Globalism and Ingsoc

"If you want a vision of the future, Winston, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever."
--O'Brien (1984)

Informative account of how globalism was spawned by English socialism (or Ingsoc per Orwell's Nineteen Eight-Four). The point of origin was 19th century British imperialism which Victorian administrators projected world dominion as inevitable. The media was on board early promoting a 'Parliament of man' (Tennyson, 1842) under the rule of a 'Greater Britain' (NYT, 1897) composed of the UK, US, and other English-speaking countries.

Higher ed joined in as well. Oxford professor John Ruskin inspired generations of bureaucrats with his 'Reign or Die' lecture of 1870. He argued that the British Empire should conquer barbarous peoples and spread what amounted to socialist values across the globe. It should be noted that Ruskin called himself a Communist before Marx completed his seminal Das Kapital work.

Backed by the legitimacy of the professoriate, British statesman such as Cecil Rhodes and Alfred Miner lead the country's leadership down the globalization path. Miner established 'Round Table' groups to promote a worldwide federation of English-speaking countries. In each target country, local leaders were recruited as 'Judas goats' to lead their countries to the slaughter of WWI. The 'War that Will End War,' wrote novelist H.G. Wells in 1914, would result "in a Peace League that will control the globe." Wells, by the way, was among British mediates recruited by Britain's War Propaganda Bureau (a.k.a. Wellington House) as a secret operative.

British leaders knew that the Peace League would never come about without US support. Thus, British intelligence worked to penetrate the Wilson White House--an endeavor that proved easy. Among their top recruits was Edward House, a close advisor to the president with generational ties to England. House worked with British spies, including US station chief for the SIS Sir William Wiseman, to influence US policy toward participation in WWI and assembling the subsequent Peace League. British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey coined the term 'League of Nations' that, through the persuasive influence of House, Wilson proposed to the world. 

It should be plain, then, that counter to narrative of popular history, President Wilson was not the father of globalism. Instead, he was merely a high profile mouthpiece for an idea that had been nearly a century in the making.

Following WWI, House and Wiseman guided Wilson's every move at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. To the disdain of British globalists, however, Wilson could not persuade the US Senate to vote in favor of the League of Nations. Consequently, globalist sympathizers in the UK and US governments established groups, such as the US Council on Foreign Relations, to coordinate policy in a manner that kept the torch burning.

As we now know, Wells' War that Would End War didn't do the trick. In midst of WWII, Winston Churchill picked up the torch of globalism, calling for a 'special relationship' between US and UK to form a 'world organization' that prevent another world war. The United Nations was subsequently founded in 1945.

But how could there be peace without tools for war that would keep the peace? Churchill argued that yet another English-speaking groups authorized to make war was necessary to enforce the globalist vision. Thus, NATO in 1949.

And so became the British foundation for globalism foreseen by Orwell and in play today.

Voids and Cultural Marxism

"His brain has not only been washed, as they say. It has been dry cleaned."
--Dr Yen Lo (The Manchurian Candidate)

Dennis Prager argues that Americans are losing their freedom because they lack meaning in their lives. He posits that four factors contribute to meaning: religion, family, work, patriotism. All of them are fading in America, and leftist ideology is filling the void.

Interesting as far as it goes. But Prager stops short of explaining why those factors are fading. 

Programs of cultural Marxism have been primary contributors. Active for decades, these programs have been transmitted through school systems, mainstream media, entertainment, and other channels into the psyches of Americans. Brains are being re-wired to reject traditional values, ethics, and ability to reason.

Cutting those ties creates the voids that Prager discusses. Those voids make the brain receptive to lies--so believe the cultural Marxists.

The point is that the extent to which Americans perceive less meaning in their lives is no accident that leftists are opportunistically and suddenly exploiting. Rather, it is the result of a calculated strategy that has been in motion for some time.

Projection

Why don't they do what they say
Say what they mean
One thing leads to another
--The Fixx

Ever notice that people who accuse others of undesirable behavior often seem to practice that behavior themselves? For example, many cry that others aren't 'following science' while being completely uninterested in pursuing plausible rival hypotheses or data that are inconsistent with their worldviews.

These people may be projecting. Projection is the process of attributing negative perceptions about oneself to someone else. Doings so allows the projector to avoid avoid self-confrontation and dealing with a threat to one's ego.

Projection can be seen as a defensive routine for coping with cognitive dissonance.

Scattered Sales

She's so high
Like Cleopatra
Joan of Arc
Or Aphrodite
--Tal Bachman

With major indexes marking all time highs again, have made some scattered sales. Mainly shares that have taken off in price before partial positions could be completed.

Given our current field position, seems there's a decent chance that I'll be able to buy 'em back cheaper (if desired). If not, then chalk it up as a nice little trade.

Locked Down Minds

In violent times
You shouldn't have to sell your soul
In black and white
They really, really ought to know
--Tears for Fears

Jeff Tucker suggests that the lockdown paradigm is losing its luster. Hope he's correct. However, when lockdown proponents can looks at straightforward data presentation like the one below and still cling to their beliefs, then one has to wonder how locked down minds will ever come clean.

As we've come to learn, COVID dissonance can drive delusion to no end.

Unexpected Deaths

What does it matter to you?

When you got a job to do

You got to do it well

You gotta give the other fellow hell

--Paul McCartney & Wings

Interesting discussion of CV19 related mortality data between Ivor Cummins and Prof Michael Levitt of Stanford.

The focus is on 'all cause' deaths because of the problems trying to classify CV19 deaths. The difference between actual deaths due to all causes and what should be expected (forecast) based on deaths over the past few years is assumed to be due to something different from usual (i.e., 'unexpected deaths). Of course, in addition to CV19, deaths related to lockdown policies (e.g., less discretionary medical screening and treatment, adverse economic conditions, etc) will almost certainly begin to register (perhaps they already are) as different from usual.

Which also implies, btw, that 'unexpected deaths' will likely offer a meaningful estimate of CV19 deaths for a limited time.

In addition to the data presented by Dr Levitt, the conversations are also very insightful. It is too bad that similar conversations seem taboo among public health officials and the public at large.

Owning It

"A king may move a man. A father may claim a son. But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of great power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say, 'but I was told by others to do thus,' or that 'virtue was not convenient at the time.' That will not suffice. Remember that."
--King Baldwin IV (Kingdom of Heaven)

Forcing someone to get a shot is despicable. Of course, many people choose it willingly. I wonder how many understand exactly what they are letting into their bodies and what the risks are.

I also wonder how many will own their decisions in the event something goes wrong.

Jabbing is Stabbing

This wouldn't be the first time
Things have gone astray
Now you've thrown it all away
--Bryan Adams

If life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness are truly inalienable rights, then by definition they cannot legitimately be taken away from peaceful people. Doing so would constitute an act of aggression. In a truly free society that respects natural rights, any form of aggression is unjust. 

This includes aggression done in the name of safety of any kind, including public safety.

Jabbing people with needles against their will is no less an act of aggression than stabbing them with knives. 

Those doing the jabbing, and those who condone it, are committing crimes against humanity.

Silence Still

Hello darkness my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
--Simon & Garfunkel

The seasonal flu has historically killed tens of thousands annually in the US. Yet, no draconian measures have been taken to 'stop the spread' of seasonal flu and reduce the number of deaths.

CV19 has killed more people over the past year, although nowhere near the reported numbers. Draconian measures have been enacted to 'stop the spread' and reduce the number of deaths, with no conclusive evidence of their effectiveness. Meanwhile, the economic costs alone of these interventions number in the trillions of dollars.

Reasoning minds remain disturbed by the incoherence and inconsistency.

Why has it been ok to intervene in the case of CV19 but not with past years seasonal flu? The answer cannot simply be because CV19 is more lethal. At what level of lethality is intervention justified? Why?

Moreover, the economic and social consequences of lockdowns and other interventionary measures surely include hardship and death. 

How is it reasonable to kill others to save lives?

It's been a year and the questions remain unanswered. The silence is deafening. 

Stopping the Slide

We work our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway
When in fact we're slip sliding away
--Paul Simon

Liberty lovers know that our freedom is slipping away. There is hope that the slide will just end and liberty suddenly returns.

Hope is good. You can bet that our founding ancestors hoped too. That freedom would be theirs without a fight.

But it wasn't to be. In a world where some people appear to be born with a gene that urges them to rule others, it probably never will be.

Instead, stopping the slide of liberty likely requires constant defense.

Margin of Danger

"Look at these people. Wondering around with absolutely no idea of what's about to happen."
--Peter Sullivan (Margin Call)

Margin debt now at record levels--north of $800 billion. Margin debt is increasing at its fastest rate since...2007. And before that...1999.

The unfortunate reality is that leverage works both ways. It magnifies gains on the way up, and creates elevator shafts on the way down. It also shortens time horizons, as price swings make investors jumpy.

Easy money courtesy of the Fed, as usual.

Lotta Robin Hooders think they're borrowing their ways to riches...until Sherwood Forest catches fire.

Hope Lives

 Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb.
--Mark 16:2

The Holy Women at the Tomb (William Bouguereau 1890)

Freedom Triumphs

"You can break a man's skull. You can arrest him. You can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what's up here? How do you fight an idea?"
--Sextus (Ben-Hur)

Events of Holy Week should make several things clear. 

Freedom, not safety, is God's gift. Freedom is the right and ability to make personal choices without someone else's permission. Free will.

Jesus was free to avoid the path to death. But, through exercise of free will, He chose to walk down the path instead.

Jesus challenged the status quo. He was fomenting a revolution in the hearts, minds, and souls of people everywhere. Through that revolution Christ was setting people free.

As such, He became a direct threat to all groups who held worldly dominion over those people. The scribes, the Pharisees, the chief priests, the Roman government. All of these groups, which together comprised the secular, religious, and political orthodoxy of the day, consequently conspired to kill Christ in order to quell the revolution.

Little has changed, has it?

By exercising His free will, Jesus showed us that we can liberate our souls from the slavery of sin and from the oppression of worldly tyrants.

Christ demonstrated that freedom triumphs in the end.

Unfadeable

Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away
Come back another day
--Men at Work

The S&P 500 (SPX) closed the holiday-shortened week north of 4000--an all time high. Strength of bids underneath many individuals names is as firm as I can remember.

The contrarian in me says fade this tape. But then I'm reminded of the ocean of newly minted cash that is raising prices higher.