Category Archives: Law

Economic collapse = societal collapse. It’s deliberate so that we can have “order out of chaos”, as in New World Order, also known as the tyranny of the ruling sociopaths. By Klark Barnes

Posted on November 26, 2022 | 1 comment

Economic collapse will have far reaching ramifications. From Klark Barnes at earlking56.family.blog:

Other than the obvious consequences, what might we expect from a partial economic collapse? A total collapse of the economy would throw the nation into utter chaos. But what if we endure an economic depression, or a severe and long-lasting downturn? I think that some of the effects are not so obvious.

1. The college and university system will collapse

As I explained in this previous post, the system of higher education is a house of cards. The cost of getting a college degree has risen sharply and steadily, while real income has remained relatively flat. The price rise is due to the easy availability of grants and loans for education. But with so many persons getting a college degree, its value in the marketplace has plummeted. Many college grads are out of work, or they are working in a job that does not require a degree. Eventually, this practice of paying more and more, for something that is worth less and less, will collapse the system. Colleges and universities will not have enough paying students, and professors will not agree to a drastic pay cut. Overhead expenses are far too high.

All that is needed is an economic collapse, or partial collapse, to topple this house of cards. Many universities and colleges will be forced by economics to shut down.

Conitnue reading→

1 Comment

Posted in Academia, Business, Collapse, Crime, Economy, Government, Law, Politics

Tagged

Post-FTX Regulatory Crackdown Will Erode Liberties, Accelerate Path To CBDC ‘Social Engineering’, by Michael Washburn

Posted on November 25, 2022 | Leave a comment

An interesting issue is just how much governments can regulate cryptocurrencies. From Michael Washburn at The Epoch Times via zerohedge.com:

The collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and the worldwide outcry over the billions of dollars wiped off the platform, are likely to trigger a massive regulatory reaction that would further erode citizens’ economic freedoms without addressing the issues that fostered demand for an alternative to the fiat dollar, economists have told The Epoch Times.

A detailed view of the FTX sign prior to a game between the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat at FTX Arena in Miami, Fla., on Nov. 14, 2022. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

An international scandal has embroiled FTX and its founder, 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, in the wake of the firm’s crash earlier this month precipitated by a run on the exchange. Since then, reports have emerged that Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund established by Bankman-Fried, was trading billions of dollars from FTX accounts without clients’ knowledge.

FTX has filed for bankruptcy protection, Bankman-Fried has stepped down from his role as CEO, and John J. Ray III, the former CEO of Enron, has taken over the insolvent company with a plan to sell it off if a successful restructuring is impossible. An estimated 1 million customers and other investors are facing total losses of billions of dollars.

FTX, in a recent court filing, said it owes $3.1 billion to its top 50 creditors, and its collapse has rocked the $839 billion global crypto market. On Nov. 22, the trading value of bitcoin tumbled to $15,480, a two-year low, before edging up slightly to $15,909.

Ray has claimed that subsidiaries of FTX in the United States and abroad “have solvent balance sheets, responsible management and valuable franchises,” but so far the shock and alarm over the exchange’s implosion have shown no sign of abating.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Currencies, Financial markets, Government, Law, Politics

Tagged

Federal Court Strikes Down Another Provision of New York’s New Gun Control Law, by Jonathan Turley

Posted on November 24, 2022 | Leave a comment

Good news! New York’s gun laws, repeatedly overturned by the courts, paradoxically have on balance expanded gun owners’ freedom. From Jonathan Turley at jonathanturley.org:

I have previously written about how New York has proven time and time again as the gift that keeps on giving for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun-rights groups. New York Democrats continue to pass laws that are virtually guaranteed to be struck down and further reinforce Second Amendment rights. The latest provision involves the possible criminal prosecution for possessing a gun on private property if the owner has not approved such possession on the premises.

New York Democrats have passed a series of laws that led to catastrophic losses in federal court, including the recent major ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. This includes openly gaming litigation to the irritation of individual justices.

After each loss, the same politicians circle the firing squad again and pass the next round of questionable gun limits. New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul promised such legislation within an hour of the release of Bruen.  It passed with the help of a special session in the resumption of this inexorable cycle and has already resulted in court losses. Now there is a new such ruling against the law.

In New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111 (2022), the Supreme Court rejected the prior New York law under the Second Amendment to publicly carry firearms for self-defense. The Court held that New York’s “proper cause” licensing regime unconstitutionally infringed this right. New York responded roughly a week later with Senate Bill S51001 (June 30, 2022, Extraordinary Session). The new law created a target rich environment for new challenges.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Civil Liberties, Government, Law

Tagged

Joe Biden and the “Transformational” Presidency, by William Anderson

Posted on November 23, 2022 | Leave a comment

Joe Biden is transformational president, and like an earlier transformation president, Franklin Roosevelt, he’s transforming the U.S. for the worse. From William Anderson at mises.org:

Much is made of the failure of Republicans to make predicted gains in the recent midterm elections, but, as Ryan McMaken has pointed out, Congress plays a much-diminished role in national governance to the point that even had the so-called red wave actually occurred, it is doubtful that much would have changed regarding Joe Biden’s presidency. In fact, most of what Biden has done in his two years in office has been outside of congressional legislative matters.

McMaken points out:

This all combines to mean we should expect very little change on policies at the federal level. For example, we can expect to keep hearing plenty about the evil of fossil fuels. The administration will continue to press for less drilling for oil and gas, and the war on coal will continue. The administration will continue to issue new edicts for “fighting global warming.”

As McMaken notes, Biden has used executive orders liberally, sometimes using a twisted interpretation of federal law, and then unleashing his regulatory and law enforcement agencies to get his desired results. For example, federal banking regulators and the Securities and Exchange Commission have pressured banks and other lenders not to led to the oil and gas industry, citing the fealty to fighting climate change as the reason.

Note that the administration is doing this not via congressional authorization, but rather through its own self-serving “interpretation” of existing federal law. Likewise, Biden’s infamous student loan forgiveness order was not through such relief passed by Congress, but rather using a 2003 federal law that permits the US secretary of education to employ “expansive authority to alleviate the hardship that federal student loan recipients may suffer as a result of national emergencies.” What constitutes a “national emergency” must be in the eyes of the beholder, as any reason will do—and, so far, the courts have signed off on this vast expansion of executive power. This is reminiscent of Franklin Roosevelt’s perverse interpretation of the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act to undergird his gold seizure from Americans and devaluate the dollar.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Collapse, Government, History, Law, Politics, Tyranny

Tagged ,

Dutch Genuflect to US, Convict Russians for Downing MH17, by Ray McGovern

Posted on November 23, 2022 | Leave a comment

The U.S. gets the evidence-free verdict it wanted from its Dutch satrapy. From Ray McGovern at antiwar.com:

On Nov. 17 a Dutch Court sentenced two Russians and one Ukrainian (all three in absentia) to life in prison. They were accused of playing supporting roles in the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, killing all 298 aboard.

MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was downed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. It was five months after the U.S.-sponsored coup d’etat in Kyiv and the ensuing offensive against “pro-Russian separatists” in eastern Ukraine who were unwilling to bow to the coup leaders in Kyiv.

Those pro-Russian separatists were quickly and widely blamed for the catastrophe, but the evidence has been – how to say this – elusive, and its reliability suspect from the start. On the morning-after, the NY Times pointed its finger at the separatists and, by extension, Russia, unabashedly using “intelligence” provided by Ukraine’s Intelligence Agency (S.B.U.). My assessment the same day withheld judgment, but compared the shoot-down with the shoot-down of KAL007 in 1983, when the U.S. played very loose with the evidence on whether the Russians knew KAL007 was a passenger aircraft when it was downed well into Russian airspace (they didn’t).

‘A Lot of Conjecture’

The Times article said U.S. intelligence was focused on a theory blaming pro-Russian separatists – not the Ukrainian air defense network that had Russian-made SA-series missiles in its inventory. “Everything we have, and it is not much, says separatists,” a senior Pentagon official said. “That said, there’s still a lot of conjecture.” The Times added:

“American intelligence and military officials said the plane had been destroyed by a Russian SA-series missile, based on surveillance satellite data that showed the final trajectory and impact of the missile but not its point of origin. [Emphasis added.]

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Geopolitics, Governments, History, Law, Politics

Tagged , , ,

Pfizer’s Financial Supernova and the Art of Really Big Lies, by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Posted on November 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

Pfizer may have perpetrated the biggest financial scam in the whole entire history of the world. From Dr. Joseph Mercola at theburningplatform.com:

Video Link

Story at-a-glance

  • Pfizer’s annual revenue is expected to reach $101.3 billion in 2022, thanks to its COVID jab, which doesn’t prevent infection or spread, and Paxlovid, an ineffective and dangerous COVID antiviral that causes rebound
  • Pfizer got plenty of free help from the federal government, which bullied and harassed people into getting the shots, and implemented rules that ensure hospitals and pharmacies will only prescribe certain COVID drugs, Paxlovid being one of them
  • The key to getting away with a really big lie is making it so divorced from reality that the listener will assume their own perception is flawed, and then repeating it over and over again. This strategy has been used to great effect over the past three years, resulting in a massive shift from fact-based public health orthodoxy to irrational fantasy-based dogma
  • Centralized top-down health care is far more attractive to Big Pharma investors than patient-centered care. The primary obstacle to the corporatization and monetization of public health has been truth, and this obstacle was finally overcome during the COVID pandemic
  • The Big Lies told during the pandemic work because they veer so sharply from the truth. This break from factual reality is what makes it so difficult to question them, because if you do, you’re now questioning the entire hierarchy of public health

The manufactured COVID pandemic has been a proverbial golden egg-laying goose for Pfizer. Its annual revenue is expected to reach $101.3 billion in 2022,1 thanks to its COVID jab, which doesn’t prevent infection or spread, and Paxlovid, an ineffective and dangerous COVID antiviral that causes rebound. It would be comical if it weren’t so egregious.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Business, Law, Medicine

Tagged

The Big Lie Revisited, by Don Armentano

Posted on November 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

There has been virtually zero adjudication of the facts and claims concerning the 2020 election, yet blanket statements are continuously issued from the government and media that the election was “free and fair.” From Don Armentano at lewrockwell.com:

The main-stream media has repeated almost daily that  Donald Trump and several important MAGA-friendly organizations  continue to support the so-called “big lie,”  namely,  that the 2020 election was stolen. They also repeat almost daily  that this conclusion about that election  is totally bogus  since   “no evidence” of substantial election fraud  was  ever uncovered in the  65+ lawsuits filed after the election; Trump and his supporters lost them all.  The election was stolen?  What nonsense. It’s all “delusional thinking” and irrational conspiracy theory. Case closed.

Well not quite.

The American Bar Association (ABA) has published a list of the legal filings that challenged the results of the 2020 election and a summary of the court findings in each case.  It makes for very interesting reading.

The most important lesson to be drawn from  these  case summaries is that the bulk of them  have (almost) nothing to do with the  alleged evidence concerning  voter and election fraud.  And the reason for this is reasonably clear. Fraud is  itself  an extremely difficult legal matter to litigate; along with any relevant empirical evidence, the legal concepts of due diligence and “intent” would have to be fully explored.  Moreover, any  determination of election and/or voter  fraud  would have  required (at a very minimum)  a so-called “evidentiary hearing”  where the court would  take testimony under oath  from expert witnesses;  accept and evaluate  properly supported affidavits; evaluate any relevant election data analysis,  and explore the  murky issue of “intent” (by elected officials and others) at some length.  To my knowledge,  none of this process or analysis occurred in any systematic manner in any of the 65  post-2020 election challenge cases.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Civil Liberties, Collapse, Crime, Government, Law, Politics

Tagged

The Solemn Stillness Before Winter, by James Howard Kunstler

Posted on November 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

All sorts of shit looks ready to hit the fan this winter. From James Howard Kunstler at kunstler.com:

“Ultimately, the Democratic Party is a criminal organization; and to support it is to be a criminal. And since it is the ruling party, unless you oppose it, you support it.” —Curtis Yarvin, The Gray Mirror

Here in New England now, the landscape is putting itself to bed, preparing for winter’s long sleep. The grass in the cow pastures never looks greener than in contrast to the barren trees, but that lingering color, too, will soon fade. We did not get smacked here by the deep snows of far-off Buffalo, not a flake, so a sweetly solemn stillness settles over these tender hills as we give vague thanks at Thursday’s gala of gluttony, certain to induce terrors of indigestion in the restless night to come.

I am thankful to still be here after all these years — more than that, grateful! And with the prospect of seeing what comes next: the beginning of a great correction for a country gone off the rails in greed, bad faith, and treachery. Everything rooted in lies and fakery is primed to blow down in the political storms ahead.

It’s fitting that the last straw on this beast’s back was the phoniest scam of all, and saturated with every known sort of millennial Woke posturing: the FTX swindle. Its avatar, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), proved to be a special species of villain, the idiot-savant slob, clever enough to somehow winkle a physics degree out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but not very good with the basic math of money — for instance, the equation that margin must equal collateral — and really really bad at covering his oafish tracks.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Civil Liberties, Collapse, Crime, Cronyism, Debt, Economy, Government, Law, Media, Morality, Politics, Propaganda

Tagged , ,

They Will Lock You Down Again, by Jeffrey A. Tucker

Posted on November 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

They got away with it once; they will surely do it again. From Jeffrey A. Tucker at brownstone.org:

The lords of lockdown barely escaped their worst possible fate, namely that the topic would become the national and international source of scandal that it should be. And let’s add the vaccine mandates here too: even if such had been morally justified, which they were not, there is absolutely no practical reason for them at all.

To have imposed both of these within the course of one year – with zero evidence that they achieved anything for public health and vast amounts of unfolding evidence that they ruined life quality for countless millions – qualifies as a scandal for the ages. It was in the US but also in nearly every country in the world but a few.

Might that have huge political implications? One would suppose so. And yet today it appears that truth and justice are further off than ever. The most passionate of the anti-lockdown governors – those who never locked down or opened earlier than the rest of the country – won on their record. Most of the rest joined the entire political establishment in pretending that all of this is a non-issue. Tragically, this tactic seems to have worked better than it should have.

Meanwhile, a few points to consider:

The US government, through the Transportation Safety Administration, has signed yet another order extending the ban on unvaccinated international visitors until January 8, 2023. This means that no person who has managed to refuse the shot is allowed to come to the US for any reason. This is 30% of the world’s population, banned even to enter the US on their own dime. Something like this would have been inconceivably illiberal three years ago, and been a source of enormous controversy and outrage. Today, the extension hardly made the news.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Civil Liberties, Economy, Governments, Law, Medicine, Politics, Tyranny

Tagged

Did They all “Cheat”? By Eric Peters

Posted on November 19, 2022 | Leave a comment

Why is the U.S. government so hostile to diesel cars? Because they pose a strong competitive challenge to electric cars. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:

Why is that every major automaker who was – past tense – selling diesel-powered passenger cars in the United States no longer is?

Apparently, it is because all of them “cheated” on government emissions certification tests. Including Mercedes-Benz, which just recently “agreed” – that’s the word used by government when it successfully forces a target to submit by using threats of worse repercussions if the target refuses to “agree” – to hand over $6 million as punishment for “falsely advertising” the cleanliness of its diesel-powered passenger cars purchased by people in the state of Arizona.

At the federal level, Benz has “agreed” to hand over $2.2 billion, including $875 million in civil penalties assessed under the Clean Air Act and $546 million that went toward “fixing” the “affected” vehicles.

Mercedes no longer sells diesel-powered passenger cars in this United States, having been given a strong incentive not to.

Nor, of course, VW – which used to sell a lot of them. Toyota – which sells a lot of them outside the U.S. – may shortly be forced to stop selling them, too. All on the basis of the same claims.

But these claims were always just the excuse. Very much as the claim by a cop that he “smells marijuana” after he pulls you over becomes the excuse to search your vehicle. After he uses the excuse that you were “speeding” to pull you over in the first place. It’s really because he – or rather, the government he works for – wants your money. 

And something else.

The excuses aren’t reasons – in the morally meaningful sense – for no harm has been caused by your driving 43 MPH in violation of a sign that says you are not allowed to drive faster than 35 MPH. Nor your having “smoked marijuana” – even if you actually have smoked it.

Continue reading→

Leave a comment

Posted in Business, Civil Liberties, Energy, Government, Law, Politics, Propaganda, Technology

Tagged , ,