Category A Life of Pretending

Apr 28 2024

Saturday Speculations


Posted originally on the CTH on April 27, 2024 | Menagerie 

Random thoughts, in no order of importance. Just letting the brain wander unchecked. Therefore, you should proceed with the warning that we aren’t going anywhere specific in this post, and there will be no logic to the progression and presentation of ideas.

I listened to a podcast this morning. First, the primary topic was a defining moment for the early Church, when the actions of Christians profoundly impacted the world around them, through their self giving and life saving actions during a time of plague. Many gave up their own lives to save others.

A severe plague hit the Roman Empire from about 249-262. It might actually have been several diseases. Many of the pagan citizens of the empire were abandoning even their own families in fear of getting sick. Some put their loved ones, still living, out into the streets. Others fled the cities, leaving behind family who had been stricken.

There is a letter left behind by St. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, whose city lost more than half its population. He says, “Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of the danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.”

In a book called The Rise of Christianity, sociologist Rodney Stark devotes a chapter on epidemics and their impact on evangelization. First, the way Christians cared for one another would have given them a much higher survival rate, then survivors would have immunity and be able to care for more people.

But imagine the cultural transformation. Your family and friends abandoned you, but Christian strangers took you in and cared for you, at great cost to themselves. These observations are taken from the Hallow app, today’s Easter challenge. Pretty profound thoughts on the power of living out our faith.

An additional thought on this podcast. The introduction includes a statement about the labor of so many medical professionals in a “flurry” to save the lives of their patients, and society coming to a halt, in spite of science, modern medicine, and 21st century technology.

I am not speaking about all healthcare professionals, of course, but I just want to say that I am appalled by the number who did not act in the best interest of their patients. Many, most even, in my opinion, succumbed to the dictates of the government and pharmaceutical companies. The well-being and lives of patients were far from the top priority of the medical profession. That’s all I have to say about that, but I do wish we could stop pretending about what happened and the motivations.

Money mattered. Lives only to a few unusual people who really cared.

On to totally unrelated topics. My husband and I have recently been enjoying British television. We really can understand only about half the dialogue, depending on which show we’re watching. We get most of Fr. Brown, and not even half of Shetland. Volume does not help, and neither does replay. Short of seeing if there is closed captioning, does anyone have any tips for how to understand these various British accents? I really like the shows a lot better than almost everything American.

Next topic. I doubt seriously this applies to anyone who is reading here, but I’m saying it anyhow. Parents, if your son or daughter is involved in the anti-Israel demonstrations and “Palestinian “ support actions on campuses, you need to take drastic action and cut off any financial support. You’re breeding terrorists. The End.

Mothers especially, you are sheltering your kids, and most especially your sons, way too much. Life is hard. If even childhood is so protected that children face no adversity, they cannot find and develop their own strengths and resilience. Teenagers especially must faces struggles, and yes, defeats. Do not pick them up, do not clear the way. Above all else, never stand between them and the consequences of their actions and bad decisions.

You see their childhoods as the short, magical time you have to enjoy them. That’s true. But it is also true that it’s the short time you have to teach them to survive in a brutal world. Your basement when they are in their thirties is like putting your cub in a cage in the zoo. It’s not life.

What you’re doing when they are kids, and especially teens, is determining to a huge extent how successfully they will navigate life. Forever. Parents did not used to be so frantically overprotective. It is not kindness, or responsible parenting.

I have a shirt that says Life isn’t easy. Life isn’t perfect. Life is good.

I like that philosophy. Manage expectations, for you, and for your kids. Teach them to appreciate the little and the big things. Teach them you actually can be okay, and most of the time, even happy, in the face of adversity.

Okay, that’s my disconnected jumble of thoughts for the day. Your turn.

Apr 10 2024

Patriots Do Not Flinch


Posted originally on the CTH onApril 9, 2024 | Sundance

*Bumped*

We are patriots engaged in a battle of consequence!

We are the workforce.

We are also digital warriors, meme creators, artists, researchers, autists and ordinarily invisible people now considered dissidents in our own country.

We are the backbone of industry, the people who keep it all functioning, the builders, diggers and blue-collar workforce that keeps everything functioning.

We are the people they will never fully control.  We speak in languages they do not understand, and we absorb targeted ridicule as fuel.

We are the movers of goods, the truckers, the farmers, the nameless people behind the skilled trades that keep what they call American society moving.

We are the people who grow the food, pick the food, transport the food, stock the food, cook the food and facilitate the life they live.

We are a visible, yet disregarded, insurgent force within their sphere of life that is never considered, yet we control the outcomes of every moment they value.

We pick up the trash, answer the phones, run cables to their devices, mow their lawns, solve their problems, control the flow of essential services and keep our heads below the radar.

We are the majority.

We are a self-reliant, freedom loving, normally peaceful and God-fearing assembly.

We drive them to their destination; we are comfortably out of mind until needed, and yet we are irreplaceable for the things they require.

We are armed with tools, hammers, pens, rulers, mice, pickup trucks, laptops, post-it notes, stickers and alternate forms of messaging that circumvent the control mechanisms deployed to create our silence.

We are inside every facility, every institution, every meeting, every moment of their existence – and we notice everything.

We have eyes of mice and ears of elephants.  We are there when they do not expect, and we melt away before they notice our appearance.

We are smart, strategic, highly intelligent and carry a brutally obvious and pragmatic common sense that finds optimal solutions to everything.

We identify our tribe immediately and without conversation.

We see what they hide, we hear what they whisper, we decipher their codes, and we understand the complexity they create in their effort to conceal.

We control the physical world that operates around every element of society, and we value real and tangible assets.

We do not sit around pontificating eloquently about philosophic nuances; we get shit done.

We are the people who facilitate their ability to take us for granted, and we do so without issue, resentment or desire for recognition.

We are optimistic, affable, kind, generous, friendly, loyal, warm and quietly spiritual in purpose.

We are polite, considerate and slow to anger.

We prefer to be left alone.  However, pushed entirely far enough, decisions are reached.  Right now, we are tenuously staring with deepened gaze.

We are increasingly pissed off…. Big Time!

In every town, village and hamlet we are encountering the same conversation.  On every porch, in every shop, at every event, the topic is the same.

Right now, we are taking this fury to the platforms of visibility where we hope to influence outcomes.  But if that effort fails, and/or if the command-and-control authorities make the mistake of thinking they can shut down our visibility, destroy our leadership and therefore control the dissent, there will be no quarter provided in the aftermath.

The two biggest mistakes they can make right now is not understanding why we have begun to bow our heads.

First, our heads are not bowed because we are subservient, cowering or accepting the current effort to control us….

….We are praying!

Their second mistake would be to ignore that we are not praying for us…

….We are praying for those who trespass against us!

They may not like what follows, “Amen!”

We are resolute and of common purpose.

We are what they fear!

Mar 27 2024

The Story of Truth


Posted originally on Mar 26, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Truth from Well R

Mar 20 2024

The Failed Promises We Made to the Youth


Posted originally on Mar 20, 2024 By Martin Armstrong |  

The video above is an accurate depiction of how Millennials and Gen Z are operating in today’s economy. They were told that working hard and obtaining a higher education could afford the American Dream. Instead, they are unable to access home ownership, begin families, and are crippled by debt. Analysts now seem perplexed at the birthrate crisis and why the younger generations are not having families. Those unfamiliar with stark differences in the cost of living over the last few decades do not understand that the promises made to the younger generations were built on lies.

The ad above was put forth by Coinbase, and while I have explained that crypto is NOT the solution, I do believe the solution will begin when the younger generations rise up. Those in Congress will not live to see the implications of the bills they pass. Once upon a time, a family could live comfortably on a salary of one. The head of the household need not have an extravagant job to support a family, as a worker at a factory could manage to supply his family with all they needed.

1940s MiddleClassFamily

Even in 1985, when the average person in the Baby Boomer generation turned 30, the average home in America was $82,800. In 2019, when Millennials turned 30, the average home price soared to $313,000. Gen Z is looking at a home price over $400,000. Now, the average income in the 1980s was around $23,464, meaning it would only take a few years to pay off a home that continued to appreciate in value. Yet we must factor in everything such as the price of tuition, inflation (goods, food, energy), the need for dual income and childcare services. There are endless variables but it all leads to a dead-end American dream for the youth.

This year, 2024, begins a sharp change in sentiments and a directional change followed by a major turning point in 2025. I have not seen the computer project something like this since 1985. Four of six models show a Trump victory, but the establishment simply will not let him win. Neither side will accept defeat, and we are looking at massive civil unrest paired with a war that will likely escalate over the summer months prior to the election that may be the last election held in the US. The computer shows real GDP in the US will decline into 2028, and inflation will rise due to international wars that produce absolutely nothing.

The Great Reset set for 2030 is NOT the solution, and their plan will fail. The world will change by 2032, but not due to the Great Reset. We are looking at the collapse of republican forms of government. By the time we get to 2032, that will be the light at the end of the tunnel. The USA will eventually break into three primary regions: 2) the South & Midwest Bible Belt will join together against, 2) the Northeast, and 3) the Pacific States will be their own la-la-land. The volatility will begin in 2024, but by 2032, the United States of America will not exist as it does today. The dollar will no longer be the reserve currency, as the yen will take its place. This does not mean that the world is ending, but rather, revolution is coming as the current system is collapsing before our eyes.

Feb 20 2024

How to Manipulate Public Opinion – Absence of Ethics?


Posted originally on Feb 19, 2024 By Martin Armstrong 

Feb 14 2024

The Elf Has No Shelf


Posted originally on the CTH on February 13, 2024 | Sundance 

Catherine Herridge has been released from employment with CBS as a round of job terminations and cost cutting initiatives have been triggered.

Many people liked Herridge and she seemed to do a better job than normal given her position(s) inside the machinery.  However, I lost most of my respect for Herridge approximately 4 years ago, and eventually just considered her a great pretender amid a multitude of big pretenders.

CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews reportedly fired Herridge.

New York Post – […] Sources said CBS News’ Washington bureau, where Herridge covered national security and intelligence, was hit particularly hard.

Among the other Washington casualties, sources said, was CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues, who was subjected to HR probes over his workplace behavior, including an alleged incident in which he dressed down a female colleague in a “20-minute rant.”

When the incident was investigated in 2021, insiders said, Ciprian-Matthews — who insiders have accused of promoting minorities while unfairly sidelining white journalists — attempted to “blame” the female correspondent and eventually gave Pegues a promotion. (read more)

Oct 9 2023

A Peaceful NY Protest with an End Goal


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Oct 8, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Oct 6 2023

Federalism Is Working – Pushing Back Against Weaponization, The Potemkin Village in DC Is Not


Posted originally on the CTH on October 5, 2023 | Sundance 

As we rightly stop the cycle of Battered Conservative Syndrome, here’s a concrete reality we can all understand easily.

If the people who are weaponizing government really held any concern about the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government holding them accountable, they would not be expanding their weaponization operations.

The White House controls the actions of the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS), FBI, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), through cabinet appointments and leadership staff. Each of these agencies are expanding their domestic targeting operations, not reducing them.

That expanded targeting is happening simultaneously with the House Subcommittee on Weaponization in place, presumably an oversight body. That reality tells us all we need to know about the intentions of the congressional subcommittee and the perspective of the government agencies toward accountability; there simply isn’t any.

The DC construct of that subcommittee is a Potemkin village, a false front, intended to give the illusion of something that is factually non-existent. That’s the bitter reality of the situation, and feel free to confront any representative of DC with that reality. It is a stark, demonstrable and self-evident reality.

There’s only one way that dynamic is going to change, and that can only come from the introduction of something that currently does not exist.

Donald J Trump – “I am running for President, have a 62 Point lead over Republicans, and am up on Crooked Joe Biden, despite the Democrat Party’s massive Law-fare, Weaponization, and Election Interference efforts, by 4 to 11 Points, but will do whatever is necessary to help with the Speaker of the House selection process, short term, until the final selection of a GREAT REPUBLICAN SPEAKER is made – A Speaker who will help a new, but highly experienced President, ME, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” [SOURCE]

On the optimistic side of that pill swallowing, federalism is working (somewhat) as a bulwark against the corrupt institutions. The state of Missouri has won key victories against the DC surveillance state with 5th Circuit Court rulings blocking the Biden administration from censoring the thoughts and speech of American citizens.

Additionally, in a key addition to the appellate court ruling, the 5th circuit has expanded their injunction to now cover CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. [SEE RULING HERE]

The court has stated that CISA “shall take no actions, formal or informal, directly or indirectly, to coerce or significantly encourage social-media companies to remove, delete, suppress, or reduce, including through altering their algorithms, posted social-media content containing protected free speech.”

.

The professionally Republican DC effort to stop the weaponization of government has been yet another exhibition in abject failure.

Personally, I believe that failure is a feature, not a flaw.

Perhaps President Trump meeting with Republican leadership on Tuesday can introduce something new that changes the dynamic. However, given the nature of how professionally Republican politicians like Jim Jordan operate in government, as one wing of a UniParty effort, I wouldn’t count on it.

Jim Jordan is the Chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government.

Aug 16 2023

Have Trump’s Lawyers Been Compromised?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law Re-Posted Aug 15, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: In “The Trump Florida Indictment Violates the Constitution,” you recommend that Trump’s lawyers should file motions to dismiss based on substantive due process violations. I am a lawyer and believe you’re correct. Any speculation as to why they don’t?

FS

ANSWER: Not sure if they are representing him. This has never been done before. It is certainly a ripe question of first impression for the Supreme Court. I would be jumping all over this.

My concern is that there has to be a reason they are NOT really defending him. They may have been intimidated by the government. They imply the IRS might personally audit them if they do not cooperate. I am stating this OPENLY for someone had better really defend Trump, for this is more than him; this is the entire rule of law on trial here. As you know, once they create a precedent, they will cite Trump’s case and start indicting people in one district after venue shopping and then put them on trial only to comply with the 6th Amendment.

They already rig the selection process for judges more often than not. Here is my docket sheet. Judge McKenna granted my motion to compel the government to explain the case against me because they constantly changed the theory. The prosecutors went to the Chief Judge and had my case removed from Judge McKenna to John F. Keenan, who, on the first day, overruled Judge McKenna and denied my motion after McKenna had granted it. The Chief Judge then sealed my docket so I could never see how they rigged my case. I have witnessed every dirty trick in the book that these people pull.

The court-appointed lawyer David Cooper never said a word. This was an outright denial of my Due Process right, and he REFUSED ever to file an appeal. The Supreme Court has subsequently held that a lawyer who refused to file an appeal is ineffective assistance of counsel. I believe the government threatened him, and they may be doing the same to Trump’s lawyers. Of course, they will never admit that.

Aug 14 2023

Sunday Talks, Soft Nudges Against The Great Pretending


Posted originally on the CTH on August 13, 2023 | Sundance 

I was once asked by journalist Lee Smith to stand back, look at the total landscape, give my honest evaluation of the state of things, while defining the largest problem.  My answer was immediate and deliberate….

We are living in an era of “Great Pretending.”  That’s it. That’s the #1 issue that creates the angst, anxiety and suffering we all encounter.  Perhaps a self-defense mechanism, but certainly, a psychological need to pretend things are something other than what they truly are.  It’s everywhere, all around us, and it is almost painful to be one of the people amid the chaos who refuses to pretend.

Long after we are gone there will be people, perhaps not yet born, who will look upon this era and define it as this mysterious time when billions of people found it easier to pretend than face the reality of the precipice.  It has been said that “ignorance is bliss,” but this is not that. This state of pretending is something far more insidious, far more dangerous, and yet acceptance of this pretending reality provides the stable non-pretending psyche with enhanced predictive insight for what comes next.

You might say those paragraphs sound awfully esoteric in value, somewhat difficult to fully contextualize without a solid frame of reference or example. Well, here’s an example of intentional pretending via CBS today.  Catherine Herridge (EoS) knows the truth of the thing, yet she cannot share the truth of the thing; so, she pretends not to know the truth of the thing while softly bumping up against the acceptable pretending of the thing.  Just watch the first 2 minutes and you will see it. WATCH:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=tgFSwRp03Bs%3Ffeature%3Doembed

As the pretending outline existed before, David Weiss could go anywhere he wanted to investigate and prosecute the Biden issue.  A least that was the story from the Dept of Justice and even Weiss himself. Yet, for some rather mysterious reason, Weiss needed to ask for special counsel status.  It’s all just an exhibition in parseltongue and pretending.

The DOJ is trying to protect the Biden family while simultaneously prosecuting their political opposition, Donald Trump.  Toward that end, the special prosecutor against Trump asked for, and received, a secret court order for data from the Twitter account of Trump; their justification, Trump was a flight risk.  Now think about that.

A secret, under seal, court order authorized under the justification of President Trump being a flight risk.  The most famous man in the world, a man known by everyone on the entire planet earth, a walking human GPS system who literally has armed guards of the U.S. government following him around every day and documenting his every move, is considered a “flight risk”?

What level of pretending is needed to make that judicial justification seem rational?  I digress.

As long as the era of great pretending remains the easiest psychological condition to survive the abuse, there will be no shift for people to look at their core beliefs and the fabricated world around them.

The challenge is getting those who understand the big picture dynamics to stop being comfortable and sticking their heads in the sand about “motive”. Most people are still clinging to beliefs around a principle of ‘rule of law’ that applies to national leadership writ large.   We need to change that thinking quickly – or we will be left explaining ‘what happened’ far too late.

There is also a major issue with conservative “ushers” guiding the audience into a state of tactical numbness.  A willful blindness within part of the American electorate, a chosen refusal to acknowledge the implications of the unAmerican and unconstititional actions we are seeing on a daily basis.

It can no longer be presumed to be a matter of, “I can’t see what’s happening”, because a whole lot of normal Americans really are clean and articulate.  “I can’t see it”, just doesn’t cut it.

It’s more along the lines of, “I see what’s happening, but it’s scary and complicated and confusing, and if I admit that I see it, I will become responsible in a way that I am not if I keep pretending; I can’t see it or hear it, or maybe I don’t understand it.”

Why don’t we dare say what is so? Are we a bit afraid that if we give up the willful blindness we will perhaps start screaming and not be able to stop? Do we think we have so little courage? Do we really believe that we have no resources to bring to the battle – or nothing more to contribute to the turning of the battle?

If we stop pretending, we unite as a country, because we all start to accept the same baselines.  The fraud, that has been purposefully deployed as a tool for fundamental change, can only exist if people pretend that fraud and corruption does not exist.  Stop pretending, and the sunlight of commonality begins to unite our nation.

Believe me, and think about this with great serious reflection, the systems that are destroying us rely upon our continued pretending.

If you want to be a person of great influence in this current era, stop pretending.  Start living, speaking, challenging and being direct and brutally honest when you encounter the need for pretending.  Stop participating in the pretense, and you will see the natural outcome of a loving God elevate you.

We have the tools, resources and opportunity to speak with great resonance and clarity.

Speak truth!

Speak it loudly!

Speak it with resonance, clarity and great deliberateness.

This is what they fear.

Truth is a weapon against pretending.

Use it!

Watch what happens!