Going cashless: weaponizing the banks

 

Digital dollars? Sounds innocuous enough, but it’s not.  In a recent column at Based Underground, Claudio Grass points out the dangers in the imminent move to digital currency. Here’s a sample:

As Reuters reported on the 15th of November, “Global banking giants are starting a 12-week digital dollar pilot with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Citigroup Inc , HSBC Holdings Pl, Mastercard Inc and Wells Fargo & Co are among the financial companies participating in the experiment alongside the New York Fed’s innovation center, they said in a statement. The project, which is called the regulated liability network, will be conducted in a test environment and use simulated data, the New York Fed said. The pilot will test how banks using digital dollar tokens in a common database can help speed up payments.”

. . .

[T]he stakes are too high for people to ignore this development. Whoever controls the money, controls everything and the rise of CBDCs [Central Bank Digital Currency] threatens to make that control absolute, closing whatever little “loopholes” of freedom may still exist today.

To most citizens, savers and taxpayers, the transition to a digital dollar might seem harmless, or even beneficial, given that most of the population today associates digitalization with convenience and speed. Indeed, if one doesn’t understand the ins and outs of monetary history, of fiat money and of digital currencies, this concept appears totally innocuous. But even for many who do understand these things, it might seem like such a step would really make no difference. Junk money is junk money after all, be it physical or digital, it’s still backed by nothing, right?

Well, that is right indeed, but there’s a lot more to it. While the currency itself will continue to be worthless, its digital form will come with a bunch of perks and advantages for central planners. As Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy and economics at Cornell University, puts it:

One should recognize that the CBDC creates new opportunity for monetary policy. If we all had CBDC accounts instead of cash, in principle it might be possible to implement negative interest rates simply by shrinking balances in CBDC accounts. It will become a lot easier to undertake helicopter drops of money. If everybody had a CBDC account, one could easily increase the balance in those accounts.

What this essentially means is that any choice that remains and any degree of financial sovereignty that is left in the present system could be easily wiped out by CBDCs. And its not only financial freedom that’s at stake: these centralized digital currencies can be used by governments to monitor, to control and even to directly punish dissenters, by blocking transactions, freezing their accounts or seizing they assets. Some might find that farfetched, but those are probably the same people who thought that China’s “Social Credit System” was implausible too, right up to the moment it was actually implemented.

Full article is here.

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“Trump Was A Mistake” – But Whose?

 

The headline on Dan Gelernter’s recent column at American Greatness  -- “Trump Was a Mistake” – is a bit misleading.  The mistake was that of the Uniparty.  Mr Gelernter compares the ascendency to the presidency in 1900 of Teddy Roosevelt (TR), who was much despised by the political establishment because it could not control him. The establishment’s mistake back then was nominating TR in the vice-presidency, thinking that they could rid New York of its governor and at the same time condemn TR to political obscurity as Vice President.  Didn’t work out that way.  Mr Gelernter concludes:

So remember: The GOP isn’t really our party. It never was. That is the central truth that the Trump phenomenon has exposed—or exposed anew. It’s a political machine, just like the Democratic Party, and it wants to run itself, not be run by “ordinary” people like you and me. Trump’s nomination the first time around, from the GOP’s perspective, was a huge mistake, just as TR’s had been. And they have no intention of repeating that kind of mistake.

The GOP and the Democrats and the media are all agreed on one, central point: Trump cannot become president again. All these power groups’ motivations are different, but their interests are aligned, and the stakes are practically existential.

Keep the story of the 1900 Republican Convention in mind, too, when you think of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: He’s a huge success in Florida, and is the only governor standing up to the federal government in any meaningful way. What could be better than to seduce him away from that role with the promise of the presidency? Kill two birds with one stone, and kill America, too, while you’re at it.

Trump was a huge mistake: He was the biggest mistake machine politicians had made in over a century. The success of Trump’s presidency dealt establishment politicians a heavy blow. A second Trump term might kill them, and they know it.

So, be prepared to hear nothing about Trump’s candidacy, nothing about his massive rallies, nothing about the unwavering enthusiasm of his supporters. Be prepared to hear only one thing: That the “people” don’t want him. But don’t believe it. Remember which people are doing the talking.

Read the full column here.

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Most Republicans are Democrats

 

It’s the Uniparty.  At The Right Way on Substack, Emerald Robinson reports on “The GOP's Crack-Up Is Finally Here”:

American voters now understand: all the Democrats are Democrats,
and most Republicans are Democrats too.

A well-known senator appeared on TV recently to discuss the omnibus bill to fund the federal government, and delivered the following remarks: “Republicans are emasculated. They have no power, and they are unwilling to gain that power back. The Republicans do not have the intestinal fortitude. They always collapse, and they fear shutting government down — so no policy objectives ever get added.”

Now the question is: which liberal Senator pointed out that the GOP has completely collapsed as a party since the 2020 election?

The answer: Rand Paul.

A GOP senator was willing to state publicly — on Fox News no less! — that his own party has become a joke.

. . .

As Rand Paul said: the GOP is emasculated. They always collapse.

The only place that Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy and Ronna McDaniel have led the Republican Party is to a complete surrender to the Democrat Party. Naturally, they all want to be re-elected to leadership anyway — and they probably will get their wish.

That’s the GOP for you.

Read the entire sorry story here.

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Justice Clarence Thomas : a great American

Harris Rigby at NotTheBee posted this:

[from her Twitter post] Emily Miller@emilymiller

Love how Justice Clarence Thomas quietly lays wreaths with all the other volunteers every year at Arlington National Cemetery for #wreathsacrossamerica to honor those who have the ultimate sacrifice.

From Western Journal:

Wreaths Across America is a charitable organization that mobilizes thousands of volunteers every year to put wreaths on the graves of veterans and fallen soldiers.

This isn't the first year Thomas has volunteered at Arlington Cemetery, either.

The justice can be seen in a candid photo from 2013 helping to clean up the cemetery after the Christmas season on a rainy January day.

As Mr. Rigby concludes: “The man is one of the greatest Americans of all time.” Full report is here.

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Dr Malone Goes to Vienna

 

If you need a little pick-me-up, look no further than Dr Robert W Malone, who reported from Vienna:

This week Jill and I are in Wien (Vienna), Austria for a number of events, culminating in the reading of a proclamation, a concert and screening of a Plandemic III teaser later tonight.

At breakfast this morning, the hotel table overflowed with brilliant people from all over the globe. Passions were high as we wrote a proclamation to the citizens of the world (to be read and sung later in the day). Then we moved to our apartment where controlled chaos reigned as the creative process took over the group and we recorded videos and song. No money, no recording rights - this effort is all freely given by everyone involved. This is about freedom, and we all feel the connection, the pressure to stop the globalized oppression and the worldwide yearning for individual sovereignty, as the sacred ground of freedom slips from under our feet. We do not want to be ruled by globalized corporatists and elitists. The United Nations has been co-opted by the politics of the World Economic Forum and the New World Order. Although this has to change, I think we all feel so privileged to be a part of this resistance and freedom movement! I am grateful to serve with so many amazing people.

The recording session this morning also included an impromptu recording session with Brad (Five Times August).

So indulge me for sharing a few photos from this morning’s video shoot. [see more below and at the link]

We did one take of the proclamation - and it was perfect!

The censorship has been hot and heavy in Austria over the past three years, and by all accounts it is only getting worse. Unfortunately, this is also true for many other nations, and seems to be led by an anonymous coordinated globalized effort. This is why we must speak the truth of the universal right to speak freely, the freedom of the press and the right of assembly in all of our public spaces, including the internet.

Yesterday, one of our events was “cancelled” by a mayor of an Austrian town without warning or notice. This fall, at least two medical freedom events in the USA, had to be re-booked because event venues cancelled at the last minute - when they found out that it was a medical freedom meeting.

. . .

Last night we had a great reception and a practice session for some of the musicians for tonight’s concert. We are all part of an underground movement not just for medical freedom, but for freedom and individual sovereignty.

Think about waking up your friends by having a house concert, screen one of the great documentaries about what has happened, or just have a reception or workshop to share locally with like minds. The downstream benefits will impact so many.

In a chorus, many people sing different voices. We need all of our voices in this movement.  . . .

More at the link here.  Dr Malone is one of my heroes.

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Media "logic"

 

Jack Hellner at American Thinker points out the sheer idiocy of the mainstream media:

This morning on the Today Show, White House doctor and Covid-19 “response coordinator” Ashish Jha was asked about the shortage of children’s medicine. He said there is plenty of supply, but demand is just too high. The hosts on the Today Show didn’t seem to have a problem with such a stupid answer, as they breezed on without even taking a moment to consider the absurdity of his statement. Why is this man treated as an expert on anything?

Using Jha’s “logic”:

• Last year there was not a shortage of baby formula, there were just too many darn mothers wanting to feed their hungry babies.
• There will not be a shortage of heating oil this year, there will just be too many people wanting to heat their homes.
• The economy is doing fantastic, if only real wages hadn’t been dropping for two years straight. 
• The border is closed and secure, there are just too many illegals wanting to cross.
• The Biden policies are working well; conservatives are just racist.
• Crime is under control in major Democrat run cities; there are just too many criminals on the streets.
• The Afghanistan exit went perfectly well, if not for the deaths, and weapons left behind for terrorists.

The media personalities that allow Jha a pass on his contradictions are the same people that have done little (if any) reporting on the outrageous collusion between government Swamp creatures and the leftwing activists at Twitter to squelch bad press on the Biden family corruption. They were not outraged that Trump and other conservative voices were silenced. They didn’t care that respected and renowned members of the medical community were banned from a social media platform for daring to offer alternative views on the Covid-19 narrative, or disagreeing with governments dictatorial edicts. . . .

The above is most of the column;  the last little bit is here.

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James Woods: King of the Memes

Bookworm Room posted both these memes by actor James Woods yesterday.  Enjoy and weep: 

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