Category Living in a Potemkin Village

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!

Aug 10 2023

Western Sanctions Not Impacting Russian Economy as Much as Expected


Posted originally on the CTH on August 9, 2023 | Sundance 

I have been researching the MACRO economic dynamic in Russia quite deeply for the past six months.  Essentially looking to discover not only what impact the western imposed sanctions might be having, but more broadly looking to see what happens to self-sustainability when essentially locked out from the world of commercial imports.

The research is fascinating, not simply because it is a unique opportunity, but also because national economic issues play a big role in the overall social dynamic.  That said, I can say the social aspect is stunningly more interesting than the data driven outcomes.  When you really dig deep into actual life of the ordinary people in Russia, far away from the geopolitical contexts, you get an entirely different perspective.  My worldview of the average Russian person/family has completely changed.

There is a really good thread on how the western sanctions against Russia are having a much lesser impact than initially thought [SEE HERE].  On the economic side, one thing I would point to is how the economy is essentially an outcome of two facets: (1) the internal production strength, and (2) the service side of the ledger.

[READ HERE]

The author makes the accurate point that from a production side perspective, Russia actually has a larger economy now than Germany, the largest EU nation.  The cause for this is “autarchy” or self-sufficiency.  Indeed, as the timeline of the sanctions closes in on the second year completing, the Russian production economy is even stronger than when the sanctions began.  Quite simply, they are making even more of their own goods now.

The sanctions hit what would typically fall into the service side of the economy, as well as financial and economic roadblocks.  However, that aspect of the Russian economy was much smaller than most suspected and there were sanctions going back to 2014 which made the outcome of the 2022 western imposed restrictions less impactful.

I will be finishing my review of the economic data once Q3 is over, that will give me an entire year of data to share.  However, the social stuff is even more fascinating.

I have a new understanding of why former NSA contractor Edward Snowden was so comfortable using Russia as the place to hide after his release of classified intelligence showing how the U.S. government was spying on Americans via social media and metadata collection.

I have mostly been looking at three areas in Western Russia.  Kazan, Moscow and St Petersburg (formerly Leningrad).  Of the three generally large metropolitan areas, St Petersburg is by far the most interesting.  It’s beautiful there and the city is alive and vibrant.

In many ways you might compare Russia in 2023 to the USA in/around 1988.  Life is just not complicated and far more socially engaged.

I’ll have more on this later, but if you are ever bored check out the Russian YouTubers who livestream broadcast “a day-in-the-life” type of activity.  The infrastructure is in generally good repair, the people seem warm and friendly and there is a strong social value placed on family and kids.

There are certainly negatives and the cultural dynamic of the former USSR is still evident.  Technologically they are somewhat behind in some details, but the overall cohesion of their value system is something I did not fully appreciate until I started down this road of research.

I can see why the average Russian could be wide-eyed during a visit to the USA and fascinated with the overall quality of life that might be considered indulgent.  However, I can also see how reciprocally the average American could be wide-eyed and smiling at the overall sense of the Russian people.

Strip out the politics, and we are all much more similar than we are different.

Jul 29 2023

Trying to Make Heads or Tails about Recessions


Armstrong Economics Blog/Economics Re-Posted Jul 28, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Looking at Socrates,  do you think that these people who were constantly calling for a recession because there were two quarters that declined with covid really need revision? Socrates was correct, no recession. But it is showing major turning points in 2024 which seem to align with your old ECM forecast calling for commodity inflation into 2024. How would you define a recession?

EJ

ANSWER: In trading, reactions are 1 to 3 time units. I believe that the same definition should be used for classifying a recession. They define a recession as two consecutive quarterly declines. If you look at the “Great Recession” of 2008-2009, you will see three consecutive quarterly declines and a rebound. If we look at the COVID recession caused by locking everyone down, that was just two consecutive quarterly declines.

I personally would argue that a true economic recession MUST exceed three consecutive declines. Here is the chart of GNP from 1929 to 1940. There were three years of negative growth. I simply think that this definition of two quarters is wrong. You can have a slight decline of 1 to even 5%, but that does not suggest a recession. In the case of 1929, that was a decline of 9.5% in 1930 – the first year. Now look at the COVID Crash, which was also a decline of 9.53%. But the difference is that the COVID decline was forced and not natural. That is why it rebounded so quickly. Now the so-called “Great Recession” of 2008-2009 only saw a decline in GDP of 3.47%.

The “Great Recession” was not really so great. It wiped out real estate and bankers but did not fundamentally alter the economy. So who is right and who is wrong will always depend upon the definition. Yes, the AI Timing Arrays point to a recession starting Next Year by their definition. This will most likely be caused by the decline in confidence that will lead to UNCERTAINTY, and as such, the consumer will contract. Up to now, the continued expansion of the economy into 2024 has also been fueled by the shift in assets from public to private.

As originally forecast, we should have seen a commodity boom into 2023,

and we should expect a highly authoritarian attempt by 2028.

Jul 27 2023

RFK Tells the Truth About Our War with Russia


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Jul 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Jun 22 2023

Kennedy Gains Traction In the 2024 race for the US Presidency


Armstrong Economivs Blog/Politics Re-Posted Jun 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The Democrats said they would not host a presidential debate, so Robert F. Kennedy is starting his own. All eyes are on Kennedy right now after appearing on Joe Rogan. Rogan was accused of spreading misinformation by having Kennedy on his show, so he offered money to anyone who could disprove what was said. Numerous donors have thrown money in the ring, and RFK’s team said the presidential candidate would happily appear on the show again to support all of his claims.

Elon Musk also hosted RFK on Twitter and held a public conversation covering controversial statements that the mainstream media refuses to report. Kennedy is calling out the establishment and the status quo. Big pharma, COVID, big tech, the woke agenda, intelligence agencies, and even the war in Ukraine is being questioned for the first time. I must say no other presidential candidate is this outspoken about topics that are totally dismissed as conspiracy theories.

RFK is a strong advocate of the first amendment. “The constitution was written for hard times and remedy for bad speech is more speech. It is not about cutting people off once you give the government the power to silence its critics, it then has license to commit any atrocity…the whole foundation of American democracy is we get to talk to each other about anything we want. We get to criticize our government,” Kennedy said during an interview.

RFK is piquing the interest of everyone in the middle who is not far left nor right. Kennedy knows that his life is in danger for publicizing his views. He knows that JFK was assassinated and has stated numerous times that it could happen to him too. The mainstream media will never report on the topics that RFK is covering. I am becoming increasingly impressed with his ideas – he’s someone to keep an eye on.

Jun 22 2023

Pentagon: $6.2 BILLION in Ukraine Aid Missing Due to Accounting Error


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Jun 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The nation was distracted by the 24/7 news coverage about the submarine that went missing while cruising around to see the Titanic. It seems that there is always a big news story put forth on days when undesirable information is released. We know the entire conflict in Ukraine was planned many years ago (see: “The Plot to Seize Russia”). We know that Biden is in bed with Ukraine – bought and paid for. Now, the Pentagon is admitting that “due to accounting errors” they LOST $6.2 BILLION!

Did the money go to contractors? Politicians? Ukraine? The government refuses to say. Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh explained that they originally thought $3 billion went missing, but the figure they are admitting to the public is closer to $6.2 billion. “We have confirmed that for FY23, the final calculation is $3.6 billion, and for FY22 it is $2.6 billion, for a combined total of $6.2 billion,” Singh said. “These valuation errors in no way limit or restricted the size of any of our PDAs or impacted the provision of support to Ukraine,” she added, as if taxpayers think that we aren’t doing enough for a foreign nation when America is a desperate state.

Everyone should be outraged. That is a HUGE sum of money that this indebted nation cannot afford to misplace. This entire situation reeks of corruption. If this happened under Trump, there would be a never-ending investigation from every angle. If you or I paid a penny less on our taxes, they would hunt us down with the full force of the law. That money was taken from hardworking Americans who pay their taxes. No taxation without representation is a faraway dream. WE DESERVE ANSWERS.

Jun 22 2023

War & Justice Premiere this Weekend in Munich


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Jun 21, 2023 by Martin Armstron

Premier in Munich this Weekend

https://player.vimeo.com/video/793785656?h=08ef0d3c53&dnt=1&app_id=122963

I was trying to free up my schedule to fly to Munich for the Premier this weekend. This is an important film. It is about the corruption at the International Criminal Court (ICC). As I have said, I even met with people there who wanted to use my case against the Clinton Administration, but because the US is not a member, they had no jurisdiction. Well, neither is Russia nor China a member but the Neocons have managed to get the ICC to indict Putin all to create World War III. This is a very important film that I highly recommend.

Jun 22 2023

When Will the World Wake Up?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Jun 21, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; It makes no sense for Poland to support Ukraine when they refused to ever apologize for their slaughter of 100,000 of us in their ethnic cleansing under Bandara. The rumor is that Poland had hoped that Russia would defeat Ukraine and take the Donbas and that Poland would retake the Western part of Ukraine. Have you heard anything about that?

Thank you for your truth in the middle of a war.

BR

ANSWER: There has also been an underlying resentment in Poland against the Nazi-Ukrinians who have never apologized and have never changed. They simply still cling to their idea of ethnic cleansing and the only people acceptable in their new country are Ukrainian by pure blood. Bandera remains a national hero and he is of the same vile character as Joseph Stalin – enjoyed washing his hands in the blood of others.

Bandera’s philosophy was pure hatred. In 2014, they were out in force showing Bandara’s photo and preaching hatred of Russians. Still, to this day, even Hungarians and looked down on in Ukraine. The hatred of Bandara is deeply embedded and it is against everyone who is not Ukrainian – Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Greek. In Macedonia, the people support generally Russia and view Ukrainians as always troubling seeking war.

As one Ukrainian wrote to me:

“Despite my upbringing for some reason I never held this hatred for Russians or any other people but the Ukrainian diaspora around me has generally taken the bait.

If I hate anything it’s more the ideology that seeks to limit and enslave us with lies.  An endless battle!”

What the Ukrainians overlook is that Stalin’s seizure of the food from Ukraine and their starvation have two MAJOR factors they do not want to acknowledge. (1) Stalin was not Russian, he was from Georgia. (2) Stalin’s right-hand man was Ukrainian – Kagan who was in charge of taking the food from Ukraine. Some say he was Jewish and sought retribution against the anti-Jewish attitude in Ukraine.

Others say that he is an ancestor of Victoria Nuland’s husband Robert Kagan. I cannot verify that he is a blood relative of Lazar. His family dropped “ovich” at the end of the name. The sister-in-law of Nuland is the one that started the Institute for the Study of War, which strangely never seems to advocate peace. Even the NY Times commented on this family and their connections. Ron Paul commented that their family business is always a war against Russia. So when a family member dies in battle in their endless wars, remember who has been cheering this death and destruction. Even Europe is taking note of how this family pushing for war. And now, Nuland is #2 at the State Department in the Biden Administration. This is a coup!

Warsaw is indeed considering submitting restitution demands to Kiev for the 1943 Volhynia massacres, which saw over 50,000 to 100,000 Poles killed by the Nazi-allied Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists led by Stepan Bandera. Germany has apologized as well as Japan for their atrocities during World War II – not the Ukrainians.

This is the problem, they were parading around with banners and still supporting Bandara and his ethnic cleansing. So how could they possibly apologize when they still follow Bandara’s philosophy of only pure-blood Ukrainians allowed?

As I said, Kiev currently considers the Nazi collaborator Bandara a national hero.  If Germany still considered Hitler a national hero and built a monument to him, or Italy did that with Benito Mussolini, would that not cause many people to question Germany or Italy?

Victoria Nuland, the #2 in the US State Department, was not only there in Kiev in 2014 egging on the revolution and starting the civil war against Russia, her family is Ukrainian. Her hatred of Russians is legendary and she has infiltrated the United States with the very same philosophies.

Ukraine sought to separate from Russia and that was fine. But when the Russians in the Donbas wanted to separate from the Ukrainians, suddenly they were terrorists and Kiev launched a civil war against them. It was NOT the other way around with the support of the American Neocons.

When will the world wake up? We are being manipulated and this time we are on the side of the Nazis that our fathers fought against.

Jun 13 2023

New Song Representing the Non-Pretending American Population Going Viral


Posted originally on the CTH on June 12, 2023 | Sundance 

“81 Million Votes My Ass”, is a new counter-propaganda message turned into a song and highlighted by Kari Lake. {Direct Rumble Link}

The song is a little salty but strips down the nonsense and delivers a direct counterpunch to the elements in social society that would continually have us believe that Joe Biden won 81 million votes in the 2020 election.  WATCH/LISTEN:

.

2024 is every American patriot uniting to burn the ships behind us.  This one is for all the marbles. 2024 is not a fight where tepid half-measures and gentlemanly pastels will suffice.  Get right with God, put on the armor, absorb the focus of fighting like the third monkey on the ramp to Noah’s ark, and get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Our ally is anyone who stands beside us, right now. Our enemy is anyone who doesn’t.

The new sons and daughters of the revolution are going to look completely different.  The Green Dragon Tavern may be a church, a picnic table or a tailgate.  The assembly is not focused on the labels of the assembled.  The mission is the purpose. The fight is wherever it surfaces. Delicate sensibilities must be dispatched like a feather in a hurricane.

May 30 2023

The Real Hidden Agenda – It’s Time to take the Red Pill


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted May 30, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Martin,
I’m gay and I agree with you on this transgender drivel, especially letting male-born athletes compete in women’s sports. It is becoming scary for those of us who are just gay. We are being thrown in the same category as this transgender agenda. I too have been to Thailand. The Ladyboys in Thailand are numerous and are accepted in society. They are smart enough to not make a political issue of it as is taking place here in America.

As for your view of Trump as the only hope to save our politics, I profoundly disagree. I think he is arrogant and ignorant. He doesn’t care if what he says if it is true or not.

CP

REPLY: With respect to Trump, you have to separate the individual from the politics. I understand people hate Trump. The media have spread this BECAUSE he is a threat to the Washington political establishment. Nonetheless, not even Trump can stop the decline and fall of Western Civilization.

People get offended by his crude statements at times. But at least you know what he really thinks. Is it better for a career politician to say everything you want to hear and then look at you as a stupid fool and do the opposite?

I have worked in Washington. There is ABSOLUTELY nobody who is a career politician in either party who will really stand up for the people. They are under pressure all the time to conform to the unelected party bosses.

I have met many heads of state in my 40 years. I have said the truth. Trump was the ONLY such person who ever impressed me as actually being human. His statement that he wanted to bring our boys home from Afghanistan because he was tired of writing letters to their parents to thank them for their son’s sacrifice of dying for his country. He actually said what are we doing there? They are fighting over borders for a 1,000 years. What difference will we make?

No head of state EVER spoke about the people. It was always about their policy. I have come to see that we are just the pawns – expendable pawns at that. There are always more of us to come. They look down upon the people as stupid scum. This whole digital currency thing is to track everything we do.

So you may find Trump’s statement and his arrogance at times as distasteful. We will never find someone perfect. But all of this is irrelevant. For there is NOBODY coming on some white horse to save the day. Trump’s quality was that he was NOT a career politician and what he was doing was for his personal legacy from ending wars to building a wall to protect our borders.

So all I can say is to those who hate Trump so much, you better look closely at the others for they have nothing but contempt for you.


Back in the ’70s, I hired a death mute – Danny. He taught me sign language and we could communicate and laugh together. I had a major surgeon as a client and he said that he probably could restore his hearing. I offered to pay for everything for him and he declined. He was afraid to hear sounds. He grew up that way and was in his late 20s and did not want to change. He taught me that what I thought would be a generous offer was really just me thinking that normal was the ability to hear. We cannot judge others by ourselves.

One of our staff who is black, was rather upset about the whole Black Lives Matter movement. She explained that it was being usurped by non-blacks. There was clearly a strange agenda behind the curtain. Soros and his defund the police agenda was to create civil unrest and cause the country to get prepared for this one-world government.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg was the first woman to make it to the Supreme Court. She was an advocate for women’s rights. But she came out and explained that the entire Abortion Movement was a fraud. They called it women’s rights and have indoctrinated many women who passionately take that position. They have been cleverly manipulated by the Gates crowd and the Rockefeller Foundation for their real goal was to reduce the population. Gate’s father started the whole Planned Parenthood and placed them in minority areas to reduce their population on a racist basis.  Like his father, Gates has targeted Africa to reduce population.

Now, the total number of people who identify as Transgender is 1.6 million out of a population of 331.9 million (2021). That is 0.0048%. Now, how has this become such a major issue? There is absolutely NO WAY this Transgender group had the money or the clout to turn this into such a huge issue. Diving deep behind the curtain and you will find, just like abortion, it is being funded for the purpose of reducing the population – and has NOTHING to do with Pride or gay rights. They are being exploited just as women were told it was their right to have an abortion – kill that baby and save the planet.

This Transgender nonsense is in fact destroying the right of the Gay Community because they are being thrown in with this Transgender nonsense advocating changing children’s sex without parental knowledge all before puberty. Let’s get real here. This agenda is to promote the reduction in the population and has NOTHING to do with the Gay Community or their rights to inclusion and equality.

This is always the same strategy – manipulating society to achieve its undeclared goal be it war, politics, or women/transgender rights. It is like LIFE Insurance which is really DEATH insurance. They sell fire, accident, theft, and hurricane insurance. But they could not sell DEATH insurance so they called it LIFE insurance and people brag how much they have.

Video Player

00:00

00:55

Remember the lockdowns? The whole COVID nonsense was a scam to end commuting and terminate offices bringing in virtual work from home all to reduce gas consumption. That was also a manipulation of society for climate change – not for health. There are people still to this day wearing masks driving alone in a car. They have been mentally damaged by these tactics.

NOTHING is ever what it seems. We are the fools and they are always using sophisticated tactics to manipulate society to achieve objectives that they will never reveal.

It’s just time to take the Red Pill and wake up if you EVER hope to survive as a viable human being or take the Blue Pill and live in your fantasy that government actually cares about you.