did on my day ‘on,’ too.”
Tied to Nefarious Organizations used to Manipulate Public Opinion
From the article titled “Snopes.com CEO arrested on charges of fraud and corruption” found HERE, are the following curious statements;
Evidence obtained by police has revealed that Snopes.com, which markets itself as "the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation," has a history of accepting money and favors from left-leaning and pro-Islamic political groups and individuals for helping them to advance their cause by rigging public discourse with selective fact-finding and deliberate manipulation of public opinion.
Arrest of the CEO
From the previously mentioned article…
Late Monday morning, Brian Williston, a Snopes.com editor, who also doubles as the accountant, found himself at a flea market on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
As he was browsing the different tables and tents looking for antiques, an old mechanical piano began playing Dixie's Land, a song that was adopted as a de facto anthem of the Confederacy during the American Civil War and is now considered offensive by some due to its link to the iconography and ideology of the Old South.The tune sparked an outrage in Williston, who began yelling and cursing those who "would like to bring back slavery and racial separation," and ordering the vendors to "turn off that racist music."
When no one nearby claimed to know how to turn off the one-hundred-year-old machine, Williston became violent.
He started grabbing various antique objects from the vendors' tables and throwing them at the antique piano in an attempt to silence the music. A bystander, later identified as William Barksdale, working as a courier for the L.A. Messenger Service, attempted to calm Williston down, saying that "someone is just trying to see if that the piano still works" and "it's only a song, don't shoot the pianist," but that only prompted the infuriated editor to redirect his rage to the messenger.
Williston, who is white, began to choke Barksdale, who is black, while screaming "Shut up! Shut up!" as the mechanical piano continued to play Dixie's Land in the background.
Well, that did not go well. However the police was able to find out who this nut case was.
After some of the shoppers intervened and pried Williston's hands off the courier's throat, the Snopes.com editor fled the scene of the incident. LAPD quickly identified Williston by the personal check he left with one of the vendors, which contained his full name and address. While inside his home, Williston ignored commands to open the door, causing police to use forced entry in order to detain him.
Discovery of Bribes and Payoffs
American media is just propaganda. Nothing that you see is real and truthful. It is all distorted lies and partial-truths.
So the police forced their way into his home and began searching it.
The arresting officer caught Williston slipping some papers under a Persian rug, which prompted the police to remove the rug and examine the documents underneath it.
One of them turned out to be a handwritten ledger,.
The ledger contained the names of well-known individuals and organizations who have been paying Snopes.com to debunk stories. Particularly, stories that cast them in a bad light, while also validating damaging half-truths and rumors about their political opponents.
Apparently, having established their website as a reputable resource for validating and debunking stories in American popular culture since 1995, the Mikkelson couple soon found themselves in a position to influence public discourse by punishing or rewarding certain cultural and political biases.
Before long they were accepting money to promote some rumors and downplay or completely ignore some others, which over the years have brought them millions of dollars (according to sources).
So the guy has become millions of dollars richer because he controls a popular “fact checking” website, and he provides “facts” that fit the narrative of those who pay him to change history and write the “truth”.
The Scandal
Especially scandalous is the website’s possible collaboration with left-leaning national media organizations.
They began with with payments to Snopes.com to overlook or validate their inaccurate and biased reporting.
Eventually, they evolved into a full-scale coordinated effort with left-leaning groups and public relation firms to construct a fake media narrative.
It is a narrative that gave legitimacy to certain opinions, political causes and public figures, while discrediting other opinions, causes, and public figures.
So, the “powers that be” control what the “truth” is.
Who are these people?
Democrat Senator saying during Congressional hearings that the Bill of Rights does not apply to citizens. Rather it is a document that protects the government from citizens who would abuse the privileges that the government provides to them. The “funny thing” about this is that this quote is now restricted on Internet search engines. Yeah. No friggin’ shit. Type it in Bing or Google. I dare you. Image is a screen shot with closed caption.
Who are these people? Well, from the previously mentioned article;
The list of groups and individuals paying to use the website's clout ranged from local politicians to transnational entities to foreign governments, including Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Palestinian Authority. None of the specifics or individual names are being revealed while the investigation is still ongoing, but a police source has indicated that "the shock waves will rock the world of the media and the political establishment." Several watchdog groups have already condemned Snopes.com as a corrupt organization with zero credibility and urged their readers to disregard any political debunking from this tainted source.
To underline a key statement, let me repeat it.
Several watchdog groups have already condemned Snopes.com as a corrupt organization with zero credibility and urged their readers to disregard any political debunking from this tainted source.
Snopes.com as a corrupt organization with zero credibility.
The Future
The future for Snopes does not look too healthy. After the Hillary Clinton election loss in 2016, their primary funding source (the “slush fund” via the non-profit Clinton Foundation) dried up.
“…one of Snopes’ leading fact-checkers is a former sex-and-fetish blogger who described her routine as smoking pot and posting to Snopes.com. Kim LaCapria is disclosed to be a former sex-blogger who called herself “Vice Vixen.” Her blog had “a specific focus on naughtiness, sin, carnal pursuits, and general hedonism and bonne vivante-ery.” LaCapria’s day-off activities she said on another blog were: “played scrabble, smoked pot, and posted to Snopes.'”
Scam after scam
I am sure that it would be very interesting to see who donated to this guy. I’ll bet that it would include a lot of dictators and tyrants, as well as a few evil over lords and malcontents in the DNC.
After Snopes.com founder and owner David P. Mikkelson started a crowd-funding website to raise money for the companies’ apparent financial troubles, having raised more than $600k within 24 hours, it is being reported that David was spotted purchasing a brand new $300k+ Ferrari at a California Fiat dealership.
Mikkelson resorted to a crowd-funding site where thousands of kind users decided to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to the dying Snopes, seemingly saving Mikkelson and Snopes for the time being, however, reports of Mikkelson purchasing a brand new $300,000 Ferrari are raising some questions. “I thought we were saving him” says Gary Upton, a Snopes donor, “Even though David is a mess, I love Snopes, It’s very helpful when they debunk crazy stories i come across from sites like Celebtricity and Huzlers. But i didn’t think he would finesse us and buy himself a Ferrari, oh well”, finished Gary.
-Huzlers.com
Is this report true? Or, is it false? I just don’t know. What I do know is that other fact checkers have checked out the goings-on with Snopes. They have found some outrageous activities…
The comments found on line make for interesting and amusing reading. Here are just some of the comments found on Zero Hedge.
SlowBro ThaBigPerm Jul 24, 2017 5:07 PM
I got an email just last week saying that Snopes had turned the corner and apologized for slanting so heavily to the left. Should check Snopes on that one.
2000 SlowBro Jul 24, 2017 5:14 PM
It's a fact-checking garbage dump. I asked them to correct their claims about Target's Bathroom Boycott affecting their business after Target admitted it did affect their business (I was a peeved shareholder). No response. Here's their drivel:
http://www.snopes.com/targets-stock-transgender-bathroom-policy/
And proof that it did impact their business:
http://www.businessinsider.com/target-ceo-blindsided-by-boycott-2017-4
I knew it was impacting the sales, and the first announcement (IMO) of them acknowledging it was when the CEO started trying to cover his behind by saying he never approved the memo. Anyways, I ditched the stock pretty quickly once I realized their strategy was to stand tall and hope it blew over. Eventually, that strategy "worked" in the sense that people don't seem to still be talking about it...
But their shares are still down 34%! Stupidity running that company just like most others. So, I'm happy to see this lying, scumbag of a site begging on the street corners.
johngaltfla WTFRLY Jul 24, 2017 4:39 PM
LOLOLOLOLOL! Bunch of Marxist propagandists got their ass busted!!!!
JLee2027 Peterman333 Jul 24, 2017 4:10 PM
New wife Elyssa Young is employed by the website as an administrator . She has worked as an escort and porn actress and despite claims website is non-political ran as a Libertarian for Congress on a 'Dump Bush' platform . Its main 'fact checker' is Kimberly LaCapria, whose blog 'ViceVixen' says she is in touch with her 'domme side' and has posted on Snopes.com while smoking pot.
meditate_vigorously Peterman333 Jul 24, 2017 5:00 PM
A lot of dark money found its way to them during the campaign. Millions most likely from (((donors))) of Clinton and/or her Super PACs. That obviously dried up after Trump won. Too bad they blew it all on hookers, blow, and cats.
knukles Pernicious Gold Phallusy Jul 24, 2017 4:43 PM
Huh? I read somewhere credible long ago that Snopes was originally funded by guess who? George Soros No surprise, is it?
Links
The reader need not take my opinion on this, they can investigate on their own. There are more than a few article concerning the outright fraud of this organization. The videos are quite enjoyable. Here are some links;
In the mid-1990’s, about the time of the Bill Clinton Presidency, there was a period of panic in the newsrooms all across the United States. The dominance of the big three television networks was coming to an end. There was a rise in “independent” news that was making itself known on the internet.
People like Rush Limbaugh were gaining listeners. The sales of newspapers, and other types of paper-media was on a downward vector. The alternative media were able to quickly refute the statements made by the well-known and powerful media outlets. The main-stream media seemed incapable of dealing with this shift in power.
Their first attempt failed. They tried to ban Rush Limbaugh and other Conservative media off the air, as well as ban them from print. That failed. Then they tried to limit speech on the internet, it wasn’t successful at that time.
A solution presented itself…
Organizations would be set up that would support the “official” news, and disparage the contrary views found on the internet. These organizations would be known as “fact check” experts. As a result, “Fact checking” websites began to appear that supported the narrative of big-mainstream media and the oligarchies that run America. They all surfaced about the same time, and many were funded by the same people.
I cannot say for sure why they were created. What I do know is that over time political influences, often with very large coffers full of money have tried to influence the narrative in these “fact checking” organizations. Whether or not they were successful to the various websites is up to the reader to determine. However, we do know, that in the case of Snopes, they were quite successful in doing so.
The progressive liberal management was paid handsomely to “fact check” news with a liberal bias.
We found out the extent of their ties to the various political organizations through various events. Notably…
A nasty divorce.
The discovery of a second set of secret and hidden payment ledgers.
The personal escapades of numerous prostitutes in the employment at Snopes.
You know, it’s easy to get on someone’s case when they are down. But, you know, they did a bad thing and for a while they were riding high. They were flush with money and no one was the wiser. Hey had their hands in the pockets of some pretty powerful people. So how can you blame them?
Now, they have to pick up the pieces from a scam that collapsed. Let’s hope that they learn from this. I don’t know about you, the reader, but there are some really good lessons here…
Even though you have opinions, please try to frame them as your opinions. Restrain from calling them out as facts.
Playing with dirty money will eventually make what you do, tainted.
Don’t pretend to be something that you are not.
Your past does not really matter; what matters is what you do in the present.
Take Aways
Snopes should never be considered a source to “fact check” anything.
Snopes has demonstratively lost all credibility in the “fact checking” industry.
It is reasonable to assume that ALL “fact checking” organizations are compromised to some extent.
Today, “fact checking” organizations are used to add credibility to a mainstream news media that is no longer credible.
FAQ
Q: Is David Mikkelson a bad person?
A: No. He is a man who saw and opportunity and provided a service to help people sort out the good from the bad when the internet was first getting started. Together with his first wife, he started a “fact checking” organization from scratch. Sure he bent some rules to get it up and running. So what? Most companies start that way, either intentionally or (more often than not) unintentionally.
Then, with the website in place, people started to come to him. They offered him money, cash, presents, fun, trips, and the opportunity to meet interesting people. Like any man, he took advantage of the benefits of his role and position. He is a human man. Be honest, if some one gave you a duffel bag of hard currency and some attractive girls to “convince” you to do something, else they would go to your competitor, what would you do? Throw the opportunity away? Say no to the money? Tell the girls to leave, and ply their trade elsewhere?
is that what you would really do?
Ok, so he got caught. It’s not like he needed to be caught. It was pretty obvious the liberal bent of the site, and the near perfect record of siding with the global oligarchy in just about every issue. The only problem is that seemingly all of the big software and media companies followed their pronouncements. That has made it rather difficult to get information out from the gutter.
Now he has the opportunity to set things right. What he does from this moment on will determine his legacy. Making this decision is a personal thing. Some people might try to continue and move forward, while others might want to reverse direction. Everyone is different. It’s all up to him.
Q: Is Barbara Mikkelson a bad person?
A: No. She is a woman with a bright and colorful past who managed to find a rich and wealthy man with direct ties to the global wealthy. Good for her. Now she lives a life in love with the man of her dreams. I believe that she loves him. They share a cat together. I wish her the best.
I just cannot find fault with her. Though, I really do wish that their cat would lose some weight. I fear that it will not live a long and healthy life if it is overweight. Maybe they could put it on a good healthy diet, and get it some specially designed cat food.
You know, life is never set. You can change your life. It’s never too late. It never is. Take that kitty out and let it chase some birds. Put it on a strict but tasty diet. Play with it more. Get a weasel in the house and have the cat chase after it.
Yeah. Let the cat out and let it prowl the neighborhood. Let it climb trees, attack the wildlife and generally raise some heck. It will be able to lose weight in no time. Just let it loose.
Q: Is Kim LaCapria a bad person?
A: No of course not. To be honest, I think that she should concentrate on the things that she loves rather than to concentrate on boring things like politics, and urban legends. If you do what you love, the time will fly by. If you do what you love, you will put your heart and feelings into everything that you do.
I think that her love of sex toys is a passion that is being wasted. It’s like a fisherman working in a canning factory. Every day he makes cans of fish, yet all the time he is dreaming of fishing. He is dreaming of the day when he can get his pole and go out to the water.
Why write about boring political figures and what they said? When you could easily describe the joys of various toys and how you feel about them. I believe that she would be happier doing things that she loves, with people she loves to be around. In a way, working for a paycheck when your heart is elsewhere is sad. You know, it doesn’t have to be that way. It really doesn’t.
You know, when I read the various articles, I ended up with the impression that the staff at Snopes were paid to do a job, AND paid to provide other services. Well, no one stated that explicitly. But, you know, you do have to keep in mind that this is California and they do things differently than the rest of the world does. It’s a cultural thing, don’t you know.
In any event, be who you are. Do what you love. Everything else will fall into place. Stop pretending for other people. Be true to yourself.
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
You know, many of us work for a living. As such, if you have a university degree, the chances are that you migrated to a corporate job in a corporate environment. You probably received a decent salary, a nice (if bland and sterile) working environment, and considered yourself well on the way towards corporate greatness in a solid career.
It’s a nice fantasy. It’s all a big lie.
Most Americans waste their lives working in this environment. They get up and go to work. They deal with traffic, an uncaring boss, and suffer through the various rules that HR implements. They endure mindless and mind-numbing meetings, answer a pile of round-and-round email trains, and fill out form after form.
That’s not a life worth living.
A life worth living is one with purpose, direction, participation and fulfillment. Within the now-popular “corporate model” we have the worst elements of 1920’s-style progressive social-engineering intermixed with 1980’s-austerity. It is a most horrible mixture. Couple that with modern surveillance technology, unified HR standards, and the sterile ideal, you have a nightmare.
Here are some thoughts on corporate life, particularly American corporate life, now that I moved on elsewhere. These thoughts are just general ramblings, and the reader should not get too offended by them. We are all different.
Those of you who own your own companies and who set them up can ignore this post. This is not written for you. This is written precisely for the people who have to work in the “corporate” environment. One that often springs up out of the model you created.
This is a Two-Part Post
This is the second of a two part post. To see the first part, please kindly go HERE.
The 360 Review
Sometime a decade or so ago, the reincarnation of Beelzebub came up with the idea of a HR technique known as a “360 Review“. This is a review of a employee where the employee is presented with all their good and bad together in a yearly review. It is based on the false premise that saying negative things about a person, to their face, will result in positive outcomes.
A Dilbert take on the 360 Review process.
Eventually this policy will fade away into obscurity. Companies that implement this policy tend to have short turnover cycles.
Trust me, no one wants to sit by while people tell them bad things about their life, their work, their dress, their behaviors, and aspects of their personality. In fact, a real MAN should get up, say that they will not tolerate such disrespect and leave.
Imagine sitting down and telling Clint Eastwood all of his bad faults and things that you don’t like about him…
I don’t think that either the actor Clint Eastwood, nor any of the characters that he played in his many movies, would stand for the verbal abuse of a 360 review. It is abuse. Do not think otherwise.
Thoughts affect our reality.
Now, the old saying “Sticks and stones might break my bones, but words will never hurt me“, is quite outdated. It is based on a Newtonian understanding of how the universe works. In the Newtonian reality, all that exists is what you observe. Things and objects follow predictable relationships with other physical things. There is nothing outside of the physical world. Well, surprise! The universe does not obey a Newtonian reality. It obeys a quantum reality.
That’s a wake up call for all you statists out there in internet-land.
In the quantum world, we now have a revised saying; “Sticks and stones will break my bones, and words will hurt me even more.”
Dr. Masaru conducted a very famous test on the power of thought. He placed written words on jars of rice in water. He then placed them all together in an isolated room. The only difference from any of the jars is the words written on the jars. He then, after a period of time, tested the water , froze it, and took photographs of the results. The jars with the negative and hurtful words created the worst shaped crystals, while those with the nicest words had the best shaped crystals. The only difference between the crystals are the thoughts associated with the words on the jars. Since humans are mostly composed of water, what do you think a critical work environment would do to the human body?
In the corporate world you have a false reality that you have to exist within. You obey it, and you take the uncomfortable all for a paycheck. It doesn’t have nor need to be that way. So don’t accept it.
Don’t accept it. Just do not.
If need be, imagine your favorite television character and put on that “face” and role. Because, for what ever it is worth, this kind of behavior done in China is considered the height of “face loss”. It just isn’t done here. So imagine your favorite character, and take on their persona when dealing with this kind of nonsense.
[21] The corporate world is a fantasy. It is a fake reality that is designed to subjugate the worker into behavioral norms that benefit the corporation. There is often no concern to the needs of the worker.
Responsibility with no Authority
Very often, in the corporate world, you will be held accountable for tasks that weren’t even your responsibility in the first place.
There are many different takes on this most common of attributes of a large corporate structure. Yet the basic fact remains, if you are given a responsibility, you need the authority to accomplish the task. It is a sign of poor management when you are given a responsibility with no authority.
In large corporations, you will be given tasks and responsibilities, and maybe a nice title. However, there will often be no authority with the new tasks. The end result will be a middle manager, or two, or three, that will hold up the entire process. One will be busy or on travel, or on vacation. You won’t be able to move forward on your tasks because this lone manager is “sitting on” the approval.
Yet, finally, once the approval is granted, you will be held responsible for the delay in the project and the task. Your supervision and your manager will not accept your excuses, even though they will be true and accurate.
[22] Any company that does not provide responsibility with individual authority is being managedpoorly. The inability to control a task you are assigned is a very stressful event. Stress is generated by things that are beyond our control.
One of the biggest and most significant lessons of working in a big corporation is that you exchange your time for money. You sacrifice your life; your time (your most valuable commodity), and yourself for a handful of paper. That paper is exchanged for baubles to enhance your lifestyle.
Over time, after working in this environment for a few years, we forget things. We start to assume that the purpose of the work that we endure is for the pleasures of collecting baubles.
That urgent need to get the latest iPhone when it first came out.
Upgrade your car with some niceties.
Purchase of that whimsy for your front yard.
Getting a better set of wrenches for the garage.
Buying that software game in the store, because it was on sale.
As nice as these things are, are they really important? I argue that they are not as significant as we tend to believe. America is a consumer-focused nation, and a sizable portion of our money goes into taxes, followed with things we rent (our house, our car – Yes “Rent”, you don’t own anything you are making payments on.), then what is left over is often gobbled up with the purchase of baubles.
It is important, for us to get off that treadmill.
Stop the accumulation of possessions. Only buy what you need. Downsize, and save what money you can. By doing this, we attain control over our options. Work and the salary that we derive from it is no longer so important. We have the ability to be flexible and start being in charge of our life, as opposed to a “slave to the company”.
You work hard for the money. You should put it to good use. Do not waste it on baubles such as the latest iPhone, or a new collar for your dog. Save up the money. Then use it for things that matter to you. Maybe a vacation in a far-away land, dinner with that girl that you have wanted to spend some time with, or maybe do more. You can use the money to save for a business that you want to get started. Don’t squander your assets. Put that money to good use.
Keep in mind that the more things that you possess fixes you into one physical location. It ties you down. Many of the things that you own loses their value quickly, and we tend to either put them in closets, garages or expensive storage units. They are things that no longer have any use to use. Quite the contrary, they force us with the need to earn more to replace them.
[23] The less you own, the more freedom you have. Do not fall into the trap of buying baubles to satiate a need that manifests from the corporate environment.
Do not confuse arrogance with confidence
One of the things that I have noticed in large corporations is that middle and upper management tended to have some very arrogant leaders.
Peter Stzrok, as senior level management of the FBI, is a smug arrogant son of a bitch. What a major asshole. He proudly said that no matter that Hillary lost the election, he would make sure that Donald Trump would get kicked out of the Presidency. Then he would make sure, as he had systems in place, that Hillary Clinton would take over one way or the other.
This is not always true, and indeed, many of the upper management in the smaller companies tended to be well-rounded, stable people with great ability.
However, the point remains that the long-duration corporate environment tends to create monsters. That’s the best way that I can say it. Over time, they rise up through the ranks, they play the political games, and become very astute at it. Over time, maybe they rise up higher and obtain some real genuine perks. I saw this at GM, and there were some amazingly arrogant assholes in leadership positions.
Confidence is what you obtain through successfully navigating through the stresses of life.
Arrogance is what happens when the ego confuses confidence with ability.
The problem arises in the manifestation of arrogance. The coworkers and subordinates all suffer. This can vary in how it manifests. For instance…
I worked at a glass company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the managers would throw chairs, and pots of coffee at you if they were unhappy.
I worked in Shreveport, Louisiana where the management fired the housecleaning staff and brazenly told the white-collar engineering staff that from then on, our Saturdays belonged to the company. Our new job was to clean the offices on Saturday for eight hours for free.
I worked in San Louis Obispo, California where I was told that I shouldn’t go straight home after work. Instead that I was to “stick around” for an hour after I clocked-out to show “support” for the company.
I worked in Hattiesburg, Mississippi where My salary was cut in half, and replaced with a few cartons of old products that they couldn’t sell.
I worked outside of Chicago and I was ordered to change my phone number to something easier for them to remember.
I worked in Kokomo, Indiana and I was told that during the Christmas holiday that I was forbidden to drink any alcoholic beverages at home. If they found out, I would be fired.
I worked in Erie, Pennsylvania where I was ordered to change my personal signature to something that my boss found more to his liking.
I worked in Northern Indiana, at GM, and I was told that my car (a Mazda) was not welcome in the parking lot. So I was told that I should either buy a new car, or park away from the factory and walk to work.
The world might have people who are absolute assholes. There might be people who have poor social skills, and who want to rule the world… (Facebook, Google, or Twitter… anyone) and there are those who are just flush with their success. Remember that is not YOUR problem.
Martin Shkreli, a lightning rod for growing outrage over soaring prescription drug prices,, raised the price for his companies life-saving drug 4000%. He bought the company with money that he made on stocks. Then raised prices an enormous amount. He was arrested by the FBI after a federal investigation involving his former hedge fund and a pharmaceutical company he previously headed.
Eventually, arrogance is always part of a boomerang effect. The universe has a way of evening things out.
[24] Be humble no matter what your success is. Avoid having your ego take over, least you become an arrogant SOB.
Don’t confuse comfort with success
Another thing we tend to confuse is comfort and success.
After fighting hard to land a “decent” job, we are often relieved and happy that the stress is over. We will be able to make our bills, and put some food on the table. Our spouse will stop hounding us to “get a job”, and we can relax somewhat.
The stress of being unemployed is much greater than any stress at a job (with some notable exceptions, that I had the misfortune to be associated with).
Corporate life can be comfortable. It’s only when you start your own business that you realize quite how comfortable you were in that world. Sure, there was a level of stress, there were angry bosses, there were early starts and late finishes; but there was always a pay check.
Some people judge success in a way that can be measured. It is often associated with power, wealth and physical objects. This is the most common means of judging the success of a given person.
After a long, often too long, time looking for a job while unemployed, it is a major relief to be employed. Especially if you are working at a “good” company.
We have a tendency to relax somewhat.
As such, we go to work, day in and day out, and as we stay at the job we begin to associate our comfort at the job as a sign of our success. This is especially true if we have a raise or two in salary, and if we get along with the management. We think that we are comfortable and that comfort is a sure-fire sign of our success.
That is not true.
Not really. Indeed, that is ONLY true is your idea of success is working for someone else in comfort. Most people do not associate success with comfort. (Well, maybe those on Public Welfare might.) Different people define success differently. I, myself, will argue that success is the complete fulfillment of your purpose in this life.
Success if the fulfillment of your God-given purpose.
This can be difficult to ascertain. We weren’t born with an instruction manual. No one told us what our purpose in life was. Indeed, aside from the major religions who associate purpose with some kind of spiritual ideal or goal, most governments define success as total conformity with the laws of the nation where you reside.
What a messed up situation.
Other people judge success in other ways. Perhaps having an attractive wife, a caring and loving family, and being able to provide for them is a definition of success.
Now, the truth be told, you can find out what your spiritual purpose is. All you need to do is look deep inside of you and figure it out through contemplation, and prayer. You figure it out on your own. You might want to employ a hypnotist, or do some “past life regression” to help you in your quest. However, and whatever you believe, please understand that there is only one person who knows what your life purpose it.
That is you.
Is is not your boss at work. It is not your guidance counselor. It is not your psychologist or therapist. Is is not a major public personality on television. It is not someone on government and it is most certainly not your wife. There is only one person who knows what it is, and that is you.
Odds are that it has nothing to do with your work, or your job.
[25] Your success is defined by you, and you alone. It is not something that is associated with work, career, occupation, profession, salary or money in any way. The sooner that we realize this, the sooner we are able to realign the things that matter to us personally within our life.
You MUST have Passion for what you do
It doesn’t matter what industry that you are in. You could be making hooks for the fishing industry, or working at a golf course. What ever you do, you must have a passion for it.
For instance, consider those people who have started their own beer breweries, All of them, every one, have one big piece of advice they are constantly dishing out to would-be beer entrepreneurs. Don’t even think of doing it for the money. Only do it if you really, really want to brew beer for a living.
"All these folks have tales of spending their life savings on makeshift brewing equipment, traveling to a beer sampling event to find it had been canceled, having wayward distributors do nothing to sell their beer then asking for a rebate to pour it down the drain, sleeping on the floor of the brewery to brew overnight and many other confidence-bashing incidents."
It doesn’t matter if you are trying to run your own company, or if you are working in a corporate environment. You must have a passion for what you do. You absolutely must.
You need to do things that matter to your personally. Once we start doing and exchanging our time for objects, it becomes a downward slope into a dark abyss. Do not permit that to happen.
I know, I know, it’s hard getting excited pouring over test spreadsheets and checking the numbers for quality control. But, the truth remains. If you do not have a passion for what you are doing, then eventually you will fail.
I used to have a dog that liked to dig. Man, this dog was a digging machine. He would dig anything up anywhere. I once left him in my mother’s back yard for a weekend. I came back and found the entire yard littered with military-style “fox holes”. It was in his nature.
I tried to break him out of the habit. I kept him indoors, and took him out on the leash. I would let him sleep in the garage. I did everything that I could do, but the first opportunity that he could dig a hole, man he would go to town. He would dig and dig and dig.
My dog has a passion for digging holes.
Yet, here I was trying to stop him. I not only did not share his passion, but I actively tried to suppress it.
Has that ever happened to you? Was there something that you really had a passion for, and others didn’t care, or tried to suppress it? It sucked didn’t it? You bet. That’s life.
[26] Stay away from people, work, industry or anyone or anything that will suppress your passions. For a man without passion is a hollow, empty shadow of a man, indeed.
Time is more important than money
You can always make more money, but you can never make more time.
We waste time constantly. I am not talking about doing things that are unproductive. Because “productivity” is a relative thing. I am specifically talking about using time doing things that are useful and significant to you personally. Time wasters such as long and boring meetings waste your work time AND your personal time.
To some people, fishing is wasting time, as is watching soap operas. To other people, sitting on a porch carving a stick is a waste of time. Time and it’s use varies in importance from person to person. To some, sitting in a long and boring meeting is not a time waster because everything is together talking about work related issues. However, to me, I think it is a waste of time because I would rather be eating a nice sandwich and drinking an ice cold beer.
One of the most common mistakes people make is to look at the money that they make at a company and consider that the MOST important criteria in accepting a job there. They fail to take into account the time lost in commuting to and from the company. They forget to take into account the restrictions on vacation, and holiday time. They fail to take into account the requirements that place impositions on your private and personal time.
This is dangerous.
The most important thing that you have is your time. It is not the money you make. This is never clearer until when you get older. It is by far your most precious resource. And you start to realize how spending your time doing things for other people can actually be a waste.
One company in Pensacola, Florida required that you work every holiday. The pay would be at the normal rate, with no holiday pay.
One company in Waltham, Massachusetts insisted that everyone work on Christmas. The owners were not Christian, and thus felt that any workers can only take the holidays that they recognize in their religion. The result was that you had to work during the holidays at normal pay.
My commute, when I first moved to Fort Wayne Indiana, was three hours to and three hours from work. This was because a new GM factory had moved to the area and no housing was available for miles.
[27] The most valuable thing that you have is time. It is not explicitly money. Never exchange your time for something that does not have value. Value can mean relationships, people, hobbies or anything that matters to you.
All that little stuff is unimportant
We often have a tendency to get so caught up in the trivial. What someone said to us. A parking space that someone else took. A cup of coffee that was cold. A harsh email, or response to a post on the blog. It’s all just unimportant stuff. It’s all meaningless.
We need to take a good look at the world around us. Find meaning in what we do, find meaning in our friends and relationships. We need to connect with nature and see the world as it actually is, and not view it from the prism of a computer monitor.
Most delays and problems in a corporate environment are caused by people. That’s right, people are the weak chain in the schedule. Thus when an emergency comes up with an urgent to do list, it is usually the result of a failure of management. It is their problem, not yours.
One of the things wrong with many people in a corporate environment is the concept of “urgent” and “emergency”. A supervisor or manager sits on a report for three months and the project starts getting late. To correct his incompetence, he declares the situation an “emergency” and an “urgent” task that needs to be resolved.
Nonsense.
HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 30: A cat tries to find dry ground around an apartment complex after it was inundated with water following Hurricane Harvey on August 30, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi August 25, has dumped nearly 50 inches of rain in and around Houston. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
This cat has had enough! Sometimes you need to identify what is a problem and what isn’t. That is the way life is.
The only emergency that matters is if your child had a broken leg, or if you were suddenly being called to the IRS for a audit on your finances. Emergencies in a corporate environment are often artificial in origin. It is what is caused by piss-poor management. It is not caused by the workers who are jut trying to push their projects to completion.
[28] We need to categorize things in such a way that we only CARE and are influenced by things that actually matter. True and real emergencies are exceedingly rare in a corporate environment. Do not be fooled. One person’s emergency is their and only their problem. Often it’s just a name that is laid over the incompetence of others.
There is no guidebook on how to run your life
I know, I know. There are those that say to follow the Bible and everything will be clear. Others say, follow the United States Constitution and your life would be simple with liberty and freedom. Militant Muslims insist that the Koran has all the answers, while others have other ideas.
Here is a scene from the movie Bedazzled with the devil grants this man six wishes where he can have the life of his dreams. Of course, each reality that he accepts has a catch. So, do you think it might be nice to live the life of a Colombian drug lord, maybe?
When we go into a company they will provide us a handbook on how to act and behave and what rules the company has.
Combined, a man such as myself, will end up with numerous guides that he will try to follow. For me, in fact, I followed the United States Constitution, the Constitution and laws of the state where I lived, the Bible (most especially the New Testament), and the guidebook provided by the company where I worked.
However, I noticed that even though I followed and obeyed these most brilliant of documents, that my life somehow did not match the ideal as portrayed on the main-stream media.
I saw people like Bill Clinton becoming very rich and powerful, openly flaunting both the Bible and the Constitution, without consequence. I saw people getting promoted over me who were (seriously) not nearly as smart or brilliant, but who were promoted based on their relationships with others in the company. I saw absolutely mundane people “gaming the system” and getting away with it.
Another scene from the movie Bedazzled. What life do you want to live? Do you want to be a very popular and successful man living in a New York penthouse? If that is, indeed, your dream perhaps that can manifest. You just need to put your mind to it.
The point of this is that what happens to other people are NOT your concern. We need to stop comparing ourselves with others. We need to develop our interests in ourselves and our lives selfishly.
As such, there is no “manual” that will “be the ticket” to success. Since success is an individual phenomenon, there can be no manual. There can be no guidelines. There is nothing for us to follow. We have to carve our life out on our own.
[29] Our individual success is predicated on our ability to understand our personal needs and translate that into a recipe for living among other people. As such, there will be a long period of trial and error, with the risk of many a dead end. We cannot give up on this effort. Because it is precisely this journey that defines our purpose in this life. (Remember, our reality is created by our thoughts and our purpose is colored by the life lessons we learn.)
TV is a waste of time
If you recall, time is the most important possession that you have. It is not money or any other attributes. So here, consider the various ways that we trivialize this most important of attributes. Let’s talk about the great time wasters of televisions, the internet, and games.
Granted it is a rare company that permits the employees to watch television during work hours. However, just about everyone in America turns on the television set once they get home from walk. Or at least they did. Now, that might be displaced by the internet or some other type of social media device.
Since what you do immediately after work is tied to your labor, let’s talk about it here and now. Television is a mindless device that is used to replace life.
The truth be told, as a child of the 1960’s and 1970’s, I wasted so much of my life spending 6 hours each day watching TV. Following shows that I just “had” to see, in order to “relax”. Today, I regret almost every second of it. The whole world outside was passing me by.
Advertisements during the 1960’s promoted the idea of glamor and excitement within the privacy of your own home. There, in big rich color were the passions and adventures that we all strive for. Just purchase this magical device and all your dreams can come true.
In what way did the show “Laugh In” improve my life? How did the “Flintstones”, “Mayberry RFD”, “Dragnet”, “My Three Sons”, “Star Trek” and “General Hospital” improve my life?
Ugh!
I know, I know, TV was an important part of the 20st century. It was important in bringing communication and news to the masses. It was important. It really was. However, you know, now today it’s terribly wasteful.
Let’s all be truthful with each other. People get biased news through it. They do so from habit, even though much better alternatives are available.
People watch terrible TV shows, and I do mean horribly terrible, they watch nonsense to substitute for living life in a reality that does not favor them. While it, teaches them nothing, it sucks so many hours of their lives away that they are oblivious to the damage. Overall, the people who live their lives vicariously through these artificial media delude themselves into thinking that they don’t have time to pursue real passions in life.
Ah, is that Tiny Tim at the top of the heap for the 1960’s major comedy show “Laugh In”? Ah, so many hours were wasted in wasted in watching this mindless entertainment.
Let’s be honest, media such as the internet, computerized games and television encourage people to be antisocial. They cause people to hide away and cuddle with their media device. Whether it is a smart-phone, a television set, a radio or a computer, people now cuddle with the devices instead of with another person.
so…
[30] Live life in the physical. Do not substitute the electronic for reality. What ever you see or experience in any kind of electronic media is designed to manipulate you. Do not fall for this manipulation.
Limit the use of the internet
Speaking of the television being the great time waster, let’s go next generation and talk about the ruinous internet.
Unlike TVs, the Internet is interactive and allows you to take part and become virtually social. It connects communities all over the world. It connects people together in a kind of fake reality. Here, people can pretend to be others, and carry on as if they are experts in things that they nothing about.
The Internet has evolved into a mechanism that anyone can communicate their feelings, ideas, and thoughts as long as they meet the requirements of those whom control it’s access. Over the years, it has become clear that everyone has an equal voice on the Internet. Yet, the pure truth is that in “real life” most people would not give the “time of day” to many of the people that comment on the internet. They are often not worthy of our time. Thus, the need for a “grey web” was a created. It is a “safe haven” for people to communicate and disseminate ideas and concepts free of disruption and contention.
Having said all this, we need to keep in mind that the internet is even a worse time waster than the television is.
Use the internet for function and purpose. If you decide to use it for pleasure, then do so judiciously. There are many things that are better to do in person than viewing them through the internet. May I suggest…
Play with your cat instead of watching cat-videos.
Go out with your friends and have a pizza together instead of sending pictures of pizza that you ate alone on Facebook.
Pay for a short-time girl and enjoy the moment in person, instead of looking at porn on the internet.
Things are always better in person. Always.
[31] The internet is more dangerous than television because it is interactive. Limit your use of it. When given a choice, opt for doing things in person instead of virtually. It is easy to become addicted to the internet as you can pretend to participate in life instead of actually doing so.
Americans view foreign cultures in a stereotypical manner
Most Americans do not deal with foreigners. Yet, increasingly, the world is a global marketplace. Sooner rather than later, many Americans will find that they are forced to deal with foreign entities, workers and staff as part of their business. I, myself was first exposed to working with Brazilians and Russians back in the late 1980’s, and all through the 1990’s I worked throughout Asia.
Subway in Guangzhou. It’s pretty typical. Most subways in China are state of the art, high-tech and modern.
The world outside of America has really grown in the last four decades. There was a rising middle class, and then a rising upper-middle class. Now, many of the nations in Asia all have a kind of familiarity to each other. They look futuristic and high-tech. Yet Americans are oblivious to this. We tend to think that just because our cities hardly changed that the rest of the world hardly changed either. That is not the case at all.
Shenzhen, China as viewed from the suburb of Futian. I particularly like the synchronized building lighting that is very popular in China.
Yup, this light show is normal. It is an every-night event.
One of the things that I discovered was that Americans, and myself included, had a very two-dimensional view of non-Americans.
Perhaps it was the non-stop barrage of “Save the Children” commercials, or maybe it was the images of Brazilian children foraging for food in these enormous garbage dumps. Maybe it was the onslaught of the images of (so called) child prostitutes that seemed to be everywhere in the UK news, or maybe it was the dated library books that showed 1960’s era images of foreign nations.
In any event, the result has been that Americans have a terribly distorted idea of what the rest of the world looks like. Maybe we think it looks kind of like El Paso, or a poverty stricken section of Jamaica. In any event, it really isn’t that way at all.
Rural China. China has spent billions of dollars upgrading infrastructure and the environment. In America, the moneys that are “earmarked” towards infrastructure and repair are often wholly absorbed in crime and corruption in the forms of brides, siphoning of resources, and fraud. Not to mention, the enormous red tape and regulations that slow everything to a glacial pace. Not so in China. The money goes directly to the projects, with armed Corruption Police making sure that nothing gets siphoned away into some rich cat’s pockets.
Things are quite cheap in rural China. The government has made every effort to preserve history and heritage. Unlike the United States where Civil War statues are being bulldozed for political correctness, the Chinese preserve their history.
Every country in the world is modernizing but this does not mean that they are westernizing or Americanizing. What makes them unique does not have to satisfy your “quaint” tourist-brochure view of them. Leave ignorant stereotypes aside and have an open mind about how modern life is like in that culture.
We need to realize that the world is filled with many people who are just like us. They might speak a different language, and have slightly different cultures, but fundamentally they want to work hard, raise a family and support it. They are really not very interested in the kind of world that is portrayed in the American mainstream news.
The Western city of Shanghai, China…
Next time you read some news from CNN talking about some issue… question it.
Here’s an example;
"Leave Immediately" - CNN Records Chinese Warnings Aboard Naval Flight Near Artificial Islands
Found HERE.
If this news is to be believed, then CNN was [1] provided with a seat on a top secret monitoring aircraft. [2] That they booted an NFO or two, [3] somehow managed to get clearance not only to board the plane, [4] fly in the area in question, [5] listen in on the communication, [6] tape record the conversation, but also permitted to [7] publish the communication.
We are forced to believe that the Chinese Air Controllers spoke [8] American-style English [9] instead of Chinese, and did so in a [10] harsh tone.
All of this stretches the boundaries of credibility. Indeed, the comments on Zero Hedge just shows the disdain that people have for fake war-provocation nonsense from the main-steam American media…
The question has to be asked, why was CNN allowed on a US military aircraft in the first place?
- Keyser
Guangzhou, China. The heart of the Southern industrial region…
[32] The world outside the United States is nothing like we have been led to believe. It benefits those in power to keep Americans dumb, manipulated and complaisant through fear. For us to be successful in our personal life, we need to see things personally, and experience them directly. We should treat all news, and anything that we do not personally experience with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Finally, next time some crappy-assed American news-media is trying to promote conflict or another war, tell them to fuck off. It doesn’t matter if it is Syria, Russia, China, or Iran. The world is not like it is portrayed by the American media. Not in the remotest.
Modern Hong Kong, China…
Take your time
In the United States, I would often be berated to work at break-neck speed to meet these near-impossible (in many cases actually impossible) deadlines. Heck, a boss would promise that we could make a (mold) tool out of P3 hardened steel in three weeks. Three weeks!. That’s a 36 week project if done properly, not including billing costs, delays in getting the material and structuring the work-force.
Many times, I felt like an overheated engine that just finished a marathon race with the engine pinging while it was cooling down. To survive I was prescribed anti-stress medication. The thing is, the human body is not designed to have Adrenalin coursing through your body for months at a time. The “fight or flight” mechanism is a short time event measured in minutes or a few hours. It is not designed for sustained use.
America is a land where you NEED medication just to exist.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from living in countries that are more “easy going” it’s that they are much better in their pace of life. Brazil, Thailand and Cambodia come to my mind readily. On the other side of the coin are nations like the United States. People and countries that do everything quicker also do it worse. Take it easy and go slowly.
Enjoy every bite of food. Savor it.
You need to savor the food that you eat. Eat the food in bites and taste every morsel. Make sure that you are able to concentrate on the food, and not mindlessly chow down while you are reading the news on the internet. Make sure that you wash the food down with a good and delicious beverage, like maybe a Southern style iced tea, or maybe a nice Corona with a lime wedge. Enjoy the food. Taste the food.
Be mindful. Spend time outside. When the sky is electric blue, and the trees are lush green, take it all in.
When you walk, do it at a purposely slow pace and take in your surroundings. Take your time. relax. Spend time with your loved ones, your friends, and the environment that surrounds you. When they speak to you, listen.
Bacon, especially cooked properly is something that should be enjoyed. I myself, like to eat it alone or as part of a fine sandwich. I would suggest a nice BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato) on toasted bread with sweet mayonnaise. Another suggestion is a club sandwich, a turkey club is good as well. Just make sure that you have french fries and cole-slaw with it. Oh, and by the way, make sure that you have properly cold beer to wash this all down. You can’t go wrong with this winning combination.
When you work, do it at YOUR pace. Not at a pace defined by someone else. If you generate a timeline, and they tear it up and cut it in half, make sure that they (and not you) are responsible for any delays. If you know that they will not take on this responsibility, then start looking for another job. For you might be good, but you are not God.
[33] Take your time in doing any task. Go at the speed and the pace that works best for you. If you find that your pace is not suitable by your management, go elsewhere. Life is too short to change your way of doing something to fit the desires of others.
You can’t please everyone
As you get older, you start to realize that there is no way that you can please everyone. In fact, the chances are that there will be very few people that you will be able to please. Everyone will have an opinion. Everyone will have an idea of what you can do to better yourself.
Yeah, everyone has an opinion on how to live your life. They will offer helpful suggestions, and try to teach you lessons,as long as they can profit from it. Don’t believe them. No one else is walking in your shoes. No one else knows what you know and your situation. You must follow your heart and ignore the rest.
If you make a mistake, they will loudly state that you were a fool and that they would have never be put in the situation that you were in. Yeah. Right. That is one of the most common things that is heard in prisons, that the inmates never thought that they would ever go to prison. They felt that they were smarter, better or wiser than others.
Nonsense.
You are you. You have your own experiences, and your own way of doing things. Do things your way and let the rest howl in frustration.
[34] Do what you do for your own purposes. Never try to please anyone else. Do not change your opinion for anyone else either. Be yourself or be a pale shadow of someone else’s image.
Trying to be cool is useless
Trying to be cool is something that we should outgrow in school. It is a mechanism that we use to enter various social communities. In the 1940’s, a “cool” person would eat goldfish. In the 1960’s a “cool” person would drop acid. In the 1970’s a “cool” person would wear a “choke collar”. Today, being cool” means being a metro-sexual, promoting LGBT diversity and eating guacamole on your whole-wheat bagels.
In the corporate environment, being “cool” means that you have decided to be a sheep and not a leader. You decided that you would rather join some clique or club group rather than go your own way. It means that your ego is so fragile that you would rather give up something that is fundamentally part of you to belong to a society of like-minded individuals.
You follow the rules and obey the written and unwritten laws. You are an accepted part of the work community and that is in itself… “cool”.
When you get older, you start to see the folly in all this.
Now, there is a very interesting thing that happens when you are in a corporate environment. With your ego supplanted by the corporate ideal, you need to start to do little things that scream “I am a man, I am not a number!”.
You put special pictures on your desk in specially selected frames. You might start using a colored pen, or pencils. You might purchase a desk mat that identifies your working cubicle as “yours”. You might put a pillow on your chair, or do some other kind of small rebellious action that is small but personally significant.
Whether at work, or at home, be yourself. Do so whether it is “cool” or not. many companies have an unwritten dress code that you are supposed to conform to. A cool person would obey the dress code, but have some kind of rebellious streak that might set them apart. It would be their statement of individuality.
This might mean swapping out the white buttons on a long-sleeved white shirt for colored ones. It might mean wearing sneakers instead of oxfords at work. It might mean wearing a black tie, when everyone in your department is wearing a red one.
Corporate drones are not permitted the luxury of individuality. They are to fit their role and to operate within their narrowly defined work constraints.
If you feel the need to stand out, to act cool, then you should be made aware that something is wrong. Your ego is shouting at you that you no longer belong in the society that you are now a part of. You need to bail. You need to exit it quickly before events proceed beyond your ability to manage them.
[35] Being “cool” is something that adults grow out of. If you ever feel the need to rebel, then that need is a warning sign that you are in a situation where you do not belong. Listen to the alert. Take action.
Make mistakes – and make LOTS of them!
This brilliant work holds a special meaning to me. True and real art evokes the senses and evokes emotion. So when the progressive liberals talk about the “brilliance” of Picasso, I always ask them this simple question; “What emotions do you feel when you see his work?” If they pause in their response, they are just parroting a narrative of sheep that follows the “emperor with no clothes on”. Real art evokes emotion. Anything less than that is not art.
Mistakes are how we learn.
It is well understood that a person who has made no mistakes never made anything. For all the brilliant books and stories that Ray Bradberry wrote, he wrote many, many more that did not become so popular. For all the brilliant paintings that Daniel F. Gerhartz painted, he had painted many, many more lesser works (see the work above).
Everyone makes mistakes. However some mistakes are more serious than others. Never the less, we need to forge forward and do our best regardless of the nay-sayers.
[36] Make mistakes. Keep on moving forward, never back. Do not try to live a mistake-free life. Mistakes happen to those who live life.
Stop thinking so much
You know, we all really have got to stop over-thinking so much. We really do. We all know the story about the person trying to shoot an arrow. It’s [1] Ready, [2] Aim, and [3] Fire. Yet many people don’t follow this advice. They either go…
Ready…. Ready…. Ready…. Ready….
Fire!
Ready… Aim…. Ready…. Aim….
Way.
I think the biggest problem that we need to overcome is the problem that we tend to over-think everything. We think this, and we think that. We wonder what others are thinking about us. We try to conduct an analysis of our particular situation. We think, and we think, and we think some more.
It tends to drive us crazy.
Stop. Just stop this nonsense. Do not over-think anything.
No Way
I personally believe that one of the causes of over-thinking things is when we spend time outside of nature. We are not getting enough fresh air. We are not walking about outside enough. We are not being near the beach, or hiking in the mountains enough. We need to reset ourselves.
We need to get out of the boxes that cause us to generate self-neuroses.
Because that is one of the aspects of over-thinking; neuroses.
[37] Stop thinking too much. To a task, and then forget it. Stop caring what other people think and what they do. Take care of yourself and spend more time outside in nature. It will help you get a handle and put some control over your thought process.
Dance and sing whenever possible
In the United States, it is culturally frowned upon to express yourself with the corporate environment. Everyone has a role within the extents of their job responsibilities. Once they leave the work environment, many can spend their free time involved in the things that matter to them. Often this is a mixture of television, the internet and household chores. Really, not too many Americans spend the time at the pub, brasserie, or KTV to dance and sing.
That is not true in other countries. In fact, it seems like everyone in Asia loves to dance and sing. Some of them are really, really good…
That is really sad.
Which is one thing that I really like about China. When I am out with the other bosses, we go out to the KTV and sing our hearts out, as well as dance the night away. Let me tell you, life is too short not to enjoy life. Stop doing what that old biddy down the street wants you to do.
Come on. Go out, get that cigar that you have been wanting to smoke. Go ahead, ask that girl out. Don’t be afraid and eat that deep-fried Monti Crisco sandwich. If you start to worry about everything, you are living a life in fear. Sing. dance. Drink the wine with both hands and then wipe your mouth with your sleeve.
Come on, if this fella can “beat it”, so can you…
Don’t be afraid what other people think. You can dance. Heck if 95 year old men can dance to Michael Jackson, then so can you. Or maybe you disagree with me. Maybe you think that it is classy to obey those whom you work for, be afraid to show emotion, style or class.
You know, you don’t need to know how to dance to dance. In fact, you can just do jumping jacks, or hop around to the beat. Do sort of a electronic version of “The Grateful Dead” when you dance in public….
Life is too short not to enjoy it.
I took professional dancing lessons, and for a period of time in my life, dancing was a very important part of my life. Still, whenever I get a chance I get up and start to dance. You know, you do not need to be able to dance well to be able to dance. You just follow the music.
Of course, one of the secrets about dance is precision. Really good dancers just have a very good control of some very simple and basic dance moves. They just move these basic moves in a very precise manner….
Now, I cannot sing worth shit, but when there is a chance to sing some country and western music, get out of my way. I am going to sing my heart out. Seriously you all need to stop being so serious. Get a little crazy. have fun.
If you cannot sing, then fake it. Lip sync.
[38] Who cares about what you do for a living, if you are not enjoying yourself? You must be living your life to it’s fullest. Otherwise you are not living. You are existing. Don’t do that.
Do not take anything for granted.
One of the things that you learn as you get older, is that you just cannot count on anything. You just don’t know when the rug will be pulled out from under you, and you will be stranded with your dick in your hand.
Please don’t take anything for granted.
Treasure every single moment you have. If you are in a corporate environment, then know that one day you will be replaced. maybe you are too expensive, maybe your customer decided to leave, maybe someone is bad mouthing you, maybe the company owner has a son-in-law that wants your job. You don’t know. Anything can happen. All that you can control is your thoughts and how you carry yourself.
Do you best. Know that things change. Do everything you can to enjoy the life that you have at that very minute, because life can change in a New York Minute. Don’t be caught off guard. It is a fact of life.
Over the years, the opportunities afforded to American citizens have been evaporating at an alarming rate. We should realize that the opportunities afforded our grandparents are no longer available to our children. We should not take it as a given that there will be opportunities in America for us. Things change, and the trends are alarming.
One day you will lose those that are closest to you. One day you might lose all your possessions, your bank account might end up empty. You might lose your health, become terribly scarred or paralyzed, or even worse. Don’t think it cannot happen to you. Anything is possible in this world. yes, and the bad things can happen just as readily as well as the good things.
[39] Don’t think that the situation that you are in will last forever. Things change. So do not take life for granted. Treasure every moment. Tell those you love how you feel about them. Say nothing bad or harsh, and appreciate the world around you.
Friends and Relationships are important
If there is one thing that I have learned over the years is the importance of a network of friends. If you lived the kind of life that I have, it’s hard to make friends when you have to move to another state every year or so. Eventually you give up and you all just keep to yourselves.
Cultivate your friendships. Enjoy life with them. Spend time together and make a special point to cherish your extended relationships. Scene is from the movie “Hangover II”.
Yet the truth is that you need friends and family. You help them when they need it, and they help you out when you need it. So one of the first priorities that you need to do is establish a network of friends where ever you live. Cultivate them. This network can be associated with church, a hobby, or just random strangers. However, what ever you do, cultivate them. Do not take them for granted. Appreciate them.
[41] You NEED friends. Make friends, cultivate them. Cultivate and stay in contact with your family. No matter what happens at your corporate job, your friends will still be there for you.
Remember what friends are for…
Conclusions
As someone who spent most of his working life trapped with a corporate crucible, I wish to share my biases and thoughts in regards to the culture that has developed in corporate America. In short, it is important to be true to yourself and your purpose in life. If you are not careful, you will exchange your very being for some shiny baubles. So I would advise everyone to be careful.
Take Aways
The more hoops your jump through the get the job, the worse you will be treated.
Value does not equate with money.
You are only as valuable for what you can provide.
Companies operate above the law.
Meetings are a waste of time.
Everyone basically wants the same thing.
Don’t defer your happiness for the future.
You need game.
Efficiency is a lie.
Nobody cares.
Be practical.
There is no such thing as ‘Destiny”.
Desk Jobs will kill your creativity.
Avoid “Echo Chambers”.
Living a good life is the best way to convince people.
Nobody has the answer.
It’s fine to say “I’ve made a mistake”.
You are going to have to work hard.
More money will not solve all your problems.
Respect is earned.
The 360 Review is dangerous.
Responsibility should come with authority.
Possessions own you.
Do not confuse arrogance with confidence.
Don’t confuse comfort with success.
You must have passion.
Time is more important than money.
All that little stuff is unimportant.
There is no guidebook.
Television is a waste of time.
Limit the use of the internet.
Foreign nations are viewed stereotypically.
Take your time.
You cannot please everyone.
Trying to be cool is pointless.
Make mistakes.
Stop thinking so much.
Dance and sing when possible.
Do not take anything for granted.
Friends and family are important.
FAQ (For Parts 1&2)
Q: Do you think that all corporations are the same?
A: No. Not in the least. I think that there are many, many different types of companies, corporations and organizations. However, they all eventually develop their own types of individual social controls. When you work in the environments that surround these social controls you need to adapt. I suggest that the adaptation that we go though can be dangerous and limiting to our overriding purpose in life. Herein are my suggestions to assist in the survival of one’s purpose within the corporate structure.
Q: Why did you write this post in two parts?
A: I find that the trend on the internet has been to migrate posts and articles into two paragraph bite-sized chunks. People today have a short attention span. Yet my posts, by modern internet standards are enormous. Actually, this post could have been easily broken up into 40 blog posts were I to follow the culturally acceptable posting guidelines (and Googles SEO guidelines), but heck, I think higher of my readership than that. I broke it into two posts due to the size limitations on word-press (10,000 words max ). Other than that, the system crawls to a very slow pace.
Q: Were there other things that you could have added to this list?
A: Oh yes. Find love, for instance. Come in early for work, even if no one notices. Oh, and that oldie, but goodie, “Don’t piss off your boss“.
Q: Why are all your embedded videos from China?
A: I live in China, and that is what I have available to me.
You-Tube is an excellent resource, but since it is directly connected to the NSA servers (as is Google and Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr) it is banned, (The Chinese government does not want the American government to have complete files on it’s citizens.) and I would need to use a VPN to access. That’s not a big problem, getting a VPN in China is an easy enough thing to do.
But, you know, there is a bigger selection of choices in China than in the United States. It’s not because China is better, it’s simply because China is much, much, much larger than the United States in population.
In the United States you go into the grocery store, and go into the potato chip aisle. There might be a thousand different bags, of which there are five basic types, another five odd-ball types, and three brands. In China you would have three thousand bags, 300 different types, and 500 brands. The selection in China is much larger given the size of the nation.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
You know, many of us work for a living. As such, if you have a university degree, the chances are that you migrated to a corporate job in a corporate environment. You probably received a decent salary, a nice (if bland and sterile) working environment, and considered yourself well on the way towards corporate greatness in a solid career.
It’s a nice fantasy. It’s all a big lie.
Most Americans waste their lives working in this environment. They get up and go to work. They deal with traffic, an uncaring boss, and suffer through the various rules that HR implements. They endure mindless and mind-numbing meetings, answer a pile of round-and-round email trains, and fill out form after form.
That’s not a life worth living.
A life worth living is one with purpose, direction, participation and fulfillment. Within the now-popular “corporate model” we have the worst elements of 1920’s-style progressive social-engineering intermixed with 1980’s-austerity. It is a most horrible mixture. Couple that with modern surveillance technology, unified HR standards, and the sterile ideal, you have a nightmare on your hands.
Here are some thoughts on corporate life, particularly American corporate life, now that I moved on elsewhere. These thoughts are just general ramblings, and the reader should not get too offended by them. We are all different.
Those of you who own your own companies and who set them up can ignore this post. This is not written for you. This is written precisely for the people who have to work in the “corporate” environment. One that often springs up out of the model you created.
This is a Two-Part Post
This is the first of a two part post. To see the second part, please kindly go HERE.
Anyways, for starters…
The more hoops you jump through to get the job, the worse you will be treated.
To start, I would like to make this astute observation. The companies that treated me the worst during the interview process, also treated me terribly at work as an employee.
Now, I am not talking about the inconvenience of waiting an hour in the lobby, or having to park at the end of a very large parking lot. No. I am talking about a structured interview process that treats you as a commodity instead of a person.
The hiring process in a corporate environment is oven a laborious affair. The candidate must perform and go through many test, hoops and interviews.
These were the companies that gave me ten face-to-face interviews; a marathon interview day, made me take written exams, and required a peer assessment. They all uniformly treated me poorly when they employed me. Do you really need to interview with ten people to be assessed properly? I mean it. Interviewing by committee can be terribly limiting.
The more you need to do to get hired, the worse you will be treated when hired.
I well remember one interview. I arrived at eight in the morning. After HR gave me some documents to fill out and sign, I was whisked off to go through my rounds of interviews. I had fifteen minutes to interview a person, followed by another one, and then another one, and then another one. That day I had been interviewed by ten people before lunch.
Then, I was given a break where I could eat a sandwich and a coke that they gave me, followed by a continuation of another six interviews, a timed test, and a presentation that I had to make in front of some committee. Then, finally, I was scheduled to meet the person who I was supposed to work for, only to find that he was out, and I would have to come back at a later date.
You are often treated as your perceived value is worth.
You should never equate that relief in finally passing battery after battery of tests to be the same as an appreciation of your value. It isn’t. Instead it is an indicator that the company is far too bureaucratic and too lacking in common decently to treat anyone like a human. We are not machines, pets, or clothing articles at Target. We are unique.
Smaller companies, or even large ones, with a single interview made by the lone person who makes the hiring decision will be the one that will treat you decently.
[1] If you must work for a company, make sure that you report to only one person. Be wary of hiring by committee. Be wary of any company that needs to test, evaluate, or investigate you.
Value does not equate with money.
We are often under the impression that if a company pays us a decent chunk of money, that they value us. This is false. Your value comes from what you can do towards the team that you work with. It does not come from a HR policy or budget analysis made by accounting.
Once we learn to separate value from money our life becomes simpler.
When we trade our time and skills for money, we place an “apparent” value on it. Our goal is to keep the value as high as possible over time.
I once had an employee who was stealing from the company. Over a two year period of time he stole a sizable chunk of money right from under our noses. He thought that stealing the money from the company made him richer. In the short term, perhaps it did…
But, do not look at it that way.
Instead of stealing money, he stole someone else’s value. His value did not increase by taking away the value of someone else. It only appeared to be the case.
Once we let him go, his value on the job market was severely handicapped. By trying to reduce the value of others, he ended up reducing his own value and worth.
For us to be happy, we need to separate out “money” and replace it with “value”. Is having a two hour commute with a $150,000/year salary as good as a five minute commute and a $75,000/year salary? Is being expected to be on call 24-7 as good as being able to take a half of day off to see your son play in the local game?
[2] Never, ever, make decisions only on money. The most valuable thing you possess is time. Do not squander it for pieces of paper. Do not confuse your value with a paycheck. They are not the same.
You are only valuable for what you can provide.
Speaking of value…
If you cannot provide a value for your role, then you are useless to the company. Why pay a boy to mow your lawn if you don’t have one? Why buy that great deal on dog food when you don’t have a dog? If you cannot help the company, then there is no need for you to be employed.
In the “old days” employees without an active project would be put on “overhead” to keep them employed until a new contract came through. In those days, it was considered important to keep “knowledge” workers around for the next big project. Not so today. If the work is over, then you are out the door.
This big march to remove employees once their direct usefulness is over was led by Kodak back in the 1980’s. They got rid of most of their knowledge workers and started to rely on cycles of employees that they would hire and fire to meet the market swings…
…perhaps that is why many people today are unaware of how big that company used to be.
To better appreciate the corporate work environment, we need to scale it down to a manageable size. Imagine that you would hire someone to fix your broken front door. Would you keep him employed once he finishes repairing the door? No, of course not.
Think of a guy that you want to fix your broken front door. You look in the classified and you find a guy to do it. You tell him what needs to be done. You watch him fix the door and then you pay him and he leaves. There is no need for him to stick around. Your door is fixed. Nothing else needs to be repaired.
Corporate life is like that too.
The truth is that today, in many a corporate environment, you would be sacked faster than a soggy Doritos chip if you couldn’t contribute to the company bottom line.
Nobody wants to eat a soggy Doritos chip. Though, I would if it was part of a taco salad. I would also eat them if they were in a nice bowl of chili. In fact, I think that I would eat them if I was drinking a frosty cold beer. Now that I think of it, I am not corporate, so of course I would eat Doritos chips. However, soggy Doritos would not go over well in the corporate environment.
You are only as valuable as long as you can produce something. In fact, the rarer of what you provide is, the more valuable you are. This is certainly more applicable for many other fields in life, personal relations, friendships and yes, girls as well.
Your value is tied to what you can produce.
[3] Remember, that our value is what we can produce or the benefit that we can provide to others. Never forget that. If we cause more problems than the benefits we give, then our relationship(s) will end. This is true with both companies and with relationships.
Companies often operate above the law
Many do, but not all.
Do you think that Facebook is playing by the laws? Do you think that Exxon, Kerr-McGee, and Google are? What about the biggest company in your city? How is it that corporations always seem to get away with things?
American corporations have become enormous entities often dwarfing small nations. They can align themselves with other corporations and work together for their combined mutual profit. Often times this is done in deference to the “little guy”.
This is true. Here are three examples;
Don’t follow the law. When I worked at (name deleted) in Boston, they paid me once a month. Yet the law stated otherwise. The law stated that they must pay bi-weekly. When I confronted the HR about this, they were not happy. They said that they would take it under consideration. They made the necessary arrangements and I was fired two weeks later. Naturally, I went to the State government in Boston to resolve the matter. They told me that I was correct, and the company did wrong by firing me. Yet no action was taken either way.
NDA’s are used to keep let-go employees complaisant. One of the things that White Collar professionals sign are NDA agreements. A NDA is a document that restricts the disclosure of confidential information. That is why it is called a Non-Disclosure Agreement. These agreements make it difficult to work at another company or find further work if the company decides to black list you. When it is time to be laid-off or let go, the company will use the NDA and tell you that if you sign it, and not contest their actions, that they will allow the State Government to give you unemployment benefits. This is a very common thing and every company from California to Massachusetts does this.
Patent transfer is a joke. Under the law, if you work on a patent, you get title to the patent, even if you do so under the roof of a company. To get around this, the companies make you sign a “transfer of patent rights” form. The transfer is not complete unless they give you a one dollar amount to show that there was a monetary transfer that took place. Truth be told, I have yet to ever see any individual financial compensation at all from any of my patents.
Now, the reader should not get confused. I am not particularly bad-mouthing any one company. However, we should all be made aware that organizations that have many employees, operate in the millions of dollars and who pay into the State Revenue banks, have capabilities that are larger than what any one of us has individually. We should be aware of this. We should accept this. As it is a fact of life.
[4] We all have a place on the food chain. It’s not fair. It operates within it’s own set of rules and laws, and is separate from us. We need perspective, and we need to keep that in mind.
Meetings typically are a waste of time
One truth is that meetings often are poorly planned and often poorly executed. Meetings between key players in a given project is very important and necessary. For business is based on people relationships and interactions. However, the weekly meetings, and odd-ball meetings that seem to include everyone are often a waste of time that adds to the inefficiency of a given organization.
Meetings should be kept at a minimum, and replaced with face-on-face individual communication.
It’s a typical scene and well known in corporate environments. Businessman speaking before inattentive colleagues at meeting.
In short, learn this. Meetings are a waste of time. Always. Nothing good has ever come out of them, really. Most people aren’t listening, and the ones talking are far away from reality.
[5] Get into the habit of talking to people one on one. Stop having meetings. Talk to people personally, face to face. When you do, give them every attention. Business relationships are based on people. They are not based on spreadsheets and reports.
Everyone everywhere basically wants the same thing
While we all come from different backgrounds and different interests, we are human with basic human needs. We want to be productive. We want to perform a good day’s labor. We want to be appreciated fro our contribution. We want to provide for our families. We want to have some down time to play.
The problem comes in when we go corporate. There, we fit into a role. We become a cog in a machine with other cogs. We all become the same color, the same size, and the same image. When we go corporate, we start to separate our work-life from our personal-life.
That is a great danger.
A nice PPT slide from IBM that captures the significance of this statement. By now, everyone pretty much realizes the importance of a life-work balance. The big problem is that is is difficult to integrate into a traditional corporate business environment.
For a truly happy man is one who can merge his industrious pursuits with that of his interests and family. We become whole. Work and labor is what we do. No one questions it. We work, and then we provide for our family. It is the traditional, time honored, family model that has held up for at least 10,000 years.
When we separate work and labor from family and happiness, we dilute what we can give. We give eight hours to the company. We give four hours to ourselves in prep for the company. The balance is split up between family and survival needs. This model is different from the traditional model.
We can’t give 100% of what we have. We end up in this grey area, this grey zone of not good enough.
The key to success in the corporate world is to be who you are totally. Do this whether you are in a corporate work environment, or if you are running your own company. Do not fall into the trap of segmenting yourself into various roles. In doing so , you dilute who you are.
[6] Do not dilute yourself. When we start separating ourselves into small specialized pieces, we dilute the whole. Don’t do that. Be true to who we are. Give and devote ourselves 100% of who we are.
Deferring your happiness to the future is a terrible idea
I have seen this time and again. In fact, even I have done this myself. I would accept a job “for now” to achieve some monetary gain or advantage, so that later I could… do something else.
When there is an important announcement at your company, does it look something a little like this? Well, if it does, then like it or not, you are in a corporate bubble. If you are not careful, you will have difficulty leaving it. Be careful.
Indeed, this is a terrible truth. Too many people assume that when they have that one thing they can work towards for years then “everything will be alright”. Indeed, there will come a time when you will take up a job just for the money and nothing else.
This is delusional. It is nonsense. It is bullshit.
I think this comes from our educational system. You go to Elementary School to strive to go to High School. You go through High School to go to College or University. You go through University to “Get a Good Job”.
There isn’t an alternative.
After some 14 to 16 years or more of this mind-set it becomes ingrained within your very being. By the time you hit your early productive years, you are firmly fixated in a goal-oriented life. This runs in direct opposition to an integrated life.
Unless you have no money, and no savings and you need money RIGHT THEN and NOW, don’t do it. We are not one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. Our life is colorful and dynamic with many, many aspects to it. We cannot take a part of it and set it aside while we nurture other aspects of our life. We just cannot.
When you finally get it, they’ll be something else missing in your life.
We need to think of ourselves as a unified whole. We need to think of balance and happiness. Instead of pulling a piece here and then working on it, and then pulling out a piece there and then working on it.
Really, that is crazy. I fundamentally believe that long-term pure happiness comes being content with what we have, live in the now, all while enjoying the progress and changes we are making.
There is more to life that going to the “next step”. You weren’t born to just pay bills and die. You are a purpose. You are a role. You were granted with who you are. Do not let and allow others to bleach it out from you. Be who you have been meant to be.
Instead of working for a decade to eventually get a vacation in Florida, how about packing up and moving there? Instead of saving and saving for a nice Lamborghini, how about getting a job in a Lamborghini store as a salesperson? Instead of wanting to go out and date that buxom blonde in the office, how about going up and asking her out for coffee?
[7] We need to change the mindset ingrained in us by the educational system. We all need to stop deferring our happiness.
You need game
If you really want to make it in the business world, whether it is a corporate environment, or your own “shoe-string” business, you will need “game”. You will need to “up your game”. You will need to push and strive to be better than your peers or anyone else.
Success does not favor the average or the bland, and mundane. Success favors the unique and exceptional.
Consider Barry White. Many people today haven’t heard of this man. Yet he was a true man, full of confidence, and “game”. Perhaps we all need to tear a page out of the Berry White playbook and emulate him.
We know this. We know that we need to fight to get a job at a company when there are a thousand applicants that we must fight against. We know that we need to be the best. However, what usually happens is that we stop once we have achieved our goal.
Yeah. That’s what happens. Usually, we just stop when we reach our goal. This is because a goal-oriented mindset is one with objectives.
Don’t let that be you.
We must keep on striving to be the best at whatever we do. We need to be the best and stay at it, even when our goals have been obtained. Instead of a goal, we should strive continuously. If we achieve various achievements, good for us. But, that won’t stop us. Instead we will keep on going on.
By having and maintaining “game” we will obtain confidence in the process. Confidence is a powerful tool that can open many doors. Unsurprisingly, people in positions of power often have a great deal of confidence; this means that they can easily recognize when confidence is genuine and when it is posed.
This same advice applies to girls; you are far better off being genuinely confident, thus projecting a natural vibe of superiority that no faking can attain.
[8] Do your best. Smile. Be confident. Be you, and be the best YOU that you can achieve.
Efficiency is a lie
The more efficient you are at your work, the more you will be burdened with it. You work hard, your supervisor will give you more to do. When someone sees you taking a break, they will give you more work to fill in the “gap” in workload.
To many people, a lack of busy-work is a sign of inefficiency. To them, the cure for inefficiency is more work, more responsibilities, and more tasks.
Additionally, there will be others that will try their best to convince you that you are not doing your best, that you are not giving your best to the company, and that you could do better. Is it really the truth, or is it something that they say to get you to alter and change your behavior?
Dr. Masaru conducted a very famous test on the power of thought. He placed written words on jars of water. He then placed them all together in an isolated room. The only difference from any of the jars is the words written on the jars. He then, after a period of time, tested the water , froze it, and took photographs of the results. The jars with the negative and hurtful words created the worst shaped crystals, while those with the nicest words had the best shaped crystals. The only difference between the crystals are the thoughts associated with the words on the jars. Since humans are mostly composed of water, what do you think a critical work environment would do to the human body? What about the words “You are not good enough”?
Forget what others say. Remember that they are not with you 24-7, nor do they know your past and your day to day interactions. No one knows your life better than you do.
So, let’s break this down. Only one to two situations come into play;
They are right, and you are not giving your best.
They are wrong, and you are doing your best.
Depending on the situation, the following is what will happen in a corporate environment.
If you are not giving your best, you risk losing your job. Therefore, you need to up your game and improve. What this means is that you must improve, AND also look like you are improving. That is where corporate politics come into play. It can get uncomfortable.
If you are doing your best, then the perception is out of alignment with reality. You could risk losing your job. Even if you exceed your current known abilities, then you will still need to fight the political battles that will rage around you. In any event things will get uncomfortable.
Thus, this is a catch-22 and a no-win situation. Being in these situations are the bane of the corporate environment.
[9] When the world around you complains, forge on anyways. Listen to what others say under advisement. Remember that your “best” will change from day to day. No one aside from yourself will know what your peak efficiency is. So forge on…
Nobody Cares
I hate to break this to you, the reader. But you know what? Nobody cares about your individual progress in the corporate world. All that matters is what you contribute to the company.
Most of the smiles you get are fake. Most of the platitudes are empty ones.
We must realize that unless you are close to a person… close enough to get shit-faced drunk with them… when your guards are down… and there both of you have to trust each other…
Otherwise, it’s all a lie.
Which is why in China, business meetings are conducted in such a way that “face” is maintained and large quantities of heavy alcohol is consumed in enormous quantities. Business, real productive business, is conducted when the interpersonal barriers are down and weak. My father once told me a saying that his grandfather taught him’ “Never trust a teetotaler.”.
Shared strife… shared experiences… shared understandings… can break down walls and build long lasting friendships. When we try to go corporate, and when we try to be good, we lose the importance of rough-house bonding.
If you don’t have shared experiences, the chances are that you don’t have anything.
[10] We can only trust those whom we have shared events and deeply bonded with. Other than that, it’s all just a facade, a “white wash”, and nonsense.
Be practical.
People seem to have a strange concept of how luck works. I think maybe this is due to the local lottery and the news media announcing yet another multi-million dollar winner. We watch television shows where people are living in mansions, and driving around in expensive cars. Do you remember the television show “Miami Vice”? How can two cops get to drive around in all those expensive cars, live in all those mansions, and meet all those hot chicks?
People seem to think that somehow that their luck will come because “they deserve it”. They want to believe that one day things will eventually fall into place for them. In other words, you are “due” to win the lottery or you will get swept away by prince charming any day now. “You deserve it” (as if others don’t).
This is terrible misunderstanding of how the world actually works.
Do not wait around for luck to materialize. You must put things in place for things to happen. You MUST put things in PLACE for your dreams to manifest.
Don't misunderstand, there are cycles in this world that we live in and a reality that has aspects of auspiciousness, and unfavorable climates. Never the less, nothing is going to manifest unless we plan and do things about it.
Do you want the pretty girls to smile back when you open the door for them? Lose ten pounds, and practice making the happiest and biggest smile that you can think of. Dress well. Have a nice hair style. Be clean…
…opportunities will manifest.
Do you want to get a raise at work? Then play the political game, work harder than everyone else, and be friends with your boss. Start taking credit where credit is do, and come in earliest and leave late. Play the game…
…opportunities will manifest.
Instead of spending time dreaming a a fine sandwich and beer, maybe we should get up off the chair and go make it happen. It’s not that hard to do. However our level of comfort is what often prevents us from doing things.
Do you want to have a turkey sandwich and a ice cold beer while watching the sun set over an ocean, then you need to set yourself up so that materializes. We have the ability to physically manifest change in our life. Go to a store, buy the ingredients. Get some beer and put it in the freezer. Then make it all up and go out to the beach. Don’t put it off… Oh, and by the way, ask that pretty girl that you have been thinking of to join you. I’d bet she’d love it.
[11] Be the master of your life. Do not rely on fate to control your life.
There is no such thing as “Destiny”
In the corporate world, you are expected to accept things as they are presented to you, while in your private world you act within the terms that you have grown accustomed to. Both are lies.
We exist within this reality with the POWER to change it. Never forget that basic fact.
While it is nice to change and cycle through the MWI using external technology, it really isn't all that necessary on a personal level. We have the inherent ability to do so naturally.
We live within a preset and pre-programmed reality. We do not like to believe in fate, and destiny and other “superstitions”. Yet there is some truth to our existence. There is some purpose. There is a reason why YOU are reading this.
As such, we need to accept the fact that while things appear to be fated, pre-ordained, or just destined. That is not the case. We have the ability to make changes to our reality.
Is the life that you live within your company the life that you really thought that you would get after university? Is this the ideal? Do you live for the paychecks, or are the paychecks something that supports your lifestyle. If there is any discomfort in your life, then you do need to change it.
In short, the life you live is like a highway. You are placed in the middle of it, and cars come and go. You can obey the signs and follow the highway. That is the easy way to live your life. However, it is not destined.
I suggest that you do not ride the life that is laid before you. You can change it.
You can drive fast or slow. You can change lanes. You can ride on the curb. You can stop, and even go into reverse, if you wanted to. Heck, you can even go off road, for the “bumpy” experience.
So there is no such thing as destiny. There are only your thoughts and your desires. I suggest that you start following them…
The first step in changing things is to change our thoughts. The second step is to change our actions. The third step is to change our habits.
By making these changes we can change our life.
Your limitations are not set by who you know, where you were born, what genes you have, how much money you have, how old you are right now, what you did before or other things that you can claim are your stamp of failure for life. If you are determined enough, there can be opportunities in life that are totally achievable with minimal cash, regardless of who you are.
[12] We can control our reality to obtain advantage in our life.
Groundskeeper cottage. I found this wonderful image on tumblr. Image that you would work on a huge estate, and you would be provided with this cute little, tight home to live in. How cozy. So I wonder, what’s stopping you? Why not live in a house, or a place, at a job, with a family that you determine? Why do we always seem stuck with the life that those around us decide for us? Why is it? It doesn’t have to be that way.
Desk Jobs will kill your creativity
I’ll bet that you, the reader, were all full of ideas, spunk and optimism when you graduated from university. Weren’t you? Well, what happened? Where are they now? What killed them off?
Here is a still from the genius movie “Joe vs the volcano” starring Tom Hanks. It accurately portrayed the plight of many an office worker who toils in a terrible office work environment, and drinking coffee that is best described as “lumpy”. Not to mention those energy-saving piss-poor lights that serve to illuminate most of our productive hours.
Was it your friends? Your family? The grocer down the street? Your barber? Or, better yet, was it your workplace, and your boss? Has your boss or any of your supervisors ever given you any hope and cheering on for your dreams? Have they? For if they have, then you are a rare and lucky person, indeed.
There is nothing so absolutely mind-numbing than working in a sterile neutral-color cubicle under fluorescent artificial lighting that will sap the life and drain the energy out from you.
Any company that will not install natural lighting in a place that you will work for eight hours a day, just to save a few pennies, is not a company that cares about your well being. Humans are creatures that need, yes need, a healthy environment to work. It amazes me that they will ban smoking and install various dress codes, but they will refuse to install natural lighting for the employees.
Unless you are thriving in this now-standard working environment, you will need to seriously reconsider the career choices that you have made. Or, at least, reconsider your work place environment.
[13] Take seriously the environment that surrounds you. Know that it will affect your thoughts and actions. This influence is dangerous as it can influence your life for better or for worse.
Never change your originality for the sake of others. This is because no one can play your role better than you. So be yourself and be your best.
Avoid “Echo Chambers”
An “echo chamber” is a place, a group of friends, a work environment, a series of websites, a news media that all says the same thing. By staying within that “echo chamber” you get the FALSE impression that everyone around you thinks like you do.
That is false.
Even within an “echo chamber”, your mind will think and operate quite differently from those around you.
We all know examples of “Echo Chambers”.
The main-stream American press.
College universities.
HR polices in a corporate environment.
An NFL football team.
The BLM membership.
The Liberal Narrative
The Conservative Narrative
As much as I tend to believe strongly in traditional conservative values, I find that if you completely close your mind to only those outlets you get a distorted view of reality. I'm not bad-mouthing conservative values and principles. However, we need to understand that many times what we want to hear is repackaged to us as an echo chamber.
This hasn't been so obvious as when I moved to China.
I was expecting enormous crowds. Well, I saw that. I was expecting a kind of dingy world. Well, indeed there are some pretty ugly areas. I was expecting ancient and ruinous infrastructure, millions of blue clad workers riding bicycles, a police and military force everywhere, and hordes of poverty ridden poor from the countryside clamoring to be led into the mega-cities. NOT FUCKING TRUE.
It's not even remotely true.
I was expecting a scene from a "Save the Children" commercial, and instead what I experienced was a futuristic Tokyo.
Trust me. You need to get out of whatever echo chamber you are in now, and look around you. It's a new world, with new rules. Not just in the corporate world, but in life as well. Realize it. learn from it. Get out of the echo chamber. Go out and see for yourself.
You will discover that many of the people are just repeating what they have read and heard from others. Others who have been repeating what they, in turn, have read and heard. From others who are repeating what they have read and heard.
Modern China…
Modern China…
We have to be careful… always. Today in our digital age, it is so easy to be led into a “echo chamber”. Those on university campuses today have a terribly distorted view of what America is like. heck, many of them cannot even name one Right listed in the Bill of Rights. They think that everyone outside of their city is a racist bigot. What amazing ignorance.
Do not fall into the “echo chamber” trap.
What happens is that when you meet someone with a very different belief system to yours, it’s better to get along than to try to “convert” them. This is as true for how the world works as it is for anything else. We tend to want to be part of the herd. We do not want to stand out, or be ostracized. We want to belong.
The social media in America is one huge “echo chamber” that is dominated with progressive liberal socialists. They have made it so that anything other than what they want to hear is withheld. They offer all kinds of excuses, usually the same tired old lame excuses… hate, deplorable, racist, bigot…etc. Yet, the fact is that this is exactly against what America stood and stands for… the freedom to say your peace. Don’t live in the echo chamber.
When someone is sure about something and has believed it for many many years, then you cannot convince them with a few cleverly picked words. We tend to call this person a “close minded” person. But, yet is it really that way? Maybe it’s us that is the close minded one. Indeed, maybe it’s important to acknowledge that maybe we are actually the wrong one in this case.
The world is much more fun with people of varying interests and beliefs.
Spending time exclusively with people who agree with you on everything would never challenge you or allow you to learn so much more. We need challenge. We need exposure to different things. We need to be with others who are different, who are colorful, who have ability, and who are themselves.
The problem with the corporate environment is that conformity is policed. When you reach the boundaries of conformity and step outside them, you will be considered to be undesirable, and termination is only a short and brief paycheck away.
I once had a friend who lived in North Carolina. He told me that the key to happiness is to be unique on your own terms, but hide it from everyone else. You must conform, and not make waves, but in the privacy of your house and your life, you can live the life on your terms.
Now that I am older, I can see some benefit in his advice. Yet, I do not wholly convinced to agree with him. I say, instead, that a real man is himself no matter what and pretends for no one.
[14] Expose yourself to as many different things as possible. Go outside your “echo chamber”. Never take anything said by anyone at face value. Get multiple sources, and make sure they are isolated from each other. Beware of the corporate one-company is one-mind trap.
As an aside, it is well known that you do not want a person who has worked some twenty years in a singular role within a large company. They tend to be too inflexible and too rigid in their thinking process. I wonder why that is?
Living a good life is the best way possible to convince people
Have you ever spent time and time again, just arguing with people? They have their view, and you have yours. They don’t want to hear your view, for some reason. You do not want to hear theirs. You and they are both in a dead lock.
So what?
Enough with the words and enough with the arguing. Just live by example and soon you’ll have people on your side when they see your results. Over time they will come around. They will see your passion, and your earnest belief in who you are.
They will find that their assumptions about you, who you are, the life you live, and your values are not what they thought. They will come around. Don’t argue with them. Show them.
There is no longer a need to convince them of anything. You just be who you are and show them. Eventually they will see that you weren’t so crazy after all.
Now, in the corporate world, there is only one answer. That is the answer that your boss tells you it is. Nothing else matters. Which is, when you think about it, terribly limiting. In China there is a saying…
There are many ways to get to Beijing.
Which of course, means that you can eventually make it to your objective. You need to select the way that is the best one. For some, the quickest and most expensive, might be the best method. For others, the cheap and slow might be best. So, whether you fly, walk, hitch-hike, take a train, or ride a donkey, eventually you will make it to Beijing.
The problem with the corporate culture is that all these various answers and solutions can be withheld from you. Unless you are in the vaulted decision-making process to make these decisions, you will start to rely on the decisions of others. And, that my friends, is a great trap. Be careful.
[15] You need to start living your life on your terms. As such, your success will speak for itself. There will not be any question that you were doing something right. Though others might chalk it up to luck or fate, they will invariably be wrong.
Nobody has the Answer
We have grown accustomed, through school, through society, through the news media, and through the legions of statists, that there is a “perfect” truth. That there is a perfect reality and singular solution. We mistakenly follow them through our 16 years of educational schooling. We are constantly searching for the ideal mate. We are constantly searching for the ideal job. We are constantly searching for the “secrets of the universe”.
It’s all a big lie.
There is no singular answer. No, let me be the first to crush this fantasy; the NWO, one global government is not going to be the solution to all the world’s ill’s. Nope. No way. No how. I know… just, listen I know. I mean I really, REALLY know.
There is no universal truth, at least nothing that we would recognize as such. There are, instead, relative truths that vary from observer to observer. This is quantum mechanics at it’s primeval level.
You have to get a grasp on the reality you live is yours and yours alone. It is not a shared reality. No matter how real that appears to you now.
Stop comparing yourself to others. They look richer. They seem happier. They appear to be smarter. They seem to have more fun. They seem to have all the luck. It’s all illusion. Almost everyone has problems and puts on a brave face in spite of it
Everyone is living their reality. They are living their life, and within that life are collapsed dreams, hardship, hurt, terror, worry, sadness and sacrifice. They all had it. Not only you. Never casually dismiss them as being more fortunate than you are. You do not know their story. So stop comparing yourself.
Which brings me around to the corporate environment. The business and corporate environment is one that that mandates appearance. Some companies permit you to put a picture or two on your desk. Some are even so bold as to allow you a potted plant and a different colored pen to use from time to time. Corporate workers are expected to be drones that work in a state of bland sameness.
We need to be careful of a set cultural, societal, or corporate environment. They expect followers to act as drones for the collective good. Often they will discard you when you are no longer useful, or even worse, they could demand that you do dangerous things for the good of the company. Be careful.
Over time, this attitude affects us. We start to believe it. We spend all day with our coworkers and believe that we are all the same. Then we go home and see the life as portrayed on the television, the internet and the movies. We yearn for that excitement and that closeness. But it’s a fiction. Everything outside of your personal experience is a fiction.
Nothing exists until you PERSONALLY experience it.
[16] There is no singular answer or solution. All there is is an “answer” for YOU and the reality that you live.
It is fine to say “I made a mistake”
We have grown up over the years to be ashamed of making mistakes. Our school would punish us for making mistakes. Our parents would punish us for making mistakes. Indeed, our spouses would punish us for making mistakes.
Hey! Here’s a news flash for you. You are an adult. You are not a child.
You are an adult. You are not a child.
Making mistakes is how we grow. You learn through mistakes. What do you think Hillary Clinton will do next time she wants to set up a hidden secretive computer server to suck up Top Secret emails to give to Pakistan? I’ll bet you that she would do things much differently. Next time, oh at the rate AG Sessions is going yeah there will be a next time, it will be more secretive, better guarded and better protected.
Lock her up by Ben Garrison at Grr Graphics. All credit to the artist. Hillary Clinton sure has managed to get away with a lot. This is a characteristic of a third world banana republic. It is not the characteristic of a functioning Republic.
A true and real person is not afraid to say that they made a mistake. You don’t even need to justify it. You don’t have to come up with reasons. All you need to say, is that you understand that you made a mistake and that you are putting systems in place to prevent that mistake from happening again.
If the other(s), whomever they are, do not accept that, then they can FUCK themselves. Seriously, in business or in your family, you must be a man. You set the standards that you live by. No one else does. Be a man, or be a child. There is no in between.
[17] Be honest with yourself, with those around you, and with your loved ones. You are no longer a child that has to lie and make up falsehoods to avoid confrontation.
At some point you are going to need to work very hard.
I have got to say, after years and years of working hard, finally I was eventually able to secure some senior level positions. Now, let it be told, that although having an senior position is a fantastic way to earn a living, it is really hard work.
Don’t buy into that Hollywood lie. You don’t get into management by drinking coffee at the local restaurant. You cannot automatically drive a Lamborghini by being a police officer, and you won’t become a billionaire by writing some code. The route to success is often paved with hard work.
And… sacrifice.
And… pain with misery.
I do not mean to scare the Dejesus out of anyone, but I really do want to make a point. You need to plan, and devote your time to doing and performing useful labors. Often you will not see any results. Or maybe what you are doing won’t pay for your rent and you will need to do something that you don’t like.
That’s just the way life is. That is the story of your reality.
[18] If you want something, you will need to put in the time to get it. You will have to think about it. You will need to imagine it, and you will need to do real physical work to cause it to manifest.
More money will NEVER solve your problems
Somehow, in America, many people believe that only if they had more money all their problems would go away…
Nope. It doesn’t work that way. Instead, more problems will materialize. Not only that, but the problems will balloon to a level that you are unaccustomed to. The size of the money you have is exponentially proportional to the problems associated with it.
Now, I am not advocating poverty. However, I have to say that many of the things… the baubles and the latest iPhone, and that nice car are not germane to your happiness. Personally, I have done a lot of thinking, and my fondest memories, the ones that I treasure the most, occurred when I really didn’t have much in the way of money.
In fact, what I had at that period in my life was TIME and COMPANIONSHIP.
Spend time, meaningful and precious time, with those you love. Make your time quality time. Buy an ice cream cone with your retired father. Take you mother out of a morning breakfast. Call up one of your friends and go to the beach or hike in a local park. Spend time together.
As long as you are not living in the street or going hungry, then you do not “need” more money. When you spend enough time with people who are actually living on next to nothing, but having a full life, then you will truly understand this. Everything that is wonderful about life doesn’t cost a penny, and the rest is way cheaper than you think it is.
[19] Think about the people that surround you. Think about spending time with them. Take your mind off the need to make money to purchase things. Concentrate on relationships and spending time with those you love. Remember, you can always make more money, but you can never make more time.
Respect is earned, not demanded.
Work is mostly a meritocracy.
Yes there are exceptions, and the higher up you get, the sillier and strange the effects manifest. However, in general, the more you work, the more skills you acquire. The more “war stories” you can elaborate on, and the more money that you can command.
Holding an executive position has levels of respect and even reverence that are intrinsic to it. I am often looked after and praised. But much like in the military you salute the rank and not the man. In the corporate world often time it is very much like this—people care about the position you hold instead of you.
Nothing is truer than in China. Where I am giving a “God Like” status as a vaulted Boss.
Never the less, one false move and you could lose all that respect in a heart-beat. Status and respect, especially in China, is tied to the concept of “Face”. It’s a difficult concept to grasp, but it is an important one.
Face is very visible in the Chinese business environment and plays an important role in inter- and intra-company communication, business negotiations, and the development and maintenance of relationships.
In China, company hierarchy is much more important than in many Western countries. Not only are leaders and managers placed on a higher pedestal, but the distinction between different levels of management is much clearer and more important.
Many Chinese leaders and managers expect respect from their subordinates and in many cases expect to be obeyed without question, no matter the rationality or fairness behind a request.
Not obeying “the will” of a Chinese leader or manager does not give them the perceived necessary prestige they (and others) feel is deserved. Indeed, survival in a Chinese company depends on knowing one’s place, and Face plays a very important role in facilitating that function.
-China Culture Corner
[20] You need to earn your place at the table. You cannot demand it.
This is a Two-Part Post
This is the first of a two part post. To see the second part, please kindly go HERE.
You can tell how much BS is in the American news media when they report as “experts” in China, yet fail to mention even the most basic trends. You go on CNN, MSNBC, WaPo, and the Huffington-Puffington Post and it’s all about Trump, and China tariffs. Article after article is reporting on the troubles about the tariffs. They report all kinds of nonsense. They report as if they are experts. Oh, the world is falling apart! Oh, China has fallen to it’s knees! Oh, my goodness!
Well it isn’t. The world is not falling apart. China is bowing down, and the people are not shuffling back into their state-mandated hovels.
China takes the tariff issue seriously, but they are not killing themselves in mass suicides over it. You do know that exports from China to the United States isn’t as large as Americans think. While the perception is that it is maybe 80% of everything they export, the truth is that it is much smaller than that. Exports to America from China is actually around 11% of all Chinese exports.
You’ve got to be an idiot to believe some of the nonsense that is written in the American mass media. The news that Americans read is all just packaged propaganda used to manipulate. That’s it.
Anyways, let’s talk about what is actually going on in China. Yes. The “real deal”. Don’t you know…
The Dance Craze
If you travel to China, and only spend one week in China, you would be made aware of certain trends and behaviors that are totally absent from the “experts” in the American main-steam media. You might be exposed to state of the art subway systems that look like they came out of a science fiction movie. You might ride in a high-speed train that looks like a rocketship. You might be amazed how everyone uses WeChat to pay for things.
For the last few months, China has been “on fire” with a dance craze that has swept the nation. Bet ya didn’t know that! Did you?
Girls all over China are dancing to this stupid Chinese pop song.
I think that they most especially like the part where he goes all “Tarzan”. and the girls duplicate it by leaning back and shaking their chests out.
Boys, girls, adults, children, and maybe even pet dogs can all dance to this stupid and silly song.
et, it has taken the nation by storm. Really! Who’d figure?
The Chinese youth are going crazy over this song. Who would figure. Eh?
If you cannot see the embedded player, then please go to this link to see a compilation of crazed Chinese fans dancing to this stupid song…
It’s sort of like how the “Gangham Style” video and song took over the United States, and late the world. Only instead of a fat Korean, we have pretty Chinese girls dancing to it…friggin’ everywhere.
Where to Watch
I first became aware of this craze by the 抖音短视频 website. You can get the APP online HERE. It consists of home made mini videos all to Chinese (and some Western) pop music. Imagine a twitter version of movies. Here is a scene from the MV of the music video. It is pretty silly with a bunch of Chinese boys and girls dancing about and giving Tarzan yells.
The funny thing is this; if you just go to any mall in the city and give a Tarzan yell, you will be answered by girls and boys shaking their chests and yelling AH-ya-ya-ah….
Regarding the application, often the movies only last ten seconds or so. All in all, it is a great way to see what China is like, and what the people are like. You see it all. From bedrooms to state parks, to city-scapes to cute girls dancing.I got hooked watching dog and cat videos. You know the Chinese really love their pets.
Later, I became hooked on watching cute Chinese girls doing cute things. Sure beats fat negro American women shaking their enormously fat asses that passes for entertainment in America today.
Anyways, I find it a welcome respite form the non-stop barrage of bullshit narrative from the American mainstream media about China. I get on this APP and within a minute, I can see ten videos made by normal and average Chinese from all over China.
You look at the people. You look at their clothes. You look at the roads and infrastructure. You look at the backgrounds, and the people and what they are doing… It sure beats the nonsense out of silicon valley and Washington D.C.
First Taste
Here is just a sample of the kinds of things that you will see in China today. This is the song that is driving all the girls crazy…
I have been having trouble posting the embedded player for the video. So All that I can post is fan videos. You can watch the video yourself. Here are various direct links;
One of the things that the American media likes to keep secret is how human the Chinese people are. In many, many ways, they are exactly like Americans. At least they really seem to relate to us. They think that the television show “Friends” is real, and they all yearn to become friends with Americans. They like to have fun. They love to fish, play basketball, and just have fun with each other eating and drinking.
The American deep (state) swamp wants to keep everything two dimensional. To them, they picture the world outside of the United States as a ugly dark and frightening place. They make cardboard cutouts of people outside. They make two-dimensional characters of them. It’s easier to control us, if our rulers (owners) keep us living in a dark fear.
But, you know, that’s really not the way it is.
The Chinese love to dance and have a good time. They are just like us. Only on a much grander scale…
The Chinese are just like us. We are both human. We have needs and desires. We feel emotion; sadness and happiness. We fall in love, we raise families and take care of our elders. We work hard, and try to do our best. We like to have fun. Some of us can sing, and some cannot. We we accept everyone anyways. The Chinese are just like us…
They like to pay with their children, and they love their pets. You all probably aren’t aware of that, with the Western oligarchy in full control of the American media. All the Western media ever talks about is how dogs are eaten in some rural villages in the back hills of remote China.
They play this narrative over and over and over and over. It’s all a manufactured lie.
The Chinese love their pets.
In fact some of the largest industries in China are those that cater to pets. In China the pets are treated like little humans. I really mean it. They have dog socks, dog underwear. They have dog sweaters, eyeglasses, back packs and special nutrition dog-food. It is not unusual to have a family spend more money on their dog than on their own children.
China is the largest economy in the world. If the trade issues can be resolved between Donald Trump and Xi Ping, Americans and their counterparts in China can thrive and prosper.
I see a future where the Chinese and Americans both work diligently towards a mutual agreeable goal. Everyone works. Everyone profits. Americans goods are sold to China, and Chinese goods are sold to Americans. Only this time, instead of the corrupt oligarchy benefiting, it will be everyday Americans who benefit. Trust me, the Chinese want this.
I believe Donald Trump wants this. I believe his followers want this. There is only one problem. The deep state, and all their globalist minions; the American media, the corrupt DOJ and FBI, and the rich software billionaires don’t.
The Chinese middle class has been growing over the last four decades. It is not what Americans think at all. Much of that growth has been the direct result of piss-poor trade policies that benefit the wealthiest few in the Untied States.
That era has ended.
Now it is a time when Americans can market our fine (and superior) products to a willing and welcome Chinese market. What are we waiting for? Nothing, just until the oligarchs in the (swamp) Washington D.C. retires or steps out of the way.
They will do EVERYTHING in their ability to stop it. They do not care, and if it take world war III to realize their dreams, they will cause it.
Don’t believe me? Just read their mouth-pieces; the New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN.
We are now at a threshold where Americans and Chinese can both profit handsomely by throwing all the evil oligarchs to the wayside. Instead of them getting a trillion dollar profit each year, now it’s time for each American to profit.
The money will flow in copus amounts. We just have to realize who is siphoning the money, and how much they are getting away with. China has a lot to offer Americans.
For instance, consider the synchronized night scapes in all the Chinese cities. You haven’t heard about that have you? Nope, the oligarchs don’t want you to be aware. Just manufacture a cardboard evil villain and demand higher taxes from Americans. It’s the same old playbook. But we Americans have transcended this narrative.
We know better.
Summary
With China not only possessing the bulk of the world population, and the vast bulk of the world’s manufacturing, it is a true shame that American media treats it as some kind of two-dimensional fiction.
Most Americans are unaware of this. Somehow we think that things are still manufactured in Germany, that all those cars with British logos are still make in the UK, and that all the cameras and computers are made in South Korea and Japan.
Nope. They are all made in China.
Surprise! American propaganda leads to keep Americans ignorant and afraid. make no mistake. The purpose of the American main stream media is to keep Americans stupid, ignorant and living in fear. We are told that China is a poor third-world nation. It is one that is filled with barefoot and ignorant workers that reside in mud-hut villages all over China.
That’s the narrative.
It is a complete fabrication. It is nonsense. Sure the rural Chinese aren’t living in McMansions, but their homes aren’t mud huts either. Yes they have electricity, plumbing, indoor water (and water heaters) high-speed internet and paved roads.
In fact, I wish Pennsylvania would take a few lessons from China. They have seemed to get rid of their pothole problems. Pennsylvania is still forming yet another “Blue Ribbon” committee to look into the issue…
I personally believe that once we know the true reality, that we can decide what is best for us and our families. We do not need some “expert” in Washington D.C. telling us what we can do, some “expert” in silicon-valley censoring what we read, and some “expert” in New York city deciding what we can read and watch.
I believe that we can do this by ourselves and alone. The “manufactured reality” out of Washington D.C. and Silicon-Valley has become so outrageous and distorted that it in no way resembles anything even resembling the truth. We need to acknowledge this and embrace it.
For Pete’s Sake, if the “experts” on China are totally oblivious to something as common as a song and a dance that even five-year-olds know, than you should be aware of the disconnect. The disconnect is dangerous.
If we permit it to continue…people will die. Pay attention. Know who is trying to manipulate you and why. Question everything. Stop permitting those in power to take your money, repackage it into a fear-based narrative.
Move forward and think of everyone as your friends who want to work with you so they… and YOU… together can profit. Not some rich oligarch who already has amassed enough trillions of your your money. It’s time to put them to bed and move forward with our lives.
John McClain
Oh, and a special call out for one of the most evil people in Washington D.C. war monger extraordinaire John McClain. Hey guy, having a brain tumor the size of a baseball is no excuse to start World War III. I don’t give a damn what your fucked up rationalizations are. People are people. They are not some numbers that can be erased on a spreadsheet. They have feelings, life, relationships and family. What the Hell is the matter with you?
Sources
Of course, you can go directly to the Chinese video websites and view the dance routines for yourself. There might even be one or two on you-tube. That is, once they get past the censorship army in silicon-valley. American progressive censorship is terrible. It really is… Yeah. Y
ou are not going to find any of this on the sterile American Politically-Correct scrubbed video websites. Hey dudes, maybe you need… NEED to look elsewhere for your video entertainment. There are many, many options.
Don’t accept the bland life that is provided to you. Maybe Alex Jones is banned on Facebook, and You-Tube. No problem. Go elsewhere…
#1. Youku.com 优酷网YouKu
At home, I subscribe to YouKu. I use it for my streaming music needs. If I want to hear a song I like, I do a lyric search and then have YouKu pull it up for me. Like all these sites, they are in Chinese, but you can pretty much navigate by trial and error.
Everything is free to watch. There are only a few embedded ads. There is a very high playback speed, and very little delay.
#2. Tudou.com 土豆网Toudou
Toudou is the second most well-known video website in China. Toudou is where most Chinese people buy their online purchases. You can get everything from makeup to groceries here. The site features personal video sharing services, and also owns many other video channels like movies, dramas, music and so on.
#3. Cntv.cn 中国网络电视台CCTV
This is the government very own video streaming service. It’s sort of a Chinese video version of NPR. It is owned by China Central Television (CCTV), CNTV is the official website of the national TV station. The site hosts many channels and its video channels include live TV, TV drama and documentary. Users can enjoy lots of exclusive video contents on the site.
#4. tv.kankan.com 迅雷看看kankan
Xunlei Kankan is a video-on-demand service. If you are trying to find American movies but are unable to because of paywalls, and money that you have to pay at Netflix, go here. they will be free. Oh, and did I say…free????
The site provides high-quality content including up-to-date Chinese dramas and lots of movies from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and the USA.
#5. Tv.sohu.com 搜狐视频sohu
Sohu TV is owned by Sohu company, one of the biggest Internet portals in China. Everyone knows about Sohu. What? You didn’t? Well let me educate you.
The site provides countless video contents such as high quality movies, TV shows, self-produced dramas, variety shows, music TV and cartoons. You might well be surprised in the selection.
#6. Letv.com 乐视网letv
Hailed as China’s Hulu, Letv.com owns more than 100,000 episodes of TV series and more than 5,000 films. This is pretty much where my wife likes to go to watch her soap operas and the American series such as “Two Broke Girls” and “Sopranos”.
#7. Iqiyi.com 爱奇艺qiyi
I used to have a VIP membership for QIYI. It only cost something like 198 RMB for a year ($25). As a VIP you get a very large selection of movies. Their American movie selection is pretty good. It’s sort of like Netflix in that regard, but instead of paying $5 for a movie, you pay $25 for unlimited movies for a year.
It is owned by Baidu, China’s largest search engine. The decision to offer a paid subscription is a direct result of negotiations with Hollywood. You must recall, Hollywood demanded that the Chinese government stop piracy of Western movies.
Thus, Iqiyi describes itself China’s first copyrighted video library covering various contents such as movie, TV drama, variety show, comic and documentary. Its HD & smooth video content is the best of all China’s video sites.
#8. Video.sina.com.cn 新浪视频sina
Here’s where you go if you want to see the latest American movies that are in the theaters, but don’t want to pay for them. It’s owned by Sina, a leading Internet media company serving China. The site provides various video content including latest video news, variety show, movie, drama and so on.
#9. 56.com 56网56.com screen shot
56.com is a leading video-sharing platform in China. Users can post and share their personal videos online. There are many cute videos of dogs and cats here. As well as cute girls sings and dancing. The site hosts more than 80 million online videos.
#10 pptv.com PPTVpip
PPTV is a fantastic online TV provider offering both live streaming and video-on-demand services. Its channels include TV shows, film, drama, sports, news and entertainment and so on.
#11. M1905.com 电影网1905
I must admit that I am not too familiar about this site. However the interface seems easy enough to use and get about with. It’s been in China for a while. Really. M1905.com was founded by China Movie Channel in 2004.
The site hosts more than 6,000 HD copyrighted movies and about 200,000 short videos. M1905 is the most complete and authoritative site about Chinese movies.
#12. V.qq.com 腾讯视频QQ video
I am currently a VIP member of this site. Cost is $25/year (198 RMB). Like all VIP services, you are allowed five members for that service. So we share the membership with friends and relatives. It has a pretty good selection of American movies. For instance, I watched “Hot Tub Time Machine” last week, but the sequel to that movie is not available.
QQ is the largest social media platform in China, and even dwarfs the enormous WeChat. This is the video section of that platform. To give you an idea of how enormous it is, think of Facebook, and then multiply it by one thousand.
QQ video is a channel of qq.com, which is the most popular instant messenger in China and has hundreds of million active users. With huge amount of active users, QQ video quickly and easily became one of the the most visited video sites in China.
#13. 360 Kan 360 视频360
I am not familiar with this website. However, my friends and coworkers really like it. Truthfully, 360kan is a Chinese version of Google / computer checkup application. Functionally, 360kan is actually a video resource navigation website.
Its main function is to list lots of TV and drama links, so users can choose the site with the best watching experiences.
#14. Baidu Video 百度视频 baidu
Everyone knows about Baidu in China. Just like everyone knows of Google int he United States. Baidu is a Chinese version of Google, only it is much, much, much larger… and… it is not censored by rich progressive millennials in California.
If you want to find a movie in China, this is probably your fist stop. Like on Google, you click on the video link to see all the video related search results.
Baidu Video is one of the largest video sharing site in China. It is a channel of Baidu.com, China’s leading search engine. The site features its search function and users can always find their favorite video content on the site.
#15. pps.tv PPSpps PPS provides lots of services such as video search, online video, games and downloads. Its computer client PPS Net TV hosts more than 210 thousand sets of channel programs. It is the most popular Net TV client in China.
Take Aways
The news in America is completely distorted.
So called “experts” on China, in the United States are unaware of the most basic of trends in China.
This disconnect in perception, reporting and reality is dangerous, as it can result in manipulation of mass groups of people and WAR!
The Chinese people admire and relate to Americans. It is a true shame that the American news media would like to disrupt the trade negotiations that Donald Trump is having with Xi Peng.
If Americans and Chinese can work TOGETHER, everyone would benefit profitably. The Chinese WANT to buy American made products. Let’s let them. We can work hard and they can respond.
Over the last few decades, American agreements favored the rich oligarchs at the expense of the American worker. Today, the American media narrative is one that pits national boundaries before cooperation.
FAQ
Q: What is so special about the latest dance craze in China? A: Nothing, really. Fads and fashions come and go. The point of this post and article is just how out of touch the American media is that they are unaware of something that every single person in China knows about. Heck, you could fly in and just stand on a street corner, not talk to anyone and be aware of this. The disconnect is that enormous. China has their own movies, much larger than Hollywood. They have their own music, with followings that dwarf anything out of America. You can see one HERE. The point is that China is a Big, big market that WANTS American products. I argue that we should sell our products to China. We should forget the bullshit narrative promoted out of the American media and do it our way… the American way. Not the way of the wealthy oligarchy. Q: Why don’t you have embedded videos? A: I tried, but word press is changing it’s editor with something else. It’s a little buggy and won’t accept embedded code. Q: Why do you love China? A: China reminds me of American back around 1960. That was before the progressive liberals took control of EVERYTHING, and fucked everything up. Now everyone either want’s to go to war or turn into a communist. Jeeze, not even the Chinese want to be a “communist” nation. But sure as heck the millennial’s in the big American cites want that. Hey the bullshit ran deep. Now America is populated with morons. I can’t stop the shit. What I can do, however, is open the window a little so some fresh air of reality comes in. Life is not that bad, it only appears to be.
Free Republic Posting
This was posted on 5AUG18 on the website Free Republic. It did not go down very well.The thread was pulled. The reason being…
not even close to news. barely chat. quit abusing the BN sidebar
Popularity
Well, Free Republic might have pulled this post, but it was the top post during August 2018 by a long-shot. I guess that FR is out of touch what is popular to the readership.
Links about China
China and America Comparisons
The Chinese Business KTV Experience
This is the
real deal. Forget about all that nonsense that you find in the British
tabloids and an occasional write up in the American liberal press. This
is the reality. Read or not.
Learning About China
Contemporaneous Chinese Music
This is a
series of posts that discuss contemporaneous popular music in China. It
is a wide ranging and broad spectrum of travel, and at that, all that I
am able to provide is the flimsiest of overviews. However, this series
of posts should serve as a great starting place for investigation and
enjoyment.
This post was updated 5JUL19, when I received word that the FDA approved Bremelanotide PT-141 under the name Vylessi. I updated this post, andsubsequently added the name Vylessi to all mention of Bremelanotide PT-141, and added updated histories and commentaries at the end.
We have a tendency to think inside the box. We try to improve what we know. We try to work within the framework of what we have. We actually do need to think "outside the box"...
As a man gets older, your body changes. Your hair starts receding, and starts to fall out. You start to become bald. Your hair turns white. Your teeth start giving you problems, and you start to gain weight. Getting rid of that weight becomes problematic. No longer can exercise alone keep you trim and fit. You have to change your diet as well.
All men eventually start to have erectile disfunction (ED). Usually it seems to start in your early 40’s depending on your stress level, lifestyle, and general health. You can postpone it for a few years, but it will eventually strike. It will.
Typically, erectile disfunction more closely resembles a moderate soft erection. This is due to the blood pressure in the penis. As a man gets older, his ability to create solid rock-hard erections diminishes. Instead, when excited he produces short-lived soft and “spongy” erections, often cycling between a moderate “soft” erection and no erection at all.
This is what it is like to grow old.
Now, you can exercise. You can eat special foods, and you can have a stress-free life that can all significantly reduce these effects. For instance, leeks and eggs, bitter melon and oysters can certainly help the man in the bedroom. It will do wonders, as will a daily glass of red wine…
Viagra entered the world in the 1990’s and revitalized the world of the American male. No longer did older men need to live a sex-less life. All you need do is pop in a “little blue pill” and all your troubles are over.
Of course, there are some tradeoffs.
For one, you need to get a doctors’ prescription. America is just about the ONLY nation that has this bastardized restriction. Everyone can just get the medicine off the shelf just about anywhere. Secondly, you have to pay REAL money for it. In a world where the raw material of Viagra (sildenafil) costs $100 / kg, and where a single dosage of Viagra is 25mg, the price difference is astounding.
You can purchase the raw material for Viagra in China. This is Sildenafil. You have a MOQ, minimum order quantity to content with, which is often at least a gram. Price is around $0.000002 / pill.
It costs ten cents a gram for sildenafil, or ten cents for 1000mg. That’s ten cents for 40 pills. But Big American Pharmacies and their associated industries are charging an insane amount for this pill.
The cost for Viagra oral tablet 25 mg is around $447 for a supply of 6 tablets, depending on the pharmacy you visit. Prices are for cash paying customers only and are not valid with insurance plans.
-Drugs.com
It’s a good thing that I live in China, where I can get a bag of 100 generic pills for under $1.20.
Ah, but I digress…
"Abroad, getting Viagra is no problem as it is readily available over the counter in many countries. In countries I’ve been to, it sells for $1 a pill. Then, it’s party on. No such luck in the police state known as America. Got to have a doctor’s prescription, and it’s pricey. But, it’s worth it for the occasional twosome or threesome when there’s blow involved."
-If you are going to use Cocaine use Viagra
Enter Cialis
While it is certainly convenient, the problem with Viagra is that it tends to give you a headache, and does not mix well with alcohol. Which really sucks as most of us older folk prefer to drink and have fun, often leading up to a sexual romp or two.
You take a Cialis pill on a Friday, and you are good to go up until next Tuesday. That’s four days, boys and girls. OK, well, three days of erection when you want it, and as long lasting as you need it. Four days it begins to sputter out. It’s erection on demand, and they are of high quality and long duration. Perfect for cuddling with that special person in your life. The real problem with this is that it takes around three hours to work, so it doesn’t lend itself to spontaneous sexual encounters.
It is ideal for a married man who wants to spend quality time with his wife.
Cialis is not licensed in China, so the only way you can get it at a pharmacy is to pay “full price”. Which is often 120 RMB/pill, or roughly $20/pill. That in itself pretty much sucks. Salaries in China are far below the salaries in the United States, so when you spend $20, it’s like spending enough to cover a weeks amount of food.
Typical Chinese Pharmacy. The girl behind the counter will typically look up your medicine request on the computer and giver you the option of a local generic Chinese brand or a (cheap) cost version of a Western equivalent.
But then again, you can simply buy the (Tadalafil) powder here. Weigh it out. Mix it up yourself and use it.
I understand that a generic version is available in the UK, which would be a good alternative if you didn’t want to have a closet full of 500,000 Cialis pills lying around after your mix up your own batch. (BTW, India doesn’t really care about these licensed patents, and makes the pills anyways. Licensing and FDA be damned. So you can get great quality Cialis Generic out of India for maybe a fraction of the cost for what you would pay in the USA.)
It’s worth it, you know. You can spend quality time and focus on the time together instead of just one central activity.
As an aside, it does have a shelf life. After I made up a couple of million pills, I had to throw away large garbage bags full of old pills. They had begun to age. As they got older, they started to develop side effects, such as stomach gas, indigestion, headaches, and vision irregularities. So don’t use any Cialis that is over three years old. When I threw them away, there must have been five large green-black bags of pills that were thrown into the dumpster. Such a waste. Such a waste.
Anyways, I would have say that Cialis is the preferred conventional medication for ED, hands down.
Anyways…
The Design Team
Ah, but now for some bad news. What is really sad about it is what happened to all the researchers and developers who invented this product. You want to guess? Come on, what do you think happened to them?
Key team leaders in the ICOS Corporation developed the drug. They conceived it, they developed it and worked on it. However, the FDA has all kinds of testing and qualification hurtles that needed to be overcome. There was no way that the medicine would be approved. They were told this, and they knew that they had to link up with an “insider” or two to get the product approved. So the ICOS Corporation teamed up with Eli Lilly and Company to help get the drug approved through the FDA.
Of course, Eli Lilly is a big company with a lot of pull. They were able to “pull some strings” and get the drug approved.
As soon as they were able, Eli Lilly and Company bought the ICOS Corporation. They did so in 2007. It didn’t come cheap. They bought it for $2.3 billion. As a result, Eli Lilly now owned Cialis. As soon as they acquired the company, they immediately closed the ICOS operations. Thus they ended the joint venture and fired most of ICOS’s approximately 500 employees. Five hundred employees fired. Five. Hundred. Employees. Good Golly!
So…
Now you know [1] why the drug costs so much, and [2] why it sucks to work in corporate America.
You can buy just about any medicine in the world at a Chinese pharmacy. You don’t need a prescription and the costs typically are much cheaper than in the United States. You just write what you are looking for on a slip of paper and give it to the girl behind the counter. No Chinese language skill is necessary.
Enter Levitra
This is an interesting little drug. It is a single dose drug like Viagra, but with a cost comparable to Cialis. It works a little bit differently than either of the two drugs already discussed. However, functionally it is like Viagra except it is made by a different company. You can consider it the Pepsi equivalent to Coke-cola.
I prefer it over Viagra simply because it interacts better with wine. I also like the (ahem) feeling I get when I use it. I feel (somewhat) better “packed” if you know what I mean.
What does it matter?
So now, men can take a pill and get an erection whenever they need it. Depending on where they live the access to this medication may be relatively easy (like in China) or restricted (like in America).
The thing is that life is not two dimensional.
It’s not ONLY about having a nice hard erection, it is about the mood, the feeling, and the emotions that you have when you are engaged in lovemaking. People, we are NOT animals. We have feelings and urges. Just getting hard and going through the motions is fine for a robot, but it is really weak compared to the real thing that you experienced when you were young.
For instance, consider the humble tomato. It was bred to look delicious, and ship safe. With taste being an afterthought. How we have thousands of tomatoes that look like plastic fruit and taste like cardboard. We have turned it into a two-dimensional shadow of what it was.
There are a host of things going on inside our brain when we are engaged in a sexual encounter. We express a litany of emotions, and feelings. We experience different sensations in our bodies. We connect and feel things that we share with our partners.
For both men and women, there are different aspects to a relationship that can be enhanced or (better yet) compensated for, instead just focusing on having an erection.
So…
Maybe we should start to pay attention to these other aspects of our life. Maybe we should consider them as playing an important role in our life. Maybe we should consider the entire aspect of who we are and what we are doing.
Enter PT-141 (Bremelanotide) Vyleesi
Instead of being a PDE5 inhibitor like Viagra and Cialis, consider a melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH). MSH induces lordosis in animal subjects. Or in other words, lordosis is a sign of physical preparation for copulation. It is a hormone that tells the body “get ready, we are going to have sex”.
It is a hormone that puts an animal in “heat”.
It is hardwired in our brains. In animals such as dogs and cats, it tells the female to rise up their butts, and tells males to start thrusting. Now, as man has evolved this hormone has been repressed. We have replaced it with other cultural triggers. Or, in other words, what we visually see that has value has replaced this hormone. The natural lordosis behavior has atrophied in humans.
Not so when you take this drug. This drug reactivates it.
PT-141 Bremelanotide is easily available outside of the United States. You can buy it in many English speaking countries such as Australia and the UK, as well as communist countries such as Communist China and Russia. However, Americans have been FORBIDDEN to have access to this medicine.
This drug was being developed by Palatin Technologies. It showed great promise as it works equally well on both the male and the female sexes. (Though who knows about the other 55 genders that somehow mysteriously popped into existence under the Obama administration.)
It’s not only that men can get a nice sold and hard erection. It is more than that. People who take this also feel differently. People who take it feel young and horny like a sex-crazed 16 year old.
There’s only one problem. The FDA decided to ban it.
The FDA refused to permit Americans to access this drug.
Here is the FDA approval process. It’s pretty tight. In a way it is helpful , but in another way it is counter productive. You need a medicine that works, under specified conditions for 90% of the population. You can NEVER find something that works for 100% of the population. They could have released this medicine as approved with limitations on use, rather than directly banning it completely.
Yes, it was banned in the United States, much to the surprise to all the doctors, scientists, and research participants.
They were shocked, as they should be. This was not just a “so so” drug. The test results were ASTOUNDING, and yet…yet… it was banned.
So, in defiance, the staff who developed this amazing medicines put it ALL out on the internet. That’s right. All of the chemical formulations, all of the test plans, and all of the documentation was uploaded to the Internet.
Just like Keannu Reeves did in the movie “Chain Reaction”.
In the movie “Chain Reaction”, Keanu Reeves played a scientist that had the secret to limitless energy. However, dark powerful forces (namely the “swamp” and Big Business) wanted to stop him, and keep the information to themselves. What he ended up doing was to take all the information and upload it to the cloud so that everyone could have the information for free.
There, for everyone to see, is the amazing test results and the absolutely stunning levels of corruption at the FDA.
They put it all out there. Everything, including the formulation and sequencing information.
Scientists talk among each other. It’s a small world. Sure, maybe the well-paid FDA bureaucrats ($440,000 / year just to say NO!) are oblivious to this fact, and only chat with each other in their mansions and country-clubs, but the real workers, developers and key inventors care about their work and research.
In short order, it became obvious that the FDA was a corrupt organization, and that America had banned this medication because it would compete against Viagra. It also became obvious that this medication was very special. Very… very special.
If Viagra could be compared to a French Fry, PT-141 Vyleesi was a full thanksgiving meal with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, cranberry dressing, pumpkin pie and soft fresh buttered rolls. There is no comparison. None at all.
Not only that, but now the formula was available for everyone to replicate. As soon as it got out on the Internet, everyone was making it. People could buy it and try it and use it. Everyone, that is, except Americans.
So for the last two decades, this amazing drug has been used all over the world (outside of America) with amazing success, and absolutely ZERO fatalities. (So much for the so called, concerns about possible high blood pressure in a fringe section of the population.)
It has since become a legend. PT-141 Vyleesi is the stuff of dreams…
Pfaus showed me stunning testimonials from human test subjects. “On the five-point scale, I would rate the erection I had as a six,” said one of the 1,300 anonymous testers.
"You get this humming feeling,” said another. “You’re ready to take your pants off and go.”The drug worked equally well on women, who chronicled “an intense arousal” that lasted from six to 72 hours. “I was focused on sex,” said one of the women.
Yes, but what is even more interesting is that this works on both men AND women. So while you might have a raging hard-on, your wife can now feel the same as you at the same time. She can feel like she was a sex-starved girl in the throes of “puppy love”.
Ah! What an amazing age that we live in!
“A dose of PT-141 results, in most cases, in a stirring in the loins in as little as 15 minutes. Women, according to one set of results, feel ‘genital warmth, tingling and throbbing’, not to mention ‘a strong desire to have sex’.”
-Julian Dibbell at ScienceBase
People can buy the PT-141 Vyleesi outside of the United States. And, they have been doing so for around two decades now.
The FDA has no jurisdiction off-shore, and people have taken advantage of this to try different kinds of medications for their own purposes.
You know, you don’t always have to listen to that busybody down the street to do things. So what if the FDA wants to FORCE you to pay outrageous prices for Viagra, and forbids you from using medications that you can get just about anywhere else on the planet.
Every nation has pharmacies. Here is one in China. However, you can go to a pharmacy in Mexico if you don’t want to fly to China. I am sure that it has many of the medications listed herein at a fraction of the cost of American versions.
You can hop on a plane and go to a nation that is freer, and get the medications yourself. I would suggest going to a nation that allows people more freedom than America allows.
“With PT-141 Vyleesi, you feel good, not only sexually aroused,” reported anonymous patient 007, a participant in a Phase 2 trial, “you feel younger and more energetic.”
Said another patient: “It helped the libido. So you have the urge and the desire. . . . You get this humming feeling; you’re ready to take your pants off and go.”
And another: “Twice me and my wife had sex twice in one night. I came in [to work] and I just raved about it: ‘Jesus, guys . . . 58 years old and you don’t do that.’ ”
Tales of pharmaceutically induced sexual prowess among 58-year-olds are common enough in the age of the Little Blue Pill, but they don’t typically involve quite so urgent a repertoire of humming, throbbing, tingling, and double-dipping.
Or as patient 128 put it: “My wife knows. She can tell the difference between Viagra and PT-141 Vyleesi .”
The stories about this drug are amazing. Consider this from TheIronDen;
My buddy said research the stuff and see what the dosing was supposed to be because me made a HUGE mistake and took to much. He took double what we took and I will tell you DAMN!!! DOSING is .10-.20cc NO MORE below is the story.
As many of you know I am a bouncer on the weekends well I was told take this 45 minutes before going to bed, I had read where this could take a few hours to take effect so at midnight we went to the car and took the preloaded insulin pins I brought with me.
Well I felt nothing and the wife didn't either by 3:30 when we got home. I was pissed at her and she didn't know it so watched TV awhile then I slept on the couch, she came in the next morning and woke me up, we went in the room and talked a min, then it was on.
We have never had sex 3 times in 4 hours and she has never orgasmed 3 times in 1 day, we were so tired from sex that we couldn't hardly move and wanted more but our bodies wouldn't let us. bremelanotide Vyleesi is AMAZING, I even wanted it last night, she was in the mood but couldn't as she has other medical problems and the pain in her hip was too much.
What it does:
Men - makes you horny as hell and increases blood flow to the cock making it more sensitive.
Women - floods the vagina with blood making it WAY more sensitive and very aroused.
Of this from a woman who took it with her husband…
3 hours after injection bremelanotide (PT-141) Vyleesi hit like gangbusters.*
We were sitting in the lounge area of a restaurant when my nether regions made themselves known. Increased sensitivity to any movement I made in my seat i.e. shifting or leg crossing.
This was coupled with increased sexual thoughts.
It is difficult not to think in sexual terms when some body parts are demanding your attention! My husband had a difficult time getting up from his chair to even approach the restaurant table. Next time we will time the injections better LOL
There are many, many…. MANY opinions by users, that actually run counter to the decisions made by the FDA.
I have to wonder if the agencies such as the FBI, FCC, FDA and IRS are actually being made to benefit Americans. I just seems like they all have their own agendas and treat American citizens like toilet tissue. It really seems that way. It really, really does.
Heck, if the FDA was around when ice cream cones were first invented, I am sure that they would have banned them.
The same goes for such staples as Coke-cola, bananas (they will need to have a Blue Ribbon Panel study the “banana issue”), and chewing gum. Of course they would have banned chewing gum “for the children”.
Absolute power CORRUPTS absolutely.
When any agency causes more harm then benefit, it should have it’s doors shuttered and the workers discharged. Perhaps these “protected” governmental agencies should start to feel what industry has been like since the 1960’s for us “fly over” folk.
Women state that the sensation given from injecting bremelanotide (PT-141) Vyleesi is like being in heat!
One colleague in particular stated that she didn’t know what was going on…but she had wanted “it” all day long after dosing the night before.
-TheIronDen
User details, dosages and experiences on AllThingsMale
Here’s a quick timeline of events that begins with Palatin Technologies’ submission to the FDA in the United States.
August 30, 2007
Right off the bat, the FDA declined Palatin Technologies’ application for approval of Bremelanotide to treat erectile dysfunction. The reason was there were “concerns” of increased blood pressure in a small percentage of the test subjects. Especially in light that Viagra was approved and it too had test subjects that had increased blood pressure.
...the rejection of Bremelanotide by the FDA is especially puzzling, at least to a "lay person", when seeing posts online (including this one on the Yahoo finance message board for Palatin Technologies) claiming Palatin insiders have told them that only 2% of test subjects experienced a significant increase in blood pressure.
"It was up to 30 for 2 percent (I spoke to Steven W aka investor relations). The avg was 3. Not a medical person but those few people that hit the 30 mark killed brem."
Click here to read about the FDA decision about Bremelanotide
There are all kinds of conspiracies as to why this drug was declined because one or two of the thousands of test subjects had slightly raised blood pressure, when other approvals (with higher percentages of problems identified by test subjects) were approved.
I, such as myself, have speculated that huge companies (like Pfizer for instance) may have strongly influenced the FDAs decision regarding approval of this relatively small company’s competitive product. If you don’t know what I am talking about, watch the movie “Tucker, a man and his dream“.
September 10, 2007
Palatin Technologies and King Pharmaceuticals end their collaboration. Palatin regains full rights to the Bremelanotide program.
September 11, 2007
Competitive Technologies announced they presented Palatin Technologies with a Notice of Termination of the PT-14 technology license agreement. For those not aware, CTT “discovered” the original compound that led to PT-141 (Brem’s initial designation) via the University of Arizona, and licensed Palatin to develop it in 1998.
This issue was resolved on January 22, 2008 with Palatin paying $800,000 to CTT and maintaining the rights to Bremelanotide.
September 28, 2007
Palatin Technologies announced positive results from an at-home Phase 2 trial evaluating bremelanotide for the treatment of female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD).
Post menopausal women "showed statistically significant improvements, compared to baseline and placebo, in desire and arousal success rates, and overall satisfaction at one and two months. In these patients, the FSFI domains of arousal, desire and orgasm were statistically significantly improved compared to placebo at one month. The arousal and orgasm domains were statistically significantly improved compared to placebo at one and two months."
Premenopausal women also "showed statistically significant improvements, compared to baseline, in desire and arousal success rates, and overall satisfaction at one and two months."
May 14, 2008
Palatin Technologies reported it was abandoning Bremelanotide as a sexual dysfunction drug. Instead they intend to resubmit it to the FDA as a treatment for shock due to blood loss.
They are beginning studies for a new compound called PL-6983. This compound works like Bremelanotide but with significantly lower problems related to blood pressure issues. Read Palatin Technologies’ 2008 Objectives plan here.
Then something happened... In 2016, Donald Trump was elected and immediately put businessmen instead of political hacks in charge of the FDA. Three years later...
July 1, 2019
The FDA approved the drug! I am absolutely shocked! As well as pleased. Very, very pleased. Now Americans can finally get what we in the rest of the world has enjoyed for almost two decades now.
It can now be bought in the United States under prescription. It goes by the name Vyleesi. I’m sure that it will be much more expensive for Americans to buy, but it will now be available, and that is a big step towards freedom.
Here is a write up that has been circulating online over the last decade or so. As websites come and go, it behooves us to keep this information alive and available for all the poor sops in America who are FORBIDDEN from using this wonderful product;
What is Bremelanotide (PT-141)?
Bremelanotide (formerly PT-141) is the generic term for a new medication for use in treating sexual dysfunction in men (erectile dysfunction or impotence) as well as sexual dysfunction in women (sexual arousal disorder). It is a synthetic aphrodisiac. Unlike Viagra and other related medications, it does not act upon the vascular system, but directly increases sexual desire.
Originally, the peptide Melanotan II that bremelanotide was developed from was tested as a sunless tanning agent. In initial testing, Melanotan II did induce tanning but additionally caused sexual arousal and spontaneous erections as unexpected side effects in eight out of the ten original male volunteer test subjects. In clinical studies, bremelanotide has been shown to be effective in treating male sexual and erectile dysfunction as well as female sexual dysfunction. It is currently being tested by Palatin Technologies.
Bremelanotide is a cyclic hepta-peptide lactam analog of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) that activates the melanocortin receptors MC3-R and MC4-R in the central nervous system. It has the amino acid sequence Ac-Nle-cyclo[Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys]-OH or cyclo-[Nle4, Asp5, D-Phe7, Lys10]alpha-MSH-(4-10). PT-141 is a metabolite of Melanotan II that lacks the C-terminal amide function. Its molecular formula is C50H68N14O10 with a molecular weight of 1025.2.
Are these nasal? Oral, Injectable?
Currently the nasal and oral routes have not been made efficient. PT-141 is a sterile injectable made for sub-q injection, like insulin.
What's the dosing schedule...how much do I take?
0.5mg-2mg is the range which people dose. Taking 2-4 hours before game time is ideal. The window of opportunity is very unique.
Say you had a dinner and movie arranged. Taking before dinner may be the best route, however during the climax of the movie may interfere with one of your own…read between the lines there
Is there any reconstituting involved?
Yes and bacteriostatic water is the recommended solvent here.
To mix the vial with bact water, take one syringe (BD Ultrafine II 1cc or 1/3 cc are excellent and I recommend them) and grab your vial of bacteriostatic water. If using a 1 cc syringe (100 units), use the syringe to withdraw 1 full ml (1cc) and inject that into the vial of PT-141 through the rubber.
Be sure to aim the needle towards the glass, so that it will trickle down and not harm the peptide.
Swirl the vial to thoroughly mix and let the peptide dissolve. The key here is to be gentle.
Say you had the vial of PT-141 stored in the freezer, move the vial of PT-141 to fridge for an overnight stay. Then you are ready the next day to reconstitute the same temperature refrigerated bact water with the PT-141 in the most efficient manner. (Just some tricks of the trade here.)
So now you have 100 units (1cc) of bacteriostatic water mixed with 10 mg of PT-141 in your vial ready to go. A 1mg dose would be 10 units or .1ml (.1cc). Make sense? Hope so.
How is it stored?
The lyophilized powder (freeze dried state) can be stored in the freezer or refrigerator. Once reconstituted (mixed with water) it will be good for a month in the refrigerator before it begins to degrade.
Does this help give erections or just put you in the mood?
With PT-141, you feel good, not only sexually aroused, as reported anonymous patient 007, a participant in a Phase 2 trial, you feel younger and more energetic.
The precise mechanisms by which PT-141 does its job remain unclear, but the rough idea is this: Where Viagra acts on the circulatory system, helping blood flow into the penis, PT-141 goes straight to the brain itself. And there it goes to work, switching on the same neural circuitry that lights up when a person actually, you know, wants to.
Basically this takes men back to middle school. You may find yourself in a similar situation as you were in 8th grade science class with the teacher bent over helping the student in front of you. It may be necessary to do a "tuck up" if at the office or especially at the public pool!
This is an “improved” version of PT-141 that doesn’t have any of the “concerns” that the FDA has raised. Of course, no matter how successful the medication is, the FDA will probably ban it’s use anyways. Anyways, this medication is under development currently and the formula is secret. Maybe one day, we can find out more about this medication. However, for now, we will have to wait.
PL-6983 is a synthetic peptide and selective MC4 receptor agonist which is under development by Palatin Technologies for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction and erectile dysfunction. It was developed as a successor to/replacement of bremelanotide (PT-141) due to concerns of the side effect of increased blood pressure seen with the latter in clinical trials. Relative to bremelanotide, PL-6983 produces significantly lower increases in blood pressure in animal models.The drug has reportedly been in pre-clinical development for all medical indications since 2008. Palatin has stated that "We are focusing development efforts on bremelanotide for [female sexual dysfunction], but are continuing evaluation of PL-6983." The chemical structure of PL-6983 has yet to be made public.
-Wikipedia
You do not need to take various medications to enhance your bodies’ desire for sexual intercourse. There are hormones that do this. For example, Oxytocin is a hormone that also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain and known as the “love hormone” or “cuddle hormone”.
In humans, it is believed to be released during hugging, touching, and orgasm in both sexes. Oxytocin is also involved in social recognition and bonding, and may be involved in the formation of trust and generosity.
A researcher at the University of Zurich has stated that women are more susceptible to oxytocin than men, due to enhancing effects of estrogen, so women may show a stronger effect.
If you are an American it would be pretty difficult to obtain. You would have to have your doctor prescribe it for you, and at that, it is heavily regulated and very expensive. Or, you could do what everyone else on the globe does. They buy it from China.
Now, of course, women have different biology than males. Their urges, needs and desires can not often be switched on and off like a light-bulb. Consider Flibanserin. Here is a drug that showed some real promise in helping women reengage their sexual desire.
Addyi has been developed to help women with their sexual needs and desires. Personally I think it is a good thing. I have noticed that when both mean and women are getting their sexual and relationship needs fulfilled, they are often healthier and much happier.
It was developed by a small company called Boehringer Ingelheim, and they submitted it to the FDA for approval. Of course, the FDA halted all approvals, and the development of this product ended.
Well, some “back door” meetings were conducted. Some money changed hands. Then, suddenly the rights to the drug were then transferred to Sprout Pharmaceuticals. What do you know? Suddenly all the roadblocks fell and the FDA approved of the drug in August 2015.
Of course! Only certain companies are permitted to get products approved by the FDA. It’s a small closed club, don’t you know. Hum. I wonder how much money exchanged hands at the FDA. I’ll bet that it was significant.
Some people end up having followers or groupies. Anyone can be a follower. That can include newscasters. I am sure that this gal would do anything that this man asked.
The product was developed as BIMT-17. Current brand name is Addyi.
Flibanserin has been dubbed the “Female Viagra” and “the little pink pill”; however compared to Viagra, flibanserin has a distinctly different mechanism.
The proposed mechanism of action of flibanserin involves regulation of several brain chemicals that may affect sexual desire, although the exact mechanism is not known. Flibanserin is a post-synaptic 5HT1A receptor agonist and 5HT2A receptor antagonist, as noted in FDA briefing documents, and has action in the central nervous system.
The manufacturer states that flibanserin corrects an imbalance of dopamine and norepinephrine (both responsible for sexual excitement), while decreasing levels of serotonin (responsible for sexual satiety / inhibition).
Flibanserin is not a hormonal drug and does not affect blood flow like the class of drugs approved for men with erectile dysfunction.
-Drugs.com
Like all FDA approved medications, there are limitations. The medication has to be taken daily and is costly, about US$800 per month with a prescription.
But no worries. You can buy the materials by the Kg in China, and only end up paying $0.0000002/dose. Of course, you would need to measure the dose out on a scale. So it is not as convenient.
If you want to save money, and not have to worry about self dosing, I would suggest this far cheaper alternative.
Buy a round-trip ticket to China.
Get a five-star hotel room.
Go to a pharmacy, and pay $20 for a three month supply.
Return home.
You won’t need a prescription in China. The Chinese government trusts their citizens to know how to take care of their own bodies.
Contrary to what the American Media says, the Chinese government trusts their people.
What about Kisspeptin
Kisspeptin is a naturally occurring hormone, so it’s present in all men and all women. And it’s mainly found in the brain, especially in the center of the brain in the area called the hypothalamus.
At the moment we know that it works to control other reproductive hormones like testosterone and estrogen using its actions in the hypothalamus. There are receptors for this hormone in the emotional areas of the brain.
In trials, 29 healthy young male volunteers were given an injection containing kisspeptin. They were then shown a variety of images while in an MRI scanner, including sexual and non-sexual romantic pictures of couples bonding. The same men were also administered a placebo during the two-stage controlled study.
Researchers analyzing the brain responses of the men found that after the injection of kisspeptin, when viewing sexual or romantic images of couples, there was increased activity in structures in the brain typically activated by sexual arousal and romance.
The researchers say the findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, show for the first time that the hormone that is vital in all of us to stimulate puberty can also alter the way that our brains behave.
Roll Call
So we have PDE5 inhibitors like Viagra and Cialis that enable the male to have erections. It doesn’t do anything in regards to feelings and emotions. All it does is enable men to perform biologically like they did when they were in their 20’s.
We have melanocyte stimulating hormones (MSH) that induces primeval lordosis in humans. This works on both men and women. The FDA forbids Americans to use this medicine, but it is being used around the world with great and stunning results. This is available in PT-141 and possibly (one day) in PL-6983.
We have normal human hormones such as Kisspeptin and Oxytocin that regulates feelings and emotions leading towards relationships and sexual activities.
Finally, we have “designer medicines” such as Flibanserin (Addyi). Which is a post-synaptic 5HT1A receptor agonist and 5HT2A receptor antagonist for female use.
The Future
The future for Americans is rather bleak, I am afraid.
The House of Representatives voted on Friday to create a new schedule of banned drugs under the Controlled Substances Act, called “Schedule A,” and to give Attorney General Jeff Sessions broad new powers to criminalize the manufacturing, importation, and sale of substances that are currently unregulated, but not illegal.
The bill is now headed to the Senate, where co-sponsors Dianne Feinstein (D–Calif.) and Chuck Grassley (R–Iowa) will likely have little problem whipping votes.
-Michael Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog
Did you know that the natural betel nut is banned in the United States? Do you even know what it is? It is a nut from the betel tree, and people in South East Asia chew it, much like Americans chew birch bark and leaves. It’s not at all popular in the United States, but in Asian expat communities, they do chew this nut.
Well, the FDA banned it. Do you know why?
Was it because it was dangerous? Was it because of “the children”? Was it because it might cause addiction or develop into a desire for other vices? Nope. It was banned because they COULD NOT find anything wrong with it. So to be safe, they banned it until they could find a benefit in chewing it. You know, “better safe than sorry”.
What kind of backwards logic is this? That is America for you. There is absolutely no freedom. Now, if you want to chew a betel nut you need to go to a freer country that allows you this little pleasure.
You need to go to a country that has more freedoms than America allows. You know, like friggin’ communist China!!!!
Summary
As an American, all we know is what we are told. We think that there is only one medication available for men with ED issues. When in reality, there are a host of solutions. It is just that Americans are barred from trying any of these other solutions simply because…
Simply because…
You, know. Because…
But not to worry. These medications are easy to get outside of the United States. They do not need doctors prescriptions or any proof of age or other barriers that one often finds in the United States. You just go to a pharmacy, write the name of the drug on a piece of paper, and they sell it to you directly at the cash register.
As you get older, you start to realize that “someday, I will...” is actually right NOW. There no longer is a “someday“. All you have is the NOW, and nothing else. You have friends who have died, and you truly know how short life actually is. You don’t have the will to wait for “someday…“.
You don’t have the time, or the patience to wait until some well-fed bureaucrat in the American government grants you the right to do things with your own body. You say “piss on this“, and go do it yourself anyways.
Every day that you live could be the last.
That moment that you could spend with your wife, holding and snuggling, while the storm rages outside might be your last. Those bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. don’t care about you at all. They are not sitting at the table with you now. They have no idea what color your socks are, and do not know which side of the bed that you sleep on.
How dare they TELL YOU what to put in YOUR body!
Here are the people who operate the enormous bureaucracy in the United States. You know, the ones that say one things and do the other. John Brennan. James Clapper, and their ilk. You know what they think of YOU and your family, don’t you…?
Freedom actually means something. It is not just a meaningless slogan that you hear on the fourth of July. It means something, gosh darn it!
The freedom to live your life on your terms is what freedom is. And that is why I am in communist China of all places. At least here, I can take whatever medication I please. No over-paid Washington bureaucrat can do anything about it.
Hey! I’m not seeing an opioid crisis over here…
Oh, and by the way! I like well-cooked bacon as well, with sunny-side up eggs! I like “runny” yellows on my eggs. You don’t like it? You can go to hell.
This is MY time and I am living it on MY terms. I strongly recommend that you, the reader, do so as well. You go live YOUR life as YOU see fit.
PT-141 is illegal in the United States, even though it’s qualification trials were acceptable. This is true even though this drug is available world-wide with no reported problems what so ever.
To pass approval in the FDA, there is apparently a need for graft, kick-backs and large American-based company partnerships. Nothing is ever approved on merit alone.
Americans do not need to suffer the extremely high costs of medications in the United States. They can get them outside of the USA at a fraction of the cost (airfare included).
ED medication is often used recreationally by young men who don’t need it. However, there is a real and serious need for men over 40 years old.
The roles of touching, cuddling, holding and passionate embraces are just as important than the sexual act alone.
FAQ
Q: What is PT-141? A:Bremelanotide (tentative brand name Rekynda; former developmental code name PT-141) is a peptide melanocortin receptor agonist which is under development by Palatin Technologies as a treatment for female sexual dysfunction. It works equally effectively on both male and female humans.
Q: Is it available in the United States? A: No. The FDA has banned it.
Q: Why is PT-141 banned in the United States? A: The official reason is because a small subgroup of patients using the medication experienced higher than normal levels of blood pressure. The actual reason is because this is a small non-American organization, and they did not have any connections with large American pharmacy organizations to pay for the vice and graft that the FDA expected.
Q: Is PT-141 safe? A: Yes. Since the product went globally public since 2007, there has not been one fatality or hospitalization when using this medication. NOT ONE.
Q: Other medicines in other nations cheaper than in the USA? A: Oh, my yes.
"$8 per vial in competing developed-world nations and $38,892 in the U.S. That says it all."
-Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog
5JUL19 Update
The FDA approved Bremelanotide PT-141 for sale under the trade name Vyleesi. Amazing!
Dr. Robert Pearl, writing in Forbes last September illustrated the greed exhibited by the industry. He used the CEO of Nostrum Laboratories to make his point. Nostrum recently raised the U.S. price of their antibiotic nitrofurantoin from $474.75 to $2,392. It was developed back in 1953 and should have gone off patent during the Nixon era.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Nirmal Mulye Nostrum chief executive, said “I think it is a moral requirement to…sell the product for the highest price.”
Mr Mulye compared pricing decisions to that of selling “a painting for half a billion dollars”. He was “in this business to make money”. Of course, all businesses are in business to make money. But, none enjoy the monopolistic protections granted to the pharmaceutical industry here in the United States.
Note: a three day supply of nitrofurantoin tablets in Alberta sells for $15 Canadian.
The American system has been allowed to metastasize into an unaffordable monster. Our political leaders have allowed it. It is long past time for Americans to demand that they change it. This is not a matter of right versus left. It is a matter of right versus wrong. It is simply wrong for our government to allow sick Americans to be held hostage to the predatory prices imposed by these government protected monopolies.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
Today, Americans have taken so much for granted. We look at our life and think that it is as it has always been. Indeed, it is assumed that the way things are today have always been that way. Yet, the simple and plain truth is that America has changed. Over the last few decades there has been tremendous changes at all levels of American society and culture.
For instance, it is a recent phenomenon that restaurants can charge $8 for a cup of coffee. Or, that we have to take a urine sample to get employed. Casual day on Friday, or having a “co-pay” on your medical insurance was unheard of just a few decades ago.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on our shared past. Let’s look at what it was like to work for a company in the 1960’s. Just because things have changed does not mean that they have changed for the better.
Now, of course, I am talking about “real” work. Here you work for a private business or company. I am specifically NOT talking about working for any government or state agency. They are a completely different thing altogether.
"All federal workers will be ordered to spend 75 percent of their time on government work"
-President Donald Trump's (R) "cruel" executive order demanding that Federal Workers must actually work inorder to get paid. If they do not work the bare minimum, they can be fired.
Today
Mr. Waturi: But can he do the job. I know he can get the job but can he DO the job? I'm NOT arguing that with you. I'm not arguing that with YOU. I'm not ARGUING that with you. I'm not ARGUING that with you Harry! Harry... Harry... Yeah Harry... but can he DO the job. I know he can GET the job but can he do the job?
Today, finding work and going to work is quite different than what it was four decades ago.
Today, you might find a position on a “Job Board“, or through a recruiter. You might look up the company on an appraisal website or on Google. You might investigate the company and the people by going to LinkedIN. You might communicate via email and perhaps have an interview over Skype. Then, after a criminal background check, a credit check, a e-verify, and a check to make sure that you are not doxxed, you can run over and go through a drug screening.
Well…
Let me tell you how it was done in the 1960’s.
It was a much simpler process. You walked over to a company. You asked if they had an opening. You filled out an application, and maybe got an interview that day. If hired, you began work the next week.
Coffee
"I’ve never seen the soul-sucking despair of a bad job summed up better than in this scene. And as if that hellish circular conversation isn’t enough, there’s the green light, the buzzing flourescents, the coffee that can best be described as ‘lumpy’, and the coworkers, who are just as sad and defeated as Joe. Watching this, I’m reminded of all the crap jobs I’ve taken to pay my bills, which I can only assume was the point: rather than the fairytale careers of most rom-coms, JVtV was trying to dig closer to the exhaustion that lies at the heart of American capitalism. Against this despair, Joe makes only a single palliative gesture: bringing a musical lamp in as a Band-Aid to a gushing wound."
-Preparing Myself for Death with Joe Versus the Volcano
One of the things that has evolved over time is how companies treated coffee in the work office.
The reader would probably be surprised to know that back in the 1960’s and the 1970’s, coffee was provided free to the employees in companies. Back then, there was typically a coffee pot in each department. This tended to be a large multi-gallon cylindrical tureen affair with two handles at the top, and a spigot at the base. There would be someone assigned to make the coffee in the morning, and it was permitted to be on all day. They staff would then simply access the coffee as needed.
A 30 cup aluminum coffee urn. This was a typical fixture in all corporate offices up until the advent of the coffee services. Coffee was a free perk that everyone enjoyed.
Sometime during the 1990’s, the big tureen began to be replaced in many companies.
It was replaced with a coffee “service”. This service would provide a set of burners and coffee pots. Instead of day-old thick coffee that had been brewing all day, now coffee was brewed on a as-needed basis. Each pot was good for perhaps ten cups of coffee, and thus it tended to be fresher. The only problem with this is that the “service” NOW cost more than just a can of coffee. By subscribing to a service, the company now had to pay for the coffee, the machine rental, and the bi-monthly visits by the “service”. The costs for providing coffee to the employees now tripled or quadrupled.
Companies began to pass these costs on to the employees.
Eventually, it became commonplace that the employees would have to pay for the coffee that they would consume. This was the case even if the company did not utilize a coffee “service”. So, all across the United States, from large companies to small, employees began to pay for the coffee that they would drink at work.
Joe Banks: And Frank, the coffee. It stinks. It tastes like arsenic. These lights give me a headache; if they don't give you a headache, you must be dead, so let's arrange the funeral!
Now there were different ways that this was implemented. Some companies would organize a contribution collection, others would deduct an amount out of the pay check, while still others would buy coupons to a nearby restaurant for a cup of coffee (outside of work hours of course).
This resulted in some interesting evolutionary trends in the work force. Sometimes, there would be complaints. Often a non-coffee drinker would complain. Obviously they resented having to contribute to a coffee fund when they didn’t like coffee. Thus, out of the blue, sometime in the mid-1990’s, decaffeinated coffee began to appear in corporate offices.
In the last decade there has been a small trend where certain employees would bring their own instant coffee, or beverages to work. They would keep the jars in their desk drawers and make their own beverage as they felt best. You can see these individuals mixing up their own concoctions in their cubicle, and then going to fetch some hot water to mix it up with.
To the reader, all of this doesn’t seem like a big deal. It’s “just” part of corporate life. So you mix up your own powdered coffee at your work station, what is the harm in that?
If I could teleport an office worker from 1968 to 2018, a period of fifty years, what would they have to say? Well, I can tell you what they would say. Indeed, the worker would be surprised that employees today are expected to be waitresses and waiters, in addition to their normal day to day job requirements.
The point is that coffee was once a perk freely given to employees. Today it is a characteristic measure of how poorly companies treat their employees.
The Month of Christmas
In the past, the Christmas season was important. The entire month of December was filled with events and seasonal activities. Obviously the year-end bonus, and the Christmas office party were important and noteworthy. However, there were many other events and rituals that made this month special.
There would be many parties during the Christmas season. Some would be for the entire company, while others would be for groups of employees and departments. Note that the employees are at an office. Note the ashtray on the table. Note the champagne that they are drinking and the cans of beer on top of the file cabinet. On the far right you can see the girl is wearing “go-go boots” which pretty much dates this photo from the late 1960’s. And, yes she obviously wore a mini skirt and go-go boots to work.
For instance there were the organized trays of snacks and soda that would be brought in by the office staff. These trays of snacks would often vary from a simple bag of chips and dip to reheated pizza rolls, and all sorts of casseroles, cakes and cookies. There was always the company Christmas tree, and the various luncheons (paid by the company) for various groups of workers. All of whom ended up quite “buzzed” and drunk by 3pm.
(BTW. Drunk workers are happy workers. Don’t believe me? Check out THIS study. LOL!)
Typically, workers would take time off from the day to go Christmas shopping. Long lunches were common during the December month, as was such things as “Secret Santa” and various house parties. I really don’t know what went wrong, but all these activities and things seemed to disappear during the 1990’s.
Personally, I attribute it to corporate greed and the completely selfish mercenary business practices of the latest crop of MBA graduates. What the Hell were they teaching in schools?
The absolute drop in company related functions for the workers hit suddenly and alarmingly. Companies not only severely curtailed Christmas activities, but they eliminated just about every other event for the employees as well. Company picnics and trips all started to be eliminated. Meanwhile the profits of the owners of these companies reached stratospheric levels.
In fact, they began to disappear during the rise of the corporate cubicle life.
I think some companies in America might still send out Christmas cards. Though, judging from the behavior of my interns, I rather doubt it. Heck, they treated saying “Merry Christmas” as if it was some kind of insult. Like calling a black person a nigger, or pulling your pants down and shitting on the carpet. I guess that is what you get when you have a radical Muslim for President for eight years.
Anyways…
Work was considered a PART, a fundamental part, of one’s life. Today it is considered a separate thing that you do. Today, in today’s corporate world, everything is considered to be separate from each other. You have a hobby that is separate from your career. You have a wife and family that are separate from your community. You have laws that are separate from your personal actions. You have a salary and money that are separate from your spiritual life. Today, everything is separate.
In the past, everything was interconnected.
This separation of everything into little pieces is a SIGN and an indicator of a serious breakup of society. It is almost like something took a huge sledgehammer and smashed up the life that Americans had. It is now broken up into many, many tiny isolated things. As such, it is divided and easy to smash into other,even smaller, pieces.
America is now at a dangerous point. Without unity, without the “glue” that holds the nations, society and our soul(s) together, we can be divided and destroyed. It is almost like there are forces that are forcefully trying to break everything apart.
It wasn’t that way before.
Previously we all had unity. Workers drank, smoked, swore and made off-color jokes to each other. We joked how fat someone was or whether or not they were “getting enough” at home. This included girls as well as guys. Hell, we did this to each other’s faces. No problem.
During the company Christmas Party many people would get drunk and have all kinds of interesting adventures.
Things have certainly changed.
Year end bonuses began to get phased out in the 1980’s. The year-end bonus used to be equal to at least one months pay. If you were a high-performer it could get much larger. I had co-workers who were getting bonuses equal to a half-years pay.
When it started to end, the bonuses started to decrease in size. First it was equal to one half a month’s salary. Then it became equal to one week’s salary. Then it became equal to a fraction of that. Then, when it was phased out all together, it was replaced by a “door prize” at the Christmas party.
But…
Company parties began to end in the 1990’s, and they began to phase out alcohol from the office during this time as well. Heck, we would always make up cocktails at the office during the final few days before Christmas eve, and if we worked on Christmas Eve, it was period of drunken mistakes and humorous situations.
There were many scandalous events that would occur during the office Christmas parties. People would do the silliest things, and the gossip it would fuel would last years. I love the smoking in the office, the office “romances” and the hard alcohol mixers that were common in the day.
Bringing trays of food to the office seemed to go away after 9-11, and the idea of home-made Christmas cookies seemed to end about that time as well. The idea that HR needed to police the staff so not to violate any work-place rules or corporate standards is a more recent event and can be directly attributed to the Obama Presidency.
Now, I don’t know if he was directly responsible for this or not. I do know that he held various seminars about workplace rules and behaviors. These were directed to corporate HR heads, and other major companies. While I can’t positively point a finger at him personally, there is some strong evidence in support of this perception.
"When updating handbooks, don’t include separate baby-bonding rules for mothers and fathers, Kochman said. While employers can include differing standards for mothers regarding the physical limitations imposed by pregnancy, they should use genderless terms such as “primary caretaker” in their parental leave policies."
-Society for Human Resource Management
I don’t know what is celebrated in American companies during December today. I can imagine that the department Christmas tree was thrown away years ago. I can also imagine that the funding for any kind of special Christmas event has been severely curtailed, and I would imagine that alcohol is pretty much banned.
It was a different time. The workplaces were friendlier and the people got along better than they do today. Having a yearly Christmas party was an accepted part of the American ritual. I most especially like the Catholic cross over the office door. Can you just imagine what a modern HR manager would have to say about that!
Of course, people would drink a little too much. But, so what? There is nothing as humbling as coming to work the next day or two suffering from a hangover and being the target of an office scandal. AH! Good times, good times. Let me tell you!
There are those who like everything to be sterile and bland. It’s the same kind of mentality that changed the colorful atmosphere in T.G.I.F. into a bland sterile airport lounge. These individuals think that it is great that everything looks clean, crisp and similar. They like the blandness. They relish in the predictable. Their idea of excitement is a potato. Their idea of a good time is standing at a urinal. Their idea of a great date is sitting in a dentist waiting room.
Here, read how the changes are promoted as a wonderful and great thing…
"The biggest changes, and where the restaurants will benefit the most, are from refreshed interiors that make the dining experience feel less like being in the worst episode of Antiques Roadshow and in a place where you don’t mind sitting down and enjoying pieces of meat smothered in Jack Daniel’s sauces along with oversized alcoholic drinks."
-Thank Goodness it's Getting Better
How dare we think that we are better because we have eliminated Christmas and it’s celebration from our lives. I contend that making everything bland and sanitizing everything that we are omitting a key aspect of our lives that colors our motivations and enhances our appreciations.
It’s great to “get down” with our co-workers and share some humbling experiences together. It’s a good thing that the company would pay for a batch of hotel rooms for the staff. Ah, such stories I can tell you what!
Today we have computers, email, voice mail and all sorts of electronic tools to better complete our work. We work within a nice corporate office environment that allows us to function as a perfect little robot; a nice perfectly tuned clog in the great machine that pays us money for our devotion to the corporate machine.
Are we better or worse off? Personally, I really do think that we are actually worse off.
One of the fixtures of the “old” corporate environment was the “mail boy”. Indeed, working in the mail-room was a fundamental first step when you started work in a company. Here, you learned where everyone worked and what their role was. Your job was simple. You sorted and delivered the mail to the staff.
Of course this was before email, so of course, those twenty emails that you would get in your inbox used to be letters and memos a few decades ago. Which was, of course, why we had an “inbox” and an “outbox” on the desks.
To be fair, many companies still employ an internal office mail room and a staff that moves things around the various buildings and facilities on campus. However, it is truly a pale reflection of what it once was.
Dress Code
Dress codes have changed substantially over the years. I would guess that it would depend on what industry you were in, and where you lived. Some companies provide uniforms for their employees, but for the most part, us “white collar” employees had to purchase our own work clothes according to the dictates of the HR manual where we worked.
Yeah. Have the lowly workers buy and pay for their uniforms. Just, don’t refer to it as a “uniform”. Call it something else, like a “dress code”, and offer “guidelines”. Yeah. You don’t want the serfs (oh, excuse me, “professional workers”) to figure out their true and real spot upon the stratified workplace environment.
California
When I lived out West, in California, the general dress code for engineers and other office workers was along the lines of short-sleeved polo shirts and a nice pair of slacks. Blue jeans or denim was forbidden. Thus the meteoric rise of tan colored cotton slacks.
You know, things might be different in California today.
When I lived there, we had “Fred R-Rated” selling all kinds of electronics at ridiculously low, low prices on television. We had some little old grandmothers driving around wondering “where’s the beef?” And, we had this (new and improved) “New Coke”. Oh my goodness! No, that was a mistake of the grandest scale. Here, an ambitious MBA manager decided to toss out the old coke formula as soon as the owner of the company died.
So what I have to say is just a little dated by two or three decades at least. Heh, heh.
Many workers wore short-sleeved shirts with their ties. They always seemed to be white or an off-white color. Polyester and nylon were pretty popular. The big scandal at the time was wearing some other pattern other than stripes on their ties. Let me tell you, no one ever really stepped out of line wearing something “off the wall” like a dark blue shirt or (heaven forbid) a black shirt with a white tie.
The Mid-west region near Chicago maintained white long sleeve shirts and ties for decades. Your status and rank were embodied on the type of tie that you wore. Only the managers could wear yellow ties. Most office staff would wear a red tie, with some creative individuals wearing off-color or odd colored ties.
The Mid-West was always considered to be Conservative. The area was settled by Conservative European immigrants and their values and ideas about things were handed down generation by generation to their children. As a result, the Chicago you see today is a direct extension of the results from this kind of long-running conservative traditions. And, Yes, it has resulted in a highly corrupt liberal city.
Anyways, for the most part, the corporate dress code in the Mid-West is quite standardized.
The Deep South
In the deep (deep) south, professionals wore long white shirts and ties as well. However, it was a completely different situation. There, professionals were treated special, and if you walked into a “Jiffy Lube” or a Post Office wearing a “corporate uniform, you were given VIP treatment and you would be pulled out of the line and handled directly.
There, the long-sleeved white shirt and tie was a sign that you were a member of the “professional class”. You, of course, were treated special. You had an education. You had authority. You possessed money and skill. Up North, everyone was equal. But, in the South the culture is stratified.
Your attire is a symbol of your social status.
The North East
In the North East, things were slightly different. Boston and the surrounding New England area also had more relaxed dress codes. We would wear collared polo shirts and other casual but professional dress. For me, if I was working in one of the labs, I would go and grab my white lab coat and put it over my office attire. Typically I would have my access badge on a chain that went around my neck, so I didn’t need to clip it on the lab coat.
The lab coats always tended to get dirty. The problem for me is that once I washed them the pesky things would shrink! It was terrible. So I would end up buying a replacement. I would also get one or two sizes larger fully expecting them to shrink. Typically lab coats had three pockets. Two huge pockets on the side and one breast pocket. I typically left them empty, but for some reason, I would always pick up my pen and put it in the white pockets…
Which meant that at the bottom of all the pockets in the lab coat had black and blue ink stains at the bottom. (That, and the perpetually present little balls of lint and odd debris, such as broken bits of pencil lead, metal shavings, and a spare resistor or two.)
You don’t mess around with a Mad Scientist. Who knows what creative solutions he may come up with to counter your nefarious activities.
I always kept a spare set of safety glasses in my pockets. Ha! I inherited a set of safety glasses from my father. It was a very old style that looked like it came from the 1950’s. It had that horn-rimmed look. So when I would accidentally leave those glasses lying down on a workbench, desk or piece of machinery, I would always find them right back on my desk in my office. Like magic! Ha! I couldn’t ever seem to get rid of them.
Nobody wanted those things!
China
Anyways, here in China, the dress code is very casual. The southern end of China is very hot and humid all year round. So typically you can wear very comfortable loose clothing. Tee-shirts are normal. Now the dress would vary by your role. As a Laoban (Boss) you would need to wear expensive “high end” tee shirts such as Armani or Louis Vuitton.
Typically, when you go on a business trip within China there are dress rules and behaviors that you should pay attention to. Thus, if you are performing some type of high-end business negotiation over some baijiu (53% grain alcohol), and smoking “555” brand cigarettes, you will carry a “man’s purse” with the cigarettes placed on top on the table. The cigarettes will be the most expensive cigarettes you can buy. You don’t need a lighter, as everyone will offer you cigarettes and light them for you. If you do need to light them yourself, you need a full-on “BOSS lighter”. This is a very manly and authoritative lighter.
Typically, the factory will have a girl assigned to you to take care of you and your needs. She pretty much will help you with the chopsticks (if you are having trouble), and keep your glass filled with your beverage of choice. Typically you might wear a wooden bead bracelet (very popular here in China) along with a Giorgio Armani watch.
If you are going to a factory, heck, jeans are perfectly acceptable. And, of course, all men are judged by the shoes you wear.
Yul Brynner was a famous actor that had a great stage presence. He was also a snazzy dresser. Men, listen up, we need to be as presentable as possible. We need to look good and feel good. This means pay the money for good fitting, comfortable clothes.
Donuts
In the United States, from time to time, someone would buy a box of donuts for everyone to share. I always liked this ritual. You really don’t see it in China. As everyone just gets some Congee or a Baozi and smunches on it at their desk.
If there is a good thing about corporate life in the United States, it is the donuts!
Modern life for “professional” workers is being chained into a “cubicle”. This is often a little grey box. The furniture and colors are all bland so that there wouldn’t be any distractions. It is considered the ideal work environment for the brainless worker caste.
The work environment during the 1960’s and the 1970’s was quite different. Cubicles didn’t start to become popular until the 1980’s. Up until they began to dominate corporate life, people worked either in “the pits” or they had their own offices (with a privacy door).
Today, the cubicle working environment of sterile blues and grays is the norm. There is a movement towards a “open work environment” were everyone sits at long cafeteria style tables and works at a bare work environment free of distraction and color. I guess people like it. You have eliminated all private space. Now people work in the open where they are the perfect drone.
Today, there is a great “buzz” about swapping out the “cubicle farms” for an open office plan. This is not a new idea. Indeed, many offices had an “open plan” layout during the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Essentially, the office would be one big room with desks laid out like a High School room. The manager of the department would sit at the head of the room and would observe every worker to make sure that they kept in line and didn’t stray far from the business objectives.
When I first worked at Edgewater Steel company back in the early 1980’s, both the Finance and the Sales and Marketing departments were laid out this way.
Workers in a large, open-plan office, USA, circa 1955. (Photo by FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
The “Pits”
When I first started working we worked in the “pits”. I basically consisted of a big room with rows and rows of desks. Next to each desk was a drafting board. It was, in a way, similar to the “open workspace” concept that is gaining popularity today.
Here, everyone had a desk with lockable drawers and their own personal file cabinet. They had their own lamp, drafting board, and storage area. In today’s “open office” layout all these elements of personality and personal space are missing. Drones and robots don’t need it, the argument goes.
SHORPY photo of bell labs drafting pit. This was the starting zone for many technical office workers int he 1960’s and the 1970’s. Here each worker would be assigned their own working space.
Office Romances
Then as now, there are office romances. Of course, back then, it was frowned upon but NOT prohibited. Today there are all kinds of rules and behavior standards that one must obey. They are all tied one way to the other to state or federal law. So the HR group tends to take a firm policy stance on these issues.
Ah, the good old days…
There were always one or two very attractive girls who worked in the office. Often these girls would have office romances or flings with the more powerful members of management. Of course, often these ladies initiated the relationship though overt flirting activities and other actions that were noticed by the rest of us in the company. However, the real truth is that while there was a lot of gossip and speculation, the real romances (if any) were hidden from everyone.
Supervisory and Management Offices
Now, once you worked down in the pits or in the general office, and got promoted, you could move up to your own office. It was certainly considered a perk of your hard earned work. With the position came pay increases, improved and expanded bonuses, and an “entertainment budget”.
Offices, at least during the 1960’s and the 1970’s had the following defining characteristics;
A private wall that tended to be sound proof.
A private door that usually had a lock and key.
A transom above the door to let fresh air circulate.
The room had it’s own air conditioner.
A window to view the outside with.
A large desk with an “executive” chair.
A potted plant.
A painting on the wall.
Wall decorations, such as paneling or an Interior Designed layout.
Carpeting.
A sofa and one or two soft chairs with armrests.
A coffee table.
Depending on the company and your role and rank, you could also have the other amenities;
Stand-alone smoker’s ash tray.
Credenza with bar.
Sink.
Refrigerator.
In the coal mines, the supervisory offices tended to be rather spartan. While they tended to have the basic necessities, they all tended to be dusty and dirty with age and use. The same is true in any of the dirtier industries. The more removed from the factory floor, the cleaner the offices were.
Offices during the 1960’s and the 1970’s were quite different than business offices today. Indeed, in many cases, they resembled living rooms and lounges. Today most management offices are a sterile affair with bare white walls, a big circular table, and a nice plain desk.
Most of these older style offices were discarded and replaced with cubicle farms by the 1990’s. However, I do remember being stunned to walk into one or two a few times when I went on business trips to Milwaukee. It gave the impression of a dying world; a world of the past that was still hanging on to previous glories.
Never the less, I personally thought the offices were AWESOME!
There was always a lot of coarse jokes about the use of the sofa in the Manager’s offices, but there really wasn’t any proof to back it up. Yet, at every company, there was always a sort of “gold digger” office chick who would flirt with the management. I can’t help but imagine the kinds of interesting situations that those chicks would get themselves into.
Here is a scene from the television show “Mad Men”. Even though it is Hollywood, the interior decor is actually pretty accurate. As is the smoking and alcohol drinking.
The Three Martini Lunch
Having long lunches that involved alcohol was common place during the 1960’s and the 1970’s. It was a rare person indeed who did not indulge. Further, management often had a budget that they could use to “bond” with their employees. These “bonding” sessions were just as efficient as the various “incentive programs” that became popular in later years.
I suppose that some explanations are in order. For there are many things that I grew up that were normal, that is considered outrageous today. One of them is the three-martini lunch. The three-martini lunch is a term used in the United States to describe a “leisurely, indulgent lunch enjoyed by business people”. Back in the day, this was a common enough practice. If you were in management, part of a sales team, or even a supervisor, these kinds of lunches were quite common. Indeed, many times, the boss would come back after 3:30 pm from a long lunch and be quite “sauced”.
Now, according to Wikipedia, it is ONLY a perception.
“It refers to a common belief that many people in such professions have enough leisure time and wherewithal to consume more than one martini during the work day.”
Ah. Nope, my dear clueless millennial. It was not a perception. It was a reality. Drinking at work was commonplace. At least in the steel, coal, and appliance industries, it was. I don’t know about the other industries.
Now, since business matters are usually discussed at them, three-martini lunches can be considered a business expense. Of course (which includes travel, meals, etc.) and thus can qualify for a tax deduction. The people involved would remember to collect their receipts and turn them in at the end of the month for reimbursement. They would get money back, and the receipts were kept in a ledger to account for all the costs related to business expenses.
Typically, if you worked in the office during the 1960s and the 1970s, you would go out and have a “three martini” lunch with your fellow workers. Often this would be in a lounge. Sometimes we would go to a local bar and have a chili and beer.
In those days, all managers, and of course sales staff, had an entertainment budget. The manager would have free latitude in the determination of how to spend the money, and it was often considered a perk. The manager could spend it with employees to offer them incentives and to build up the working relationships, or use it for work-related tasks with other companies and people.
Wikipedia does have it right in that the three-martini lunch is no longer common in the United States. However, it is, thankfully, quite common outside of it. Yeah! Baby!
“The three-martini lunch is no longer common practice for several reasons, including the implementation of "fitness for duty" programs by numerous companies, the decreased tolerance of alcohol use (Hum… speak for yourself), a general decrease in available leisure time for business executives, an increase in the size of the martini, and a decrease in the size of the tax deduction.”
America for the modern businessman certainly blows!
President John F. Kennedy (D) called for a crackdown on such tax breaks in 1961, but nothing was done at the time.
Then another Democrat, Jimmy Carter (D) condemned the practice during the 1976 presidential campaign. Carter portrayed it as part of the unfairness in the nation’s tax laws, claiming that the working class was subsidizing the “$50 martini lunch”. (Of course, use the “class struggle” to divide Americans. It’s a time-honored Democrat tactic. The theory is because a “rich businessman” could write off this type of lunch as a business expense.)
By the time Bill Clinton (D) came to office, there wasn’t much that still needed to be done. So he concentrated in the elimination of all vices from the work environment (except for elected officials, of course) and the banning of cigarettes, and drinking proceeded apace.
Not to be outdone, Barrack Obama (D) started to tie health plans to tax breaks. In one fell swoop, he connected all of the industry, the medical industry, the insurance industry together, weaponized them as tools of the Federal government. Then he made the collection of personal medical information (formerly private and privileged information protected under the 4th amendment) a mandate of the dreaded IRS.
The only people who still had three-martini lunches were the “fat cats” in Washington, D.C. Today, I don’t think any company still has the three-martini lunches or even a single beer at lunch. Heck, after the Obama-era workplace rules, drinking a beer during lunch might actually end up getting you fired.
Commercial Break
Now, let’s take a break from this narrative to enjoy a little bit of advertising from my generation.
Your Mom wasn’t your Dad’s first. (I’ll bet.) Let’s keep things real here. Let’s break out from all that PC sanitized nonsense and recognize that people are people. Let’s recognize that no one is perfect, and that differences between all of us is a really good thing.
Drug Screening
The major federal law governing the use of drugs and alcohol in the workplace is the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988. This Act basically states that any employer who receives federal grants or contracts must be drug-free, or it risks losing the federal funding. The Act does not, however, contain any provisions that specifically allow for workplace drug testing.In addition to the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act, other federal laws also touch upon and concern drug use in the workplace, such the Americans with Disabilities Act (which classifies alcoholism as a protected disability) and the Family and Medical Leave Act.Specific federal agencies or departments may also have drug-testing policies in place. For example, the Department of Transportation has regulations that require drug testing of more than 8 million different employees, such as truck drivers.
-FindLAW
Drug screening was a big thing in the day. As I recall, it was an initiative by Bill Clinton (D). The idea, or so they said, was to curtail drug abuse at the workplace. None of us, at the time, thought it was a big thing. However, that wasn’t the case according to the big newspapers of the day. It was an epidemic that needed to be squashed. Their solution?
Deny work employment to anyone doing illegal drugs.
Apparently some big Washington “think tank” or “Blue Ribbon Panel” came up with the idea to pre-screen everyone before they obtained work. You wanna bet that these same people had some strong political connections to the sponsors of this ruling? Ah, “Blue Ribbon Panel”, oh yah we know your pedigree.
Of course, it does not apply to unemployed people trying to get welfare benefits, government employees or elected officials. They are the special protected class. It only applies to the serf-class; the working “stiff” who must work for someone else in order to support their family.
So today we now have the rules that make you have to pee in a cup before you start work, and suffer periodic unannounced random drug screenings. Hey dudes! What about the fourth amendment in the “Bill of Rights”, oh yeah…
I thought that the USA was the freest nation on the earth. Yet it is the ONLY nation that drug tests its employees. This people is NOT freedom. No matter what the excuse. The United States led the work in industrial production. It had the best workers in the world. What happened to flip everything upside down?
However, the reason why you HAVE to have a drug screening before you work at a company is now quite clear. It is because they will refuse to hire you unless you waive your American protections under the Bill of Rights. You need to voluntarily waive your rights to get a job. Yeah! Free country my fucking ass!
Yes, so that is correct. What a great “end run” around the protections offered by the Bill of Rights!
Each state has its own body of laws governing workplace drug testing or monitoring. For example, Alaska has no mandatory drug-testing laws, but does have voluntary drug-testing laws that employers must follow if they choose to conduct drug testing of job applicants or employees.In many states, employers have the legal right to test job applicants for drugs or alcohol, provided that the applicants know that the testing is part of the interview process for all employees. In most cases, the testing cannot be conducted until the applicant has been offered a position.
-FindLAW
In America today, you have to sign a paper that says you voluntarily wave your rights GUARANTEED under the Bill of Rights. You do this so you can work. Hey, is it just me, or doesn’t this sound very, very, VERY wrong?
It’s the same sort of thing as the “designated free speech areas” used to circumvent the First Amendment Protections. Oh sure, you can speak your mind. You just cannot do it anywhere where people can see or hear you. Kind of defeats the purpose of the Bill of Rights. Doesn’t it?
How the first amendment to the Bill of Rights is implemented in America today. Is a “Free Speech Cage” really the exercising of your rights?
Medical Insurance
Today, it is a given that if you work over 40 hours a week in the United States, that you would be offered an employment package that would include a medical plan. As such we tend to think that things have always been this way. While we discuss the premiums and deductibles involved, we have forgotten the history of getting medical attention as part of our employment package.
OK, so here is the forgotten history…
Up into the early 1970’s. Companies provided access to a free doctor at the factory. Employees were permitted to bring their families in for treatment as needed. Yup, this was exactly the way things were during the “Peace and Anti-War movements” during the 1960’s.
Mid 1970’s. Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy (D) decides to “improve” American health care by implementing HMO’s. Based on his speeches you would think that the world was falling apart and things needed to happen, and quickly! Funny for a fellow that never worked for a company in his life, to feel this way. Odd thing, I’d say.
Early 1980’s. The company doctor was replaced by a nurse, and family visits were discouraged. Maybe he was right. I don’t know, but there were certainly some changes going on in terms of the way that companies handled the health of their employees.
Early 1990’s. The employee was provided with a free health plan. There were no deductibles, no co-pays. The company picked up the entire bill. Let me repeat; the company paid for EVERYTHING, including all prescriptions. The employee never had to pay anything.
Around 1993 to 1997. Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy (D) continuously pushed the idea of HMO’s, in order to “control” the “outrageous” medical costs. By the late 1990’s under President Bill Clinton (D), new changes in the law greatly expanded the HMO program reach. Most companies started to implement HMO’s for their employees. Read about the changes HERE and HERE.
Late 1990’s. Shortly afterward, companies began to have employees pay a fraction of the cost for company sponsored medical care.
Middle 2000’s. Co-pays on medical insurance were implemented and became a permanent fixture in the industry. Generic medications started to be provided as a low-cost option to medicines.
Late 2000’s. Deductibles and co-pays were spiraling out of control. President Barrack Obama (D) implements ACA ObamaCARE. People are permitted to opt out of it, but they have to pay a terrible fee for doing so and have to report their medical history to the dreaded IRS, the most feared agency in the United States.
The IRS is used to police Americans. While the US Constitution FORBIDS use of the military on American soil, President Obama equipped them with state of the art military-grade weapons and authorized their use against Americans without trial or Habeas Corpus. In fact, the IRS has their own court system, with no oversight at all. It is almost identical to the court system that Saddan Hussian had in Syria. It runs independently and reports to no one.
The argument behind all this is that, “Hey! If you don’t want the health care, then don’t take the job.” Whatever, it is just the way things are.
Now nothing is black and white. There are no clear cut-off dates when doctors were replaced by HMO’s and when rates started to spiral out of control. It varied from region to region and from industry to industry. This is just a rough summary based on my often faulty memory. In my case, it is all true. When I first started working, I had free healthcare by my company doctor.
I don’t think that anyone in the United States has this experience today.
Corporate Roles
Just a handful of decades ago there was a real stratification of positions and titles at work. As you climbed up the “corporate Ladder”, you would be awarded with substantial pay increases and a collection of perks that ranged from your very own potted plant, to complete company-paid vacations. This included such things as where you got to park your car, and how you entered the office.
Today, there just isn’t much thought given to the entrance locations for the company employees. In fact, it’s almost considered a joke.
When I worked at Poulan-Weedeater, they had a line (on both sides of the walkway leading into the offices) of chainsaws being tested. You had to walk through the gauntlet of noisy running chainsaws (behind a chain-link fence) before you can enter the building. It was a horrific and noisy way to start work.
However, back in the 1960’s and 1970’s, there was actually some thought devoted to how the employees would enter the work environment. Typically there was a separate parking area with a secluded (and often shady) tree-lined path to the employee entrance. There would be a security guard there who would say “hi” to you.
In the past there were two kinds of employees;
Hourly
Salaried
The hourly employees were paid by the hour. Their job was work. They exchanged their time for money. The salaried employees, on the other hand, were paid monthly regardless of the time that they spent in the office. They worked at a career. As a result of this greater devotion to the company, salaried employees would get “perks” and a far greater degree of leeway in their hours, actions and work environment.
In those days, there was a distinction between salaried workers and hourly workers. The salaried workers would have their own parking spaces, they would have their own “smoking lounge” which would have a television, and other amenities that the rank and file workers would not have. They would also have the “golden key” to the executive bathroom.
Today, this is unheard of.
Here is a funny cartoon by Randy Glasbergen. Hum, do you suppose that he once worked for a company that had restrictive vacation rules? I do. It’s a common enough situation in today’s crazy upside-down work of corporate American life.
I am sad to say that today, salaried workers are treated identically (in the United States) as hourly workers are. There are no discernible differences. Both are drones working in a corporate environment with the only difference being their job titles and pay scales.
With the hollowing out of the middle class in the United States, where the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, came an identical trend in corporate America. The associated perks of education, experience, and advancement have all but dissipated. Now, what is left is a corporate aristocracy. They rule from above and the rest of us occupy roles as drone serfs, living paycheck to paycheck, with no exit-ramp from the treadmill.
How can we escape this nightmare? Is there a way out? Is it even possible, today? It seems like the laws and rules have created an entangled web that looks more like a straight-jacket than any kind of free life. We need to get off this treadmill.
Wellness Programs
Ah, that sounds so “nice”. A “Well-ness” program. Why it sounds like the government really cares, and companies really care about how us “working stiffs” live.
We are strongly “advised” to “participate” in a wellness program…
I am reminded how the Nazi Germans convinced all those millions of Jewish Germans into the cattle cars. They told them that it was a "relocation" program where they would be sent to special communities where they could be "protected" from those who would hurt them.
The government is really good at providing misleading names to programs to garner approval for otherwise bad and shitty initiatives. How about the absolutely misnamed “Net neutrality” effort, or the “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act” which ended up practically starving millions of school children.
Beware of anyone who offers you a great-sounding deal or name for a program. This is “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act” food tray. Yum! When I was attending school we ate twenty times better, and we didn’t need some Washington bureaucrat telling us what to serve and what to eat.
Often it uses the “carrot and stick” approach to get workers to participate.
Hey, maybe I am missing something, but…
But, don’t you think that you are giving enough at work? After all, you devote at least 40 hours a week, plus commute time to your company. You wear their pre-approved clothing uniforms. You sit where they tell you, you do what they say. You pay money to further your education for THEIR benefit. Often times, you interrupt your time with your families to deal with work-related issues and problems.
You stand there an take it while a superior or manager berates you. You stand there and take the fucking awful 360-degree performance review. (Only a pure evil, sadistic person would come up with such a horrible and degrading event.)
Now they want you to change what you eat, how you conduct yourself outside of work, and your personal interests.
Here is a fine meal at a diner. I see nothing wrong with this. However, the way things are going, it won’t be long before what you eat (when you are outside work) will be monitored and connected to your paycheck. This is dangerous. This is really dangerous.
Don’t you think that this kind of request is way overboard? Don’t you think that it is an imposition on who you are as a person, and an imposition on your family as well? I do.
I really do.
Blood Drives
I remember when I worked at one of the divisions of General Motors. They had this yearly “blood drive” for the local blood bank. I think that it was a good thing to help the local blood bank. However, I also think that it was a very terrible thing to force all the workers to give blood or risk losing their job.
That was the rule, though. You had to participate and show evidence to your superior. He would then log it in and add a notation into your personnel file. your participation would be weighed against other factors as part of your yearly review. Failure to participate might result in no pay increases and possible termination.
Yep, strange as it might sound, many American companies expect you to spill blood for them. I guess it is actually a distraction from upper level incompetence.
Americans get very little in the way of holidays of vacations days. At most, in all the companies that I worked, I would be offered from one to up to two weeks paid vacation per year. Of course, the manual clearly stated that you would get an additional week for every five additional years of service… Ha! How many people work at the same company for fifteen or more years?
All of this is quite interesting, but let’s stick to the issue at hand; which is the vacation time that Americans get compared to their counterparts elsewhere in the world. You know, the first time that I encountered this situation (where I was comparing myself to my peers) was when I started working with Brazilian, and Australian engineers. I was astounded that while I had been working at my company for four years, and I was lucky to have one-week vacation, my counterpart in Australia (who had only been working for one year at his company) got four weeks off. Another team member was off and away on a two-month vacation, and he was at the company for maybe ten years. It didn’t seem fair.
And it wasn’t.
No problem. It was one of those things that you don’t bother fighting against. I mentioned it to HR. I reflected on it with my superiors. Later, when I had the means and some planning, I just left the United States and went elsewhere to companies that took better care of their employees.
Joe Banks: You look terrible, Mr. Waturi. You look like a bag of shit stuffed in a cheap suit. Not that anyone could look good under these zombie lights. I, I, I, I can feel them sucking the juice out of my eyeball. Suck, suck, suck, SUCK...
[makes a sucking noise]
Joe Banks: For 300 bucks a week, that's the news. For 300 bucks a week, I've lived in this sink, this used rubber.
Mr. Waturi: You watch it, mister! There's a woman here!
Joe Banks: [shouting] Don't you think I know that, Frank? Don't you think I am aware there is a woman here? I can smell her, like, like a flower. I can taste her, like sugar on my tongue. When I'm 20 feet away I can hear the fabric of her dress when she moves in her chair!
Joe Banks: And why, I ask myself, why have I put up with you? I can't imagine, but now I know. Fear. Yellow freakin' fear. I've been too chicken shit afraid to live my life so I sold it to you for three hundred freakin' dollars a week!
Credit and Criminal Reports
Americans have no privacy. Over two hundred years algo, the framers of the United States Constitution thought that they would protect the privacy of Americans by the 4th Amendment. They believed, wrongly, that those who would be elected to office would [1] obey the Constitution, and [2] enforce the Bill of Rights. They were wrong.
The American Bill of Rights has withered and died on the vine. It died from a lack of care and watering. The people who’s very job was to nurture these freedoms have instead sold them for cash to others at a profit.
Today, you cannot obtain work in the United States unless you are investigated. This investigation comes in many forms. From credit reports to criminal reports, to reports on your social media usage and presence.
We are (perhaps) slightly irked by this. Heck, in today’s society we are just happy to get a job or the potential promise of one. We put up with this situation because many of us have not been denied employment because of a report. So we think that it is not a big or major problem. We assume that it will never be a problem.
But, you know what,? As you get older, as you travel around more, as you experience life more, as you meet more people and have more opportunities… you will experience things that others won’t understand. Those experiences can, and you know that they WILL, be used against you.
Which is why privacy is so fucking damn important.
At least the EU, and China takes privacy seriously. Thank God!
As time moves on, I am getting more and more convinced that I am just an old grizzly fossil. My experiences, my belief structures, and my attitude really seemingly has no place in modern American society. The way I look at American culture, and business today is through the eyes of a jaded old man. I just don’t fit in.
It’s truly sad.
Here is that point that I am trying to make. I wish that I had the ability to speak as clearly and plainly as others. I tend to get a little long-winded. Yet, here is my point. Are you living the life that you were meant to live?
Thankfully for the good of everyone, I am well removed from the realities of Corporate American life. I live in Asia where the culture is more…” traditional” and where I am able to “fit in” better. I am comfortable here, and maybe that is a good thing.
Lately, I have been reading how the huge corporate coffee exchange; (“Starbucks” for those of you who don’t know what I am referring to), is letting unemployed homeless hang out inside the restaurant, use the WiFi and the bathrooms. As someone who also was once homeless (heck, more than once) I do appreciate their symbolic gesture. But, you know what, there are “perpetual homeless”, and then there are “apparently homeless” folk.
Maybe it might have been a better gesture to offer them some free coffee for an hour’s worth of work. Maybe.
I don’t know… I’m not in that position. There are no easy answers. I do recall trying to use the Corpus Christi public library when it was overrun with homeless folk. It became a cesspool, and I needed to accompany my wife when she went to the bathroom so that she wouldn’t get accosted. When you give something to someone freely, they don’t appreciate it. It has no value to them.
Anyways, restaurants are quite different here in Asia. Different is good. Especially when you share the same point of view and culture.
This is a Japanese restaurant chain. I love the attitude, the appearance, and the overall “feeling”. It appeals to me. It is happy, positive, and pleasant. It isn’t contentious or corporate like the American-based Starbucks is.
Take Aways
Well, if there is one point that I do want to make, it is DO NOT FOLLOW THE HERD. You are better than that. While there are companies that are good and companies that are bad, you (as an individual) can choose how you can live your life. I suggest you be choosy. Don’t do what everyone else is doing. Question it.
Work culture has changed substantially over the last few decades.
The American government has interfered in how companies are run.
Busybodies typically run the HR groups in large corporations.
Americans are cheated out of vacation time, compared to the rest of the civilized world.
Coffee used to be free.
Workers used to have fun together.
People used to say Merry Christmas to each other during Christmastime.
Workers in the Federal Government do not need to do any kind of actual work today. It has been this way ever since John F. Kennedy (D) implemented his EO10988.
Bad bosses have always existed, but today’s corporate environment allows them to thrive.
No person, company, government, or policy should dictate how you are to live your life on your personal time.
FAQ
Q: What is a “common sense” dress code?
A: The new CEO of GM (Mary Barra ) startled everyone by replacing the huge and thick stack of rules on how to dress at work with just two words; “dress appropriately“. This caused an absolute tremor in the corporate world. How dare she? Yet it worked, and many other companies are following in her tracks. You need to realize that in many instances, professionals have a brain. They do not need to follow set hard rules carved in stone.
After replacing GM’s 10-page dress code treatise with a two-word appeal, Barra received a scathing email from a senior-level director. “He said, ‘You need to put out a better dress policy, this is not enough.’ So I called him—and of course that shook him a little bit. And I asked him to help me understand why the policy was inept.” The director explained that occasionally, some people on his team had to deal with government officials on short notice, and had to be dressed appropriately for that.“Okay, why don’t you talk to your team,” Barra replied. “He was an established leader at GM, responsible for a pretty important part of the company, with a multimillion-dollar budget. He called me back a few minutes later, saying, ‘I talked to the team, we brainstormed, and we agreed that the four people who occasionally need to meet with government officials will keep a pair of dress pants in their locker. Problem solved.’”
Of course, I think that this is brilliant. But you know, busybodies and easily manipulated millennials can’t find common ground in this. They want hard and fast rules to control everyone and everything. Read this…
While Barra’s intentions are surely to make GM more inclusive, not less, a “dress appropriately” policy might inadvertently open the way for managers to use it against employees of certain genders, races, cultural backgrounds, or other identities.
If the only “appropriate” dress code is one that excludes “other” demographic groups, it’s not supporting an inclusive culture.
In an ideal world, this wouldn’t happen, but given what we know about diversity and inclusion in corporate America, it is still a good idea for company policies to put checks on this kind of exclusive behavior and make sure employees enjoy the psychological safety to bring their “whole selves” to work.
Q: How did pop culture in the 1970s influence work?
A: It really didn’t. At best there was always a (terribly) photocopied picture of Clint Eastwood holding two pistols with the words “Go Ahead, make one more change” taped to a drafting board or a filing cabinet.
I once had a secretary who had a “pet rock“. Work dress fashions come and go. I did like the mini-skirts and go-go boots. Big hair was pretty cool. The negros would wear “afros“, and the gals would have these enormous “dos”.
I also once had a secretary who had a big umbrella with a big yellow smiley face that said “Have a Good Day.” written on it. You could wear “earth shoes” to work, though I was unaware of any safety-toed boots that were “earth shoe” compliant. I had a co-worker who wore a “mood ring”.
Q: Did the drug culture in the 1960s influence the working environment?
A: I don’t think so. At work and off work, we would tend to drink and engage in the vices of the day such as smoking and chewing gum. Smoking the dreaded “reefer stick” did not become common until the 1970’s and at that, it was kept quiet and hidden. It was never part of your work life.
I know that certain people at China Lake would use “crank”, and others might drop a tab of acid or two, but that was about the extent of it. In the other industries, such as food or construction, there were those who would indulge in other kinds of recreational drugs. However, all in all, it was not really commonplace.
Q: What is the best workplace coffee machine?
A: Pour Over Chemex Coffee Maker. I love the simplicity of it. I love how it requires your attention and I most especially love the great cup of coffee that it makes. For me, I strongly urge the reader to use “Chock Full of Nuts” brand coffee. No, it doesn’t taste like nuts. It just has the most unfortunate name in the world. But, in taste tests with real coffee drinkers, there is absolutely no question that this is THE BEST brand of coffee ever made.
Chock Full O’ NutsApparently, this brand is living up to it’s “heavenly” jingle, because it comes very highly rated- scoring a 4.6 out of 5 on Amazon Reviews. It typically costs between $5.19 and $5.79 for a 10.5 ounce can, depending on where you buy it.
However, it has been a while since I was in the States. Reports are that there is new management in the company and that they are apparently replacing the Arabica beans will the less expensive Robusta beans. If this is truly the case, then I will need to look elsewhere for my coffee needs. Reader, listen up, you want 100% Arabica beans for your coffee.
Q: Is it ok to say “Merry Chrismas” at work?
A: Oh my yes. Everyone here in China says “Merry Christmas”, and it’s not even a Christian nation. If you are taken aside by HR and told not to express yourself, report that HR manager to the CEO of the company. They are way beyond their mandate.
Comments on Free Republic
In July 2018, this article was presented on Free Republic for comments. You can read the comments HERE.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
Chinese playgrounds are different from American playgrounds. They are fundamentally different. In China the playgrounds are designed to instruct while children engage in play. In America playgrounds are designed to be safe at all costs. Here we take a look at the two differences in intent.
USA = Safe at all costs.
China = Designed to teach, instruct while having fun.
When you live in another country, you cannot help but make comparisons from your “home” country and your new home. Some of the comparisons are sad, while others are hilariously funny. While some just cause you to simply shake your head. I personally think that when you step out of your home country and experience another reality, you can more clearly see the benefits and the faults of where you have come from.
These comparisons can be stark and astounding.
There are many things that we can compare. In this article, I would like to compare playgrounds. Because, after all, all children learn through play. Play is the “work” of children. A “playground” is an environment, set up by the community to help the children play. It is designed, or at least was initially set up, for “free range” unaccompanied play.
Let’s take a look at playgrounds…
Children Need to Play
The great Fred Rogers once made a statement that play is the work of children. He was absolutely correct. Children learn things rapidly when they are interested. The key to holding that interest is to involve play. Often that is some kind of role-play.
Boys enjoy construction, fabrication, organization, animals, military, hunting, searching, hiding, running, jumping, catching, hitting, practical jokes, and individual play. Girls might also enjoy these things, but they do seemingly have interests in home organization, cooking, fashion, childcare, animals, and group play.
This observation is true no matter what country where you live. You will find young girls playing with dolls in the Sudan, China, Argentina, and the United States. You will find boys playing sports, and military games all over the world. You know, they all also seem to have a fascination with heavy earth-movers and building things.
“This may seem old-fashioned, but there are skills to be learned when kids aren’t told what to do,” said Dr. Michael Yogman, a Harvard Medical School pediatrician who led the drafting of the call to arms. Whether it’s rough-and-tumble physical play, outdoor play or social or pretend play, kids derive important lessons from the chance to make things up as they go, he said.
The advice, issued Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics, may come as a shock to some parents. After spending years fretting over which toys to buy, which apps to download and which skill-building programs to send their kids to after school, letting them simply play — or better yet, playing with them — could seem like a step backward.
The pediatricians insist that it’s not. The academy’s guidance does not include specific recommendations for the dosing of play. Instead, it asks doctors to advise parents before their babies turn 2 that play is essential to healthy development. It also advocates for the restoration of play in schools.
“Play is not frivolous,” the academy’s report declares. It nurtures children’s ingenuity, cooperation and problem-solving skills — all of which are critical for a 21st-century workforce. It lays the neural groundwork that helps us “pursue goals and ignore distractions.”
When parents engage in play with their children, it deepens relationships and builds a bulwark against the toxic effects of all kinds of stress, including poverty, the academy says.
-Doctors Orders
Play is based on Interest
Without interest, the child will soon be distracted and go off elsewhere. The key to early learning is interest. It is important.
If left alone, a child will find things to play with. They always do. Their interests will generally depend on their gender. (Uh oh! Sound the alarm! politically incorrect statement here!)
That means one of two genders for all of you confused millennial’s out there. Here’s a quick review for those who are confused. It should have been taught to you in elementary school, that is if you were too stupid to figure it out for yourself.
Boys have a penis.
Girls have a vagina.
Humans with a mixture of both are known as a Hermaphrodite.
Boys with a penis that identify themselves with female interests are known as Homosexuals.
Girls with a vagina that identify themselves with male interests are known as Lesbians.
Anything outside of these five conditions is very, very rare. They are what is known as an “Ambiguous Gender”, and are typically treated as someone with a medical disorder.
Now, as far as children goes, there are many exceptions to gender roles.
Some boys like to play house. Some girls like to fight and play war. Many like to do both. The point is that children like to play. If left alone, they will start playing with things in regards to their interests.
Just like you. In fact, exactly like you.
If a boy wants a book on space, don’t force him to rent a book out of the library on butterflies. (Here’s a shout out to the poor kid in Melbourne, Florida who’s mother wouldn’t let him read about rocket ships, and gave him a book on butterflies instead. True story, this.) If a girl wants to read about the latest fashion, don’t make her read about hunting deer.
This should be obvious stuff. A measure of how low our culture has sunk is evident in that I need to explain this most basic premise out.
I remember a post written by a young millennial (on Tumblr) who was upset at her sister. Apparently, her older sister was raising her girls in a more or less traditional manner. She gave them dolls, let them play house and have “tea parties” and dressed them up cute. This upset her younger sister; the young millennial.
When she was asked to “babysit” the girls, while her sister was out, she sprang into action. This was her opportunity. Or, so she thought. So in order to “reverse the damage of gender indoctrination” she bought some toy trucks for the girls. Then she took away the dolls that the girls were playing with. Then after giving the toys to the girls, she let the girls play alone in their room.
An hour later, she went up to check on the girls. She found them there in their room having the time of their lives. They had put the toy trucks to bed (in doll beds) and were reading bedtime stories to them…
The Purpose of an American Playground
Remember when playgrounds were fun? Sure, there was a pretty good chance you’d be scalded by a hot metal slide, or walk away with tetanus, but that’s what memories are made of.
The ground wasn’t coated with soft recycled rubber or sand as most are today – they were asphalt. Remember being hurled from a spinning merry-go-round, then skidding across the gravel at full speed? Good times.
I remember my school playground had a metal ladder “wall” that I swear went up three stories – it didn’t connect to a slide or anything. It was literally a ladder to the sky. I remember fully believing the oxygen was thinner at the top. One false move and I’d have been a flesh colored stain on the asphalt.
We are making playgrounds so safe that they actually stunt our kids’ development. So, while blood was spilt and concussions were dealt on the playgrounds of the 1970s, we were at least in a developmentally rich environment – and we had the bruises and scabs to prove it.
-8 Reasons Children of the 1970s Should All Be Dead
A playground is an area set aside for “free range” unsupervised play. At least that was the initial intention. Today, there are all kinds of playgrounds. Some are supervised, and some are not. Many have benches for adults to sit on and watch the children (at least in the United States they do). China always has places to sit down, as it is usually the grandparents who end up watching the children.
Playgrounds in the past had many elements no longer present. (Well, as far as American playgrounds, that is.) They had “monkey bars” (a construction of bars that children can climb on), “seesaw’s” (a device to move up and down with a partner), “merry-go-rounds” (a large spinning disk that children can push and experience centrifugal forces with), and “slides” (a large structure that a child can slide down on).
Children playing on Monkey bars during the 1960s. They really loved climbing and scrambling on the bars. It was a source of play and amusement.
The elements each provided an element of play. In making the playgrounds safer, these “dangerous” elements were removed, and no adequate replacements were substituted. In America today we have playgrounds without these critical elements. They are boring and bland.
They are sterile.
History of American Playgrounds
In the old days (about 100 years ago around the time of the Great Depression), every community seemingly had a playground. These playgrounds consisted of “monkey bars”, swing sets, seesaws, and other simple outdoor childhood entertainments. Typically, they had sand at the bottom of the metal (and often concrete) structures to mitigate any cuts, scrapes or broken bones. There was sand at the bottom of the monkey bars, sand at the bottom and end of the slides, and sand below the swing sets.
Old American playground around 1900. Only the strong survived recess, obviously.
You can read about the history of playgrounds elsewhere. There are some great articles about how playgrounds got started in the city of Boston. As well as how they got started in Chicago , San Francisco and New York City.
Playgrounds become quite popular as a means to keep children off the roads and out of trouble. The advantages of play were obvious, but I am certain, given secondary importance. Back in the day, children were allowed to go out and explore and play. The idea was to create places to keep the children off the streets. Which ended up benefiting everyone. As such, the development of playgrounds continued apace. This continued into my parents’ generation and mine as well. However, over time, the playground equipment became more standardized and mass-produced.
My mother routinely left me alone in the car at a young age while she ran errands. Today, this will literally get you arrested. You see, once upon a time it was okay to leave your kids for long periods without supervision (remember the so-called “latch-key kids” of the 70s?), or let them free roam without constant surveillance. Today, parents won’t let their kids go out to get the mail alone, and any fun with friends has to be scheduled, closely monitored “play dates”.
On summer break or weekends in the 1970s, parents kicked their kids out the front door and didn’t let them back in until the sun went down. “Go play,” were their only words, and you were left to your own devices for hours upon hours. Neighborhoods looked like Lord of the Flies.
-8 Reasons Children of the 1970s Should All Be Dead
This is an American playground in the middle 1960’s. Note the colorful slides, swing sets, and happy children.American playground in the 1960s with slides and swing-sets. (Image Source.)
Though there were efforts that were still made to make them interesting. In Ridgecrest, California, the playground was designed to look like spaceships and a place of adventure. That was the theme in the nearby China Lake military research center. In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, there was a playground that looked like a pirate’s ship. The children could climb up high to the “crow’s nest”. These were not isolated instances. Many communities “dressed up” their playgrounds around themes.
This lasted up until the mid-1980’s.
By the time the 1980’s rolled around, there were numerous small community organizations formed to make playgrounds “safer”, and “better”. These “improvements” resulted in making the playgrounds nice, safe, and very boring. The idea was safety at all costs. Sometimes there was a secondary attention given to exercise, but in all cases there was zero attention to the idea of imaginative play.
For instance, slides became lower. Instead of two stories high (16 feet) during my parents’ generation, and one story high (8 feet) in my generation, they now became four feet high (4 feet) or eliminated altogether. The images on a Google Image Search now apparently show an average of two foot high slides. (16 feet to 2 feet!) “Monkey Bars” became smaller and lower to the ground, if not eliminated completely. Even seesaws and swings became smaller. These “improvements” were welcomed by all the (over) protective parents in their respective communities.
There was only one problem.
The structures were boring and did not challenge the children. They were instead suitable for mentally retarded and handicapped children, infants, and overweight mothers.
My gosh! Children should be challenged while in a safe environment, not coddled until they become an adult.
“…today’s default playground (is the) “the McDonald’s model”: an unchallenging, standardized unit of tunnels, slides, and decks.
“Things like taking risks, learning to fail, learning to master something, to plan ahead, to develop deep friendships, none of those could take place on most playgrounds today.”
- Susan Solomon in “The Science of Play: How to Build Playgrounds that Enhance Children’s Development” as quoted by Ruth Graham, 28MAR14, in the Boston Globe.
Many people in the United States resent what has happened to playgrounds. They yearn for a “simpler time” when children could just go out, run, sweat, climb, play games, and just be a kid. All without breaking some law, or rule.
Most Americans think that just because this trend of playground safety has manifested in the United States that it has manifested everywhere else. (Afterall, the United States is the cultural “leader” of the world…don’t you know.) At least that is the impression that Ruth Graham has. She made the statement that playgrounds in the United States are the same as those in Thailand. But she is quite wrong.
Playgrounds in other nations are NOT sterile and designed for retarded toddlers. They are robust and designed for active children to play in.
All animals like to play. Dogs and cats like to play just like children do.
All children, kittens and puppies like to play. (GIF Image source.) Here’s a dog for you cat-haters out there…
Dogs and cats like to play. In fact, everyone likes to play. When we are young we enjoyed ourselves and pretended what it would be like when we grew up. Play is an important part of learning and our personal development.
I strongly believe that children, like cats and puppies, should be encouraged to climb, fight, sing, dance, and do other tasks that involve a moderate level of risk. Playgrounds, like everything else, should be permitted to have some moderate level of risk. It is better to climb in a park near your house than on a mountainside hours from a nearby hospital. If you catch my drift.
“When the first public playground guidelines from the Consumer Product Safety Commission arrived in the early 1980s, the classic playground’s fate was sealed.
By the 1990s, the height and size of new equipment shrank, climbing opportunities disappeared, and guardrails were installed everywhere imaginable. “There’s not as much that’s challenging,” said Colorado photographer Brenda Biondo, whose photographs of classic American playgrounds form the basis of a nostalgic forthcoming book titled “Once Upon a Playground.”
“They’re taking out swings in a lot of places, which is really sad.” Biondo’s book documents now-vanished implements like “stationary jingle-rings” and “giant waves,” plus tall slides and seesaws, prone to cracking kids on the head. Sand itself, the foundational element of those first playgrounds in Boston, fell victim to disability-access regulations and paranoia over junkies’ needles and general dirtiness.
American playgrounds had become dull and homogenous, geared to toddlers more than athletic older kids and dominated by uniform models from catalogs.”
- Ruth Graham, 28MAR14, in the Boston Globe.
Today, there are playgrounds in America. However, they are sterile affairs. They are not stationary toys that children can play upon. They are but arrangements of metal that are called a “playground”, but are anything but that. They are not places where children can play. Compared to playgrounds in the 1960’s, which was full of screaming and running happy children, the playgrounds of today are mostly empty and unused.
Playgrounds in The United States today – Safe
Safe American playground is suitable for the most incompetent children and retarded idiots that America can produce.
In America today you can find many playgrounds. They have been made “safe” for children. There are no hard surfaces. Nothing is high or tall. There are no moving parts. Though they are typically painted in delightful colorful colors.
Indeed, many of the things that used to be a part of playgrounds in the past are now absent. There are no “monkey bars”. There aren’t any slides, merry-go-rounds, or seesaws. If you are lucky, you might be able to walk up some wheelchair adaptable steps to a two foot height. There are no moving parts. There isn’t much there to inspire creativity. In fact, there really isn’t much of anything there to do at all.
Keeping the picture above in mind, let’s have a look at playgrounds in China…
Playgrounds in China Today – Play
In China, play is considered an important part of childhood development. They use the techniques of play to teach, for education is the most important aspect of a Chinese child’s life.
Unlike the United States, Chinese schools don’t have playgrounds. Instead, they have open areas for group sports and exercise. Most Chinese live in urban areas. In the urban centers, playgrounds tend be located in the most frequented areas; inside the malls and town centers.
While in America, malls have vaporized along with the American middle-class, in China they are quite popular. China has a very robust middle-class. Many malls have playgrounds inside for children to play upon.
Chinese playgrounds are designed for fun. They teach and inspire in equal measure. Yes, this is a Chinese playground. There is a lower age limit. Toddlers can only play if accompanied with a parent.
I was reminded of this by an event in a local park here in China. There were some children (five and six year old) being taught repelling and climbing skills by a small group of instructors. It turns out that many malls and store complexes in China have these huge climbing complexes of ropes, and netting that children are permitted to go “nuts” over. They are very popular here and are well maintained and monitored. They also offer excursions in local mountainous parks.
If you are ever in China, I would strongly advise all parents to utilize this resource. Don’t limit your child’s development to what the neighborhood busybodies think is appropriate. (They really believe that they have the power over your children. Go to the busybody central; Kid Safety Network.)
While these complexes do not have the kind of seesaw’s that we grew up with as children, they have similar devices with similar purposes. Only this time it is more like a big top that a child or group of children can get inside and toss and spin about in. Monkey bars have been replaced with a network of ladders, ropes, steps on ropes, tires on ropes, and woven tunnels hanging five stories high for the children to play about in.
All Chinese playgrounds are supervised to allow the children to play in safety.
All Chinese playgrounds are supervised. Image Source.
All Chinese playgrounds have supervision. There are always workers who are paid to make sure that safety is maintained. This does come at a cost, though the cost is small and quite reasonable. The children must wear protective gear and harnesses so they will not fall to their death from six stories up.
The Chinese provide their children with a fine place to climb and explore. Sure there is an element of risk, but there are trained instructors and safety harnesses and helmets provided. Compare that to a modern American playground. There simply isn’t any risk. There isn’t any opportunity to explore and have adventure. It is typically in one or two colors, it consists of a few fences and railings, and some stairs to climb up. It is also very safe. It is the opposite of what is available in China.
The differences between the two playgrounds.
The differences are stark. But, don’t just take my word for it. Just compare the product offerings from playground manufacturers in China to those in the United States. You can see what they make and who they market to. The reader should note that American companies tend to market domestically almost exclusively. While Chinese manufacturers market their products internationally.
Indeed, this is pretty amazing stuff. Climb ropes and and networks of cages suspended from above, then slide down multi-story rides! Can you imagine? Slide down five story tall slides! Get lost in huge wire baskets, and swing from monkey bar complexes that tower up into the stratosphere! Wow!
Fun for kids of all ages…
The companies in China make their products and ship all over the world. That is, almost everywhere EXCEPT the United States. Other nations, not only China, let their children climb, have fun, and play. However, in most instances, the Chinese companies just doesn’t bother to ship to America. I wonder why?
Here you can find the makers of the playgrounds that are made for American cities. You will find nice soft surfaces, small and safe slides, a couple of grab bars, lots and lots of hand railings, and some nice safe steps to walk on. Many of them have a platform that is over two feet high that children can stand on. Whoo Hoo!
Let’s face it. Today American playgrounds are pathetic.
Why American Playgrounds became so pathetic
It all began in 1978. Jimmy Carter was president. (But, it really wasn’t his fault.)
An 8-year-old boy by the name of Frank Nelson was playing on a slide in Chicago. He fell and hit his head and the fall resulted in some very serious injuries. The damage resulted in brain damage. It paralyzed his left side and cause speech and vision problems. He also needed to wear a helmet. The attorneys for his mother settled out of court. As such, he was awarded a minimum of $9.5 million (and possibly as much as $29.8 million if he eventually lives to be 75.)
It’s a pretty sad situation. Accidents do occur, and children can get hurt or die. When I was in fifth grade a classmate died when he fell into the ice covered river. My first wife’s uncle died when he was seven. He too fell into the ice covered river. It was something our community knew well, as every five years or so, a child would die under the ice in Winter.
Anyways, back to the child in Chicago…
As a result of this, the city of Chicago decided to tear down all the (so named “tornado”) slides in the city. (This was the mechanism which contributed to the accident with the small boy. They also decided to generally make the playgrounds safer, as they could not afford too many expensive lawsuits.
This settlement, of course, caused a chain reaction.
A tidal wave of lawsuits began the plague the nation. After all, attorneys made BIG money on these kinds of lawsuits. My attorney (when I lived in California) got 90% of any “out of court settlement”, and 60% of the settlement if we took it all the way to court. It was a great racket in the 1980’s, and it still is today.
The lure of big, fast and easy money was seductive.
Attorneys started to look for ways to sue various cities, and there were all kinds of people who wanted to make quick easy cash. Accidents that normally wouldn’t be reported now became national news. For instance, there was the 5-year-old Michigan girl who was strangled on a slide in January when the drawstring from her coat became tangled in one of its bars. In 1988, a 10-year-old Washington, D.C., boy suffered brain damage after falling from an 8-foot climber onto the asphalt below. He was awarded $15 million, which is believed to be the largest settlement of its kind.
To prevent this, many cities started to take preemptive action. They began to make the playgrounds so safe that no one could ever get hurt. They started to ban everything from tires on a rope to slides. They didn’t go six sigma. They went infinity sigma! It’s “zero tolerance” run amok. It was safety at all costs. Who cares about fun. Who cares about child growth. Playgrounds must be SAFE!
Busybodies to Erase Play
Enter an army of busybodies who have one goal in mind; change the purpose of a playground from creative play into a “safe space”. Consider the American organization NPPS, which stands for the National Program for Playground Safety. Their objectives are many, but primarily are directed to reengineer playgrounds so that they are safe for children.
The only problem with this is that there are no thoughts given to the purpose of a playground.
Safe at the expense of play pretty well defeats the purpose of a playground.
You can make claims that the modern American playground designs improve motor skills, and help exercise various muscles. That is all fine and good. However, no one will be exercised if the playground is not utilized. The number one ingredient missing from American playgrounds is something that fires up the imagination of children. Without creative imagination, play is not possible. Without play, there can be no benefit of any playground no matter how carefully it is designed to provide physical exertion.
Here’s how it works…
• Children learn through play.
• Play requires creative imagination, not direction.
• Spaces or places that inspire creative imagination are magnets for playful activities.
• They used to be called “playgrounds”.
This reminds me of a similar progressive initiative by former presidential wife Michelle Obama and her “School Lunch Program”.
Here she mandated healthy food choice for all American children as dictated out of Washington, D.C… Yah, it was healthy, and good for you. However, there was one real problem. No one ate it. The students would get the food and then throw it away without even eating it.
You would think that the damage would be obvious by now.
Who really wants to play on one of these monstrosities?
Ah, but the busybodies are not stopping. There is an entire army of busybodies that wants to bleach out play from playgrounds. They want short, safe and boring locations where children can be parked and not worry about them getting hurt.
In a way, I kind of feel sorry for these people. They mean well, but they can’t understand the basic ingredients necessary to utilize a playground cannot be removed. You need things that inspire and assist in PLAY.
What happens to a cake if you try to make it without flour?
You make it exactly to the ingredients in the recipe, but instead of flour you substitute ground up dog food. You follow the directions on the recipe. You take the “cake” out of the oven. Is it a “cake”, or is it something else? What if you omitted the eggs all together? What if you used orange juice instead of milk? All cakes, regardless of the type, require eggs, milk, flour and sugar.
Playgrounds, regardless of where it is located, should inspire the imagination of children. It should allow them to run, climb and exercise at will. It should also be safe so that MOST children (not ALL children) won’t get hurt. It is after all, a PLAY-ground.
Failure to provide for these needs have created the situation that the United States has found itself in today. We now have playgrounds where “free ranging” play cannot be inspired.
Organizations Against Playgrounds as places for Play
There are numerous (American) organizations involved and concerned about playgrounds. Some, to my disdain, want safety at all costs. Others see the folly in this absolute. They are trying to come up with means and balance. Others are searching for alternative playground options, and how to regulate them out of existence. While still others are trying to introduce some foreign playground ideas on to the American scene. Here are some other related organizations that are trying to figure out what to do about American playgrounds.
I am sure that everyone in these organizations has good intentions. That is not the point. The point is that you should NEVER make changes to any plan, program or structure that detracts from its overall purpose. What is the point of safety if children can’t PLAY in a playground?
The point is you can design a car that is so safe that no one is ever killed. You know how? You remove the wheels and let it sit in the driveway. How often do you think that people will use that car?
A safe car.
Employment Opportunities
Today in America, you can become a certified playground inspector. That is correct. Your job is to make playgrounds sterile and bland of fun. It is all done in the interests of saving the city from frivolous lawsuits. I think the prune face, long crooked nose, and pointed black hats are optional.
Other Places & Other Ideas
One of the problem with us, and I mean all of us (myself included), is that we tend to only look at what is right in front of us. We fail to think of alternatives. You, the reader, know this is true. Honestly, have you ever thought about making a playground out of ropes and woven baskets before? Nah. I didn’t think so. Instead, we have a tendency to think of playgrounds in the traditional way. We fail to look at it in other ways.
We need to look at playgrounds as a [1] safe place for children, to [2] play using their imagination.
If we open our eyes just a little bit we can see how other nations, and other peoples, provide opportunities for their children to play. While some of the ideas might seem too dangerous for our American sensibilities, I tend to believe that we have become far too fearful of a nation. We need to let children play on their own a little bit. We need to let them go out and PLAY.
Here are some ideas of things done right elsewhere in the world…
Junk Playgrounds
When I was growing up, I played where I was. If I was in a playground, I played on the things that I found there. This included “monkey bars”, and “swings”. If I was climbing though an old abandoned building, I ended up playing with the junk that I found there. If I was in the woods, I would play in the trees and bushes that grew there. Children will pay with anything. They key is that you need to provide them a safe place to play in.
Enter the concept of “Junk Playgrounds”. Here, an area is set aside full of junk and discards so that children can play in and about it. It’s a great concept, and the children absolutely love it. Here are some great links to get your ideas flowing…
Why play with junk when there are beautiful trees to climb, brooks to splash in, and meadows to run upon? There is a movement that believes that nature can prove elements of creative play just as well as any formal or structured playground could. Of course, this idea did not originate in the USA. To follow this train of thought and explore these opportunities for childhood adventure, one must look outside the USA prism.
I am specifically NOT referring to sanitized ultra-safe American style playgrounds that are dressed up to look like trees.
I am specifically referring to real parks and areas that are designed for children to play in. Some are nothing more than rustic versions of the ultra-safe American playgrounds. I suggest a little bit of risk, a lot of nature and a safe central area for access.
Many of us, well we sit back and just accept things as they are. We argue, “Hey that is the way things are and there is nothing that I can do.” But this is very wrong. This is “wrong-headed” thinking. There are many things that you can do. There are many levels of engagement.
1. Look at what kinds of playgrounds are near you. Are any of them actually being used? If so, then how? We need to look at playgrounds from the prism of both safety AND fun.
2. Find out who is responsible for the playground. This might be something as simple as talking to the town board in your community, or the people who actually own the property that the playground is on.
3. Talk to them. Do not be some kind of radical who demands everyone change everything immediately. Suggest minor (and I do mean minor) changes to improve it. If it is not safe, improve that aspect of it. If it is not fun, then concentrate in that aspect. Remember the goal is to make playgrounds BOTH safe and fun for children to play in.
4. Concentrate on a balance. The tomato at grocery stores today taste like a cardboard box because it was bred to ship like a cardboard box. No one paid attention to the taste of the tomato. In a like way, by concentrating on safety at all costs, you lose the primary purpose of a playground; individual imaginative play. Strike a balance on having both elements at the playground at the same time.
5. Ask for help. Sometimes you cannot do things alone. Yet there are many others who might want to work with you. Let them.
6. If you hit a blank wall, go your own way. Create your own park / playground. Do it your way. There are many “experimental” types of playgrounds that are designed for interaction with nature, or pile of junk or anything in between. Do your own thing; your way. Then tell us about it. Do not be shy!
7. Remember what it was when you were a kid. I well remember spending hours playing in the nearby stream. I remember what it was like to climb trees. Maybe that is all you need is a place with lots of trees to climb and a sign that says “kids can play here and climb all they want”.
8. Beware of the busybodies. They will try to threaten you, and try to get your involved in the fear of legal action. Put up disclaimers and protect yourself. If you have the financial resources, organize neighborhood monitors to keep things safe.
9. Do it your way. Finally, and above all else; don’t follow what other people do. DO IT YOUR WAY!
Take Aways
Here are some important points that need to be underlined;
Playgrounds should be places to inspire children to play.
An accident in Chicago, and the judicial failure to put limits on the monetary awards, resulted in a sterilization of all American playgrounds.
America has altered playgrounds to be safe at the expense of play.
Other nations do not follow the United States model.
In China, playgrounds are set up quite differently.
America needs to redesign playgrounds to fit the purpose for them.
It is profitable to make playgrounds sterile and boring.
Anyone can make their own playground.
RFH
How about a Request For Help? I tire of busybodies and statists who poke fun at the ideas and experiences of others. They offer no constructive dialog. Rather they just make fun, ridicule, and then scurry under a rock.
I use this forum as a way to disseminate some of the things that I learned though my own personal experiences. I am not the best person in the world, indeed, I am quite faulted. The best that I can do is share my opinions about things that interest me, and flavor it indirectly with my unusual understandings.
So, if you, the reader, were so interested, I would welcome your stories about how playgrounds are beneficial. I would welcome any stories about playgrounds in other nations. I would welcome a discussion on the positives and the negatives of playground design. I would welcome ideas on new ideas, construction techniques and ways to stimulate a child to be involved in creative play. I would welcome stories about creative and useful playgrounds that you have encountered. I would welcome thoughts on things that children would like to play with.
This is my callout to you, the reader. I am sure that you have some stories or ideas that can help pull us out of the big “tar pit” that playgrounds have become. Please feel free to comment.
FAQ
Q: Are American playgrounds safe?
A: Yes they are.
Q: Can people get hurt in playgrounds?
A: Yes, they can. However, most serious accidents at a playground are extremely rare.
Q: Does China have playgrounds for children?
A: Yes they do. They have different types depending on the age range.
Q: Is it ok to allow children to play in playgrounds unsupervised.
A: Yes it is.
Q: What are the differences between Chinese and Americans in playground use?
A: The Chinese train their children to take risks. They make sure that the children are trained and instructed properly. They then provide opportunities for the child to use the skills learned. Once they have demonstrated competency, the child is left to fend for themselves. In America, the child is continually supervised. They are not trained, nor instructed. They are also not expected to make decisions on their own.
Q: Does childhood playgrounds influence Chinese culture in America today?
A: It is an influence, among other factors. In general, the Chinese parent expects their child to learn, and then apply what they learn. Playgrounds are used as a controlled location for the child to explore and utilize their learned skills.
Q: Is the Chinese American lifestyle similar to the Chinese lifestyle?
A: It is similar, but there are notable differences. The Chinese child is permitted much more freedom than their Chinese American counterpart. Both are expected to learn and work hard to achieve very high goals and parental expectations.
Q: Do the Chinese in America today prefer American or Chinese playgrounds?
A: I really do not know. However, I would be very surprised if any Chinese American parent would forbid their child to play in a Chinese playground. It is viewed as a learning resource. It is not considered a place of play
Other Great Articles on Playgrounds
The best one that I have found so far is HERE. It is titled “Playground Fun” on the RetroJunk website. It’s a fun read, with ample pictures. The author is a little bit like myself. Lots of pictures, and stories. Read it.
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Unfortunately in many cases, you will sacrifice your happiness and freedom for a paycheck; you become a slave to “the man”. What are the other complaints about working for corporate America…
No Freedom
The lower you are on the office totem pole, the more people you have to listen to when completing tasks. You have a rigorous schedule filled with tasks that your manager most likely assigned you. You cannot choose which tasks you would like to perform nor which order you want to complete them in as you are most likely taking orders from someone else. Until you run your own company, you are always going to be listening to someone else’s directions.
Office Bitch
For the abuse you take, you don’t make nearly enough money -- especially after taxes. You will take an endless amount of sh*t from upper management that can and will drive you insane.
If your boss is having an off day, guess who is going to feel the worst of it? You are.
You are at the bottom of the barrel and no feelings will be spared since you really do not serve an integral role in the company’s success.
Obsession With Money
You think your first job will be an enlightening experience in which you will finally contribute something meaningful to the world. The problem is that upper management doesn’t want to waste their valuable time on someone that much below them. They would rather focus their attention on whatever task they have on hand.
They don’t care about you, all their focus is on whatever can make them the next dollar. Though they will try to give you the impression that that isn't the case. They might issue you a pen with a logo, or arrange some pizza at a meeting.
People Are Miserable
The majority of people care about one thing about their job and that’s the figure on their paychecks. This is one of the biggest reasons people settle into a career path that makes them miserable. Sure, having the ability to afford luxuries is great, but is it worth your happiness?
Wouldn’t you rather work in an industry that brings you happiness and comfort than work at a career you hate just because you make a lot of money? Of course a paycheck is important, without it you couldn’t live -- but at the end of the day, that paycheck isn’t going to bring you the fulfillment that doing what you love does.
The People You Work With Suck
Chances are you aren’t going to be working with people you would choose to associate with outside the office. Sometimes the person closest to your age is 10 years older than you: #fail. It’s horrible to be stuck inside an office from 9-5 without one person you can talk to. Thank the lord for G-chat.
You’re Bored
The repetitive, mundane life corporate America offers you is not one of excitement. Life is full of surprises and opportunities; this is where happiness will manifest.
You know where it will not flourish?
Within the restraints of a 4×4 cubicle, staring blankly at a computer screen. Routine behavior will numb your mind whereas unpredictability will engage it. “Happiness is a state of activity,” as Aristotle has so famously said.
I argue that the mere presence of political parties is a substantive sign that the nation is not running at all as it was intended. It was intended that substantive citizens of good moral character and intelligence would vote for representation at their local level. It was intended that everything would operate at the state level, and the United States federal government would manage the interactions between the individual states.
That is not what we have today.
We have an empire that is run by an oligarchy.
All this turmoil and conflict today boils down to the final stages of transformation. In the mind of the oligarchy, they are so close to turning the Untied States into their vision of perfection; one where they rule over easily manipulated mindless serfs. We are almost there.
We are almost there. We are one election away from this becoming our reality.
We were all Suffering through the Incompetence of Washington, D.C.
There was at a point in time, when I was a child, before the Federal Reserve still hadn’t completely decimated the US Dollar. It was still worth around twenty cents. As the dollar kept on losing value, both parents needed to go to work. This fact, forced the breakup of the American family. The family had to break up, as the mother had to work as well as the father.
Look at the graph yourself. It is obvious whoever is running the American monetary supply is doing a FUCKING PISS POOR JOB at it. This is an obvious fact. It means that the entire system must be scrapped and replaced with one that maintains it’s value over time. If our elected officials were actually doing their job, they would have noticed a problem at the very start of this fiasco.
The Value of the US Dollar since the establishment of the Federal Reserve. The performance of the first ten years should have told everyone what a huge fucking mistake that they made. The truth is for the last 90 years, the value of the USD has had an unstoppable downward vector.
There is a lot of debate on this particular quote. You can look at watch the sparks fly as the debate a rages on. Oh, my goodness! It is all so silly! One side says “here is the quote”, and the other side goes “Oh, No no no. He never said it! It’s all revisionist history. The Income Tax was wonderful!” It really is silly.
Here is my take.
The value of the USD (United States Dollar) was pretty stable. It had it’s ups and downs, but for the most part it was pretty consistent. It was stable. Then, after the passage of the 16thAmendment, the value of the USD dropped like a stone. It plummeted to 50% of its value within a ten-year span of time. It dropped 50% in a decade. That is horrifying!
Only a fucking idiot wouldn’t regret the decision to establish the Federal Reserve.
You have a fairly stable dollar. Some powerful “associates” convince you to change the system that is working just fine, and replace it with a different system. So, low and behold, you put a new banking system in place. Then suddenly, right before your eyes, the value of the dollar collapses. It goes completely to shit. Every year it gets worse and worse!
So…
[1] So, ok, maybe the former President didn’t say that quote. If so, then he was a fucking idiot. He was evil and selfish and couldn’t read a simple chart. That is the only conclusion that you can come to, if this quote did not belong to him. Because that is, what the statists are arguing. They are saying that the President was just fine and dandy and happy with what happened with the imposition of the Income tax and the Federal Reserve. He saw the result of the change, he saw the value of the dollar collapse, and agreed that it was all good and well.
[2] If the quote is indeed accurate, then he is a normal person who is able to read charts, and ended up with regrets. This is what a normal and sane person would be. They would see that what they put in place went to complete shit. This would be what a normal person would do. Personally, I can live both concepts. And you, the reader, should as well.
Anyways, with the collapse of the USD, now everything became more and more expensive. Both parents now had to go to work. The children needed to be cared for, and the government stepped in to do just that. Over time they created a situation where the children were being trained to become complaisant mindless serfs.
America is a Dictatorship
First of all, there is no longer any realistic question as regards whether the US in recent decades has been a republic, or instead a democracy.
It’s been decided through analysis. According to the only scientific analysis of the relevant data, that has been done in order to determine whether the US is a republic or a democracy.
There is no question about it.
The study proves that functionally, the USA is neither a democracy or a republic. It is instead a dictatorship.
The US is definitely a dictatorship that’s perpetrated by the richest on the planet, against the American public-at-large. Not the richest people in America. No. It is a dictatorship run by the richest people on the planet.
The fact is that those who control money don’t need to live in the United States to control it’s operation and administration.
America Functions as an Aristocracy
The study proves that the USA is a dictatorship.
But, it is not run by a dictator. The President is not a dictator. In other words: the US Government functions as an aristocracy, otherwise referred-to as an oligarchy, or a plutocracy, or a kleptocracy. By whatever name, it’s ruled by a tiny number of the extremely wealthiest and their agents, on behalf of those few super-rich. This is done against the concerns and interests and needs of the public (everyone else).
Therefore, instead of being rule by the public (the “demos” is the Greek term for it), it’s rule on behalf of a tiny dictatorial class, of extreme wealth — by whatever name we might happen to label this ruling class.
As such these rulers create “secret societies” within the government to carry out their objectives. This has been given a name. Collectively, these secret societies are known as “swamp” in Washington, D.C..
An Investigation into what we have Become…
That study, the one that discovered that the United States is a true and actual dictatorship was startling. The authors of the study, professors Gilens and Page, explained that it examined…
It compared those public-policy preferences against the interests of two types of people. The first group; [1] the public, versus [2] the public-policy preferences regarding those same issues, by the super-wealthiest in the world (not the richest in the United States).
The findings were troublesome.
It found that only the public-policy preferences by the super-wealthiest (and their paid agents), not the public at large, made any discernible difference in the legislation related to policy. Read that sentence TWO times, please.
Thus the public-policy preferences of the GLOBAL WEALTHY do, at far higher than mere random chances, become enacted into laws.
Whereas, the public-policy preferences of the public are ignored, in the United States. They are totally and completely ignored except in political rhetoric and promises; pure frauds perpetrated to deceive the public.
The study came to these conclusions by looking at numerous factors. It was done not only on the basis of examining thousands of cases and doing the statistical analysis of the data. That is what fundamentally Gilens and Page had done. Rather, it was also done on the basis of observations of how the US federal government has been functioning in recent decades.
As can be expected, the scientific study is vastly more reliable than is any individual’s mere opinion about the matter. That is most especially true about “fact checking” organizations. For they are completely owned by wealthy globalist interests.
State Level Corruption
Furthermore, there exists evidence that even in local or state governments in the United States, considerable corruption exists. (Some places have this corruption more than others.) In other words, “the swamp” is not geographically located. The level of corruption has saturated every government agency, organization and function. It has reached far and wide, and has tendrils that run deep, deep into everything.
Obviously, an extreme slant prevails in favor of the rich.
What was exemplified in this reporting by that excellent investigative team could be called “corporate organized-gangsterism,”.
That is what we should all call it. This gangsterism was being led by an operation, “ALEC,” that was founded by politicians whose careers are funded by numerous global billionaires.
ALEC Operations
A issue of the Washington Post’s “PowerPost” section was titled “The Finance 202: Tax overhaul’s big test comes now”, and it described in detail what was shaping the 2017 Trump Administration’s tax-overhaul bill. Old news right? Pay attention to the point; this article reported that the lobbyists were shaping it 100%.
Ah yes.
The article is a superb nitty-gritty, down among the weeds, description, of the monetary deals, the horse-trading, that were being made, not only for corporations, but for the wealthiest non-business lobbies. This is for all of them, including ‘nonprofit’ ones.
Yet please note that almost all of these lobbyists, depend overwhelmingly upon billionaires for their funding.
What’s being carved-up and served, is being carved-up from governments, and being served to the super-rich.
So: is it any wonder why Gilens and Page found what they did?
They found that “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy. While mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.”
How It Works
Both Political Parties can win and retain power only by deceiving (defrauding) the public, and serving the billionaires, though in different ways; some conservative, and some liberal.
Virtually everything else than that service to billionaires (and to centi-millionaires) is just frauds by politicians. This is because, at least after around 1970, only the richest 1% or (usually far) less are actually being served by the US federal Government.
It’s not the billionaires that are defrauded by politicians; it is clearly the public that is being defrauded by them.
The money, the huge amounts of money that is flowing towards these foreign billionaires are coming from the taxation of Americans.
The public are served only to the extent that the public’s interests are the same as the billionaires’ interests.
Voters are Ignored – There is NO Representation at all
The Gilens and Page study found that the public’s policy-preferences are simply ignored. Oh, not at all what is stated publicly on the news media, but instead ignored in the political outcomes.
The US Government, thus, is of a few people (the policymakers), by the billionaires, and for the billionaires, and that’s just an established fact.
They control us.
They control everything and possess “secret societies” that operate with the “official” and public government structure. These “secret societies” carry out the wishes of the true leadership; the true and real owners of us citizens.
via GIPHY
Other Agendas and Other Intentions
Additionally, aside from the numerous ties to the oligarchy, the “deep State” has various “pockets” of individuals involved in their own agendas. They utilize the American government, and fund and finance their actions from within the organization.
There are many such secret societies. MAJestic is one set up in the late 1940’s, but there are many others. Below is an article regarding a secret society set up by former President Obama to push a politically progressive agenda after he left office.
They control us. They do so by monitoring us, and making sure that we “behave” in accordance with their permissions (permissible behaviors). When anyone deviates, in even the slightest amount, an “iron fist” clamps down and smashes the poor citizen into “squashed jelly”; Eviscerated into a state where it is impossible to continue in any kind of normal life.
This is far, far, far beyond what was envisioned by the founders when the Constitution was first established.
Conclusions
America is not a Republic, though it was intended to be one.
It was changed by amendment into a Democracy, and then altered over the years into a Socialist Democracy.
Abuses of voting, and manipulation of the public has created a situation whereas individual Americans have no control over “their” government. Instead, the American government is controlled by wealthy non-American oligarchs.
Therefore, the United States is nothing like it was initially intended to be. It is instead a Empire run by internal secret societies working deep within the Washington DC “swamp” that do the bidding of wealthy non-American oligarchs.
Take Aways
Because foreign interests control the American government, we have…
What You Can Do?
There are many, many people pointing out that there is a huge “swamp” in Washington DC that needs to be drained. There are others who point out that foreign influences are too strong, and others that point out the folly of the news media propaganda. All of this is fine and dandy, but it’s just a bunch of people complaining. There are no substantive answers and directions to reverse this situation.
Or are there?
I suggest the reader go to these sites to get an idea of people who are taking positive and proactive steps to put the government back on track.
FAQ
Q: Is America a Constitutional Republic today?
A: No. America stopped being a Constitutional Republic with the passage of the 12th and the 17th Amendments to the Constitution.
Q: Is America a Democracy?
A: No. If America was a democracy, then the votes of the people would determine policy. This is decidedly not the case. Policy that is implemented in Washington DC and in the state capitals are predominantly determined by foreign interests.
Q: Is America an Empire?
A: Yes. Read the definition of what an empire is…
Q: What is America today?
A: America is an empire. It is a dysfunctional empire. It functions as a dictatorship. However the President is not a dictator. Instead the nation is ruled by a collective of non-American oligarchs. They operate and control the nation via secret societies that collectively are known as “the swamp”.
Posts Regarding Life and Contentment
Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.
More Posts about Life
I have broken apart some other posts. They can best be classified about ones actions as they contribute to happiness and life. They are a little different, in subtle ways.
Stories that Inspired Me
Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.
Articles & Links
Notes