What Price for Peace and Prosperity?

If there ever was a loaded question... this is it. I ask this question with one answer in mind, though I am sure there are other ways to look a this. My own answer is peace and prosperity is costly... very costly because when things are going well we tend to become complacent. Complacency opens the door for apathy and apathy is deadly. Allow me to use my own life experience as one example.

I grew up poor. Since we are talking the 60's and 70's, I do not mean depression-era dirt poor. We didn't starve. (I was an only child of a single mother) Mom had a job until she had to quit during my senior year of high school due to medical reasons. She never made more then ten cents above minimum wage. We had food, clothing and shelter. We had a telephone and cable television. Medical care? I don't remember going to the doctor much but I wore glasses since age eight. (Thank you Lions Club!) As I spent a lot of time on my own, I grew up to be reasonably self-sufficient. I learned to do things. I learned to figure stuff out. Needless to say, I wasn't given a car. I wasn't given a college education. I worked for whatever I could get and it was never much. Today, I have the best paying job I've ever had and it isn't much more than starting wages for a lot of younger folks. Please, I am not complaining. This is just how things are. The fact is, with my wife's income, I can safely say our own children grew up as solidly middle class. And here is where things get interesting.

My own children, as I said, grew up as middle class kids. While they were never lavished with expensive toys, they didn't want for all that much either. In many ways, I feel I failed them. As a father, I wasn't all that great. Yes I was “there”. But I did not pursue many activities with them. I didn't take them hunting (I haven't hunted much since my youth.) We didn't fish nearly often enough. We didn't camp. We did not pursue activities at home. I never showed them how to change the oil on a car. I always hated working on cars and gladly paid to have it done once I could afford it. My wife and I spent lots of time fixing up various houses we lived in. The boys helped with those chores but we did not insist they learn to do what we did. They always just helped. And now I see the fallacy of my approach. Don't get me wrong – I am very happy with the way they turned out but there are lots of things they simply do not know how to do.

So this is the contrast in my experience. Surely both households were peaceful, but there was a marked difference in prosperity between the household I grew up in compared to that of my children. To me, this is an extension of how our nation has grown. Look around you. For all of the marvels surrounding us, think about how things were a century ago. We had automobiles in 1916. Consider all the working parts and the workmanship that went into making them. My wife and I are friends with a couple a generation older than we are. They are farmers and always have been. The woman reminisced about how they used to grow wheat and take it to be milled into flour. Can you imagine doing that today? It's not technically difficult but who knows how to do such a thing? What if we had to grow the wheat, harvest it and then mill the flour without power? The prosperity we've enjoyed as a nation is not without a price. We no longer make what we can buy. We rarely “make do” with anything these days. If the stuff really did hit the fan, many would suffer or die from lack of simple survival skills.

So what about peace? This nation has barely been physically touched by war in over 200 years. We've experienced plenty of internal strife over the decades but we are comparatively peaceful. But this peace has not come cheap. We can and should thank thousands of military and police veterans, as well as those on active duty for their contributions and their sacrifices to this end. Let us not forget the families of those who paid with life and limb either. Indeed this counts as part of the cost of peace but not all.

Just as prosperity has robbed us of self-sufficiency, we've allowed peace to rob us of our liberties. In much the same way we “paid for” things we are no willing to do for ourselves – such as self-defense. When our nation was conceived it was not at all unusual for common citizens to go about their business armed. Carrying one or more weapons was as ubiquitous then as carrying a cell phone is today. Traveling a long distance? Better bring the long guns. Imagine walking through a TSA checkpoint today with a musket, much less an AR-15. We've hired out our self-defense and not just at airports. Often we hear of stories of law enforcement being called to confront someone simply appearing in a public place openly carrying a gun of some sort. Nearly all of these incidents occur in places where the citizen is acting well within his rights. At the 2016 Republican National Convention, controversy swelled as recent shootings of police officers garnered calls for citizens to refrain from openly carrying arms in the vicinity of the convention. The governor correctly stated he could not circumvent the law. I did not then nor do I now advocate open carrying of firearms in such situations. In contrast, I see this as foolishness because we, as a people, have conditioned ourselves to fear anyone who dares carry a weapon. Such is the price of peace.

While the above is a glaring example of what we face in modern times, it is not at all extreme. Extreme is forfeiting our rights to free speech by requiring permission from government agencies to demonstrate peacefully in public places. Extreme is ignoring the fact that our own government routinely collects and keeps personal information on each and every one of us. Extreme is allowing our liberties to be chipped away daily with barely a shrug. Lately the 1^st amendment guarantee of freedom of the press has come under fire but this is just the tip of a massive iceburg. As mentioned before, freedom of speech enjoys mere lip service, our second amendment rights are severely compromised. In New York, legislation was recently introduced to limit purchase of ammo to those who own legally registered firearms and then they would only be “allowed” to purchase two times the capacity of said firearm every 90 days. Will it pass? It may eventually. Time will tell. Meanwhile, the rhetoric says forbidding citizens from defending themselves will somehow make society safer. The NDAA and the Patriot Act have decimated much of our constitutional guarantees. Notice I use the word “guarantee” NOT “right”. This is to point out our rights are “granted” by the constitution but God-given. The constitution meant to enumerate and define these rights so as to guarantee our government could never, ever ignore them. From what I can see, it was a good idea in theory but it ain't working so well in practice. The forth amendment is trashed, as is the fifth, the ninth and the tenth. What have we left? Actually mere scraps. We've allowed the entire document to be essentially set aside. Soon-to-be ex-President Obama stated in his “farewell” address that "Our Constitution is... really just a piece of parchment”. No, SIR, our Constitution is the LAW OF THE LAND!

While we have all paid dearly for peace and prosperity the cost thus far is only a down payment. The final bill promises to bring with it massive sticker shock. The ultimate price is the loss of our nation and our sovereignty. That won't happen, you say? Consider this: the last time the tide turned against the liberal left – the spearhead of the globalists – was when Ronald Reagan was elected as President. His presidency stands among the greatest this nation has ever seen. Reagan Republicans turned back the liberal horde, beating down taxation and regulation, claiming victory over the left and restoring our liberties. Does this sound accurate? It is not. Lofty at best. Fantasy is more like it. Yes, Ron Reagan made significant inroads but in the end, we lost. We lost to George H. W. Bush who didn't deserve to stand in Reagan's shadow. We lost to Bill Clinton who promptly turned our nation leftward again. We lost to George W. Bush who presided over the Patriot Act, among other atrocities. We lost to Barry Obama who drove our nation to the brink of collapse in every sense of the concept. And now we stand at the dawning of Trump. What will a Trump presidency bring?

As I stated long before the election, no matter how effective Donald Trump is. No matter how far to the right he can turn this nation, this fix will be, can be, only temporary. Just like with Reagan, once Trump is gone, our nation will again slide in decline. How did I come to this conclusion? I lived it. Or, at least, part of it. Only recently have I began to understand how deeply the corruption has eaten at our foundations. To regain our republic we would have to repeal the income tax amendment, dismantle the Federal Reserve, restore the state legislatures' right to select U.S. Senators, dump Social Security and Medicare, along with a hoard of federal legislation, agencies, and regulation. If this sounds insurmountable, it should. If some of these ideas seem repugnant, you are beginning to get my point. This mess we call a Federal government didn't come about during one presidency and it is not going away in one. Already there is consternation about doing away with the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). This was only enacted eight years ago, only came into full effect some four years ago and already is considered entrenched. And now for the bad news:

None of this is going to happen. Oh sure, the ACA will be repealed... AND replaced. This is part of the problem. The truth is the Federal government has no business in health care to begin with. But too many in our nation are willing to trade our liberty to make our own health care choices for some mysterious government “help”. Meanwhile, we will all go back to our jobs, turn on the television after work, and continue to idly watch as more and more of our liberties wash away. We've lost the will, if not the ability to say “no” to those who would take our rights away. We will soon forget how warm the water is becoming and settle in, waiting for it to boil. We may indeed have bought some time by electing Trump but his election will not, can not erase a century of globalist effort. It will take a great deal more resolve to accomplish returning our nation to a true constitutional republic.

One theory I've seen presented in one form or another is we've already been through the fire. The democrats and their agenda are defeated and we will now swing back towards a conservative America. Uh, no, it isn't going to work out that way. Have you seen the left's reaction? They are rabid. They will not be content with “protesting”. As they've already demonstrated, they will turn violent if they fail to get their way. Meanwhile efforts continue to disrupt, discredit and some say, even revoke the inauguration of President-elect Trump. Can it happen? Well, lets see, President Obama has stated numerous times that President-elect Trump is not qualified to be president. This from a man who's previous experience was as a freshman US Senator, an absentee state senator and a “community organizer” - whatever that is. His Homeland Security Chief has since federalized national elections. Several democrats stated this election was stolen. The intelligence community now essentially suggests it was the Russians, not the people, who elected Trump. I kid you not, I watched about 60 seconds of a hearing with the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper was questioned about Russian involvement. The questions were unreal... the question that struck me was asking Clapper whether the intelligence community believed Trump could have won the election without Russian interference. While I do not have the wording exact, this is the essence of the question as I remember it. Note, I have yet to find the exact exchange so my memory may be faulty. Moving on, since then this whole “dirty dossier” event came out with absolutely wild accusations about Trump. There is strong evidence this was leaked by none other than someone in the US intelligence community. And now there is speculation that the inauguration will not take place. While I see a lot of weirdness going on right now, I don't see this happening. More likely the rumors are further attempts to disrupt and discredit this presidency. If those who contend the globalists are setting Trump and all that is right in the world to fail miserably – a notion I find more and more acceptable each day – then it would fit that they would spread such fear and uncertainty. Consider the Republican National Convention. After similar huffing and puffing, the reality was little more than a foul breeze, if that. Expect more of the same for now. However I do expect things to fall apart at some point. When, I am not sure. It could be six months, it could be two years. A longer time frame makes a bit more sense – the better to distance the left from the fall. On the other hand, things are already past crazy. However, the collapse scenario is not within the scope of this article. The end of “peace and prosperity” is.

The coming crisis will present a unique opportunity to grow. The end of “peace and prosperity” ushers in strife and want. There will be no room for complacency. The globalists fully expect the people will turn to government for relief. After all this is what we've been trained to do. And they are mostly correct. During the Great Depression, many more people were significantly more self-sufficient than we are today. It is far more common to say “somebody needs to do something” than to roll up one's sleeves and get to work. In short, our nation is right where the globalists want us. This does not mean that we will hand over our sovereignty at the first glimpse of trouble. If this were true we'd be living under a world government today. People will go hungry. People will die. When death becomes pandemic, people will panic. Nor will everything happen at once. Even if we experience a cataclysmic event such as an EMP attack, it will take some time for things to fall apart. The amount of time depends on how catastrophic the even and how widespread. The closer one lives to a concentration of population the faster things will deteriorate. People will want food, shelter and safety. All three will be at a premium. Will some sort of FEMA camps be set up? Who knows? It is likely government will prefer to exert as much control as possible. So camps are not out of the question. No matter what people will be dazed and looking for answers. Some may even be ready to hear the truth.

This is the opportunity I see coming. At first glace this appears cold and calculating. To those of you who disdain me for looking a things this way let me ask you... who is listening now? Maybe you are. Maybe you are not. Many will read or more likely skim some of what I write and blow off the message. Why? Well surely nothing will happen to YOU. You have a good job. You are well-fed. You are comfortable. When things get uncomfortable my words may come to remembrance. Do not forget, I write now in a time of relative plenty. I've warned as many as I can reach about what will come. How many will take these words to heart today? If you still refuse to act. If you refuse to prepare. If you refuse to accept Jesus as Lord. If you refuse to show others what is going on right in front of you, I ask you to please tuck some of these words into your memory. There will come a time when you realize the truth of what I say now. When that time comes, please take the opportunity to embrace the truth and bring others to it. Not all will accept truth just as not all accept what they read here. But as many as possible should at least have the chance for today, for tomorrow, for eternity.

The Media Circus – Send in the Clowns

For the record – I can't stand the song “Send in the Clowns” but the phrase is too appropriate here to ignore. - Towser

As the “fake news/hacking” chaos hits hysterical heights – those of us simply watching the parade are left to wonder what it is all about. It seems we are supposed to just “trust the experts” that Russia was involved and they tried to influence the presidential elections so voters would favor Trump over Clinton. Now that Trump has been “briefed” his position, at this point, seems to be that while the Russians did not influence the outcome, we must try to prevent future hacks. Here's what I can tell you right here, right now that will make instant sense to you:

None of these idiots know what they are talking about.

At least nobody I have heard. Certainly there are a few experts speaking intelligently about certain slivers of this pie but overall it is mass confusion. And this is exactly what those controlling the media are trying to accomplish. And that is why they sent in the clowns. Some of you might be thinking my point here is all fine and good but can I PROVE anything? Well, yes, yes I can. All we need to do is look at what the media clowns are saying and consider what they are NOT saying.

First, what is the media actually saying? This is your first clue. Taken as a group, they are not all that coherent. Compare this topic to, say, the recent airport shooting in Florida. Turn to any station and you will here essentially the same story. Yes, every outlet will color the story in their unique way. Some details may be offered on some and not on others. But the basis of what happened is reasonably consistent across the board. And now about those Russians. They are mostly all saying the Russians hacked the DNC and Posdesta and they “tried to influence” the election using “fake news” and “propaganda”. Again, depending on where you look, you'll pick up some fine points here or there but what I've outlined here covers the gist of things thus far. Notice anything missing right off the bat?

There is no “story”. Look all you want. There are accusations. There are “facts” i.e. the DNC and Posdesta email account WAS hacked but there is no account whatsoever detailing what actually happened. Now the “Intelligence Community” is hiding behind their cloak of secrecy by saying they cannot tell us how they know what they know or how they know it lest they reveal their methods to the enemy. You know what? I understand that much. I don't much care about the methods – the “how”. All I want to know is the “what”. And this is where the whole circus act falls apart.

You see, something dawned on me while I was watching one “news” segment or another. WHAT FAKE NEWS? (Okay, sure call me slow why don't ya?) Or should I say WHICH fake news? Can someone please tell me, show me, or clue me in on EXACTLY what “FAKE NEWS STORIES” the Russians used to influence the elections? Surely our friends in “intelligence” can tell us that much... can't they? I wonder if the problem is that if they start detailing the “fake news” the Russians released, they might have to distinguish this from the fake news put out by the CIA, FBI, ATF, NSA, the Labor Department, the Department of Commerce, the White House, the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, etc. and so on. It might be easier to just give us a list of the real news stories out there... if there are any to be found. Could there be propaganda invented by the Russians to try to influence the elections? Of course it is possible, maybe even likely but where is it? Unless you are blind you can easily see that there are so many false and misleading “news stories” put out EVERY DAY one needs a score card to determine who the players are and what positions they are playing at the moment. And then there are the documented false flag operations, the propaganda campaigns and the pure fantasy “facts and figures” produced by our own government and others. The Russians? Seriously? Their propaganda machine is nothing compared to our own.

Enter the drama queen. Obama acts the drama queen standing at his podium and whining about the Russians attempting to influence our elections. Did anyone dare ask him about confirmed reports the he tried to influence the Israeli elections? What about Hillary's efforts to out Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi? Or Obama's openly supporting Egyptian elections or his attempts to out Syria's Bashar al-Assad? The list goes on and on. Hacking? Did the Obama censure the CIA for spying on the United States Senate? Not only was this a blatant attack on one branch of government by another but the CIA is forbidden from operating on US soil – PERIOD. Obama had complete control over this situation and yet he remained mum. How can anyone take this guy seriously? And yet 99% of the media reports every word that emits from his lying lips as if it was an oracle from God Himself. And the masses lap up this drivel. Amazing.

Now for the second act – hacking and cybersecurity. It must be time for the stand-up comedians.

Let's look at Podesta first. While the access gained to Podesta's email account technically could have pulled off by a 14 year-old, s/he would have likely have been an exceptional teenager. However Assange's statement does make a point about the world of “hacking”. Please note my own background in this world is I read a book or two years ago, one non-fiction and maybe a few other fictional stories with hacking themes or extensive allusions. Nothing I read could be considered a “how to” so my actual knowledge is minimal. With that disclaimer I have been a victim of hacking and I've had some exposure to computer security due to my involvement in the computer industry. I can tell you there are people out there – some referred to as “script kiddies” that actively try to access web sites and email accounts. The “script kiddies” refers not so much to age as abilities, however most involved in this sort of activity seem to be younger people looking for tickles and grins. They seek out or stumble across hacking sites and download all sorts of malware designed to cause trouble. They are not programmers, or at least they are not often learned enough to write these programs but they can and do download and run them. It is not all that hard. (I know because I download and run non-harmful scripts for sights I operated – the principles are the same only the intent and outcome differs.) Thus it would not be all that difficult to set up a page to capture passwords and send a link to just about anyone. Does this mean the Russians did not pull such a stunt on John Podesta? No. But it does widen the playing field significantly. But the worst news is this: all the cyberscurity in the world will not prevent such an attempt if the guy with the password is clueless. Now from the one non-fiction book I did read, I did learn that the most common and successful method of hacking is called “social engineering”. That is a fancy word meaning someone conned the information out of someone else. Not only does it NOT take a programming savant to do this, I'd say such a “hack” would often be better performed by those less nerdy as nerds are notorious for their lack of “people skills”. Note this is simply a tendency and not always the case. I have met many very sharp computer “nerds” who were also extremely personable.

Now what about the DNC hack? Some say it was an inside job. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I don't know at this point. What I do know is the release of these emails doesn't fit my definition of propaganda. The fact is they didn't surprise me much at all. What the emails did reveal is how much the main stream media was in bed with the Hillary campaign. Surprising? No. Illuminating? Certainly. Again, judging from the seemingly unending hacks and attacks at so many sites – Yahoo, banks, utilities (real hacks not the fake one recently reported by the Washington Post.) and so on, the Russians are the only players in this game. None of this is new or news. It happens all the time – so much so we would all likely be shaken if we knew the actual frequency. Individuals, corporations, governments and other criminal organizations (Oops! Did I say that?) are constantly at work trying to hack just about everything they can. If you have a small website, you needn't worry to much because these guys are after bigger fish. Cybersecurity is an ongoing battle. There is nothing new here. As one friend and security expert put once put it “The only way to secure a computer for certain is to dig a 10 foot hole in your back yard, smash your computer to pieces and drop them in the hole. Fill the hole with concrete and hope for the best.” Maybe if one were to dig 10,000 10 foot holes, this could be improved upon but not by much. The bottom line is, anyone who thinks anything online is secure is a fool. But there is something more insidious going on here.

The first thing you should know, if you don't already, is the powers at be do not want you to be secure. They HATE security and privacy – passionately. So besides all the huffing and puffing about security, beyond the fact that a virtual army of people are bent on breaching your innermost secrets, these same intelligence operatives make every effort to include some sort of “back door” access to just about any security solution out there. Forget the fact that this practice automatically corrupts any security in place by its very nature. Even if “only” someone in government has access, your security is at the mercy of their whims. The end all of this is any semblance of “security” is a joke on us. Smoke and mirrors if you will or to quote Pogo... “we have met the enemy and they are us.”

If that is not bad enough, do not forget our own government is bent on feeding us endless propaganda. In the words of CIA Director William Casey "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." Do you really think things have improved since Casey's reign? Recently I had a laugh when someone labeled the CIA “professional liars”. I laughed more at the irony than the truth the statement evokes. What is the goal of all of this?

Chaos and the determined development of a pliable populace. They want to keep us proles dazed and confused... so they can manipulate us with ease. Sadly they are very good at it. If you've read my other posts, you already know the globalists' ultimate goal is world domination via a one-world government. To accomplish this they need all nations to abdicate their sovereignty and submit to a world government. The United States of America is the biggest hurdle – the brass ring. If we fall the nations of the world will fall in line. (Some nations such as Russia and China will maintain a semblance of sovereignty but this will be mere lip service.) What will it take for America to fall? First , the people must be totally subjected to the federal government. This phase is almost complete but the plan is plagued by those pesky liberty lovers who still cling to their guns, bibles and the constitution. Many people no longer rivet their attention to the globalist controlled mainstream media – they get news from places like The Drudge Report, World Net Daily and all the others. They must be stopped. Once the free press is under control, free speech will be totally smothered next. Once citizens can only access approved news and dissent is no longer tolerated, they will do what they are told. Soon they will see the foolishness of this myth of sovereignty and welcome open borders and the security and stability of a truly central government.

Already, our REPULICAN CONTROLLED congress has passed a bill essentially authorizing a “ministry of truth”. It is the NDAA 2017 that opens the door for a government funded, government sanctified quasi-public agency to spew out official government “truth”. Note you will have to dig a bit to uncover this because congress buried what they did deep into the bill. Why? Because if they were up front about all of this people would be outraged... maybe. I wonder about this because the mechanism used for this had been in place for decades. It is a core component of the US of A's propaganda machine used to influence the world. Propaganda? You say? Yes, propaganda. For decades we've openly admitted our government seeks to influence people in other nations. What does it say to you when I mention that WHAT our government says to other nations was, up until now, forbidden to be revealed to US citizens? This information was eventually allowed to be released to the US public 12 years after the rest of the world was exposed to it. What kind of information? I don't know at this point because I only just learned about all this myself. I can only surmise the information was littered with lies and half-truths because if it was all true – why keep it from us? And yet some find it acceptable, even reasonable for our government to lie to people of other nations while some of those see no problem with lying to us. The fact is we've been lied to all along. Now the lies are being fed steroids.

All of this is contrived to further the globalists' ultimate goal of a one-world government. Once again, my goal is to point out some of the warning signs for you to see. They are all around us and they are all pointing to the same end game. I would have to quit my job and devote all of my time to this in order to try to point them all out to you. At this point that is not an option so I urge you to investigate on your own. Where can you look? EVERYWHERE! Look anywhere. Simply open your eyes and ask yourself if what you see promotes a one-world government agenda. I'll start you out by naming a few: Climate change, open-borders,illegal immigration, LGBT, zoning, Agenda 21, gun control – the list goes on and on. Ask yourself – who is promoting liberty? Who is promoting sovereignty? These represent the antithesis of globalism. Please note you will find some advocating all kinds of strategies to circumvent this from political action to outright revolution. Also note that I know of NO ONE on the right instigating violence or advising anyone to do so. As for me, I do not believe anything will prevent what is coming. Thus I urge those of you who have not accepted Jesus the Messiah as your Lord and Savior to do so now – or at least begin a quest for the truth. I am convinced the truth will lead you directly to Jesus. If you have already accepted Jesus as Lord, then I urge you to ask God for guidance as to what to do next.