Tag: golden rule

Enough About the Bad Guys, Who Are Some Good Guys?

Note the humble man in the back of the room studying his notes (Ron Paul)

It does seem that these days we are bombarded with all kinds of fear, hate and the like from all those in and around our government.

Throughout this time there have been some that have stood up for truth in our empire of lies.

Tom Woods shares his take which I find extremely accurate:

By my estimation, the best U.S. senator — by far — throughout this fiasco has been Rand Paul, and the best member of the House has been Rep. Thomas Massie.

Both have been excellent on lockdowns, masks, vaccines and vaccine passports. Both have pushed back against Fauci. Were it not for Rand, we probably wouldn’t know a thing about gain-of-function research and Wuhan.

Ain’t no way a product of the GOP establishment was going to come out swinging like Rand.

Mitt Romney standing up to Fauci? Don’t make me laugh.

John McCain standing up to Fauci? This is the guy who assured us he was learning about economics because he bought Alan Greenspan’s book — an indication of utter hopelessness if ever there were one.

Most Republican governors were horrendous through this ordeal.

But Rand Paul and Thomas Massie? A+ throughout.

Yup .. just two guys influencing public opinion and government a little at a time. Quite the up-hill battle.

Rand Paul challenges Tony Fauci with the truth ..
Thomas Massie listening to Tony Fauci’s lies

Tom goes on to identify the source of their inspiration:

The key: both are products of the Ron Paul revolution.

Now let’s recall: when Ron Paul himself was running for president, both the media and the Republican establishment — and, to their eternal shame, some “conservatives” — ridiculed him. He’s a “crank”! We demand someone who will flatter us and speak in platitudes we recognize!

It was embarrassing.

Here was the man who, on the House floor in 2001, predicted exactly what would happen with the housing boom and bust. He said the Federal Reserve was replacing the dot-com boom with a real estate boom, which would surely unravel.

He knew Fannie and Freddie’s days were numbered.

Not one other person running for president in 2008 or 2012 had had the first clue about any of this.

And of course he was right: when the market tried to send people red lights in 2000 and 2001, the Fed turned them all green. So people persisted in the same bad investments, making the eventual crash all the worse, and perpetuating the myths that “housing prices never fall” and “a house is the best investment you can make.” (The 2001 recession is the only one on record in which housing starts actually increased.)

Dr. Paul was withering on the U.S. warfare state, and this of course turned “conservatives” against him. The idea was: we favor limited government, but exporting feminism to Afghanistan and running a world empire? Sign us up!

Not exactly the conservatism of yesteryear, that.

Now, after COVID, perhaps some conservatives are willing to entertain the idea that the whole regime is dangerous and rotten and run by liars, and that that just might also include the people who run the foreign policy.

Incidentally, has anybody been checking in on where Rick Santorum stands on lockdowns? Or the utterly forgettable Tim Pawlenty, whom Sean Hannity promoted? Or any of the other empty suits?

Ron created something lasting. Unlike the suits, he took on rather than aped the establishment. He raised issues like the Federal Reserve that no focus group told him to mention, simply because he considered it urgent for the American public to know about them.

Ron Paul weathered Washington DC and the swamp for many years, but always brought his humble attitude with his truth-bombs with him everywhere he went .. EVEN if what he said would lose him votes!

“He told a Florida audience that free trade with Cuba was the morally correct position, even though he knew that meant a lot of people would never consider voting for him.

Who else does that?

Who else just honestly tells us his views, and is consistent in those views over a 40-year period?”

Great questions. The list of people is very short in this country and this society. I remember Ron being laughed at when he suggested that merely legalizing heroin would NOT suddenly cause a lot of people to “do heroin”. Truth can’t be tolerated when certain narratives are involved sadly.

I also remember Ron saying that we should treat other nations like Jesus’ Golden Rule suggested for individuals. The GOP gathering did a big LOL .. they could not comprehend treating China and Russia and especially Cuba with respect. These days both GOP and Democrats think economic sanctions (similar to what drew Japan into WWII) are a solution. Only to the elite from their safe offices in DC can they pretend that no one is hurt by a foreign policy like this.

Here is a glimpse into what life was like in 2012 when American’s had a chance to do better ..

I was gifted (thank you Captain1776) into being able to meet Ron Paul in person in 2019 at a conference near Dulles International in northern Virginia, and I can tell you he is the genuine thing, a man who is the same in public as he is in private.

A real gentleman who can speak truth to power, whether it be US Empire foreign policy or Covid-19 response.

We need more truth-tellers .. are you up to the challenge?

-SF1

 

 

The Violence and Revolution of 1776 and 1865, Was it Necessary to Secure Liberty and Freedom for All?

Those of us that treasure the principles of liberty and freedom for all will have some very difficult choices in the days, weeks and months ahead. Knee-jerk reactions will have to be avoided as critical thinkers think through the consequences of possible decisions, not just the initial consequences, but the second and third tier consequences as well (something all political types are ignorant about). Unintended consequences of good intentions are still a problem. The end does NOT justify the means.

An article published today by Tom Luongo of Gold, Goats and Guns website challenges the conservitives of today to avoid the trap that the elites have laid out that was highlighted by this Brandon Smith (Alt-Market) quote:

To be clear, what I believe is happening is that conservatives are being prodded and provoked, not to separate and organize but to centralize. I think they want us to support actions like martial law which would be considered totalitarian. Conservatives, the only stalwart defenders of civil liberties, using military suppression and abandoning the Bill of Rights to maintain political power? That is a dream come true for the globalists in the long term. And despite people’s faith in Trump, there are far too many banking elites and globalists within his cabinet to ensure that such power will not be abused or used against us later.

Tom rightly responds:

Nothing would give Klaus Schwab and The Davos Crowd [moneyed global elites] more pleasure than turning us into them — willing to use indiscriminate violence to push otherwise humble and decent people into crazed killers and repudiate their inherent meekness, their inherent desire to pursue their bliss, allowing everyone else that same courtesy.

Principles people! Politics is NEVER a good answer. Fight the good fight using the Golden Rule even if it looks tough and shortcuts look appealing.

Part of the problem is that a vast majority of over 70M people who voted for Trump still believe in the Mythology of America. America as mythology has always stood as the ‘shining house on the hill’ for this enlightened idea that the wishes of the individual pursuing his bliss creates the community and culture which lifts the world out of a less attractive reality. This is why the US destroyed Iraq and Libya, which were each enjoying their own version of success to bring about US democracy, which left them in fractured states decades later, producing many dead innocent men, women and children, reducing Christian influence in these regions and causing many to be refugees, leaving their ancestral homelands of centuries.

That America has been dead since before the myth was birthed. In reality, the 1776 revolution brought HIGHER taxes and more central tyranny to this land than the Brits had even dreamed of. The 1865 reaction to a peaceful secession forever removed the sovereign states as a barrier to full blown federal tyranny, which is the prime reason we are seeing what we have now.

So we have all been taught a myth .. and now we have to critically think about our real options now that the myth has been shown to be a lie.

Tom laments:

What if the mythology of America today has these two wars backwards? What if all the conservatives mourning the Constitution today thanks to a feckless Supreme Court and treasonous Congress have it all wrong? What if the America they mourn the death of today died in 1865 not 2020?

Would that America still be worth finally fighting a bloody civil war for? Because that’s what The Davos Crowd is daring Donald Trump to do.

What if the better response is to do what the South tried to do and failed.

Simply walk away and say, “No more.”

Because fighting the bloody war of all against all, becoming raving fascists rising up to stop the rapacious (and economically backwards) communists in the process is always the wrong option.

Secession is always an option. Opting out of the hyper-collectivizing impulses of in-group/out-group bias is always the right choice. They want us to throw the first punch, to lash out, fire first out of fear, c.f. Fort Sumter, to justify their brutality afterwards.

Something to ponder on for sure.

Peace out.

-SF1

Trade, Peace Promote Prosperity – However Empires and Their Puppets Promote Corruption

So seven years ago, China decided to divert from the standard Empire model and pursue relationships with other nations that centered on trade vs. command and control. These national relationships would be win-win, almost Golden Rule as Ron Paul always preached, where the end result is peace and prosperity for all involved.

From Asia Times article by Pepe Escobar we learn:

The relentless paranoia about China’s New Silk Roads “threat” has much to do with the exit ramp offered by Beijing to a Global South permanently indebted to IMF-World Bank exploitation.

In the old order, politico-military elites were routinely bribed in exchange for unfettered corporate access to their nations’ resources, coupled with go-go privatization schemes and outright austerity (“structural adjustment”).

This went on for decades until Belt and Road became the new game in town in terms of infrastructure building, offering an alternative to the imperial footprint.

Yes, the US Empire is nervous, which is why it has ramped up calling China a threat not long after years of blaming Russia of the same thing.

BRI’s overall strategic focus on infrastructure development not only across Eurasia but also Africa encompasses a major geopolitical game-changer. BRI is positioning vast swathes of the Global South to become completely independent from the Western-imposed debt trap. For scores of nations, this is a matter of national interest. In this sense BRI should be regarded as the ultimate post-colonialist mechanism.

BRI in fact bristles with Sun Tzu simplicity applied to geoeconomics. Never interrupt the enemy when he’s making a mistake – in this case enslaving the Global South via perpetual debt. Then use his own weapons – in this case financial “help” – to destabilize his preeminence.

There have been various phases of imperialism from the overt British style of the 1700s to the covert US style of the last part of the 20th century. The US could have learned from its own founder’s principles that emphasized trade over military alliances that tend to trigger wars:

The Congress, in bi-partisan fashion is fully on heavy debt spending to retain whatever control the US seems to entitle itself to in that region, in desperation. The just passed 4,517-page, $740.5 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2021, just approved by the House by 335 to 78 has quite the arsenal for the China fight:

  1. A so-called “Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), code for containment of China in the Indo-Pacific by boosting the Quad.
  2. Massive counter-intel operations.
  3. An offensive against “debt diplomacy”. That’s nonsense: BRI deals are voluntary, on a win-win basis, and open to renegotiation. Global South nations privilege them because loans are low-interest and long-term.
  4. Restructuring global supply chains which lead to the US. Good luck with that. Sanctions on China will remain in place.
  5. Across the board pressure forcing nations not to use Huawei 5G.
  6. Reinforcing Hong Kong and Taiwan as Trojan Horses to destabilize China.

So while the US Empire continues with its huge strategic mistake while digging itself a a debt hole, China will continue to expand economically.

China’s industrial production will continue to grow while in the US it will continue to decline. There will be more breakthroughs by Chinese scientists such as the photonic quantum computing – which performed 2.6 billion years of computation in 4 minutes. And the 13th century Yuan dynasty spirit will keep inspiring BRI.

I guess you can’t fix stupid, here is looking at you Washington DC and your Deep State which makes you blind to economic options that would infact reduce our debt and trigger prosperity in the US. Yeah, DC doesn’t want that, they desire dependence on DC from individuals and small businesses alike.

Morons.

Peace out

-SF1

Respect All, Fear None – 2020’s Scary Movie Take 3

“Respect without fear may come from being prepared and keeping all things in proper perspective.”  – John Wooden

Perspective, critical thinking, knowing your options are all essential skill sets to have in this 2020 environment not just in the USA, but also in most countries in the world as the political chess players are making their moves.

The USA itself is forever in a huge debt cycle compliments of the FED, and most European countries are in the same state of affairs. The socialist moves (thanks to BOTH Democrats and Republicans in the USA) over the past 100 years have eroded the ability for people to rise up themselves and be innovators in their business adventures. When technologies would afford people to become true entrepreneurs, this 2020 Crisis has crippled startups and other businesses to seemingly force government loans/grants to ensure continued corporate welfare dependency on a new generation of small businesses and the bailout of large corporate entities as well.

In an effort to mask the underlying financial hole that consumes a large part of the world, Covid-19 followed by accusations of racism and white supremacy have been followed by … Covid-19 again. Take 3.

A hundred years ago, back in the early 1900s, most people in the USA were farmers who had to understand free markets, investments in capital, saving for a rainy day as well as the science behind making their farms profitable. Most were a principled people who knew their individual connection to society. These people had perspective, they were critical thinkers as their lives depended on it and their efforts in farming with nature’s storms and droughts meant they feared men less and respected God more.

Since those days we have lost so much of our principles in our society as government has become daddy, nanny, our god and/or a safety net and more recently an entity that can be called on to make us all FEEL better. It seems that the longer people are in government schools, the more they conform to the government’s mold. This sadly is by design of course.

Today, everyone is offended, monuments, books and movies all can trigger a bad feeling so they must all go away. The US political party called Democrats have generally encouraged this temper tantrum behavior.

Well, y’all enjoy your moment in the sun because there is a day coming where reality will hit you like one of Aunt Minnie’s pies from the movie “The Help”

Some day when the government runs out of other people’s money, those who have been on the government dole will find out what was really in that government “pie”. There ain’t no way you can easily recover from the revelation that you have been a pawn in their game all your life or for many families, for generations.

There are also other political forces (known as the GOP) that are now upset with all the destruction of (their) things that are so very important to them .. like monuments, buildings and the like. They too are being triggered as this is all somehow ending Western Civilization. Well, if it was only these monuments, books or movies that was keeping it going, it was indeed a hollow shell.

Now, let me be very clear, I do contend that destruction of property is a crime no doubt. But I do wish that instead of “public” monuments that these would have been private monuments so that private citizens could defend them on private land without government interference or arrests! You see, having the government own land is not a good thing. The common square can be trashed and government workers are told to defend themselves instead of protecting people or property. It is never government’s fault for anything.

But I digress.

We in 2020 tend to think in terms of either/or. We are for BLM/Antifa or for Trump/GOP/Neo-cons. Well this is BS as there are other ways.

There is indeed another road or two that most people have not found yet. Many might know it in their head but it ain’t in their heart. Religion and politics have inoculated many of these from these alternate roads where one can really respect all as being made in God’s image while fearing no man.

Historically, the Enlightenment from the 1700s on brought some great things but also sought to elevate man and his political governments above God and so now the republics have turned towards socialism which can lead to fascism, Marxism and communism who all see in their minds:

  1. This life is all there is
  2. A most beautiful future where everyone is equal
  3. A future place where no one gets their feelings hurt
  4. A core benefit that Global Warming is stopped so Mother Earth is saved thanks to man’s efforts

Those who know their history know that Marxism/Communism has been tried before time and again with millions killed by their own governments only to see the whole s**tshow collapse time and again. Just ask Russia! Is it no wonder that Russia learned from its pre-1990 times and therefore keeps Rothschild, Soros and Bill Gates from having influence in their republic?

While that side-show is in progress, the elites are now looking to utilize this turbulence to exert more control on the population while reducing it to a size that they can “manage” in a generation or two. Yes, there are evil people thinking about this day and night for their whole lives. They are not like you and me, on the outside they look normal, but inside they are pure evil. (again, think Rothschild, Soros and Gates) They all dream of a sequel to the American Empire.

So, what are the alternatives?

One way has been a hidden road that is revealed with some history of what happened a couple of thousand years ago another empire was falling as well. From what I understand, Jesus and his followers had it right on many levels as how to approach this life in this broken world, in their case, inside the Roman Empire:

  • This all is not about flesh and blood but about good and evil powers and principalities

‘For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.‘ The Bible – Ephesians 6:12

  • This is not about church buildings, monuments, etc.

“believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” The Bible – John 4:21

  • It is not the things of this world that sustains us in times of crisis, but what is written on our heart

“..you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” The Bible – 2 Corinthians 3:3

The followers of Jesus, were made free by His love, even when 50% of them were still slaves in the Roman Empire. They were all an inspiration to others in the midst of the empire’s fall. Their oral histories were carried on for generations! This was mainly an underground movement for many years.

It does seem that all it takes is small numbers of people (a remnant) in every country, where it seems that the “safety” governments promised is eroding in the face of violence, that can make a difference one person at a time, spontaneously. We shall see if Jesus-followers make a difference this time.

As to another road or way to live, I look for those with a more libertarian bent that may or may not be Jesus-followers. I for one believe that this other “remnant” and true Jesus followers are not that much different. Both believe in the non-aggression principle BUT still believe in self-defense. Both have a concern for others as INDIVIDUALS and do not play into group definitions. Both also allow others the space to figure things out on their own and will not intrude into their space in an effort to change them. Both allow others to observe their lives, their course that is based on their own principles of life, their North Star, to influence others by their actions.

These roads do not take the top-down attempt to MAKE society worthy of the principles of freedom and liberty. Both of these are grassroots efforts, ignoring political quagmires, in an effort to positively impact others one person or one home at a time from the ground up.

Just as the liberty minded of the 1770s who risked all to exit their security, the British Empire, were actually “formed and molded” by the events of the 1760s where many grew up in their critical thinking and formed a foundation for themselves of principles, either on God and/or on freedom.

These are indeed most interesting times!

So may it be in the midst of this 2020 crisis, we can see clearly a small but encouraging uprising not only in the back-country, but also in the inner-city and suburbs from those that know God as well as those who don’t yet.

Don’t look for this on the news, as any underground movement will remain hidden for some time. Maybe in the next 10-15 years we will begin to see amazing things from small beginnings, a society that changes from the inside out, taking on the Golden Rule (below) as a way to live.

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you”

This is my hope, and my prayer.

Peace out

SF1

Know Your Enemy: Even Jesus Did This – Religion and Empire

While Sun Tzu said:

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Jesus said:

“Love your enemies,
Do good to them who hate you.”

But do notice, in pragmatic terms, Jesus made himself scarce around the religious elites who were out to get him and his small band. He too encouraged the selling of a cloak (coat) to purchase a sword (gun) for the disciples to use as self defense in times of crisis.

However, the truth is there as Paul notes in his letter to those in Rome:

“But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Jesus too set the stage for a unique way with dealing with those out to do one harm:

Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.

While this all sounds like life on a personal level, this also extends to relationships between communities, cultures and countries as well. I am guessing I would get booed like Ron Paul did during a GOP debate in South Carolina years ago, but I stand by it. So would Francis Marion! But I digress.

The reality is that those that choose to do good in this world will find opposition. Even back in the 1st century Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:

“For we wanted to come to you — I, Paul, more than once — and yet Satan thwarted us.”

The Roman Empire had good roads too .. so this was not an infrastructure issue, but a real one with a real adversary. There is evil in this world that makes life difficult.

So on to the core of my message here and the article and book that led me down this strange path. “The (Real) Revolution in Military Affairs” by Andrei Martyanov does a convincing job at painting an accurate picture for the state of the American Empire, which by definition is the enemy of most of the people of the world and IF we were honest, considering our erosion of privacy and freedoms, it is also an enemy of its own citizens, not unlike the USSR of its day.

This book gives an insight into the evolution of weapons and the way they influenced international relations in the 20th and 21st centuries. It also defines Revolution in Military Affairs as manifested via policy, politics, and technology. It reviews some models which are useful in assessing the current geopolitical situation. This book also tries to give a forecast of the future development of warfare and the ways in which it is going to change the whole system of international relations, hopefully towards a new geopolitical equilibrium.

Some helpful early quotes from this book will help you see the value of knowing your enemy, knowing the truth, so that y’all can be prepared.

modern war between nation-states became so complex, in reflection of the tools of such wars, that it is an axiom, not even a theorem, that people who cannot grasp fundamental mathematical, physical, tactical and operational principles on which modern weapon systems operate are simply not qualified in the minimal degree to offer their opinions on the issues of warfare, intelligence operations and military technology without appropriate backgrounds. Failing that, what can one think but that they are merely in the business of content provision (filling space/entertainment) or of propagating the official line—of propaganda, in short—mostly with regard to warmongering? In today’s information-oversaturated world of massive egos nurtured by the dopamine of public visibility and of American politics turned into showbiz, these are the types who dominate the discussion on the most important, vital issue of war and peace in our time.

This is so true, the information overload renders most people helpless in sifting through the lies to find the foundational truth. So much of media is indeed government blow-horns used to confuse and disorient the sheep on any given day making them in fact impotent.

I can only hope that the knowledge readers will gain through this book will help to increase public awareness of the deadly consequences of even a conventional war between global superpowers and will help to dispel the war propaganda being pushed on the public by ignorant and incompetent pundits who have no business offering even an iota of their opinions on what is today a Revolution in Military Affairs of historic magnitude.

Again, the ignorance of the elite usually leads to the slaughter of the innocent. Herein lies the dilemma, how does one find the time to sift through all the Geo-politics while real life is raging right along side in real time in their own communities and their own relationships?

Those holding a modern Ph.D. in philosophy or political science, unless they have a serious education and experience in other fields, will be hard-pressed to derive any sensible conclusions on automation, for example, barring some self-evident and easily accessible truths such as that increased automation removes workers from the manufacturing floor, thus increasing unemployment. This same Ph.D. will have very little knowledge of what goes into the fundamental technological principles relating to the automation of modern industry or, for that matter, how G-code interpreters work for Computer Numerical Control machining centers and what is required to run them—a knowledge domain belonging to college-educated engineers.

This is why we have the blind leading the blind. Those at the top are ill-informed by their own ignorance in attempting to make good decisions. This happen not just in government committees, think-tanks or even at the state and local level, but this also occurs in most major corporations these days as technology has outpaced the knowledge that middle and upper management were taught as little as one decade ago.

The article by Moon of Alabama is a good one to understand the pragmatic situation we find ourselves in with the latest Russian technology advances (such as underwater drones pictured below) as well as the coordinated drone (two pictures down) strike on the Saudi oil production facility.

Artistic rendering of a drone submersible

Martyanov explains why the models the ‘experts’ use fail. He shows how the advantage of one weapon system against another one can be calculated. People who have had a military education know these formulas. Those who only studied political science have likely never heard of them.

I will allow MOA to be the expert on that aspect of this book.

Houthi drones on display

My own interest lies in the philosophic underpinnings of Martyanov’s book itself. More posts on this book will be in the works shortly.

Stay tuned.

-SF1