"Old Days" (opens in separate window)

will we go gently into that good night?

friday, march 31st, 2023

The most challenging pieces I author address overwhelming topics, or verbalize what many of us are thinking yet fail to say; obviously, “blackpilling” isn’t the goal, and the threat of violence from lowbrow political mobs is a serious concern.  Apparently, I’m not the only one: each year, I read thousands of well-considered articles, blogs, and emails presented by frightened, angry, or resigned individuals.  They believe the America we knew is gone, never to return.  I speak to many more who express much the same sentiment.  We commiserate with each other.  We talk tactics, candidates, and ideas, and refer to historical moments that comfort us.  But, in the end, many of us feel we are lying to ourselves.  Free elections, an educated public, patriotism, and a clear-eyed view of history are now an illusion, or simply a spasmodic recollection of how things used to be.

The reality is that we are close to “checkmate” -- but not there yet.

These are dangerous times for thinkers and people of conscience.  There are crazies everywhere!  Recently, federal judge Kyle Duncan was escorted off the stage by marshals at Stanford University because a mob prevented him from engaging with the school’s Federalist Society Club.  Also shocking is the backstory from the Dean of Diversity, Jenny Martinez; Stanford’s president forced Martinez to apologize to Duncan, as she was the voice of the mob, shouting him down and lecturing him on his lack of Wokeness.  In response to her apology, her class was vandalized by fellow wokesters. From the New York Post:

At the end of her class, all but a handful of Martinez’s class of 60 stood and stared at her silently to suggest they were also being silenced.

It is worth noting that Dean Martinez will not face any disciplinary action — this is where our society is today.

In previous articles, we discussed the factors which have tilted the scale to favor the Left, or Progressives, or Marxists…whatever name they use.  There seems to be more of them each year through illegal immigration and governmental policies.  Our educational system now graduates a very Woke product who would turn in their own parents if required.  The latest outrage is brought directly to you from San Francisco (the wackiest, wokiest city in America) — the city “could become the first major US city” to fund slavery reparations, and their proposed plan would award $5 million to “each eligible black resident.” This is seriously being considered.

Further, "A city-appointed panel also suggests a guaranteed annual income of $97,000 for eligible recipients with homes in San Francisco provided for $1 a family.  The city's Board of Supervisors has begun considering the recommendations."  Remember, San Francisco never saw an enslaved person…ever!

Ask yourself these two consequential questions:

1. Who are these crazies being given serious time and consideration for these ridiculous ideas?

2. Where are the half a trillion dollars to facilitate funding this idea to be found?  Obviously, these ill-gotten gains will be taken from the soon-to-be poor!

These people and millions more have no filter.  If they can think of it, they want it!  It would end right here except for one fact: they have the political power.  A confluence of radical ideas, unenforced laws, people who see this as a means to an end, and a sort of governor placed on the sane among us have allowed these crazies to run free like a pack of power-hungry Hitler Youth.  You dare not stand up to them…they’ll burn you down.  These mobs are precisely like the young Nazi ideologues of the ‘30s and ‘40s.

If I am correct, and we live in authoritarian times, what do we do?  Our leaders and our military use the phrase “all options are on the table.”  What exactly does that mean?  The general understanding of that phrase is you are unconstrained as to your responses.  Military and national leaders don’t want adversaries to know precisely what options are being considered; this is called strategic ambiguity.

But what about you and me?  What do we do with a situation that has become intolerable and threatens our existence?  Who is going to bat for us anymore?  We’ve tried everyone from our State and federal representatives to the courts and, ultimately, the ballot box.  Our right to live in peace and tranquility has been severely eroded.  Our children are forever impoverished by out-of-control spending that will make them poorer and lead shorter, more insecure lives.

How many of our fellow Americans realize and fear what’s almost certainly coming?

Poet Dylan Thomas urged his father, who was facing death:

"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Within this poem, Thomas expresses his thoughts to fight bravely until the end.  The question for all of us who believe in the concept our brave Founding Fathers conjured up is, what are we willing to do to keep the flame of Liberty alive?  With enemies and detractors all around us and the odds stacked against us, who among us will stand up and fight the good fight?  For that matter, what is the good fight?

For myself, it is four things:

1. Find the leadership that people like you and I can support, who can clearly see what has happened to our country.  They must declare political war against the people, practices, and allies of those that have wrought such widespread desecration of our once “city upon the hill” as expressed by President John F. Kennedy.

2. Seek guidance by rereading our Declaration of Independence, which states in part:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

This is how our country was born.  No government has the right to enslave its people!

3. Our country was founded on the truth that tyranny encroaches upon our individual God-given rights of life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, is intolerable.  Can you fully see and understand that those rights have been horribly infringed? We must call a spade a spade, and recognize the stage at which we find ourselves.

4. Many aspects of life appear to be as complicated as a Gordian Knot to untangle.  But would you believe it if I told you that’s not true?  You must know that things are either true or not, and we must live in the light of reality when we parse the truth.

I don’t advocate violence like the mobs of the Left, but I also don’t believe in giving up important and righteous fights.  If the battle for our democracy is not the most imperative of fights, what is?  I know there are some still young in spirit and vigor who share my concerns, and there is a responsibility on older Americans like myself to be good stewards of our Republic — we must educate and motivate our heirs for Liberty’s sake!  We have much more to lose before this is over…and we aren’t there yet.

Long live the Republic!

God Bless America!

© 3.23.2023 by Allan J. Feifer, "American Thinker"

[JS: I will NOT go silently into the night.]

A Day In The Life.

Up at 8a on Friday; the rain had continued all night and morning, and the street gutters and storm drains were handling it. I went thru my finger stick to check my BSL (Blood Sugar Level) and recorded it on my Diabetes 2 chart, made coffee and had a mini-croissant for breakfast, took a Tramadol and Gabapentin for various pains, had a couple smokes in the semi-cool garage and checked the leftover errands list. Clear. It was already a mild 45°, and forecast to hit 48°, with rain all day. Glad it wasn't snow, or we'd be under several feet by now. (1" water = 11" of snow)

It's not OUR guns; it's YOUR sons.

I scanned the news and weather, had more coffee, did some paperwork and computer "house cleaning", and a system-wide back-up.

One of my glasses' lenses was loose and needed adjusting/tightening, so I called my Opthamalogist's Office, to find out what his Optometrist's hours were for today. I do have one of those small eyeglass adjusting kits, but can't see the tiny, tiny screws anymore to adjust them, with the tiny, tiny screwdriver. So I had to drive south, get that fixed and stop at Rite Aid on the way home. No other stops. Back home by 2p, I tuned in to "Bonehead Bongino" -- anyone have a better suggestion for afternoons? -- for a couple hours, in the background.

Sherry stopped by after 5:30P, when she closed down her Daughter's Art Shop in nearby Hallam, and we got a few hugs and kisses in. She left, I closed down the condo, as temps began dropping, had dinner, watched some TV and called it a night at 11:30p.

The rain and thunder woke me at 9:30a on Saturday, so I was up for the day. Another mild 43° morning. I upped the heat, made coffee, checked the weather and news on my office-sunroom computer and felt like doing nothing for the day; exactly what my day's to-do list on it. Well, I had one trip to make down south to Dallastown at 1p, so I guess that counts as an errand, plus I'll stop at one of the Rutter's Convenience Stores to get several cartons of Marlboros, since I'm stockpiling them now too, for when TSHTF, this Summer. I tuned into the "Chris Plante Show" Podcast from yesterday, much of which I missed, until I left at 12:30 for my 1p mtg.

It's not OUR guns; it's YOUR sons.

On the way down south, the Forsythia (yellow), Weeping Higan (pink) Cherries, Yoshino (white) Cherries, Amelanchier canadensis (white), Redbuds (Cercis canadensis), white Star Magnolias (Magnolia stellata), Pears (Pyrus Bradford) were in bloom, with many other trees' and shrubs' buds swelling and ready-to-open. Spring, after a very, very mild Winter, is more than just around corner: it's here. The Kwanzan (dbl-pink) Cherries and Pears (white) are not open just yet. But always remember that we'll have the "traditional PA" "Onion Snow", as a sign that Spring's here.

I scanned the many Conservative News websites, which I frequent -- want a list? email me -- and all I'm reading is articles about pushing back trannies, faggots, ESG, DEI, CRT, dykes, male v women athletes, gender crap etc etc etc. I'm so freaking sick of it all. What happened to "NORMAL"? How did we let go of it, and turn into a nation of so much perversion, Whiteness harm, gender change crap, White racism, White hatred, Leftist degeneracy, and no morals? I'm sick of all bullshit politics, which are just LIES and BULLSHIT. Seems to me it's a case of PPPP: Piss Poor Prior Planning, on our part. We didn't kill it all off, as each deviancy manifested itself; we just let it all snowball and now we're overwhelmed by it all.

OK, enough. I could go on for paragraphs with my inherent anger... and maybe I will, soon.

No F1 or IMSA Races on this weekend; only TRASHCAR Crap, so I watched a lowlife xfinity series race at 5:30p. Pathetic shitscum race. After a bad fall on my left hip, by catching my right foot on a Director's Chair leg, I determined nothing was broken, but just a seriously-bruised muscle. I took a 50mg Tramadol for the pain, had a partial bottle of "Butter" Chardonnay, finished it off during the evening, after dinner, and called it an early night at 10p.

I slept-in until 10a on Sunday, a sunny 49° morning, with a stiff breeze. I had pain from last night's fall, took a Tramadol, did my usual morning routines, had breakfast, and got the garbage ready to go out to the curb, for tomorrow morning p/u. I listened to some missed Talk Radio shows of the Chris Stigall Show on his Podcast page, while doing a load of laundry. I took a 4hr snooze on the LR couch, woke-up to the dark, closed down the condo, and watched the news, and some missed old episodes of "Gold Rush", and unplugged at 10:30p.

It's not OUR guns; it's YOUR sons.

Awake at 6:22a on Monday, when the garbage truck went thru the complex, I rolled over and got another 2hrs. Up at 8:30, it was a bright, sunny 41° morning. I had pain from the fall, took a 500mg Tylenol Extra Strength, and that helped. My day's to-do list had 2 errands on it, so I needed to get going around 12noon. After getting ready for the day, I retrieved my neighbor's garbage can (which we share) and moved it up to his and his wife's garage, but my recycle bin (which we also share) was still full, so I'll get it later after thew recycle trucks come thru.

American Citizens withdrawing cash from banks, all over the country? Yes, I have been, for years. I left at 11:15a for Red Lion, 12 miles south on Rt 24, and dropped-off/picked-up washed/starched/pressed shirts and jeans on hangars, and headed back north when I heard the news report: "Nashville school shooting: 7 killed including 3 students, tranny faggot shooter dead". It the tranny shooting in under 5 years. Story unfolding... Damn! We're living in a "society" that still no longer respects life. Long-held values like patriotism, religion and community involvement are in retreat across America. God rest the 6 dead 9yr old students' and staffs' souls.

The major t-storm that was supposed to hit the York-Lancaster area, fell apart before doing any damage here, as it did down south yesterday. Most of it was north of the York area, thankfully. We had some serious rain, for about 30-40mins, but it abated by 5p.

It's not OUR guns; it's YOUR sons.

My contact at Mt Rose Cemetery called to set-up a 1p mtg on Wednesday, to get things started on the outside walk (hardscaping) and Landscaping, now that the 10 Cedars of Lebanon are being removed. I called Alan & Dave at River Rock Landscaping, to coordinate the meeting with the 2 Mt Rose Cemetery reps. I called and talked to Sherry, who's having sinus problems in this Spring pollen weather, and with my injured left hip, we'll talk tomorrow and see if we're up to going walking. I listened to the morning's "CP Show" Podcast, since I'd missed most of it.

After a small dinner, I watched the continuing news coverage of the murderous, subhuman lowlife tranny POS, and caught some more early, missed episodes of "Gold Rush", before quitting at 11p.

The most insidious power the media has, is the power to ignore.

Up at 8:30a on Tuesday, a partly sunny 41°, I went thru the usual routines, tuned into the "CP Show", scanned the news and weather. The Nashville Shootings will dominate certain news outlets for the week, as the corrupt DNC-MSM -- but I repeat myself -- and treat the murderous, subhuman tranny filth with kid gloves. They'll run away from this story as quick as they can. I gad breakfast, got my Weis Market food shopping list together, after Sherry rescheduled today's walk, and left around noon. It clouded-up quickly, but I didn't see any rain coming; just snow cells to the northwest of the York area.

I made a 2nd carafe of Kona Coffee, and just relaxed my hurting left hip, from the weekend's slip-and-fall, until it was time to leave for the market. By 11a, temps were up to 45°. I left at 12:15, light traffic, got thru the store and self-checkout quickly and was home and unloading by 1p. I tried getting a short nap on the LR couch, and got 2hrs. I made a Chicken Salad Sandwich on Croissant w/ Chips, for lunch, and did some pape4rwork and computer "house cleaning", with CCleaner Pro. I checked TV Racer for the upcoming weekend's races.

Temps dropped into the mid-50s, and with a 20-25mph wind, it got cold early in the afternoon. I got out the front porch teak table and ashtray, and the rare patio teak table, 2 lawn chairs, and ashtray. I'm still expecting a Spring "Onion Snow", and more inclement weather, but WTH? I still have to reassemble the Char-Broil "Patio Caddy" grill's propane can to the grill, in my garage. I had it stored at my Sister's condo, for the Winter. With temps dropping into the low-40s, I garaged the Jeep, started the oscillating heater, and watched the 6p news, Watters & Tucker. And I fginished out the evening with more unwatched episodes of early "Gold Rush" seasons until 10:30. Lights out.

Awake and up at 8:30a on Wednesday, it was a nice 48°, and sunny start to the day. I fired-up the furnace, made coffee, did the BSL routine, and tuned into the "CP Show", while scanning the news and weather on my office-sunroom's desktop computer. I had a couple of Marlboros with my coffee, in the warming garage.

In the news, no mention of "transgender", "targeted attack", radicalized youth" on the Covenant Christian School on Monday; it's all about "evil Christians" banning "drag shows", "prayer" etc, denigrating the victims in the mass killing, and now making the subhuman, murderous trans filth the "victim". Their agenda is more important than lives. All of the leftist media has gone with that meme -- they have Information Dominance -- and with all this drag crap, 98+ gender filth categories, perverts/degenerates/subhumans being normalized, they are now achieving Cultural Dominance, for a sick, deviant, degenerate ~1% of the population. With so much of the country discarding Our Lord Jesus, God, morals, it doesn't surprise me that we're turning into a copy of Sodom. Look-up what God did to them. Okay, enough. Watch out for the upcoming Trans Day of Vengeance. By killing the 3 Christain children and teachers, the tranny filth are being called martyrs.

The perverted, degenerate, deviant trans movement, is targeting Christians. It's just that simple.

It's not OUR guns; it's YOUR sons.

I have a 12:45p meeting with Alan, my former LSCP Foreman of 17 yrs at my 20ac Ol' GC&N, and then we have a meeting at 1p with the 2 managers from the Cemetery Ass'n, so I'll be leaving at 12:15. Good meeting, met the new guy who's taking Amy's slot at Mt Rose Cemetery, and we all agreed upon my re-design. Alan will get back to me with costs. I was home by 2:30p, had some lunch and a nice 3hr nap on the LR couch.

This US Senate Bill 686, is the single most damaging to freedom legislation ever proposed. It will not only end free speech but also end our ability to defend ourselves in the courts. It is a much more damaging power grab than the horrible Patriot Act. Our own government is doing a lot more damage than the Chinese government. The RESPECT act and AI are the hammer and anvil with which they intend to crush free speech, even as they push to eliminate Americans’ guns. The Bill gives our government the power to monitor any activity used by the devices listed above (including home cameras). (ESSENTIALLY, they can access our in-home cameras and literally spy on us at any time without even informing us, if they deem appropriate). If this bill is PASSED. The government has liberty to appoint a secretary of communication to create a small group that can ban/deem ANYTHING innapropriate or risk to security (VOTERS CANNOT HAVE INPUT ON THEIR DECISIONS). Essentially, they can go through our emails, DMs, texts, etc if they deem appropriate. Make no mistake, this piece of legislation is the "Patriot Act on steroids." The RESTRICT Act would seemingly grant the US government total control over all devices connected to the internet, including cars, Ring cameras, refrigerators, Alexa devices, and your phone. It goes beyond the pale, with the end goal being nothing short of a complete invasion of your privacy. Under the guise of national security, the RESTRICT Act targets not only TikTok but all hardware, software, and mobile apps used by more than one million people. This means that anything from your Google Home device to your smartphone could be subject to government monitoring and control. Should you dare to defy the RESTRICT Act, you'll face devastating consequences. Violators can be slapped with a 20-year prison sentence, civil forfeiture, and denied freedom of information requests. All this, mind you, for simply trying to maintain some semblance of privacy in your own home.

Look around. There are drag queens in our schools, teachers encourage students with clear mental health issues to mutilate their genitals with the help of surgeons, transgenders are a new class of domestic terrorists, and Democrats serve as full-time enablers. Our culture is drowning in a toxic mix of Marxism, authoritarianism, drugs, weaponized TikTok surveillance, corruption, and hate.

After dinner, and by 8p, I'f wactedh Watters, Tucker and more "Gold Rush" -- yes, I'm intrigued by the old series' episodes -- until 11:30, and bagged it for the night. Good night, Irene!

I slept-in until almost 9a, on Thursday, had L/S hip and leg pain, but with a sunny, cold 33°, I had to get up. I fired-up the heat, did the usual routines, tuned into the "CP Show", scanned the weather and news. I took a 50mg Tramadol for the pain, and held-off on breakfast until it started working. After breakfast, I got ready for the day, but my "to-do list" was empty, but I had some condo chores to do here. By 12noon, temps were only at 36°, even while sitting in the sun. Winter's still with us, despite the recent "official proclamation" of Spring.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Tennessee state Capitol in Nashville Thursday morning to rally for gun control in the wake of the deadly shooting earlier this week at the Covenant School. Beginning at 8 a.m. local time, the demonstration drew a large crowd wielding signs and chanting, “What do we want? Gun control! When do we want it? Now!” Idiots. It's not OUR guns; it's YOUR sons!

This is how the end begins.

Here it comes: "Major Australian bank to end cash withdrawals from its branches -- as the end of paper notes looms". I've been saying this crap will happen, for several years, as CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) is instituted, and we lose access to all our monies.

Condo chores done by 3p, I got a 2hr snooze on the LR couch, but felt crappy when I woke-up at around 5. I forgot to eat lunch, so I did that right away. I sat down to watch the news, and BANG ZOOM: TRUMP INDICTED! On a nothing-misdemeanor gaslit-up to a felony, in a Manhattan Grand Jury, and to be tried there, in a city which absolutely hates him. Sad day for America. The Georgia Obstruction Vote Case and Mar-A-Lago Documents Case are still pending, and if they indict Trump, all this bullshit will definitely impact the 2024 Election.

I have very little to no faith left in the US inJustice System, aka US Legal System. It's a sad day for America, and all of us who grew-up in the 50s & 60s, and how we failed to keep intact what our loving Parents gave to us, to keep, improve and hold dear.

I watched TV news until 8p, switched to old "Gold Rush" episodes on Discovery+, and bagged it for the night, at 11p.

Tomorrow starts a new week here in the "Journal", and although it's a very sad day for America on numerous fronts, we'll persevere and get thru it, somehow. April is a busy month for me, and it starts on Monday.

Transgenderism and UFOs.

There is already more than enough hyperbole surrounding the transgenderism controversy, so this commentary will focus less on the moral and political aspects of the emotional controversy, and more on the sedate and sober implications of sociology.

Wait!  Just in case you're thinking, how boring, we're going to include an NSA (National Security Agency) report on UFOs.  No, really — even though the two may be unrelated, the principles governing one study are strikingly similar to the other.  

To anyone older than fifty years, the arrival of the transgender ideology, and the ferocity of its advocacy, is vastly more earth-shaking than many younger people, already having been exposed to leftist propaganda all their lives, will understand.  Many of them have suffered serious penalties for even the slightest, most reasonable doubts about that propaganda, but that is the case only because of the widespread acceptance of, and faith in, leftist dogma.  It is never to be questioned, not even in the slightest.  If you do not march in Nazi-like lockstep, then you are called, ironically, a Nazi.  

In 1965, a man named Lambros D. Callimahos was working as a cryptologist with the NSA.  He produced a seminal paper on how the United States should, and indeed must, for the sake of national survival, study what was then known as the UFO (more recently UAP) phenomenon.  As I read excerpts from that highly influential paper, I became struck as to how closely his words in the sixties could apply in the 2020s to the transgender movement — and, allow me to reiterate, apart from the moral and political aspects, which generate such intense emotion.  

If UFOs, contrary to all indications and expectations, are indeed hoaxes — hoaxes of a worldwide dimension — hoaxes of increasing frequency, then a human mental aberration of alarming proportions would seem to be developing. Such an aberration would seem to have serious implications for nations equipped with nuclear toys — and should require immediate and careful study by scientists.

The only hoax attributable to the transgender phenomenon is that men can become women, and vice versa.  This is not to say that gender dysphoria is not a serious medical and/or psychological affliction needing compassionate intervention.  It is to say that the correct treatment is rarely, if ever, irreversible mutilation or profoundly consequential hormonal treatment — especially by allowing naturally gullible and immature children to make life-changing decisions that are too often profoundly regretted.  

Clearly, to us old folks, society has already undergone a "mental aberration of alarming proportions."  The dilemma is no longer that of a young, impressionable child, but that of a largely delusional society.  

The next quote from Callimahos is equally prescient.  

If UFOs did turn out to be largely illusionary, the psychological implications for man would certainly bring into strong question his ability to distinguish reality from fantasy. The negative effect on man's ability to survive in an increasingly complex world would be considerable — making it imperative that such a growing impairment of the human capacity for rational judgment be subjected to immediate and thorough scientific study so that the illness could be controlled before it reaches epidemic proportions.  

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We may be beyond that point by now.  How much more delusional can a society become than to imagine that manhood and womanhood are merely subjective?  When we allow the rare exception to become the rule, to require society to kneel, as did (albeit voluntarily) Drew Barrymore before trans activist Dylan Mulvaney, then we are on the cusp of being compelled, by law, to act against our most strongly held beliefs.  

The final quote I will present addressed the question of what has historically happened whenever a technologically advanced civilization has encountered one less advanced.  In many cases, the less technological culture disappears, subsumed into the dominant one, losing its language and laws, contributing only subliminal vestiges of its heritage to the society that proverbially writes the history books.  Only in rare cases, such as in postwar Japan, can a conquered society retain most of its identity.  

Do the captivity characteristics of modern civilization cause a similar lessening of man's adaptive capability, of his health, of his ability to recognize reality, of his ability to survive?

In our case, we are the ones who have been conquered.  There is no overnight form of revolution, whether peaceful or not, upon which we can pin our hopes for a return to normalcy.  Imitating what Japan did, we must find a way to yield only what we absolutely must, and entrench, where we can, the principles that make America great.  

When eventually we do encounter alien civilizations, we will need those skills.

© by Robert Arvay, "American Thinker"

Economy Is In The Tank, Banks Are Reeling, Inflation Is Sky-high And There's More Biden Isn't Telling You.

Don't be fooled by White House spin. There's only one reason American's are struggling.

Are you angry yet? You should be. Our economy is slowing, banks are reeling, inflation remains scorching-high, real incomes are dropping, home prices are falling and Americans everywhere are becoming poorer by the minute.

On top of everything else, now we have the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, infuriating bailouts and the resulting panic over banks. As with nearly everything that has gone wrong on their watch, including the inexcusable border chaos, the catastrophic pullout from Afghanistan and harmful inflation, the go-to response by the White House has been to blame President Trump.

Specifically, to blame Trump for signing legislation that loosened regulations on regional banks in 2018.That was Joe Biden’s message in the pitiful 5-minute address in which he tried but utterly failed to reassure the nation that our banking system is sound.

Here’s what Biden didn’t say: they knew. Regulators knew that Silicon Valley Bank was on the brink of failure. Supervisors spotted fatal weaknesses at the tech lender last summer, including some deemed "matters requiring immediate attention"; they told SVB management last fall that its model was flawed and could result in a run on deposits.

Despite the grave warning, the New York Times reports, management failed to change course and supervisors failed to act. By early this spring, SVB was in yet another review, this one on its risk management practices. Bottom line: there were none.

In other words, there were plenty of regulations and processes in place to prevent the catastrophe that occurred at SVB. Critics have assailed the San Francisco Fed, the supervisory authority, and its chief Mary Daly, for negligence. Some have rightly said that having SVB CEO Greg Becker on the overseer Fed board posed an obvious and dangerous conflict of interest.

It is hard to dismiss those who assert that the eagerness with which the Fed, the Treasury and the White House stepped in to bail out SVB and Signature Bank, caught in SVB’s backdraft, stemmed from the cozy relationships and giant political donations that Democrats receive from the tech community. It is, indeed, one big Happy Valley.

After all, the bailouts (which must not be called bailouts) infuriated our European allies, and are a great embarrassment to our globalist Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who surely resisted the rescue. Yellen has spent much of her tenure atop our financial edifice working to cede U.S. tax policy to international organizations. To that end she has lobbied financial regulators around the world promising, among other things, that the U.S. would never again bail out banks.

The Financial Times reports that Europe’s "top policymakers are seething" over the decision to cover all SVB’s depositors, "fearing it will undermine a globally agreed regime." Those critics are reportedly shocked at the "total and utter incompetence" of U.S. authorities.

Yes, so are Americans.

It did not have to be this way. Do not forget who brought us to this sorry state. Do not be fooled. There is one and only one reason that Americans are struggling, that we are heading into a recession, and our banks are on thin ice.

President Biden, Democrats in Congress, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Fed Chair Jay Powell have orchestrated a reckless trashing of our economy. In a shameless bid to buy votes, Biden and the Democrat majority in Congress spent trillions of unneeded dollars, mainly aimed at politically favored groups like the teachers’ unions and the climate lobby, driving the economy into warp speed and igniting inflation.

Jay Powell, hoping to be reappointed Fed Chair, ignored rising prices for months, continuing to buy hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of bonds and mortgage-backed securities even as inflation topped 6%, aware that his only competition for the job was Lael Brainard, an avowed "dove." Moving faster to tackle inflation might have cost Powell his job.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Yellen became a cheerleader for blowing up the country’s deficits, all the while dismissing inflation as "small" and "manageable"; it wasn’t until the end of 2021 that she admitted it was not, after all, "transitory". Once a respected economist, Yellen has become a political hack.

Joe Biden and Janet Yellen lie when they say the economy was "reeling" when he became president; it was actually growing at 6% and recovering nicely from the once-in-a-lifetime shutdown caused by COVID-19. Thanks to bipartisan efforts to prop up stalled businesses and consumers who had lost their jobs, the slump occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic was sharp but mercifully short-lived. The government expanded relief programs, the Fed lowered interest rates; the system was working as planned.

Jobs were coming back, inflation was only 1.4%, and consumer sentiment, key to spending, had rebounded sharply from the low of 72 on April 2020 to 79. (Last month, even before the bank problems, it stood at 67; in February 2020, before COVID hit, it stood at 101. Bravo Biden!)

Joe Biden took office and within weeks rushed to pass the American Rescue Act, throwing $1.9 trillion onto an economy plagued with supply chain problems. The bill passed with Democrat-only support, in part because Republicans recognized that it could prove inflationary (as even Democrat Larry Summers predicted.) Inflation indeed began to climb, to 4.2% in April 2021, and to a peak of 9.1% in June 2022.

The banking sector will likely calm, and inflation has dropped, but we are not out of the woods. There are recession signs aplenty and Biden has offered up a ludicrous and wasteful budget that Republicans must oppose. There will be a fight over raising the debt ceiling as the GOP pushes for needed spending restraint, which could get ugly.

But voters need to remember as the next election nears: it did not have to be this way. This was not an act of God; this was a reckless hijacking of our economy that put the entire country at risk.

Voters must fire those responsible.

© 3.21.2023 by Liz Peek, "Fox News"

TUCKER CARLSON: The great global reshuffling is going on beneath the notice of most Americans.

ucker calls out the radical climate agenda and important news stories not getting coverage.

Let's enter Fantasyland for a moment. Let's pretend for a sec that our country had a news media that was interested in bringing you the news, not in lecturing you about your moral inferiority (You're so bad) or lying to you in transparently obvious ways (January 6 was an insurrection, guys) or even in forcing you to repeat whatever childish slogan they've come up with this week.

Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. OK. Transwomen are women. All right. Say it or else.

Let's imagine we live somewhere completely different in a country where the media felt obligated to tell you what was actually happening in the world and why it matters. What stories would we be talking about right now if we lived in that country?

Well, here are the first two. Earlier this month, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two most significant powers in the Muslim world, announced that after generations of proxy wars and snarling hostility to one another, they will be resuming diplomatic relations. Peace has broken out between blood enemies. As recently as last year, very few would have thought that could happen, and now it has happened, and it's happened – and here's a significant thing from an American perspective – it's happened because China, not the U.S. State Department, but the communist Chinese government brokered the deal. The world's largest atheist state has halted religious conflict between two theocracies.

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Did you see that coming? Probably not, but there's more.

Yesterday, China's President Xi turned up in Moscow to announce a new partnership with Russia. Going forward, Russia will supply much of China's oil and natural gas. Vladimir Putin also agreed to use Chinese currency in trade with Asia, Africa and Latin America. Once again, holy smokes. As with the Iran-Saudi summit, very few people imagined anything like this could happen just 18 months ago. "Change that hasn't happened in 100 years," Xi said "is coming, and we are driving this change together."

Now, what change was Xi talking about? Well, the end of American global hegemony, the end of the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency for 100 years, he got it right. Since the close of the First World War, the United States has been the preeminent nation on Earth. For 40 of those years, we are locked in a Cold War with the Soviet Union, of course. But at no time, no matter what they may have claimed was there ever really a question about who is the most powerful country.

China's Xi meets with Putin, sends warning to West Video We were the most powerful country. It was the American era. That era just ended a little over two years into Joe Biden's presidency, but amazingly, no one in this country seemed to notice that it happened. That story is not leading the news tonight. Instead, we're arguing about whether or not to arrest Donald Trump for a fake crime to keep him from running for president again. Over at the White House our senile president just gave some sort of medal to a sitcom actress, presumably for her bravery. You read the script so boldly. CNN is covering that story like it's the moonwalk. On Twitter, meanwhile, people seem excited that our vice president has sent a letter to a transvestite TikTok star called Dylan Mulvany, who's famous for dressing like a 6-year-old girl. Kamala Harris is very proud of him. That's the news we're getting. It is Weimar, but dumber. Meanwhile, the world beyond Morning Joe is changing faster than any time and, well, as Chairman Xi correctly noted, about 100 years.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, one of multiple state officials arguing that China's COVID-19 numbers have peaked. Chinese President Xi Jinping, one of multiple state officials arguing that China's COVID-19 numbers have peaked. (Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS)

None of these changes will make life better for your grandchildren, but since many Americans don't even know they're happening, the outcry here has been limited to a few insightful but deeply frustrated bloggers and social media. They see clearly what's happening. No one else seems to. It's driving them insane.

There are still people in this country, for example, who seem to believe that the so-called climate agenda is actually about the climate or about the environment of the earth or something, and not a coordinated effort by the government of China to hobble the US and the West and take its place as the leader of the world, which of course is exactly what's going on. It's pretty obvious when you think about it, but most people don't get a chance to think about it because the propaganda is just too thick. It's unceasing, it never ends.

Here's the latest on the front page of papers around the country. The head of the United Nations demanding the United States blow up its own economy otherwise, the world will end.

U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES: Humans are responsible for virtually all global heating. Over the last 200 years. The rate of temperature rise in the last half century is the highest in 2,000 years. Concentrations of carbon dioxide are at their highest in at least 2 million years. The climate time bomb is ticking.

When someone who knows nothing about science, whose job it is to act as a proxy, a puppet of the Chinese government, starts wagging his finger in your face, claiming scientific expertise and telling you what to do with your economy, at the very least you should pause for a moment. And you should also remember that the United Nations has been saying pretty much the same thing since at least 1989. That's the year that the Associated Press reported that "A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000."

That was 34 years ago. Happy to report we're still here. So, has the science changed? Well, apparently it has not that anyone will acknowledge that, but the shouting remains exactly the same, and the AP doesn't seem to have archives it can check to find out: Have we written the story before? So, they just keep writing the same story.

Two days ago they wrote this: "Humanity still has a chance close to the last to prevent the worst of climate change's future harms, a top United Nations panel of scientists said Monday, but doing so requires quickly slashing nearly two thirds of carbon pollution by 2035." OK, Associated Press.

There's even a quote from the U.N. secretary-general, again, not a scientist, a puppet of China, but pretty good at slogans, "Humanity is on thin ice and that ice is melting fast. " Are they publishing the same piece and moving the dates around? Not really, actually, because if you read it closely, if you took a look at the UN's entire report, and actually we spent the day doing that, there are big differences in how they plan to solve global warming.

This time, the plan is much more explicit. Make the West, the United States primarily, but also Western Europe, blow up its own economy, while China, the fastest growing economy in the world, doesn't have to do anything and in fact, they're not doing anything. China is currently building, well, two new coal plants every week, every week. Not good at math, but that's like 104 a year. That's a lot of coal plants. How many are we building a week? Zero. Pretty weird for a country committed to fighting climate change.

Well, the report says that compared to Eastern Asia, North American countries have a 33% greater obligation. How do you measure obligation. Is there a scientific scale for that? But a greater obligation, 30% more, to accelerate spending on "mitigation investment flows" to, quote, "limit global warming." OK, the West has an obligation.

Now, if you were to go by like real numbers, you might notice that China's carbon emissions today are more than double our carbon emissions here in the United States. So, we're spewing less carbon, they're spewing a lot more carbon, but we have to spend more because we have a moral obligation, because why? That's not explained.

But later in the report, the United Nations does say this: "Actions that prioritize equity, climate justice, social justice and inclusion lead to more sustainable outcomes co-benefits, reduce tradeoffs, support transformative change and advance climate resilient development. Adaptation responses are immediately needed to reduce rising climate risks, especially for the most vulnerable. Equity, inclusion and just transitions are key to progress on adaptation and deep societal ambitions for accelerated migration."

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The report continues. We need "meaningful participation and inclusive planning informed by cultural values and indigenous knowledge." Indigenous knowledge. Now, how much of thar, that's directly from the UN report, how much of that sounded to you, probably not a credential scientist, but a person with common sense. How much of that sounds like science? All of it, says CNN. All of it.

JOHN KING, CNN: Humanity is on thin ice and that ice melting fast. That warning, courtesy of the United Nations secretary general made in tandem with a brand-new United Nations report labeling the planet a ticking time bomb.

BILL WEIR, CNN: It is worse than we ever thought it was going to be and the time is ticking in order to defuse this climate bomb.

DON LEMON, CNN: The climate time bomb is ticking. That's according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report.

WEIR: There's no such thing as climate alarmism anymore. The time bomb is ticking.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN: The new UN report warns the climate timebomb is ticking and the world is running out of time to avoid catastrophe.

There's no such thing as climate alarmism anymore. Nothing you say can be too extreme. It doesn't matter. That's science. For the Chinese, it's just so easy. How do you win a war without fighting? By getting your adversary to kill himself. How do you convince a strong, self-respecting, powerful country like ours that has ruled the world for a hundred years to do that? It turns out it's pretty easy. You take a collection of dumb, desperate people in middle-age hoping to keep onto their stupid TV jobs, you add scripts and some hairspray and they just repeat the lies for you and then all the people in the country nod: Yeah, that's exactly right. We got to do that. Respect indigenous knowledge. Stop driving our cars.

And the amazing thing, it's kind of working. So, what exactly is the science behind all this? Well, on Substack actual scientists now reside, a political scientist called Roger Pielke did a deep dive on where these people got the idea that the world will end if temperatures jump 1.5 degrees Celsius. That's the globally accepted goal, according to the AP.

Well, it turns out that globally accepted goal originated in a newspaper advertisement and a draft paper that was not even peer reviewed. Now it's in the Paris Climate Agreement. That's the power of marketing. But what's the point? What's the point of the marketing? It's to destroy one civilization, to be supplanted by the next civilization. Unfortunately, we're in the one being destroyed, or that is destroying itself. And no one at the UN, by the way, cares about the data where it came from, because the real goal has nothing to do with the environment.

Of course. Duh. Look at the pollution. If you cared about the environment, this is a tough time to live, but ever since Julian Huxley took over UNESCO the 1940 is pushing Malthusianism, the idea that the world's overpopulated, has been the dominant way of thinking for the people in charge except with respect to their own families. They have as many kids as they want, but you're not allowed to. And that leads to moments like the one we saw a month ago where the Harvard historian Naomi Oreskes wrote an op-ed in Scientific American entitled "8 Billion People in the World is a Crisis, not an Achievement."

What's the biggest threat — China, Russia or climate change? Video Well, if you're one of those 8 billion, that seems like hostility. If some chick is writing a piece in a science magazine about how your existence is bad, that might make you nervous, right? It should and it may explain why these people oppose nuclear energy, which seems like a solution, but they're against that, too. So, it's not really about carbon emissions, is it? It's about hurting people, specific people. They think there are too many people and this view is very widespread. It's why the leaders, the Democratic Party, are always in your face telling you to get an abortion. Hurry up and get an abortion. It'll help the GDP. It doesn't hurt, of course, that getting rid of fossil fuels would mean a lot of Democratic Party leaders will get a lot richer. Their donors, certainly will – the ones in the renewable industry. It also means a ton of money for people with no skills at all, like Jen Granholm was now the energy secretary who owns stock in these green energy companies while she was in office. It's so corrupt. It's unbelievable and they're in your face.

Climate change a 'disruptor in the marketplace': John KerryVideo There's no such thing as climate alarmism. Shut up and accept it. This would explain why Joe Biden campaigned on ending fossil fuels and bringing about economic devastation for millions of Americans back in 2020.

REPORTER: Would there be any place for fossil fuels, including coal and fracking, in a Biden administration?

PRESIDENT BIDEN: No. We would work it out. We would make sure it's eliminated and no more subsidies for either one of those, either any fossil fuel. No more subsidies for fossil fuel industry, no more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore, no ability for the oil industry to continue to drill. Period.

BIDEN: But I want you to look in my eyes. I guarantee you, I guarantee you, we're going to end fossil fuel, and I am not going to cooperate, OK?

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a rally hosted by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) at Richard Montgomery High School on August 25, 2022 in Rockville, Maryland. U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a rally hosted by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) at Richard Montgomery High School on August 25, 2022 in Rockville, Maryland. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Imagine living under the rule of people like that. Imagine living in a system where we with a straight face, ask someone who's never had a real job in his entire life, who has no idea where electricity comes from, probably can't even change a light bulb at this point, about our energy policy and then taking his answer seriously.

And what do you get when you do that? Apparently, we GET 81 million votes. He got more than Obama. Really? Shut up and accept it.

Well, the result is now our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, maybe the most valuable thing the United States government owns, is depleted and Russia, which we say we hate, is now once again one of the most important energy suppliers in the world. Meanwhile, your energy prices went up at double the rate of inflation last year. So, what are we looking at here? Well, there are people with economic agendas benefiting from solar panels and the wind farms that kill endangered species. And they're the illiterate cultists in academia who are just for this because they're for it.

As if to prove that point, Greta Thunberg could just delete your tweet from five years ago saying the world is going to end in five years is about to get an honorary degree from the University of Helsinki. This is a girl who made a living by not attending school. So, what's the degree in? It's not science, not climatology, it's theology.

But the real agenda, of course, is much bigger than any of that. It's the great global reshuffling that is going on now beneath the notice of most Americans. We're going to wake up one day and realize we're not in charge, and this is part of the reason.

© 3.23.2032, by Tucker Carlson, "Fox News"