That’s what outgoing Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) President Richard Haass is saying to, well, to the sort of people who paid attention to the things Haass has been saying for, lo, these past 20 years. Since the CFR is ground zero for promoting American ruling class and globalist/Neoconnish ideas on all things foreign policy, that would include prominent policy makers and influencers in the highest reaches of our power elite. Haass has been saying for the past few years that, whereas in the past he saw the US as the glue that held the globe together, he now sees “political instability” in the US as the greatest source of danger in the world.
What’s even more galling is that he doesn’t realize that all the political instability and contemptible things that our former foreign allies are turned off by derive their existence from the policies that he and his ilk espouse.
Not discounting their duplicity, mendacity and out and out treachery, I maintain that Hass and those like him also possess a rather large amount of just plain old fashioned stupidity. I think it was Hayek who remarked that intellectuals aren’t particularly smart, Hass is a perfect example.
I've long argued, and no doubt will continue arguing till my parting breath, that question begging is the most ubiquitous, pernicious and destructive deceptive trick of them all save the 800-pound gorilla of lying by secrecy and omission. Haas provides excellent examples of the genre with his "Your right to hold guns as opposed to someone else's right to safety. Your right not to get vaccinated or wear a mask, someone else's right for public health..."
In classic, charlatan style, he assumes as heavenly truths, and so needing no argument, the patently bulls*it positions that the 2nd Amendment is why people die by gunfire and that a lack of vaccinations and masks is why people die of covid.
For any out there who may not be well acquainted with what may rightfully be called "the dark art of question-begging," do yourself a favor and become acquainted with it when you can. It's an ugly thing to witness, for sure, but cold hard reality tends to be that way.
In his latest essay, James Howard Kunstler concludes, “Facing our time of dark uncertainty, we have a lot to think about this Fourth of July, a very solemn holiday.”
It’s a gloomy essay, even by Kunstler’s standards. He reflects on a recent visit with some old friends whose views have turned out to be diametrically opposed to his. “I think my old friends are insane, and they think the same about me.”
I had a similar encounter just this weekend with an old college friend — a longtime conservative Republican voter, for Trump in 2016 and 2020. He even worked as a prosecutor in Trump’s DOJ. Nevertheless, he has fallen hook line and sinker for the the Jan 6 narrative, blaming Trump for what happened. He claims instances of election malfeasance have all been “debunked” — after all, his colleagues across the country and Bill Barr said so! He holds that Trump deserves to be prosecuted under the espionage act. My friend finally made some half-assed argument against “conspiracy theories” — that notoriously incompetent government bureaucracies couldn’t possibly pull off something like the JFK assassination, the Russia hoax, or the insurrection provocation.
It was an incredibly disheartening conversation. As Kunstler puts it, “What we’ve got, then, this Fourth of July holiday, 2023, is basically the pro-Blob Americans against the anti-Blob Americans. It’s a vicious conflict with no sign of resolution. No amount of factual disclosure — no Durham report, no fruitless Mueller report, not any number of whistleblowers, no alt news — can persuade the pro-Blobbers that their beloved Blob lies and deceives.”
Read that article also, and was terribly disheartened. I, too, have nephews who are highly educated and see reality like the blob, but I had thought the highly intelligent people running things knew better and were in it for the power and money. Now I wonder if "their beloved Blob lies and deceives” even themselves.
Richard Ha-ass, who really, truly, sincerely, believes in his heart that Biden's America is "normal" . . . sign me up for "ABNORMAL" America! Oh, and Mr. Ha-ass should be on a pilgrimage alright, from his prison cell to meet his executioner.
Great commentary, Mark! Also, a fantastic video about the relationship of the banking system and wars, which was originally posted at Meaning In History in the comments section by @Not An American. Thanks very much to you both and all the best to you on this 4th of July.
Yeah, I'd heard of the video before but never got around to watching it. So, when it was posted in the comments by Not An American I decided to wait no longer.
Badrahkumar blasts CIA Chief William Burns in his latest, but the same could be said of Haas:
“Those who manufacture false and self-serving narratives often run the risk of becoming their consumers. The unfinished business of the disbandment of Soviet Union revved up American diplomacy in the early 1990s to the project to encircle and stymie the Russian Federation. Its flip side was the attempt to transform Ukraine incrementally as an anti-Russia state and the ill-conceived decision by the Clinton administration on NATO’s expansion into the territories of the Warsaw Pact alliance.” Yes, as Perle states below, gonna be a rude awakening for Haas.
Be Very Afraid? No, they should be afraid. This is a repost, but it bears repeating:
The big news this Fourth of July is a poll that just came out. According to the poll, just 31% of American adults "have confidence" in the U.S. government, down from 56%, the highest in the G7, in 2006. A whopping 69% of Americans said they did not have confidence in the government. I would like to know if of the 31% there are a sizable number that positively support the government, or most haven't thought into the matter and have yet to lose trust. Is it possible that the government can only count on maybe 10% of the citizens for positive support? Is Washington aware of this? Are they concerned?
Haass and company have two big problems. They will have to come to terms with reality. Yes, that means the Ukraine situation, Taiwan and most important, the economy. Even the illegals must have bread and circuses. Their second problem, more acute, is they have no support among the masses, who they denigrate. It is one thing to manage a J6 'insurrection', but what do you do when everybody stays home? Maybe a 'broccoli tax', penalties for what we do not do?
“Is it possible that the government can only count on maybe 10% of the citizens for positive support? Is Washington aware of this? Are they concerned?” I would bet the same percentage applies to Macron, here in France. No confidence. We may get more than fireworks on July 14…
Touché Mark. A great post on one of the most revolting swamp creatures ever. On this July 4, it would be most fitting for Mr Haas to cozy up with the Declaration and study those words again: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…” How empty and void of any depth of meaning, as you point out, are his silly, trivial “obligations.” After surfing the great wave of “you’re either with us or against us” over the past 25 years, he’s showing his true colors: he’s against us.
The allusion to obligations as the self-evident companion to rights is an example of reading the declaration and bill of rights. It’s the classic counter argument to use our beliefs to reinforce their ‘values’. The challenge is to counter their counter argument.
Yup. Haass’ “principles” amount to enriching himself on the backs of the American tax payer even as he and his ilk have ignored the erosion of faith and virtue at home. As Simplicius points out, CFR promoted chaos overseas thru nation-building and democracy - while calling for an end to states’ sovereignty!! Wow. Pretzel logic. And now he seems to find fault with our 247-year experiment, enduring sleepless nights because We the People actually went to the polls in 2016 to voice our disapproval of people like him! And again in 2020, but Haass’ comrades, as Mark alluded to, snuffed out any attempt to determine who really got those 80 million votes. So he is a well-paid fop and his hypocrisy is odious. And leave it to the NYT scribe to glorify that!!
what's happening is the Democrats have managed through chicanery and brute force to establish themselves as the arbiter of what is acceptable in this country. This is all driven by propaganda in the media and indoctrination in our schools. The worst offenders are our post secondary education which harbors the monsters of social science which is not a science at all, but an ideological belief structure that is at odds with reality. It's all driven by Oligarch wealth. They obtain huge tax breaks for funding essentially NGO's and political action committees that are thinly disguised as non-profits they buy activism to their preferred vision of society and hide their wealth from taxation. This is neither philanthropy or charity, it's abuse of the tax codes fully approved by themselves. If my reading of history is correct all empires devolve into chaos, anarchy, and civil war.
What’s even more galling is that he doesn’t realize that all the political instability and contemptible things that our former foreign allies are turned off by derive their existence from the policies that he and his ilk espouse.
Not discounting their duplicity, mendacity and out and out treachery, I maintain that Hass and those like him also possess a rather large amount of just plain old fashioned stupidity. I think it was Hayek who remarked that intellectuals aren’t particularly smart, Hass is a perfect example.
Couldn’t agree more
I've long argued, and no doubt will continue arguing till my parting breath, that question begging is the most ubiquitous, pernicious and destructive deceptive trick of them all save the 800-pound gorilla of lying by secrecy and omission. Haas provides excellent examples of the genre with his "Your right to hold guns as opposed to someone else's right to safety. Your right not to get vaccinated or wear a mask, someone else's right for public health..."
In classic, charlatan style, he assumes as heavenly truths, and so needing no argument, the patently bulls*it positions that the 2nd Amendment is why people die by gunfire and that a lack of vaccinations and masks is why people die of covid.
For any out there who may not be well acquainted with what may rightfully be called "the dark art of question-begging," do yourself a favor and become acquainted with it when you can. It's an ugly thing to witness, for sure, but cold hard reality tends to be that way.
In his latest essay, James Howard Kunstler concludes, “Facing our time of dark uncertainty, we have a lot to think about this Fourth of July, a very solemn holiday.”
It’s a gloomy essay, even by Kunstler’s standards. He reflects on a recent visit with some old friends whose views have turned out to be diametrically opposed to his. “I think my old friends are insane, and they think the same about me.”
I had a similar encounter just this weekend with an old college friend — a longtime conservative Republican voter, for Trump in 2016 and 2020. He even worked as a prosecutor in Trump’s DOJ. Nevertheless, he has fallen hook line and sinker for the the Jan 6 narrative, blaming Trump for what happened. He claims instances of election malfeasance have all been “debunked” — after all, his colleagues across the country and Bill Barr said so! He holds that Trump deserves to be prosecuted under the espionage act. My friend finally made some half-assed argument against “conspiracy theories” — that notoriously incompetent government bureaucracies couldn’t possibly pull off something like the JFK assassination, the Russia hoax, or the insurrection provocation.
It was an incredibly disheartening conversation. As Kunstler puts it, “What we’ve got, then, this Fourth of July holiday, 2023, is basically the pro-Blob Americans against the anti-Blob Americans. It’s a vicious conflict with no sign of resolution. No amount of factual disclosure — no Durham report, no fruitless Mueller report, not any number of whistleblowers, no alt news — can persuade the pro-Blobbers that their beloved Blob lies and deceives.”
https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/blobocracy/
Read that article also, and was terribly disheartened. I, too, have nephews who are highly educated and see reality like the blob, but I had thought the highly intelligent people running things knew better and were in it for the power and money. Now I wonder if "their beloved Blob lies and deceives” even themselves.
Richard Ha-ass, who really, truly, sincerely, believes in his heart that Biden's America is "normal" . . . sign me up for "ABNORMAL" America! Oh, and Mr. Ha-ass should be on a pilgrimage alright, from his prison cell to meet his executioner.
Great commentary, Mark! Also, a fantastic video about the relationship of the banking system and wars, which was originally posted at Meaning In History in the comments section by @Not An American. Thanks very much to you both and all the best to you on this 4th of July.
Yeah, I'd heard of the video before but never got around to watching it. So, when it was posted in the comments by Not An American I decided to wait no longer.
Mark,
Off topic, but no doubt of interest and perhaps for your analysis:
Judge Doughty issued an important 155 page ruling in the matter of Missouri v. Biden today, July 4
Meryl Nass' take:
https://merylnass.substack.com/p/judge-doughty-issued-an-important?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Thanks, I'll check it out.
Badrahkumar blasts CIA Chief William Burns in his latest, but the same could be said of Haas:
“Those who manufacture false and self-serving narratives often run the risk of becoming their consumers. The unfinished business of the disbandment of Soviet Union revved up American diplomacy in the early 1990s to the project to encircle and stymie the Russian Federation. Its flip side was the attempt to transform Ukraine incrementally as an anti-Russia state and the ill-conceived decision by the Clinton administration on NATO’s expansion into the territories of the Warsaw Pact alliance.” Yes, as Perle states below, gonna be a rude awakening for Haas.
Analysis of motives behind Francis appointing Victor Manuel Fernandez to the Doctrine of the Faith
https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2023/07/caminante-wanderers-brilliant-analysis.html
More evidence that, as the Latin adage puts it, “motus in fine velocior” — things do indeed speed up toward the end.
Be Very Afraid? No, they should be afraid. This is a repost, but it bears repeating:
The big news this Fourth of July is a poll that just came out. According to the poll, just 31% of American adults "have confidence" in the U.S. government, down from 56%, the highest in the G7, in 2006. A whopping 69% of Americans said they did not have confidence in the government. I would like to know if of the 31% there are a sizable number that positively support the government, or most haven't thought into the matter and have yet to lose trust. Is it possible that the government can only count on maybe 10% of the citizens for positive support? Is Washington aware of this? Are they concerned?
Haass and company have two big problems. They will have to come to terms with reality. Yes, that means the Ukraine situation, Taiwan and most important, the economy. Even the illegals must have bread and circuses. Their second problem, more acute, is they have no support among the masses, who they denigrate. It is one thing to manage a J6 'insurrection', but what do you do when everybody stays home? Maybe a 'broccoli tax', penalties for what we do not do?
“Is it possible that the government can only count on maybe 10% of the citizens for positive support? Is Washington aware of this? Are they concerned?” I would bet the same percentage applies to Macron, here in France. No confidence. We may get more than fireworks on July 14…
Touché Mark. A great post on one of the most revolting swamp creatures ever. On this July 4, it would be most fitting for Mr Haas to cozy up with the Declaration and study those words again: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…” How empty and void of any depth of meaning, as you point out, are his silly, trivial “obligations.” After surfing the great wave of “you’re either with us or against us” over the past 25 years, he’s showing his true colors: he’s against us.
The allusion to obligations as the self-evident companion to rights is an example of reading the declaration and bill of rights. It’s the classic counter argument to use our beliefs to reinforce their ‘values’. The challenge is to counter their counter argument.
Proof of Haas’ moral and intellectual bankruptcy…
Yes or our principals are stronger than their values which are dictated by fashion which is fleeting.
Yup. Haass’ “principles” amount to enriching himself on the backs of the American tax payer even as he and his ilk have ignored the erosion of faith and virtue at home. As Simplicius points out, CFR promoted chaos overseas thru nation-building and democracy - while calling for an end to states’ sovereignty!! Wow. Pretzel logic. And now he seems to find fault with our 247-year experiment, enduring sleepless nights because We the People actually went to the polls in 2016 to voice our disapproval of people like him! And again in 2020, but Haass’ comrades, as Mark alluded to, snuffed out any attempt to determine who really got those 80 million votes. So he is a well-paid fop and his hypocrisy is odious. And leave it to the NYT scribe to glorify that!!
what's happening is the Democrats have managed through chicanery and brute force to establish themselves as the arbiter of what is acceptable in this country. This is all driven by propaganda in the media and indoctrination in our schools. The worst offenders are our post secondary education which harbors the monsters of social science which is not a science at all, but an ideological belief structure that is at odds with reality. It's all driven by Oligarch wealth. They obtain huge tax breaks for funding essentially NGO's and political action committees that are thinly disguised as non-profits they buy activism to their preferred vision of society and hide their wealth from taxation. This is neither philanthropy or charity, it's abuse of the tax codes fully approved by themselves. If my reading of history is correct all empires devolve into chaos, anarchy, and civil war.
Very well said - we’ve allowed all the good to be hollowed out -
So apparently it was true:
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/07/in_an_american_first_cocaine_was_found_in_the_white_house.html
OMG LOL
https://twitter.com/TFL1728/status/1676199842291253248
Must have been good, because its gone "Something went wrong. Try reloading."
Any hints for those of us late clickers?
https://twitter.com/TFL1728/status/1676287224248147975
dang-"Something went wrong. Try reloading."
New Twitter rules--you need to sign up for an account.
FYI
Citizen Free Press @CitizenFreePres
"Twitter is working again for the masses".
"No more login required to read tweets."
It was nice while it lasted.
Thanks!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Waszczykowski
https://energetyka24.com/gaz/wiadomosci/po-wojnie-europa-zachodnia-wroci-do-interesow-z-rosja-waszczykowski-ostrzega
http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2023/07/russia-knows-this.html