Tuesday, January 18, 2022

SICK OF THE SELF-SERVING LIARS? - Survey: Global Majority Feel Misled by Media, Business, Political Leaders

 

More People Call Media Dishonest, Both Globally and Nationally – View of U.S. TV Reporters Hits New Low

 By Craig Bannister | January 18, 2022 | 2:48pm EST

 
 
(Screenshot)

Opinions regarding the honesty and ethics of media continue to worsen, especially when it comes to television reporters, recent surveys reveal.

Globally, 67% of people surveyed worry that journalists and reporters are “purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations,” a new Edelman survey finds. That’s up 8% from last year. It’s also virtually tied with the 66% who say their country’s government is intentionally misleading or lying to them (up 9%).

In the U.S., Americans’ trust in the honesty and ethical standards of reporters also fell, with faith in television reporters hitting the lowest level on record, newly-released results of Gallup’s annual Policy and Ethics Poll, begun in 1976 and updated annually since 1990, show.

Just 14% rate the honesty and ethical standards of TV reporters positively, while 48% have a negative view. TV reporters’ rating has fallen nine points since 2017, a long-term decline Gallup attributes to “systemic issues.”

Newspaper reporters don’t fare much better, as only 17% of Americans see them as being honest and ethical, compared to 43% who don’t.

As CNSNews.com reported last October, 34% of Americans said they had absolutely no trust in the media, and another 29% said they had "not very much," bringing total distrust to 63%. The last time that a majority of Americans voiced trust in the media was back in 2003, according to Gallup.

Survey: Global Majority Feel Misled by Media, Business, Political Leaders

ATLANTA, GA - JUNE 06: Former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, seen through a news camera viewfinder speaks to a crowd at a Democratic National Committee event at Flourish in Atlanta on June 6, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. The DNC held a gala to raise money …
Dustin Chambers/Getty Images
1:48

The majority of people across the globe feel that are being misled by journalists, government leaders, and business executives, according to Edelman’s 2022 global “Trust Barometer.”

The survey found that 67 percent of people globally are “convinced” they are being “purposely” misled by journalists and reporters, which is up eight percent from 2021.

Additionally, 66 percent think their country’s government leaders “purposely” mislead them, which has risen nine percent from 2021, while 63 percent said business leaders “purposely” mislead them, which has increased seven percent from 2021.

When respondents were asked about trust,  46 percent said they do not trust journalists, which has risen one percent from last year.

Additionally, 42 percent said they do not trust the county’s government leaders, which has risen one percent from last year. 49 percent said they do not trust CEOs, which has grown one percent from last year.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 08: U.S. President Joe Biden stops to talk to reporters before departing the White House December 08, 2021, in Washington, DC. According to the White House, Biden is traveling to Kansas City, Missouri, to talk about how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will aid in the repair and construction of roads and bridges, update public transit, create jobs, and other benefits.

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 08: U.S. President Joe Biden stops to talk to reporters. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

However, 66 percent of the respondents said they trust their own CEO, which has risen three percent since 2021.

The survey also found that 76 percent “worry about false information or fake news being used as a weapon,” which has risen four percent since last year.

Edelman’s survey had 31,050 respondents globally, spanning 27 countries. The survey was taken between November 1 and 24 of last year and had a margin of error plus or minus 0.6 percent points.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.

"They will destroy America from within.  The leftist billionaires who orchestrate these plans are wealthy. Those tasked with representing us in Congress will never be exposed to the cost of the invasion. They have nothing but contempt for us who must endure the consequences of our communities being intruded upon by gangs, drug dealers and human traffickers.  These people have no intention of becoming Americans; like the Democrats who welcome them, they have contempt for us." PATRICIA McCARTHY


Democrats in Decline: Poll Finds 14 Point Swing in Party ID Since Biden Took Office

Good luck in the midterms!

 • January 17, 2022 3:30 pm

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President Joe Biden's first year in office has been a disaster of epic proportions. Afghanistan and the southern border? Disaster. His handling of the COVID-19 pandemic after promising to "shut down" the virus and hiring Ron "Ebola Czar" Klain as his chief of staff? Disaster. His decrepit disposition and the fact that Kamala Harris is a heartbeat away from power? You get the idea.

The American people have been paying attention, and they are justifiably appalled. A recent Gallup survey found a "dramatic" 14-point shift in party identification over the past year, which is terrible news for Democrats heading into the 2022 midterm elections.

When Biden took office, 49 percent of Americans told Gallup they identified as (or leaned) Democrat, compared to just 40 percent who considered themselves (or leaned) Republican. Since then, the Democratic Party's 9-point advantage has turned into a 5-point deficit, with just 42 percent of Americans identifying as Democrat and 47 percent identifying as Republican. That's not great.

Biden's approval rating has suffered a similar decline, from 56 percent in the days following his inauguration to just 42 percent in recent weeks, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. A Quinnipiac poll published last week measured Biden's approval rating at just 33 percent, which matched the polling firm's lowest recorded approval rating for former president Donald Trump in the days after the storming of the Capitol building in January 2021.

Meanwhile, more than 440,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 on Biden's watch, which means the virus he promised to "shut down" has now killed about 33,000 more Americans than it did in the final year of Trump's presidency.

WATCH: Veep Thoughts with Kamala Harris

Published under: Democratic Party

  JOE BIDEN  -  No. 1 DANGER TO AMERICA!


Sen. Cruz's comments on impeaching Biden 'being talked about more and more': Rep. Murphy




The Fed & Government Has Destroyed The Dream Of Retirement Forever




This Economy is Never Going Back to Normal - Headed to the Abyss




China, Germany, and the U.S. Economies are Rapidly Slowing





From China to Germany, to the U.S., the global economy is rapidly slowing. In today's show, you'll learn why a global recession is imminent. As global growth slows, demand wanes, and central bankers are forced to chase inflation, the probabilities are increasing that a global recession is imminent.

Biden, for instance, had sought to include tax cuts for his billionaire donors in a Chinese coronavirus relief package earlier this year. The plan was ultimately cut from the package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), in May 2020, also tried to include the plan in a coronavirus relief package.


Profits of Doom: Globalist Elites Doubled Their Wealth During Coronavirus Pandemic

coronavirus
Getty Images
2:56

As the world was buffeted by a coronavirus tsunami leaving forced lockdowns, supply-chain problems, economic upheaval, and poverty in its wake, globalist financial elites “have had a terrific pandemic” according to a report released Monday.

The world’s 10 richest men have more than doubled their fortunes to $1.9 trillion, at a rate of $1.6 billion a day, over the past 12 months, proving elites have largely been spared the misery and financial ruin inflicted on so many by endless enforced lockdowns.

A confederation of charities that focus on alleviating global poverty, Oxfam said members of the globalist financial elites saw their wealth rose more during the pandemic more than it did the previous 14 years, when the world economy was suffering the worst recession since the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

These are some of the main points from Oxfam’s latest report, Inequality Kills, which has been released as global business leaders meet virtually this week for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

“We have a situation where 10 men hold more wealth than that of two-thirds of humanity,” Lyn Morgain, chief executive of Oxfam Australia, told Australia’s ABC news outlet.

“Not only that, but that bottom 40 percent are hanging on by a thread.”

The report highlights what the charity says are “unprecedented” levels of global inequality as coronavirus sharpens the divide between “us and them,” the “haves and have nots.”

Jeff Bezos speaks about his flight on Blue Origin’s New Shepard into space during a press conference on July 20, 2021 in Van Horn, Texas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Jeff Bezos speaks about his flight on Blue Origin’s New Shepard into space during a press conference on July 20, 2021 in Van Horn, Texas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Meanwhile the likes of Tesla co-founder Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, enjoyed the greatest year-on-year growth since records began, the report outlined.

At a time when a group of these men were using their riches to rocket into outer space, the charity said, the World Bank had projected that more than 160 million people had been pushed into poverty.

In all, 20 new “pandemic billionaires” have also been created in Asia thanks to the international response to coronavirus, according to the charity.

Forbes listed the world’s 10 richest men as: Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, U.S. investor Warren Buffet and the head of the French luxury group LVMH, Bernard Arnault.

The Oxfam report follows a December 2021 study by the group which found that the share of global wealth of the world’s richest people soared at a record pace during the pandemic.

Follow Simon Kent on Twitter:  or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com
Democrats: $625B Tax Cut for Wealthy Elite ‘Essential’ Ahead of Midterms

Sean Gallup/Chip Somodevilla/Jeff Gentner/Drew Angerer/Getty Images

JOHN BINDER

11 Jan 20220

3:30

Democrats say cutting hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes for mostly wealthy income-earners in coastal states is “essential” to getting reelected in this year’s midterm elections.

In November, House Democrats passed President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better Act” which includes billions in tax breaks to the wealthiest residents of blue states. Specifically, the plan would give a tax cut to about 67 percent of the nation’s richest Americans — those earning more than $885,000 every year — costing taxpayers about $625 billion.

Under Biden’s plan, those in the top one percent would receive an average tax cut of more than $16,000 this year. The tax cuts for the wealthy would be a result of the plan’s increasing the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap.

Ahead of the midterm elections in November, House Democrats are warning their rich donors that they must get out and vote for them to secure the massive tax cut. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) called the tax cuts for the rich “essential” in an interview with Bloomberg News.

 

Chart via Bloomberg News

“We need to get that done. It’s not the only thing, but it’s a big thing,” Maloney said, who represents one of New York’s wealthiest areas — Westchester County. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) called the tax cut “really important” for her constituency.

“If you want your state and local deductions back, you have to vote for Democrats. Republicans screwed you last time, and they’ll do it again,” Maloney said.

At the same time, a number of Democrats are blasting the effort, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME).

 

Sanders has said:

At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, the last thing we should be doing is giving more tax breaks to the very rich. Democrats campaigned and won on an agenda that demands that the very wealthy finally pay their fair share, not one that gives them more tax breaks.

Meanwhile, Democrats want to squeeze an extra $200 billion out of American taxpayers by mostly targeting working and middle class earners with more Internal Revenue Services (IRS) audits.

The plan ensures nearly 600,000 more working and middle class Americans earning $75,000 or less a year would be audited by the IRS. Of those new IRS audits, more than 313,000 would target the poorest of Americans who earn $25,000 or less a year.

In 2017, former President Trump had the SALT deduction capped at $10,000. Since then, Democrats have sought to deliver their wealthy, blue state donors with a massive tax cut by eliminating the cap altogether or greatly increasing it.

Biden, for instance, had sought to include tax cuts for his billionaire donors in a Chinese coronavirus relief package earlier this year. The plan was ultimately cut from the package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), in May 2020, also tried to include the plan in a coronavirus relief package.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here

 

E BIDEN'S WEALTH HAS NEARLY DOUBLED DURING HIS FIRST 12 MONTHS OF DEBACLE!

The Fed Will Buy Stocks Next Crash



“Protect and enrich.” This is a perfect encapsulation of the Clinton Foundation and the Obama book and television deals. Then there is the Biden family corruption, followed closely behind by similar abuses of power and office by the Warren and Sanders families, as Peter Schweizer described in his recent book “Profiles in Corruption.” These names just scratch the surface of government corruption.                         

                                                                            BRIAN C JOONDEPH


Congress Are Becoming Filthy Rich From Manipulating The Stock Market & Insider Trading



Inflation is a Wealth Transfer from the Poor to the Rich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-iNN3CN8k8


McCarthy: If GOP Wins Majority, The First Thing We Will Do Is Talk About Lowering Prices for the American People

By Melanie Arter | January 13, 2022 | 2:07pm EST

 
 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks during his weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 13, 2022. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks during his weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 13, 2022. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Thursday that if the Republicans regain a majority in the House, the first thing he will do is talk about lowering prices for the American public and how to put food back on the shelves at the grocery store.

Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference, McCarthy was asked what kind of oversight will he conduct as the majority leader. 


“The only oversight that you guys will conduct is oversight that you plan to write bills off of? ‘Cause Congress has a long history of oversight that doesn’t necessarily result in legislation. You guys did it. Pelosi did it. Boehner did it. Ryan did it. There’s a long history of it,” the reporter said.

“How often have we gone after people's phone records?” McCarthy said.

“I’m asking what you will do what you will do if you are speaker. Will you only conduct oversight that is—“ the reporter continued.

“You know what we will do if we are entrusted with the majority? The first thing that we will do is talk about how do we lower the prices for the American public? How do we make gasoline price affordable again? How do we put food back on the shelves and how do we stop this rise of inflation and prices of everything that you are dealing with?” McCarthy said.

“How do we secure the border? How do we stop government mandating and controlling our lives? How do we make cities safe again? And yes, we will hold this administration accountable. We just found this week. I sent a letter with Virginia Foxx, the secretary of education, asked the national school board to send them a letter so that he can go to attorney general to now investigate the parents who go to school board meetings of terrorism,” he said.

“Afghanistan. We have 13 new Gold Star families, and that never had to happen. How many Americans are still stuck there? Have any of you asked that question? The president said just weeks before that he would not leave until every American was gone,” the minority leader said.

“The taxpayer who bought all of that weaponry that the Taliban now has. You got any reporting and recording of where that is? Where is it being sold to now on the black market? IRS releasing Americans' tax returns. Yes, we can do both, and we will,” McCarthy said.


Poll: Voters View Inflation as Bigger Issue than Coronavirus

People shop for groceries at a supermarket in Glendale, California January 12, 2022. - The seven percent increase in the Labor Department's consumer price index (CPI) over the 12 months to December was the highest since June 1982, as prices rose for an array of goods, especially housing, cars and …
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
2:41

American voters view inflation as a bigger issue than the Chinese coronavirus, a NewsNation survey released this week found.

The survey asked respondents, “Which do you think is a bigger problem facing the United States today: Inflation, unemployment, or COVID-19?”

A plurality of voters, 45.4 percent, said they view inflation as a bigger problem in the U.S., while 40.9 percent said the coronavirus; the difference between the two responses falls outside of that specific question’s +/- 3 percent margin of error. Another 13.5 percent said unemployment is the biggest issue, meaning a combined majority of Americans view issues such as inflation and jobs as bigger issues than the coronavirus.

The poll came prior to the Supreme Court dealing a devastating blow to President Biden’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) vaccine mandate, striking it down in a 6-3 vote. However, the Court upheld Biden’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate 5-4, “although it explicitly acknowledged that the CMS mandate exempts employees who object to the vaccine for religious or medical reasons,” as Breitbart News reported. Notably, Biden’s ratings on his handling of the pandemic have been dropping exponentially over the past few months, particularly after he announced the ill-fated vaccine mandate, which would have affected roughly 84 million American workers, in an angry, divisive speech in September.

While continuing to face government mandates, Americans have also continued to feel the sting of inflation, as retail sales in the U.S. “declined sharply” in December, “indicating that the worst inflation in decades is hitting consumers harder than analysts expected,” as Breitbart News detailed:

Total retail sales dropped 1.9 percent in December, typically a month of robust holiday shopping, Commerce Department data showed Friday. The figures are not adjusted for inflation, suggesting that price-adjusted purchases were even weaker. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5 percent in December.

The results were far worse than analysts expected. The median estimate by analysts was for sales to be flat to down just one-tenth of a percentage point.

The survey, taken this week among over 1,000 registered voters, has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.



Report: Biden Finishes First Year on an ‘Epic Losing Streak’

Joe Biden
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
2:46

President Joe Biden finished his first year in office on an “epic losing streak” characterized by his strained relationship with “Republicans, moderate Democrats, and liberal Democrats — all at once,” Axios reported Friday.

“But that’s where Biden finds himself at the start of an election year that many Democrats believe will result in the loss of the House and maybe the Senate,” the report surmised.

Biden will have been president officially for one year next Thursday and has “never been less popular nationally” after advocating for voting rights and his Build Back Better agenda “and failing,” Axios wrote, referencing Biden’s recent dismal approval rating of 33 percent.

Black activists and even the far-left New York Times have criticized the president for “dillydallying” on scrapping the filibuster in order to federalize elections — or what the left calls “voting rights.” Reportedly, some members of civil-rights groups even declined to attend Biden’s voting speech in Atlanta, Axios calling the incident an example of “rising anger” from the far-left wing of Biden’s party.

As far as foreign policy, Axios slammed Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, saying it went “as poorly as it could have.” The outlet also honed in on Russia’s flippant attitude toward Biden, and Vladmir Putin’s focus on a “Ukraine invasion.” Despite Russia’s behavior, Democrats used the Senate filibuster (the same one they are trying to eliminate) to block a bill by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday that would have sanctioned companies associated with Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The outlet further pointed to the U.S. economy under Biden, acknowledging rampant inflation and supply chain issues.

“Inflation is soaring: It’s the worst in 39 years,” according to the report. “Empty grocery shelves get network-news coverage. It’s partly the weather, partly COVID, partly the supply chain — but makes a handy visual shorthand for national pessimism.”

On top of those failures, the Supreme Court on Thursday blocked Biden’s biggest federal vaccine mandate, meaning 84 million Americans working for businesses with 100-plus employees will not be mandated to get jabbed. His overall coronavirus response is also losing popularity as the omicron variant infects both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, though seemingly at varying rates and severity. 

“The bottom line: Build Back Better was supposed to be Biden’s FDR moment. Voting rights could have been his LBJ moment. Instead, he’s likely to end Year 1 with neither,” the report concluded.


Barrasso: Biden Needs to Start Focusing on Inflation, Not Election Bills Most People Don’t Care About

1:36

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” Senate Republican Conference Chair Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) reacted to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) reiterating her opposition to eliminating the filibuster to pass election legislation by stating that “we need a president to start focusing on the concerns of the American people, which is number 1, inflation” instead of “something that’s an asterisk on the polling of what the American people care about.”

Barrasso said, [relevant remarks begin around 1:50] “Well, what we just saw with Sen. Sinema was a profile in courage. She kept her word. She protected the Senate. She preserved the voice and the rights of the minority party. We have a 50/50 Senate. That should be a mandate to move to the middle. What we have is a president who gives divisive speeches, like he did in Georgia and like he continued to do today. We need to unite this country and we need a president to start focusing on the concerns of the American people, which is number 1, inflation. It’s how it’s impacting their lives personally. That’s the front-page headline on every newspaper in America, a 40-year high of inflation. That’s what people are concerned about, putting food on the table, putting gas in the car, getting the kids to school, not something that’s an asterisk on the polling of what the American people care about.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett


Can the ruling Uniparty in America effectively flood the United States with so much unlawful immigration and unchecked voter fraud that the voices of individual Americans become drowned out?  Can the "free-traders" continue three decades of middle-class wealth destruction and blue-collar job offshoring by further selling to the destitute the wondrous benefits of their snake oil made from cheap Chinese imports and middle-American poverty?  

Blackburn: ‘Joe Biden Is the First President in History to Become a Lame-Duck Within the First Year of His Administration’

1:09

During an appearance on FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) derided President Joe Biden for the lackluster first year of his presidency.

The Tennessee Republican lawmaker said he was the first president to become a “lame duck” in one year.

“Joe Biden is the first president in history to become a lame-duck within the first year of his administration,” she said. “And it has been a bad week and a bad year. Maria, look at the Supreme Court overruling them on the OSHA mandate. You look at globally what is happening with Russia, Kazakstan. You look at the Russia-Ukraine issue. You look at Iran shooting — going after President Trump, North Korea shooting off a missile, China with their daily antics, and this plus all that happened on Capitol Hill, with the filibuster, with their election takeover.”

“It’s been a very bad week for Joe Biden,” Blackburn added.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

Crumbling Narratives Leave the Ruling Class with Everything to Fear

Here's what our COVID-1984 authoritarians want: they seek to use pandemics, wars, uncontrolled immigration, doomsday climate predictions, and "woke" cultural Marxism to keep people in a constant state of fear, divided among themselves, and willing to hand over their freedoms for evaporative promises of protection.  "Protection" in this racket means survival but not lifeequity but not fairness, financial handouts but not prosperity, and politically correct narratives but no truth.

This last point deserves emphasis.  The powers that be — the central bankers, global financial elites, corporate propagandists, and political aristocrats — have given up on any notion of truth.  They neither pursue it objectively nor desire to discover it for philosophical or spiritual elevation.  Truth, to them, is too dangerous because it cannot be controlled by men with power.  So they murdered it and molded a monster out of clay they affectionately call their narrative.  Then, having no respect for the dead or remorse for their deed, they chose to disguise their monstrous narratives with masks made from truth's likeness.

Science is venerated as the apotheosis of objectivity, even as those with power dictate what official science can say, expunging dissenting scientific opinions from the public domain by either starving grant-dependent scientists into submission or outright censoring their work.  Like a tribe of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers dancing around a fire and praying to the moon, the powers that be pretend to be obedient and humble disciples of science's objective purity by chanting together, "We must follow the science wherever it goes."  In practice, however, they know exactly where the science will go because they are the ones paying for it to dance to the beat they alone provide.  If science is controlled by a global oligarchy using it for personal wealth and power, then "trust the science" really means "trust the authoritarians."  It really is that simple.

With neither truth nor the objective pursuit of science playing any part in their scheming, the political and financial 1% of the 1% are beholden to no one and nothing — not to God, reason, rationality, logic, or principle — leaving them to become their own highest powers entitled to create and destroy the world as they see fit.  We do not have to wait for the rollout of augmented and virtual realities being created by technocrats to further enslave the masses to understand that the "elites" who have controlled our reality since WWII play deadly games all the time — against each other, among nation-states, among whole continents, but most importantly between themselves and everybody else on planet Earth.  

Can Russia hawks start a war in Europe over Ukraine?  Can the ruling Uniparty in America effectively flood the United States with so much unlawful immigration and unchecked voter fraud that the voices of individual Americans become drowned out?  Can the "free-traders" continue three decades of middle-class wealth destruction and blue-collar job offshoring by further selling to the destitute the wondrous benefits of their snake oil made from cheap Chinese imports and middle-American poverty?  What's at stake?  Oh, only lives — those of soldiers who will be tasked to fight wars abroad triggered for the wrong reasons; those of innocent civilians who become collateral damage to an illegal U.S. policy that has aided and abetted the exponential rise of narco-terrorism, sex-trafficking, and other society-killing crimes flowing effortlessly across an unprotected southern border; and, of course, those of entire generations of lost Americans, whose happiness and stability were sacrificed for the swelling stock portfolios of globalist "free-traders," as well as the crumbling towns across America those generations still call home today.  What are lives, though, to a ruling class that celebrates the narrative and wears truth as Buffalo Bill would a skin suit?  For them, it's all just a game.  For the people who have fallen victim to these Ã¼ber-1% games, however, it has all become quite personal.

I think it is no exaggeration to say that a growing number of people in America, the West, and around the globe, generally, are looking around at what the "elite" have wrought these last seventy-five years and do not like what they see.  The distinction between "free" and "controlled" countries is disappearing as governments expand their powers at the expense of individual rights and liberties.  Regulation, central banking, and crony capitalism have worked together to concentrate wealth into the hands of ever fewer people and companies while preventing the unadulterated operation of truly free markets.  National histories and cultures are being destroyed so globalists can reorder the world according to a "Great Reset" that gives them absolute power and total control.  And political "leaders" are all parroting the same "build back better" nonsense when what they mean to build back is a planet where the 1% of the 1% can tighten its grip around everyone else.  If any of their members espoused truth instead of narrative, they would admit that they are building a great machine, whereby all of humanity except for the "elite" can be treated as nothing more than 1s and 0s; inputs and outputs; expendable, exchangeable, nameless, and meaningless resources, widgets, or cogs.

This much is clear: government debt and central bank money-printing cannot continue much longer.  System breakdown, triggered by runaway inflation, implosion of asset values, or the death knell for fiat currency, means that a political and social construct built by "elites" for their own wealth, power, and amusement will spiral wildly beyond their control.  Revolutions begin this way.  Entire epochs in human history begin this way.  New ideas, paradigms, and civilizations arise as the old ones corrode, cavitate, and collapse.  I have no sympathy for the 1% of the 1% or the numerous lies they tell daily in order to build back a totalitarian system that enfeebles us while deifying them, but I will say this: if you were part of such a small part of the world's population, and you understood that drastic social change lay just ahead, perhaps you, too, would do everything you could to shackle the 99.99% with the chains of division, economic subsistence, rolling pandemics of fear, and bio-digital enslavement before the many awaken to the reality that the few long ago swapped truth for nothing more than control.

I think Patrick Rothfuss got it right when he warned, "There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man."  What happens as more and more people discover that all of the elites' dancing under the light of the moon these last few decades has really been about worshiping narratives for control and nothing more?  What happens when that light, like all their other "noble lies," dies out?  I think then we will experience what comes when all three great fears are unleashed at once — a monumental storm washing away "elite" corruption and power, the rage of long quiet and civilized men, and a period of unavoidable darkness that must exist before the next new moon can rise.  Considering how afraid the ruling class seems to be of losing power over the world, somebody with a little wisdom has surely been whispering in their ears about the future.

One certainty is now irrefutable: far from being at the end of history, we are witnessing what can only be described as the beginning of history's next chapter.

Image: orse via FlickrCC BY-SA 2.0.



Mediocrity in power

The power of government rests on ignorance of the people, and it knows this, and therefore will always resist enlightenment.

Leo Tolstoy

Every nation has its fair share of people with no useful abilities, yet harboring considerable ambition and an insurmountable craving for la dolce vita. The longing is there, but with no means for its realization. So, what are they to do? Sooner or later the mediocre find a workable solution: they go into politics.

A sufficiently high position in a government structure that doesn’t require any special abilities or talents gives a nearly assured opportunity to receive lucrative benefits, including money, respect, and influence. There is a famous saying: "Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” There is a corollary: Those who can’t teach, govern.

This is how the selection process works: mediocrities float to the top. Thus, government agencies accumulate a number of bureaucratic politicians for whom the main goal in life is to hold on to their positions and, if possible, move up the career ladder. The good of the country and its people becomes secondary and intrusive. Many professional bureaucrats possess just one talent: seizing and holding onto power.

Until recently, leaders of many countries had a clear understanding that the intellectual potential of a society can be of exceptional value to the state and for the preservation of their own power. Even such bloody dictators as Stalin and Hitler allowed a certain degree of free-thinking and independence of ideas in scientific and technical academia. They were well aware that quality education and the existence of an intellectual elite were among the cornerstones of the foundation of their power.

This understanding seems to have been lost in America.

Nowadays, our ignorant leaders don’t understand the importance of studying the sciences, which has led to the systematic destruction of education on all levels.  In colleges, the ability to play football is valued far above mathematics. Children in secondary schools often don't study physics, chemistry, biology, and other basic subjects. These have been replaced by an ephemeral discipline called "science," which, like a salad, comprises little bits and pieces of everything.

  

“Salad from Rose Garden”

Painting by the author

When high school graduates go to colleges and universities, many of them take what is called "liberal arts." Today’s highly politicized version of these disciplines don’t develop strong analytical and critical thinking, nor entice creativity, and thus don’t prepare students for a productive life. The vast majority of liberal arts graduates cannot find jobs in their fields, so they work as baristas or in other semi-skilled trades or live off their parents and occupy themselves with nonsenses like fighting climate change or protesting all kinds of things, no matter what, as long as they are "against." Due to the collapse of education, young Americans en masse have become mediocre --  which is exactly what the ruling elite wants. It’s easier to govern such people.

As a result, science and technology are deprived of domestic human resources, and the country's intellectual elite is disappearing. Engineering departments still exist in colleges and universities, but enrollments lean heavily toward those not born in America. Go to almost any school and you will find a disproportionate share of students from Asia or of Asian ethnicity, while many of the faculty and researchers are immigrants. Go to almost any high-tech company much of the intellectual and creative work is done either by recent immigrants or foreigners. In Silicon Valley, almost three-quarters of the professionals are from other countries. The native-born Americans work in marketing, sales, customer service, and other positions where highly specialized education is not a job requirement. This forces companies to outsource R&D and production overseas.

Because of a high standard of living (which was created by the previous generations), people live well in the U.S., better than in many countries. Thus, young people have little incentive to study or work hard. Why bother when you're doing just fine, and the "old folks" readily provide enough freebies? The result was the decline of intelligence, degradation of morality, destruction of work ethic, and decrease in the intellectual and moral quality of the U.S. population. Mediocrity becomes the norm.

One can clearly see that today the upper echelons of government are bad managers and inept businessmen. Everything they touch turns to ashes. During the first year of their direct rule under the figurehead presidency of Biden, there has been a sharp decline in all economic indicators, and inflation has reached levels not seen since the failed presidency of Jimmy Carter. The worst thing they have done to the country is the distribution of freebies — massive “stimulus” payments, even to those who don't need them, a form of universal welfare.

To keep the populace on a short leash, the mediocre have turned on the printing press and now are spending money like a drunken sailor. The national debt is skyrocketing. Fuel prices have doubled since 2020, everything becoming more expensive, and a situation unseen in history has arisen: millions have dropped out of the labor force and most businesses cannot find workers. Apparently, people prefer not to work but to live on handouts. Today, in a country with millions of idle hands there is an acute shortage of labor.

Free cash has destroyed the foundation of Americanism — the incentive to work and strive for personal success. Why work when your government pays you to stay at home and do nothing?

What about the other areas? The inept government doesn’t know how to deal with the tsunami of illegal immigrants besieging the southern border. History has seen this before — ancient Rome collapsed because of an influx of barbarians pouring into the empire for free bread and circuses. Think of the staggeringly botched withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan when scores of billions of dollars worth of the most advanced military hardware was abandoned. Think of the FBI persecution of dissenters who dare to disagree with critical race theory and political correctness. Think of the rampant crime: record-setting murders in Democrat-run cities, smash and grab shoplifting gangs, and the passivity of intimidated police. Think of stifling freedom of opinion in academia. Shall I continue?

Only a year ago, under Trump's presidency, the situation was diametrically opposite: prices were falling, for the first time in decades the country became energy independent, unemployment was noticeably lower even amid pandemics and mass quarantines (3.6% at the end of November 2020).

Trump must be called anything but a mediocrity. Yes, he is a bull in a china shop, but he was doing what was good for the country with little concern for his own reputation. Unsurprisingly, Trump's actions went against the interests of the inept bureaucrats, and they did everything they could to replace him with a vegetative puppet, which led to the degradation of the American way of life. They declared war on him and they won. Even a year after Trump's departure, they continue to persecute his supporters — the fear of a "Reconquista" is too great.

Over the past half-century, our political system has been transforming into a form of governance that I would call "dexiosocracy," which in Greek means "the rule of the mediocre.” Consequently, the country is heading toward the abyss. The mediocrities have seized power, and we are reaping the rewards.                                                                                                            

Jacob Fraden’s website is www.fraden.com


Exclusive – Amanda Adkins: Americans are Frustrated at the Lack of Strategy, Planning by the Biden Administration

Amanda Adkins, a Republican candidate in the 3rd Congressional District in Kansas, speaks during a debate at a statewide GOP convention, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, in Olathe, Kan. Adkins is a former Kansas Republican Party chairwoman and an ex-executive with medical computer systems firm Cerner Corp. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
AP Photo/John Hanna
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Amanda Adkins, a Republican candidate in Kansas’ Third Congressional District looking to unseat Democrat Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS), told Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM that Americans are frustrated by the lack of strategy and planning by President Joe Biden’s administration.

Adkins, a business executive for 15 years and the former Kansas Republican Party chair, said it is essential to flip House seats like the one Davids currently represents and win back the House.

“It is important for conservatives in the Republican Party to win seats like this continuously, you know, we need to do well in suburbia, we need to pull in independent voters,” Adkins explained. “I see a strong conservative streak right now and in, in center-right voters in general because people want to see limited government, they want freedom, they want to be the decision-makers. I mean, that’s what America is all about.”

Listen:

The former Kansas Republican Party chair noted that Davids, while in Congress, has voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Biden 100 percent of the time, which has ultimately allowed the Democrats to enact partisan policies and has increased government spending, which has resulted in increased inflation.

Discussing the increase in government spending, Adkins told Breibart News’s Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle that “people are mad” because the increased spending has caused an inflation surge.

“People are mad… really mad… about all of the government spending. They are mad about the significant surge and inflation. It’s having a direct impact on their daily lives. They’re frustrated by the lack of strategy and planning and results related to Joe Biden’s agenda,” she explained. “And that’s definitely true as it relates to the economy. But it is also true as it relates to national security and border security.”

Discussing inflation more, Adkins told Boyle that inflation is already impacting Kansas’ Third Congressional District constituents, noting that it will be around for years to come.

“I think most people do recognize that part of the impact is due to worker and product shortage,” she added. “But more important, they see that the fact that we have so much money in the system, and that the federal government, that Sharice Davis and Joe Biden has pushed so much federal spending. That is, and even the Federal Reserve has finally come around to admitting it that that is having, you know, the most significant impact.”

Adkins said due to all of the government standing in the sizable rise in inflation, she believes in the next elections there will be “very low numbers for Joe Biden and related to Sharice Davids when it comes to independence, and there’s going to be there’s going to be a significant backlash, and it will be good for America.”

However, Adkins explained that while Democrats continue to spend, she said Republicans “want worker income, we want parents to be, you know, in the power seat when it comes to making decisions for their kids. We don’t want as Sharice David’s, you know, has consistently pushed the government making all the decisions, we want freedom, we want the individual in the family to make the decisions.”

Adkins said it is about “power to the people.”

Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.


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