China announced today that its military forces have been placed on high alert a week ahead of a Hague decision on its territorial claims in the Nansha Islands. Chinese forces will begin a series of military drills in the area, closing the area off to foreign military navigation.
"China must be prepared for any military confrontation in the South China Sea." said an editorial in the state-run Global Times, "China should be able to make the US pay a price it cannot stand if it intervenes in the South China Sea dispute by force."
The Hague is supposed to rule on a case brought by the Philippines against Chinese territorial claims on July 12th. China has boycotted the hearing, which was instigated by the Obama Administration, stating the Hague has no jurisdiction over Chinese territory. The military deployment follows a series of US naval encroachments on Chinese territory; along with a massive arms deal with Vietnam, the Japanese Empire, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Yesterday, Japanese fighter planes menaced Chinese reconnaissance aircraft, and earlier this week, Taiwan torpedoed a Chinese fishing-boat, killing three Chinese citizens. These continued provocations seem to have had the desired effect.
Obama's repeated blundering in the South China Sea has put the US in a dangerous position. Xi Jinping has basically called Obama's bluff. The Hague ruling is certain to decide in favor of the Philippines---what will Obama do then? The Administration has painted itself into a corner wherein their only choices will be to confront China militarily or abandon their confederates who are eager for war. As we have pointed out here repeatedly these proxies Obama has employed: the Japanese Empire, Taiwan, and the Makapili Filipino government; any one of these unstable regimes could trigger a conflict.
Chinese President Xi Jinping stated in a speech on Sunday that, "No nation should expect us to swallow the bitter pill of harm to our national sovereignty, security, or development interests...We are not afraid of trouble."
What is the driving force behind Obama's insane rush to WW3? Some have theorized that the Beltway/Wall Street elites imagine that they can 'arrange' a global conflict from which the US will largely remain unscathed. That would enable the Cultural Marxists and Wall Street to resume their position as the only Superpower, while cracking down on dissent at home.
If this is their strategy, it hasn't a chance of working. The world has changed since 1945. America isn't in a position to lead from behind anymore, we are not protected by oceans and our population isn't the quality it was in the 1940s either.
The next week will be a decisive one. China will either win by default or they will give us a solid beating. Obama will have gambled with---and lost---our position in the South Pacific. Let us only hope that he doesn't lose a few thousand American lives in the process.
The week prior to Independence Day, like the previous two years, saw another sweeping round of blows to civil liberties. But while the American Media is busy focusing on the antics of two unpopular presidential candidates and other flummeries, the foreign press is beginning to pick up on waves of discontent within the Prozac Nation itself.
There are growing independence movements in several US States today. The question is whether or not these states could actually survive independently.
Texas: has probably the strongest independence movement of all; with an estimated 1/4 million supporters. If independent from the United States, Texas would be among the top 10 world economies. Most Texans are tired of being treated as second-class citizens in the United States and want more local control over their own policies.
There are problems with Texan Independence which would need to be addressed. Foremost of which is that the Bush Family has more or less run the state government for decades. Texas also has a severe drug problem, some infrastructure issues, a shaky record on human rights/law enforcement issues. If the Texan Independence Movement can address some of these issues, there may be some viability as a free country.
California: is seeing a genuine surge in independence. California would have an even larger economy than Texas; and that is largely what is driving the independence movement there. California is a socially liberal state than Texas, but is seeing much of its wealth sucked out of the state to subsidize infrastructure and social spending elsewhere that California desperately. The cost-of-living in California is exorbitant; and federal obstructionism is damaging the state's agricultural system by preventing projects to alleviate the severe drought.
California's biggest obstacle is that it is politically dominated by the ultra-Left San Francisco Bay Area. An independent California could have serious problems with social cohesion unless they found a way to create a greater balance of power.
Vermont: This state actually passed a secession bill in the early 1990s. It was vetoed by the governor under serious threats from Bush Senior. Vermont is small state, whose independence advocates see its future as an American version of Switzerland; an independent financial system and resort area.
This is an ambitious, though not unrealistic, possibility. Vermont's Independence Movement has lost some momentum over the years, but could revive again.
Hawaii: Hawaii has had independence movement since the islands were annexed in 1898. Recently, it has grown in strength, but its main support is among Native Hawaiians who are a minority there.
There are other movements of note in Alaska and Puerto Rico.
All of these initiatives are laboring under severe handicaps. The legal procedure for leaving the Union is complicated. These states will be free of federal oppression, but they also will be cut off from federal handouts; and that will include economic losses as military bases and other federal enterprises pull out. And it should also be borne in mind that the Beltway/Wall Street interests currently exploiting these states are unlikely to allow them to Exit quietly and peacefully.
Nonetheless, both Texas and California are hoping to have a state referendum on the ballot by 2018. A 2014 poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos showed that 24% of Americans were open to the idea of their State's independence.
The basic problem with supporting any of these domestic independence movements is that they all seem to lack any genuine commitment to democracy. Reading their various websites, we see considerable complaining about what the Federal Government is doing or not doing, and very few innovative proposals to do things better. This has been an ongoing problem with the United States as a whole during the last three decades; and it will likely not improve matters to localize the problem.
The reason why the Federal Government is out of control is because the American people have allowed it to happen. State governments legally could opt out of most of these objectionable federal controls simply by refusing federal block-grant funding. Objectionable Supreme Court decisions legally can be overturned by Congress.
But that is not happening, because what Ameroboobs really want are handouts with no conditions attached. This attitude permeates the entire way of postmodernist American thinking. From personal relationships to business deals to academic standards---Americans essentially want all of the benefits and none of the responsibilities involved in any of these things. Hence we have high divorce rates, demands for higher minimum wages, and academic grade-inflation.
If Americans really want change, they don't need to break up the Union to do it. They need to change their own attitudes. Stop thinking about drugs and diversions; and start thinking about how make positive contributions. Stop thinking about how to score the free lunch and how to stab your neighbor in the back; and start thinking about how to build a community and a country again.
But it's unlikely any of those things will happen. The best option currently for those of us in America who really want a different culture is to find one outside of the US that approximates it and plan to go there. Expatting makes far more sense than trying to operate within the framework of this dysfunctional system.
Many strange things happen in the Prozac Nation, but lately Ameroboobs have become strangely paranoid of alligator attacks. A few weeks ago, a young boy was killed by an alligator outside Disneyworld in Florida. Since then, every other day or so the Media Cartels are running hysterical headlines about some valiant soul who narrowly escaped a gator's jaws of death.
Within a day after the Florida tragedy, lawyers were already cashing in; filing lawsuits against Disney. In Postmodern America, the Smart Boys know that behind every tragedy is a golden opportunity.
Most likely this recent outbreak of perceived crocodilian violence is due to two factors pervasive in our culture today: drug proliferation and attention-seeking. But there are some interesting contrasts between the incident in Florida and its aftermath and an incident in the Cincinnati Zoo just a week or so earlier.
In Cincinnati, a 4-year old boy fell into a gorilla cage. Police shot the gorilla and rescued the boy. Ameroboobs were outraged. Instead of giving the police sharpshooter a medal; petitions were circulated on behalf of the deceased simian and the media was thirsting for the mother's blood (although an inquest found the incident to have been accidental).
In Florida, police shot 15 endangered alligators in pursuit of a boy who was already dead. There were no public outcries, no media lynch-mobs hunting the parents. Instead, the Media Cartels are whipping on a flurry of anti-gator sentiment.
Now some in the Black Community have noticed this disparity and have pointed out that the boy in Cincinnati is Black and the one in Florida is White. This disparity in news reporting has been an ongoing complaint among American Blacks. For example almost every kidnapping story centers on a young white female; although a number of black girls also go missing, they rarely receive any notice from the press.
Black Leaders contend that this phenomenon is due to 'institutional racism' in the Media. We agree with them that the disparity exists; but not because of racism.
Up until recent times, news reporting was a business of informing the public; today it is the business of selling stories. When we had laws like the Fairness Doctrine and the Anti-Propaganda Act; journalism was an actual profession with strictly-enforced codes of conduct. The media likewise was extremely diverse and competitive; today most media is owned by Wall Street conglomerates whose chief concern is turning a profit.
In the quest for ratings and the bottom line, journalistic ethics gave way to the techniques of advertising and entertainment. Now, the shylocks on Madison Avenue have long known that audiences react to white actors more favorably than to other races. For example, why do ads always feature pretty white girls? There's no shortage of pretty black girls; but outside of media venues specifically targeting Blacks, we rarely ever see them.
And that is the driving force behind the apparent racial disparity. It's simply a matter of cheap tabloid-journalism exploiting a marketing angle. Missing white girls and dead white kids sell. And that is all there is to it.
This is one reason why we here rarely use mainstream American media outlets as sources, or link to them, and fully support international efforts to destroy Wall Street's monopoly on information. The 1st Amendment of our Constitution grants us Freedom of the Press. But a press controlled by organized crime is no more free than one controlled by the State. The key is to bring back competition and journalistic ethics. Unfortunately, we must often look abroad for that...
Every few weeks, the Mainstream Media Cartels turn their tabloid-level talents onto foreign leaders and peoples. North Korea is frequently on the receiving end of their jibes. Depending on the illusion the Media wishes to create, North Korea is depicted either as a primitive society ruled by a buffoon; or as a military superpower ruled by a maniac capable of conquering the world.
The South Korean Intelligence Service---an organization not exactly renown for its reliability---today told an anxious gaggle of American correspondents that North Korea's president Kim Jong Un has gained 20 lbs., is believed to be binge-eating, engaging in substance abuse, and is suffering from paranoia and insomnia.
Now, by modern standards of journalism such a revelation qualifies as front-page news regardless of its veracity. Of course, there is considerable irony in the Ameroboobs accusing anyone else of being fat, paranoid, drug-addicted, and eating unhealthily.
So why does the Government-Media Complex obsess over a country the size of Pennsylvania which is 6,000 miles away? Maybe the issue is really isn't with North Korea.
Among many things Korea has given to the world, religious cults are fairly pronounced. The most famous of these are the Moonies, or the Unification Church. The Moonies were founded in Korea by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a false prophet who claimed to be the Christian Messiah. The Moonies are also active in the United States. President Reagan suppressed their cult, but Bush Sr. released Moon from jail. The Bush Family and the Moonies have considerable related financial interests.
One particular enterprise in which the Moonies are heavily invested is the US Media. The cult owns United Press International and The Washington Times among other publications. AmericanLife TV is a cable channel they control. Moon taught his followers that North Korea is a satanic nation, and advocates for the reunification of the two countries. Is it surprising then that there might be a bias in reporting about North Korea?
The Moonies likewise operate several Political Action Committees and Non-Governmental Organizations both here, in South Korea, and in the United Nations. The Moonie Universal Peace Foundation is an officially-recognized consultant with UNESCO, and a recognized member of five UN organizations, including the UN Commission on Human Rights. Is it any wonder then that the UN always seems eager to impose sanctions on North Korea, while overlooking worse abuses in certain other states?
Among the PACs controlled by the Moonies include CAUSA International, The International Coalition for Religious Freedom, and Radio Free Asia. They are major donors to the American Freedom Coalition, Liberty University, the National Conservative Political Action Committee, and the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations. Again, is anyone surprised by the hawkish position Washington takes to North Korea?
The Moonies also run some major businesses besides the news media. The Tongil Group, for example, is a government contractor; as is the shipbuilding firm, Master Marine. The Moonies have an enormous presence in Agribusiness---particularly in the fishing industry.
One can very easily see by this that considerable hysteria against North Korea is being fomented by a dangerous religious cult. A cult, too, to whom our politicians are literally bowing down before.
Now, in light of these facts, is anything whatsoever officially stated about North Korea even remotely credible? Our entire policy in that region is, at its core, nothing more than to protect and promote the interests of a cult!
Most Americans are completely oblivious to the degree that this dangerous organization exercises its influence in our media, government, academia, foreign policy, and domestic economy, and could likely care less. Our effete populace believes that only traditionalist Christians are a threat. Well, North Koreans too, because the Media says it's politically correct to hate them also.
In an exclusive interview with RT News, Scottish politician David Coburn debunked anti-BREXIT propaganda fomented by the American Media Cartels, and denounced continual Beltway meddling in British internal political affairs. Coburn stressed that Britain's independence is genuine; and that the British people are increasingly united against foreign interest groups and their plots to subvert British sovereignty.
"BREXIT is absolutely essential. It is the will of the British people." Coburn stated. "I don't care much what Mr. Kerry says. If the Americans are going to start interfering in our affairs as they interfered in the Middle East, they are going to get a pretty robust response from the British people."
American political pundits---who are largely paid by think-tanks funded by the same Wall Street concerns who fund the Mainstream Media---would have us believe that most Britons would really rather go back to the EU. This is not the case, as Coburn points out, "These are the same people who told us that BREXIT would never happen." In fact, many post-BREXIT political experts in the UK believe that Obama's arrogant demands and veiled threats about BREXIT helped push undecided voters in to the 'Leave' camp.
Coburn also dismissed current propaganda about an imminent disunion with Scotland, pointing out that the anti-BREXIT vote in Scotland was hardly a landslide.
"40% of the Scottish people voted to leave the EU." he noted, adding that in the Scottish referendum on independence, "We decided overwhelmingly to remain in the UK...the majority of people wanted to stay with Great Britain. We've been together for 400 years and brought the rule of law, democracy, and the free market to the entire world. We will stick together. The Scottish First Minister is just playing politics and damaging the Scottish economy."
He also highlighted the bright economic hopes shared by the British population.
"We want to be outside the market. There is no need for us to be in the WTO. All of those 1950s ideas of trade are finished...there is no reason why the world's 5th largest economy should not negotiate better deals with anybody else."
And already economic superpowers like India, China, and Russia are reaching out to the new British leadership offering bilateral agreements of mutual free exchange. Yesterday, one of China's leading export companies predicted that BREXIT would bring lower-cost British goods into China and had already begun independent trade negotiations.
Coburn also warned his countrymen against being deceived by US propaganda and by the thousands of foreign provocateurs imported into London for this weekend's anti-BREXIT demonstrations.
"It's not up to the Americans and they should have nothing to do with it. They should mind their own affairs---they've made quite a mess of running the world as they see it."
Coburn may well have been thinking of the recent outbreaks of political violence in the US---another of which happened yesterday in Denver during a Donald Trump rally. Three people were arrested and a few injuries resulted as masked street thugs scuffled with police. Colorado, it should be noted, has one of the highest rates of narcotic addiction in the US; and mass-shootings and mob violence are regular occurrences in that state.
Britain is standing united for freedom, and will weather these temporary turbulences as they always have. For the first time since 1972, the UK is poised to become a major world power again. Of course, the effete Cultural Marxists both there and (mostly) abroad will do all in their power to subvert democracy. But the British people are again resisting these efforts and can look forward to a bright future again, free from the ambitions of foreign interests.
Religious freedom suffered further defeats in the United States prior to the Independence Day weekend. The US Supreme Court nullified state pro-life laws, just as last year they nullified state pro-marriage laws. In California, the State Legislature is attempting to defund any religious school who refuses to submit to the Gay Mafia's demands. And the Pentagon managed to emasculate the US military even more by lifting its ban on so-called transgenders.
The US Supreme Court, operating with 8 justices following the suspicious death of Antonin Scalia, also ruled on a religious freedom case from Washington State. Washington is a state which has made something of an industry out of targeting and destroying Christian-owned businesses. This is not surprising: according to public disclosure websites, Washington Governor Jay Inslee has during the course of his career raked in $570,000 from law firms, $360,000 from medical professionals (i.e. abortionists), and $358,000 from civil-service unions (which in Washington State has a number of homosexual activists).
After wiping out a few florists and bakeries for refusing to cater homosexual so-called 'weddings', Inslee and his mobsters focused their efforts on pharmacies refusing to sell abortion-inducing dope. In 2007, Washington State's Pharmacy Commission decreed that pharmacies were required to peddle abortifacient narcotics and conscience-based referrals were declared illegal. A family-owned pharmacy, Ralph's Thriftway, of Olympia came into conflict with this ruling and the issue went to the US Supreme Court.
The arrogant judges refused even to consider the case which, in the corrupt American judicial system, translates to upholding the ruling. Washington State is (for now) the only US state banning conscience-based referrals.
Bob Ferguson, Washington's Attorney-General gloated, "Patients should know that when they need medication, they won't be refused on the personal views of a particular pharmacy owner" he sniffed "The ruling today upholds these principles."
Not to be outdone, the ACLU in San Francisco immediately filed a lawsuit to force Catholic charity organizations working with refugees to offer abortions.
It is interesting to note that in many other countries, Christians are not subject to this kind of harassment. Even in a country like Iran, no Christian-owned business has ever been closed and its owners reduced to poverty for refusing to cater to abortionists and homosexuals. Nor does it happen in anywhere in Latin America, most of Africa, Russia, many countries in Europe, and much of Asia. Wherever Christians predominate or are legally tolerated, Christians are generally free to do as they please.
Not so here in the Prozac Nation. Christian business owners and even elected officials are made examples of; Christians are also routinely discriminated against and harassed. The lawyers, the activists, the judges, the officials perpetrating these crimes experience none of these things. They rise to positions of wealth and power, are fawned over by their toadies in the media, and Justice never touches them.
Most American Churches started here because they were fleeing persecution in foreign countries. Today the situation is reversed. Maybe it is time for American Christians to follow the example of our forefathers and look for new lands to settle and to open up to their doctrines. It has become impossible---or very nearly so---to be a Christian in Postmodern America. We can do better abroad; and here's further reading on the subject.
It is certainly worth considering.
The upcoming 240th anniversary of American Independence comes at a time when, culturally, we have probably reached our nadir. Last year's disgusting spectacle of seeing the White House displayed with the Rainbow Flag has been followed by even further erosions of liberties and cultural implosion.
There have been victories on the global stage, however. The British have won their freedom from the European Union; Syria and Iraq are nearly liberated from the Jihad; and China is breaking Wall Street's global economic hegemony and suppressing organized international crime. The love of Liberty is not something tied to race or nation; but to faith. Faith in oneself, faith in one's neighbor, faith in God.
Each Friday here we recommend an entertainment option for those who still believe in the ideals of forefathers. And in honor of American Independence, we are selecting a television series with that theme, The Swamp Fox.
The Swamp Fox was produced in 1959 by Walt Disney Studios and syndicated on ABC. The series depicted the career of legendary Revolutionary War guerrilla fighter, Francis Marion. Marion, along with his girlfriend Mary (a Patriot spy), his black servant Oscar, and his loyal band of soldiers wreak havoc on the British forces in eight hour-long episodes. The series seem to have been based on the 1847 biography, The Life of Francis Marion by Peter Horry, who served as Marion's chief-of-staff during the war.
In our effete, postmodern culture, men like Marion are considered dead white males, and heroism is an ideal that is treated with cynical scorn. The Manospherian Game Cult, which poses as the alternative to this, likewise offers a counterfeit version of heroism. Some of them go so far as to hold up the PUAs, so-called pick-up artists, as the new heroic breed. This is because genuine faith forms no part of their creed, although they pay considerable lip-service to the concept. But faith is incompatible with their peculiar ideals of superiority and control.
Marion's character illustrates this principle in action. During our War of Independence, the arrogant Royalists were the ones who held to a philosophy not unlike those of the Game Cultists. Marion and the Patriots were fighting against enormous odds. What made them heroic was their faith in the future; this type of faith requires a faith in others, that others deserve the blessings of freedom.
The Swamp Fox has as a common theme the fratricidal nature of a civil war. Marion's enemies are frequently the Tories---former friends, neighbors, and family---who oppose the cause of freedom. Then, as now, the enemies within were typically more dangerous than the enemies from without. Marion's heroic character again comes through; in one episode even he himself must struggle morally with exacting personal revenge on a Tory who killed his nephew against the bigger cause for which his army fights. Often, too, he has to defend Mary, who poses as a Tory to gain information. The selfishness that both the Cultural Marxists and contemporary Game Cultists portray as masculinity is no part of his character. This is because our forefathers understood that Freedom and Justice were either for everyone or they were for no one: freedom for the just and justice for the unjust, equally and impartially. Only a faith in things higher than oneself could bring that about.
The Swamp Fox is representative of a type of media genre that has completely disappeared from Disney and mass-media generally. This genre was called family entertainment. This type of programming had elements appealing to young children, but also elements sophisticated enough to appeal to adults. While the series possesses a few typical Disney trademarks: catchy camp-songs, secret codes and symbols, and the occasional comic-relief; The Swamp Fox is an above-average drama with a solid cast and well-written, often complex plots. The episodes were serialized, one episode led to the one which followed. Walt Disney himself introduced each episode with a brief historical commentary on the plot which followed.
The series is available on DVD and various episodes are available on Youtube and other public venues. The DVD is probably the better option. Eight solid hours of action and good men doing good things---not a bad companion for an extended weekend.
