Category Archives: Philosophy

Covid Rivals All the Horrors of History, and Now “We Have a Nation to Rebuild and a World to Save.” By Peter and Ginger Breggin

Posted on June 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

To rebuilt a nation and save the world is going to require integrity, courage, and moral clarity, all of which the Covid travesty revealed to be in short supply. From Peter and Ginger Breggin at rescue.substack.com:

An investigative journalist-author weeps for the pandemic’s genocidal corruption by U.S. and world governments she exposed, but says, “Where there is life, there is hope.”

Statue of Liberty - Lady Liberty Painting by Patricia Awapara | Fine Art America
Statue of Liberty – Lady Liberty is a painting by Patricia Awapara, a Peruvian-born American artist who paints by allowing herself to “let go and trust my intuition,” she says. “If all comes together, the result is an artwork that surprises me, filled with exciting and contrasting hues, saturated with joy and free-flowing essence that elevates my Spirit. My purpose is to ignite positive emotions, not only within me, but also in anyone who comes across my work.” 

Definition of cognitive dissonance: psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously.

When I walked our two dogs today, the sun was shining. There is a robin nesting on top of our porch light, right outside our front door. Half of a vivid turquoise eggshell lies below the nest, and I’ve seen a parent arrive with a fat green grub for a newly hatched baby. Fluffy white clouds—the products of our nearby Finger Lakes—float across the blue sky.

What is in front of my eyes is utterly normal. This glowing scene brings a surge of memories. Picnics and walking barefoot on the lawn. Fourth of July celebrations and the sun warming my head like a benediction. Children chasing bubbles with dogs running joyfully through the green grass.

Meanwhile, awareness of danger and the knowledge I carry are churning in my mind. I look at this gorgeous summer day, and tears spring to my eyes. I have spent the last two and a half years trying to look around the next corner by synthesizing and analyzing all the data I can gather, from the science, medicine, psychology, economics, human behavior, history, cultural norms, current events, and the crowdsourcing of social media and through consumption of the evaluations and analyses pouring forth from minds greater than mine, through books, reports, research, Substacks, interviews, presentations, and media events.

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Posted in Politics, Medicine, Philosophy, Civil Liberties, Morality, Science, Collapse, Governments, Propaganda, Tyranny

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Science versus Scientism (part 2), by Robert W. Malone, MD, MS

Posted on June 8, 2022 | Leave a comment

In the whole history of science, “Because I said so” has never held up as a valid explanation for anything. From Robert W. Malone at rwmalonemd.substack.com:

Continued root cause analysis of the COVIDcrisis

Now that Scientism has been defined, and the specific example of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the context and truth of his claim that “attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science” has been examined, lets turn to examining what is “Science”, at least that version of “Science” that I have been taught and practiced for over forty years.

Merriam-Webster: science (noun) sci·​ence | \ ˈsī-ən(t)s \

Definition of science

1a: knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method

b: such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena : NATURAL SCIENCE

2a: a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study: the science of theology

b: something (such as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge: have it down to a science

3: a system or method reconciling practical ends with scientific laws: cooking is both a science and an art

4capitalized : CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

5: the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding

Personally, I prefer the point of view nicely summarized by Steve Savage

“Science is a verb.”

In an allusion to the John Mayer song, “Love Is A Verb,” Dr. Cami Ryan noted that as with the word “Love,” “Science” is a legitimate noun. But in both cases, it is the action, the process, and the effort – the verb – that really matters.

Science is a verb in the sense that it is a method (activity) involving the making of hypotheses, the design of experiments and the analysis of data.  But a critical part of the scientific process is the conversation phase after the experimentation is done.  Scientists share their findings with the broader community through publications or presentations at meetings.  What happens next is a back-and-forth discussion including a critique of methods or interpretation, and a comparison with previous findings.

If there are flaws in the experimental design or interpretation, other scientists will point that out.  To participate in the conversation, scientists need to be willing to hear and respond to feedback. If there are conflicting results, it may require additional hypothesis making and experimentation.  Only when the conversation runs its course do the conclusions become a part of accepted scientific understanding.

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Posted in Academia, Governments, History, Medicine, Morality, Philosophy, Politics, Propaganda, Science

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Gun Laws Will Not Fix A Problem Of Culture And Spirit, by Star Parker

Posted on June 6, 2022 | Leave a comment

Gun laws will only prevent law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves with guns against crazies and criminals with guns. Gun laws don’t at all address the underlying reasons for gun violence. From Star Parker at The Epoch Times via zerohedge.com:

Once again, the nation has witnessed a horrible, pointless act of violence, with innocent children the victims.

And, once again, we hear from liberals that the answer is gun control.

Flowers, toys, and other objects to remember the victims of the deadliest U.S. school shooting in nearly a decade resulting in the death of 19 children and two teachers, are seen at a memorial at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 30, 2022. (Veronica G. Cardenas/Reuters)

If we look at what generally characterizes the mindset of those—generally young men—who commit these acts, we see what generally characterizes the mindset that has taken hold of our whole culture.

Victimhood, blame, and denial of personal responsibility.

Can this be an accident?

Kudos to The Wall Street Journal for having the courage to point to these incidents as signs of a “social and spiritual” problem in the country.

“The rise of family dysfunction and the decline of mediating institutions such as churches and social clubs have consequences,” the Journal’s Editorial Board wrote on May 25.

The signs of a society that is sick are all around us: the collapse of family, the collapse of interest in marriage and having children.

In 2021, 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, an all-time high and a 15 percent increase over the previous year.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the suicide rate in the United States increased 35.2 percent from 1999 to 2018.

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Posted in Collapse, Crime, Governments, Law, Media, Morality, Philosophy, Politics, Propaganda, Religion, Society

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Why Is Everything Broken? By Edward Curtin

Posted on June 4, 2022 | Leave a comment

If you suspect there’s something demonic about what’s going on out there, you’re not alone. From Edward Curtin at lewrockwell.com:

“Begin then with a fracture, a cesura, a rent; opening a crack in this fallen world, a shaft of light.”    Norman O. Brown, Love’s Body

Being sick for the past few weeks has had its advantages.  It has forced me to take a break from writing since I could not concentrate enough to do so.  It has gifted me with a deeper sympathy for the vast numbers of the seriously ill around the world, those suffering souls without succor except for desperate prayers for relief.  And it has allowed thoughts to think me as I relinquished all efforts at control for a few miserable weeks of “doing nothing” except napping, reading short paragraphs in books, watching some sports and a documentary, and being receptive to the light coming through the cracks in my consciousness.

I suppose you could say that my temporary illness forced me, as José Ortega Y Gasset described it, virtually and provisionally to withdraw myself from the world and take a stand inside myself – “or, to use a magnificent word which exists only in Spanish, that man can ensimismarse (‘be inside himself’).”

But as I learned, being “inside myself” doesn’t mean the outside world doesn’t come visiting, both in its present and past manifestations.  When you are sick, you feel most vulnerable; this sense of frailty breaks you open to strange and familiar thoughts, feelings, dreams and memories that you must catch on the fly, pin with words if you are quick enough.  I’ve pinned some over these weeks as they came to me through the cracks.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Collapse, Crime, Culture, Governments, Morality, Philosophy, Politics, Propaganda, Psychology, Tyranny, War

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Most All That Is Rational, Good, Beautiful, and Moral Has been Destroyed in Favor of Collective Idiocy, by Gary D. Barnett

Posted on June 3, 2022 | Leave a comment

Collectivism—the concept that an individual’s rights are always subordinate to the will of a collective—is history’s most dangerous and destructive idea. From Gary D. Barnett at lewrockwell.com:

“Collectivism holds that the individual has no rights, that his life and work belong to the group (to “society,” to the tribe, the state, the nation) and that the group may sacrifice him at its own whim to its own interests. The only way to implement a doctrine of that kind is by means of brute force – and statism has always been the political corollary of collectivism.”

~ Ayn Rand (1964). “The Virtue of Selfishness”, p.122, Penguin

It has always been so, but considering the past two and one-half years, most of mankind has universally acted as non-human members of a non-caring mass. The explanation for this lies in the human phenomenon called “Mass Formation Psychosis.” From a pragmatic perspective, this boils down to the elimination of the individual in society in order to satisfy the predisposed nature of the non-thinking idiotic herd seeking feigned safety and group acceptance. Rational and critical independent thought completely disappear when crowds gather; this attitude based on what is referred to as ‘group think,’ which actually means, no intelligent or intellectual thinking at all, just agreement without exception with the majority.

The false assumption of solidarity and the unwarranted perception of unity that necessarily accompanies any ‘thought’ of the ‘common good,’ which is neither common nor good, is only an illusion, and one that has to be accepted without proof or validity in order to perpetuate the state sponsored narrative. The dynamic of group lies and propaganda, something I refer to as societal shared obsolescence, is the core underlying premise expected and demanded by the ruling ‘elite.’ This state of mind by the masses can only lead to total failure and self-induced slavery, so any expectation of safety in numbers in this circumstance is asinine.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Collapse, Crime, Governments, History, Philosophy, Politics, Tyranny

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100 Years of Fascist Propaganda: The Lincoln Memorial’s Centennial, by Thomas DiLorenzo

Posted on June 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

The Lincoln Memorial is festooned with the symbol of fasces—a bunch of rods bound together with a strap. Fasces is also the root word of fascism. In light of Lincoln’s tenure and what has followed, the symbolism is appropriate. From Thomas DiLorenzo at lewrockwell.com:

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. turned 100 on May 30, so I thought I’d add my two cents to all the tributes being paid to “America’s most beloved monument,” as one conservative publication described it.   If you’d like to know what you’re teaching your children and grandchildren to worship and revere when you take them to visit the Lincoln Memorial, I suggest reading a U.S. National Park Service (NPS) publication by one Nathan King entitled “Secret Symbol of the Lincoln Memorial.”  This is the U.S. government’s explanation of the meaning of the Lincoln Memorial.

The “true meaning” of the Lincoln Memorial according to the National Park Service that administers it is represented by a “ubiquitous symbol” that is all over the monument, inside and out.  That symbol is the fasces, a bundle of rods bound together by a leather thong.  This is said to represent “the higher meaning of the memorial and the man.”

The fasces was originally used in the Roman Empire as “a symbol of power and authority,” says the NPS publication.  It “represented that a man held imperium, or executive authority.”  Exercising that “authority” a “leader could expect his orders to be obeyed, could dole out punishment [to those who disobeyed him], and could even execute those who disobeyed.”  That man, in the American tradition, would be Abraham Lincoln in particular, and all of his successors in general.  It means that Jefferson’s declaration in the Declaration of Independence that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed is null and void.  From Lincoln on forward, government in America derives its “just powers” from itself.  Its “powers” are whatever it says they are.  The word “fascism” of course has its roots in the word “fasces.”

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The Globalists’ Race Against Time, by Eamon McKinney

Posted on May 27, 2022 | Leave a comment

The world just refuses to move in lockstep with the globalists’ plans. To the globalists, that stems from flawed people, not flawed plans. From Eamon McKinney at strategic-culture.org:

A Great Reset will happen, just not the one intended by the Globalists. They may have to settle for the Great Decoupling instead.

The green economy, de-industrialisation, digital health passports, Central Bank digital currencies, these are all core components of the Globalists’ plan for the Great reset. The WEF has painted a picture of their proposed future via Klaus Schwab and his acolytes. “We will have nothing, own nothing and be happy”. The main obstacle to this grand vision is that not surprisingly very few countries wish to go along with it. The Globalists know their game is coming to an end and the Great Reset is their way of ensuring that the same financial cabal that has brought the world to its current lamentable state will continue to rule over all in the next world order. The most prominent objectors to this insidious plan are of course Russia and China. Unlike their western counterparts both have strong leaders who enjoy popular support, have strong economies and are optimistic about future prospects for growth. Neither intends to sacrifice their countries so that Western elites can maintain their control over the Global economic system and impose their self-serving will on weaker nations. Which in its simplest terms is why both countries need to be destroyed, at least economically before the Great Reset can be imposed on the world. Time, however, is not on the Globalists’ side, recent events have demonstrated that they are aware of this and are accelerating their timelines.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Collapse, Economics, Economy, Geopolitics, Governments, Law, Media, Philosophy, Politics, Privacy

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Thoughts on Justice Alito’s Draft Opinion, by Andrew P. Napolitano

Posted on May 26, 2022 | Leave a comment

The right to life is the ultimate natural right and if life begins at conception then Alito’s draft opinion reaches the wrong result—leaving the matter up to the states—on the wrong Constitutional rationale. From Andrew P. Napolitano at lewrockwell.com:

In the pilfered draft opinion authored by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, he wrote that Roe v. Wade — the court’s 1973 opinion that prohibited the states from banning abortions during the first six months of pregnancy — and Planned Parenthood v. Casey — its 1992 opinion that modified Roe but essentially upheld it — were both egregiously wrong when decided, are egregiously wrong today and so should be overruled.

The practical effect of overruling Roe and Casey will be to return the issue of the lawfulness of abortion to the states, thus liberating all states to legislate as they wish — to ban all abortions or to permit them even AFTER the moment of birth.

Though I agree that Roe and Casey were and are wrong, I do so for reasons differently than those stated in the Alito draft. One of those reasons — that unenumerated rights today must have a long history of recognition — is deeply troubling to those who believe that personal sovereignty trumps governmental power.

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Turn The Page, by The Zman

Posted on May 19, 2022 | Leave a comment

It’s time for old ideas, and the old folks who espouse them, to die. From The Zman at thezman.com:

In America, what is called the political Left operates within a few modes of thought tied to seminal events on the Left. One if the civil right era, another is the Watergate era and the other is interwar Europe. All events are framed by this period. If they do not fit these models then they are usually ignored. Of course, their framing of these periods is cartoonish and absurd. It is all easy to understand heroes and villains, who are stripped of moral ambiguity and nuance.

What passes for the Right has always been an echo of the Left, so they have evolved similar framings. It took a while but the 1980’s is one of their primary frameworks for talking about current events. They are always looking for the next Reagan, Thatcher or Bill Buckley among the current mediocrities. Their answer to almost every issue is a slogan from the high water point of conservatism. Modern conservatism is a cargo cult where current members ape the members of the past.

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Oh God It’s Going To Get SO Much Worse, by Caitlin Johnston

Posted on April 30, 2022 | 1 comment

It’s about time the government sanctified the principle that if the government says it, it’s got to be true. From Caitlin Johnstone at caitlinjohnstone.com:

Rightists have spent the last couple of days freaking out and invoking Orwell’s 1984 in response to something their political enemies are doing in America, and for once it’s for a pretty good reason. The Department of Homeland Security has secretly set up a “Disinformation Governance Board“, only informing the public about its plans for the institution after it had already been established.

The disinformation board, which critics have understandably been calling a “Ministry of Truth“, purportedly exists to fight disinformation coming out of Russia as well as misleading messages about the US-Mexico border. We may be certain that the emphasis in the board’s establishment has been on the Russia angle, however.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, in her patented “You’re such a crazy idiot for questioning me about the White House” manner, dismissed alarmed questions about what specific functions this strange new DHS entity was going to be performing and what its authority will look like.

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