Quotes of the Week

Enlightened insights taken from the past week’s reading:

"Make no mistake about it, when Bernie rages on about redistribution-of-wealth schemes, he’s not just some idealistic old fool.  On the contrary, he gives hope to millions of Americans who actually do dream of a Bolshevik-style uprising in in the United States.  Trust me, these people would love nothing more than to see blood running in the streets.  It may be hard for normal people to comprehend, but envy loves blood even more than it loves free stuff."
Robert Ringer

"The laissez-faire position doesn't attempt to foist a new tax or a new regulation on anyone. It seeks only to remove the government policies that forcibly transfer wealth and economic advantage from one group to another. It is a policy of leaving people to decide for themselves. After all, in the absence of coercive state policies, consumers are still free to refuse to buy foreign goods. They're free to refuse to employ foreigners. They're free to boycott and drive out of business entrepreneurs who don't want to 'bake the cake.'
On the other hand, using government policy as a 'tool' to obtain what 'the people' supposedly want from markets requires government force. This is force necessary to implement and enforce government policy based on taxing and regulating all members of a society — including those who just want to be left alone."
Ryan McMaken

"In case you’re not up to speed on immigration loopholes that always work to benefit outsiders and never citizens, anchor babies are the GPS theory of national allegiance.
Let’s say your pregnant wife was sitting in the stands at Lambeau Field and she got so excited she gave birth. The resulting baby would not be entitled to Packers season tickets for the rest of his life. But if your wife was an illegal immigrant named Consuela, who gave birth in a Green Bay maternity ward, your new child would be a Yankee Doodle Dandy.
An instant U.S. citizen with all the welfare rights that come with the birth certificate."
Michael Shannon

"Natural man fears chains more than he fears propaganda. But propaganda is the far greater despotism.
When men are in chains, they are aware of their slavery. But few understand the superior power of deception. Most people can be persuaded to do almost anything to their own detriment.
What we believe and act upon we consider our own free will. Nothing could be further from the truth. We as a people and a nation are subject to massive and continuous propaganda. So programmed are the masses that they become hostile to truth.
Democracy is a mask, a front for total power of an oligarchy ruling via forced persuasion. Such a system might be tolerable if the oligarchs had the people's best interests at heart. But the focus of forced persuasion is to channel all social, economic and moral law to the federal establishment. The stated altruistic justification is the perpetual utilitarian argument that the majority can require and force the minority to self-sacrifice for what the establishment-created majority has determined to be the greater good."
Bob Livingston

"Depending on where you stand, some citizens are not worth as much as others, and more importantly, some citizens cost a lot more than others. How to decide? Politicians are in the business of deciding this question, and they are gamblers at heart.  This predisposition shapes their calculations and actions. Win or lose, they enjoy the game. Various political groupings help them assign 'value' and it’s all out in the open, as ugly and insulting as it is. You are free to choose a party or a candidate based on how you value yourself and your neighbors, and what you believe is good and valuable for you and your neighbors to have and enjoy. You can vote based on a coin toss, hairstyle or spousal charm, their pantsuit, their skin tone, or because you believe whatever they are saying. It’s all good, and it’s all good fun in this nation of equals."
Karen Kwiatkowski

"You don’t need a smoke detector; that’s what the fire department is for. Now… if you think that sounds stupid, you know how I feel when you say I don’t need a gun."
Bill Buppert

"Society needs first of all to be freed from these meddlers — that is, to be let alone. Here we are, then, once more back at the old doctrine — laissez faire. Let us translate it into blunt English, and it will read, Mind your own business. It is nothing but the doctrine of liberty. Let every man be happy in his own way. If his sphere of action and interest impinges on that of any other man, there will have to be compromise and adjustment. Wait for the occasion. Do not attempt to generalize those interferences or to plan for them a priori. We have a body of laws and institutions which have grown up as occasion has occurred for adjusting rights. Let the same process go on. Practice the utmost reserve possible in your interferences even of this kind, and by no means seize occasion for interfering with natural adjustments. Try first long and patiently whether the natural adjustment will not come about through the play of interests and the voluntary concessions of the parties."
William Graham Sumner

"Identity Politics has invented the fake news of a 'white race.' There is no more a white race than there is a black race. There are numerous white ethnicities, most of whom have been at war with one another for centuries. The same for blacks. The international black slave market was the creation of the black King of Dahomey’s slave wars. He sold his surplus first to Arabs and then to Europeans. Yet in Identity Politics, it is the nonexistent 'white race' that is responsible for slavery."
Paul Craig Roberts

"This is a two-fer: The insane, delusional Left has now convinced millions of people that all white people are evil, but also that children are the new 'experts' on things like gun control and climate change.
Yep, adults are stupid, and children have all the answers. Is this a freaking Disney movie? Nope, it’s the new narrative of the retarded Left, which thinks a 16-year-old girl whose mother claims she can literally see carbon dioxide — an invisible gas — is now a more credible 'expert' than a 30-year scientist and expert in atmospheric chemistry.
And if you put up a poster that says, 'It’s okay to be white,' you are immediately accused of hate crimes. Yes, it’s okay to be black, and it’s okay to be brown, but it’s never okay to be white in today’s insane 'progressive' society defined by left-wing bigotry, racism and hate."
Mike Adams

"Saudi Arabia is the exact opposite of all that was good about the United States at its founding. Its policies defy morality and the sanctity of life, but the ignorant and indifferent American populace in their total hypocritical blindness says nothing and does nothing to stop the nefarious union of these countries via there beloved elected rulers. The U.S. has become its own enemy, and is now joined with evil. Evil begets evil, and so long as Americans allow this partnership to continue in their name, they are at fault, and responsible for these crimes against humanity. This relationship is not just based on oil, but is based on power and control. It is the essence of depravity, and should be ended without delay."
Gary D. Barnett

"Today’s Republican Party is a collection of rural interests from flyover country, handmaidens of the military industrial complex and, most important, militant evangelical Christians who see the world through the spectrum of the Old Testament.  Israel’s far right has come to dominate American evangelists by selling them a bill of goods about the End of Days and the Messiah’s return.  Many of these rubes see Trump as a quasi-religious figure.
Mix the religious cultists – about 25% of the US population – with the farm and Israel lobbies and the mighty military industrial complex and no wonder the United States has veered off into the deep waters of irrationality and crusading ardor.  The US can still afford such bizarre behavior thanks to its riches, magic green dollar, endless supply of credit and a poorly educated, apathetic public too besotted by sports and TV sitcoms to understand what’s going on abroad."
Eric Margolis

"The argument can be made that the largest criminal entity today is not some Colombian cocaine gang, but the US Government. And they’re far more dangerous. They have a legal monopoly on the force to do anything they want with you. Don’t conflate the government with America; they’re different and separate entities. The US Government has its own interests, as distinct as those of General Motors or the Mafia. In fact, I’d probably rather deal with the Mafia than I would with any agency of the US Government.
Even under the worst circumstances – even if the Mafia controlled the United States – I don’t believe Tony Soprano or Al Capone would try to steal 40% of people’s income every year. They couldn’t get away with it. But – because we’re said to be a democracy – the US Government is able to masquerade as 'We the People,' and pull it off."
Doug Casey

"The difference between the Leftist Cult and the Trump Cult is mostly intent: Leftists double and triple down on their lies because they are infatuated with collective power. The Trump cult ignores facts and evidence on Trump because they are hyperfocused on collective defense.  Leftists are seeking to micromanage the thoughts and behavior of the world, while conservatives are seeking to solidify enough political protection to ensure they are left alone. The Leftist Cult wants to burn everything to the ground, erase history and rebuild the world in their image. The Trump Cult is trying to keep the last embers of American heritage alive; they have simply chosen the wrong champion to do it.
The sad reality is that leftists and conservatives are likely far too alien to each other now to ever come to a diplomatic solution. The division in society is very real; it's the division at the top that's Kabuki theater. The liberty movement is the key to everything, as we are the constant target of establishment 4th Gen propaganda. If we didn't matter, then the elites would not be spending so much time, money and energy trying to keep us in line. They need us to buy into the theater, otherwise, we become an unknown element, a time bomb that could explode unexpectedly on them at any given moment."
Brandon Smith

"To sate the lust of power; more horrid still,
The foulest stain and scandal of our nature
Became its boast –One Murder made a Villain,
Millions a Hero. – Princes were priviled’d
To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime.
Ah! Why will Kings forget that they are men?"
Beilby Porteus

"In general, those who resort to mass murder on a collective scale always put forward the justification that they acted on behalf of the nation. "
Taner Akcam