Can Trump Turn Back Time On Coal Mining Employment?

President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday, repealing many of the environmental regulations introduced by his predecessor Barack Obama and rescinding a moratorium on the leasing of federal land to coal mining companies. In “ending the war on coal”, Trump tries to make good on his campaign promise to bring thousands of unemployed coal miners back to work and secure U.S. energy independence.

As Statista's Felix Richter notes, Trump, like many of his supporters, blames Obama’s environmental policies for the coal industry’s decline, which, as the chart below illustrates, started long before Obama took office in 2009. While it is true that coal consumption and mining employment did drop significantly during Obama’s presidency, experts keep pointing out that the decline was caused primarily by the rise of natural gas and only secondarily by environmental regulation.

Infographic: Can Trump Turn Back Time on Coal Mining Employment? | Statista

You will find more statistics at Statista

In the late 2000s, a boom in natural gas production, driven by new hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technology, drove down prices for natural gas and the demand for electricity produced from coal subsequently plummeted. In 2000, coal accounted for more than 50 percent of U.S. electricity generation. By 2016, that percentage had dropped to around 30 percent with natural gas going the opposite direction. When natural gas surpassed coal for the first time in 2016, the EIA concluded that the rise of gas “was mainly a market-driven response to lower natural gas prices that have made natural gas generation more economically attractive”.

Repealing environmental regulation will likely slow down the decline of the coal industry, but it is highly doubtful that it will reverse a trend that has been ongoing for decades. By easing fracking limitations, President Trump’s anti-regulation policy may even worsen the coal industry’s situation as laxer extraction rules could drive down the price of natural gas even further.

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George W. Bush On Trump’s Inauguration: “That Was Some Weird Shit”

Perhaps just as memorable as the somewhat surreal Trump inauguration on Jan. 20, was the unforgettable crusade of George W. Bush to tame his poncho on that rainy Friday afternoon.

Whether flustered by the elements, or simply due to this residual antagonism for the president, after Trump’s short and dire speech, Bush departed the scene and never offered public comment on the ceremony. Until now.

According to a new report by New York magazine, three people present at the event say they heard Bush’s assessment of the swearing in ceremony.

“That was some weird shit.”

Bush attended Trump’s inauguration, sitting near former President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as former President and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama. He has kept a low profile since.

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Second Foundation: Empire Crumbling

Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

In Part One of this article I analyzed the similarities of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy to Strauss & Howe’s Fourth Turning, trying to assess how Donald Trump’s ascension to power fits into the theories put forth by those authors. In Part Two of this article I compared and contrasted Donald Trump’s rise to power to the rise of The Mule in Asimov’s masterpiece. Unusually gifted individuals come along once in a lifetime to disrupt the plans of the existing social order. Despite the forlorn hope Donald Trump or some other savior can reverse our course, decades of missteps, dreadful decisions, ineffectual leadership, and unconcealed treachery have paved a path to destruction for the American Empire.

American Empire Crumbling

“Mr. Advocate, the rotten tree-trunk, until the very moment when the storm-blast breaks it in two, has all the appearance of might it ever had. The storm-blast whistles through the branches of the Empire even now. Listen with the ears of psychohistory, and you will hear the creaking.”Isaac Asimov, Foundation

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“Now any dogma, based primarily on faith and emotionalism, is a dangerous weapon to use on others, since it is almost impossible to guarantee that the weapon will never be turned on the user.” – Isaac Asimov, Foundation

The elitist ruling class gathers at Davos and their secretive Bilderberg meetings to plot the course of the world, divvying up the vast wealth plundered through their globalization schemes, and developing the newest propaganda narrative to keep the global masses confused, distracted, and powerless to fight back. Despite their wealth and power, an epic level of hubris is always their undoing.

The normal people have begun to fight back but, like the rotten tree trunk Galactic Empire, the “mighty” American Empire, forged from the debris of two world wars, awaits the storm blast which will expose its true level of rot. The American Empire is crumbling under the weight of military overreach; the burden of unpayable debts; currency debasement; cultural decay; civic degeneration; diversity and deviancy trumping common culture and normality; pervasive corruption at every level of government; and the failure of shortsighted leaders to deal with the real problems.

You can hear the creaking as the winds of this Fourth Turning winter howl through the branches of this dying empire. Trump may have forced the Deep State Second Foundation to reveal itself as they seek to destroy him, but the relentless decline of the American Empire continues unabated. Tinkering around the edges of a healthcare system designed to benefit mega-corporations and the Deep State will do nothing to reverse or even delay the decline.

Slowing the growth of government when the national debt is already $20 trillion and headed to $30 trillion within the next decade won’t cure the rot in our tree trunk. Completely ignoring the $200 trillion of unfunded welfare state liabilities helps accelerate the inevitable collapse of this empire. Cutting taxes while expanding the war making machine known as the military industrial complex does nothing to reverse what is already in motion.

In addition to the absolutely quantifiable reasons why the American Empire will collapse, there are demographic, cultural, and societal trends which will contribute dramatically to the fall. The rapidly aging populace, with 10,000 Americans per day turning 65 years old, is the driving force towards national bankruptcy, as this inexorable demographic tsunami sweeps over the fraying fabric of welfare state promises.

The onslaught of illegal immigrants and purposeful execution of a plan by the effete liberal elite to weaken our common American culture through the insertion of Muslim refugees into our communities, is undermining the shared values which built the country. The immigrants who built this country assimilated, learned the language, worked hard, and adopted our common culture. The hordes invading America at this time hate our values and refuse to assimilate. This Soros funded effort to create diversity havoc throughout the world is part of the globalization one world order plan.

As Europe disintegrates under the unrelenting wave of violent refugees creating upheaval, chaos, and spreading religious zealotry through viciousness, the next target is the mighty American Empire. Fighting in the streets between the normal law abiding Trump supporters and the Soros funded, draped in black, flag burning, social justice warrior criminals has begun. Widespread societal strife is just around the corner.

When the next financial crisis, created by the Deep State to further their plans, destroys the remaining wealth of the barely surviving middle class, all hell will break loose in the streets. The 86% of the country occupied by red state, gun owning, Trump supporters will openly go to war against the condescending, left wing, violence provoking blue state liberals. Blood will be spilled in copious amounts. It always does during Fourth Turnings.

Will Trump’s reign resemble the reign of The Mule? The Mule’s conquest was astonishingly fast. He defeated the Foundation and established the Union of Worlds after only five years. The unpredictability of his arrival and rare mental talents befuddled the Foundation. Then he inexplicably paused in his campaign of conquests. Instead he launched repeated expeditions in search of the Second Foundation. The mysterious Second Foundation inhibits The Mule from further conquest as he is consumed with finding their location and paralyzed with fear they can defeat his mentalic powers.

The Second Foundation comes briefly out of hiding to face the threat of The Mule. It is revealed to be an assemblage of the most intelligent humans in the galaxy, descendants of Seldon’s psychohistorians. Using the force of its strongest minds, the Second Foundation ultimately wears down the Mule. They succeed in defeating the Mule, transforming him into a relatively harmless individual, lacking ambition, and no longer a threat to the Seldon Plan. His destructive posture is adjusted to a benign one. He returns to rule over his kingdom peacefully for the rest of his life, without any further thought of conquering the Second Foundation.

Trump has had an astonishingly fast rise to power. He went from frivolous reality TV star to the most powerful leader on earth in the space of two years. With his clownish exploits and rhetoric, he rose to power through being underestimated every step of the way – infuriating his many enemies who miscalculated his level of political savvy and persuasion skills. Unless he is overthrown by the Deep State or killed, he will be able to put his imprint on the nation for at least four years and possibly eight.

His first two months in power will likely reflect his entire presidency. The Washington establishment and sinister Deep State players will attempt to thwart Trump’s every move. They have already impeded his immigration controls and attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, while using their illegal surveillance state techniques to undermine his administration.

The Second Foundation, through unyielding pressure and generating fear of the unknown into the mind of The Mule, was able undermine his plans of conquest and turn him into a non-disruptive, toothless, nonthreatening, passive figurehead. As Trump’s best laid plans are obstructed, agenda foiled, and legislation hindered, will his enthusiasm for governance wane?

The surveillance agencies who are supposed to act on his behalf are clearly trying to subvert his presidency. Leaks and fake news designed to sabotage the credibility of Trump and his administration will continue. Will the fear of retribution from mysterious surveillance state operatives convince Trump to fall into line and become a submissive lackey, no longer making waves for the Deep State?

I have no illusions Trump is some sort of savior who will reverse decades of political corruption, currency debasement, financial market rigging, global military missteps, cultural decay, pervasive entitlement mindset, and out of control espionage operatives. At best, he will slow some aspects of the decline over a short time frame. More likely, he will provoke his enemies to such an extent the decline will be accelerated due to civil and/or global war breaking out. The oncoming financial collapse will further push the country toward the brink. It’s not a matter of if, but when. And the when is closer than most people imagine.

The seeds of destruction for the American Empire were planted as Ben Franklin departed the Constitutional Convention two hundred and thirty years ago responding to a question from Mrs. Powell that they had given the people a republic, if they could keep it. The seeds were slow to take root, but the transition from republic to democracy insured long-term decline as the people voted for more benefits, paid for by their fellow citizens and financed by debt.

With the secretive creation of the privately owned Federal Reserve in 1913, the debasement of our currency was begun. The true birth of the American Empire occurred with surrender of Germany & Japan at the conclusion of World War II. As the only major power not in physical and economic shambles, America dominated the world until its hubris kicked in during the late 1960s with the birth of the welfare/warfare state financed by debt. Closure of the gold window in 1971 sealed our fate.

We’ve crossed our Rubicon with the preservation and expansion of empire bankrupting the nation. We just refuse to admit it. It’s already a done deal. Default is baked in the cake. It’s happened to the Greeks, Romans, Spanish, Dutch, British, and many other civilizations throughout history. The path to destruction is always the same because the actions of humans in large numbers are entirely predictable. The American Empire has exploited all of the productive people, leaving nothing left to invest in the future. Investment by corporate America today constitutes greedy CEOs buying back their stock to boost earnings per share and share price in order to earn multi-million dollar bonuses.

The globalization scam was the last dying gasp to exploit the dwindling resources of the planet and the people. There is nothing left to fund the bread and circuses keeping the ignorant masses distracted, amused, and fed. The monetary machinations of the Federal Reserve have reached their limit. Economic crisis is inevitable before this Fourth Turning runs its course.

The economic meltdown will likely result in the final breakup of the American empire. The best laid plans of Deep State billionaire intellectuals will be for naught. The law of large numbers will win again. All empires eventually die, and life will go on, unless the psychopaths controlling this country blow the planet up rather than relinquish their wealth and power. Is history already written or do we as individuals have a say?

“Throughout you have invariably relied on authority or on the past—never on yourselves.”Isaac Asimov, Foundation

“But Empire building also bears the seeds of its own destruction. The closer a state comes to the ultimate goal of world domination and one-world government, the less reason is there to maintain its internal liberalism and do instead what all states are inclined to do anyway, i.e., to crack down and increase their exploitation of whatever productive people are still left.

Consequently, with no additional tributaries available and domestic productivity stagnating or falling, the Empire’s internal policies of bread and circuses can no longer be maintained. Economic crisis hits, and an impending economic meltdown will stimulate decentralizing tendencies, separatist and secessionist movements, and lead to the break-up of Empire. We have seen this happen with Great Britain, and we are seeing it now, with the US and its Empire apparently on its last leg.”Hans-Hermann Hoppe

 

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Westinghouse Bankruptcy Puts Fate Of Four U.S. Nuclear Reactors In Limbo

When the Westinghouse Electric filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday morning, few were surprised as the outcome was the only one which allowed the company’s troubled, and near-insolvent Japanese parent, Toshiba, to continue operating, even if it meant the bankruptcy of the iconic company. Westinghouse was one of the originators of the nuclear age, building the world’s first commercial nuclear reactor 60 years ago. Its pressurized water reactor design is in 430 power plants and accounts for 10% of electricity generated in the world.

However, few were prepared for the unexpected aftermath of this particular bankruptcy, which has set off a showdown between Toshiba and a major U.S. utility, has left the fate of four half-finished nuclear reactors and is threatening to drive a wedge between the US and Japanese governments over the fate of industries each considers vital.


The Vogtle Unit 3 and 4 site, a Westinghouse project, near Waynesboro, Ga., in February

For those who have missed our previous discussion on the underlying cause for today’s default, Westinghouse incurred billions in runaway cost overruns related to four nuclear reactors it is building in the southeastern U.S. These costs from the half-finished reactors had spiraled so large, they threatened the viability of its Japanese parent company, Toshiba, which in turn has been engulfed in a series of accounting and fraud scandals in recent years, has seen its profitability plummet and whose precarious finances have attracted attention of Japan’s government.

Admitting defeat in the nuclear business, Toshiba CEO Satoshi Tsunukawa said that “this is a de facto withdrawal from the overseas nuclear business for us. Therefore, we don’t see any more risk.”

Others, however, see substantial risk now that their claims against Westinghouse are reduced to the status of a prepetition unsecured claim. First and foremost, is Toshiba’s now former, and quite angry customer, Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Co., the Atlanta power company and primary owner of two of the reactors being built in Georgia, who on Wednesday characterized the completion of the reactors as an international political issue, calling it a test of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s commitments with President Donald Trump at a summit in February to help create American jobs.

“The commitments are not just financial and operational, but there are moral commitments as well,” Mr. Fanning said in an interview from Tokyo, where he had traveled to lobby for a resolution to the mounting dispute. Quoted by the WSJ, Fanning said there are 5,000 jobs directly at stake at the two Georgia reactors, jobs that could be lost if Toshiba doesn’t commit to paying billions in future costs, which it won’t now that it has severed ties with its insolvent subsidiary.

Westinghouse designed the reactors and also is building them for Southern, and contractually had agreed to shoulder cost overruns, at least until its Chapter 11 filing this morning.

Perhaps unaware of the ramifications, Trump administration officials were quiet on the bankruptcy Wednesday.

According to the WSJ, the U.S. Department of Energy, which has provided an $8 billion loan guarantee for the Georgia reactors, said it was in discussions with various companies. “We are keenly interested in the bankruptcy proceedings and what they mean for taxpayers and the nation,” said Lindsey Geisler, an agency spokeswoman.

Ironically, based on a new Westinghouse design, the reactors, the first to be constructed in the U.S. in nearly four decades, were supposed to be an answer to cost overruns and delays that have dogged the nuclear power industry. We say ironically, because it is cost overruns and delays that eventually led to the company’s bankruptcy.  Worse, these plants are already years behind schedule in addition to causing huge losses for Toshiba.

Toshiba said it expected to lose about $9 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, largely because it guaranteed nearly $6 billion in Westinghouse’s obligations to Southern and Scana Corp.—the company for which Westinghouse is building the other two reactors in South Carolina.

What happens next is unclear. After the bankruptcy filing, Southern and Scana have said they would finance continued construction of the reactors for 30 days, but weren’t clear where construction funding would come from after that time. Scana also said, for the first time, that it would consider abandoning the two reactors underway if costs changed dramatically.

More problematic are the potential political implications: Southern’s CEO has made it clear he intends to escalate this to the level of an international conflict if he must. Fanning, who said he has spoken to Vice President Mike Pence, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Energy Secretary Rick Perry about the importance of completing the reactors, argued that more was at stake economically than the direct future of the facilities.

“Westinghouse declaring bankruptcy has national security implications,” said Mr. Fanning, who also happens to be chair of the board of the Atlanta Fed.

Fanning said the estimated cost of the entire project was roughly $16 billion, but cautioned that the companies were unsure of how much more was needed to finish the partially built reactors. The current target dates for completion of the Georgia reactors are 2019 and 2020, three years behind the original schedule.

Richard Nephew, a fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said Mr. Fanning appeared to be using the Trump administration’s reputation for defending U.S. jobs and taking a tough stance even with allies, to his advantage.

 

“This is someone who knows what the triggers are for this administration,” Mr. Nephew said. “Everyone now has a sense of what the president’s triggers are and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of companies use those triggers to gain an advantage in negotiations with foreign companies.”

Another problem is the overall viability of nuclear energy.  Toshiba casting away Westinghouse is merely the latest indication of an industry in turmoil, demonstrated recently by Siemens’ decision to abandon the industry, Areva SA’s financial and safety problems, the falling market value of China General Nuclear Power Group and the junk-bond status of Russia’s Atomenergoprom.

“I don’t see how this can mean anything but even greater cost growth for the plants under construction and an unacceptable risk for any that are under consideration,” said Fred Beach, assistant director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.

Meanwhile, the biggest threat from the bankruptcy is fallout in the already tense diplomatic relations between the US and Japan.

A Japanese government official said the U.S. had not raised Mr. Fanning’s complaints with the Abe administration and that there had been no request for help to keep the projects alive. “This is a private company’s business and operation,” the person said.

It will hardly remain that way, and it remains to be seen what will happen if and when Trump demands that Japan make whole the US companies that were cheat by Toshiba’s decision.

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Foreign Investors Are Dumping Japanese Bonds & Stocks At Almost Record Pace

Foreigners selling Japanese assets has become very seasonal as liquidity needs appear critical at quarter-ends for much of the last three years.

Last week – as Q1 ends – Foreigners sold 1.923 trillion Yen in Japanese bonds and 754 billion Yen in Japanese stocks. That was the second largest dump of Japanese assets in history

This is also the biggest Q1 plunge ever – worse than in 2008.

 

The size of this combined selling of Japanese bonds and stocks at $24 billion in one week, was only bettered by the Q3 2016-end.

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The Political Parties Are An Illusion Designed To “Relegate The Governed To The Level Of Cattle”

Authored by Jeremiah Johnson (nom de plume of a retired Green Beret of the United States Army Special Forces) vis SHTFplan.com,

As I wrote in several previous articles:

  1. The President cannot be completely assessed for effectiveness until the first 6 months have passed in this term,
  1. He needs to attain success within the first year (and optimally within the first six months) as the midterm election campaigning will begin for both houses of Congress in November. The President needs solid victories and a concrete direction for the administration to ensure no flip-flops and a loss of control of the Congress, and
  1. He must overcome the true masters of this country, as both political parties are an illusion with the paradigm shift well under way to loss of Constitutional freedoms and the “crafting” of transition to global governance with abrogation of national sovereignty and identity for Americans.

Over the course of the past week and the attempt to rid the United States of the abomination of Obamacare, the true nature of the state of things…the stance of our government…has revealed itself.  Here is how they have done it:

When Obama was in power, the Congress stamped their feet and yelled with “faux” frustration: powerless to reverse Obamacare.  Now Obama is gone and President Trump is in, and it is Congress…the Republican-controlled Congress, mind you…that will not get rid of Obamacare.

Citizens, let the investigations begin!  How many of these globalist lackeys, these pseudo-Republicans in Congress are on the payroll to vote to keep Obamacare against the will of their constituents?  Just in the manner of John Roberts of the Supreme Court: either paid or threatened to cast his vote.  Scan the accounts, check the deposits, and follow the money.  Always follow the money!  Who has been paid?  They can be found and the money can be traced to the paymaster(s), to the globalist oligarchs and/or their institution/LLC/NPO/NGO, etc.  I call all of it “Seesaw Tyranny,” the method they are using to push the paradigm shift.

Seesaw Tyranny”: When 1/3 or 2/3 of the three “checks and balances” branches (President, Congress, or the Supreme Court) takes the blame for heinous laws or a failure to repeal them, and the remainder hops up and down, feigning indignation and pretending to be against what has happened…the subversion of representing the true will of the people.

That is what we have here, folks.  Start the investigations.  This is a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and a Republican-controlled Senate.  The leaders of each have feigned indignation and incredulity…but they were also ones who took a firm stance before the Presidential election not to repeal Obamacare, but to repeal and replace Obamacare. They are Ryan and McConnell.  It’s time to function in the manner of “Madame Defarge,” and knit ourselves the lists of those Republicans who are against repealing Obamacare.  Then let the investigations begin, and start them out by following the money.

What is at stake here is that the government must…must…have a foothold to carry out intrusive acts in our lives.  The vehicle is the requirement by law to have health care coverage.  For more than 100 years, healthcare coverage required by law was the goal, and they will not…absolutely not…relinquish that control now that they have it!  They must have the ability to demand that we have it in order to control our money, our occupations, our children, and our lives!

Remember: Those bastards exempted themselves from the requirement to have it.

If this is not repealed, it will sit and fester.  The end goal is right out of Cloward and Piven…to use the existing system to collapse the society…and Obamacare is the vehicle.  This is the vehicle to crush the middle class and saddle them with the burden of the poor…the “patsies” lured into supporting the Marxists with bread (EBT cards and food stamps) and circuses (free cell phones, free everything).  The middle class collapses under the burden as the taxes steadily increase…and we pay for the jailers to fortify and refine the prison walls that confine us.

These pseudo-Republicans were paid off…to maintain the existing order (in this case Obamacare).  Meanwhile, the media and the Democrats will continue to work against everything that the President does…to stymie productive results…and the fickle populace will put the Democrats in control of Congress again…then the Democrats (Marxists) will keep pushing for the paradigm shift and eventually limit the President to one term.  Then Obamacare will be here to stay, and worse.  Do you think that’s the end state?   No, just the means to the end state…one as horrible as you can imagine, making “Soylent Green” appear tame.  They’ll also use our children as a weapon: a means of attaining compliance.  Tell me where a 26-year-old is a “kid” and his parents obligated to keep health care coverage for him/her.  No, it is about control.  Dominion.  Enslavement.

The future of this country is on hold right now.  What we need is for the President to go above and beyond the call of duty to save the country.  He must reign in these Republicans.  He must succeed by making the changes he promised in his campaign and show successes to a population with the attention span of a gnat whose votes can be bought by handouts.  He needs to take the gloves off, put a roll of quarters in each hand, and then put the gloves back on.

Vince Lombardi: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

We can’t afford to lose this one, and we only have until November when the battle really becomes joined.  Obamacare needs to be repealed and renounced, not repealed and replaced.  All Republicans that went against the repeal need to be investigated.  They need to be “repealed,” (removed) and replaced with representatives who will vote the will of the people and represent the people.  It’s all BS anyway: we’re going to be subjected to this “seesawing” of nothing being accomplished.  The subterfuge and sabotage by the Democrats and the pseudo-Republicans will continue for a “watered down” brief hiatus from the last 8 years of nightmarish misery…until a return to power by the Marxists.  Those pseudo-Republicans are the ones who will enable it.  Picture Elizabeth Warren in four years as the President with her husband, Cass Sunstein in the White House.

This battle against the President’s reforms and changes with Obamacare is only the beginning.  It is a battle on many fronts with numerous issues.  As citizens, we need to investigate these pseudo-Republican traitors who have not carried out the wills and wishes of their constituents.  The political parties are an illusion, but there is one thing that is not illusory: the absolute desire of government to rule without the consent of the governed and to relegate the governed to a position barely above that of cattle.  The President needs to take the gloves off and throw the Marquis of Queensbury rules aside in order to win.  We the People need to help him do it.  If not, we’re going to lose this country even before the next presidential election and fall into the hands of the globalists.  Should that happen, all our freedoms will die, and so will we as a nation.  The time to act is now, and the responsibility to act is ours.

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“American Psycho” Author Blasts Hollywood Snowflakes For “Childish Meltdowns” Over Trump

Bret Easton Ellis, the author of American Psycho, would like for all of his Hollywood snowflake friends to know that he’s absolutely sick of their unending “childish meltdowns” over Trump’s victory nearly five months ago and he would very much appreciate it if you would stop ruining every single dinner he goes to with you. 

In a new podcast (embedded below), Ellis goes on an epic 35-minute, anti-snowflake, anti-hollywood rant that is pure entertainment.  And Ellis didn’t pull any punches either as he took direct aim at the public meltdowns of Barbara Streisand and Lena Dunham telling them to stop “blaming the president for your own problems and neuroses.”

“You can dislike the fact that Trump was elected, yes, definitely, and yet still understand and accept ultimately that he was elected this time around. Or you can have a complete mental and emotional collapse and let the Trump presidency define you, which I think is absurd. … If you are still losing your s— about Trump, I think you should probably go to a shrink and not let the bad man that was elected define your self-victimization and your life. You are letting him win.”

 

“Barbra Streisand says she’s gaining weight because of Trump. Lena Dunham says she’s losing weight because of Trump. Really? You’re blaming the president for your own problems and neuroses?”

Ellis goes on to blast the hypocrisy of the left and their “Resistance” movement saying that he would prefer to resist the “childish meltdowns I’ve been witnessing at dinners and on social media and on late night TV...”

“For some reason I started thinking about the cost of Meryl Streep’s gown at the Golden Globes and the $30 million apartment she had recently put on the market in Greenwich Village.”

 

“Liberalism used to be about freedom but now is about a kind of warped moral authority that is actually part of the moral superiority movement. This faction of the left is touchingly now known as ‘The Resistance.’ Oh yes, the resistance. What is this resistance? There are posters all over my neighborhood in West Hollywood urging me to resist, resist, resist.”

 

“But some of us, who did not vote for Trump, and who located exactly who he was decades ago … some of us have been wondering: Resist what, exactly? And who is telling us to resist whatever? The people who voted for the candidate who lost — I’m supposed to listen to them? Is this a joke?Well I’m certainly resisting the childish meltdowns I’ve been witnessing at dinners and on social media and on late night TV and too many times in my own home.”

Meanwhile, Ellis notes that his own boyfriend has relapsed into a struggle with opiates since Trump’s victory and has done little since November other than obsess over Russian conspiracy theories on Reddit followed by binge watching sessions of Rachel Maddow obsessing over those same Russian conspiracy theories.

“What was happening to my boyfriend was also reflective of the epidemic of moral superiority that has engulfed and is now destroying, eating alive, the American left. I cannot count the time my boyfriend has left the house since the election his hair long and tousled, he hasn’t shaved in months, and he’s addicted to three things besides opiates: Russian conspiracies discussed on Reddit, Rachel Maddow detailing Russian conspiracies, and Final Fantasy 15,” Ellis said.

In conclusion, Ellis says it’s just about time that liberals get up and “pull on your big boy pants.”

“It’s time to get up, pull on your big-boy pants, and have a stiff drink at the bar.  Because in the end, we share only one country.”

The full rant can be heard here:

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You Will Never Hear These Truths Discussed In The Mainstream

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.com,

The general public truly lives in two separate worlds.

We have the world of the mainstream media, popular culture and political rhetoric; a world which constantly and desperately seeks to twist or destroy any legitimate measure of reality, leading people into a frenzied fog.

 

Then, we have the world of concrete facts; an ugly, brutal world that upsets many people when they see it and leaves them with little more than the hope that the most innovative of us will perhaps reverse the disastrous course, or at least, survive to carry on a meaningful level of civilization.

The sad thing is, if a majority of the population studied and accepted the world of fact, then preparation and intelligent or aggressive action might negate any destructive outcome. Reality only grows more ugly because we continue to ignore it.

Have you ever come to a logical or practical conclusion in response to a national or global problem and waited in vain to hear it represented in the mainstream? Have you ever thought — if I can figure this out, why can’t they? And by “they,” I mean the people most commonly offered a mainstream platform. This includes so called “professional journalists,” political leaders, mainstream economists, highly paid “analysts,” etc. Well, I think more and more Americans in particular are finally considering the notion that these “professionals” are either not very smart, or they have an agenda that seeks to perpetuate the problem rather than fix the problem.

Yes, the intellectual class, the longtime gatekeepers of public thought and consent, are actually mostly morons and/or liars with a terrible purpose in mind. I understand that this does not come as a surprise to many of my readers, but remember, the masses are still trapped in a stupefying fog. The goal here is to bring just a few more of them out of the doldrums whenever possible.

In the meantime, they are being fed one dishonest narrative after another, and there are certain truths, suggestions, solutions and philosophies they will never stumble across in their daily lives. Here are just a few questions and ideas on very specific mainstream events and propaganda memes which just don’t seem to receive the light of day.

The Healthcare Bill Debacle

If you happen to take note of stock market reactions to legislative events, you may have observed that equities recently suffered a swift sidekick to the solar plexus (read the section on stocks below as to why this matters little). This is, according to the mainstream, due to the failure of the Trump administration’s Obamacare repeal efforts. The first assumption here is that stock markets exploded higher after Trump’s election win purely because the investment world was placing bets that Trump would ram through tax cuts and pro-business legislation within his first year. The second assumption is that because Trump’s first piece of major legislation, the repeal of Obamacare, has failed, he will not be able to achieve any of his other stated goals, including tax cuts.

There are perhaps some minor truths within this narrative. A repeal of Obamacare might have helped free up billions in capital which could have been used for Trump’s infrastructure programs among other things. With the health care act still bleeding Americans dry and overextending the expenses of government, that border wall is looking a little less likely right now. Unless, of course, taxes remain the same or even increase in the near term.

My question is, why isn’t anyone in the mainstream questioning why a “new” healthcare bill was necessary at all? What was the point of this debacle? To marginally shift Obamacare so that it still exists but with reduced funding? Why not just get rid of the damn thing completely? That is what people voted Trump in for.

Instead of chasing a pointless piece of legislation through congress trying to make every special interest happy, why won’t Trump simply remove enforcement of the Obamacare tax? It is, after all, a perfect example of taxation of without representation. If businesses and individuals no longer had to worry about the fines for not paying into Obamacare, then most of them would not voluntarily pay for it. Thus, Obamacare would be defunded naturally. It seems to me that the most obvious solution to the problem is being completely ignored in the mainstream.

Russian Hackers And Political Influence

This narrative just refuses to die, and the only point I can see to it so far is that it is a way for establishment elites to keep the political left constantly agitated. The left becomes more and more insane in their rhetoric and behavior exactly because the mainstream continues to perpetuate the rationale that Trump is “not really president.” Think about it — the left was already hurtling towards the madness of full blown communism, but in order to reach a crescendo of schizophrenic violence, they need a little more psychological justification. If they can be convinced that Trump is now a “Russian agent,” they have all the justification they need to take their mob actions to the next level.

Just one problem — why is no one in the mainstream asking for the evidence that supposedly proves that Trump’s campaign was influenced by the Russian government? I keep hearing it exists, but where is it? The media is more than willing to demand hard evidence that the Trump team was being electronically tapped by the Obama administration; but so far there is more evidence coming to light of Obama wiretapping than evidence that Trump is working for the Russians.

Beyond this, as far as the Russian “hacking” of the DNC during the election is concerned, why is no one presenting the most important point — that point being, WHO CARES who actually hacked the DNC? It does not matter. What matters is that extreme corruption was found, along with regular collusion between the Clinton campaign and the media. It is the corruption that people should be up in arms about, NOT the hacking.

Clinton Corruption

Why are the Clintons still running around free? Why is no one talking about prosecution anymore? This question is for Trump, of course. Now, I predicted post election that Trump would indeed abandon all talk of Hillary Clinton going to prison almost immediately, but I would like to hear his argument as to why this should no longer be pursued.

Stock Market Relevancy

Why do mainstream economists hyper focus on the stock market? The stock market is nothing more than a trailing indicator of economic decline, and is ultimately irrelevant to the bigger fiscal picture. Yet, the health of the economy is almost always first tied to stock market performance (and to unemployment numbers which are also highly manipulated).

If stocks are in complete reversal by June/July as I predicted right after the election in my article 'World Suffers From Trump Shellshock — Here’s What Happens Next', does this mean that the economy is finally considered “in decline?”  Or, does it mean that the economy has been in steady decline for years and only now is the stock market reflecting that reality?

Also, why do people still listen to mainstream economists? They are almost always wrong, and alternative economists are almost always right. Shouldn’t these supposed “professionals” be out of a job by now?

Illegal Immigration

Why is enforcement of existing immigration laws, laws which have been a standard for decades, such a divisive issue? Most countries in the world have stringent immigration laws, why is it that America is not allowed to enforce similar laws? Why does the left in particular consider the removal of illegal immigrants representative of “racism” or “fascism?” I realize they are mostly insane, but I would just like to hear one valid and practical argument from them as to why the U.S. specifically should be saddled with wide open borders and why American conservatives in particular are racist merely for demanding that the current laws be followed?

I don’t want to hear nonsensical mainstream arguments about how we are a “nation of immigrants.” We are NOT a nation of immigrants. I was born here. Most of us were born here. Our ancestors settled here and built this nation from nothing. This nation is established now and has been for generations. Times change and we don’t need a flood of random immigrants. If anything, we need highly selective immigration of only the best and brightest and most skilled from around the world.

Illegal immigration is not a debate. There is no logical reason to defend it, unless your goal is to overwhelm the American system with potential democrat voters or to completely destabilize the country altogether. Why are we still arguing about this?

The Mainstream Media Is Dying

The bastion guardian of all that is “mainstream,” the arbiter of who is “fake news” and who is “real news,” is actually in rapid decline, but you will never hear them admit it publicly. Many alternative media outlets are crushing the readership and viewership numbers of many mainstream media publications and shows, but much of the public still clings to the faulty concept that there is a particular level of “professionalism” that goes into the production of these narrative peddlers. We have been brainwashed with stories of “journalistic integrity” that lead us to consider media a higher calling. This is, of course, pure garbage.

As was made fully evident this past election, there is absolutely no integrity whatsoever in the journalistic field. There are only people with agendas and people who whore themselves out for people with agendas. That’s it. You may find a few honest souls on the conservative side of the media apparatus, but in large part, journalism is like a Vegas brothel.

Unfortunately, our society is in a period of transition in which the public is skeptical of mainstream media influences, but still pays attention to them. While people are rapidly abandoning these “news sources” for more independent fair, this may be too little too late. As I have outlined above, there are numerous questions which are never asked; numerous solutions that are never presented. The majority remains oblivious to practical options and practical actions. They remain oblivious to certain truths. The mainstream may have already done all the damage it can do. All that is left is for alternative analysts to pick up the pieces, ask the right questions, fight for the right causes and see if we can salvage this mess in time.

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Retired Texas Teachers “Very Fed Up” As Healthcare Costs Set To Triple

It seems President Trump was on to something when he said healthcare in America would "explode," if left alone. ABC reports that retired teachers in Texas are projected to pay double or triple their current premiums for healthcare beginning September 1.

Since 1985, the state has provided healthcare for retired teachers through a plan called TRS Care. As of last year, 261,500 retired teachers, dependents and their surviving spouses, according to the State Comptroller. But in recent years medical costs have risen higher than what the state contributes to TRS Care leaving the fund with more than a billion dollar shortfall now.

At its creation in 1985, TRS-Care was expected to remain solvent for just 10 years, with the understanding that additional funding or benefit changes would be necessary to maintain the plan. Its funding formula hasn’t changed since 2005, however, and hasn’t kept pace with plan costs, requiring periodic supplemental appropriations,” wrote Hegar in a special edition of his newsletter called FiscalNotes.

As ABC notes, unless state lawmakers change the plan’s design or add significant funding, retiree premiums are projected to triple this summer.

"Retired teachers are very fed up. I'm extremely frustrated," said Pat Hill who taught math in Collin County schools for 32 years. Hill, who’s 68, uses TRS Care to supplement her Medicare coverage. She said her cost will double.

 

But like all retired teachers under 65, Reanel Merriman relies on it solely for her medical coverage. "We pay about $450 a month. I have heard possibilities of it going up to more than $1,800 a month. But I think it will probably be raised $1,000,” said Merriman, 63.

 

That's more than her monthly pension.

But state lawmakers have known for years this was an issue facing the state. Will legislators address it with permanent changes this session?

"I think we're going to have to,” said state Sen. Van Taylor, R-Plano. Monday, the Senate Finance Committee approved a state budget for fiscal years 2018-2019 which adds $316 million to mitigate the funding shortfall, according to the Statesman.

Retirees said it’s still a fraction of the amount needed to make up for the shortfall and still does not raise the state’s contribution to the fund. Hill and Merriman said lawmakers have betrayed teachers and are leaving them to face a financial hit this September that many can’t afford.

* * *

The question – of course – is who will get the blame when the whole thing explodes?

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Is George Soros Behind This Plot To Topple Trump?

Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,

The Establishment is setting up Donald Trump.

The mainstream media hates him. Hollywood hates him. The “Intellectual Yet Idiot” academia class hates him.

Most critically, the CIA hates him. So does the rest of the Deep State, or the permanently entrenched “national security” bureaucracy. They did everything possible to stop Trump from taking office. None of it worked.

I think the CIA hates Trump for a very simple reason: he’s threatening to take away their livelihood.

Trump wants to make nice with Putin and the Russians. But countering the so-called “Russian threat” is how many thousands of Deep State bureaucrats make a living.

These people feed off the trough of the $1 trillion-plus military/security budget. Playing nice with the Russians would kill their jobs—and end their way of life.

Trump has said:

We will pursue a new foreign policy that finally learns from the mistakes of the past. We will stop looking to topple regimes and overthrow governments.

Toppling regimes is the CIA’s bread and butter. No wonder they hate him.

Of course, the feeling is mutual. Trump has used plenty of sharp words to describe the “intelligence community.” He’s reportedly aiming to fundamentally restructure the CIA.

John F. Kennedy’s Battle with the CIA

Donald Trump is the first president since John F. Kennedy to openly take on the CIA.

After being suckered into the Bay of Pigs disaster in Cuba, JFK said he wanted "to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds."

Kennedy fired CIA Director Allen Dulles. But that was about as far as he got.

JFK, of course, failed to break the Deep State’s grasp on power. In an ironic twist, Allen Dulles would later be appointed to the Warren Commission to investigate Kennedy’s assassination.

The CIA is the undisputed all-time world champion of orchestrating coups. And right now, Trump is squarely on its radar…

How the Deep State Will Take Down Trump

The way I see it, the Deep State has three main cards to play against Trump. If one doesn’t work, they’ll move on to the next one.

  1. The Delegitimization Card

  2. The Herbert Hoover Card

  3. The John F. Kennedy Card

The Delegitimization Card

There’s a joke that goes something like this…

Question: Why can there be no “color revolution” in the US?

Answer: Because there are no US embassies in the US.

To get the joke you have to understand the role the US played—through CIA officers based out of US embassies—in orchestrating various color-coded revolutions, really coups d’état, over the past 17 years:

  • The Bulldozer Revolution in Serbia (2000)

  • The Rose Revolution in Georgia (2003)

  • The Orange and Euromaidan Revolutions in Ukraine (2004 and 2014)

  • The Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan (2005)

  • The Cedar Revolution in Lebanon (2005)

  • The Jeans Revolution in Belarus (2006)

  • The Saffron Revolution in Myanmar (2007)

  • The Green Revolution in Iran (2009)… though that one didn't work.

  • The Grape Revolution in Moldova (2009)

  • The Colorful Revolution in Macedonia (2016)

All of these AstroTurf revolutions have one thing in common. In each case, George Soros’ NGOs helped delegitimize the targeted government.

Of course, there were valid grievances against these governments. But the US Deep State manipulated these situations to advance its geopolitical agenda.

Here’s how it worked: Soros’ NGOs would help fund and organize “professional protestors.” Then they’d use color-specific branding to help rally others to their cause.

Soros has turned colored revolutions into a science. The pattern is predictable.

Now it’s playing out in the US.

It smells to me like the CIA and George Soros’ NGOs are trying to start a “color revolution” in the US, just like they’ve done in numerous foreign countries.

The US color revolution already has a color. It’s purple, the mix of red and blue (i.e., red and blue states).

Hillary Clinton has developed a recent fondness for purple. She’s worn purple in almost every public appearance since the election.


Hillary Clinton’s concession speech. Notice her purple blouse and Bill’s purple tie.

There’s also a flood of social media postings about the color purple. So the branding is already done. And, of course, the professional protestors financed and organized by George Soros are already there.

Again, there are valid complaints against Trump. But the Usual Suspects are using their usual tricks to remove a government they don’t like. It just happens that, this time, the target government is in Washington, D.C., instead of Eastern Europe or the Middle East.

I don’t think the Deep State can get rid of Trump with the Delegitimization Card alone. So they will have to escalate to the next option.

The Herbert Hoover Card

When people think of President Hoover, they mostly think of the Great Depression.

Throughout the 1920s, the Federal Reserve’s easy money policies helped create an enormous stock market bubble.

In August 1929, the Fed raised interest rates and effectively ended the easy credit. Only a few months later, the bubble burst on Black Tuesday, in October 1929—barely seven months after Hoover took office. The Dow lost over 12% that day.

It was the most devastating stock market crash in the US up to that point. It also signaled the beginning of the Great Depression.

This happened on Hoover’s watch. And because of that, people pinned the blame squarely on him, regardless of where the fault lied.

Hoover inherited a stock market bubble near its peak—fueled by the Fed’s easy money policies.

I think Trump has, too. And he knows it. In recent months he’s called the stock market a “big, fat, ugly bubble.”

There’s an excellent chance this bubble will burst on Trump’s watch. And Democrats will pin the blame on him, just as they did with Hoover.

If that doesn’t work, the Deep State still has one card left.

The John F. Kennedy Card

Chuck Schumer, a powerful Democratic senator and quintessential Deep State swamp creature, recently discussed the war between Trump and the intelligence community on TV.

Schumer said, “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.”

It doesn’t take much imagination to understand what he’s alluding to.

Of course, the Deep State could try to assassinate Trump. It’s obvious the possibility has crossed his mind. He’s taken the unusual step of supplementing his Secret Service protection with loyal private security.

There are only three possible outcomes to the Deep State’s war on Trump…

  • Trump will defeat the Deep State.

  • The Deep State will co-opt Trump.

  • The Deep State will overthrow Trump.

As things stand, I think it’s unlikely Trump will defeat the Deep State. It’s been entrenched for decades. And it’s far more powerful than the president.

It’s also unlikely the Deep State will co-opt Trump. It’s just not in his personality to submit and roll over. He didn’t overcome all the odds to become president just to be another empty suit.

The Deep State will play the Herbert Hoover Card next. But if that doesn’t work—or if the Deep State starts to get antsy—they’ll move forward to overthrow him by any means possible.

The Deep State is planning moves during Trump’s first 100 days in office that could change everything in sudden and unexpected ways.

*  *  *

New York Times best-selling author Doug Casey and I put together this time-sensitive video explaining how it could all go down. You must see this urgent video before the Deep State makes its next move. Click here to watch it now.

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