FOURTH TURNING – POLITICIANS DRIVING THE WORLD TOWARDS WAR

Submitted by Jim Quinn  –  The Burning Platform

In Part 1 of this article I discussed the catalyst spark which ignited this Fourth Turning and the seemingly delayed regeneracy. In Part 2 I pondered possible Grey Champion prophet generation leaders who could arise during the regeneracy. In Part 3 I focused on the economic channel of distress which is likely to be the primary driving force in the next phase of this Crisis. In Part 4 I assessed the social and cultural channels of distress dividing the nation. In Part 5 I’ll examine the technological, ecological, political, and military channels of distress likely to burst forth with the molten ingredients of this Fourth Turning, and finally in Part 6 our rendezvous with destiny, with potential climaxes to this Winter of our discontent.

Technological & Ecological Distress

“Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” Aldous Huxley – Ends and Means

The level of distress being produced by technology was probably underestimated by Strauss & Howe when they wrote their book in 1997. The internet, cell phones and e-commerce were still in their infancy, while cyber security was an unknown concept. Huxley would be shocked by how backwards we have “progressed” through the efficient distribution of iGadgets, creating millions of distracted, non-thinking, passive, easily pliable, willfully ignorant sheep who adore their technological servitude.

A vast swath of the populace never reads a book and can’t go more than a few minutes without checking their iGadget to view the latest funny cat video, the latest update on Kim Kardashian’s ass, Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner’s courage, or Lamar Odom’s latest whorehouse escapade. Our country is drowning in a sea of irrelevance as our infinite craving for diversions and triviality overwhelms any thoughts of confronting our oppressors. The adoration of technology has degraded our ability to think and allowed the Deep State to control the masses by amusing them to death.

The totalitarian Orwellian utilization of technology was exposed by a millennial with courage, intelligence, and love of his country – Edward Snowden. His revelations were very distressful to the felonious government apparatchiks who blatantly flaunt their disregard for the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The criminals at the NSA, fully supported by Obama and Congress, have made Big Brother look like an amateur, as they siphon up every phone call, text, email, and facebook entry made by each person in this country and for good measure the political leaders of our allies and enemies. Continue reading

Black Weekend

Submitted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer  –  The Automatic Earth


Sign on Greece/FYROM border Nov 2015How black would you like your Thanksgiving Friday slash weekend? Many Americans don’t even appreciate the term, or the events, at all anymore (or so they say), but the idea of getting what you don’t need, or want, on the cheap, will still prove irresistible. But then, when all of your desires have been fulfilled, food wise and gadget wise, and you’re still feeling empty, maybe we can help and offer a sweeping redefinition of the term Black Friday.

Since we live in times that see many other things on the verge of being sweepingly redefined, too, and imminently so, perhaps that’s only fitting. How about this, for starters? Black enough for you?

Six Migrant Children Drown On Way To Greece

Turkish state media say six children have drowned when boats carrying migrants to Greece sank in two incidents off the Turkish coast. A wooden boat smuggling some 20 people to the island of Kos capsized in bad weather off the Aegean resort of Bodrum early on Friday. The state-run Anadolu Agency says most of the migrants made it to shore with the help of rescuers, but two sisters aged 4 and 1 drowned. Their nationalities were not immediately known. The agency says a second boat carrying as many as 55 migrants from Syria and Afghanistan sank hours later off the town of Ayvacik, further north. Four Afghan children drowned in that incident, Anadolu reported. Ayvacik is a main crossing point for migrants trying to reach the island of Lesvos.

Or have we already all gotten too blasé about those dead babies by now? They’ve been washing up on those beaches for half a year or so, after all. How about those who survive the seas, and then get stuck behind a razor wire fence halfway to their preferred destinations?

Remember the men who had sewn their lips shut? Not even that is enough for more than a few hours of media attention anymore. Not nearly as much as being suspected of terrorism; that sells much better than desperation. So, presumably, will being in the way of goods of ‘important’ companies like Sony and HP’s goods reaching their destination, even if you can’t reach yours. Life is all about priorities. Continue reading

“Evil Muslims” and Untrustworthy GDP Figures

Submitted by William Bonner, Chairman – Bonner & Partners

“Muslims Are Evil”

BALTIMORE – Manuel Valls, the prime minister of France, says the risk of terrorism will hang over the country for many years. Whether this is prophecy or wishful thinking, we don’t know.

But it seems at odds with the recent promise to “annihilate” ISIS made by French president François Hollande. But the fight against terrorism is full of contradictions and paradoxes.

 

coverimage2Cartoon via spectator.co.uk

 

In Fredericksburg, Virginia, for example, plans to expand the local mosque were met with a torrent of objections. All of Christendom – or at least that part of it in central Virginia – was horrified.

Some of the protesters shouted, to Muslims who had celebrated Thanksgiving in their midst for as many as 20 years, that “Muslims are evil!” Others urged listeners to “look at history… the Muslims have always been our enemies.”

This sentiment is so widely shared – not just by rednecks and yahoos in remote and benighted precincts of the Republic, but also by some of its leading historians, presidential candidates, and state governors – that we thought we should give it more consideration. Continue reading

Capitalism At Work

Submitted by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts – Institute for Public Economy

Zero Hedge reports a story from “Keep Talking Greece” that first appeared in The Timeshttp://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4624755.ece

According to the story, the plummeting living standards forced on the Greek people by German chancellor Merkel and the European banks have forced large numbers of young Greek women into prostitution. The large increase in the supply of women offering sexual services has dropped the price to 4 euros an hour. That’s $4.24, enough for a cheese pie or a sandwich, the value that bankster-imposed austerity has placed on an hour’s use of a woman’s body. The half hour price is $2.12. They don’t even get the minimum wage.

When one reads a story such as this, one hopes it is a parody or a caricature. Although the London Times has fallen a long way, it is not yet the kind of newspaper that can be purchased at grocery store checkout counters.

The story gains credence from the websites in the US on which female university students advertise their availability as mistresses to men who have the financial means to help them with their expenses. From various news reports, mistress seems to be a main occupation of female students at high-cost universities such as NYU.

The NYU girls have it far better than the Greek ones. The mistress relationship is monogamous and can be long-lasting and loving. Prudes make an issue of the disparity in ages, but disparity in age was long a feature of upper class marriages. Prostitutes have large numbers of partners, each possibly carrying disease, and they receive nothing in return except cash. In Greece, if the report is correct, the payment is so low that the women cannot survive on the money beyond lunchtime. Continue reading

The Daily Debt Rattle

Submitted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer  –  The Automatic Earth

• US Black Friday Sales Fall 10% From Last Year (AP)
• China’s Shadow Banking Risk Shifts To Booming Bond Market (Reuters)
• Chinese Pull Back From US Property Investments (WSJ)
• Chinese Cash Floods US Real Estate Market (NY Times)
• Giant ‘Green Energy’ Boondoggle Flops in Spain (Tenebrarum)
• How Green Energy Really Works (Tenebrarum)
• Kremlin Says Putin ‘Fully Mobilized’ To Tackle Threat From Turkey (Reuters)
• Vladimir Putin Announces Russian Sanctions Against Turkey (Guardian)
• Iraqi Politician Claims Turkey Lets ISIL Sell Oil for $20 a Barrel (Sputnik)
• BAE Sets Its Sights on Tank and Ammo Exports (Bloomberg)
• Somali Victims Of US Drone Strike Take Legal Action Against Netherlands (VK)
• Pope Francis to Head to War Zone in Central African Republic (WSJ)
• Over 1 Million Children Need Urgent Aid In Central African Republic (Reuters)
• Dijsselbloem Warns Of Mini-Schengen Over Refugee Issue (Reuters)
• How A Secretive Elite Created The EU To Build A World Government (Sked)
• ‘Snowden Effect’: NSA Authority to Collect Bulk Phone Metadata Ends (Intercept)
• Paris Climate Activists Put Under House Arrest Using Emergency Laws (Guardian)
• FYROM/Greece Border Tension Peaks As Fence Erected (Kath.)
• Life In A Refugee Camp: ‘The Cold And Fear Get In Your Bones’ (Guardian)