Epic Economist, 1/19/26

"The cost of food is getting really difficult for so many families right now. I'm sharing stories from people across the country who are struggling just to put groceries on the table. From taking out loans to buy food to waiting overnight at food banks, this is the reality for millions. Meanwhile, prices keep going up and wages haven't kept pace. If you're going through this too, know you're not alone. Let me know your thoughts and share your experiences down below."

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Singer David Draiman

“M13 is one of the most prominent and best known globular clusters. Visible with binoculars in the constellation of Hercules, M13 is frequently one of the first objects found by curious sky gazers seeking celestials wonders beyond normal human vision. 

"Well, it is our fate to live in a time of crisis. To live in a time when all forms and values are being challenged. In other and more easy times, it was not, perhaps, necessary for the individual to confront himself with a clear question: What is it that you really believe? What is it that you really cherish? What is it for which you might, actually, in a showdown, be willing to die? I say, with all the reticence which such large, pathetic words evoke, that one cannot exist today as a person, one cannot exist in full consciousness, without having to have a showdown with one's self, without having to define what it is that one lives by, without being clear in one's mind what matters and what does not matter."

- Dorothy Thompson

by Jeff Thomas

"As the Great Unravelling progresses, we shall be seeing many negative developments, some of them unprecedented. Only a year ago, the average person was still hanging on to the belief that the world is in a state of recovery, that, however tentative, the economy was on the mend. And this is understandable. After all, the media have been doing a bang-up job of explaining the situation in a way that treats recovery as a general assumption. The only point of discussion is the method applied to achieve the recovery, but the recovery itself is treated as a given.

However, as thorough a distraction as the media (and the governments of the world) have provided, the average person has begun to recognise that something is fundamentally wrong. He now has a gut feeling that, even if he is not well-versed enough to describe in economic terms what is incorrect in the endless chatter he sees on his television, he now senses that the situation will not end well.

I tend to liken his situation to someone who suddenly finds all the lights off in his house. He stumbles around in the dark, trying to feel his way. Although he can picture in his mind what the layout of his house is, he is having trouble navigating, often bumping into things. This is similar to the attempt to see through the media and government smokescreens during normal times. But soon, as his government undergoes collapse, he will be getting some bigger surprises. He will find that the furniture has inexplicably been moved around. Objects are not where they are supposed to be, and it is no longer possible to reason his way through the problem of navigating in the dark.

Many of those who observe the daily news reports are beginning to figure out that they are being fed misinformation. Many are beginning to recognise that neither political party truly represents them or, for that matter, is even concerned for their welfare. These folks are now navigating in the dark. But the bigger surprises have not yet occurred. There will be a certain amount of lead-up, plus a great deal of confusion, but the actual occurrences will be sudden. No one will be able to predict the dates on which they occur, except those very few people who control the triggers to these events.

By this terminal stage, the competent 

have been driven out, quit or burned out.

by Charles Hugh Smith

"What happens with the competent retire, burn out or opt out? It's a question few bother to ask because the base assumption is that there is an essentially limitless pool of competent people who can be tapped or trained to replace those who retire, burn out or opt out, i.e. quit in favor of a lifestyle that doesn't require much in the way of income or stress. These assumptions are no longer valid. A great many essential services that are tightly bound to other essential services are cracking as the competent decide (or realize) they're done with the rat-race.

The drivers of the Competent Opting Out are obvious yet difficult to quantify. Those retiring, burning out and opting out will deny they're leaving for these reasons because it's not politic to be so honest and direct. They will offer time-honored dodges such as "pursue other opportunities" or "family obligations."

1. The steady increase in workloads, paperwork, compliance and make-work (i.e. work that has nothing to do with the institution's actual purpose and mission) that lead to burnout. There is only so much we can accomplish, and if we're burdened with ever-increasing demands for paperwork, compliance, useless meetings, training sessions, etc., then we no longer have the time or energy to perform our productive work.

I wrote a short book on my experience of Burnout. I believe it is increasingly common in jobs that demand responsibility and accountability yet don't provide the tools and time to fulfill these demands. Once you've burned out, you cannot continue. That option no longer exists.

For others, the meager rewards simply aren't worth the sacrifices required. The theme song playing in the background is the Johnny Paycheck classic Take this job and shove it.

Healthcare workloads, paperwork and compliance are one example of many. Failure to complete all the make-work can have dire consequences, so it becomes necessary to do less "real work" in order to complete all the work that has little or nothing to do with actual patient care. Alternatively, the workload expands to the point that it breaks the competent and they leave.

2. Loss of autonomy, control, belonging, rewards, accomplishment and fairness. Professor Christina Malasch pioneered research on the causes of burnout, which can be summarized as any work environment that reduces autonomy, control, belonging, rewards, accomplishment and fairness. Despite a near-infinite avalanche of corporate happy-talk ("we're all family,"--oh, barf) this describes a great many work environments in the US: in a word, depersonalized. Everyone is a replaceable cog in a great impersonal machine optimized to maximize profits for shareholders.

3. The politicization of the work environment. Let's begin by distinguishing between policies enforcing equal opportunity, pay, standards and accountability, policies required to fulfill the legal promises embedded in the nation's social contract, and politicization, which demands allegiance and declarations of loyalty to political ideologies that have nothing to do with the work being done or the standards of accountability necessary to the operation of the complex institution or enterprise.

The problem with politicization is that it is 1) intrinsically inauthentic and 2) it substitutes the ideologically pure for the competent. Rigid, top-down hierarchies (including not just Communist regimes but corporations and institutions) demand expressions of fealty (the equivalent of loyalty oaths) and compliance to ideological demands (check the right boxes of party indoctrination, "self-criticism," "struggle sessions," etc.).

The correct verbiage and ideological enthusiasm become the basis of advancement rather than accountability to standards of competence. The competent are thus replaced with the politically savvy. Since competence is no longer being selected for, it's replaced by what is being selected for, political compliance.

It doesn't matter what flavor of ideological purity holds sway - conservative, progressive, communist or religious - all fatally erode competence by selecting for ideological compliance. Everyone knows the enthusiasm is inauthentic and only for show, but artifice and inauthenticity are perfectly adequate for the politicization taskmasters.

4. The competent must cover for the incompetent. As the competent tire of the artifice and make-work and quit, the remaining competent must work harder to keep everything glued together. Their commitment to high standards and accountability are their undoing, as the slack-masters and incompetent either don't care ("I'm just here to qualify for my pension") or they've mastered the processes of masking their incompetence, often by blaming the competent or the innocent for their own failings.

This additional workload crushes the remaining competent who then burn out and quit, go on disability or opt out, changing their lifestyle to get by on far less income, work, responsibility and far less exposure to the toxic work environments created by depersonalization, politicization and the elevation of the incompetent.

5. As the competent leadership leaves, the incompetent takes the reins, blind to their own incompetence. It all looked so easy when the competent were at the helm, but reality is a cruel taskmaster, and all the excuses that worked as an underling wear thin once the incompetent are in leadership roles. By this terminal stage, the competent have been driven out, quit or burned out. There's only slack-masters and incompetent left, and the toxic work environment has been institutionalized, so no competent individual will even bother applying, much less take a job doomed to burnout and failure.

This is why systems are breaking down before our eyes and why the breakdowns will spread with alarming rapidity due the tightly bound structure of complex systems."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

The Psyche,

"In this video, we explore 'The Lost Society: The Age of Decay and Mental Collapse' - a powerful journey into the hidden forces shaping our time. Drawing on the wisdom of Nietzsche, Jung, Frankl, Camus, and other great thinkers, this reflection reveals how civilizations collapse not only through politics or economics, but through the erosion of meaning, authenticity, and inner strength.

Are we living in an age of silent collapse? Why do anxiety, loneliness, and burnout rise in a world of endless comfort and information? And most importantly - how can we resist despair and transform decay into renewal? Through history, philosophy, and psychology, this video uncovers: Why societal decline begins in the human spirit. How distraction, conformity, and loss of meaning fuel collapse. What timeless wisdom can teach us about resilience and rebirth. Practical steps to reclaim authenticity, community, and purpose. This is not just a story of collapse - it is also a story of rebirth. Renewal begins with you."

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Steve James, 1/19/26

"We all see it, every moment of peace has been turned into a transaction in our lives. All the while the job market has worsened to being unrecognizable, and a major indicator of the economy getting worse."

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A Homestead Journey, 1/19/26

"Millions of Americans are losing interest in everything as America has changed since 2020, with inflation, the cost of living crisis, cultural shifts, and economic pressure reshaping everyday life. Across the country, people are feeling disconnected, burned out, and fed up with modern life, nonstop work, rising prices, and a system that feels harder to survive in. In this video, we talk honestly about why so many Americans feel emotionally checked out, why society feels different, and why trust in institutions, work, and capitalism is fading. From financial stress and social tension to burnout, overstimulation, and uncertainty about the future of America, this feeling isn’t isolated — it’s widespread. Many people are pulling back, simplifying their lives, and questioning whether the system still works for everyday Americans. If you’ve felt like something is off, like people have changed, or like life feels harder than it used to, you’re not alone. America has changed - and millions feel it."

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Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.

Thanks for stopping by!

"How many nights must it take

one such as me to learn

that we aren't, after all, made

from that bird that flies out of its ashes,

that for us

as we go up in flames,

our one work is

to open ourselves,

to be the flames?"

~ Galway Kinnel

“There are meaningful warnings which history gives a threatened or perishing society. Such are, for instance, the decadence of art, or a lack of great statesmen. There are open and evident warnings, too. The center of your democracy and of your culture is left without electric power for a few hours only, and all of a sudden crowds of American citizens start looting and creating havoc. The smooth surface film must be very thin, then, the social system quite unstable and unhealthy. But the fight for our planet, physical and spiritual, a fight of cosmic proportions, is not a vague matter of the future; it has already started. The forces of Evil have begun their offensive; you can feel their pressure, and yet your screens and publications are full of prescribed smiles and raised glasses. What is the joy about?”

- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

“That we can never know,” answered the wolf angrily. “That’s for the future. But what we can know is the importance of what we owe to the present. Here and now, and nowhere else. For nothing else exists, except in our minds. What we owe to ourselves, and to those we’re bound to. And we can at least hope to make a better future, for everything.”

- David Clement Davies

by Michael Snyder

"One of the keys to being successful in life is a strong work ethic. No matter where you find yourself, if you are willing to work hard you are more likely to get ahead. This is something that I have studied for many years. Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice were all born with physical gifts, but so were countless others. The primary reason why Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and Jerry Rice are now considered to be some of the greatest athletes of all-time is because they simply worked harder than everyone else. When Tom Brady came out of college, he didn’t have a gun for an arm and he was very slow. He was not a highly regarded prospect, and so he was drafted in the sixth round of the NFL draft. But once he got into the league, he worked like mad, and eventually he won seven Super Bowls. If he had not been willing to work extremely hard, he could have easily faded into obscurity without ever accomplishing much of anything.

Have you noticed that a lot of young people today don’t want to work hard? There are a lot of employers that specifically avoid hiring those that are fresh out of college because they have a reputation for being lazy. Of course the reason why they are not inclined to work hard is because they have never been trained to work hard. If kids do not learn self-discipline when they are young, they are not likely to learn it as adults. That is why it is vital to create a structure that makes self-discipline a part of their normal routine.

Recently, a man named Carol Randolph Jr. shared a chores list that he was expected to complete as an 8-year-old boy in the early 1990s… A chore list from a Philadelphia household in the early 90s has been praised by users on social media. The list, posted on Threads by Carl Randolph Jr., (@fatcarl_sp) lays out daily, weekly and monthly expectations that began when he was just 8 years old. His father, Carl Randolph Sr. wrote instructions for making the bed, completing homework, doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms and kitchens, vacuuming, wiping down furniture, and even washing down the exterior of the house with a hose, weather permitting. Carl Randolph Sr. was a single father, and so having a very strict routine was very important. And by having all of the household tasks on a regular schedule, it ensured that everything ultimately got done…

What percentage of parents have a list of chores this extensive today? Needless to say, that number would be really, really small. So where did Carl Randolph Sr. get his work ethic? Well, it turns out that he served in the U.S. Navy…Before school, Carl Jr. was expected to make his bed, eat breakfast, check homework for “neatness and completeness” and be out the door before 6:50 a.m. In the comments, he clarified that his father was in the Navy. Dishes could not be left in the sink. Trash had to be taken out and liners replaced. Even leisure time was conditional - earned once obligations were met. The tone is firm but not punitive, focused less on control and more on preparation. “We had fun doing these duties, but he didn’t play about getting business done or breaking rules,” Carl Jr. said.

In those days, virtually anyone that served in the U.S. military was going to develop a very strong sense of self-discipline. Of course much has changed since that time. We have gotten soft as a society, and our system of education is completely failing our young people. Just look at what is happening to ACT scores for college-bound seniors…

The level of education that our young people are receiving in our public schools is a joke. And many of our young people have no moral foundation whatsoever. Earlier this month, an 11-year-old boy in Pennsylvania shot his own father to death…"An 11-year-old boy faces homicide charges after shooting and killing his father in Perry County, according to Pennsylvania State Police. WGAL News 8 obtained court documents that reveal new details about what happened the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 13, in Duncannon Borough. Officers responded to a home on South Market Street around 3:20 a.m. for an “unresponsive male” and found Douglas Dietz, 42, dead from a gunshot wound to the head, according to the documents."

I haven’t even told you the worst part yet. It appears that he shot his own father to death because his Nintendo Switch had been taken away…"Clayton said he found the key in his father’s drawer and unlocked the safe in an attempt to find his Nintendo Switch, which was previously taken away from him, according to the documents. Clayton admitted to “removing the gun from the safe, loading bullets into it and walking over to his father’s side of the bed,” the affidavit stated. “He pulled back the hammer and fired the gun at his father.”

We have raised an entire generation of ultra-coddled young people that are completely addicted to entertainment and that have never learned to fend for themselves. As a result, one out of every five 30-year-old men in the United States still lives at home…"This is during a time of acute anxiety and curiosity about young men in America. Much ink has been spilled about their loneliness, their jawlines, their physical fitness and about being “performative males.” The prolific podcaster Scott Galloway’s book “Notes on Being a Man” jumped to No. 1 on the New York Times advice bestseller list when it was published in November and sparked fresh discussion about the “masculinity crisis.” (On “Today,” Savannah Guthrie asked Galloway why “this particular cohort - young men - have fallen so far so fast” as an infographic citing Galloway’s book noted that 1 in 5 30-year-old men still live at home.)

We wouldn’t be in this mess if we had taught our young people the value of hard work. When I was born, it was very common for a 25-year-old man to already be married and own a home. Today, it is extremely rare to find a 25-year-old man that is both married and a homeowner. There was a time when Americans were known for their work ethic. Sadly, those of us that have been around long enough to have experienced that are getting older with each passing day."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

by Dr. Robert W. Malone

"Reagan on Volunteerism: One of Reagan’s superpowers was his fundamental belief that Americans would step up to help other Americans if the government would just get out of the way. Ronald Reagan’s view of volunteerism was that a strong society is primarily built from the bottom up, through personal responsibility and voluntary effort, rather than through top-down government control. He held that Americans are inherently generous and that true compassion arises most effectively when it originates spontaneously in individuals, families, churches, and local communities rather than through bureaucratic directives.

Reagan argued that volunteerism preserves human dignity. When people help one another by choice, both the giver and the recipient remain active participants in community life. By contrast, he feared that expansive government welfare programs would unintentionally foster dependency, reduce personal initiative, and transform citizens into passive clients of the State. In his view, charity administered close to home was more responsive, humane, and effective than distant federal programs and systems.

Importantly, Reagan did not claim that the government had no role at all. Instead, he believed its main responsibility was to create the conditions for prosperity and freedom. That economic growth, employment opportunities, and social stability are paramount. Therefore, citizens would be empowered to care for one another voluntarily. In his framework, the government should support civil society, not replace it.

At its core, Reagan’s view of volunteerism reflected an optimistic faith in the American people that seems lost in today’s high-tech, digital world. He trusted that when individuals are free, prosperous, and responsible, they will step forward to meet social needs. For Reagan, volunteerism was not a secondary supplement to government action; it was the moral engine of a free society and a defining feature of American civic life.

This country is now in a crucible, being subjected to intense heat stoked by partisan divisions grounded in major philosophical differences. Shall we continue to rely on the federal government to “solve” all our problems, or do we, as a nation and as individuals, step up and take responsibility?

Do we support our families and even our neighbors when they need a helping hand, or do we turn away? Do we help out in our churches, soup kitchens, and hospitals? Do we tutor, mentor, and babysit the children in our lives? Do we find ways to enrich our communities, or do we expect the government to step in and fulfill these needs?

I believe, like President Reagan did and JD Vance does, that we should revisit the concept of limited government, and each do our part to stay engaged in community activities. A productive life is one that is actively lived. A return to Judeo-Christian values is essential for preserving and strengthening American exceptionalism. Though it may seem naive, I believe that by staying united and resilient, we will all thrive and remain free.

Ronald Reagan on Liberalism (1975): "I think that the heart of my philosophy is much more libertarian. A conservative is a libertarian. He always has been. Because what do we call a liberal? Someone very profoundly once said many years ago that if fascism ever comes to America, it’ll come in the name of liberalism. And what is fascism? Fascism is private ownership, private enterprise, but total government control and regulation. Well, isn’t this the liberal philosophy? The conservative so- called is the one that says, “less government. Get off my back, get out of my pocket, and let me have more control of my own destiny.”

President Reagan’s most famous quotes still reverberate today, and to quote him is to honor him. So, take these and use them - with credit where it’s due!

• “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” First Inaugural Address, 1981.

• “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” 1986 press conference.

• “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” 1964 speech, later frequently quoted as president.

• “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.” 1964

• “We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.”

• “The best social program is a job.”

• “America is too great for small dreams.”

• “We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around.”

• “There is no such thing as left or right. There is only up or down. Up to man’s age-old dream, down to the ant heap of totalitarianism.”

• “We’re the beacon on the hill.” (From his frequent use of John Winthrop’s ‘city upon a hill’ imagery.)

• “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Berlin Wall speech, 1987

• “Trust, but verify.” (A Russian proverb Reagan popularized in arms-control diplomacy.)

• “Freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history.” 1982 speech to the British Parliament.

• “We win, they lose.” (Informal but influential framing of Cold War strategy.)

• “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size.”

• “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”

• “Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in.’”

• “I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency - even if I’m in a Cabinet meeting.”

• “Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.”

Reagan noted that you can’t force a horse, you have to guide it, earn its trust, and stay balanced. He liked to use this concept when talking about leadership and the need for restraint. I maintain that horsemanship has been so prized in past generations for precisely this reason. That leaders of yore, recognized that by learning how to train a horse, one learns how to manage people. And by all accounts, Reagan was a most excellent horseman.."

- https://www.malone.news/

Dan, I Allegedly 1/19/26

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o

Adventures With Danno, 1/19/26

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o

by John Wilder

"Ah, the AWFULs. If you haven’t heard the term yet, it stands for Affluent White Female Urban Liberal. It’s the kind of acronym that makes mainstream media clutch their pearls. (Note that even the most-used cliché term for this behavior assumes Affluent White Female behavior.) GloboLeftists are wringing their hands in performative outrage and sending out a virtue signal so bright it can be seen from six light years (500 grams) away.

by Bill Bonner

"I think that we need to calm the country down, not head further toward chaos."

- Rand Paul, referring to Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act

Baltimore, Maryland - "Hot off the presses on Saturday came more chaos. Reuters: "Trump vows tariffs on eight European nations over Greenland. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Britain - all already subject to tariffs imposed by Trump.

Wow...is he turning even our closest allies against us? Is that his historic role? Last week, we left dangling, like a condemned man at the end of a rope, a question: is there anything that Donald Trump positively, absolutely cannot do? But before we get to it...let us tell you a bit about our lives down here in Nicaragua. We arrived in the country last week after an absence of five years. Not much seemed to have changed. Same airport. Same trash along the roads. Same horse-drawn carts and rusty tin. There were, however, more police checkpoints. What they were checking for, we don’t know. Typical of authoritarian governments everywhere, leaders fear being overthrown. They don’t know who or when...so they try to control everything, just in case.

How much it affects you depends on the particulars. Here in Nicaragua, we see both some of the highest living standards and some of the lowest - within a few miles of each other. Driving to the Rancho Santana resort, for example, we pass what looks like profound poverty. People live in hovels with dirt floors and bare tin roofs. They have very little money. Their diets are poor; life expectancies are low.

When we get to the ranch, however, it’s a different story. There are manicured gardens and million-dollar houses...perched on the slopes overlooking the pacific. The weather is nearly perfect (it can be windy!). The views are stunning. The food at the resort’s three restaurants is excellent. The service is world class. And each house has its own team of cooks, gardeners, and house maids. Both rich and poor live under the same sun and the same laws...and may even stop for the same police checks. But for a white man in the tropics, with enough sunscreen, Nicaragua can be very agreeable.

The deeper truth came out on the way down here. We stopped to visit an old friend in Florida. He spent his whole life chasing the big payoff -  investing in small start-ups that never seemed to go anywhere. He got poorer and poorer as he waited for ‘his ship to come in.’ Finally, the ship crashed into the dock! He became fabulously wealthy when a stock that he had been holding for years unexpectedly went public. In a matter of days, he went from sleeping in his car...to staying in his own Boca Raton home, with a full-time staff to take care of him. Unfortunately, about the same time that he came upon so much money, a stroke seems to have come upon him. And so, with all his millions, all he can do is sit in a wheelchair, watch football games, and dream of the wonderful life his money can’t buy him.

Meanwhile, the fate of the US...and maybe the world...seems to lie with another white man, also rattling around in the tropics and also, according to some, may be the victim of a stroke. He has taken control of Venezuela. Now, he says, he ‘runs’ the place. He says he will run Greenland too. And maybe he will run them both. But who runs Donald J. Trump?

He, Trump, didn’t invent himself. His life and fortune were shaped by the post-1971 bubble economy. His investments...headed for insolvency in the 1990s...were saved by lower interest rates and abundant dollar credits.

Each of those dollars is borrowed, not earned. And they leave their stain on the economy in the form of debt - about $105 trillion total debt in the US. Or, about $1.5 million per family. At 4% interest, that would saddle the family with monthly payments - interest only - of about $5,000 per month...or about half of the average family’s take home income. Nor can the money be taken out of the bubble stock market. As soon as stocks were sold to try to cover the debt, the bubble would deflate...which is the very thing Mr. Trump absolutely, positively cannot permit. Obviously, that debt is not going to be repaid.

And while the situation could be corrected by radical Milei-style cutbacks, that’s another thing Donald Trump cannot do. He’s a low-interest, big government kind of guy. And he is the prime beneficiary of the bubble economy. It saved him from bankruptcy and it made him the most powerful person in the world. Recall that hinge-point leaders tend to be chosen by History. Cometh the hour; cometh the man. They may be brassy, shallow opportunists. But whatever they are ab initio, they must evolve. They must think what they need to think...and do what they need to do...as circumstances require.

The key circumstance of 2026 is that the Donald Trump’s dominion depends on the bubble-era dollar...and the dollar depends on the willingness of foreigners to take it. Once they stop stocking their vaults with it, dollars will come home and the full weight of dollar printing over the last half a century will hit the US like the plague. Of course, by then, we might all be drooling helplessly while watching the NFL playoffs...but poorer, not richer."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

by Jim Kunstler

"Timing, not haste, drives what will happen next."

 - Thomas Sowell

"Minneapolis, the sucking chest wound on America’s body politic, gets a break this week from Gawda’mighty, who is turning the heat down to subzero so that ICE-Watch nose-rings can hole-up in their Soros-paid motels, play League of Legends with their DoorDashed Chick-fil-A nuggets, and rest up for the next inning of their motley revolution. ICE itself might even have to lay off its daily round-up of rapists, cut-throats, and child-molesters, to wait out the cold-snap.

Meanwhile, things elsewhere roughen up a little. For instance: Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum (WEF) holds its annual jamboree of vampire squids. Klaus Schwab is out, by the way. He skulked off in a malodorous cloud of embezzlement and sexual irregularities, to be replaced by Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the hedge fund that owns everything in the USA and wants more.

Larry Fink is living proof of the banality of evil, an early pioneer of mortgage-backed securities, which nearly blew up the global banking system in 2008-09, after which he pioneered the wholesale purchasing of foreclosed houses by hedge funds. Neat trick. Cornered the market on all the inventory, so, now, nobody under age-fifty in America can afford to buy a house - but you can rent one from BlackRock!

Larry Fink landed as interim head of the WEF largely because BlackRock has been espousing Klaus Schwab’s ideas about “Stakeholder Capitalism,” which allows global corporations to pretend that they have beneficent “societal purpose” while they go about ass-raping the common folk of Western Civ. Climate change and green new deals top that agenda, along with diversity, equity, and inclusion and additional bullshit about “environment, social, and governance factors” (ESG) in its global strategies portfolio - meaning, mandates for exactly the kind of policies that are destroying Europe’s economies, de-industrialization foremost.

Among the invited speakers at Davos this year: one US President Donald Trump. He is going to kill them with kindness, a tongue-bath of Trumpian compliments - you are the greatest... beautiful leaders like the world has never seen before - while he artfully inserts a stiletto in the WEF’s liver. You might not even know that the org is a walking corpse until a few weeks after the Davos meeting shuts down. But Mr. Trump is going to terminate its influence and send a message that the era of globalist shenanigans is over.

The president can point to two demonstration projects. First, the USA’s acquisition of Greenland one way or another, either ownership or some leasing agreement or revised treaty arrangement. You can be sure that the EU does not like that - big bully America picking on cuddly little Denmark, “the world’s happiest country.” But since they are happily oblivious to Greenland’s strategic importance (vis-a-vis China’s nefarious ambitions there) it is up to America to prepare the game-board. The art of the deal, of course, is making it fait accompli before the targeted property-owner has even entered the discussion. How that works will be a painful discovery for the walking dead Davosanistas.

The second demo will be how the recent arrest of Nicolás Maduro leads to revelations of the globalist conspiracy to interfere in elections here, there, and everywhere. Señor Maduro sold his Smartmatic system to all comers, and you can bet that the plea bargain talks are already underway in Brooklyn (if not already concluded). Yes, it is our old friend, the Kraken, which is a related species of giant squid to the vampire variety convened in Davos.

This election fraud business is really consequential. It redounds to the criminality of the Democratic Party that had the impudence to jam an enfeebled marionette, “Joe Biden,” into the Oval Office, allowing a treasonous cabal of nihilists to nearly wreck the country. The massive evidence of that crime was clumsily suppressed by the cabal and its allies in the news business.

But it is surfacing again, now with Señor Maduro’s imprimatur, and it will turn into a force five storm off the coast of Florida as grand juries in Fort Pierce and Fort Lauderdale were empaneled a week ago to consider the myriad lawless operations mounted against Mr. Trump since 2015, including election fraud. The lawless are going to be rounded up, from Raffensperger in Georgia, to Katie Hobbs in Arizona, to Jocelyn Benson in Michigan, to Jena Griswold in Colorado, to dozens of other officials who were in on the big vote switcheroo of Nov. 3, 2020.

And when the revelations finally come, it will be too much for the foot-dragging villains in the US Senate to continue resisting - they will have to pass the SAVE Act or some legislation like it that requires voter ID, one election day, and paper ballots counted by humans, not machines. It remains to be seen whether the Democratic Party goes extinct because of its exposed, widespread criminality, or because it simply can’t win an election without massive ballot fraud."

- https://www.kunstler.com/

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